Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Niver. My text for this morning is found
in Proverbs chapter 21. I want to read the 21st verse. We read, he that followeth after
righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honor. Now here we have a promise from
God's Word. That person who follows, and
that word is generally translated pursues, that person who pursues,
this is what he's after, this is his goal, this is his desire,
this is his objective. He pursues righteousness and
he pursues mercy. He's promised in pursuing righteousness
and mercy, you'll find life, righteousness, and honor. Now, this is something I'm certainly
interested in finding. I want to find righteousness. I want to find life. I want to
find honor. Now, everybody is pursuing something. There's never been a man to live
that didn't pursue something. It may have been that he just
wanted to have no conflict in his life, and that's what he
was pursuing. Or he was pursuing power, or riches, or pleasure,
or getting on in this world. Or there's just a myriad of things
that men and women can pursue. And everybody pursues something. But we read of this one who pursues
righteousness and mercy. Now there are not a lot of people
who are pursuing righteousness and mercy. Everybody's pursuing
something. Very few are pursuing righteousness and mercy, but
we're given this promise. that one who does pursue righteousness
and mercy will find life, righteousness, and honor. Before we can understand
what this means, we need to understand what the Bible means by these
terms. What does the Bible mean by righteousness? What does the Bible mean by mercy? You see, the world's dictionary
will give us a different definition than what the Bible does as to
regard to what righteousness and what mercy actually is. As
a matter of fact, we're warned in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 15,
that the ministers of Satan, that the servants of Satan come
as angels of light and ministers of righteousness. The false prophet
comes as a spokesman of righteousness. So obviously the righteousness
that he is speaking of is not the same righteousness that's
in our text. He that pursueth righteousness
and mercy will find life, righteousness, and honor. What does the Bible
mean by righteousness? Righteousness before God is perfection
before His holy law. You cannot be partially righteous. You must be wholly righteous. To be righteous, you must be
without sin. To be righteous, you must be
as good as the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what righteousness is. Some people may admit, well,
I can see that's what righteousness is. You can't be partly righteous
any more than you can be partly dead or partly alive. You're
either alive or you're dead. You're either righteous or you're
unrighteous. There's no middle ground. Many
people may agree with that, but very few would agree as to who
the Bible refers to as righteous. Now, that person who pursues
righteousness Listen to this scripture, Romans chapter 3 verse
9. What then, are we better than
they? Paul speaking of Jews and Gentiles. Know in no wise, for
we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they're all
under sin. That means sin's over them. That means sin has complete dominion
over them. As it's written, There is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. So when the Bible is speaking
of righteousness, it is not describing any man who inherently has any
sort of righteousness at all. As a matter of fact, there's
none that doeth good. No, not one. There's not even
one that seeks after God. Isaiah said this regarding human
righteousness. He said, our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. So when we're talking about righteousness
or when the Bible is talking about righteousness, it's not
talking about a righteousness that a mere human being can come
up with because we're born into this world in sin. We're born
sinners and are completely unable to make ourselves righteous.
Now the first time the word righteousness is used in the scripture, and
I think it's very important to understand what's called the
law of first mention. If you want to know what the
Bible means by word, look where it's first mentioned in the scriptures,
and that is what the Bible means by the word. Now the first time
the word righteousness is mentioned in the scripture is in Genesis
chapter 15. where God said to Abraham, look
at the stars and see if you can count them. So shall your seed
be, so shall your descendants be. We read in verse five, and
he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven
and tell the stars if they'll be able to number them. And he
said unto him, so shall thy seed be. Now he said this to Abraham
when Abraham had no children and his wife had a barren womb.
And this was humanly impossible for him to have children. But
look what it says after God said this to Abraham. And he believed
in the Lord. He believed what God said. And
it was counted. And he counted it to him for
righteousness. When Abraham believed what God
said, God counted that to him for righteousness. Now this is
what Paul quotes in Romans chapter 4. He says in verse 1, What shall
we say then that our father Abraham as pertaining to the flesh hath
found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to
glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. So the first time the word righteousness
is used in the scripture has a reference to the great truth
of righteousness imputed. righteousness imputed. Now no
man has any inherent righteousness. No man is able to perform works
of righteousness. No man by nature can do anything
but sin. You see there is only one righteousness. And that's the righteousness
of God. That's the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if I'm righteous before God, it will be because His righteousness
has been imputed, reckoned, charged to me. The great doctrine of
righteousness imputed. Now, I'm careful to not use the
phrase imputed righteousness And I'm not saying someone's
a heretic if they use the phrase imputed righteousness. It depends
what they mean by it. But when I don't use the term
imputed righteousness, it's because imputed is never used as an adjective. It's never used as a description.
In the Bible, imputed is always used as a verb. Righteousness
imputed. imputed righteousness in the
sense there's this kind of righteousness and there's another kind of righteousness.
No, there's only one righteousness. That's the righteousness of God.
David said in Psalm 71, 16, I've made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. The reason he only made mention
of God's righteousness is because it's the only righteousness there
is. And that righteousness, the righteousness
of God, is imputed to the believer. God imputes it to the believer. Now, somebody says, how can that
be? Well, I love this scripture.
I suppose I quote this almost every time I preach, for he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Christ was made to be
sin. What all that means, we'll never
know. I know he never committed sin,
and when he was on the cross, he never committed sin. He did
no sin, he maintained his purity, and yet he was made sin. How can both of those things
be? I don't know. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree, but I know this, In His death,
He put away that sin. He satisfied God's justice and
His righteousness is given to every believer. His righteousness
is imputed to every believer. Now, once again, imputation is
not an adjective. It's a verb. There's only one
righteousness. You see, my righteousness is
not based upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. My
righteousness is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, just
as truly as my sin became his sin. That's why he died. His
righteousness becomes my righteousness. In Romans 1, verses 16 and 17,
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed." Now, when that person is pursuing righteousness,
he's pursuing God's righteousness. Remember how the Lord said, Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? That's what
I'm pursuing. I am pursuing His righteousness. In Romans chapter 10 beginning
in verse 1 we read, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Obviously they
weren't saved and Paul desired for them to be saved. He said
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved for I bear them record They have a zeal of God. They're very religious. They're
very sincere. They're very zealous. Very, very
religious. Dedicated to religion. They have
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And here is what
they did not know. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. His righteous character, His
absolute righteousness. They're ignorant of His righteousness
in their damnation. They think God owes them salvation
because of what they've done. They're ignorant of God's righteousness
in salvation. They don't understand how they're
saved by the righteousness of somebody else. They, being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness, Trying to work out a righteousness in some way
that they think will render God obligated to save them. Lord,
I did my part, now you have to do your part. I did this, you
do that. Seeking to establish a righteousness
before God. They've not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. You see, there's only one righteousness,
and that's God's righteousness. The Lord said in Psalm 40 that
he preached righteousness in the great congregation, the righteousness
of God. Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
God's righteousness. Now these people failed to submit
to the righteousness of God for Christ is the end, the goal,
the termination of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth. Christ is my righteousness before
God. Now what is it to pursue? Righteousness,
Paul put it this way in Philippians chapter 3 verses 8 and 9, O that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. When God comes looking
for me, I simply want to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. No,
I don't want to be found witnessing or reading the Bible or praying.
I want to be found in Christ, so that all God sees is Jesus
Christ when He sees me. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, which would amount to nothing more than filthy rags.
but the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ. That's the righteousness I want.
I want to be found in His righteousness. Now, how can I know if His righteousness
has been imputed to me? Well, in Romans chapter 4, verse
4, it says, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of
grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Now, if you believe on him that justifies
the ungodly by what Christ did, righteousness has been imputed
to you. Now, here's what else we pursue
when we pursue righteousness. Remember, there's only one righteousness.
That's God's righteousness, and that's the righteousness we want
to be found in. We also pursue mercy. where you have someone
pursuing righteousness, you also have someone pursuing mercy. Now what is mercy? Mercy is God
not giving you what you deserve. Is that what you want? That's
what I want. I want God to not give me what
I deserve, because what I deserve in and of myself is separation
from God, removal from his presence. I deserve to be sent to hell.
I don't want that. I don't want God to give me what
I deserve. Now, God can give mercy. Because all the requirements
of righteousness have been satisfied, therefore he can have mercy on
sinners. This is what I want. I pursue
mercy. Now let me tell you when you
will pursue mercy. This is when you'll pursue mercy.
When your sin is all your fault. You're not a victim. Your sin
is all your fault. There's no sense of entitlement.
Your sin is all your fault. You have no claims on God. Now, if your sin is not all your
fault, you'll never ask for mercy. If you can blame something or
someone else, you'll never ask for mercy. But when you stand
before God guilty, guilty as charged, and your sin is all
your fault, you can't blame anyone but yourself, When you stand
before God like that, you will pursue mercy. When you have absolutely no merit,
not even a penny's worth, you will pursue mercy. You'll be like Bartimaeus. Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Don't give me what I deserve. Now, that person who pursues
righteousness and that person who pursues mercy Wherever there's
a pursuit of righteousness, there is a pursuit of rightness. Let me repeat that. Wherever
there is a pursuit of righteousness, God's righteousness, there is
a pursuit of rightness. You want to do the right thing.
It's the right thing to believe. It's the right thing to repent.
It's the right thing to obey the gospel. It's the right thing
to take the lowest seat in the house. It's the right thing to
be honest. It's the right thing to give
Him all the glory. It's the right thing to be a
servant. You really want to do the right thing. You want to
love God and you want to love your neighbor as yourself. Where
there is a pursual of righteousness, there is a pursual of rightness. And whenever there's a pursual
of mercy, There is a pursual of being merciful. Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Now if you pursue
the mercy of God, you're going to pursue being a merciful person. And if you don't pursue being
a merciful person, you've never really pursued the mercy of God. Now that person who pursues righteousness,
That person who pursues mercy, here is what they'll find. It
says he'll find life, it says he'll find righteousness, and
it says he'll find honor. Now that's the promise. He that
pursues righteousness and mercy shall find life. Now what that
is a reference to is spiritual life. You see, by nature, we're
dead in trespasses and sins. By nature, we may be religious,
but we have no apprehension of who God really is. We have no
apprehension of who we really are. We have no idea how sinful
we really are. We're dead in sins. We can't
see the gospel. We can't hear the gospel. We
may hear the words, but we don't hear with hearing ears. We can't
feel the joy and peace of believing. We're strangers to these things,
dead in sins. But that person who pursues righteousness
and mercy does so because he's already been given life. You
see, without life you will not pursue these things. You see,
life, logically, must come before faith. You can't believe with
your old nature. You can't repent with your old
nature. You can't love with your old nature. Your old nature is
dead in sins. Logically, you must be given
life before you can believe. But as far as our experience
goes, life and faith come at the precise same time. When you believe, you live. And when you live, you believe. You have life before God. Now, having His righteousness,
having His mercy, I'm given by Him life, life before God, being
born from above, I have life. That means I can now hear the
gospel with hearing ears. I can now see Now God can be
just and justify the ungodly. I have tasted of His grace and
I have felt the joy and the peace of believing. I have smelled
the sweet savor of His sacrifice. I perform the functions of life.
Before I couldn't, but now I do. Having righteousness, having
mercy, I have life, life before God. The Lord said, I am come
that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. Every believer has life before
God. But not only do we find life
in the pursual of righteousness and mercy, we find righteousness. In pursuing His righteousness,
we possess His righteousness. It is ours. Isaiah chapter 54
verse 17 says, their righteousness is of me. Their personal righteousness
is of me. Every believer actually possesses
the very righteousness of God. The only righteousness there
is, the perfect obedience of Christ. That person who seeks
righteousness finds righteousness. If you seek to be found in Christ
and His righteousness, you've been found in Christ and His
righteousness. You have the righteousness of
God, the only righteousness there is. I love that scripture in
Hebrews 11, verse 4, where it says, By faith Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by the which he obtained
witness that he was righteous. God testifying in His gifts.
It's talking about the sacrifice. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ made it to where Abel was actually righteous. It said
a lot. who, if you only read the Old
Testament account, you wouldn't say this about him, but the New
Testament account speaks of Lot as righteous Lot and his righteous
soul. Every believer is actually righteous
before God. If God sees me as righteous,
there's only one reason God sees me that way, because that's how
I am, righteous before God. If you seek righteousness, if
you seek mercy, you will possess righteousness and mercy. Now, not only do we find life,
not only do we find righteousness, but the scripture says we find
honor. Honor. He that seeketh, he that
pursueth, he that followeth righteousness and mercy finds life and righteousness
and honor. Now, what is honor? This word
honor is the same word that is quite usually translated glory. It's the same word that Moses
used when he said, I beseech you, show me your glory. Every believer possesses glory. Christ said, the glory that you've
given me, I have given to them. Now, what is God's glory? Well, when Moses said, I beseech
you, show me your glory, what did the Lord proceed to show
him? But his capacity to save sinners. Now, remember, when
Moses made this request, this bunch had said, let's make a
golden calf and worship it. And Moses is praying for them.
And during this prayer, he says, I beseech you, show me your glory.
And God answers, I make all my goodness pass before you. I'll
proclaim the name of the Lord before you. His name is who He
is, His attributes. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. And I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy. His glory is His capacity to
save. His glory is His capacity to
forgive sinners for Christ's sake. And let me tell you this,
if God does a work of grace in your heart, you now become able
to forgive. And the most divine thing that
a human being by the grace of God can do is to forgive and
to be merciful and to seek the salvation of others. This is
true honor. And remember this, before honor
comes humility. Now, what a promise. If we follow
righteousness, and if we pursue mercy, we will find life, righteousness,
and honor. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer. Thank you. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.