There are two kinds of preaching
that are utterly worthless. First of all, there's that preaching
which is entertaining, and that's what we're getting a lot of today,
entertainment from the pulpit. And while it's entertaining,
it says nothing, absolutely nothing. And that's worthless preaching.
If men are not taught and instructed in the things of God, it's worthless. And the second kind of preaching
that is also worthless is that preaching which is so complicated. Such high sounding words that
the people understand nothing. Now that's worthless preaching.
And I'm not here today to entertain you. You don't want to be entertained. You want to be taught. That's
why you tuned in to this program. And I'm not interested in impressing
you with my understanding of the Bible. I'm not interested
in using words and terms that no one understands. Preaching
is communication. If you're not communicating,
you're not preaching. If men are not understanding
what you're saying, then you're not preaching. It's ineffective. Paul said something about not
using enticing words of man's wisdom. He wanted the faith of
the people not to be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
And so I want to address an all-important subject today, very important
subject, most important, and pray that the Holy Spirit will
enable me to preach in the Spirit, in power, and with understanding,
that you may understand this subject, the righteousness of
God. Now, don't forget that, the righteousness
of God. Kind of write that down now in
your mind and heart, the righteousness of God. You'll hear it a lot
today. Paul declared in Romans 10, 1
through 3, that the people, Israel, very religious people, but he
said they have a zeal for God. They have an enthusiasm for God,
but not according to knowledge. Is that not our day? Much religious
enthusiasm, but not much knowledge. He says they're ignorant for
they're ignorant of the righteousness of God. And that's what I'm speaking
on, the righteousness of God. Tell you something else. Our
Lord set forth four ultimatums. Four ultimatums. First, and you
know something about at least three of them. He said something
like this. Except a man be born again He
cannot enter the kingdom of God. That's regeneration. That's life
from above That's being born of God born of the Word of God,
which is the seed of life born of the Spirit of God receiving
spiritual life that we did not have before having an understanding
of of the gospel. That's the new birth. Except
a man is born again, becomes in Christ a new creature created
by God, then he'll never enter the kingdom of God. And then
our Lord again, he said this, he said, except you repent, repent. That's a change of attitude,
a change of mind regarding God, regarding myself, regarding my
sin, regarding Christ, a whole new attitude. in regard to this
God business and this business of salvation being brought down
in repentance. He said, except you repent, you'll
perish. You'll all likewise perish. And
then thirdly, his disciples, he was in a certain house and
his disciples were walking toward that house and they were arguing
among themselves over who would be the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. And when they got to the house, the master said,
children, what were you talking about on the road here? And it
embarrassed them. But he knew what they were talking
about. He knows all our thoughts. And he said to them, now let
me tell you something. As he set a little child in their
midst, took a little child, brought that child right up in front
of those disciples, these grown men. And he said, I'm going to
tell you something, except you be converted. AND BECOME AS A
LITTLE CHILD, YOU SHALL NOT... YOU SHALL IN NO CASE ENTER INTO
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. BEING BROUGHT DOWN, HUMBLED. YOU SEE, PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION
AND A HAULTED SPIRIT BEFORE THE FALL. GOD RESISTETH THE PROUD,
HE GIVETH GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. HE SAID IN PROVERBS, SIX THINGS
GOD HATES. NUMBER ONE, A PROUD LOOK. So you understand a little bit
about those ultimatums, don't you? That's three of them. I'm
gonna give you the other one in a moment. There's three. Except a man is
born again, he can't enter the kingdom of God. Except a man
repents, he can't enter the kingdom of God. Except a man is converted
and becomes a little child, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Now, in Matthew 5.20, that's my text, if you care to look
it up. In Matthew 5.20, he addresses
the people. who held their religious leaders
and religious laws and ceremonies and organizations in such high
esteem, he addresses them and says this, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
except your righteousness, your holiness, exceed that of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall no wise enter the kingdom of
heaven." Now, who were the scribes and Pharisees? Well, he mentioned
the scribes, and these men were the scholars. They were the religious
scholars of that day. It was their task They were employed
in the writing and expounding of the scriptures and the law.
These men had the responsibility of translating, transcribing,
and teaching the Word of God. And Christ said to these poor,
humble fishermen, if your holiness and righteousness does not exceed
the righteousness of those scholars, You shall not enter the kingdom
of God. And then he mentions the Pharisees too. Who were the
Pharisees? They were the strictest group
among the Jews, the strictest group now for outward morality,
for religion. FOR PERSONAL PIETY. THEY WERE
THE STRICTEST SECT AMONG THE JEWS FOR PERSONAL MORALITY AND
PIETY. AND OUR LORD SAYS, IN ORDER FOR
US TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, WE HAVE TO HAVE A HOLINESS AND
A RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT ALMOST AS GOOD AS THESE MEN, NOR AS GOOD
AS THESE MEN, BUT BETTER THAN THE BEST MAN. NOW, HE'S NOT TALKING
ABOUT AN OUTWARD MORALITY HERE ALONE. HE'S TALKING ABOUT AN
INWARD PERFECTION. righteousness, holiness. And what the Lord is clearly
declaring here, my friend, is this, that not one person on
this earth, even the best human being, the most learned and educated,
the most pious, and not one who's ever lived on this earth is holy
enough or righteous enough to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The holiness and righteousness that's required to enter into
the kingdom of heaven is utterly, totally, absolutely impossible
with men. Impossible. The disciples said,
well, who can be saved? He said, with men it's impossible.
No salvation with men. It's an absolute impossibility. Man at his best state in God's
sight is altogether vanity. THERE IS NONE GOOD, NO, NOT ONE. THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO,
NOT ONE. THERE IS NONE THAT UNDERSTANDETH,
NO, NOT ONE. AND WITHOUT TRUE HOLINESS, NO
MAN, THE APOSTLE SAID, SHALL SEE THE LORD. YOU SEE, MY FRIENDS,
IF YOU GO THROUGH THE BIBLE, YOU'LL FIND THAT THE BEST MEN
WHO EVER LIVED LAMENTED THEIR SINS. JOB, GOD DECLARED HIMSELF
THAT JOB WAS A... was a godly man who hated sin
and shunned evil. And yet Job confesses before
God, I hate myself. I repent of my sins in sackcloth
and ashes. Isaiah was a man who was permitted
to see the Lord as no other man had seen him high and lifted
up in his glory. And when Isaiah saw the Lord,
what did he declare? Isaiah now, prophet of old, quoted
so many times by the master. He said, I'm undone. I'm cut
off. I'm a man of unclean lips. David,
man after God's own heart. David, sweet psalmist of Israel,
son of Jesse, man highly exalted of God, greatly used of God,
kept saying, my sins are ever before me. Paul, the apostle,
we talked about recently, said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? What I'm saying and
what the masters say is the holiness and righteousness which God requires,
which is necessary in order for you to enter the kingdom of heaven
is utterly, absolutely impossible. It's as impossible as a leopard
changing his spots or an Ethiopian changing his skin. That's what
Jeremiah said. Well, what's to be done? What's
to be done? Where can we find help? Is there
righteousness with which God will be pleased? Is there righteousness
which God will accept? Well, the good news is yes. But
it's not in you, it's not in your church, or in your pastor,
or in your religion, or in your pope, or in your cardinals, or
in your beads, or in Mary, or in your evangelist, or in your
decision, or in your baptism. This righteousness is in Christ. It's the righteousness of God
in Christ Jesus. That's the truth. Let me try
to help you to understand this righteousness of God with four
points from the Word. Righteousness lost. Secondly,
righteousness required. Thirdly, righteousness provided. And fourthly, righteousness imparted. All right, let's look at righteousness
lost. That's important, that's first.
God made man upright, no question about it. He made man upright. He made man righteous and holy.
This man walked and talked with God in perfect fellowship. But
as the representative of our human race, he fell, and he lost
that righteousness. Man was created, the scripture
says, upright, and he sought out many inventions. AND AS A
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HUMAN RACE, HE FELL AND LOST THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS. YOU SAY, PREACHER, WHERE IS THAT
IN THE WORD OF GOD? ROMANS 5, VERSE 12. LISTEN TO THIS. WHEREFORE
BY ONE MAN SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD, AND DEATH BY SIN. WATCH IT NOW. SO DEATH PASSED
UPON ALL MEN. ADAM WAS A REPRESENTATIVE PERSON.
ADAM WAS A FEDERAL HEAD. GOD JUST CREATED ONE MAN. DO
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? God created one man and every
human being, everyone with flesh and blood and bones came from
that one man. He only created one man. And
that man was the head of the human race. By one man, sin entered
the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. For
as by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. In
Adam, we all die. So when Adam fell, he lost something. And when he lost it, we lost
it. What'd he lose? He lost righteousness. And it
was a threefold loss. Now listen to this, a threefold
loss. First of all, he lost his righteous nature. Look at man
before the fall, naked, unashamed, walked with God without fear,
loved his wife Eve in perfect harmony with the place, the garden
in which he lived, no problem. And then he fell and he became
ashamed. And he became fearful. He ran
and hid. And then he was filled with hate.
He said, it's the woman's fault. And then he blamed God. He said,
the woman you created, it's you that created her, so then it's
your fault. He became self-righteous, ashamed, guilty, hid himself
from God, fearful, hateful, and self-righteous. He's lost his
righteous nature. He's no longer holy. And that's
passed on down from father to son to daughter. We're born in
sin, shapen in iniquity, brought forth speaking lies, without
God, without hope, without help, without life, dead in trespasses
and sin. Man not only lost his righteous
nature, but he lost a legal righteousness and standing before God, God
put him out. He put him out of the garden.
Get out. You can't abide in God's presence
in sin. You see, your sins have separated
you and your God. In the flesh, no man can please
God. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing, and God dwells in a light under which no man can approach.
It's a threefold loss, I said, didn't I? Lost his righteous
nature, lost his standing before God, and thirdly, he lost an
understanding of God's righteousness. HE DOESN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND. HE
CALLS SWEET BITTER AND BITTER SWEET. HE CALLS GOOD EVIL AND
EVIL GOOD. HE'S DECEIVED INTO THINKING HE
HAS A RIGHTEOUSNESS. THAT'S WHAT PAUL SAID IN ROMANS
10, THEY'RE GOING ABOUT TO ESTABLISH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS. AND
PREACHERS AND PEOPLE TODAY ARE MAKING ALL SORTS OF RULES AND
REGULATIONS FOR US TO ESTABLISH A RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEY'RE TELLING
US ALL KIND OF THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO IN ORDER TO PLEASE
GOD. NOT UNDERSTANDING THAT THE TRUE HOLINESS OF GOD IS NOT IN
DOING, IT'S IN BEING. And what I am, I'll do. That's
what Christ said to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of that
day in which he walked on this earth. He said, you clean the
outside of the cup, but you're full of dead men's bones on the
inside. You hypocrite, cleanse first
that which is within. You've got to have a new nature,
a new righteousness, and then the outside will be clean. You
do what you are. So man had a threefold loss in
the garden. He lost his nature of righteousness. He's no longer righteous. He
lost his standing before God, and he lost his understanding.
He has no conception of what it is to be holy and what holiness
is. That brings me to the next point,
righteousness required. What does the Lord require of
thee? You say you're going to please God. What will it take
to please God? YOU SAY YOU'RE GONNA MAKE YOURSELF
ACCEPTABLE BEFORE GOD? WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO DO THAT?
WELL, LET'S FIND OUT. DEUTERONOMY 10. WHAT DOES THE
LORD THY GOD REQUIRE OF THEE, O ISRAEL? NUMBER ONE, TO FEAR
THE LORD THY GOD. REVERENCE, WORSHIP, FEAR. TO WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS. NOW, SOME OF THEM, CURSED IS
EVERYONE THAT CONTINUETH NOT IN ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE
BOOK OF THE LAW TO DO. Now, to think about it or to
prove of it, to walk in all His ways. Thirdly, to love Him. How
did Christ say to love God? With all your heart, mind, soul,
and strength. Fourthly, to serve the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Him only shalt
thou serve. My, my, that one verse is enough
to put every one of us under deep distress and conviction,
huh? Crying, I have not fulfilled
a single one of those. But that's what God requires.
You see, a man's definition of holiness depends to a great extent
on his understanding of God's holiness. This is the problem
with my generation. They've never seen God in His
holiness. Only God can please God. Only
God can please God. The scripture says, to be accepted,
it must be perfect. What righteousness does God require? Perfection, inwardly and outwardly,
forever. And therefore, Galatians 3.10,
Paul said, Cursed under God's wrath is everyone, Jew and Gentile,
that continueth not without interruption. TO IN ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE
LAW, IN ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE LAW, TO DO THEM. THAT'S THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS REQUIRED. PERFECT. WELL, THAT LETS US OUT, DOESN'T
IT? WE'VE LOST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. WE'VE LOST OUR RIGHTEOUS NATURE.
WE'VE LOST OUR CONTACT WITH GOD. We've lost an understanding of
God and here we're frustrated and confused and God presents
what's required of a man to do the whole law. Well, is there
righteousness provided? Yes, sir. Turn to Romans 3, verse
19 through 24. Everybody ought to have this
marked in their Bibles. Romans 3, verse 19 through 24,
and it'll give you a clear understanding of what, of where a pure, perfect
holiness for sinners is found, where it's found. Romans 3, 19,
listen, listen, I'll read it. Now we know that whatsoever things
the law saith, It saith to them, all them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty
before God. Therefore, because we're guilty,
all of us, me, you, every human being, therefore by the deeds
of the law, by the works of the flesh, there shall no flesh be
justified in God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now, right now, the righteousness of God, the holiness
of God, that doesn't consist in what a man wears, black or
blue, red or yellow. how long his sleeves are, whether
he wears jewelry or not, whether he watches television or doesn't,
whether he reads a paper or not. It's not a holiness and a righteousness
that some man can put on and take off that he, geographical,
he can have in one place and when he's waiting home, forget
it, or at the church or have a different standard somewhere.
This is God's holiness. Perfect heart, perfect love,
perfect faith, perfect truth, perfect life, perfect obedience. This is God's holiness. This
is the righteousness of God. The holiness of God. This is
that righteousness required. Perfect inside and out, from
top to bottom, sideways and everywhere. Perfect. And it's a righteousness
of God. And it's without the law. It's
without the law. It's without my conformity to
the law, because I'm not conformed to the law. I'd like to be, but
I'm not. You're not either. It's being witnessed by the Word
of God, and it's the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. It's the holiness of God which
is through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. It's the righteousness
and holiness of God that's computed to a sinner through the obedience
of Jesus Christ, through the holiness of another. How holy
was Jesus Christ? As holy as God. He thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, who was himself in the form
of God. You see, here's two Adams. In
the first Adam, WE WERE REPRESENTED IN THE FLESH AND WE DIED. WE
LOST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. GOD SENT A SECOND ADAM. HE'S
CALLED THE SECOND ADAM THE LORD FROM HEAVEN IN FIRST CORINTHIANS
15. AND THAT SECOND ADAM REPRESENTED A NEW RACE, A NEW PEOPLE, GOD'S
ELECT. AND HE CAME TO THIS EARTH IN
THE SAME WAY THAT WE FELL IN ADAM, WE WERE RESTORED IN CHRIST
BECAUSE CHRIST KEPT GOD'S LAW PERFECTLY. HE WAS A PERFECT MAN
IN WHOM THERE WAS NO GUILE. AND BY BELIEVING ON HIM, BY A
LIVING UNION WITH HIM, BY FAITH IN HIM, BY GOD ACCEPTING ME IN
CHRIST AND LOVING ME IN CHRIST AND REGARDING ME IN CHRIST, I
HAVE A PERFECT HOLINESS, ONE THAT I DIDN'T WORK OUT WITHOUT
THE LAW. One that all the Old Testament
prophets believed, Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him
for righteousness, holiness, the holiness God demands. And
so Christ said to those men, he said, accept your righteousness,
exceed. The scribes, they were working
out their own and it wasn't good enough. And the Pharisees, they
were working out their own, but it wasn't good enough. But except
your righteousness exceed theirs, and we have one that does exceed
theirs, it's the righteousness of Christ the Lord Himself. of whom the Father said, This
is my Son, in whom I'm well pleased." Well, you say, Preacher, who's
this Father? It's the righteousness of God, which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, male, female, Old or young, bond or
free, Jew or Gentile. Listen to these verses of Scripture.
2 Corinthians 5, 21, He was made sin for us. Christ who knew no
sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God, the holiness of God in Him, in Him. Romans 10, 4, Christ
is the end of the law. Consummation of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth Galatians 3 13 Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Romans 5
19 by the obedience of one shall many be Justified Paul said for
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ It's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and
also to the Greek for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. There's the righteousness provided,
perfected, purchased, and imputed to all who believe. You see what
the Lord's saying? Did I make that clear? Our righteousness
was lost in the garden. We don't have one, and we can't
produce one. God's righteousness, which He
requires, has never changed. PERFECT AND HOLY. AND WE FALL SHORT. BUT THERE
IS A RIGHTEOUSNESS PROVIDED AND PURCHASED BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
AS OUR REPRESENTATIVE, AS OUR REDEEMER, AS OUR SAVIOR. HAVE
YOU HEARD THAT? AND IF YOU CAN BELIEVE ON HIM
AND RECEIVE HIM, YOU'LL BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.
NOW, LET ME CLOSE WITH THIS COMMENT. I WANT YOU TO LISTEN. THERE IS
ALSO A RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPARTED imparted, that's given. Now,
God Almighty in many places calls His people righteous people. In Peter, He calls them righteous
people. And then also He said, If the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? And then in Job 17, 9, He said, The righteous
shall hold his way. And then He said of one of His
Old Testament prophets, He is a righteous man. Now, God's people
are called in the Word of God righteous. And they're called
righteous, first of all, because they're righteous in Christ.
He is our righteousness. He is our holiness. THE PEOPLE
OF GOD LAY NO CLAIM TO PERSONAL HOLINESS. YOU'D EMBARRASS ONE
OF THEM BY WALKING UP AND SAYING, YOU'RE HOLY, AREN'T YOU? THAT'D
BE EMBARRASSING TO A TRULY REDEEMED PERSON BECAUSE HE KNOWS THERE'S
TOO MUCH IN HIM THAT'S UNHOLY, TOO MUCH ABOUT HIM THAT'S UNHOLY.
HE WANTS TO BE HOLY. HE IS HOLY IN CHRIST. but he
doesn't brag about his works or his holiness because he knows
his best works without Christ are filthy rags in God's sight.
But if any man be in Christ, now you get this, he is a new
creature. He is a new creature. The Bible
does not teach that a person is saved and will reach heaven
even if he leaves the way of faith and the way of life and
the way of God. THE TRUE BELIEVER WILL CONTINUE
IN THE FAITH. HE'LL CONTINUE IN LOVE. HE'LL
CONTINUE IN GODLINESS. HE'LL CONTINUE IN HOPE. AND HE
SHALL NOT ONLY CONTINUE, BUT HE'S GOING TO GROW IN GRACE IN
THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST JESUS. I'M SAYING THAT GOD'S PEOPLE
ARE NOT WITHOUT SIN, BUT THEY DO HATE SIN. AND THEY LONG TO
BE LIKE CHRIST. THEY WALK IN THE SPIRIT OF GOD
AND THEY MIND THE THINGS OF GOD. AND THEY LOVE GOD AND THEY LOVE
OTHERS. and they're honest people and faithful people and generous
people and kind people. Now I have two messages on this
tape. I have a message I preached last week on the subject Paul,
the preacher's pattern. And this message I preached today,
I want you to get this tape and listen again, let somebody else
listen, the righteousness of God. Send $2 and we'll mail it
to you. Until next week, God bless you
everyone.