The Exceeding Righteousness of God

How good do I have to be to get into heaven? Am I good enough? Do I need to be better? How much better?

This is the text of a message I preached at Roswell Alliance Church in Roswell, GA. Click on the link for the online service if you prefer to watch or listen. The sermon begins at about the 13th minute.

Video: 36 minutes

Reading time: 7 minutes

Online service – Roswell Alliance Church

Scripture: Matthew 5:17-20; Philippians 3:7-9

Text: Matthew 5:20 “Unless your righteousness exceeds …”

The Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the U.S., used to commemorate each December the celebrities who died during the year with a cartoon on the editorial page. The political cartoonist dabbed stars in a night sky, each with a celebrity’s name.

Without doubt, many of these celebrities did not live godly lives. They were no angels on earth, but here they were, stars in God’s heaven.

Really? Do we live any way we want and then go on to shine in heaven?

The Bible is emphatic: No! Not everyone will be in heaven. Jesus said this plainly on at least three occasions:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

And here, in the Sermon on the Mount: “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

The Bible does not teach universalism. Some do go to heaven; many do not.

Let’s look at this righteousness that Jesus says is mandatory. There is

Righteousness defined

Let’s understand first what we are talking about. What is righteousness? There are two aspects:

• Equity of character
• Integrity

Equity of character. This suggests the influence of others. In the Greek, it is a companion word to justification, which we explored in a previous message.

Integrity. Righteousness is the answer to Romans 7, where Paul shows how our righteousness is broken. It also points to righteousness that exceeds what I have, where I do the good I should and don’t do what I shouldn’t.

This is the beautiful promise of Jeremiah 32:39 “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.”

My Righteousness

Jesus begins by addressing our personal righteousness. If the one depending on their own righteousness has a life verse, it would be Judges 21:25, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Remember, righteousness at its heart is equity of character. Who are you trying to be like? Whose character appeals to you? Who is your role model?

Childhood: The key influence is our parents. We want to please them. We learn their sense of right and wrong.

Adolescence: As we grow older, friends, peers, teachers and other adults become important. We see new people we want to be like. I think of the Gatorade commercial in the early 1990s that featured Michael Jordan. Kids and adults got to play with the star and, after Air Jordan dazzled them, they said, “I wanna play like Mike”.

What does God say about building our self righteousness according to what we see?

“The LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7).

“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—” (Deuteronomy 12:8).

When we rely on ourselves, Paul says we are “without Christ, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

Even we know this isn’t good. We push others away. We build walls. We say, “If you knew me, you wouldn’t like me.”

In terms of the kingdom of God, we are far from it.

Righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees

Then Jesus turns to the most righteous people in Israel, the scribes and Pharisees. Their life verse would be Deuteronomy 6:25 “it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.'”

The scribes and Pharisees took this to heart.

Jesus spoke about a Pharisee who went to the Temple “and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess'” (Luke 18:11-12).

In John 9:34 we hear the Pharisees saying a man Jesus healed, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

A young man we know as the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

And Paul, testified that, “concerning the law, (he was) a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6).

These were righteous people. The best of the best. But they forgot one thing: When you look down on everyone else, you cannot look up to God.

Jesus called them hypocrites. They were arrogant. But they were closer to the kingdom than others.

A scribe asked Jesus about the greatest commandment and praised Jesus for His answer. Jesus in turn commended him. “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:28-34).

In terms of God’s kingdom, they are close. Those who depend on their own righteousness are far off. These are near. But Jesus says neither one is in.

The exceeding righteousness that goes beyond the best of the best.

Finally, Jesus said there is a righteousness that exceeds your own, and even that of the best people you know. Paul had it, and talks about it several times:

Philippians 3:9 “not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ”

Romans 3:21 “the righteousness of God apart from the law.”

The life verse of those who have this “exceeding” righteousness is Romans 3:22 “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.”

This is the righteousness that exceeds what I have.

This is the righteousness that brings us into the kingdom.

It takes the righteousness of God to meet the requirements of God.

If I must have this righteousness to enter heaven, how do I get it?

By faith. By believing what God says about His Son: The Lord our Righteousness.

My righteousness comes by adopting what I see: What’s right in my own eyes.

A better righteousness comes by trying to conform to better standards that don’t depend on people. Paul described his effort in Romans 7. He worked hard to be good according to God’s law. But this still fails because it collapses back into my righteousness; how well I do. Paul concluded he had to give up “my own righteousness, which is from the law.”

The best righteousness is God’s. He bestows His character, makes us partakers of His divine nature.

Let’s see how we arrive at receiving this righteousness by faith.

The law had hundreds of commandments and Moses said our righteousness comes by obeying all of them. On the other hand, break one, and you break all.

Are 613 commandments too many?

What about The Ten Commandments? Can you keep ten? Remember, break one and you break them all.

Are 10 still too many? What about two?

Jesus said two commandments sum up the entire law: Love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself. Even if you have loved your neighbor as yourself, who has loved God wholeheartedly? Two commandments are still too many.

We are left with this conclusion: There is none righteous, not one. The righteousness that comes by faith reduces the commandments to one: Believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved. This is the work of God—the one thing God requires—the work of God is that you believe (John 6:29).

We believe that Jesus is without sin. We believe Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. We believe that we are bankrupt—we have no righteousness of our own—and Jesus is our Redeemer. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves: He saves us.

The Gospel is more than truth to believe. It is to be obeyed.

Believe on the Lord Jesus. Call upon Him, and be saved.

This is the one command that brings to us the one righteousness suitable for heaven.

Receive the grace of God, and He will give you His righteousness.

Do that now, won’t you? Today is the day of God’s favor.