Yes, we want to figure it out, but you come to it humbly and lowly, not to prove my positions and my church doctrine and what I've been taught. No, no. I come yielded and submitted for God to instruct me in the way of His righteousness, for Him to teach me. So I don't come with preconceived doctrine. The truth is all of us come to the Scripture with preconceived doctrine. But I'll tell you, one of the greatest prayers you can pray, I don't know if you've ever prayed this, but I prayed this about 13 years ago, and it will change your life if you pray this from your heart. I went before God and I said, God, please, if I've learned anything that's wrong, if I've believed anything that's error, that's not true from you, God, if I've taught, I'd been teaching the Bible for about five years at that point. God, if I've taught anything that's wrong, oh God, please, I reject it, I renounce it. Lord, reprove me, correct me. All I want is to know what's true in your eyes, what's true from your mouth. I don't care who else preaches it, who else teaches it. I don't care how many of them all join hand in hand and say, this is the truth. God, I just want to know what's true from your mouth. And I'm telling you, if you'll just bring that before the Lord, bring yourself before the Lord, and you just start searching these scriptures, not to analyze it and break it down, not to find clever little cute sayings to try to convince people, but if you'll just bring yourself before the scriptures as like a weaned child. Who is he going to teach doctrine to? Who is he going to make to understand knowledge? Them that are weaned from the milk, drawn from the breast, right? So if you'll come, like David, David said, I'm before you like a weaned child, just feed me, just teach me, I love your statutes, I just want to drink it in. If you'll come before the Lord and these scriptures with that kind of heart. Let Him form and mold and shape who you are in Him, your understanding, all of those things, and it'll be from Him, of Him, through Him, and all back to Him. telling you what you're gonna find out it's righteousness is not of you me the Baptist Church the modern easy believism gospel righteousness is of God it's his righteousness amen He's righteous. And you're going to see God giving laws, and God giving statutes, and God executing judgments. You're going to go, this God seems so severe. He seems so hard. And then people are going to tell you, no, but that was just Old Testament. Now Jesus has come, and it's different. It's just love now. No, no, no, no. Don't listen to people. Don't listen to people. God is righteous in everything He's done. In fact, until His judgments are in the earth, the people will not be free to praise Him and glorify Him with everything. You're going to see when His judgments are in the earth is when His people will finally be fully free to just praise Him and glorify Him with everything that they are. God's judgments are just. God's judgments are right. Righteous and true is the Lord Almighty. Amen? He's faithful. He's faithful. I want you to understand something about God. The heart of God. What is the heart of God? What is the heart of Jesus Christ? What is it? Well, a lot of people say His heart is love, right? God is love. Yeah, holiness. And his heart is love, but the question is, what does God love? You ever thought about that? What does God love? He said he loves us, amen. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So God does love us, that's true. Loves a pure heart, loves his creation. He loves what? He loves judgment and justice, amen. Amen. He loves the broken and contrite spirit. Amen. We're throwing a lot of things out there. Let me show you something from Hebrews 1. I'm sure you've read this many times. But this is something about Jesus Christ. And in this scripture, it's going to explain why the Father loves Jesus Christ more than anybody else. I think something that's important to establish when it comes to God's love for people. Yes, God loves all people in the sense that He created them. He doesn't want to see them go to hell. He did everything possible that He could to save them. In the end, everybody still has a choice. He can't force people to be saved. So He's done everything He can. So yes, He loves people. But let's understand this. God does have favorites, okay? And the Father has one favorite who's above all, okay? Now I want you to understand this. This is very important to understand. The Father only with one person ever did this in the history of mankind. He did it two times. Part of the clouds opened the heavens, spoke directly from heaven and said, this is my beloved son. hear ye him, listen to him, okay? So, look it, does God love me? I think he does, I do, I see his grace in my life. But he's never parted the clouds, opened the heavens, shone a light on Adam Caesar and said, this is my beloved son, you better listen to him, okay? Never. Okay? And he didn't do that for you, and he didn't do it for the Pope, and he didn't do it for Mary, and he didn't do it for Muhammad, and he didn't do it for Buddha, or Mandela, or Trump, okay? Sorry, I hate to burst your Trump bubble. He didn't do it for Donald Trump, okay? There's one man who walked this earth that God, part of the clouds, part of the heavens, said, this is my beloved Son, whom I am well pleased. The Father has favorites. In fact, he has one favorite, and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said, the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he'll show you greater things than these that ye may marvel. So the Father loves the Son. He said, all things are delivered to me of my Father. No man knoweth the Father except the Son, save the Son. No man knoweth the Son, save the Father. So the Father loves the Son above all. Why did he love the Son so much? Hebrews 1. Verse 8, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. Remember, what makes Jesus the Son of God? Okay, yes, I understand historically that a seed was planted in Mary by God himself. Man did not plant that seed. So as a human being that was born on this earth, He didn't have an earthly father. He was the son of God. Yes, he was the son of Mary, but he was the son of God. That was who his father was, okay? So we understand that. But if you look through the Old Testament, the prophecies of who the son of God would be was that he would be the king that would be chosen by the father, would be set on Zion, and would rule the entire earth with a rod of iron, and he would dash all his enemies to pieces, okay? And anybody who wouldn't bow to the son and serve him with fear and trembling, and come before him and kiss him, was going to be cast into outer darkness. Okay, this is who the Son of God is. Okay, so, unto the Son he saith, thy throne. Okay, we're talking about a king. Amen? If you were preached a gospel, any gospel that didn't reveal to you that Jesus was the king, that he's Lord, you were not preached the full gospel. It was a false gospel. I'm against this personal savior gospel, and I'll come strongly against it, because Jesus never preached anything like it, and the apostles never taught anything like it. It's absolute heresy. Now, does the Lord from heaven, does the King from heaven, is he willing to save you personally? He is. But the gospel ain't, hey, you just accept him as your personal savior, ask him to come into your heart, you're gonna go to heaven. That's garbage. You can't find anything like that in the scriptures. No, no, thy throne, talking about a king, oh God, he's deity, okay? He is the word made flesh, right? Thy throne, oh God, is forever and ever. The gospel is a gospel of everlasting life. That's what makes it so glorious. Ever and ever. Notice, a scepter of what? Okay, a king rules with a scepter. He makes decrees with a scepter. He decrees justice with a scepter. What scepter is Jesus Christ holding and ruling his kingdom with? It's a scepter of righteousness. This is the scepter of thy kingdom. Watch verse nine. Thou, it's Jesus Christ, has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, that's the Father. Okay, so notice, what does Jesus love? What's his heart? His heart's a heart of righteousness. What's he hate? He hates iniquity. Again, iniquity are those inner spiritual sins where you exalt something or some other way that's not God's way, where you begin to exalt your way. either at the same level of God's or even above God's. It's iniquity. God despises it, okay? That's exactly what Lucifer did. Exalted his own way up to be on the same level as God. No, no, that's blasphemy. And you know what? He loves righteousness. He hates iniquity. Therefore, see this is why. Why did the Father anoint Jesus, choose Jesus, love Jesus more than anybody else? because he loved righteousness and iniquity. That's why God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Amen? Oh, Jesus. Jesus. Let's go to the book of Proverbs real quick. The heart of God is a heart of righteousness, the heart of Jesus Christ. The Father loved Jesus so much, not because he was just running around going, I love you guys, you're amazing, I got a great plan for you, I'm gonna do something wonderful in your life. That's not what Jesus did, he didn't do that. He loved Jesus so much because Jesus loved righteousness and he hated iniquity. He didn't give an inch to sin. He didn't give an inch to iniquity, not an inch. No compromise with Jesus Christ. Perfect love, perfect hatred. We've got to pray. Please, Lord, open. Open people's eyes. Take the veil away from people's eyes, these charismatics. Please, Lord. There's some, I'm telling you, I've been working with them for the last few years. There's some that really have a heart for the Lord, but this false doctrine messes them up so much. Please, Lord, pull them out. Call them out of this confusion. A young man, I'm telling you, this kid, he wants to be consecrated to the Lord. I can see it. but all he's ever been taught is God is love, God is love. And he gets up and he preaches, and it's all he knows, so he preaches it, you know, and it's good. I asked him a question, I said, yeah, God is love, I said, but do you think he hates anything? He goes, no, I don't think so, he's love. And then I show him the scripture, Hebrews 1, 9. He goes, no, no, I don't agree with that. Now listen, now listen, now look, now look, I'll tell you, I've seen him a few weeks after and he's slowly, it takes, it sometimes takes people time, okay? Takes some time, and so please Lord, but Jesus Christ, perfect love, perfect hatred. Let me find some of these scriptures here. Look at this, look at Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. I might use my phone here for a second, just look up some keywords. It's not the one I grew up reading for. Proverbs 15, look at verse nine. Go back to verse eight even. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord. Okay, if someone's wicked, they're living in wickedness, they can bring sacrifices to the Lord. Cain brought a sacrifice to the Lord. It was an abomination. No, I don't respect it. Now, God will warn you and he'll give you a chance to repent and to change and learn how to do things the right way, but sacrifice the wicked is an abomination of the Lord. But the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord, but he loveth him. Who does God love? He loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Because you just saw the Father loved Jesus Christ and anointed him with the oil of gladness because Jesus Christ loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Right here in Proverbs it says that the sacrifice of the wicked, the way of the wicked, it's an abomination to learn. Take it away from me, I don't want it. People who are proud and are arrogant and come in their own spirit with their own ways, God resists them. He resists them. But the upright, those who follow after righteousness, the Lord loves those people. He loves them. Amen. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination of the Lord. but the words of the pure, amen, amen. Okay, let me go back to chapter 11. Actually, go back to chapter 10 even, then we'll go to chapter 11. Chapter 10, watch this, what a beautiful scripture. Chapter 10, verse two. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing. But righteousness delivereth from death. I want you to understand something. The only thing that's going to save you from death and hell is righteousness. Righteousness delivers you from death. Look at chapter 11. Verse four, this beautiful scripture, know this scripture, have this scripture, be ready to bear testimony of this truth. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. Okay, when God brings his day of wrath, it doesn't matter how much money you have, how much you've accumulated, how big lands and businesses and houses, that's all nothing. It will profit you nothing in the day of wrath. There's only one thing that will deliver you in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivered from death. Righteousness delivered from death. Remember, what led to death? Sin leads to death. So the only way to escape death, which comes from sin, is the opposite of sin, which is righteousness. You read the scriptures, righteousness is the opposite of sin, okay? Sin leads to death, so how do I escape death? Righteousness, that's the only way that's gonna escape death. Look at verse 19, same chapter. Actually, we'll go to verse 18 first, then verse 19. Verse 18, the wicked work of the deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. Okay, want to sow righteousness. Watch this, verse 19, as righteousness tendeth to life. What leads to life? What brings forth life? It's righteousness. So he that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death. Look at chapter 12. Just want to exalt righteousness a little bit for you here. Just want you to want to exalt righteousness. If this, if this stirs your heart, amen. If this puts you to sleep, well, then you've got to pray, God, God, refix your spirit. Help your spirit. Because this should stir your heart. God loves righteousness. Yes. We're going to get there. Great question. I couldn't ask for a better set up. Like, it's right over the plate. OK, we'll knock this one out of the park, OK? Chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 17, he that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness. Okay, so how is righteousness going to be brought forth? How it's going to be revealed? How is it going to be revealed? Through speaking truth, okay? He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. Verse five, amen, the thoughts of the righteous are right, absolutely. Watch this, I love this one, look at verse 28. In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death. Okay, what's the heart of God? It's the heart of righteousness. He loves righteousness. Why do you love Jesus Christ more than everybody else? Because Jesus Christ loved righteousness, always did righteousness, and showed forth righteousness by the words of truth that he spoke. And you know what? There's no death in that pathway. Even if you've got to come through death, even if you've got to go through the valley of the shadow of death like Jesus Christ, there's no death in that pathway. Can't stop you. Righteousness blazed right through on everlasting life, okay? Look at chapter 13, verse 6. Verse 5 is a good one. A righteous man hateth lying. If you still think lying's okay, you're not righteous. Verse 6. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way, but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. So you're gonna see this important of being upright and righteous. Upright and righteous. And if you're upright, righteousness will keep you in the way. Even if you tend to, even if you wander a little bit, righteousness is gonna keep you in the way if you're upright. Okay? Let's go back to chapter eight. Chapter eight. So, how are we going to find out about righteousness? Well, chapter 8, God has sent forth a spirit into the earth named Wisdom, and she cries, and she instructs, she preaches. And she's calling, notice in verse 4, "'Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.'" One of the plagues I've seen in modern man is people just want to remain simple and foolish. But one of the things you're going to see about the true path of everlasting life is that it's impossible. It's impossible to remain simple and foolish and end up in the kingdom of God. It's impossible. You have to forsake simplicity. Yes, we start simple and God is faithful to start us simple, but we can't remain simple like children, okay? We have to forsake foolishness to go in the way of understanding, to go in the way of life, okay? And this is a plague of the modern charismatic movement is they just want sensual feelings and experiences and nobody wants to sit and actually learn and drink in, and meditate, and consider, and begin to change their way of life. They just want a quick fix, like people who go to the doctor and just want a quick pill, or just want a quick thing. They don't want to actually understand how the body works, and why do I keep having these same problems over and over, and let's actually get to the root problem and fix it. No, I'm just looking for a quick fix. And Christianity's turning to the same junk. You can't do that with your spirit and your heart and your soul and end up in the path of life. You have to forsake simplicity and foolishness and go on the way of understanding. Verse 6, she says, Oh, God have mercy on Americans. God have mercy on white people. Oh, white people, please, God have mercy on the white man. I meet so many people, all they know how to do is talk. They'll ask you a question, you try to respond, within five seconds they're either drifting off or interjecting or cutting back in. Where is the skill of listening and hearing? If you can't hear, you can't be saved. Faith cometh by hearing. In Isaiah 55, he says, man, it doesn't matter, you don't need money. You don't need money, you can come and you can drink and you can eat, but the only way that can happen is you gotta hear and your soul shall live. You gotta hearken, you gotta incline your ear. That's the only way, that everlasting covenant, you're gonna enter into it, okay? So she says, hear. For I will speak of excellent things, not base things, not common things, excellent things that excel. And the opening of my lips shall be right things. Amen, that's righteousness. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination of my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction and not silver." And it's implied, receive my knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. And she says, I, wisdom, do all prudence, find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogancy, the evil way, the froward mount, do I hate? Counsel is mine, sound wisdom, I am understanding, I have strength. By me, kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me, princes rule, nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me. Those that seek me early shall find me. Watch this. Riches and honor are with me, yea. durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I might cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures. Amen? So listen, God has sent forth his wisdom with his words of truth into the earth. And she's calling. She's going, don't chase money. Most people, most men, most of their lives, they were chasing money. Guess what? You don't know the Lord if you're chasing money. Jesus said, you can't serve God and mammon. It's impossible. Chasing money. She says, no, no, don't chase money. People chasing women, chasing pleasure, chasing experience. Or some people aren't chasing anything. They're just sitting on the couch watching a bunch of nonsense. They're not chasing. They've just given up. They're just sitting around. OK, look it. None of that is righteousness. None of that is God's way. God says, listen, I created male and female not to be fools, not to be simple, not to be bumbling about with no understanding. I created them in my image. And they are supposed to grow and have wisdom and understanding and counsel and knowledge and might. I want them to become like me. This is called righteousness. And wisdom says, everything I say is right. It's true. And with me, with me are riches. Listen, when you chase riches, guess what? In the end, you won't even have it. Even if you get it for a moment, you're going to lose it. It's all nothing. But if you'll chase wisdom, if you'll chase after the wisdom of God, if you'll chase after her, you'll get riches. You'll get honor. In fact, you'll get righteousness, which is why it's going to last. God is righteous. He's a God of righteousness. What is righteousness? Well, basically, it's pretty simple. The word right is in it. It's basically whatever is right in God's eyes. You see, that's important. You know, those scriptures and proverbs, it's there a couple times. I think it's chapter 14 or somewhere around there. It says, every way of a man is right in his own eyes, 14.12. There's a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." In other words, the way of man is right in his own eyes. Okay, listen. So when it comes to righteousness, we're talking about what is right. And here's the bottom line. It doesn't matter what you and I think is right. Because we're not the creator. We don't own heaven and earth. This isn't our creation. We're not the final judge. So that's why the scripture says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. See, if I want righteousness, I need wisdom. But if I want wisdom, I need to fear the Lord. Fear the Lord means, I get to the point where it doesn't matter what I think, it doesn't matter what they think, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, really all that matters is what does God say? What does He say? Because in the end, I'm gonna stand before Him and everything is gonna be brought before Him in judgment, every secret thing, whether it be good or evil. And in the end, all that matters is what does He say is right? He's the one who draws the line between what's good and evil, what's right and what's sin. He draws the line, okay? So, when we're talking about righteousness, yes, there's all different kinds of righteousness. But in the end, there's only one righteousness that matters. There's only one righteousness that's gonna last, and it's God's righteousness. What does he say is right? What's right in his eyes? Does it make sense? God is a God of righteousness, and he loves righteousness. He doesn't love us coming up with our own ways of what we think is right. He doesn't want us forming our own church with what pleases us and what makes us feel good. He doesn't want us forming our own religious system that, you know, makes us feel like we're really spiritual. All that stuff means nothing to Him. In the end, all that matters is what does He say is right, what does He say is true, what does He say is sin, And we must abide by, believe, abide by in what's right and reject and refuse what is sin and what's wrong. It's really that simple. He determines righteousness. Okay. Amen. Yeah, that's beautiful. Amen. Amen. It's beautiful. And notice the context of this whole psalm. First off, we're extolling God who's the king. Psalm 145, we're extolling God who's the king, we're blessing his name forever and ever. So first it's him, it's all about him. And notice verse five, we're speaking of his glorious honor and his majesty, his wondrous works. We're declaring his mighty acts, speaking of his might, his terrible works. Seven, his great goodness, singing of his righteousness, the Lord is gracious. Okay, and then what does it come to? Then it talks about his kingdom. verse 12 verse 13 his kingdom his kingdom remember Jesus Christ came said repent the kingdom of God is at hand what did he command his disciples should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness not your righteousness not your kingdom his kingdom and his righteousness okay and then The eyes of all wait upon Thee. Verse 17, the Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. The Lord is nigh, who does He come close to? Unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. And who are those people? He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him. He also will hear their cry and save them. And the Lord preserveth all them that love Him, but the wicked will He destroy. So, He's righteous in everything. He's faithful and true. Now, man has corrupted his way on the earth. We know that. Man has fallen into sin. So, what hope is there for man? Well, we know what God did in the Old Testament. He gave a law. Wrote it in stone. Bam! This is what's right. This is what's wrong. Do it and live. Don't do it, you're cursed. Right? He wrote it straight up. And there were many zealous Jews, like Paul. You go to Philippians chapter 3. who they receive that law, and they go, yeah, we can do it. We can do it. I got this. I got this. I'm just going to have to whip myself into more shape. I'm going to have to just straighten myself up. I'm going to have to beat myself. I'm going to just have to get like, you know. And there were guys, they were zealous, and they thought, I can do this thing. And you know what, Paul? He did it! As much as a Persian can do it. Philippians chapter 3, he says, verse 4, "...though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more." He's going, look, you want to put your trust in the flesh. He goes, if anybody could put their trust in the flesh, it'd be me. Now he's not putting his trust in the flesh. You read verse three, he's not putting any confidence in the flesh at this point, because now he's met Christ, OK? But up to that point, he's going, look, man. Verse five, and then he starts listing all the things that made him something special. And he thought made him special in the eyes of God. You've got to understand. Paul wasn't some lost Italian who was just trying to build his own little kingdom and make everything perfect and really didn't give a rip about what God said and just say, oh yeah, JC, the big man upstairs, and God, yeah, I know. No, okay, Paul was not some lost, arrogant Italian just building his own little kingdom, okay? Paul was a man who's searching the scriptures day and night and trying with all of his strength and energy to keep that law and be obedient. This is a true law that God gave. He's trying to do what's right in the eyes of God. Here's what he says, verse 6, concerning zeal, persecuting the church. He couldn't get more zealous than me. A lot of guys just sitting around talking bad about him. I'm going after him, hunting him down, arresting him. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. He's going, nobody could have found one commandment And said, oh, thou shalt not steal. Paul, I saw you steal at the grocery store yesterday. You're out. No. Outwardly speaking, there was not one commandment that you could blame Paul of breaking. Again, I hear this junk all the time. People go, again, this modern sloppy Americans. And I get a little frustrated with it. They make it out like, oh, the law, 613 laws, how could you even know them? There's no way we could keep them. No, that's just because you're sloppy, and you love TV, and you just sit around. OK, listen. If you actually trained yourself with a sharp mind and a willing spirit, you could know all those laws. They could all be memorized, and you could keep them outwardly. It's possible. Paul did it. He said, I'm blameless. Nobody could blame me. But the problem was, That was his righteousness. He was trying to make himself right in the eyes of God, having been handed the scriptures and thinking, I can do it, I can keep it. And you know what? That righteousness won't hold up in the judgment. So Paul, I mean, dude, if you couldn't find a more righteous man, he's not, it's not a false religion, it's not Islam or Buddhism, he's not following some liars or some false prophets. This is the true law that God gave. And outwardly blameless, you can't find anything you could accuse him of. And he's on his way to Damascus to arrest these blasphemers, to arrest these, you know, these disciples of Jesus. But as soon as he meets Jesus Christ, Bam, flat on his face. He's got no power. He's got no strength. He couldn't stand in the presence of God. That righteousness means absolutely nothing when you're going to meet Him, when you're going to stand to Him. And so whatever junk you have in your mind, please, God have mercy on us. Let us stop judging according to the flesh. Let us stop coming up with our own reasoning and our own opinions. It doesn't matter. All that matters is, what does God say? What does God say is true? What does God say is right? Because the only righteousness that's gonna stand in that day is his righteousness. And so that's why Paul said, verse seven, what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Okay, we'll come back to this in a second, but I want you to understand something about righteousness. Righteousness is of God. And God made a promise, you go back to the book of Isaiah. God made a promise. Chapter 56, there's quite a few scriptures like this, but just look at this one. Chapter 56. Now this is in the context of at that time, God had given that law and that law was good. And if you had a true heart to love God, you would keep that law. But you weren't doing it thinking, I can do it in my power. It'd be someone like David who had been broken under the law and had been converted from trusting yourself and trusting in the living God. And so they had to. They had to keep that law. But that law wasn't the full righteousness. That law wasn't the salvation, it was just given for a season, and they were waiting for something greater. This is what God said in Isaiah 56, He said, Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice. So He's not saying forsake the law, He's going to keep it. Keep doing what's right according to the law. Why? For my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. See, it hadn't been revealed yet. His salvation hadn't come yet. His righteousness hadn't been revealed yet, but he says, he goes, just stay faithful because it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Yeah, Lord have mercy. Yeah, this is beautiful. But anyways, so what's the point? The lady asked the question, what does God's righteousness look like in terms of a human being? You couldn't get an easier question to hit the answer out of the park. Who is the salvation of God? His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. He goes, my salvation's coming. I'm gonna reveal my righteousness. Who is the righteousness of God? It's Jesus Christ. He is the righteous. Okay, so God sends his Son, who perfectly reveals in human form, in flesh, what a human being is supposed to be in the eyes of God. How we're supposed to live, what the right heart is, the right spirit, the right mind, how we're supposed to walk, how you're supposed to serve God. Everything of the righteousness of God was revealed in Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God. And so, That's why the only hope we have to become righteous, which, by the way, we need to be righteous. 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived. Fornicators, adulterers, idolaters, effeminate, abusers of themselves, mankind, thieves, perjurer, all this stuff. Anybody that's living a lifestyle of sin, he goes, don't be confused. They're not entering the kingdom of God. They've got nothing to do with God. Only the righteous can inherit the kingdom of God. But the only hope we have to become righteous is Matthew chapter 5. And yes, it's Jesus Christ. Notice Jesus' doctrine. John the Apostle said that if you want to abide in the Father and in the Son, you need to continue in the doctrine of Christ. You need to continue in Christ's doctrine. What did Jesus Christ teach? One of the things I'm shocked, I'm in South Africa and I'm working with a bunch of people who were, they were Christians or part of some form of Christianity and now we're gathering them and learning how to seek God and searching the scriptures. And one of the things I'm shocked is how many people claim to be Christians, they claim the name of Jesus, and how little they know of what Jesus even said. Like, how little they know. And I'm thinking, Christian. Christian means a disciple of Christ, a follower of Jesus Christ, a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Again, Jesus was a master. He taught. To be a disciple means that you're coming under, and you're learning, and you're obeying, and you're putting it into practice, and you're learning how to walk in it. How can you call yourself a disciple of Jesus and barely even know what he taught? You're not a disciple of Jesus. You're not a Christian. OK? Look at what Jesus taught. One of the first things he taught, Matthew 5 verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So notice Christ's doctrine. Your only hope to be righteous is Jesus Christ, How do I actually become a partaker of Jesus Christ? There's a lot of people who think they believe in Jesus, and they're filled with themselves, not Jesus Christ. They're still filled with their own righteousness and what they think is right, what their opinions are, and blah, blah, blah, blah. They're not filled with Christ's righteousness. If you want to partake of Christ, well, here's the key. First up, you need to be emptied of yourself. Verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit. Not rich in spirit, not strong in their own spirit and in their ways. This is why God, please, help us Americans. Because we've been taught from our youth how to be strong in spirit, how to be assertive, how to be dominant, how to take life by the horns. Jesus, blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who've been emptied of their ways, their thoughts, their ideas. Poor, got nothing left. Verse four, how do you actually get there? Well, here's one of the ways, blessed are they that mourn. One of the keys to becoming emptied of yourself is weeping before God. Just mourning and pouring your heart and pouring your soul out before the living God. A Christianity that is devoid of mourning and weeping is not true Christianity. It's not the real thing. A Christianity that's just talk and debate and just have a good time and bing, bang, boom, it's not real Christianity. Blessed are the mourned. They shall be comforted. Who's gonna comfort you? The Comforter, the Holy Ghost. Comfort souls that mourn. Blessed are the meek. You gotta come low. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after the bill's victory. No, wait, that's not what it says. No, blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness. So listen, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God. He's everything that we're supposed to be. But the only hope to actually become righteous is you need to be emptied of yourself. You need to drink in Jesus Christ. Drink in His words. Drink in His Spirit. And Jesus Christ can make us righteous like Him. In fact, that's the message of the Gospel. Without righteousness, you ain't going to have everlasting life. Let's look at Romans real quick. Again, I don't know why people have developed a system called the Romans Road. They don't ever seem to quote these scriptures in Romans. They want to skip all those. They just want to focus on certain ones that they deem worthy of being part of the gospel. Let's be honest. You want the Romans road, then read the whole book and understand the whole book and how everything fits together. Don't just pick a few verses out and say, well, this is the Romans road. That's deceitful. It's dishonest. And I know most people who have done it, they didn't do it out of deceit. They were just handed the Romans road and they just passed it on. They thought it was a good thing. And I'm not saying those aren't good verses, but there's a lot more to the Romans road than those verses. Okay, Romans chapter five. Verse 17, for if by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one. Jesus Christ. So righteousness, something that's from him, it's of him, he loves it. He loves those who follow after righteousness. Jesus said those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are gonna be filled. What are they gonna be filled with? They're gonna be filled with righteousness, God's righteousness. And here's what he says. Man, God wants to give abundance of grace, and he wants to give the gift. This isn't something you earn. It's the gift. But by the way, with a gift, you can't earn it, but you do have to qualify for it. And that's something people haven't understood for a long time. People think everybody qualifies for the gift. No, they don't. No, they don't. Now, if everybody follows the right steps, they can qualify for the gift. Think of it like this. Let's say the United States of America, the government said, we're going to give a free house to every United States citizen. Free, brand new house. Build it. It's on us. OK. So you don't have to earn it. You don't have to work for it to pay for it. It's a free gift from them. And yet, if you want to receive that gift, you can't just go into a house randomly and pick your own house. You've got to go. You've got to present the right documentation. You've got to sign all the things. And if you qualify, if it's proved that you're qualified, then you can receive the gift. It's the same way with salvation. You have to qualify. Guess what? If you're proud, you don't qualify. God resisted the proud. If you're full of yourself, you don't qualify. You can't have part of this. If you go, well, yeah, you know, I like Jesus, but I also kind of like Buddha, and I also kind of like my... Sorry, you don't qualify. So listen, you have to meet the qualification. You can't earn it. Listen, if the government's giving you a house, when you fill out the paperwork, you can't walk away and boast and go, yeah, I filled out the paperwork and look at what I earned. No, you didn't earn it. They paid for it. They built it. It's a free gift. You just had to follow the procedures so that you could actually inherit it. It's the same way with the gospel. That's why Jesus said you need to be poor in spirit, you need to be meek, you need to mourn. These are the things, hunger and thirst after righteousness, it's a gift, but you gotta qualify. And the way we qualify is through repentance and faith. Repentance and faith, that's how you qualify. Just giving you some thoughts. And so watch this. Verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Okay, so not only is it a gift, he wants to give you righteousness. But this gift isn't a gift like a water bottle that he hands you and you hold it and you put it in your back pocket. But this gift is actually a complete transformation to make you into something brand new that you never were before. Something that you could have never been in your own strength and power. And he makes you righteous in the eyes of the Father. The new man, the scripture says, the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. And that's why in 2 Corinthians 5 we know that Jesus was made sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him. God's a God of righteousness. He loves righteousness. And He said, my righteousness is coming. It's getting ready to be revealed. And when Jesus Christ came, the righteousness of God was revealed. In all who had a humble heart, waiting for their Messiah, soon as they saw Jesus. They might not have recognized him physically, because that's not what recognized, but as soon as he started speaking. the words of eternal life. He's showing forth who he is by the words he's speaking. He's revealing righteousness. Thou art the King of Israel. Thou art the Christ. And those guys, they cleaved to him. Until eventually, when he went back, and then he gave him the same spirit. And the spirit is life because of righteousness. Gave him that spirit. And then those guys went forth as ambassadors for Christ. They couldn't bring Jesus physically, but by the way, Jesus physically couldn't help you anyways. The only thing Jesus physically could do was die on a cross. I'm not diminishing that, it's huge, but I'm saying like, death is not salvation. Death doesn't save you. Christ's death can't save you. Christ's death reconciles you. His life is what saves you. Read Romans 5 carefully. The gospel of eternal life is what saves you. His death just broke down the middle wall so that you could be reconciled, but his life is what saves you. His death is wonderful, don't get me wrong, I'm not diminishing the death of Christ, but I'm saying the death in and of itself, if there's no resurrection to follow, there's no eternal life, there's no salvation. And so... When those apostles go out, what do they go forth with? They go forth with the Spirit. And that Spirit is going to preach the gospel, the good news of who Jesus is, of what He accomplished, of where He's seated, and what He's going to come back to do. And all who would repent of all their junk and the darkness, and turn away and come to Jesus Christ, and believe Him, and receive Him, and start obeying Him will be made righteous as well. So that one day, every one of us, by the grace of God, can stand before Jesus Christ and the Father. holy, without blemish, without spot, unblameable before Him in love, pure and righteous, because we've washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Amen? God is the God of righteousness. He loves righteousness. He hates iniquity. So if you want to follow God, if you want to be true to God, you've got to start to learn to love His righteousness. Forget about your righteousness. Forget about it. Forget about your ideas, your opinions, your thoughts. Forget about them. Cast them behind you. Come to the scriptures of truth and begin to read and drink in the words of truth that show forth righteousness so that you can become a partaker and actually be transformed into the righteousness of God in Christ. Amen? Listen, there's no such thing as being saved, but I continue a life of sin. Paul says, once you're dead with Christ and you're risen with Christ, now you can finally serve righteousness. You're finally free from the power of sin to serve righteousness. God wants us to walk in righteousness with him all the days of our life. He said righteousness would go before him and set us in the way of his steps. Please, Lord, please, Lord, let it be. Amen? Amen. Father, bless your name. Bless your word. Bless your salvation. Bless your people, Lord. Lord, take us all deeper into your grace, deeper into the faith of Jesus Christ, so we can be holy and true, and we can walk in righteousness before you, Lord. Lord, we don't want to sin anymore. We don't want to turn aside out of the way. We don't want to waste time. But Father, we don't want to haste in our own spirit. We don't want to be impatient. So Lord, teach us how to be still before you, how to walk in your ways. Thank you, Lord, for your correction when we're out of the way. Thank you, Lord, for your instruction in this path of righteousness. Father, let us go forth with this good news that people who are unclean and vile and corrupt, people that are far from righteousness, that through hearing about you, and hearing about how their sin is messed up, and hearing about your righteousness in Jesus Christ, that they could choose to refuse the evil, and they could come to Jesus Christ, and be washed, and made pure, and be made righteous in your eyes. that they don't have to fear even death itself, but that they can embrace living for you and even dying for you, because they're gonna live with you forever. Please, Lord, let us bring this gospel of righteousness and eternal life to people. Help us, Lord, make us bold to show people their sin. so that they can reject it and to show people the Savior so they can embrace Him and receive Him and love Him. Please, Lord, I pray, make this thing clear in our hearts and clear in our eyes that we will walk in these things before You blameless, Lord. Not in our power, but by Your strength. Bless Your people, Lord. Bless Your people. Stir our hearts, Lord, to righteousness. Amen.