What Makes Us Truly Right with God?

All right. Group number four are the quote “spiritual.” They are the people who get up every morning at 5:30 a.m. and spend 30 minutes on their knees with an open Bible. They are the people who can quote Scripture and say, “You know what Paul said in Romans,” and so on. And they probably quote Derek Prince, too. They get a lot of revelations, and basically, they know what’s going to happen next. Well, all that is good, but it doesn’t make us righteous.

Now, I’m not knocking getting up in the morning to pray. But I remember when I did it because I thought I ought to. What a flop it was. Finally, group number five is the group that’s, I’m sure, not represented here this morning at all. I call them the kitchen counter scrubbers. They’re the people whose righteousness consists in always having the kitchen spotless, all the counters wiped off, no dirty dishes lying around, no dust in the corners, everything neatly folded, and so on.

Now, all my family who know me will acknowledge that I’m basically a very tidy person. You could walk into my office almost any hour of the day or night, and you’d find my desk in perfect order. I don’t say that to boast, but it’s just to bring out the fact that I am not boosting untidiness. But I do say that when you’ve done all that, it isn’t your righteousness. And secondly, be careful you don’t despise others who don’t do it, ‘cause that’s the danger. People who trust in themselves and their little list of rules almost always end up despising others who don’t keep their rules.

Now, I’m all on the side of the kitchen counter scrubbers, but our righteousness does not consist in that. And if we get superior in our attitude towards others, we’re in a very dangerous spiritual condition. A lot of people say, “Pride goes before a fall.” The Bible doesn’t say that. It says,

“Pride goes before destruction.”

All right. Now, to close my message, I just want to deal with the alternative, how God’s righteousness works. Now, this is hard to communicate, ‘cause the natural mind of man doesn’t readily accept it. We’re all geared to self-righteousness by nature. That’s the part of the essence of sin is that it’s made man desirous of being independent of God. And one of the primary ways that man seeks independence of God is through religion.

Let me just read once more the five points of self-righteousness, and then I’ll try to show you the way in which God’s righteousness differs in each one of these points. First of all, self-righteousness, as its name indicates, is self-centered. Secondly, it leads us to despise others. Thirdly, it compares itself with others, not using God’s standard. Fourthly, it has its own little list of rules which it goes by. And fifthly, as a result, it’s static. There’s no room for growth or progress, and self-righteous people usually resist change ‘cause it threatens them.

Now, let’s see how God’s righteousness works. And this is merely done by way of contrast, not as a complete study. First of all, God’s righteousness is Christ-centered, not self-centered. And in order to enter into His righteousness, we have to take our eyes off ourselves and fasten them on Christ. Isaiah said prophetically, putting the words in the mouth of the Lord,

“Look unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved.”

This is true particularly in healing. Many, many Christians do not receive healing because they never get their eyes off the symptoms. And we have to take our eyes off the symptoms and look to the Lord. This is true in the spiritual. It’s true in the physical. It’s true in every area. Christ is Alpha and Omega. He’s the beginning, the ending, the first, and the last. We are complete in Him. We need nothing more.

“In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

The more we are Christ-centered, the better it will go with us.