Seek God’s Righteousness

You know, brethren, sometimes we ask ourselves, am I doing enough? Am I, indeed, being righteous in God's eyes? Am I really standing up to the level that I should do? And yes, indeed, it is good for all of us to ask that. It is right for us to do that. But I remember once somebody told me, well, the important thing is to be righteous. And yes, it is important to be righteous, but are we maybe becoming self-righteous? And that we've got to be careful with. So I want to start today with Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. And here Paul, in his letter to the Romans, he says, brethren, in verse 1, my heart's desire and prayer to God and Israel is that they may be saved. And in our case, brethren, we all pray, and we hope and we want everybody that we know, our friends, our relatives, and people that we don't know, we want them all to be saved, to have eternal life, don't we? And then Paul goes on and says, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God. And yes, you and I look at people in the world. There are many people that you and I can say, they are good Christians. They are good Christians. So they have a zeal for God. But then Paul says, but not according to knowledge. And Yah is an important point. And he explains that as he writes a little further. And he says, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, are we ignorant of God's righteousness? And then he says, in seeking to establish their own righteousness, are we seeking to establish our own righteousness? And therefore, the introduction that I had in this message, which, yes, we need to be righteous, but are we seeking our own righteousness? And are we ignorant of God's righteousness? That is a very important subject. And then he continues, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Have we submitted to the righteousness of God? You see, if you and I are self-righteous, we are not submitting to the righteousness of God. Yes, we need to strive to do what is right. But look at how Paul then continues in verse 4. He says, for Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness, to everyone who believes. Now, this is such a misunderstood verse in today's Christianity. Because what they say is, well, you see, Christ is the end of the law, so we don't have to obey the law. Wrong, because that's not what it says. You see, Christ is the end, focus, purpose, the perfect fulfillment of the law. So Christ is our God. In other words, you and I need to imitate Christ. He completely fulfills the law. And what you and I need to do is to be like our elder brother, whom the father sent to be our example, and we need to follow his example. He is the end fulfillment, the very purpose that shows how we can keep the law and how we can be righteous.

For everyone who believes in God, who believes that God has given us this standard. That's why, brethren, we don't compare ourselves with each other. You don't compare yourself to me, because I'm nobody. You don't compare yourself to others. None of us is anybody important. But we compare ourselves to Christ. He is the full man, the full perfect example of how we need to be. In the same book, Paul finished explaining to the Romans. And if you turn with me to Romans chapter 3, you can see a little earlier, he finished explaining to the Romans that no man is righteous. No, not one. In Romans chapter 3 verse 10, at the end of verse 10, it says, as it's written, there is none righteous, no, not one. And then in verse 11, there is none that understands. There is none who seeks after God. And that includes you and me. That includes us. We are just not up to God's standard. But thanks to God, he's given us the help through Christ. Does that mean that we don't have to obey God's laws? No, we have to obey God's laws. But we've got to look to Christ is our example. And so what did Christ tell us? Christ tells us in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. You all know that very, very well. Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. That is a section of the sermon on the Mount. And what does he say then? You know, we worry about different things, physical things. But then in verse 33 he says, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these other things will be added to you. Now, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Or is that two things? No, it's one. Because seeking the kingdom of God is what we need to seek.

And how is it through God's righteousness? It's not mine or your self-righteousness.

And so today, brethren, we want to look a little bit further into how to seek God's righteousness in a little bit more detail. And we're going to use the model prayer.

You know, the model prayer, which is right here in Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 9. In this prayer, in this manner therefore pray, He said, Christ to disciples on the Seminar on the Mount. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

So we first respect God. And I appreciate the Seminar today giving us a simple formula of respect to God by thanking Him.

And making sure that we include spiritual matters and we focus on our hope. It's very well put together, shining, and I appreciate that.

But continuing in verse 10, it says, Your kingdom come, Your will be done. What is God's kingdom? It's God's government. It's God's government on earth.

It shows clearly that God's government on earth is not yet today, because this is Satan's world.

And therefore we pray for God's kingdom to come.

In verse 33, as we read a little earlier, seek God's kingdom first.

How do we tie that together? Or you may say, well, that's easy. Yes, it is.

But what is a kingdom? And we know we quite often say, well, a kingdom includes all things. We know the leaders and the subjects and the territory and laws. But I want to focus on one thing. A leader, a kingdom includes those leaders of the kingdom.

Who are those leaders of the kingdom of God going to be after the first resurrection?

It's going to be you and I. We are going to be part of God's family. And so, for God's kingdom to come requires to be ruling on earth. When we read the scriptures, we will be ruling with Christ as King of kings. We'll be the kings under him, or we'll be the lords under him as the Lord of lords.

In other words, we'll be the teachers. We'll be the rulers, the instructors, those that show the way to go to those physical human beings on earth.

But yes, an important point. The kingdom of God therefore includes that royal family, which will be you and I.

When it's ruling on earth, the kingdom of God will include those of us that are no longer flesh and blood, because it says flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom. So we will inherit the kingdom. We will be part of that ruling family. And therefore, when you and I seek the kingdom of God, we've got to be like God.

Because when we become like God, like what he is, and how do you know what God is like?

Because his son, his only begotten son, is in the image of God and came to show us how the Father is like.

And so we have to emulate Christ. He is the end of the law, the purpose of the law, of what righteousness is all about.

And so if we are seeking God's righteousness, we have to look at Christ's example in every little thing that we do and say, are we being like Christ? You know, you remember when Christ was talking to the Pharisees in Luke 17 verse 21, he said, the kingdom is amongst you. Just read, please, Luke 17 verse 21. Luke 17 verse 21. He said, nor will they say, see ye, or see thee, for indeed the kingdom of God is amongst you. How can the kingdom of God be amongst Pharisees? Because the leader, the king of kings, the Lord of lords, was right there. He was amongst them. And they couldn't see it. They couldn't see it. Brethren, you and I are to be kings and lords under Christ. Now, I usually use the word kingdom, but I also use the word government. Because we today can understand a little bit better what do you mean, government? Now, kingdom, obviously, is a ruling family, so it will be a government of a ruling family, so yes, it will be a kingdom. But a government, you think about today's government. And you look at today's government. You watch the news. You watch TV. You watch things about today's government. And I think most of you feel sick. And you say, I've watched enough. Why? Because there's lies, there's corruption, there is dirt in today's political world.

But God's government will not be like that. You see, in today's government, leaders are selected by those people that say, Vote for me, I'm such a nice person, and I'm going to do this for you, and whatever. And you know the fruit of that. Corruption, broken promises, sadness, high inflation, and whatever you have. But God's government will not be like that. Why? Because the people that are elected, think about, they are on the electoral college, not in today's world type of electoral college. They are on God's electoral college. God is watching you and I. And He's going to select from amongst us, tomorrow's leaders. He's going to elect from amongst us.

That's why many are called, but few are chosen. Are you and I going to be amongst those that will be elected by God to be in His kingdom? Because those will have no corruption. And imagine a world in which the government leaders and city leaders have no corruption. It will be so different. And yes, it will be so different. That's why we read in Matthew, it says, pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Because that is God's will, that the leaders will be like Christ, having God's righteousness, not my or yours self-righteousness.

Yes, we need to seek God's righteousness. And when it means we seek God's righteousness, it's very similar to when it says hunger and thirst for His righteousness, right? If you hunger and thirst for something, say for instance, you're hungering and thirsting for some food and for a glass of water. It means that you're hungry, and it means that you're thirsty, it means you don't have it. So, it's not your self-righteousness because you don't have it, it's God's righteousness.

You see, that's what we've got to do. We've got to hunger and thirst for God's righteousness. And now, let's continue reading in Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Because I mentioned to you, I'm going to, early on, I said, we're going to seek God's righteousness, but we're going to use the model of prayer as a guideline.

And you're saying, how's that possible? Well, let's go back to Matthew 6 and we're going to read verse 11. Matthew 6. 11. Give us this day our daily bread. What has that got to do with seeking God's righteousness? You see, normally, when you and I think about daily bread, you think about food on the table, probably. Is that wrong? No. But I want to raise that up to a spiritual level, like we heard on the sermonette.

We've got to think at a spiritual level. You see, this model of prayer happens or is mentioned twice in the scriptures. Once, yeah, in Matthew 6, which was part of the sermon on the Mount, probably in the first year or year and a half of his ministry in Galilee. But it is also mentioned in Luke 11, and that was probably into his third year of his ministry, and that was in Judea. And in Luke 11, we find exactly the same model of prayer.

Luke 11, and we start in verse 1, and he said, now he came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he sees that one of his disciples said to him, the Lord teaches to pray as John, John the Baptist, also taught his disciples. So he said to them, when you pray, say, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give us day by day our daily bread. So you can see it's basically the same model of prayer.

But at the end of the model of prayer, there is an interesting bit that Christ adds you up that I want you to focus on. And look at verse 5. And he said to them, which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight, and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. So he's talking about, hey, get me some bread. For a friend of mine has come to me in his journey, and I have nothing to say before him.

And he will answer from within and say, do not trouble me, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give to you. And I say to you, though you will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence.

So yeah, we need to ask God with persistence. He will rise and give him as many as he needs, and you give him the bread. So that ties in with, in verse 3, give us day by day our daily bread. We need to be persistent and ask God for daily bread. And look at continuing in verse 9. And scowash say to you, ask, and he shall be given to you.

Sink, and you'll find. Knock, and he'll be open to you. And then he has the story, you know, who's got a son and asks, and you're going to give them a bread, and asks, is he going to give them a rock, or is he going to give them a serpent, or whatever it is. He goes through the story, or a scorpion. You know that part. But read verse 13.

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give? He's talking about bread, right? The Holy Spirit, to those who ask him. So if you put this into a spiritual level, when we ask God for our daily bread, speaking spiritually, we should be asking daily for God's Holy Spirit. Persistently. You know, God's Holy Spirit is our spiritual daily bread that we need.

I need God's Holy Spirit every day. So do you. You know, how many times do we fail to ask God for such basic necessity as our spiritual daily bread, daily. And then we go and confront the wall, and we find things go wrong, and they just go wrong, and they say, maybe I haven't prayed today. That's probably because I haven't prayed today. I'm not close to God today. Brethren, we need to be close to God.

We need to be asking for the daily bread. You see, so we need to be asking that with persistence. That is the only bread that folds up. God's Holy Spirit is what internally inside you and inside me gives that sense of peace, of satisfaction, of contentment, of being filled spiritually. And what is God's Holy Spirit? God's Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father, is also the Spirit of the Son, because there's only one Spirit. And what is God's Holy Spirit? It's God's essence, it's God's mind, it's God's way of thinking, it's the Father's way of thinking, it's the Christ's way of thinking, it's actually God in us. Emmanuel, right? God in us, Christ in us.

Turn with me to John 6, verse 41. John 6, verse 41. And the Jews then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. Christ is our bread. Isn't that what we do at Passover? Take a little bit of bread. Symbolic of Christ? Yes, symbolic. I mean, we're not literally eating Christ's body, we know that. But it's symbolic. God's Holy Spirit is symbolic of bread, spiritual bread. It's Christ's mind, it's the Father's mind, it's the Father's essence, it's their power in us.

Look at verse 48. I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate a manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, the one that that one may eat of it and not die. Because if you and I have God's Holy Spirit, and Christ is in us, we have God's righteousness. It's not my self-righteousness, it's God's mind. And that is the manna from heaven. Do we ask for God's Holy Spirit daily, persistently? I must admit, brethren, that I have said that too many times. And I, unfortunately, too many times have neglected that. And I must not. I must keep reminding myself I need to ask for God's Holy Spirit every day.

We need that. We all need God's Holy Spirit. And only with God's Holy Spirit can you and I exercise God's righteousness.

Now, another point that is also very important, and it ties very nicely with the sermonette, which is that section of how we deal with other people.

In the sermonette was how to encourage other people. But how we deal with other people is very important. How do we treat other people? Look at James chapter 4, verse 1. And here, James is writing to the brethren in the church, and he says, why are there wars and fights amongst you? Why are there squabbles and little arguments amongst God's people?

Maybe in our families. Maybe the family is in the church, and there are little arguments in the family. Maybe amongst the brethren. We have little squabbles. Because our self becomes in front of us, rather than what God wants us to be like.

And that is what James, he is saying. You know, don't allow your carnal mind, which is jealous and wants things for yourself, to rule over you. The antidote, of course, is that we need God's only Spirit. Not the carnal mind to rule. You read in Romans where it says, you know, don't be seeking after the things of the flesh, but seek the things of the Spirit. In James 4, verse 5 says, O do you think the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealousy. Our human spirit, our carnal mind, is something that yields, or wants, or yearns jealousy. In other words, I want things for myself. Particularly, you look at little children quite often, now it's mine, it's mine. You don't let the other children play with the toys and things like that. It's already prevalent in little children there. That spirit of man in man with those tendencies, you and I have to change that and overcome them. That's why there are squabbles and fights amongst us, because we allow that human spirit. And so, what do we need to do? And the answer is right there, a little later, in verse 7 and 8. Submit to God, resist Satan and his vibes, and the spirit of man, the carnal mind and those attitudes, draw near to God. It's not my righteousness, it's God's righteousness. I need to ask that from God. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and fast and weep. Humble yourselves, says the inverse 10.

You see, that's what we're going to do.

But what happens? I have my ideas, and this is going to be my way, and we don't submit to one another, and we don't submit to God. And that's why there's fights. And then what do we do? Well, you know, he's like this, you know, or whatever, or she's like that. And so we start little rumors or little things that are not uplifting to other people, that are not encouraging, as we heard in the sermon yet. But it's just the opposite. And look at verse 11 in James 4. Do not speak evil to one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. Because the law says, love your brother. But if you say that, well, I'm entitled to speak bad of my brother and my sister, you are saying, well, there's something wrong with the law. Then you're not a lawkeeper, but you made yourself a lawmaker. And there's only one lawmaker which is God. So we've got to be careful. Or you may be quite justified, you may be quite justified in saying, he or she did that.

Yes, maybe he or she did that. What do you and I have to do? Forgive. Forgive. As in Christ forgiven us? As in Christ forgiven us? Let's go back to the sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, in the model prayer in Matthew 6, verse 12. Matthew 6, verse 12. Matthew 6, verse 12. After it says, give us our daily bread, in verse 11, talking spiritually about God's Holy Spirit. It says, forgive our debtors. You see, with God's Holy Spirit, we need to be prepared to forgive.

You know Matthew 18? Oh, well, we all know Matthew 18. But look at here in Matthew 18, verse 21.

Matthew 18, verse 21.

Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him.

Up to seven times. You know the answer? Seventy times seven.

We need to forgive and to have compassion for those that do wrong things against us.

That is, we need to treat others well.

We need to treat others well. Look at verse 35. And so, my Heavenly Father also will do it to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

Now, are you counting?

And he says, well, he today or she today, what's seventy times seven? Four hundred ninety, right? Are you counting? He today has sinned against me four hundred and eighty-seven times. There's three to go.

Oh, now it's four hundred eighty-eight. And now, oh, four hundred and eighty... No! Because you are to forgive always. Oh, but I'll only forgive if he or she repents.

Brethren, we've got to forgive.

Whether he or she has repented or not, we have to forgive. Look chapter 17 verse 3 and 4. Look chapter 17 verse 3 and 4.

Take it yourselves if your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. You see, I only need to forgive if he repents.

And if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. Now, let me ask you, is that really repentance?

If a person has repented and is doing it seven times in a day, is that repentance? Or is it just words?

Because repentance means change, permanent change, isn't it?

So if he says, I repent, but he does it the second time and he does it a third time and he does it a fourth time and he does it the seventh time on the same day, it means we have to forgive even if there is no real repentance. Oh, that's hard! Do you know what that requires? Faith. That requires faith. That requires trusting God that God will sort it out. But you leave it in God's hands. From my side and your side, I have to repent. It requires faith in God, leave it in God's hands. He will sort it out. He is the judge. Look at verse 5. Look 17 verse 5. And the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. You see, they got the point. You have to have faith and trust God if you're going to forgive and forgive and forgive and the person does not really change. It requires faith in God. And the answer is very interesting because they ask Christ, increase our faith. And what was Christ's answer to that? He says, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to the smallberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the seed and it will obey you. So the moral of the lesson is you and I have less faith than a mustard seed. You know, very little. And then he says, in which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he has come in the field, come at once and sit down to eat. What has that got to do? You may ask. With answering the question about increasing my faith. And then he says, well, when you come out and your servant is tired or whatever he is, if he comes in, you say to him, well, go and prepare food for me and serve me. And then in verse 10 he says, so likewise when you have done all these things which your command say, we are unprofitable servants, we have done what was our duty to do.

As Christ answered the question, increase our faith. Yes. Because for our faith to grow, we have to forgive.

You see, when you and I forgive, seventy times seven, you are learning to trust God.

And you are therefore putting God's righteousness first.

That is the lesson there. And therefore, continuing in Matthew 6. We just finished reading. And leaders are not able to forgive us, our sins forgive our debtors. So we have to forgive. And God will forgive us. And when we forgive, it's increasing our faith because now we know that God will forgive us.

And then, the next point is lead and do not lead us into temptation.

Oh, what do you mean? Must I ask God not to lead me into temptation? Because elsewhere you and I read, God tempts no one.

You see, it's the way we read it sometimes.

That we get the wrong stick, the wrong end of the stick. Because it's saying, and lead us in the way of life. In other words, do not lead us that way, lead us that way. In other words, He's asking God to lead us the right way.

So when we lead the right way, because God's Holy Spirit is always leading us, right? It's like that still small voice. You know the story of Elijah? Well, you know, God was not in the storm and this and that, and then there was that still small voice. How does God, through His Spirit, lead you in the right way? By that gentle pricking of your conscience.

And pricking your conscience and my conscience, saying, George, don't do that. The little gentle pricking of the conscience. That's how God's Spirit leads us. The little gentle pricking of the conscience says, forgive.

And you know what? When we do that, we are seeking God's righteousness.

Brethren, you and I need to stir God's Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit of power, a Spirit of love, a Spirit of self-control.

And what we need is, with God's Holy Spirit, listen to that pricking of our conscience and do what is right.

But you see, it's God's righteousness and not my self-righteousness. And so, brethren, as we read them in verse 13, continue to read verse 13 of Matthew 6, says, But deliver us from the evil one, because Satan wants us to go the wrong way.

Because God has got the kingdom, it's his kingdom, we're going to be in his family, he's got the power, and he's got the glory. It will all be done to God's glory if we do that. And so, brethren, if you want to seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness, we need to ask daily for his Spirit. We need to work on people's relationships by forgiving and encouraging and things of that kind, but mostly forgiving. And we need God's Holy Spirit to help us, to give us the power to overcome, so that in the end, God will be glorified. Let us therefore seek God's kingdom and his righteousness.