Righteousness According to God's Word – Matthew 5:19-20

This sermon based on Matthew 5:19-20 examines three standards people commonly use to measure righteousness. The first is conscience: through common grace, God gives all people a conscience to discern right from wrong (Romans 2:14-15). However, conscience is subjective and can become hardened over time through repeated sin, making it an insufficient absolute standard for righteousness.

The second standard is civil law. Scripture teaches believers to submit to governing authorities (Romans 13:1, 4) and to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (Luke 20:25). Nevertheless, civil laws change with time and circumstance, and therefore cannot serve as an absolute standard for all people in all places and all ages.

The only absolute standard is God Himself through His Word in Scripture. The sermon emphasizes that the righteousness God requires cannot be achieved through human effort, since all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). True righteousness comes only through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:20-22; Philippians 3:9), and the first requirement is to be born again.

The sermon also analyzes the motivation behind righteousness through the example of the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23. They kept the law to receive human praise and to take pride in their own righteousness — a form of hypocrisy and arrogance that Jesus strongly condemned. True righteousness must flow from an inward transformation of the heart, not merely outward conformity.

The application section calls listeners to examine their own hearts regarding their motives for obeying God's Word. Believers are called not only to live righteously but also to teach others to do the same (Matthew 5:19), becoming salt of the earth and light of the world. The standard God sets is complete perfection (Matthew 5:48), which can only be achieved through the inward transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit.