George Whitefield was the Billy Graham of the 18th century. This English preacher traveled extensively and spoke to crowds nearly every day of the week throughout his years of ministry. He was a key figure responsible for the first Great Awakening in America – a time when multitudes of people were saved and many others found revival from the Lord. As might be expected from someone with a heart for revival, Whitefield often called out specific sins and called on people to repent and turn to the Lord. What may be surprising is that Whitefield also regularly called on people to repent of their righteousness. In one of his sermons, he told the crowd, “You must not only [repent] of your sin… but also of your righteousness. There must be a deep conviction before you can be brought out of your self-righteousness. It is the last idol taken out of the heart.”
What Whitefield preached (and scriptures confirm) is that the great danger for both believers and unbelievers alike is the persuasion that we have some goodness apart from the Lord. When asking an unbeliever about whether they believe they will go to heaven, most will talk about whether their good outweighs their bad in some way. Even many believers have not lost this idol of the heart in their thinking. Born again Christians who have trusted in the finished work and sacrifice of Jesus Christ have had His righteousness attributed to them. Ephesians 2:4 tells us that we “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Yet, how many times do we judge ourselves and others by what we perceive as our own man-made righteousness. Christians are notorious for sitting on their thrones of righteous, “holier than thou” pride and looking down their nose at those who have not met up to their man-made standard of righteousness. What it comes down to is that self-righteousness is a form of pride that places a barrier in our ability to receive God’s blessings.
Self-righteousness offers an illusion of strength. Having a “can do” attitude is as American as apple pie. However, when it comes to living a life which pleases the Lord it is about as anti-Christian as you can get. Paul asks the question, “Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). When you have a high sense of your own achievements and goodness, you naturally have to lower your need for God’s strength in your life. The more weakness we perceive in ourselves, the more God’s strength is evident – just as He told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Self-righteousness is also an outright sin because it breaks several of the ten commandments. Remember number one? “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:7). If God is the only one who is truly righteous, why are you masquerading around as if you have made some from your own actions? By ascribing righteousness to yourself, you are elevating your status to something greater than it should be. Also, remember this one? “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15). When you take something that doesn’t belongs to someone else, it is called stealing. In the case of self-righteousness, it is a case of stealing from God himself. You can’t presume that God will be happy with you about this. Instead, you should presume that you are in line for His judgment.
We all know that sin is prevalent in our world today. Even in the Christian’s life, the struggle against the sins of the flesh are a constant battle. But while we are working through the list of sins that need our repentance, perhaps we should be rooting out those idols of righteousness that have lodged within our hearts. If we want God to spark a revival in us and receive the fullness of His blessing in our lives, we must learn (as Whitefield noted) to repent of both sin and righteousness.
References: https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/george-whitfield-and-applying-the-gospel/