I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20 (NIV)
Jesus said this in His Sermon on the Mount. He pointed out
that the people the Israelites looked up to as righteous were not righteous
enough to be with God in His kingdom. This must have concerned them. The
hearers of Jesus that day must have wondered how they could be with God in
eternity. I am sure Jesus realized what was in the hearts and minds of the
people listening to Him that day. He already had the plan in place. God has had
the plan in place since time began of how sinful people, people He loves, can
be with Him. He knows holiness cannot exist together with sin. That is not a
choice, but a fact. Where sin is, no holiness exists, just like where holiness is,
no sin can exist. Other writers and speakers give this example. When one enters
a completely sealed and dark room, no light exists, but as soon as a person
strikes a match, darkness is shattered, and the light pushes it away.
With that idea, we should consider what Jesus offers so people
could be with God. The people on the mountain that day realized He had been
speaking about God and eternal life with Him. Jesus taught them the Beatitudes,
about what is more important than gathering things for yourself in this life.
He explained that what is in a person causes the sin and offered His listeners
a glimpse at the new covenant. Jesus explained He fulfilled the Law and brought
the new covenant based on God’s mercy and grace. Nothing people can do can earn
it for them. The first covenant required the Israelites to obey the Ten
Commandments, which the religious leaders expanded to 622 regulations. Jesus
said He fulfilled those laws in the Sermon on the Mount. With His life and
death, Jesus provided what was necessary for redemption from sins forever and for
each believer to have eternal life.
This idea that one must be righteous is not new to the New
Testament. From God’s laws, the Israelites knew He required twice daily sin
sacrifices to atone for their sins, their wrongdoings. These animal sacrifices
were never enough for the complete and permanent cleansing of the sins they
committed. Nothing a person could do would make the stains from sins and the condemnation
because of sins go away permanently. Yet, God declared righteous some people in
the Old Testament. If we are familiar with the Old Testament, we remember of a
few people from memory, like Elijah, Moses, David, and Abraham. There were
others, too, who God stated were righteous. Consider Ezekiel 14:12-23. Four
times, in His condemnation of Jerusalem, God compared Noah, Daniel, and Job as
having a righteousness that exceeds any person in Jerusalem. He stated explicitly
in verses 14, 16, 18, & 20, “Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there,
their righteousness would save no one but themselves, says the Sovereign LORD.”
God declared Noah, Daniel, and Job righteous because of their faith. (Hebrews
11:7, Job 1:1. In the book of Daniel, Daniel told the king the interpretation
from God of the dreams God had given the king. By doing this, he was a prophet of
God. God called His prophets righteous in Hebrew 11:32, & 39-40) God, with
the first covenant with the Israelites agreed upon at Mount Sinai, declared the
Israelites His people, His nation. This first covenant was to lead them to Him
and let other nations know they are His people, whom He will protect. It provided
for their faithlessness to their covenant with Him by explaining what He would
do to discipline/punish them. This first covenant to the Israelites, the Mosaic
covenant, provided no means of eternal salvation by works or by offering animal,
grain, and oil sacrifices. Some of the Israelites intentionally sought and
believed God deeply. They changed their lives to follow how He led them. Each
of these Israelites allowed God to be the Sovereign LORD of their lives, just
as God stated in Ezekiel 14.
God declared several Old Testament people righteous because
of their belief in Him that led them to revere, love, and follow Him with their
lives. Understand, He did not love just a few people. God loves all people. He seeks
to have a personal relationship with each person. God understood the first
covenant was not one giving redemption. That’s why He planned from creation to give
a second covenant. That second covenant occurred when Jesus allowed Himself to
be crucified on the cross and buried, three days after which He rose from death.
Jesus conquered sin and death with this Messianic covenant. No other sacrifice does
a person need to offer for his or her sins. Belief in Jesus, with the individual’s
profession of faith in Him, and a confession and repentance of his or her sins brings
the person into a saving, cleansing, eternal relationship with God. Nothing
else. No one’s faith can provide salvation for anyone else.
God told Ezekiel to tell the people of Jerusalem that having
God-fearing and righteous people in their city would not keep them from God’s
righteous judgment and wrath. His wrath came because of their repeated sins
against Him, each other, and other nations. They could not rest on the
righteousness of others-not priest, prophet, grandparent, parent, or siblings,
etc. No one is righteous except through God declaring them so.
When a person believes in Jesus Christ and He washes the
sins of that person from his or her record, then God declares the person clean
and righteous, just like He declared Noah, Daniel, Job, Abraham, Moses, and
others of the Bible righteous. God provided a way for each person to be
declared clean and righteous with the sacrificial death of His sinless Son in substitution
for each of us. We do not have to die an eternal death of separation from God. By
our belief and because of His grace, God will declare a person righteous. Paul
said this in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
None of us knows where another person truly stands in his or
her relationship with God, but we each realize where we ourselves stand. Do you
have a saving faith in Jesus? Do you believe Jesus is God’s Son, who died the
death you deserve because of your sins against God? God will apply the death of
Jesus against your sin judgment. He will apply His resurrection from the dead
to you so that you will live eternally with Him in His kingdom. Now is your chance
to confess your sins to God and repent of them asking Him to give you the direction
and strength to avoid temptation and live a righteous life? What keeps you from
believing in Him and receiving His grace?
As it is written:
There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one.
Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.
The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(Romans 3:10-18 & 23 [NIV])
