But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. – Matthew 6:33
Religious people have this tendency to focus on self-righteousness. They sometimes come to the conclusion that, since they have not done “big” sins, they are good. And they happily condemn and judge the so-called “big” sinners. But the call is to seek His righteousness (right-standing with God), not ours (Matthew 6:33).
Let us see how the Word of God views sin:
James 2:10-11 – “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.”
Some may scoff at this verse, saying that they have neither committed adultery nor murdered anyone. But Jesus warned, “You have heard…You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” (Matthew 5:28). If you have ever looked at another person with lust, Jesus calls this adultery. Jesus was making this point to the self-righteous religious crowd who heavily gave weight to the external actions, but sin originates from within (James 1:13-15).
Murder. Jesus warned, “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, is in danger of judgment,” (Matthew 5:22) and the Bible says, “He who hates his brother is a murderer,” (1 John 3:15). God sees hatred in the heart to be as wicked as murder. If you hate someone, God sees you as a murderer. It does not matter how justified you are in your sight, but as per the Word of God, you are in sin.
James 4:17 – “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
When was the last time you saw a broken down car on the highway and passed by them without offering a helping hand? The Bible calls this sin.
Romans 14:23 – “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
We do a lot of things each day solely depending on our senses. The Bible says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin!
Regardless of what the religious crowd wants to make you or themselves believe, not one of us is righteous (Romans 3:10). Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). In God’s eyes, there is no small or big sin. Sin is sin, even if it is a “white” lie or a cold-blooded murder. To be perfect in God’s eyes, we have to score 100 out of 100. There is no silver star for 99.999 out of 100 (James 2:10-11). The truth is, no one (you, I, our friends, parents pastor or anyone) can achieve this with our own effort, no matter how sincere we are in our effort, which is precisely the reason why we needed a Savior. His name is JESUS. If the perfection that God requires of us to be in His right-standing could be achieved by our good works and by keeping the law, Jesus did not have to go through the gruesome torture and crucifixion (Galatians 2:21). Since it is humanly impossible to reach God’s righteousness with our effort, Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf and while we were sinners, Christ demonstrated the height of His love for us by paying the penalty for our sins with His own precious and sinless blood (Romans 5:8). In the past, people sacrificed animals to temporarily cover their sins, but Jesus' perfect sacrifice on the Cross wiped away the sin - once and for all (Hebrews 10:10-14, 9:28). We stand the great risk of negating this awesome grace for us that is in Christ Jesus, if we think we can earn and keep our salvation by our feeble efforts to keep the law (Galatians 5:4).
Praise God for His gift that we cannot earn with our works. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).
Let us wholeheartedly stand each day in His righteousness that Jesus made us to be (Romans 5:17-19).
If you have not yet received this precious Gift of Salvation, do not waste another minute, for you may not have a tomorrow. Get Saved, Now!
For more articles by Daniel visit http://heknocks.blogspot.com/
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