The Lord had
shown that He would not turn away a contrite heart and a repentant spirit. The
Pharisees however, believed they were ‘justified’ and able to escape the wrath
of God to come, through the value of their descent from Abraham. This basis of
their righteousness therefore was not obedience to God and His law, but the
fact that they were born Israelites! Jesus made quick work of their
self-righteous beliefs, with His rebuke and retort, that God could raise
children to Abraham from stones, if He so desired! In other words, their ancestry
was an invalid measurement of justification or right standing with Yahwah! For
us also there is a right way to salvation, life and victory. It is the way of the
cross, the way of death, burial and resurrection through Jesus Christ. The
gospel message is clear in what a believer must do, in order to be saved.
Mentally assenting a belief in God, without true obedience to His word, is a
righteousness equivalent to that of the Pharisees. In Matthew 5:20 Jesus said that
“except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” This is a
standard applicable to all who would be Christ-followers. We cannot like the
Pharisees of Jesus’ day, rely on our own abilities, religiousness, pedigree or rank.
We must have the righteousness of God imputed to us through the Lord Jesus!
This process begins when we come to a place of repentance. There we identify
with the Lord’s death, for repentance is death to our flesh, our own desires,
our ways and practices. It means turning away from the worldly way we have
participated in thus far, and turning 180 degrees in the opposite direction, to
walk in the ways of God, by obedience to His Word! This kind of repentance
bears tangible fruit, evidences which can be seen, felt and known. The
evidences are ‘worthy’- that is appropriate, equal to, and correctly reflecting the reality and genuineness of repentance! They include heartfelt sorrow for our sins of the past, hatred for those sins, and desire for God so strong that we will resist temptation, and never return to the ways of sin and death. In a world where much lip
service is paid, we owe God to produce more than the Pharisees of old! Let our
repentance and desire for God, be fresh each day, stronger along the way, sincere
and marked by plentiful evidences to His glory!
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion
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