“Don’t think that I have come to destroy the law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to bring about what they said. I tell you the truth, nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. Not even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will be lost until everything has happened. Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command will be the least important in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys the commands and teaches other people to obey them will be great in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:17-20 NCV

Those verses send a strong message! 

But Jesus knew the burden people felt under the law. 

He knew about their inability to keep all the commands. He knew they were longing for someone to help. It is pure grace when He told them, “I have not come to do away with the law but to do for you what you could never do for yourself. I have come to perfectly uphold the law and ultimately to fulfill the law.” 

But He followed these words with a statement seemingly burdensome and impossible. It is the death toll for every legalistic person who thinks they are better than others because of all the rules they keep in trying to prove their worthiness through behavior. 

“I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

So, we ask, “What? How can this be? How can our righteousness possibly exceed those viewed as the ‘most’ righteous and holy?”

There is only one way:
It has been done for us.

Righteousness and holiness must be given to us by the One who is Himself perfectly holy and righteous. 

The grace of God covers a multitude of sins. He invites honesty from everyone. He calls us to confess our insufficient law-keeping and obedience. Jesus shows us that He is a perfectly righteous Savior who gives us His righteousness. This gift of grace saves us from ourselves and all our pathetic attempts at self-salvation. 

Are you trying to prove your worth through “living right?” It won’t work, I can promise you.

Instead, fall before the One who lived in perfect obedience on your behalf and humbly receive the righteousness He’s eager to give.

Taken from a sermon by George Wright, Senior Pastor, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL

DIG DEEPER
Read “What is Righteousness?” by Bryant Wright