Righteousness and the Nature of God

There's a lot of religious people around today who are trying to prove themselves to men, that they are righteous. I can see it a mile away, and I see it quite often in fact. Nothing has changed. Jesus exposed the religious self righteous of his day in no uncertain terms: "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him... Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly" (Mat. 6:1-6,8,15-18). There's a mighty lot of folks professing to follow Jesus who act an awful lot like they either haven't read these things, or they just flat don't believe them. The truth is that there are only three kinds of people in the "proving" arena. There are those that I have mentioned who are doing their level best to prove and show to men that they are indeed the very elect; there are those who are striving to prove themselves to God in humility and faith as should be, and there are those whose faith has been tried and proven before God. Neither of the last two categories mentioned here are trying to prove anything to men, because they HAVE read and believed the words of Jesus, and ARE following the leading of his Spirit in these things.

We would do well to heed the admonition of the apostle Paul, who told us; "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Col. 3:22,23). These things were written for the sake of working on jobs and so forth, but the same rule certainly applies to our devotional service to the Lord. Those who have been thoroughly proven unto God are so free from the nonsense of all this religious proving, that like Jesus, they find those who are busy proving their righteousness to men to be an abomination. And when someone truly has been tried and proven with God, their spiritual presence speaks FOR them, and everyone around them has no choice but to see it, whether they like it or not. The apostle Paul was well aware of that particular reality: "But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (II Cor. 4:2). But on the other hand, when someone is only intent on showing to men that they are righteous, well, their mouth and their FAILED presence speaks for them as well. Not only so my friend, but when Jesus said of these type of would be believers that "they have their reward [presently]," the full implication was that they will NOT be saved. So this is not a menial issue, seeing that everyone who is in Christ, or even thinks they are in Christ, is on one path or the other with this. Those proving their righteousness to men are merely fooling themselves, taking the fast lane to hell fire; while those who are on the only right path are busy "working out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philip. 2:12). Think that's harsh? Then what about this saying? "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation" (Mat. 23:14). Yes indeed friend, there is a VERY good reason that Jesus gave us the following exhortation to follow: "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Mat. 5:20). Amen.