Thursday, December 15, 2022

Exceeding the Righteousness of the Pharisees

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.  Matt. 5:20

"Q: But what is it to keep the law?
A:  It is to keep all its precepts; our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, which was only an outward form. If we hate, it is murder (Matt. 5:22); if we have impure thoughts it is adultery (Matt. 5:25); if we have an impure heart, we violate all the rest of the law. 

We may be ever so strict in outward Sabbath observance and adhere closely to the outward obligations of all the rest of the law, but an impure heart renders every act sinful. 
 
God has by various agencies placed enough light in the heart of every man to lead him to know the true God. Even nature itself reveals the God of nature. And if a man in the darkest heathenism has a desire to know the true God, he will, if necessary, send a man around the world to give him the light of truth. 
So every man that is finally lost will have rejected light that, if cherished, would have led him to God." E.J. Waggoner