Be led by the Holy Spirit in everything you think, say, and do

Except your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees

By Dirk A Schnarr

Except your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees. . .  7/24/2011
Oh, how the modern church today lives in the very same realm as that of the Pharisee.  Does that offend you?  BUT, what if it were true?  Would you not want to know so that you might correct your life?  Or are you comfortable with your current walk?  If we are truly willing to get honest with ourselves and God, HE WILL show us HIS TRUTH!
July 24th.  DISPOSITION AND DEEDS

"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-natural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity which would exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says - If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption He can put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsullied and as simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption.

No man can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only be interpreted by the disposition He puts in. The great marvel of Jesus Christ's salvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; He alters its mainspring. From My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
Does our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees?  This entry by Oswald Chamber tells us how we are to live in Christ Jesus.  No amount of conformity to the Laws of God, to the 10 Commandments, to any other written code will EVER alter us on the inside.  We will remain, as Paul says in Romans 7

Rom 7:15  For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].

And that is where we remain UNLESS and UNTIL we come to the realization that Jesus Christ has made a way for us to have our very nature changed!

Eph 4:21  Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him], Eph 4:22  Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; Eph 4:23  And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], Eph 4:24  ] in true righteousness and holiness. And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [

Notice this clearly my friends, we are to put on this NEW NATURE that is actually created in God’s IMAGE, that has TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS, not imputed righteousness and holiness, but the real stuff, JUST LIKE JESUS HAD!
In fact, what we are doing here, is by faith, allowing the very life of Christ Jesus to live through us on this earth.

Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Gal 2:21  [Therefore, I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the ritual of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.]

So you, brother or sister, who keep the Law because you believe that is the only way to remain free from sin, what is inside of you?  Do you live a perfect life, conformed to all the rules and regulations of God on the outside, yet what are your motives, what is going on inside of you?
Do you not see, this is exactly how the Pharisees lived?  Look at what Paul described as his own life as a Pharisee!

Php 3:4  Though for myself I have [at least grounds] to rely on the flesh. If any other man considers that he has or seems to have reason to rely on the flesh and his physical and outward advantages, I have still more!

Php 3:5  Circumcised when I was eight days old, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew [and the son] of Hebrews; as to the observance of the Law I was of [the party of] the Pharisees, Php 3:6  As to my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and by the Law's standard of righteousness (supposed justice, uprightness, and right standing with God) I was proven to be blameless and no fault was found with me. Php 3:7  But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ's sake. Php 3:8  Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One), Php 3:9  And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.

And it is this man, PAUL, who wrote Romans 7, referring to this life he describes for us here, that according to the LAW of Moses was PERFECT, yet on the inside was full of deceit and error, just like the Pharisees that Jesus spoke of.  (Remember, Paul was a Pharisee)

Mat 23:25  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence. Mat 23:26  You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean also. Mat 23:27  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and everything impure. Mat 23:28  Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretense and lawlessness and iniquity. [Ps. 5:9.]

This is just a portion of the JUDGMENT of God against the Pharisees; and ALL who would live by adherence to the LAW!  Please understand, there is no way any human being can ever keep the Law in the manner that God demands, for God does NOT look at the outward actions, but rather what comes from the heart and the motivations that have brought about what we may think are correct actions.
God demands perfection on the INSIDE; in the HEART.  Can you do this?  Can we keep the Law in such a manner that our heart becomes JUST LIKE JESUS?  Do you honestly believe you can do this?  If so, you are better at it than Paul was!
Yet the reality that comes through Christ Jesus is completely different.

Rom 1:17  For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. [Hab. 2:4.]

Is it?  Is this how we live?  OR do we say we believe in Christ Jesus and then conform our lives to what we think the Law says?  Have we honestly received righteousness, TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS by faith?  Or do we believe that God just looks on us as being righteous and we must conform our lives to His rules?
There is a very large difference!
Can we change our nature?  Can we make ourselves righteous?  Is that NOT why Jesus came in the first place because man could not be righteous on the inside, that even the great men of faith in the Old Testament still had a wrong heart inside?

Psa 51:6  Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. Psa 51:7  Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow. Psa 51:8  Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Psa 51:9  Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities. Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. Psa 51:11  Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Psa 51:12  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

The Psalm of David he wrote when his adultery with Bathsheba had been discovered.  A man, after God’s own heart and yet his insides, his very nature was not conformed to the ways of God.  He had a wrong heart; it was corrupt!  Here David, by the Holy Spirit is asking for the remedy WE ALL NEED!  A new heart, a new nature; one that does not even desire anything that God does not approve!

And this is what Jesus Christ offers to us!
But it does not come by our striving.  It does not happen because we wish it.  It does not become a reality by our conformity to outward rules and regulations, EVEN THOUGH those rules and regulations come directly from God.
Paul explains this in detail telling us that if it had been possible for TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS, the kind that Jesus lived from His heart, to come by our obeying the Law, then JESUS CHRIST WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD TO DIE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
No amount of desire, no amount of dedication, no amount of striving, no amount of any effort by man will ever make his inner being JUST LIKE JESUS!
And, please pay close attention, if we, by faith, receive this kind of righteousness, this new heart, this new nature that is created in God’s image and has TRUE Righteousness and Holiness, then ALL that we do will have those motives as their basis and NOTHING that kind of person does will ever violate God’s will!
Do you hear me?  Do you hear the Lord speaking?  If we have an inner nature that is JUST LIKE JESUS, then all that we do will be JUST LIKE JESUS!  We will never violate God’s Laws or Ways!
Why?  Because the only thing that we will desire is to do His will, just like Jesus.  We will TRULY be led by the Holy Spirit in everything we think, say, and do.  Will the Holy Spirit ever cause us to violate God’s will?  Will the Holy Spirit EVER lead us to break God’s TRUE LAW of the Heart?
If we think, we can be saved and then conform our lives to His Law and that will suffice, think again.  THAT is what Paul wrote to the Galatians about.  If you have truly received salvation, if the Holy Spirit has truly made you a part of the Church of God, did this happen by your adherence to rules, to laws, to regulations?  OR did it happen because you believe His absolute TRUTH and faith made it real?
In the same way, we are to receive Righteousness and Holiness; BY FAITH!  NOT by conforming our lives to what we THINK the Law says.  He will keep us from violating God’s Law if we will only deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow in HIS FOOTSTEPS, in the same way of life Jesus lived on this earth.
As soon as we begin to follow anything except the Holy Spirit, we have left Christ Jesus and could very well remove ourselves from His Grace.  My friends, Grace is God’s power that WILL CHANGE YOU if we allow it to do its work.
Are we willing to abandon ourselves this far into the hands of God?  Are we truly willing to cease our works and receive by faith His life so that the Holy Spirit will then make us look and live JUST LIKE JESUS?
Or will we continue to make a great show, put on a façade that we know way down deep inside does not cut it in God’s sight, because we still have wrongful desires and motivations?
The choice is ours.  It is a simple choice, although it is not easy to make.  And if we do make this choice, we will find that there will be more and more that He will deal with and change by our believing He is able to change us into the very image of Christ Jesus.  The further we go in Him, the more we will see how much further we must go.  Yet, our desire will not be one of grudging acceptance.  NO!  It will be a joyful, although sometimes difficult choice of will, often with tears and much prayer because we recognize just how deeply the old man had us in his clutches.  But HE will ALWAYS lead us in TRIUMPH and VICTORY over the old life as long as we continue to submit, lay down our lives, give up our rights, our ways, our understandings, our ideas, our wants, our desires, our abilities and especially our desire to figure it out for ourselves so that we can DO IT!
You see, my friends, we just cannot do it, not at all.  He must do it all.  Everything.  We just receive His work by faith and HE makes it real, experiential in our lives so that by the way we think, say and do, He demonstrates the VERY LIFE of Jesus Christ to the WORLD!
Please, be willing to be wrong.  Please, do not condemn this just because it is different from what you currently know or have been taught.  Be willing to take it all to God.  Ask HIM what HE says, NOT what you think, not what you have been taught, NOT what your pastor has preached, but WHAT DOES GOD ACTUALLY SAY!  And I do not mean what you think the Bible says either.  I mean, what does God say with His own lips?
If we cannot hear Him speak, then can we even say we belong to Him, for His sheep hear His voice?
Brothers and sisters, I plead with you, I beg you, do not remain where you are.  If I could do this for you, I would.  But each of us must go to the Lord Himself to learn these things.  We cannot figure them out.  They MUST be revealed by the Holy Spirit and only if we our EMPTY ourselves of what we think is right and wrong, what we think is good and evil, can we EVER even begin to hear His Truth.

May we come to the place where we truly CEASE from our works, trying to make our lives look righteous and just, and receive this righteousness that ONLY comes by faith and is revealed in and through our lives by the Power of God ALONE!
A bondslave in Christ Jesus, Dirk

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