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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Except Your Righteousness Shall Exceed . . ., continued
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11—NIV)
Since the New Testament never presents the Lord Jesus as being the means of escaping Hell and entering Heaven then we should not be presenting the Lord Jesus as being the Divinely ordained means of escaping Hell and entering Heaven.
Since the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation emphasizes again and again the necessity for righteous living if we would enter or inherit the Kingdom of God, then this is what we should be emphasizing.
No one can see or enter the Kingdom of God until he or she has been born again. Being born again is not the same as having our sins forgiven through the blood of the Lord Jesus. The Apostles in the Book of Acts never associated being born again with being saved from wrath. If they did not, why do we?
Being born again means just that—being born of God. That which is born of God does not sin. Being born again means we have been transformed from the image of Adam to the image of Christ. We have become a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. All things have become new and all things of our personality are of God. This is what salvation is—transformation!
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Corinthians 3:18)
Think about the following passage:
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (I John 3:6-9)
Read carefully the entire book of First John and you will notice we really didn't have to write the present essay. The Apostle John already wrote it for us!
The Lord Jesus was not revealed in order to forgive the works of the devil but to destroy the works of the devil—in us.
The reason Satan has changed the Gospel to mean the wicked can escape Hell and enter Paradise by some means other than personal transformation is that this is what he desires. Satan has no desire to change but he certainly desires to escape the Lake of Fire! He is hoping that somehow the amnesty will apply to himself!
If both the old covenant and the new covenant require righteous behavior if an individual is to please God, what then is the difference between the two covenants?
To be continued.