In this insightful message, Pastor Rogers sheds light on the significance of internal transformation over external righteousness, drawing profound connections between biblical teaching and everyday life. Through vivid narratives and scriptural references, listeners are invited to reflect on the sincerity of their own spiritual lives in light of Christ’s teachings on the Sermon on the Mount. Discover how an authentic relationship with God involves more than following rules but embracing a transformation from within.
Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
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Take God’s Word and turn today to Matthew chapter 5 as we continue our series in the Sermon on the Mount and the title of the message today, It’s What’s Inside Me. that counts. When Howard Carter discovered the tomb of old King Tut in 1924, he found that King Tut was buried in a coffin. I have seen the coffin. I have been to Egypt and in the Egyptian museum, seen this huge sarcophagus, this coffin that they buried old King Tut in. First of all, there was the large outer coffin. When they opened that, they looked inside and there was another coffin overlaid with gold. They looked inside of that and there was another coffin Inside that one was another coffin of solid gold. When they looked inside there, there was King Tut wrapped in gold cloth. And he had a gold mask on his face. You’ve seen that beautiful, solid gold mask covering his face. But when they took that off and unwrapped the gold cloth inside, was a dead, shriveled, leathery corpse. Outside, very beautiful. Inside, dead bones. It’s what’s inside. That counts. Not the outer covering that we sometimes wear and the facade of gold that we put on to try to hide the decaying spiritual life. The Pharisees were past masters at this. Outwardly, oh, they looked so good. But Jesus said on the inside… You are a dead, putrefying spiritual corpse. Begin to read here in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20. Jesus said, Now, I’ve tried to think about what a church full of scribes and Pharisees would be like. Well, number one, they’d be here every Sunday. Number two, they’d be on time. Number three, they’d all be carrying Bibles. Number four, they’d all be tithing. Number five, they’d never curse or swear or drink or get drunk or commit adultery. Number six, they’d all go to hell. Outwardly, they were very righteous. But Jesus said, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Amen. NOW HE’S TALKING NOT ABOUT WHAT’S ON THE OUTSIDE, BUT HE’S TALKING ABOUT WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE. AND THEN HE GIVES SIX ILLUSTRATIONS. HERE’S THE FIRST ONE IN VERSES 21 AND 22. YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID BY THEM OF OLD TIME, THOU SHALT NOT KILL, AND WHOSOEVER SHALL KILL SHALL BE IN DANGER OF THE JUDGMENT. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Now, I want to say again that the Pharisees had a form of religion that was outward, it was external, it was superficial, It was hypocritical. Don’t turn to it, but let me tell you how Jesus described them. It’s really humorous the way Jesus described them. In Matthew chapter 23, just put it in your margin, verses 23 through 25, Jesus said, Do you know what they did? They were so careful, if they had a little mint plant, you know, mint like you put in your iced tea, they’d say, well, now that plant belongs to God, so I’ve got to count the leaves. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Oh, this tenth leaf, that belongs to God. So they’d pick off the tenth leaf, and they’d tithe that tenth leaf. I mean, everything belonged to God. The tithe belonged to God, and it does. Jesus didn’t say they were wrong to tithe. He said, these ought ye to have done. But listen, you have, excuse me, let me back up and get the whole verse. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. Now, tithing, that’s external. Judgment, mercy, and faith, that’s internal. These ought you to have done. You ought to tithe and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides. Can you imagine anything more ridiculous than somebody who is supposed to be a guide who’s blind would strain at a gnat and swallow a camel? Don’t tell me Jesus didn’t have a sense of humor. I’m sure this one had him in the aisles. Here’s a guy gagging at a gnat. And then on the other hand, here comes a camel all the way down. I see his tail going in. And you strain at a gnat, you gag at a gnat, you swallow a camel. And then he says unto you, evidently he’d been watching a man wash dishes. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. You may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. And within, they’re full of extortion and excess. Here’s a man who does dishes. All he does is wipe the outside and put them back in the cupboard. And on the inside, he hasn’t touched them. And Jesus said, that’s the way your religion is. You’re a blind guy. You’re gagging at gnats, swallowing camels. When you do the dishes, all you’re doing is wiping the outside. You’re leaving the inside full of filth. And our Lord’s first concern is not the outside. Our Lord’s first concern is the inside. It’s what’s inside that counts. Sin is an inside job, and so is righteousness an inside job. I’ve often used this illustration about a log in the sawmill. You may take a crooked log out of the forest, put it in the sawmill, lop off one side, lop off the other side, lop off the other side, lop off the other side, and it’s perfectly straight. But if you look at it from the end, the heart is still crooked. the heart is still crooked. And the Pharisees, their lives were so straight on the outside, but on the inside, their heart was still crooked. One time years ago, I was working in a Billy Graham crusade as a counselor. And after the service, a girl came forward and she wanted to give her heart to Christ. And we dealt with her back there in the back after the service. And the girl’s mother was a socialite. And she was mortified. that her daughter had come down there with the rest of those sinners to give her heart to Christ. Because to this woman, that was an affront. It actually embarrassed her that her daughter, quote, needed to be saved, end of quote. And so the mother was back there in the counseling room protesting. And she was saying, sweetheart, you don’t need this. DARLING, MAMA KNOWS YOU. YOU’RE A GOOD GIRL. AND I NEVER WILL FORGET WHAT THAT TEENAGE GIRL SAID AS SHE LOOKED INTO HER MOTHER’S FACE. SHE SAID, MOTHER, YOU CAN’T SEE MY HEART. YOU CAN’T SEE MY HEART. THIS GIRL KNEW THAT SHE WAS A SINNER AND SHE KNEW THAT SHE NEEDED TO BE SAVED, BUT THE MOTHER WAS SO MUCH LIKE THESE PHARISEES SO LONG AGO. IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE THAT IS THE PROBLEM. LISTEN TO ME, MY DEAR FRIEND. A MAN IS NOT A SINNER BECAUSE HE SINS. HE SINS BECAUSE HE’S A SINNER. A man is not a thief because he steals. He steals because he’s a thief. A man is not a liar because he tells lies. He tells lies because he’s a liar. Jesus said all of these things come out of the heart. And that’s the reason Jesus said that our righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. And many of those people that Jesus witnessed to and talked to never got saved because they never did see that they were sinners. First of all, you’ve got to get a man lost before you can get him saved. And the Apostle Paul wrote about these same people when he said in Romans chapter 10 and verse 3, they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And so what our Lord Jesus Christ is going to do here in the Sermon on the Mount, He’s going to rip away the veil. He’s going to shatter the self-righteousness of these people and He’s going to show them their need of Him and their need of regeneration. That’s the reason He says now in verse 20, “‘Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.'” And then He gives the illustration, first of six illustrations. This first one has to do with murder. Now, He speaks in verse 21 of the malice of murder. “‘Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill.'” And indeed that is true. Indeed it is true. No one should commit murder. Of course, our Lord is quoting from Exodus chapter 20 and verse 13. The Ten Commandments that simply say, Thou shalt not kill. Now let me say parenthetically here that the Ten Commandments does not forbid all killing. When the Bible says, thou shalt not kill, that literally means thou shalt do no murder. For example, and you might want to turn to Exodus chapter 20 where this is found, the killing of animals is not forbidden. Some people think that it’s wrong to kill animals, but the Bible doesn’t tell us that it’s wrong to kill animals. As a matter of fact, in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 24, it God told, right after He said, Thou shalt not kill, in verse 13 and verse 24, He says this, An altar of earth shalt thou make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen. In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. There was nothing wrong with the sacrificing of these animals. When God said, Thou shalt not kill, He wasn’t referring to animals. No one should be cruel to animals, but it’s all right to use animals for food. Jesus ate fish and a honeycomb, did He not? Don’t tell me Jesus was a sinner. Don’t tell me Jesus did wrong. He did not. There’s no sin found in the Lord Jesus. The Bible does not proscribe or forbid the killing of animals. The Bible does not forbid capital punishment. In Exodus chapter 20, Where the Bible says, thou shalt not kill, in Exodus chapter 21, you might want to read verse 12 and read this and mark it if it’s not marked in your Bible. Exodus 21 and verse 12, he that smiteth a man so that he die, he shall surely be put to death. That’s what God’s Word says. You kill somebody, you have committed a crime worthy of death. And when the Bible says in the Ten Commandments, thou shall not kill, it does not forbid capital punishment. Now, no Christian should ever take personal revenge. That’s not up to us. We never have a right. We never have a right to take the life of another person. And yet the government is ordained to do that. Read Romans chapter 13. And read also Genesis chapter 9 and verse 6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God made he man. You see, God did not say this because He doesn’t value human life, but because He does value human life. That capital punishment is clearly taught in the Bible. And a person just has to deny the Word of God to deny capital punishment. When the Bible says thou shall not kill, it doesn’t proscribe the killing of animals. It does not forbid tragic as it may be capital punishment. And the Bible does not forbid tragic as it may be the necessity to defend your loved ones sometimes by taking another’s life. If you go on in Exodus chapter 22, Exodus chapter 22, you might want to turn to it, verses 2 and 3. God says, if a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. That is, if somebody is breaking into your house and you smite him and he dies, You’re not going to die because of that. But the Bible says, if the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him, for he should make full restitution. Now, what does that mean? It means that if you kill a thief when it wasn’t necessary to kill him just because he was stealing and brought open daylight, you’re not in danger, then you are guilty. The thief is guilty, but you have no right to take his life. But you do have a right to protect your loved ones. You have an obligation to protect your children. You have an obligation to protect your wife and family, a responsibility. But Jesus here is speaking to the Pharisees, and the whole time He’s saying this first part, you’ve read, thou shalt not kill, they’re all nodding their head. Because the Pharisees would not think of committing murder. As a matter of fact… What is forbidden when it says thou shalt not kill? First of all, obviously, the crime of homicide. And America has become… the murder capital of the world. We, in America, we have cold-blooded people who are gunning down innocent citizens and armed robberies. We have people who are taking revenge on people they do not like. We have rapists and others who are murdering people and sacrificing them on the altar of their lust. And their blood cries out from the ground to a holy God. And God is not deaf. to these cries. And God is going to avenge the blood of these people who were killed by homicide. Homicide is what is forbidden. Suicide is forbidden. Thou shall not kill. You don’t have a right to kill yourself. You don’t have a right to take your own life because it is not your own. It belongs to God. You say, well, I have problems that are incurable. No, my dear friend, you have no right to play God. The most incurable disease, the most constant pain, the most severe trouble, the deepest heartache, the worst persecution, no matter what it is, My heart goes out and my heart is broken for what some people are suffering. But let me tell you, my dear friends, suicide takes the matter out of God’s hands and puts it in your hands. And you have no right to do that. God alone is wise enough. God alone is strong enough. God alone is good enough to handle your problem. I’m talking to somebody here who has even contemplated such a thing. Do not sin. Do it. Do not do it. You do not have the wisdom, the judgment to do this. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted. That word means tested above that you’re able. but will with the test, will with the temptation, make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. God will give you grace, and God will meet your need. Wait on Him. Wait on Him. There’s hardly anything anyone could do that would cause more shame and more sorrow and more heartache to a family than suicide. Say, Pastor, could a Christian commit suicide? Well, if a Christian is mentally deranged… or takes his or her eyes from the Lord. That is a possibility, but a tragic possibility. My dear friend, a person who commits suicide will be so ashamed when he faces God. Thou shall not kill. You have no right to take another’s life because of the value of human life. You have no right to take your own life. This would include homicide, suicide. It certainly includes infanticide. Taking the lives of little babies. I’m heart sick that in America we’re so concerned about the spotted owl. We’re so concerned about the whale. We’re so concerned about the snail darter. We’re so concerned about the bald eagle. And we ought to be. Nothing wrong with that. But what is wrong with a nation? that will slaughter the innocents and make all this fuss about a spotted owl. Something very sick in America. Something very wrong in America. You say, well, it’s legal. Everything is legal. It’s not right. I think maybe we ought to abort the courts. These people kill these little babies. I feel like saying, why don’t you pick on somebody your own size? It’s wrong to do that. And I want to tell you what Dr. Gallup, the researcher and the pollster said. He said, if a doctor will take money for killing the innocent in the womb, he will kill you with a needle when paid by your children. God is going to judge. God is going to judge America. And while Jesus is saying, you’ve heard it said, thou shall not kill. The Pharisees were there nodding their heads saying, that is right, that is right. We would not commit homicide. No, we would not commit suicide. No, we would not commit infanticide. And so they wrapped themselves in their robe of self-righteousness and they’re saying, we are fine. But Jesus didn’t stop there. Not only did Jesus speak of the malice of murder, then Jesus began to speak of the acid of anger. And look, if you will, as Jesus continues now in verse 22. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry… with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Arachah, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Now Jesus is going to destroy the illusion of self-righteousness. You see, there was one sin that the Pharisees were sure they were not guilty of, and that was the sin of murder. And just like many in this congregation who are so sure that you don’t have murder on your records. But what the Lord Jesus is going to show is that hatred is an acid that destroys its container. And our Lord goes beyond the act of murder to the attitude behind it. Beyond the murder to the motive. To show what really causes people to kill. A little boy was doing his homework, so I’m told. And he asked his dad, he said, Dad, what causes people to go to war? Why do people kill each other in war? Well, he said, son, it’s like this. If you want to know what causes war, he said, for example, in World War I, he said, Germany invaded Belgium and And the mother came in. She was drying her hands, and she had been doing dishes. She said, no, no, Father, that’s not the way it is. Here’s the way that war started. He said to her, look. Do you want to answer the question? You want me to answer the question. Did he ask you or did he ask me? And besides that, you don’t know anything about it. Why don’t you butt out of this conversation? She said, what do you mean I don’t know anything about it? And she threw her dish towel on the floor, turned around, and slammed the door. You could hear the dishes rattling in the cabinet. And he said, now, son, let me tell you how wars start. He said, no thanks, Dad. I already know. It comes out of the heart. And that’s what our Lord Jesus is about to show. And he speaks here of anger. First of all, he speaks of caustic anger. where he says, you’re angry with a brother. That is, somebody’s done something to you. I don’t know what they did to you, but they did something. They did you wrong. And so you’ve got that caustic anger. You feel that corrosive acid, that caustic acid building up in you. And that caustic anger turns to contemptuous anger. And what you say there is, raka. He said, what does that mean? Did you know we don’t have an English translation for that? That’s an untranslatable word. That’s the reason they just put it in the Bible, raka, R-A-C-A. You know what it means? It means you don’t have any value. I don’t value you. Some translations translate this way, worthless one. It’s actually a term of contempt. Contempt. Racial prejudice is wrapped up in this word. When you look down on other people, you feel that you’re superior to other people. Whatever it is, that air of superiority. You see, somebody takes somebody else’s life because they do not see the worth, the value of every single human being. There’s caustic anger, and then there’s contemptuous anger, and then there’s condemning anger. And our Lord says, and you say, thou fool. YOU’D BE IN DANGER OF HELLFIRE. THE WORD FOOL HERE, HE, HE’S NOT, HE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT SAYING SOMEBODY IS FOOLISH. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WORD FOOL MEANT IN THE BIBLE. The word fool here actually involves moral perversity and godlessness and wickedness. A person who is a fool, unless he gets redeemed and saved, is certainly going to hell, certainly damned, certainly lost. The Bible says there’s no hope for the fool. So you see what a person has done? Caustic anger, contemptuous anger, condemning anger. Somebody’s hurt. AND SOMETHING BEGINS TO BURN AND BOIL AND SEETHE IN HIS HEART THAT IS VERY, VERY WRONG. NOW, THE BIBLE SAYS IN 1 JOHN CHAPTER 3 AND VERSE 15, WHOSOEVER HATETH HIS BROTHER IS A MURDERER. AND YOU KNOW THAT NO MURDERER HATH ETERNAL LIFE ABIDING IN HIM. YOU SAY, PASTOR ROGERS, IS ALL ANGER WRONG? OF COURSE NOT. Some anger is very good. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 26 says, Be ye angry. That’s a command. And sin not. That’s a command too. Be ye angry and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Your wrath is wrong. But righteous anger is different. You see, there is a righteous anger. In the Old Testament, 18 times you read of the anger of the Lord. We read in the New Testament where Jesus was moved with anger when He drove the money changers out of the temple. You can tell the size of a man by what makes him angry. What makes you angry? You miss a putt? Wrap your putter around a tree? Is that what makes you angry? Somebody gets your parking place and you blow a fuse? You can tell the size of the man by what makes him angry. Do you know the way to be angry and sin not? Is to be angry only at sin. Jesus was moved with anger. But the anger that Jesus warns about is the anger that gives Satan a foothold in his life. Now I want you, I want you to turn to Ephesians 4 here. Let me show you something about anger. When our Lord speaks of being angry without a cause and the danger that it will do. Turn to the book of Ephesians. And I want you to look in verses 26 through 31. Do you have it? All right. Look in verse 26. Be ye angry. See, there’s our command. And sin not. There’s the corresponding command. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Now, if you’re angry for the wrong reason, don’t go to bed angry. Husbands and wives never go to bed back to back. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. When you, when my dear friend, when you get this anger in your heart, this wrath there, and you go to bed with it, you don’t deal with it. You give it a place there. Do you know what you have done? You’ve just cleared off a space for the devil to come and camp. You have given the devil a campground, a lodging place, a sanctuary in your life. That is the devil’s lawful, rightful place is your anger, and he’ll move into it. Now, verse 28, “‘Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth.'” Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Now, you wouldn’t think of stealing. You wouldn’t think of cursing, I hope. But that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you seal unto the day of redemption. Most Pharisees would not steal, and most Pharisees would not let corrupt communication come out of their mouth. But now watch what our Lord says in verse 31. And let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Now, I’ve showed you this before, but I want you to slow down and see how wise the Scriptures are. I want you to see why anger is behind murder. Now, watch it. Watch. Watch this progression. Watch these five steps. First of all, all bitterness. Do you see the word bitterness? Do you see it? Look at it in verse 31. Let all bitterness. You know what bitterness is? Bitterness is a feeling of resentment that settles down in your heart when you feel somebody has done you wrong. Maybe they’ve overlooked you. Maybe they’ve abused you. Maybe they’ve insulted you. Maybe they have hurt you in some way. And you get a feeling that the Bible calls bitterness. bitterness. Now, it’s not yet anger. It’s just bitterness. You just feel bad in here, and you’re carrying that resentment. But now the word bitterness is followed by the word what? Wrath. Do you see it? Look in verse 31. Wrath, Ephesians 4, 31. Now, what is wrath? Wrath comes from a Greek word which means to burn. You’re doing a slow burn. Have you ever felt that slow burn on the inside? A lot of antacid companies are happy that you have it. It’s that slow burn that’s in there. It’s just that heat that comes. First bitterness, and then that bitterness turns to wrath. It’s kind of like smoldering rags in a closet. Just doing that slow burn. And then the next word is anger. Anger. Somebody opens the closet door and oxygen comes to those smoldering rags that are in the state of spontaneous combustion. And suddenly the flame just bursts and begins to flame brightly. And that which is smoldering bursts into flames. That’s anger. People fly off the handle. Have you ever seen anybody just sometimes just fly off the handle just like that? I mean, they’ll tell you off in a second or they’ll pick up things and throw things or slam a door or pound their fist or kick something. And you say, man, what got into them? I’ll tell you what has gotten into them. Already you couldn’t see it, but there was bitterness and then there was wrath. After the bitterness came the wrath and then came the anger. And what you thought happened at a moment had been happening a long time ago. That bitterness was there. That bitterness turned to wrath. And finally those smoldering rags of wrath opened into the fires and flames of anger. But the devil is not finished yet. After that anger comes clamor. Do you see the word clamor? Look at it. Verse 31, clamor. Do you know what the word clamor means? It means loud talking. LOUD TALKING. YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE. YOU SHOUT OR YOU CRY. AND A PERSON SAYS, WHY DID YOU DO THAT? YOU SAY, WELL, NOW WAIT A MINUTE. DON’T SHOUT. I’M NOT SHOUTING. And your voice gets louder and you begin to clamor and say all kinds of wicked things, loud things. Just you find yourself expressing yourself in a way that’s unbecoming. But you’re not finished yet. You’re on a roll now and so the next thing is evil speaking. You see, once you raise your voice… Once you get into this attitude, then you begin to evil speak. You begin to say things that you ought not to say. You will say to a child, you will never amount to anything. You’ll say to a wife, I am sorry that I married you. You’ll say to a brother, I wish you were dead. You say terrible, horrible, hateful, hellish things. And the devil is just sitting over there in the corner just laughing and saying, tell them this also. It’s evil speaking. You’re out of control. Do you know there’s a school of psychology that says it’s good for you to vent your anger? Have you ever heard that? That just to ventilate your anger, just let it all get out, that it’s good for you? That’s a lie, my dear friend. The Bible says you’re not to do that. Expressing anger makes you more angry, solidifies an angry attitude, and establishes a hostile habit. That’s the reason the Bible says a soft answer turns away wrath. not ventilating your anger. But see, look, look, here it is. First of all, there’s bitterness. That bitterness turns to wrath. That wrath turns to anger. That anger turns to clamor. That clamor turns to evil speaking. And then what’s the last one? Malice. Do you know what malice is? Malice is doing something evil and hurtful. Malice is what leads to murder. That’s the reason why I spoke of the malice of murder. After you’ve said those wicked and vile things that begin to come out of your mouth, then you have a desire to reach out and strike somebody, to hurt somebody, to hit somebody, to harm somebody. And that’s what’s behind this thing of murder. It all starts in the heart. It all starts with a root of bitterness. Now, you may never kill anybody. It’s far better to carry the seed in your heart than to do it. Don’t just say, well, if I’m already guilty before God, so I might as well kill somebody. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That’s not the thing. It’s not what it does to them we’re talking about. It’s what it does to you primarily right now. You see, listen. Listen, my dear friend. Jesus is dealing with Pharisees, and He only takes one illustration. We’re going to take many more. You may say, well, I don’t have that problem, Pastor Rogers. Well, Jesus has six illustrations right here. But what Jesus is saying here is that it is what is on the inside, not what is on the outside, that makes men the sinners that they are. So we see the malice of murder. We see the acid of anger. Now we can see the requirement for righteousness. Jesus said, listen, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. That is, you cannot behave your way into heaven. Do you know what’s wrong with self-righteousness? Self-righteousness is like trying to fill an empty cup. You see, suppose, I mean, a bottomless cup. Suppose you had a bottomless cup and you start trying to fill it. You’ll never fill it. It has no bottoming. Trying to fill yourself with yourself adds nothing to yourself because nothing plus nothing equals nothing. You can never have righteousness, never be righteous, never be right with God, never, never, never, never until you have the righteousness which is from above. Now, remember what I said in Romans 10, verse 3. Paul said concerning his people, they being ignorant of God’s righteousness… and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Self-righteousness in God’s sight is as filthy rags. The Pharisees needed to see this. They didn’t understand it. They did not understand it. How righteous are you? Let me tell you what real righteousness is. Now listen to me. Real righteousness, God’s righteousness, is first of all imputed righteousness. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. BECAUSE JESUS DIED, BECAUSE JESUS PAID YOUR SIN DEBT, GOD JUST IMPUTS RIGHTEOUSNESS TO YOU. GOD PUTS RIGHTEOUSNESS ON YOUR ACCOUNT. GOD SAYS, ADRIAN IS RIGHTEOUS, NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING I HAVE DONE. I MEAN, NOTHING I HAVE DONE. IT IS BECAUSE JESUS SUFFERED, BLED, AND DIED, AND PAID FOR MY SINS ON THE CROSS, AND GOD IMPUTS RIGHTEOUSNESS TO ME. NOW WAIT A MINUTE. Not only is it imputed righteousness, it is implanted righteousness. Then He gives me a new nature. And then I do what I do because I am what I am, and I have been made new and clean and pure on the inside.” and God has worked a miracle in my heart, and God has worked a judicial miracle and a spiritual miracle. Imputed righteousness, a judicial miracle. He says, put righteousness on his account. Forget all of his sins. They’re blotted out. He is righteous as my son is righteous. And then implanted righteousness, he puts his righteousness into me, and then the love of God begins to come out of me, and it is no longer I but Christ that liveth in me. A man dreamed that he stood, so I’m told, at the gates of heaven, and there were people who were trying to get into heaven. Someone knocked at the gate of heaven, and a voice within said, Who is it that seeks entrance into heaven, and what is the password? And the man at the pearly gate said, I am a righteous man, a moral man. And he said, What is the password into heaven? He said, Honesty. And the voice within said, Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Another knocked at the gate of heaven, and the voice within said, Who is it that seeks entrance into heaven? And what is the password into heaven? The man at the gate said, I am a religious man. And he said, And what is the password into heaven? He said, Ritual and religion. And the voice within said, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Another knocked at the pearly gate. And the voice within said, who is it that seeks entrance into heaven? And what is the password? And this man said, I am a humanitarian. He said, what is the password into heaven? He said, love, charity. And the voice within said, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. At last there came one other. And he knocked at the gate. The voice within said, Who is it that seeks entrance into heaven? And what is the password? And this man said, In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. And the voice within said, Open wide the gate and let him in. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. That’s what our Lord meant when He said to the moralist, to the religionist, and to the humanitarian, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you’ll in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord is not against these other things. He’s not against religion, if it’s His religion. He’s not against morality. He’s not against love. He’s not against keeping the commandment that says, Thou shalt not kill. He’s very much for it. But what God is saying, my dear friend, is the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. And the only answer to that is the new birth, the righteousness of God, that is imputed and implanted when we’re saved.
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