by David Brenneman
"as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:13-23.
Re-read that last part about those who tell Jesus what they did in His name. The reality is that even those and those who weren't doing anything in Jesus's name will cry out, will shout, will raise a shaking fist at Jesus on that day they all stand before Jesus condemned in their sins. They will try to shout, yell, to stand defiant before Him. To explain why they think they were good enough.
These people are in this world right now. They will be in this world until that last moment of human history when Jesus calls everyone not in Heaven through His gift of salvation to their final judgment day.
There's none good no not one. There's nobody who's capable of the righteousness required that only Jesus fulfilled on a cross over 2,000 years ago.
Scripture says that if it were possible for mankind to bridge that gap to reach across to Heaven then Jesus died needlessly.
There's none righteous no not one.
My Dear Reader we who are in Christ are to shine in our part of the world with the righteousness of Christ in us. So that all may see Jesus and see their need for a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
The lives of Believers aren't about us getting everything we wanted in life just because we came to Christ. We came because He first came to us. He drew us to Himself. He saved us so that we could tell and show others that He loves them too and wants the same for them.
We live in a highly distracted world. Distractions are everywhere and are indeed persons, places and things.
Those who are saved are being fed distractions to keep us from living out the righteous life that God desires for us and those not yet saved are constantly being distracted from hearing and perceiving the truth of God in Christ Jesus.
There's none righteous no not one.
The only one who ever was and is, is Jesus Christ. Jesus said that it has to be through faith and trust in Him alone are we saved and pass from death to life.
"But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:8-13.
Our definition of what is good or good enough isn't worth mentioning compared to where the Creator of the universe has set the bar.
Our thoughts aren't His. Our ideas on good aren't His. Our views on good and bad aren't of any value at all.
Without salvation in Christ Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sins there's no salvation at all.
Without Jesus as the forgiver of our sins and the leader of our lives we aren't seen with the righteous.
My Dear Reader...be sure of your salvation in Christ Jesus. Be sure that you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Without it, you'll never see the face of Jesus with a favorable light.
For those reading this who are saved...live it. Live it like you mean it. Live like it's true in your life.
Only through salvation in Christ Jesus will His righteousness be seen in us. His, which is pure, holy and true.
Everyone must choose to receive or reject the free gift of salvation. The consequences in this physical world will determine where you will spend eternity after this world passes.
Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:34-46.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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