January 5
Gen 11-13:4 | PS 5:1-12 | Prov 1:24-28 | Matt 5:1-26
You breathe for your last time on planet earth. Immediately you find yourself in a royal courtroom. The next thing that you realize is that you are standing before a judge. Unlike the judges who are on earth, who like all other people are imperfect, this judge is none other than God, who is perfect, and He poses one question to you: "Why should I let you into heaven?" Pause for a moment, and what will your response be? Realize, that unlike human judges, He knows everything about you. So, clever excuses, manipulation of the facts, may work for others, but will not fool Him. One option that many would take, is to take the offensive. They will actually stand in defiance and tell God that He has no right to judge you. You could go on to state all the things that you deem unfair in the world and in the world's treatment of you, and that on the basis of this it is your estimation that you deserve heaven, because to rule otherwise would be unfair. God would lower His gavel, and sadly, say "Guilty", and you would be ushered into hell. Another option is to give God a laundry list of why you are such a good person, that you have earned heaven. You could point out how you were a good husband, a good father, a good son, a good worker. You could go on to describe how you went and gave to the church, perhaps even led a ministry or two. Standing in your self-righteousness, God would lower the gavel, and again sadly say, "Guilty", and you would be ushered into hell. Lastly, you could stand before Him, without pride, and feeling the weight of your sins in the presence of such purity, not even lifting your eyes to the Judge. You could state that it is clear to you that you have not earned heaven at all, but that it is hell, which your sins deserve. But it is then that you could point to your Defense Attorney, Jesus Christ, who was willing to die for your sins, and in so doing is willing to represent you before the Judge. The Judge will look at you, and amazingly, He will not see a single sin upon you, as each and every sin has been washed from you by the Lamb of God, your Defense Attorney, Jesus Christ. God, will then lower the gavel, and lovingly state, "Not Guilty", " ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (Matthew 25:21 NKJV).
We read in Matthew 5:20, (NKJV), "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." So many years later, most of us from Gentile origins, it is easy to wrongly point our fingers at the scribes and Pharisees. They missed who Jesus was, but for that day they were the "Who's Who" for the religious establishment. Many of them were probably good teachers, good fathers, good husbands, and faithful in their service to the Lord. Jesus didn't state that people had to be better than them in terms of human behavior. He stated that if one relies on even the best of self-righteousness then you will come up short in the final analysis. The righteousness which exceeds their righteousness is God's righteousness which is imputed onto us through His Son, as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV), "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." But how do we get to this point? By following Jesus' teachings in the Beatitudes and slowly applying one at a time. We read in Matthew 5:3, "“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It is only in approaching Him in humility, in the absence of pride, recognizing the sinners that we are, that we can begin this journey. Then in 5:4, "Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.", humbled, you can't help but mourn for the sins that you have committed. Which leads us to 5:5, "Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.", in which we stop trusting in our own strength and power, but instead learn to lean on His strength. Emptied of our own self-righteousness, we can finally open our eyes, as we read in 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled." Filled with His Holy Spirit, you will no longer wag your judgmental fingers in the direction of others in arrogance, as we read in 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy." It is impossible to truly see God, unless you follow Jesus' plan and purge out your impurities and be filled with the purity of the Holy Spirit, in 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God."
Now that we have experienced the inexplicable beauty and freedom and peace that Jesus alone offers, we read in Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God." There can be no peace without the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and we are peacemakers only when we faithfully accept our commission from our Lord in Matthew 28:18-20, to bring the message of salvation to those who do not know Him. You might think that following this path will make you amazingly popular, but Jesus opens our eyes to our earthly reality in 5:10-12, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Emptied of self-righteousness and cloaked in His righteousness, we abandon our citizenship. We are no longer citizens on earth, but citizens in heaven and God's ambassadors on earth (Philippians 3:20). Which brings us back to the courtroom. Thank You, Jesus, for illuminating our path in the Beatitudes, and for paying the price for our sins, which You alone are worthy to make. All praise and glory to You!!!
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: