Matthew 5:20

 “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.”  

Matthew 5:20

Here was one of those IMPOSSIBLE commands. How could the people sitting there that day possibly imagine being more righteous than the religious leaders?  They couldn’t!  And that was the point.  Jesus purposely picks what the people believed to be the highest standard of human righteousness and said you had to be better than that.  What the people didn’t realize was that the scribes and Pharisees were functioning on a self-righteousness not a relational righteousness.

Our righteousness comes through our personal relationship with Jesus.  We by faith believe in the Son and His finished work on our behalf.  We are now robed in the righteousness of Christ, which far exceeds anything man could do for himself.  We need what only Jesus can bring. The standard was raised not to a level but to a person, Jesus.

It’s all about Him,

Pastor Gerard Deleeuw