The Righteous
Psalms 55:22
“Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
“the righteous”
vs.
“the unrighteousness”
God doesn’t say, those who call themselves Christians vs non-Christians,
but God does say:
“the believers”
“the unbelievers”
“the holy”
“the unholy”
The thing that separates these two categories of people are not only what they say or profess about God (Matthew 7:22) but what they say, think in their hearts and do.
The thing that will separate the sheep from the goats is whether or not people are believing God and what He’s told us; and whether or not they are continuing in true sincere repentance or reverting back to or remaining in any unrepentant sinning.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that DOETH
the will of My Father
which is in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from Me,
YE THAT WORK INIQUITY.”
Jesus is telling us about people who:
1. Believe Jesus is their Lord and Master
2. Believe they are saved
3. Believe they are doing God’s will
4. Professed Jesus as their Savior
5. Called on Jesus to be saved.
They did this:
Romans 10:13
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
But they didn’t do all of what God required of them for their salvation. That’s why Jesus is warning us.
Luke 13:27
“But He shall say, I tell you,
I know you not whence ye are;
depart from Me,
all ye workers of iniquity.”
These people are practicing iniquity (unrepentant sinning.)
Psalms 141:4
“Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
to practise wicked works
with men that work iniquity…”
You might think, who can be saved then, because we all sin every day? There’s a difference between unrestrained willful sinning and being someone who believes God even though they slip and sin, not wanting to. That person then turns away from sin in true sincere repentance intending not to sin again by the power of the Holy Spirit. This person is committed to obeying the LORD’s commandments being convinced about keeping God’s covenant of salvation. That is a covenant keeper (sheep) doing what God tells us to do when we sin, and because of that, the are in obedience. We can obey and keep God’s laws and covenant because He said so.
Matthew 25:32-34
“And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
Those people Jesus warned us about in Matthew 7:21-23 failed to do these things:
1John 2:17
“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that DOETH the will of God abideth for ever.”
1John 3:3-10
“And every man that hath this hope in him PURIFIETH HIMSELF, even as He is pure.
Whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law:
for sin is the transgression of the law.
And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.
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.
In this the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
“Doth not commit sin”; this doesn’t mean we can’t sin, but that we are not allowed to sin, we are not free to sin. We are not allowed to sin because God’s Holy Spirit is in us and we can’t pollute the kingdom of God with sin. We can’t corrupt God because in Him is “no darkness at all”; “And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin”.
1Corinthians 6:15-20
“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord IS ONE SPIRIT. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth IS WITHOUT the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
“Every sin that a man doeth is without the body…”. “Without the body”, means OUTSIDE the Body of Christ. When we sin we are walking in darkness, walking after the flesh and are not IN Christ. Only those who are walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh are IN Christ. When we sin we are sinning against our own body and the death penalty reapplies to us again while we remain in unrepentance.
The covenant is conditional:
1John 1:6-7
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, AND the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
(Light means righteousness)
(Darkness means unrighteousness- sin)
1John 1:5-10
“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him,
and walk in darkness,
we lie, and DO NOT the truth:
But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not IN us.
If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar,
and His word is not IN us.”
We can’t just do part of what God has commanded us to do and expect to have salvation from a conditional covenant that we’re supposed to be keeping continually, just like Jesus warned us in Matthew 7:21-23. Remember what Jesus told these folks who thought they were doing God’s will but we’re only doing part of what God told them to do?
Matthew 23:23
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and HAVE OMITTED
the weightier matters OF THE LAW,
judgment,
mercy,
and faith:
these ought ye to have done,
and not to leave the other undone.”
Judgment, mercy and faith are part of the law of God contained in the Everlasting Covenant. We can’t practice part obedience, we have to fully obey. When we mess up and sin, we return to obedience through confession and a true sincere commitment to continuing in repentance (putting sin away and not sin). (1John 2:1 & 1John 1:9)
If we only do part of what God says we’re guilty of breaking all God’s laws because partial obedience is disobedience (death).
James 2:8-13
“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But if ye have respect to persons,
ye commit sin,
and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all.
For He that said,
Do not commit adultery,
said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art BECOME a transgressor of the law.
So speak ye, and so do, as they
that SHALL BE JUDGED by the law of liberty.
For he shall have judgment WITHOUT mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”
“Without mercy” means without salvation.
Romans 13:8-10
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this,
Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill,
Thou shalt not steal,
Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Thou shalt not covet;
and if there be any other commandment,
it is BRIEFLY comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Obedience looks like this:
1John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1John 2:1-6
“My little children, these things write I unto you, THAT YE SIN NOT.
And if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous:
And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not IN him.
But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are IN Him.
He that saith he abideth IN Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”