The following lesson is taken from “The Kingdom of God” – Steve Bray
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.... (Jer. 17:9)
…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks...But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matt. 12:34, 36-37)
People who truly desire to produce righteousness in their lives are generally able to remove their glaring sins. It is possible to have many successes through our human efforts. We can become very moral and upstanding citizens, contributing significantly to helping our fellow man through our own discipline and hard work. And so from the perspective of this world, we are able to find many morally righteous people in our society. If they were professing to be Christians, we would praise the Lord for what they are doing with their lives.
But in truth, they have climbed their ladders of success without ever looking to Jesus Christ. If God only expected an outwardly moral life from His creation, we would have the opportunity to hold onto our independence while producing a reasonable level of righteousness through obedience to laws. But in truth, Jesus Christ came to purify the inside of the cup. He came to cure the envy and bitterness and anger and unforgiveness and lust that expose the bad heart found in the fallen nature. Our Savior has come to replace this sinful nature with His divine nature.
The Pharisees used the word of God to change their outer facade. They were able to confidently parade their righteousness in the streets, just as we find many church members doing today. They did an outstanding job of making themselves look like outwardly moral men. But then Jesus came along and began describing the kind of life we are to live in God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom-life, as Jesus described it in His Sermon on the Mount, would require a whole new nature. The standard was so high that it would require total dependence on Christ’s Spirit to manifest the life through the temple of our body.
The Son of God came to take the religion of human effort away from man, and the Pharisees {then and now} were not happy with this new principle. The Pharisees were very upset with Jesus when He told them that God was not impressed with their outward character. Even though they had taken great pains to study the Scriptures and conform their outward character to God’s laws, Jesus said their inner nature was not acceptable in the eyes of God. He was examining the corruption in their heart. And unless they gave up their evil way of self-sufficiency to receive the divine life from Jesus Christ, they would never be able to enter into God’s kingdom life.
Jesus is still saying to the Pharisees who live by human effort, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by {a belief in} them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to {die to self and} come to me {through the cross} to have life. (John 5:39)
The Pharisees were totally deceived about their condition before God. As far as they were concerned, they were God’s most honored servants. But they were sadly mistaken. And everyone who continues to live by this independent and self-produced kind of righteousness, will one day find themselves in the same kind of serious trouble. “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:20)
We have this same kind of heart deception in the church today. Even though the Son of God has clearly described the innate evil within our fallen nature in His Sermon on the Mount, there is a natural tendency to overlook the importance of His message. Therefore, if we hope to avoid falling into the fatal error committed by the Pharisees, we must examine the difference between the righteousness that man is able to produce through his own works, and the righteousness that God wants to manifest through the temple of our body using the divine life of the Son.
The first thing we will notice about self-produced righteousness is how it naturally builds up pride and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, when people strive to be righteous through their own efforts, they will have a tendency to look down on others who remain in their sin. Our Lord has provided a clear warning about trying to live by our own strength in a self-produced kind of righteousness. To some who were CONFIDENT OF THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS and LOOKED DOWN on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:10-14)
The Pharisee, because of his pride and self-sufficiency, became exactly the opposite of what God expects from His creation. Even though this Pharisee was obviously trying to obey God’s laws, he was still walking in Satan’s way of pride. The devil also masquerades as an angel of light by producing a form of righteousness. He convinces his ministers to teach a religion of human effort. He wants his followers to manifest a self-produced righteousness so they will remain independent of God. “You have eaten the fruit of {Satan’s} deception. Because you have depended on your own strength.” (Hos. 10:13)
The difference between the kingdom of God, which is a life that must be established in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, and all the other religions of the world, is the difference between human effort and God’s power. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk {or our human effort to obey words} but of power.” (1 Cor. 4:20)
If we do not become utterly dependent on Jesus Christ and the power of His Spirit to manifest His life and nature through the temple of our body, we are going to remain in a religion of the world. We can recognize these worldly religions because a carnal life will continue to flow out of the fallen nature. Paul told the Corinthians to examine themselves to see if they were truly in “the faith.” They were to look for the fruit of Christ’s nature because Paul understood how a truly responsive faith would bring the life and nature of Jesus Christ into the born again children of God by the divine power of the Holy Spirit.
(2 Cor. 13:4-8)
There is a very significant difference between the nature of fallen man and the selfless nature of love found in the life of Jesus Christ. But not everyone is willing to die to the old nature so they may enter into Christ’s submissive nature. As the world has produced more and more things to capture the heart of fallen mankind, Paul understood how even the church would become filled with people who manifested a carnal nature while living in a religion of human effort. As Jesus once said, we will recognize them by their fruit.
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud....conceited, lovers of pleasure {in this world} rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness {that comes from self-produced righteousness} but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)
If we could fill our church with men like the Pharisees today, we would consider our congregation a very spiritual organization. They had devoted their whole life to serving God. They even gave a tenth of everything they earned for the purpose of doing God’s work. But unless our righteousness exceeds this level of human effort, we will never enter into the supernatural kingdom of God.
Jesus made a statement that we cannot afford to overlook when He said these religious men, who were devoted to serving God, did not go home justified. Jesus pointed to the problem when He said they were looking down on other people. They had become proud in their self-produced righteousness. This will naturally occur whenever our religious life comes from our own strength. Once we have accomplished a work of righteousness through our own wisdom and human effort, there is a natural tendency to begin judging others by the works we have been doing.
Our fallen nature, which wants to be like God, desires to conform others to the “right” spiritual image we have created for ourselves. Consequently, the world becomes filled with people who are trying to conform others to their own concepts of what is right and wrong. This is what naturally occurs when people eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” – the human opinion tree. This is the reverse of the true Christian faith. In Christianity, we are to give up our own glory and self-produced “spiritual” image. Instead of promoting the way of life we have established it in our own little kingdom, we are to die to self and enter the kingdom of God where everyone manifests God’s spiritual image.
I have given them {access to} the glory {or spiritual image} that you gave me, that they may be one {in life and nature} as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity {be made perfect in one – NKJV} to let the world know that you sent me {to save them from their willful and self-seeking nature that wants to glory in itself}... (John 17:22-23)
Since we cannot produce a Christlike nature in our own strength, no one is ever in a position to take credit for what has been accomplished in their life. When we enter into this supernatural life through a gift of God based on our utter dependence on Him, we will never even consider trying to get other people to conform to this new nature. We know that everyone must receive it through miraculous work of God. In fact, we know that all righteousness that is produced by the pride of human effort is nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God.
There was only one way given for us to enter into the fullness of Christ’s life: The self-life would have to die. We must be able to say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20) By giving up our own life in order to enter into Christ’s life, the Son is able to bring all glory to the Father. “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much {divine} fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8) And this is how it will be throughout all eternity for the few who are willing to enter into God’s undivided kingdom.
The Pharisees of the world live by law. They enter into a natural progression of using laws to conform other people to the way of life they have chosen for themselves. Of course, everyone has a little different opinion about how everyone else should be living, and so people are always entering into a war of words with each other. If more Christians were participating with Christ in His divine nature, there would be less people being drawn into this foolish method of promoting righteousness through the worldly way of government by written law. “Are you so foolish?...are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?... All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.’” (Gal. 3:3, 10-11)
This is not to say that we do not have a need for laws in this world. “We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful...” (1 Tim. 1:9) God has established the governments of this fallen world for all of the people who refuse to give up their willful nature in order to live under the control and power of the Holy Spirit. We can only be set free from the law by dying to our self-originated life and entering into a participation with Christ in His life and nature. Only those who have yielded their life to live wholly under the control and power of the Holy Spirit are set free from the law.
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Rom. 7:6)
…For if a law had been given that could impart {divine} life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised {divine life}, being GIVEN through FAITH in Jesus Christ, might be GIVEN {as a life of true righteousness and holiness} to those who BELIEVE. (Gal. 3:21-22)
…The fruit of the Spirit {which comes from the divine life of God} is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no {need for} law. (Gal. 5:22-23)
Most Christians today remain under the law because they want to maintain some control over their life. Like the Pharisees, their heart remains blinded in its own self-centeredness. Truly, “the heart is deceitful beyond all things.” (Jer. 17:9) As long as we maintain control over our own life, which also carries over into a desire to control those around us, we will remain bound to the old willful nature and the law. And do not be deceived, there are still many Pharisees today who have committed themselves to serving the Lord while they are still holding onto their willful nature. And from this fallen nature comes the desire to conform others to one’s own spiritual image and judge them when they do not conform, just as the Pharisees did.
God will not justify someone or set them free from their sinful nature while they have chosen to live this way. Do not underestimate the eternal ramifications of this lesson. If you are living by law through your own human efforts, you will continue to experience a natural tendency toward judging people who have not produced a life of righteousness similar to the one you have produced, by the one you have produced. But Jesus says, if you still have sin in your own life while judging someone else by your own list of selected sins, God will judge you in the same way and with the same penalty you are using to judge them.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matt. 7:1)
In other words, if you are making sweeping judgments against someone else, even if they are a prostitute or homosexual while you are still harboring sins such as resentment, bitterness, envy, pride, lust, unforgiveness or a spirit that condemns others {or any sin of the heart}, God will judge you with the same measure you have been using to judge them. In God’s sight, the sins of the inner nature, such as our anger and resentment towards others, are as evil as any of the outward sins, including murder.
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment...{And} anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matt. 5:21-22)
…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks...But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matt. 12:34, 36-37)
To escape judgment, we will need a new nature. And in order to receive a new nature, we are going to be required to have enough faith in Jesus Christ to present our body to Him as a living sacrifice. We must give up all forms of self-will and self-sufficiency. He requires us to die to our self-life so we can become a vessel of His life and will.
He is before all things...And He is the head of the body, the church...so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Col. 1:17-18)
And he made known to us the mystery of his will...to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (Eph. 1:9-10)
The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment {because he lives in Christ’s life and will}: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ {those who have become spiritual Christians}. (1 Cor. 2:15-16)
There is a difference between making sweeping judgments of others and discerning sin in the lives of our brothers. Sin is rebellion against revealed light. If someone has truly given up their life to the Lord, thus becoming our brother in Christ, and then has turned in rebellion against revealed light, we are to try to win him {or her} over with the gentle instruction found in a Christlike nature.
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (Jam. 5:19-20)
And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Tim. 2:24-26)
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on {selfless agape} love, which binds them all together in PERFECT UNITY...Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom... (Col. 3:12-14, 16)
We have been sent into the world to show people how to be set free from their sinful nature. Our purpose is not to condemn them for the evil that remains in their heart. After all, they cannot free themselves from their corrupt nature. Instead, we must encourage them to seek out the purified heart that has been promised by the Father through the life of Jesus Christ. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given {access to} fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” (Col. 2:9-10)
When we have been united with the mind and nature of Jesus Christ, we do not condemn the sinful people of the world. The “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16) sees nothing but the multitudes of helpless people who remain lost in darkness. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36) They had not yet found their Shepherd.
People who are still living by human effort remain in the darkness of Satan’s deception. (Hos. 10:13) A Christianity that cannot do anything other than teach law to the lost people of the world will keep these people in bondage to their sinful nature. And their sinful nature is the source of their problem. We are here to draw them out from the darkness of their carnal nature by the light of Christ’s life. We must show them how to enter into Christ’s life and nature through a dependent faith in His power. They will not be able to completely escape the corruption in this world caused by evil desires until they are participating with Christ in His divine nature. (2 Pet. 1:3-4)
The Son of God came as a servant to everyone. He made Himself nothing and then demonstrated how the sons of God are to become instruments of the Father’s life and work. This was His plan for redeeming fallen man. He taught the truths about life in God’s eternal kingdom, and then invited people to seek divine life from Him in the same way that He had received it from the Father. Remember, He has come to give us His life, His abundantly full spiritual life. (John 10:10)
Jesus did not attempt to control other people. If they were unwilling to follow Him, He knew it was because His Father had not yet enabled them. (John 6:65) Of course, He also understood how their lack of enabling grace was always related to their pride and self-sufficiency. (Matt. 18:3-4; Jas. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5-6) The Father will not enable anyone to truly follow the Lord into His divine life until they are willing to become nothing in self and live as humble, meek and dependent little children. The sons of God recognize how they must permit the Son of God to do everything through them. As Jesus so clearly stated, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
The only way we can truly help the people who are living under the bondage of a sinful nature is by manifesting the light of Christ’s life through the temple of our body. We cannot argue someone into the kingdom of God through the wisdom of this world. Paul attempted to explain this principle when he described how there must be a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Cor. 2:4-5) The world must be able to see Christ’s supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control continuously flowing out of our life if we are to convince them of the need to die to self. Until we are enabled to demonstrate the all-surpassing power of God through our new nature, others will see little value in giving up their independent nature. People must see the Lamb of God living His life through the temple of our body before they will ever agree to pay the price for the invaluable treasure of the “pearl of great price” {our Lord’s kingdom-life}. (Matt. 13:45-46)
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the {divine} light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through {the all-surpassing power of} God. (John 3:21)
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