God's Impossible
Demands

Jesus
said in Matt. 5:20, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven." If we were to face this demand with
only the abilities of man to perform righteousness, then it would
certainly be an impossible demand. The Pharisees carried outward
righteousness to extremes, yet nowhere in the scripture are they
actually rebuked for this, but only for leaving off the inner
righteousness that can come only from God.

Consider
two main thoughts. First the fact that works of righteousness cannot
produce a righteous soul. God, being perfect, cannot be satisfied
with anything less than perfect righteousness. Man, being born in
sin, cannot produce perfect righteousness.

There
is no use trying to meet God's requirements by the keeping of any
law, for the Word of God says, in Rom. 3:20,`By the deeds of the law,
there shall be no flesh justified in his sight.' Nor can it be done
by ethical or moral standards, or even by keeping the Golden rule as
some claim to do, for we are told in Titus 3:5 that it is not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy hath he
saved us.

What
must be seen is the hopelessness of man ever meeting the standard of
righteousness demanded by a holy God as long as he depends upon his
own abilities. It is impossible for man to meet the demands of
holiness and it is equally impossible for God to lower those
requirements. So, enters the Grace of God through Jesus Christ. Here
is the one way that man can stand before God in perfect
righteousness. Our righteousness can exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees for it is the righteousness of Christ,
who was made our sin bearer, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. This, the imputed righteousness of Christ cannot be
earned for we are told in Rom. 4:4-5 "Now to him that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of Grace but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness." Praise God for His
wonderful Grace! He has made it possible for man through the gift of
His Son, Jesus Christ, to attain that otherwise impossible state of
perfect righteousness which opens to us all the joys of that perfect
place we call heaven. Think of the wisdom of God in this. If it HAD,
in some way been possible for God to have allowed the ALMOST
PERFECTLY RIGHTEOUS to enter in, then sin would have had a toehold in
heaven and would continue to plague man for eternity! But thanks be
to God, He has ruled out sin and its sorrows there by upholding His
Holy demands, and yet has opened the way for sinful man by providing
that perfection in Christ!

Now
for the second main thought. The standard of righteousness in the
lives of those who are saved must exceed the righteousness of the
Pharisees to please Christ. How sad and tragic when one sees the
truth of salvation by grace without works and then uses it as an
excuse to satisfy the flesh by saying "since I'm not saved by
works it doesn't matter how I live."

Jesus
referred to the demands of the Law several times in his teaching. NOT
ONCE DID HE LOWER IT STANDARDS in his own demands, but in every case
he raised those standards!

Where
the Law had said, Thou shalt not kill, Jesus said, "But I say
unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause is
in danger of the judgement.

The
Law had said, thou shalt not COMMIT adultery, but Jesus said, "That
whosoever LOOKS upon a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart.

They
had been taught that if a person had sworn an oath, then he must
perform it, but Jesus taught his disciples that even without any oath
they must be honest. Let your communication be yea, yea, and nay,
nay.

An
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, said the Law. Whosoever
shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him thy other also, said
Christ.

Love
thy neighbor, hate thy enemy was the way of the law, but the
righteousness of the disciple of Christ must exceed this as Jesus
said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.

There
are really two very simple reasons why more is demanded of us under
grace that of them under Law. First, because under the Law, it was up
to man, to judge the offenders guilt and execute the penalty of the
Law. Since man can only see the actions and not the heart from which
those actions spring, man can only judge those things which have been
put into action. Therefore the murder must have been committed before
the penalty could be carried out, the adultery must then be done
before the stones could be cast, but now, we are told that we shall
all stand before the judgement seat of Christ and He who looks upon
the heart of man will judge. Not simply according to the deeds
committed but even for our motives and desires.

The
second reason more is demanded under grace than under law, is that
those who have received Christ into their hearts and lives have the
ability through Him to reach a state of righteousness in their lives
that is absolutely impossible for those who depend upon their own
strength, and determination to ever attain.

What
a tragic waste of life and opportunity when one who has been saved by
the grace of God and to whom the perfect righteousness of Christ has
been imputed is willing to settle for less in his service of love
than the Pharisees demanded of themselves out of fear and pride!

An
impossible standard? Yes! If one expects to meet it by the flesh
alone. But by the aid of the Spirit of God we can exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees because our good works
shall proceed not from a heart filled with the desire of the praise
of men but from a heart that has been made free from sin by the blood
of Christ, and a heart in which the love of God has been shed abroad
by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us!

To
abstain from evil is not enough for those who would please Christ,
but the command is to abstain from all appearance of
evil. The one who is saved but still desires to be conformed to the
world is far short of the acceptable standard that Christ has set. It
is a standard that can be met and Paul told us the way in the
twelfth chapter of Romans, "but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind." When this is done we are on our way to
becoming fruitful servants for our Lord. With the help of the grace
of God it is possible to be what God wants us to be.

My
father is rich in cattle

in
houses, in land, and in gold,

He
owns the earth and the heavens,

His
riches are untold.

My
Father owns time and eternity,

He
controls it, it's all in His power,

And
He gives to me an allowance

of
time, hour by hour.

Each
moment shines as a diamond,

set
in its hour of gold.

It
gleams upon the breast of days.

Each
is mine till it's sold.

Help
me, Father, to treasure each one

and
not sell it for earth's passing dross,

but
buy with it, treasures in heaven

by
taking up my cross.

F.
C. Creel