Skinski,
I may be wrong so please don't take it the wrong way as this is what I think you may be implying (I could be wrong on this so.. please bear with me) To me it sounds like you are implying that you have reached the point where your righteousness has surpassed,exceeded,is greater then,higher and better than that of the Pharisees. Jesus did say if it didn't one can NOT enter the kingdom of heaven. So are you implying that you obey the law,with every i dotted every t crossed,you have memorized the entire Torah,and the law and the prophets to know what the requirements of the law and the prophets are,upside down,inside out and backwards. (The Pharisees did) They knew the entire letter of the law and did it. (They were missing the heart of it though)
This is what I am hearing and I may be wrong. If so I do apologize. If so would be kind enough to explain. Thanks
Righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisess is simply having a faith that works by love and thus we walk in the Spirit yielding to God from the heart.
Look at the context of that passage...
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Jesus came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. The law still stands. Yet what does it mean to fulfill? It means to WALK IN LOVE. Love fulfills the law (Gal 5:14). We are not in bondage to the LETTER (2Cor 3:6), we have liberty to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:13) by which we too fulfill the law (Rom 8:2-4).
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The law stands yet the law is for the sinner. Those who are in Christ are not under the letter of the law because they walk in the Spirit by a faith that works by love. Love is fulfilling the law hence there is no law against "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance"
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees sought their righteousness in the letter and totally negated the Spirit. This is why righteousness is not of the law but rather it is of faith, a faith that works by love.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees when he said...
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Modern professing Christianity is under the same error of the Pharisees. Instead of cloaking their inward impurity with the law of Moses they cloak it with doctrinal fallacies. Billy Graham when preaching would even say, "I have never been righteous all my life" and then would say that God "clothes me in His righteousness, so that when God looks at me He doesn't see the old, evil heart of Billy Graham, He sees Jesus." Heart purity is denied and replaced with a forensic cloak and people actually believe it hook, line and sinker and will defend the fallacy until they stand before God one day and then with absolute horror realise they were in fact deceived.
After Jesus said this...
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
...he went on to speak about heart purity by teaching that adultery in the heart is still adultery, hate in the heart is the same as murder. Jesus was teaching that it is what is WITHIN a man that counts, not the outward "appearance."
Jesus called for moral perfection...
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
It is faith that purifies the heart.
Act 15:9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
HEART PURITY. Jesus came to PURIFY people.
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Yet modern theology totally denies it. Those beholden to modern theology will viciously attack anyone who preaches true righteousness. So many hate the truth and yet proclaim to follow Jesus.
Jesus said we cannot serve two masters, that if the eye is single the whole body shall be full of light. What did He mean by that? He means that we have to walk by a faith that is totally committed to God. God wants our WHOLE-HEARTED obedience. We are to be LIVING SACRIFICES for that is our REASONABLE service. God is our Creator and to yield to Him completely is not unreasonable.
Those who are rejected in Matthew 7 are those who did not do the will of the Father. They refused to submit themselves to His will, instead they walked in their own will which was rooted in iniquity.
Satan wants to deceive people that you can sin against God and not be held accountable for it. It is not the case. God is willing to forgive yes, but God is not willing to forgive those who remain rebels. The rebellion has to stop. God is the author of salvation of those who obey Him. It is what the Bible says. Eternal life is to those who patiently continue in doing good. Without holiness one will not see God. Holiness is a result of obedience to righteousness.
The Bible is so clear everywhere on these things. It is the theme of the Bible from start to finish. Yet the wolves isolate a few select passages to deceive the simple. Who are the simple? It is those who are not diligent. The prudent on the other hand forsee the evil and hide themselves, in other words they prepare themselves. That is what Solomon taught and he was a very wise man.
The law of Moses is not for the Christian in an outward sense (the law is actually a mere shadow of love). It was given to national Israel in order to maintain a standard of righteousness for that nation. The law was not given for the righteous but for sinners. A righteous person does not need the law because their nature is a law unto itself. They are governed by their own conscience by which they are submitted to the righteousness of God. In other words the righteous walk by faith and their faith works by love.
There is no moral transgression in righteousness. This is why true Christian's do not willfully sin against their knowledge of the truth. Those that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires and thus walk uprightly in submission to the Spirit of God whereby they put to death the deeds of the flesh. They keep their bodies in subjection to the will of God. That is true Christianity, that is truly abiding in Christ.
False Christianity denies that and teaches an abstract state of righteousness of an identity with Christ while practically one is still defiled and sinful.