Not The Righteous, But Sinners

Jesus says that he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. The so called "righteous" people of Jesus' day looked down on him for eating with Matthew, a tax collector and "sinner." Matthew would be keenly aware of this. He writes about this in his gospel where the main theme has to do with the reader understanding that he is a sinner and is not worthy of salvation or heaven. We must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees because their righteousness is not enough, either. What kind of righteousness can we have? The answer is imputed righteousness. It does not come from us, but from our Savior. The point Matthew is making throughout the book is that Jesus is our only righteousness. Enter through the narrow gate (Jesus) or you do not enter at all.

We need a savior. That means all of us without exception. It was impossible for Jesus to save the "righteous" because they were so busy deluding themselves into thinking they had righteousness of their own that they would never come to Jesus Christ as a savior. Jesus came for the sinners who knew they needed help and could not make it on their own.

On His Own Authority

Jesus could speak on His own authority and carry weight. He lived what was called an indestructible life, so he had practical authority. He was from heaven and was the Son of God, so he had positional authority and spoke from first-hand knowledge.

Knowing this, we must be careful to take Him at His word and understand that what we decide to do with Jesus - how we intend to treat Him - is the most important decision of our lives.

He wants us to make Him Lord of our lives. He is Lord, whether we acknowledge Him or not, but He wants us to come to Him in faith and realize who He is, trusting Him.

Good Friday

Why is it Good Friday? Bad things happened.

God planned all of this. Nothing caught Him by surprise. We needed a Savior and God offered up his Only Son for us. That is complete love.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

We have it made. The one who loves us knows all of our bad deeds, yet loves us anyway. We get all the good stuff from him and he took all the bad stuff from us.

This is a "Good Friday."

Two Houses - Two Destinies

The final word is that two identical houses could be built with differing foundations and the foundation difference is the deciding factor as to whether the house makes it though the storm OK.

The rock foundation is obedience to Jesus' words and the foundation of sand is disobedience to His words. We cannot be hearers only but must put His words into practice by obedience.

I am speaking to myself here as much as anyone else. This is the final and deciding factor with regard to building our lives.

The people were amazed with the authority Jesus spoke with. He cannot be denied as the Master of the spoken word and the final authority on Scripture and its interpretation.