Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The ultimate in human arrogance is ignorance of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish your own righteousness.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
REV 12:13 And when the dragon saw [perceived] that he was thrown down violently to the earth, he persecuted the woman [the nation Israel] who gave birth to the male child [TLJC].
It is all based upon the rejection of their responsibility of being a client nation to God assigned the responsibility for the formation, preservation, communication, and fulfillment of the canon of Scripture.
No person can ever reject TLJC as the Messiah and ever have eternal life, ROM 10:9-10, ACT 4:12.
The Jews were trying to get salvation by –
eis + accusative of reference of nomos = “with reference to the law.”
We can pray for the unsaved, however, our prayers cannot save them, only TLJC and their positive volition can do that.
“In accordance with knowledge” – preposition kata + epignosis =
“on the basis of metabolized doctrine.”
GEN 15:6 Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness.
Every person who adds something to faith in Jesus Christ is in a state of arrogance.
We find people constantly wanting to help God but faith plus something else is not salvation.
The ultimate of human arrogance is not knowing about the righteousness of God or ignorance of that righteousness and seeking to establish your own righteousness.
Ultimately, you will discover that those who add works to salvation, or believe they can lose salvation, do not know and understand the righteousness of God.
Not being “obedient to the righteousness of God” means they had not believed in Christ.
As far as righteousness is concerned, Christ is the termination of the Law or any system of human self-righteousness.
The Law could not provide righteousness based on merit.
Christ provides the righteousness based on God’s grace in response to faith.
Law righteousness – salvation through keeping the Law.
Faith righteousness – believing on TLJC for eternal life.
In every dispensation, God’s policy of grace always excludes human self-righteousness and any form of human good for salvation.
Salvation is always the same, faith in TLJC, as he is revealed in any given dispensation.
The unbelievers in the dispensation of Israel then, were blinded by their arrogance of human works and self-achievement and self-righteousness of keeping the Law.
Faith in TLJC is the end of self-righteousness for salvation and spirituality.
Human self-righteousness cannot be added to faith and it cannot improve on the perfect imputed righteousness of God which we received at the moment we believed in TLJC.
After salvation, only God the Holy Spirit controlling the life of the believer can produce a virtue righteousness – revealed as “justification by works” in the Bible.