“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:20
It’s impossible for us to imagine how shocking this statement would have been to the original audience. Jesus said that nobody could enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless they were more righteous than the most righteous people anyone in the audience had ever met! The scribes and Pharisees seem like cartoonish villains to us today but they were the people most zealous for God, most respected by the people, and most likely to fulfill all of the Law of Moses. And Jesus said we need to be more holy and righteous than that! Impossible!!!
How could there be any hope for people like us? We’re nowhere near as concerned with personal holiness as the scribes and Pharisees. How could we ever be perfect in righteousness? We can’t. That’s the point. We have no hope of getting into God’s Kingdom on our own. There’s absolutely NOTHING we can ever do to earn our way into God’s Kingdom. We are born sinners and will never be righteous enough to match our perfectly holy God.
Thankfully, Jesus was righteous enough for all of us! Jesus alone lived a sinless life of perfect righteousness. Jesus alone perfectly fulfilled and completed the righteous requirements of God’s Law. Jesus alone was infinitely more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is the only person who deserves entry into God’s Kingdom.
However, because God is gracious, the righteousness of Jesus is credited to everyone who believes in Him. When you trust in Jesus, all your sinful unrighteousness is nailed to the cross with Him. He already suffered all of God’s righteous wrath for your sins. Your sin was credited to Jesus and His righteousness was credited to you. That happened the moment you your faith in your risen Savior.
The only way out of the utter despair that logically follows from these words is to trust in Jesus and let Him save you from your sins. He’s already purchased your righteousness with His blood if you’ve trusted in Him. Have you? #FollowJesus