Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:20
If we ignore the law, our righteousness is far, far less than the righteousness of the Pharisees.
The ministers of today say: because you have faith in Christ, you have his righteousness. But where is the evidence of your faith in Christ? Are you obedient to his law? Have you produced the fruit of the Spirit of God? For Christ said his true followers would produce fruit, much fruit: When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine. John 15:8. And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal 5:22-3. So unless you have the fruit of the Spirit, Jesus says you are not a true follower of his. His fruit and his righteousness are gifts of grace over time as you seek His righteousness. It does not happen with saying that you believe in Jesus; you must be obedient to his commands.
To produce fruit, we must strive to obey the parts of the law that relate to morality: regarding love, mercy and faith. All the other important moral laws evolve from the principal and most important commandments: love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. For example, stealing is covered by love your neighbor, for if you love him as yourself, you will not steal from him, or lie to him, or use him sexually, or envy him, or hate him, or plot against him, or be angry with him. Love is the opposite of selfishness. As James says, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will do well; it is the royal law. James 2:8
These blind guides, masquerading as Christ's ministers, tell you that you have the righteousness of Christ, so you need do nothing.
They say to rely on the "imputed righteousness of Christ" to us, based on our faith; as it was with Abraham.
True, Abraham received imputed righteousness even before he was circumcised. True, our faith is imputed righteousness.
But Abraham went on to be circumcised, just as we must receive the spiritual circumcision- our heart circumcised from sin.
We can't just sit around celebrating our imputed righteousness, which only gives us the right to approach God for help.
As Abraham exercised his faith to move to a new land , so we must forsake the world to enter the Kingdom of God, within and around us.
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. 1 Cor 15:34
You can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person..has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Eph 5:5-6, You have to become pure to have any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and Christ.


hey Steve
Frank TomiI have been praying about the fruits of the Spirit, for the past week.It seem like there is to many things going on in my life, I can't enjoy the walk anymore. I go through these times like all the rest of us. But this year, so many problems in the world around me. So many lost people down here, well you know what I'm talking about.
Frank
04:27 PM EST