This may sound like a surprise to you, but most Christians are self-righteous. You heard me correctly. Those who call themselves sinners saved by grace are self-righteous. Because they have been baptized or said a prayer, they believe they are saved, Believing the lie that because they are still in the flesh they are still sinners, not accepting the righteousness of God and living in His righteousness, they are self-righteous. Being saved from sin and still calling themselves a sinner is double-minded and unstable in all their ways. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let, not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double–minded man, unstable in all his ways.” “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Do you ever notice that those who are self-righteous seem to always congregate to Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8, and Romans 7 to defend their self-righteousness? They will defend sin rather than defend Jesus who has removed their sin. This is how dangerous this teaching is. I can’t stress this enough. Let’s look at Romans 3:10. When the verse starts with “as it is written,” you want to read all of what was written not one verse. “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now would you want to be categorized as, “no one is righteous not one.” Let’s look at Romans 3:23. That verse is sandwiched in the gospel, telling everyone is born into Adam’s sin, but Jesus is our justifier. “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Do you see the righteousness of God in those verses? Do you see that we are justified by Jesus for what He has done? Now let’s look at the biggest pervoiur of all, the big lie 1 John 1:8. The first part of the verse gets twisted but they don’t twist the rest of the verse. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” If we say we have no sin DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE A SINNER!!!!!!!!!! Get that through your head. Let’s take what they say and use it against their belief system. So if what they say is true, then they are not deceived and the truth is in sin, not Jesus. You have to read the verses before and after to understand this verse. Taking things out of context is destroying the church. “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you MAY NOT SIN. And IF ANYONE SINS, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Let’s look at these verses together. God is light and there is no darkness in Him. Darkness is sin. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” If you walk in the light, walk with Jesus, and walk in sin, you are not practicing the truth. WOW!!! Those who are confessing they are sinners practice sin. If we are walking with Jesus and fellowship with Him, His blood cleanses all sin. WAIT WHAT!!!!! You are cleansed of all sin and yet these people confess they are sinners! How deceived can they be? Let’s look at the end of that verse. You are not to sin, but if you do, you have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
I pray that this helps you in your walk with Jesus. That your eyes of your understanding be enlightened. And the peace of Christ rules in your heart. “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. “ Be blessed, my friends.