| Matthew 5:6 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. [Blessed are those who want to be free from sin, who hunger for the praise of God instead of from men; and because of that hunger, they seek God with all their heart and soul to then receive the Holy Spirit's purifying of their hearts and souls, thereby becoming righteous. John warns us: Little children, let no man deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. 1 John 3:7-10. Jesus tells us how he practiced righteousness: Of my own self, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear. John 5:30; and whatever I speak is just as the Father has told me to speak. John 12:49-50; and the Son is able to do nothing of himself [by his own will], but only does what he sees the Father do. John 5:19... Obedience leads to righteousness, Rom 6:16. When you are filled, then you judge, speak and act, only as you are prompted by God, just like Jesus practiced; then, and only then, you are righteous. This is to do the will of the Father; only he who does the will of the Father shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Mat 7:21. But woe to you who are full! For you shall hunger. Luke 6:25.] | Romans 6:16,19 16 Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves to obey, you are the slaves of whom you obey; whether of sin that leads to death, or of obedience that leads to righteousness?5 [Obedience leads to being righteous. Without obedience, listening to and obeying the Word of God in your heart, you are a slave to sin. Jesus strongly confirms this: Truly, Truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. John 8:34. We through the Spirit, by faith, patiently wait for the hope of righteousness. Gal 5:5] 19 I speak in terms of men because of the weakness of your flesh. As you previously yielded your body to the slavery of uncleanness and from wickedness to wickedness; so now yield your body to the slavery of righteousness that results in holiness.8 [The slavery of righteousness is to only speak and act in obedience to the commands you hear spoken by the Holy Spirit.] | Galatians 5:5 5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith, patiently wait for the hope of righteousness.1 [Faith comes with the receipt of the fruit of the Spirit. Gal 5:22-23. Only when you have produced fruit, walking in love, fulfilling the law, then you are imputed righteous; and then no law applies to you. Gal 5:23. Later, when you have been born again to become a new creature that is in union with Christ and the Father, then you possess the righteousness of God; then is the end of imputation and belief. See Footnote 3 of 1 John 3 for the definition of righteousness.] | Acts 10:35 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness2 is accepted by him. [The beginning works of righteousness are to regret your past sins, turn from evil as you know it, share from your excess with those who do not have the necessities of life, and make every effort to: not lie, be honest, not take advantage of anyone, not oppress people, not want more, and not complain. Further righteousness results from obedience to God's commands to you, which you hear and see as you wait on God in humble silence, listening and watching for His spoken words and revelations to you.] | Matthew 6:33 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you.3 [Notice! To pursue the righteousness of God and His Kingdom is supposed to be the highest priority of your life — more than your efforts to provide money, food, clothing, etc. Seek first the kingdom, which is peace, righteousness, and joy in the Spirit. Rom 14:17. To do so, in many scriptures, he told us, "Come to me;" come — not to sect services that claim He is in their building, not to prayer meetings, not to altar calls, not to read the Bible; Jesus even said that studying the scriptures is not coming to Him. John 5:39-40. We must go directly to Him; he told us us how to seek Him, the one thing that is needed: to sit at His feet and listen to His words that he speaks to us, Luke 10:39-42. We sit by waiting in humble silence, listening, and watching while thinking of the name of Jesus; when we hear Him speak to us and then obey, we are following Jesus. From the Word of the Lord within: "You can live in heaven and still walk the earth. Seek first the kingdom, and all else will be provided — provided you stay on course. He told us it was not enough to seek God, we must seek with all our heart and soul. Come to me, and I will guide the meek and lowly. God is not found going to services or reading about him. There is only one thing needful. Hear me, my children. Come to me, and I will speak to your souls. O seek the Lord you mighty, while you still have strength." How you spend your free time determines your priority.] | Ephesians 4:22,24,5:5-6 22 Strip yourselves of your former nature that controlled your conduct, which corrupts itself through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; 24 And put on the newly created nature [of Christ], which is created in God's image of true righteousness and holiness.7 5 For of this you can be sure, that no sexually immoral, or impure, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. [The peoples of the earth have ignored these perfectly clear behaviors, (sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness), that exclude any and all from the kingdom. From the Word of the Lord within: "Ephesians 5:5-6: This the void of the earth, made perfectly clear. Those who are immoral have no inheritance in God's kingdom." Paul just told us that covetousness is idolatry. So whatever we value or want without genuine need, we worship; and how one spends their free time defines their devotion. From the Word of the Lord within: "you must learn to hate everything you worship."] 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.1 [Paul warns you not to be deceived by anyone who tells you differently, (e.g., that your sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness is excused by believing in Jesus), which is what the preachers of Christianity do; but even the demons believe in Jesus. It is only by waiting on the Lord to hear and obey his commands that one can become pure, free of sexual immorality, and free of covetousness. From the Word of the Lord within: "The way is clear: listen and obey."] | 1 John 3:7-9 7 Little children, let no man deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.3 [Jesus only spoke, judged, and did as He was prompted and ordered by God; to practice righteousness we also must be able to only speak what we hear Him order us to say and only do what we are ordered to do by God. This ability only comes after we have crucified our selfish spirit, as sin has been destroyed by the Spirit through bearing the inward cross of self-denial; then we are walking the same way He walked and in the world as He was with perfection, purity, and holiness. Everyone who practices righteousness is born of him, 1 John 2:29. — The Greek in this verse for little children is Teknia <5040>; these are yet to be freed from sin and without salvation.] 8 He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God is revealed [in us], that he might destroy [in us] the works [sin] of the devil.4 [Let no man deceive you, saying that you can still be sinning and belong to God; those still sinning serve the devil. Christ is revealed in our flesh to destroy the works of the devil, by condemning the secret sins in our heart, and then destroying even our desire to sin. Paul confirms Jesus destroying the works of the devil in each purified believer: "the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet shortly." Rom 16:20.] 9 Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed [Christ] remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.5 [To be born again, you must be crucified, which destroys all desires to sin in you. As a new creature you are then raised to heaven by Jesus who shows you the Father, and then you belong to Jesus and the Father. Once you are in the Father's hand, you are protected from ever sinning again. "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; instead God protects the one he has fathered, and the wicked one does not touch him." 1 John 5:18.] | |||