Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God And His Righteousness

 Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

This is one of my favorite Bible verses. I had memorized the verse and was familiar with it for many years, before I finally actually understood the beauty of this Scripture. Matthew 6:33 is referring to God's imputed righteousness. To seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are one and the same. That is, the way you seek the Kingdom of God is to submit to God's righteousness, through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” Dear reader, do you see anything about turning from your sins mentioned here? I don't! I see that we enter into God's Kingdom BY FAITH! 

Please consider Romans 10:2-4, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Christ Himself is the end of the law, to them that BELIEVE. Again, there is no mention of repenting of your sins to be saved. So why do most Baptist churches and Bible colleges today require people to “repent of your sins” to be saved? Clearly, they have been deceived by the Devil. 

I'm sadly talking about Maranatha Baptist University in Wisconsin. I'm talking about Bob Jones University in South Carolina. I'm talking about Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary in Iowa. I'm talking about Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago and their popular 'Unshackled' radio program. I'm talking about the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. I'm talking about Ray Comfort, Marty Herron, Sam Horn, Steve Pettit, John MacArthur, John Piper, Paul Washer and thousands more demonic false prophets, who are accursed by God for perverting the grace of God (Galatians 1:6-9). These men and institutions are all pulling on the same rope as the Devil, by adding turning away from your sins to the Gospel, which is a counterfeit plan of salvation!

I love this Bible truth! Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” I love that phrase... HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! We are saved by God's imputed righteousness. That means God literally credits Jesus' righteousness to you by faith:

Romans 4:1-8, “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

The beautiful passage I just quoted to you is so abundantly clear! We are saved by faith alone, which God counts for righteousness. That means I don't need any righteousness (i.e., I don't have to turn from my sins) to be saved, and a good thing, because no one has ever turned away from all their sins. How ludicrous, non-scriptural and silly it is to tell a man that he must “repent of his sins” to be saved, when the Bible simply says to believe. 

It is a most unpleasant experience when contending with one of these Lordship Salvation people. When you confront them, they'll immediately try to defend themselves by saying: “Well don't you believe a person needs to repent to be saved. The Bible says you must repent!” And they'll use that lame cover-up as justification for telling people that to be saved they must turn away from a lifestyle of sin, which is not what Bible repentance is at all, that is reformation! Penitence is feeling sorry for your sins. Penance is trying to amend for your sins. Reformation is turning from your sins. Judas did all these things (Matthew 27:3-5), but he still went to Hell forever in his sins, unforgiven. That should be enough warning for anyone reading this, to forsake the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, and instead embrace the Gospel of free grace, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. 

Yes, we must repent to be saved, but it is automatically included with one who believes—a simple change of mind toward God (Acts 20:21). Repentance is the acknowledgment of the truth that I am a guilty sinner in need of redemption (Romans 3:19-20), which facilitates believing the truth of the Gospel (2nd Timothy 2:25; Mark 1:15). Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” If you want to go to Heaven and have eternal life, then seek HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! You don't have to seek any further than John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Pastor Curtis Hutson said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” What a helpful statement! That one truth dear friend would resolve the debate over Lordship Salvation overnight, if people would simply follow the clear teachings of God's Word, instead of fabricating strange doctrines based upon a small handful of wrestled Scripture passages, improperly interpreted. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” You need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan (1628-1688) had it 100% right...