You Shall Not Enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Keep Out!  Not Allowed! Do Not Enter!

Those are all things we do NOT want to hear when it comes to the kingdom of heaven, right?

Too many people believe that it is impossible for God to refuse anyone admittance to heaven. And that's true in a sense. God will not refuse anyone who truly desires Him over all. We keep ourselves out, we tack up those signs not God. We will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven if we are choosing self over God. We make the choice.

Satan would have us believe that it is God who is keeping us out because of too rigid a set of standards He has. Satan wants us to believe we have to work our way into heaven, all the while telling us it is impossible to be good enough according to God.

God's standard is love, pure love, love unfeigned and we get in our own way of being able to accept that love. 

Mat_5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

We are told by Jesus that OUR righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  What is our righteousness-

Mat_6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Rom_1:17  For therein is the righteousness OF GOD revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith

Rom_3:22  Even the righteousness OF GOD which is by faith of JESUS CHRIST unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference

Rom_3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare HIS righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God

Rom_5:17  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the GIFT of righteousness shall reign in life BY ONE, JESUS CHRIST)

Rom_5:18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ONE the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Rom_10:3  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.

1Co_1:30  But of him are ye in CHRIST JESUS, who of God is MADE UNTO US wisdom, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and sanctification, and redemption

Gal_5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH.

2Pe_1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

The scribes and Pharisees were refusing Jesus, they did not want to know Him, they did not want to hear the truth Jesus came to bring to them. The scribes and Pharisees believed they had all the answers themselves and that Jesus was a blasphemer, a liar, a fake. The scribes and Pharisees believe they had righteousness of their own and had no need of Jesus or any righteousness He claimed to have.  If we believe as the scribes and Pharisees believed then we are in essence saying we believe we have our own righteousness and do not need Jesus' righteousness at all.

Jesus had this to say-

Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 

Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 

Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 

Mat 23:5  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 

Mat 23:6  And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 

Mat 23:7  And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 

The scribes and Pharisees talked a good game, but there was no love in them at all. Their love was a love of self not a love of God.

Mat 23:23  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 

Mat 23:24  Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 

Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 

Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 

Mat 23:31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 

Mat 23:32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 

Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 

Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 

Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 

Is it any wonder at all that unless we LOVE as JESUS loved, unless we LOVE JESUS and have HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS we will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven!

The kingdom of heaven is LOVE of OTHERS! GOD'S LOVE. It is NOT SELF-LOVE! We are to LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS before ALL thought of ourselves and we FALL SO FAR SHORT OF THIS! Jesus and Jesus alone can supply what we LACK it is HIS LOVE that can LOVE like we cannot! Please, Lord, please let Your righteousness be ours, because we have NONE! We would enter the kingdom of heaven through You and only through You! We have no hope of entering the kingdom of heaven by our merits, by our righteousness, we have none, they are like filthy rags. Please be our righteousness! Please!