More accurately, if anyone tries to building anything on a flimsy or unrighteous foundation, then everything else collapses.
Jesus preached to the Israelites of His day:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)
It took me a long time to realize that this kingdom is not a place that I seek, but a gift which I receive.
Like many Christians, I did not know how to rightly divide the Word of God:
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2: 15)
Jesus did not come to destroy the law, that is all well and true.
He did not come to level us with the law, but rather to fulfill it, so that we could rest and let Him work in us:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5: 17)
Then Jesus would comfort the Israelites, and by extension all of us:
"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30)
When Jesus died on the Cross, He cried out: "It is Finished." (John 19: 30)
It is Finished, the Law is fulfilled, and now the New Covenant is enacted:
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
Jesus is our High Priest today:
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10: 19-23)
I did not have that full assurance described in the above passage.
The insecurity stemmed from the AA cult, a religious program of chronic self-scrutiny and ultimately inaction, where "our conception of God" ends up succumbing to the self-serving fraud of Bill W. and his evil ilk.
There is no end to our sin as long as we look at ourselves, yet the deep scam of AA teaches the members forced into the cult that by looking at ourselves and maintaining this ongoing inventory, men and women can claim progress.
In reality, very few get sober, and many end up committing suicide. The program does not work at all, no matter how hard anyone works it.
Besides, the Gospel relates to all of us that we are forever justified before God and thus we have nothing to fear, because we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
This gift of righteousness is not something that we can earn, but something that we receive.
Jesus told the Israelites of his dead to seek the Kingdom and His righteousness. The gist of His Sermon was to bring every one of them, and us, to the end of ourselves, since none of us can achieve that standard of righteousness.
Luke would comfort His listeners later on. Check out what He had to say in the Gospel of Luke:
"29And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12: 29-32)
The very thing which He exhorts us to seek, He then comforts us with the knowledge that He wants to give it to us.
Because of His death on the Cross, Jesus is able to give us the Kingdom:
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14: 17)
and
"Who [God the Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1: 13)
I had a hard time reconciling these seemingly conflicting accounts about the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of God) Now that I understand that the different dispensations, or covenants, everything makes sense.
That is the proper foundation, and now I can grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord today! (2 Peter 3: 18)
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