From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Danger of Moral Reform – Part 2
Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, “I will return to my house from which I came”; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself.             (Matthew 12:43-45a)
A terrible aspect of formal, pharisaic religion is that it tends to get more ungodly over the generations. Jesus indicted the religious leaders: “Woe to you, scribes and arises, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make I’m twice as much  a son of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). One who is discipled into legalism often becomes more self-righteous than the person discipling them.
It is far easier to reach someone overwhelmed with a sense of sin and guilt than someone who has a false security of his own morality. That’s why Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). Remember, it was not the common, unrighteousness people of Israel who crucified Jesus, it was the arrogant religious leaders who were proud of their own goodness.
Many years later, the apostle Peter also warned of the danger of personal reformation without true regeneration (2 Peter 2:20-22). Such an individual, who merely escapes the world’s pollutions for a time, will eventually revert back to sin just as the dog returns to its vomit or the pig back to its mud — because their nature was not really changed. We can’t emphasize enough that outer reformation without inner transformation does not bring justification for sins.
Ask Yourself:
Are you ever tempted to think that you can manage just fine without God’s help, or perhaps that God is fortunate to have someone of your high standards and character on board with Him? How does self-righteousness sneak into your manner of thinking and living?