Sincere Isn’t Enough

Romans 10: 2-3

They have a zeal for 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.

It is not enough to have a zeal for God. There is so much more to the Christian life than that. I can just hear some of you saying, “Well now Brother Steve, if you have a zeal for God then that is all you need.” On the surface that might seem right, but take a look at Saul of Tarsus. Never was there a man with more zeal for God than he had. He had given his life to study the law, to establish Judaism and to rid the country of that blasphemous doctrine of Jesus. Now would you say that zeal was enough for Saul? Not hardly. The reason zeal was not enough, it was not tempered with the knowledge of the righteousness of God.

Paul himself said that as Saul, he was trusting in his own good works, his own birth and lineage, his own knowledge of the Jewish law to make him worthy. We all know that self works never make anyone anything but proud, lost and proud. Any time we do this, we do not understand or submit unto the righteous of God.

The only way that we can have the righteousness of God is through Christ Jesus. (2 Cor. 5:21) So, you see that zeal is not enough, it must be according to knowledge of the truth.

Sometimes people are sincere in their belief, but still wrong, sincerely wrong. Sincerity has nothing to do with the validity of a belief. We must pass everything that we believe through the litmus test of the Scripture to establish it’s validity. That is the only determination of truth. It matters not who or how long something has been believed or disbelieved, only the Word of God can establish truth. Believe the Bible and be sincere, sincerely right.