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If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thine hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man. (Job 35:7-8) |
People work hard to build up their store of righteousness, but such righteousness has nothing to do with God. At the time of Jesus, the large majority of the Jews even thought that the best way for them to serve God was by killing Jesus.
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Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 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. (Romans 10:1-3) |
They had a zeal for God, but in their zeal they did not consider the righteousness of God. They advocated their own righteousness and did not submit to God's righteousness. In doing this, they ended up carrying out actions that had nothing to do with God's righteousness.
Just because a person has been attending church for a long time or holds duties in his church, it does not mean that God is satisfied with him. If these were the things that satisfied God, He would have demanded them, but even if you search through the entire Bible, you will not find a single passage in which God makes such demands.
The Bible says, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). These words best describe man's true situation before God. Of course, the righteousness of man seems great in man's eyes, but in God's eyes, man's righteousness is just like filthy rags.
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But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6) |
In order to become a person who is worthy before God, you must put on the wedding garment that God has prepared for you.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(Matthew 22:11-13) |
As you can see from this passage, anyone who does not put on God's wedding garment cannot participate in this wedding feast in heaven. So what is this wedding garment? Some people drape themselves with wedding garments they have made for themselves, and parade around in them proudly. For some, this wedding garment may be confidence in the fact that they attended Sunday school from a very young age. For others, it may be pride in the fact that they began attending church when they were still inside their mother's womb. To such people, however, God will say, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23). The true wedding garment that God has prepared is God's righteousness. The only way that anyone can go to heaven is by putting on God's righteousness. Let's take a look at the example of the two thieves who were crucified beside Jesus.
One of the two reviled Jesus, saying, "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us."
But the other thief scolded him, saying, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss."
Then he implored Jesus, saying, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom."
To this Jesus replied, "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:39-43).
This man was forgiven for his sins as he hung dying on the cross. He had never been to church for a prayer meeting, and he had never attended a revival meeting; he was saved the moment his heart turned to Jesus. As he stood at death's door, he put on the wedding garment that God had provided. Have you put on this wedding garment?
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