Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Filthy Rags
Thanks and praise to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It says in Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" It does not say some. It says, for all have sinned. The Bible tells us not to boast of any works in Romans 3:27 "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith". In Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast". And in 2 Corinthians 10:17 "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 18: For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth".
All of these scriptures lead us to having glory in the Lord and not in anything that we do ourselves. It is not works that save us it is having faith and believing in Jesus Christ. We can see it each and everyday, someone trying to put themselves above another. But there is no one better than another. There are those that have the opinion of the Christian faith that we, as Christians, think of ourselves as being better than some one else. I have run into that time and time again. This should not be the case at all. We as Christians should be humble, sincere, and compassionate for others. Trying to help some one rather than trying to show how good we think we are. Here it tells us in Matthew 19:16 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17: And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments".
You can see there where Jesus says there is no one good except for God. Would we dare put ourselves on the same level as God. I would hope not. But one can come across to another as being better than them. That they have more knowledge than another, or that because they are blessed with earthly possessions they are better than the other. It does not matter what the reason is that some one may have that makes them think that they are above anyone else. It only matters that they do feel that way. This way of thinking is wrong. We all need to check ourselves. We all need to give God the glory for all things that are done. We should take credit for nothing. If it were not for God we would be nothing. But by the grace of God can we be called children of God.
Put away those thoughts and do not gossip about others. Look at what it tells us in Matthew 7:3 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4: Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye". And in Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"
Let us all take a minute before speaking. Actually think about it before telling some one what they are doing wrong. We just might have more going wrong for ourselves than we know.
Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags is found below in Isaiah.
Isaiah 64:1-12
1: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2: As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3: When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
4: For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
5: Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
6: 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.
7: And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
8: But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
9: Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
10: Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11: Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
12: Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
It says in Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" It does not say some. It says, for all have sinned. The Bible tells us not to boast of any works in Romans 3:27 "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith". In Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast". And in 2 Corinthians 10:17 "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 18: For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth".
All of these scriptures lead us to having glory in the Lord and not in anything that we do ourselves. It is not works that save us it is having faith and believing in Jesus Christ. We can see it each and everyday, someone trying to put themselves above another. But there is no one better than another. There are those that have the opinion of the Christian faith that we, as Christians, think of ourselves as being better than some one else. I have run into that time and time again. This should not be the case at all. We as Christians should be humble, sincere, and compassionate for others. Trying to help some one rather than trying to show how good we think we are. Here it tells us in Matthew 19:16 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17: And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments".
You can see there where Jesus says there is no one good except for God. Would we dare put ourselves on the same level as God. I would hope not. But one can come across to another as being better than them. That they have more knowledge than another, or that because they are blessed with earthly possessions they are better than the other. It does not matter what the reason is that some one may have that makes them think that they are above anyone else. It only matters that they do feel that way. This way of thinking is wrong. We all need to check ourselves. We all need to give God the glory for all things that are done. We should take credit for nothing. If it were not for God we would be nothing. But by the grace of God can we be called children of God.
Put away those thoughts and do not gossip about others. Look at what it tells us in Matthew 7:3 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4: Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye". And in Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"
Let us all take a minute before speaking. Actually think about it before telling some one what they are doing wrong. We just might have more going wrong for ourselves than we know.
Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags is found below in Isaiah.
Isaiah 64:1-12
1: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2: As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3: When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
4: For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
5: Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
6: 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.
7: And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
8: But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
9: Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
10: Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11: Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
12: Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
Labels: boasting, bragging, Christian, filthy rags, glory, God, holy
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