Thursday, June 25, 2009

Do You Have a Wedding Garment?

And Jesus answered and spoke unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, who made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them who are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and treated them shamefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was angry: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then said he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they who were bidden were not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment: And he said unto him, Friend, how came you in here 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. For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:1-14)

This passage of course refers to that great day, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) where we as the bride of Christ will be united with Him. It is said that "his wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." (Revelation 19:8) So what does it mean that this one man did not have on a wedding garment? He obviously was poor, since he had been pulled off of the streets, but the others were in the same state and they seemed to have on wedding garments. Where did they get them?

First we must see that we ourselves are these people off of the streets. We were found dressed in filthy rags, destitute and without hope, until God in His incredible mercy saved us and brought us out of the miry clay, setting our feet upon the rock. There was nothing in us that would cause God to have pity on us or that would make Him want to save us, in our flesh is no good thing. And yet, unto the bride it was "granted" to dress in... the "righteousness of saints." In Scripture we learn that we in ourselves cannot be righteous, "there is none righteous no not one" (Romans 3:10-12). God is the only Righteous one. In Ephesians 6:14, we are told to put on the Breastplate of Righteousness. Where does this righteousness come from? We find the answer in Jeremiah 33:16 "...and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness." !

"He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment; by which is meant, not good works, or a holy life and conversation, nor any particular grace of the Spirit, as faith, or charity, or humility, or repentance, or any other, nor the whole work of sanctification, nor the Holy Ghost, but the righteousness of Christ: for though good works are the outward conversation garments of believers, and these greatly become them and adorn the doctrine of Christ, yet they are imperfect, and have their spots, and need washing in the blood of Christ, and cannot in themselves recommend them to God; and though the Holy Spirit and his graces, his work of holiness upon the heart, make the saints all glorious within, yet not these, but the garment of Christ's righteousness, is their clothing of wrought gold, and raiment of needlework, in which they are brought into the king's presence: this, like a garment, is without them, and put upon them; and which covers and protects them, and beautifies and adorns them; and which may be called a wedding garment, because it is that, in which the elect of God were betrothed to Christ; in which they are made ready and prepared for him, as a bride adorned for her husband: and in which they will be introduced into his presence, and be by him presented, first to himself, and then to his Father, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. This man had not on this garment, this robe of righteousness; it was not imputed to him; he had no knowledge of it; or if he had any, it was only a speculative one; he had no true faith in it; he had never put on Christ, as the Lord his righteousness; he had got into a church state without it, though there is no entrance into the kingdom of heaven but by it." -Gill

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus. (Romans 3:20-26)

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:9)

We are to be clothed in the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ. "For if Abraham were justified by works, he has something in which to boast; but not before God. For what says the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." (Romans 4:2-3) Jesus took our filthy garment of sin on Himself and gave us His glorious garment of righteousness. We can now come into the most holy place because the sacrifice has been made and we no longer are clothed in sin, but in righteousness. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

So, why did the man in the parable have no wedding garment? He had not been given one! He did not have the righteousness of Jesus covering him, and he was bound hand and foot and cast into hell. This is a great warning to us! This man fully expected to be a partaker in the wedding feast, he was like those in Matthew 7:22 who cried Lord Lord, have we not done all these wonderful things in your name? They were saying "we know you Jesus, we love you"! But what did He answer? "I never knew you: depart from me you who practice lawlessness (or, unrighteousness)."

What about you? Do you profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but continue to live as though He is not? Jesus gave a very strong warning: "Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

Many will probably say, "but we are not saved by our works, only by faith in Jesus Christ!" This is very true. "For we ourselves also were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; Whom he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I desire that you affirm constantly, that they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men." (Titus 3:3-8)

If God has saved you, then you will be bearing fruit, you will be keeping His commandments. When you sin you will hate it and repent, turning away from it to God. Please, examine yourself. If there is little or no fruit in your life, fear! Fear God, and cry out to Him for mercy! Do not go on living without fruit and expect to go to Heaven. Jesus said, "Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." (Matthew 7:19)

Many do not understand how they can bear the good fruit of righteousness, they try and try to obey but more often than not, when temptations come they fall right into them. Are you like this? Do you find it hard to believe that those who are saved will bear good fruit?

The answer again is in the Bible: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) When God saves us, He creates within us a new person, we are not the same! If you are the same, then again, I say: fear! Fear God and cry out to Him for mercy!

Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are counterfeits? (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Forgotten Blog?

No, I did not forget I had a blog, though it may appear that way! We have just been far too busy with garden work over here, and finally it is all in...almost, there is a little more to do... oh well, if I think about it, gardening is never really done until winter comes in force, and even then we are often canning tomatoes into December. :-) I am very thankful to the Lord for good weather, we have had several days now that are in the 80s and that is great for the garden!

We celebrated Father's Day by planting potatoes together, Michael barbecued chicken and I baked a chocolate cake...Happy Father's Day Daddy!

My brother Michael turned twenty...Happy Birthday Michael! Wow, that is hard to believe!

I gave away the kitten I was keeping "Hope" because her temperament did not work for our family and I am now keeping a kitten who seems to fit much better into our family.

This is Jenny

We also received our meat bird chicks in the mail, or I should say my Mom's chicks since she does all the work with them, and it is a whole lot of work!



Here are some random pictures:

I love where we live!

Beautiful storm cloud

The Sunset illuminating that storm cloud.


My dog, Abby

Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise ye him all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created." Psalms 148:1-5


Monday, June 8, 2009

Spared from Destruction!

Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed for destruction. Proverbs 31:8

On October 28th last year, a little girl was appointed for destruction. Her mother had been lied to and believed her to only be a blob of tissue, yet this precious girl was fully formed and only needed time to grow. She never guessed that within a couple of hours her life would painfully be snuffed out. Yet God intervened. He sent my Mother and Lori, another Sidewalk Counselor to talk with Dana, to show her pictures, proving that her baby is a person. Dana changed her mind about getting an abortion and on May 21st gave birth to her little girl...


Taylor LeAnne

God has a purpose for this little one to be alive, we pray that He will use her to glorify His name. This was the first time our family has been able to hold a baby that God has directly used us to save, we are so thankful and we are praising God!

Two weeks later...Dana, her son Nolan, and Taylor

"He that goeth forth and weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Ps. 126:6

Dana seems to be seeking the Lord, and we are praying for her salvation. Those of you who pray for us should know that you have a part in this as well. God is answering prayer!

My brother Michael also wrote about this Here.

If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
(Proverbs 24:11-12)

(Pictures used with permission)
 

Glorious Hope © 2008. Template Design By: SkinCorner