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"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. For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:3-4.
The word "Righteousness" means perfect and without sin; and
that is what the Lord is, perfect and without sin. We, on
the other hand, are far from
perfect and full of sin, that is why the Bible says in
Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God;" but that doesn't
stop man from trying to establish his own righteousness and
will not submit themselves to God's righteousness. And that
is what we MUST do in
order to be saved, that is repentance. It is not enought to
call upon the Lord, you must repent and submit to His
righteousness to be saved. I will
give you a little of my own testimony. I made a profession
when I was about 7 years old; however, I was not saved at
that time because I was
just playing games and doing it for attention. I was not
seriously seeking the Lord. Shortly after this within a
couple of years, the Lord
began to seriously convict me time after time. I knew that I
was going to Hell, I knew that I deserved to go there, but I
continually said "No!" to
the Lord time, after time, after time. Why? because I was so
full of pride and so hard hearted that I would NOT submit to
the Lord. I kept
wanting to make it own my own, I didn't want to need God; I
didn't want any part of Him. All I was concerned about was
me and nobody else. That
pride will kill you! However, PRAISE THE LORD!, God has a
way of melting even the hardest of hearts. The first day of
my Junior year in high
school, my Bible teacher told everyone to take out a piece
of paper and to write their testimony down; I remember
looking at that piece of paper
for the longest time, and thinking that I was tired of
lying. I was tired of being a hypocrite. After all, if I was
going to live my life lost,
then why pretent I wasn't, why not tell the truth. So, I
did; I wrote down that I had made a profession when I was a
child, but that I wasn't
really saved. Well, that got things moving, suddenly my
whole church and many other people were praying for me and
God began to melt my heart.
November 5, 1989, the Holy Spirit sat down beside me in the
Sunday morning service and rang my number; He showed me how
full of pride and
stubborness I was and that it was going to send me to Hell;
then all of a sudden, I decided that I didn't want to go and
I traded my righteousness
(which was really no righteousness - as filthy rags - Isaiah
64:6) for His righteousness. Now my unrighteousness is
covered with His
righteousness and I am perfect and without sin in standing
with God, not in my flesh, but in my soul. Romans 3:22 says,
"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:" and I John
3:9, "Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." People
everywhere are still trying to trust in their own
righteousness; just talk to them, religious, non-religious,
moral, immoral, it doesn't
matter, they are all trying to establish their own
righteousness. What about you? It is not enough to just ask
the Lord to save you. The Lord
has to be drawing you (John 6:44) and you must repent to be
saved (Lk. 13:3,5) "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and
be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may
be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the
Lord;" Acts 3:19. "And the times of this ignorance God
winked at; but now commandeth all
men every where to repent:" Acts 17:30. "But shewed first
unto them ofDamascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all
the coasts of Judaea, and
then to the Gentiles, that they sho uld repent and turn to
God, and doworks meet for repentance." Acts 26:20
I do not know why the Lord laid this subject on m y heart,
but I do knowthat we meet many people in churches that are
still trying to establish
their own righteousness and have not submitted unto the
righteousness of God.
Until next time, may the Lord bless
you.
Sis Tanya |
in the
