Nothing but Rags

Today is a great day. Today is a day that we can come boldly before the throne of grace. Sin won’t stop me from presenting myself to the Lord Jesus. Don't let sin stop you from coming to the Savior, Jesus Christ. The One who was, and is, and is to come!

My lack of perfection will not prevent me from presenting myself before the king. The sacrifice has already been made, I am not the sacrifice. I will never be good enough.

The Bible says that my righteousness is as filthy as rags (Isaiah 64:6).

Isaiah 64:6 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.

Praise God, let it be known, let it be declared as it says in the book of Isaiah...

I know we are born as special people in this world. Even early on in our childhood, we are born and we are adored and we have teachers and people who love us and want us to become something great. They have a lot of hope, and we always want to live up to that. Yet, as time goes on, we live in this world that, let's be honest, is troubled and darkened with iniquity and that which is contrary to God's plan. In this process, we are worn down more and more as the years pass. It's not necessarily our fault to be exposed to such things, because it surrounds us, and this is what I want to talk about today. Yes, at times we can't control ourselves or we do things with full intent that are wrong, but beyond that, my point that I'm making, and the point that the Bible is making is... EVERYONE has a sin problem. WHATEVER it is! That is to negate this idea that we can ever be good enough on our own. That's not right thinking, if we're going to be in alignment with what the Bible says. We want to live by what the Bible says! Amen?

When sins come around in our lives, it tries to break us down and tries to separate us from our God. Back in Genesis, there was Adam and Eve, and you are probably aware of how things went. They were in a perfect paradise with God, and everything was perfect, and they had immortality and perpetual sustenance.

Then the serpent came to tempt them to eat of the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil". Once this happened, their eyes were opened, and it said that they realized that they were naked. They did not know this before, even though they were. Then is says that they hid from God. The first thing they did was hide.

Adam and Eve hid. Why do we hide? This is a message about NOT hiding from God. That whatever it is we will come boldly before the Lord.

I say again, it's time to come stand, or even kneel before the Lord. That we wouldn't put off the Holy Spirit in our lives. That we wouldn't put off Jesus in our lives. That we wouldn't put off the love of the Father. GOD is always watching us. GOD is always seeking to bring his sheep closer to Him. We will not hide anymore! We will not be embarrassed anymore! We will not let shame ruin our lives! We will not let this thing take over our lives... whatever it is! We will not let people's judgements take us down!

I can hear it now though, "Oh people are just not happy with me". NewsFlash! They're having a bad last couple years and now they're going to take it out on anything they can pick on. Don't worry about them. Don't let that factor into your life. We can reach out best we can, but some people are buried in the same things we are, but the difference is they probably don't have God. Reach out to them if you can or are willing. Don't let your imperfections stop you. Don't wait for another time if it's not absolutely necessary. This is a message of now, a message of today. This isn't a message of yesterday or even tomorrow. This is about who we are, imperfect as we are- as human as we are. We are here and we are standing before God! Hallelujah!

You might be going through something really serious. You just need to reach out to Jesus. You're dealing with something that other people are not dealing with. I pray for you and pray that God touch your life. I pray boldly that God will reach out and give you a supernatural change in your life of healing and restoration. That this restoration and wholeness is given to your body and your mind, and your soul.

The Bible speaks of a woman with the issue of blood.

Luke 8:43-48 (Lexham English Bible)

43 And a woman who was suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years (who, although she had spent all her assets on physicians, was not able to be healed by anyone) 44 came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her hemorrhaging stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched me?” And when they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are pressing you hard and crowding you!”46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, because I know power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she did not escape notice, she came trembling and falling down before him. In the presence of all the people, she told for what reason she had touched him, and that she was healed immediately. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

She touched the hem of His garment. Reach out! It says that her faith saved her from her condition. This is something where you find it within yourself because of where you are in life, and you get the courage, the desire, the TRUST within yourself that if you can just get to the Lord... He will do something for you. Can you TRUST today that what you HAVE, whatever it is, no matter how big or small... can you trust that you can bring what you HAVE and reach the Lord. There are the rules, there is convention, there is society's expectations, but between you and God... what do you have special between you and God? I want to speak to you today that there is something and we want to activate that today. We're not talking about last year, we're not talking about 5 years from now. We're talking about who we are, in the condition we're in, and right now. This is an exercise in faith. What I'm saying is, I acknowledge who Jesus Christ is as Lord and King of Kings, and I'm NOT acknowledging ANYTHING ELSE! Go in peace! Jesus wants us to be at peace. I believe that.

"I just don't know Scott... I have a bit of a salvage job. I'm a bit of a special operation. My situation is complicated. I'm a complex case. Call the ghostbusters... we've never seen anything like this one..." No! I silence that voice in the name of Jesus. I silence that judgmental spirit. It says that the devil is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10).

Now here is an interesting connection to make...

If our righteousness is as filthy as rags, and the Son still loves us and died for us, then it means we are valuable because we are His creation. We were made a little bit lower than the angels. He just wants US. You See? Rather than preparing yourself in such a way to where YOU FEEL you are acceptable before Jesus, He is waiting to accept you with your faults. If you are near Him, His presence will guide you through whatever those weaknesses are. He just wants to know that you touched the edge of his cloak. God wants to know that His children are with Him, at His side. Not somewhere else.

Psalm 8:4-6 (NIV)

4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:

As well, don’t let the uncleanness of other people ruin your faith. Let me rephrase: don’t let it shake your faith. You either believe in Jesus or not. Jesus is either your Savior or not. We live in a world that is sinful and we are surrounded by it everywhere in every country. One form or another. What I'm getting at is, even if we are trying our best to abstain from sin in our live and minding our P's and Q's as much as we can... this world is dark enough on a daily basis that WE can start to feel like we did something wrong even if we didn't. This type of tactic from the enemy wants to pull us away. It's a bit of a Goliath effect upon us isn't it? It can cause us to feel further from God just because OUR FAITH is being attacked.... don't let that get to you. Praise God. I pray your faith is not shaken, but that it is only stronger and you are in a place to laugh at the methods and plans of the enemy that attempt to overwhelm.

The enemy wants to make us unstable. He wants to make us weak and feel like we are faint. That's not going to happen. Our feet are strong, because God is going to strengthen them.

That’s what we’re talking about here… The Bible says He makes my feet like the feet of a deer

Habakkuk 3:19 (Lexham English Bible)

19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer;

he causes me to walk on my high places.

To the choirmaster with stringed instruments.

God will make your feet planted on solid ground.

I'll say it again:

God will make your feet planted on solid ground.

That is something the world does not have- do you understand? This is something special that only comes from God. So, no matter what you're going through, I believe today that God will bless you with the sturdiness of footing that He gives to the feet of the deer. Your feet will be planted. You will not be easily moved by the enemy and the inspirations he tries to put upon us- the temptations he puts in our lives... may your steps be sure-footed.

As I come to a close...

I want to declare that our protection comes from Jesus and His sacrifice- and NOTHING else.

This is because of His blood shed upon the cross... THEREFORE you don’t want to trust in other things.

I will talk about one piece of scripture...

Ezekiel 13:20…

There were these “magic bands” that these false prophets were pushing on the people of Israel.

20 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am against your magic charm bands with which you are ensnaring persons as birds; I will tear them from your arms, and I will release the persons that you are ensnaring, treating persons as birds. 21 And I will tear off your veils, and I will deliver my people from your hand, and they will not any longer be in your hand as prey, and you will know that I am Yahweh. 22 Because you disheartened the heart of the righteous by deception, and I have not caused him pain, and strengthened the hands of the wicked so that he did not turn from his wicked way to save his life. 23 Therefore falseness you will not see, and divination you will not practice any longer, and I will rescue my people from your hand, and you will know that I am Yahweh!’”

They were offering these things- these "magical arm bands" for “protection”. So not only does it lead you into a false protection, but it also leads you away from God, and “empowers” the notion that there is something more powerful than God. It empowers the false notion that there is something out there bigger than God, and this is false. If someone claims to be a prophet and they are saying you need to do something that doesn't have to do with Jesus- you can forget it! Whoever is saying it, or wherever its coming from. Paul said there is no such idol in Corinthians. There is only ONE God! However, the devil wants to make you think there’s other stuff out there. There’s nothing else out there! Do you understand me? Nothing! Praise God!

We can’t look to other things, we always are tempted to look for the answers in other things, for our protection to be in other things, but all we can do is look to Jesus. Jesus is the one who can help us. We need an exclusive "deal" with Jesus, so to speak.

God can bless you, but don’t turn your back on God.

We have one more piece of scripture...

Here in Ezekiel 16, It shows God gave everything to Israel and yet they rebelled unto idolatry, sadly.

Ezekiel 16:11-15

11 And I adorned you with ornaments, and I put a bracelet on your arms and a necklace on your neck. 12 And I put an ornamental ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 And you adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen and costly fabric and beautiful finished cloth; you ate finely milled flour and honey and olive oil, and you became exceedingly beautiful; you were fit to be a queen.14 And a name went out for you among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my majesty that I bestowed on you,’ declares the Lord Yahweh. 15 ‘And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every one passing by, saying, “Let it be his.”

If God has blessed you greatly, or if He is in the process, always remember to only serve Him. Just because we have received great things materially and/or spiritually is no excuse to look to other things and to put other things first.

Matthew 6:33 says to "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all of these things shall be added to you"...

Let's remember to Seek God First, no matter where we're at in life. All that matters is what we do for God. All that matters is our life long commitment to God. That's what makes us special. We are the people of God. We are not the people of the world.

Pray For Salvation

If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you want to have salvation, I want you to pray and ask Jesus into your life and to repent of your sins. That is to decide to turn away from them. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and tell Him that you are ready to give your life to Him. Pray that He will lead you in your life as to what you should do and where you should go. Ask Him to guide you and that you may be blessed to live your life as a Christian. I pray for you and may God bless you on this day.