THE GARMENT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
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Last week we read the parable of a king who invited people to his son's wedding feast. Initially, the invited guests were the Jews, but because they did not respond to the invitation, the king brought in people from the streets, fields, and mountains who were not originally intended guests. They are Gentiles. However, one guest entered the banquet without wearing wedding garment and was thrown out of the banquet. Today we want to discuss wearing the wedding garment when entering that feast. The Bible says:
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
We came forward with what we considered righteous acts, but that righteousness appears like filthy rags in God's sight. I will show you one example, a rich young man’s story:
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
He lived honestly and was a very religious person, keeping the law well. He had never done anything to be criticized by his neighbors. He thought of himself as a righteous person. To such a person, Jesus made him realize that he had not loved his neighbor as himself. "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor."
We need to read Genesis to understand the meaning of the garment.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
The clothes we make for ourselves are crude and they have withering leaves. Just think about it. How long would clothes made from fig leaves last, and could they properly cover yourself? Those clothes were so crude they couldn't properly cover the body, and over time the leaves would wither and fall off. Those clothes could neither properly cover human shame nor last long. All the devices we create to cover our shame are like this.
What are some of these devices? Religious acts and ceremonies, learning, philosophy, charitable activities—if we do these diligently, we might receive recognition and respect from people. This was true of the Jewish religious leaders during Jesus' ministry. They tried to keep the law thoroughly and memorized the scriptures well. Yet they were the ones most rebuked by Jesus. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. When you whitewash a tomb, it looks beautiful. But inside there is the terrible stench of rotting corpses. People can package their exterior very plausibly—through religious acts, charitable activities, refined words and behavior, and learning. But there is no way to hide the dirty and corrupt nature within infront of God.
Let's continue with Genesis:
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Before they sinned, there was nothing to hide or be ashamed of. But now they hide themselves.
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
What we should notice here is that the phrase 'offspring of the woman' is written in singular, not plural. He will bruise the serpent's head. It was spoken in singular. And "you will bruise his heel." Here too it's singular. The promise of the woman's offspring appears again in the covenant made with Abraham later.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Here too, it says "to your offspring" in singular, not plural. Paul later explained this fact.
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
The promise that Jesus Christ, who came as the offspring of the woman, would bruise the serpent's head was testified as follows:
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Let's return to Genesis 3. After hearing the promise about the woman's offspring, Adam had hope and named his wife Eve. The meaning of her name was ‘the living.’
And God made garments of skins and clothed Adam and his wife. The garments of skin are permanent clothing that can properly cover their shame. This contrasts with clothes made from fig leaves. And the fact that He made the garments of skin means some animal was sacrificed. The covering of human sin through bloodsheding began this way.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
This is the heavenly scene that God showed to John. They wore white robes. Who does the Lamb refer to here? Yes, Jesus. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he cried out:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
He is the Lamb who took away the sin of the world. The 'offspring of the woman' that God promised in the Garden of Eden is the Lamb of God, and the lamb that shed blood in the Garden of Eden was 'the Lamb of God' who prefigured Jesus who was to come. God's plan to save all humanity is not a concept invented in the first century. It is God's plan that He promised from Adam's time. Jesus did not hang on the cross helplessly and weakly. He came to die on the cross and rise again.
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Some people say Jesus was rescued from the cross. No. He laid down his life by his own authority because he is the true shepher of his sheep. So he said “This charge I have received from my Father.
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Even though people mocked him like this, he obeyed the Father's will to the end. He fulfilled the will of His Father.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
He became our substitute. God made him sin. And Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Whoever denies this testimony is condemned. Last week I said the teaching of Charles Finney. He denied original sin and substitutionary atonement. It’s not the gospel. He taught the goverment theory.
The Goverment Theory
He said “Jesus was crucified to show us how serious is our sin not to be our substitute.” No. Bible cleary says that God made him sin and Jesus became became a curse for us. He is the lamb of God. He is the offspring of a woman who has been promised since the time of Eden. It was the will of God. Jesus fulfilled the promise that had been given to Adam. He is the lamb of God.
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Please put on Christ, the garment of righteousness. He is the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. Behold the lamb of God. Put on the garment of skin.
