We are ALL Guilty
We need to realize two things: (a) the awfulness of our sin and (b) the awesomeness of Jesus' work on the cross as payment to forgive even the bloodiest of sins! God's Word tells us that though our sins be as red as crimson (which I believe represents murderous bloodshed), He desires to make us as white as snow:
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:18
It may feel good to discount our failures, but it also discounts the Blood of Jesus and the steep price that Jesus paid for us on the cross. It doesn't just feel good, but it's life-changing when we come to realize what Jesus truly went through for our sins, and how the price has been paid IN FULL for our forgiveness.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24
Being justified, according to NT Greek, means to be rendered innocent or just as if you've never sinned. God's Word also goes on to tell us that through the work of Christ, we can be clothed with the righteousness of God!
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe...
Romans 3:22
Religion makes people ignorant of God's righteousness, and attempts to establish righteousness apart from the work that Christ did for us on the cross. We need to believe upon the work of Christ on the cross and receive HIS righteousness!
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.
Romans 10:3
Religion is prideful and degrades the seriousness of sin, while true humility admits when it's wrong and accepts the work of Christ on the cross and thereby receives grace and forgiveness for their sins.
Jesus & religion are enemies
Jesus was furious with those who promoted dead religion!
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Matthew 23:23-36
Why was Jesus so furious with those who promoted dead religion? Because dead religion leads His children astray, getting them to deny the very work that Christ has done for them on the cross. Let's not forget, God's children are VERY dear to Him, and when you cause one of His children to stumble, He takes it personally:
Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Luke 17:1-4
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:18
It may feel good to discount our failures, but it also discounts the Blood of Jesus and the steep price that Jesus paid for us on the cross. It doesn't just feel good, but it's life-changing when we come to realize what Jesus truly went through for our sins, and how the price has been paid IN FULL for our forgiveness.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24
Being justified, according to NT Greek, means to be rendered innocent or just as if you've never sinned. God's Word also goes on to tell us that through the work of Christ, we can be clothed with the righteousness of God!
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe...
Romans 3:22
Religion makes people ignorant of God's righteousness, and attempts to establish righteousness apart from the work that Christ did for us on the cross. We need to believe upon the work of Christ on the cross and receive HIS righteousness!
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.
Romans 10:3
Religion is prideful and degrades the seriousness of sin, while true humility admits when it's wrong and accepts the work of Christ on the cross and thereby receives grace and forgiveness for their sins.
Jesus & religion are enemies
Jesus was furious with those who promoted dead religion!
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Matthew 23:23-36
Why was Jesus so furious with those who promoted dead religion? Because dead religion leads His children astray, getting them to deny the very work that Christ has done for them on the cross. Let's not forget, God's children are VERY dear to Him, and when you cause one of His children to stumble, He takes it personally:
Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Luke 17:1-4
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