5/16 Crumbs from the Master's Table

Isaiah 64

“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.” (v. 6)

Most of us have either heard someone, or even ourselves have, “bargained” with God, pleading our works against His grace. Whenever severe trials come our way, we are often prone to wonder what is happening, and ask ourselves and others, “Why has this happened to me?” We complain unto the Lord and say we don’t understand, then the “bargaining” begins; we say something to the effect, “I am doing everything I know to do, what’s wrong?” Or perhaps “I am going soul winning, and reading my Bible, and etc, etc, why is God doing this to me? We plead our works, looking for justification and deliverance from evils that come our way, and forget that “all our righteousness’ are as filthy rags.” God is not impressed so much with our works, as with our trust. The truth of this verse rings loudly through the portals of our heart when we analyze it in the light of scripture. Only Jesus is righteous, purely, and completely, and only His righteousness makes the difference. Instead of pleading our works against His grace, we should seek His grace more diligently, and fall upon the mercies of God. “Filthy rags” are not pleasant by any means, and are worth absolutely nothing at all. Even when we need a rag or cloth, for dusting, we prefer one that is somewhat clean, no one likes a filthy rag, even though it is only a rag. I keep a rag under the seat of my truck for checking oil, and wiping up spills, etc., but when it gets too soiled, I throw it away, and get another one. I do not even desire to use a filthy rag; and yet, in spite our filthy works, God uses us! What an amazing thing that is. He uses us for Jesus’ sake, and because of His righteousness, and we get to do what the truly righteous do, because of Him. “Our iniquities” have taken us away, but Jesus has brought us back! Yes, we put a lot of emphasis on works, though we often claim not too. We often operate under the assumption that now that we are doing right, God will bless our efforts, here is what I mean:

I have a friend who is an alcoholic. He goes soul winning, street preaching, and comes to church regularly…for awhile, then he “disappears” for a month or two, and shows up in some other city at a rescue mission, or the Salvation Army. He just can’t seem to shake his habit. He goes forward and gets right with God when he is sober, and even tries to “work in the fields”, but something just doesn’t connect with him, it seems. I think the problem is that he trusts in his good works to help him with his problem. He thinks that now that he is soul-winning (and a very good soul winner at that!), he will be “okay” and the temptations will leave him alone. Don’t be too quick to condemn though, we all do that at sometime in our lives, and in some way. We bargain our works against God’s grace, and we usually get what our works produce, and fall short of His grace.