Filthy Rags

The Prophet Isaiah summed up the reprobate state into which God's chosen people had sunk. Though they had the blessing of the Law given to them by Moses, when he conversed with God on Mount Sinai, they had turned from their Lawgiver and become more wretched than the people who did not have the Law. God's chosen people were worshiping false gods. Isaiah 42:17 They were reveling in idolatry so much so that the prophet called Jerusalem a harlot that was as evil as the Sodomites. Isaiah 1:21 & 3:9.

Yet, the people had an illusion of righteousness. Many, especially the religious leaders who helped lead them into sin, professed to be "holier than thou," all the while burning incense on strange altars. Isaiah 65:3-2 However, God did not look upon their self righteousness as anything but pollution. He even told them He hated the Sabbaths and feasts that He had Himself ordained. Isaiah 1:13-14 The house of Jacob had rendered even its best acts of religious activity to nothing but apostasy in God's eyes. They were all unclean and dead like the leaves of fall, and their iniquities were like the wind that would cause them to be carried away. Isaiah 64:6.

How fitting it was for Isaiah to break into hyperbole calling such righteousness nothing but "filthy rags." What better way to call a nation into repentance, than to be brutally honest about the way they were living? In today's world, a declaration such as this would be received with such anger and indignation that many evangelical ministers would demand an apology. Many others would just dismiss such a statement as nothing but the ranting of some fundamental extremist. It must be understood, that this rebuke towards proud Judah, comes with the force of a thunderbolt. At least this is the way it should be taken when considering the context of the accusation.

It is said that "a text without a context is a pretext", and a pretext means we are searching for evidence to support our own understanding instead of searching for God's meaning. It is my opinion that many evangelicals look at this verse completely wrong. In this verse Isaiah is speaking of those who are unrighteous, not the righteous. What many evangelicals erroneously do, is claim Isaiah is saying that even his own works are nothing but filthy rags because he uses the word "our" when making the statement. So they will claim from their pulpits that even the works of righteous men are nothing but filthy rags because Isaiah counts his works with those of apostate Judea. By doing so, they demean the works of righteous men like Moses, Samuel, Daniel, Paul, John and even Isaiah who made the thunderous accusation.

Again, I must reiterate and say that, "a text without a context is a pretext." The reality of the fact is that when we uproot Isaiah 64:6 from its surrounding historical context we in essence make the epistle of James the most unintelligible book of the ancient world. If all the works of a righteous man were nothing but filthy rags, then James would in effect be saying "faith without filthy rags is dead" (2:20) and "a man is justified by filthy rags and not by faith only" (2:24) and "I will show you my faith through my filthy rags" (2:18) and "by filthy rags, faith is made complete." (2:22) Or that Christians would be enjoined to "stir up love and filthy rags." Hebrews 10:24 Also, Paul would be encouraging young men to be an example to others by "showing themselves to be a pattern of filthy rags." Titus 2:7 Then we have the lesson we learned about Cornelius who's prayers and alms came up for a memorial before God. God was pleased with His works, even before he was converted to Christ. Acts 10:4 Taken apart from all the other obvious passages that fit, this one alone should be enough to set the record straight about what God thinks of a righteous man's works.

The reality is that Isaiah is doing exactly what Daniel did years later when he confessed the sins of Israel as if he himself were the transgressor. Daniel 9:3-11 So, the passage should be considered in light of Israel's guilt as a nation and Isaiah is numbering himself among the covenant people. Though not every person is guilty of the gross sins of many, it must be noted that God punished the nation as a whole therefore Isaiah puts himself in the mix.

Imagine what is actually being said of our righteous acts under the cleansing of Christ's blood when we disparage, or at least downgrade, good works. It would be impossible to think of righteous acts as something filthy and, on the other hand, as something essential. How could filth be important or even desirable? Why would Christ judge the saints "according to their works" if He already considers our works to be repugnant? Matthew 16:27 In actuality we do the evil one's bidding by confusing the truth about Christian faith, and the works of righteous men.

If there is any lesson that could be taken out of context from this passage at all, it would be that those who are outside the Church cannot achieve works that are not filthy rags. We as Christians do what we do because we have a heart of stone that has been replaced by a heart of flesh, thus we love everyone, even those who do not return that love. Ezekiel 36:26 Just as Christ loved a lost and sinful world and died on the cross for all mankind, we as Christians, follow His example and do our works to please the Father not man. Matthew 5:16 That is the difference between works of righteousness and works of filthy rags, we as Christians are created in Christ for good works. So no man should say that the works of a born again Christian are filthy rags, because they are not.

The good works that God calls upon us to do, should be present in the life of whoever claims to be a spiritually reborn Christian. If these good works are not present, then the person in question is not a real Christian. Good works are a necessary symptom or sign of someone who has truly been saved or regenerated by the Holy Spirit. However, good works are not a prerequisite to that regeneration. According to God's perfect standards, it's impossible to be righteous, holy, discerning, or wise to perform what God calls good works until we are first born again and regenerated by faith through the blood of Christ. This is what James meant in his epistle when he wrote,

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:7

Finally, I'll leave you with this. I am reminded of the free soup kitchens that Al Capone set up in late 1929 for those who had been thrown out of work by the Depression. His soup kitchen served three free meals a day in an effort to sway public opinion in his favor. There are many men like Al Capone who do good deeds for selfish and ungodly reasons. However, without the blood of Christ to wash and cleanse them of their sinfulness, all their works are but filthy rags. Not so for the Christian who looks to Christ as his Savior. Just like Cornelius, our good works will come up for a memorial one day before God.

If you are unaware of who Christ is, or if you know who He is but would like to have a better relationship with Him, then all you need is a simple prayer and he will answer. There are no magic words or scripts to recite. There is but a simple few words you need say in your heart, "Lord Jesus", and "save me". If you are sincere, He will begin by giving you a new spirit and He will also replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear His voice and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

I pray that every Freeper is blessed with Salvation, health, and prosperity this coming years. God bless you all.

This has been a message by Chuck Ness (OneVike) I will start putting my real name on all my work from now on.

I have my own thoughts and am curious as to the thoughts of others that surely walk closer to the Lord than I.

I would never presume to be one who walks closer to the Lord than anyone since only the Lord can read the hearts of men. That being said, allow me to give my insight upon the lesson of the woman caught in adultery.

To begin with, you will notice that the religious leaders only brought the woman, not the man who was caught committing adultery with her. They did this in an attempt to trap him into either condemning the woman so they could harm his reputation with the people who followed Him, or into violating the Law that said she should be stoned to death.

To their chagrin, He left the decision up to those who were without sin, and since we all sin and fall short of the glory of God their were none left to accuse her of sin.

Jesus then forgave her, even though He was justifiably the only one who was without sin. By telling her to go and sin no more, He was not under some illusion that she would never sin again, but now she knew she had a friend in Jesus who would forgive her if she asked. Imagine if you could hire a lawyer who never lost a case, even when the accused was guilty beyond doubt? This woman was in the presence of such a lawyer. Even the most powerful religious leaders could not match His wisdom. The woman felt justified herself. "Just as if" she had not sinned. We learn from this lesson that even though we sin, we know that Christ will stand in the breach for us against our accusers.

The biggest accuser, is Satan who is continually accusing us before God that we are sinners. However, we have Jesus sitting at the right hand of God taking up our defense by reminding the Father that He paid for our sins upon the cross so that we are now justified, by the Blood the perfect Lamb shed for us from the beginning of time.

Like the woman, we just need to have faith that He will do that which He promised. In normal circumstances, she would obviously be worried about being stoned for her sin, regardless whether the man was allowed to slip away or not. The difference for her today was the presence of a man named Jesus. A man who was able to show her and the religious leaders that she was not the only sinner who deserved punishment.

We do not hear from this woman again, those who claim she is Mary Magdaline are wrong and, so we really do not know if she continued as one of the many women who followed Him through out His ministry. However it is my guess that she was, and if so then she would be learning a lot more about forgiveness before Christ went to the cross.

I hope this helps somewhat. God bless you my brother, and have a good year.

I’m not sure I agree with you on this matter. King David is one of the most regarded people of the Bible an considered to have a heart that was after God. Yet even after he was chosen and had done many marvoules works for the Lord. Yet when he allowed himself to slip away from the Lord He commited adultery and even murder. How can that be? Well that is because everything considered good comes from the Lord so how can any person produce any good from his evil heart? Any good works a man does is from the Lord and we are allowed to share in His Glory. God see through the hearts of men and He knows that even when we do a so-called rightouss act, somewhere in our heart there is an unclean desire. No matter how hard we try there can never come a purely rightous act from us. That is why no one can even see the Lord and live. He is too pure and we are still inperfect creatures to even come up with one true rightous act. Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, WHICH GOD PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR US TO DO.

We all seek to teach yet all we are doing is dividing and a divided house can not stand.

Romans 3

God’s Faithfulness
1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge.”[a]

5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

No One Is Righteous
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”[b]
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”[c]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[d]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[e]
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[f]
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[g]

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

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