“SELF-JUSTIFICATION IS AN ABOMINATION IN GOD’S SIGHT” 5-11-17

“We are told by Jesus the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in (Luke 18:14 GNT), how it is easy to justify oneself without recognizing it.  “Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else. “Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else.  I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.  I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of all my income.  But the tax collector stood some distance away and would not even raise his face to heaven but beat on his breast and said, God, have pity on me, a sinner!’  I tell you,” said Jesus, “the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home.  For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.”

What a powerful testimony of his faith we read about the tax collector.  Jesus gave this parable to give us insight of His power over all, and not man’s power over all, for God is all -knowing, omnipotent and omniscient, where He knows us and our true nature before we utter one word in our defence.  Just like the original sin committed in the Garden of Eden, in (Genesis 3:12-13 GNT), the role of self-justification came into play from Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s command, not to eat from the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad, in (Genesis 2:16-17), “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.  You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.”  This dying God informs us about, is called sin, for before they committed the sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve were in harmony with God their creator, but once the disobedience came into their lives, it altered them from the good they had known, into the bad traits of self-justification mode as a self-defence mechanism.  This is the origin of self-justification we first read about in God’s Word the Bible, and it is a clear indication how God is certainly not pleased with our self-defence mechanisms when we pray to Him for forgiveness of any sins we may have encountered in our daily journey of life, for God is a compassionate and loving Father, who sent His own beloved Son Jesus to pay for all our sins firsthand, and we don’t need to justify ourselves whatsoever, but just repent of all our sins with a grateful heart of the availability of Jesus’ blood shed at Calvary, which can wash away all our sins when we pray with a penitent heart just like the tax collector who praised God with his simple prayer of acknowledgement of his wrong doing and humbling himself before the Supreme God of the universe.  Jesus is our only defence, and He alone can forgive our sins, so let’s be humble like that tax collector who heartily acknowledged he was a sinner, and prayed for God’s forgiveness:

*”Lord Jesus we thank you for the parables you have given us in your Word the Bible, that we might display all your qualities of good in our lives, and that when we sin you are there always ready to forgive us and restore the good back to us.

Lord Jesus we have no need for self-justification or self-defence on our own part, for you conquered sin and death on the cross at Calvary with the shedding of your blood for all our sins once and for all, and on the third day you rose from the dead, and you are now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven interceding on our behalf when we repent you are our defence and our righteousness.  Lord Jesus, we now lay at your feet in repentance, all of our sins of self-justification and self-defence, which have furthered our sins to pride, for which we are truly sorry. 

 

Help us by your grace Lord Jesus to remember that you are Sovereign, and all we need to do is truly repent with a penitent heart for all our sins, and you will forgive us.

 

Help us Jesus to be free once and for all from the sins of pride through self-justification and self-defence, by washing us clean now with your precious blood Jesus, and cleanse us of all unrighteousness to now be right standing with you, by your grace through the Holy Spirit to enter us now with the confidence in you alone Jesus, for the joy of the Lord is our strength and our salvation daily to continue in our life’s journey with the hope of good and not bad.

 

In Jesus’ name we pray Father God to you in thanksgiving for what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary for us, with the truth of your Word, that “God is and God will provide,” and we thank you now to draw the bloodline of Jesus over the whole lots, Amen!”