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A self righteous man?
(From Octavius Winslow's, "The Man of God Sifted")
I do not hesitate to say, that a self righteous man,
a man going about to establish a righteousness of
his own in opposition to the righteousness of Christ,
is, with all his works, with all his charities, a greater
offense to God than the poor outcast whose life is
one mass of sin.
A self righteous man denies the holiness of Jehovah,
turns his back upon the great work of God's dear Son,
and expects to get to heaven on the basis of his own
righteousness.
But when the Holy Spirit convicts a man, He uproots
his love of self, his trusting in good works, and lays
the soul prostrate at the feet of Jesus.
"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be
found in him, not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ; the righteousness that comes from
God and is by faith." Philippians 3:8-9
My reader, have you been so separated from a
righteousness to which you are so closely wedded
by nature, but from which, if saved, you must be
entirely divorced by grace?
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