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Deadly! Destructive! Damning!
(the following is by Spurgeon)
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:
"God, I thank you that I am not like other men--
robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of
all I get." Luke 18:11-12
Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness!
Your own righteousness will destroy you
as certainly as your iniquities!
If you rest upon what you have done, however
good in your own eyes, or however praiseworthy
in the esteem of your fellow-men, you rest on
a foundation that will certainly fail you.
Christ will have you to know, however good
you are, that you must come to him just as
the vilest of the vile must come.
You must come as guilty- you cannot come as
righteous. You must come to Jesus to be washed;
you must come to him to be clothed. You think
you do not need washing; you fancy you are
clothed, and covered, and beautiful to look upon.
But oh! the garb of outward respectability,
and of outward morality, often is nothing
but a film to hide an abominable leprosy!
Your merits or your demerits are
alike unavailing for salvation!
God grant that we may no longer boast of
ourselves. Put away the Pharisee's pride,
and never utter the Pharisee's prayer.
It is self-righteousness which
damns the souls of thousands!
God's arm is strong enough, God's fire
fierce enough, to melt even the iron of
self-righteousness.
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