Sovereign Grace Church

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

(PSALM 4:1)

If God’s Spirit has stripped you of your own righteousness, He has not stripped you in order to leave you naked, but will clothe you with change of raiment (ZECHARIAH 3:4). He will give you a Robe for your rags; the Righteousness of God for the rotten righteousness of man. Rotten indeed we shall find it, if we make it a pillar of confidence. I will say of it, as Dr. Young says of the world, “Lean not upon it;” [PROVERBS 3:5] lean not on your own righteousness; if leaned upon, “’Twill pierce you to the heart. At best, a broken reed; but oft, a spear. On “it’s sharp point, peace bleeds and hope expires.”

Self-reliance is the very bond of unbelief. ’Tis essential infidelity, and one of it’s most deadly branches. You are an infidel, if you trust in your own [filthy rag] righteousness. You a Christian? You a Churchman? No: you have, in the sight of God, neither part nor lot in the matter. You are spiritually dead, while you pretend to live. ‘Till you are indued with faith in Christ’s righteousness, your body…is no better than “the living coffin of a dead soul.” A Christian is a believer (not in himself, but) in Christ. And what is the language of a believer? “Lord, I am, in myself, a poor, ruined, undone sinner. Through the Hand of thy good Spirit upon me, I throw myself at the foot of Thy cross; and look to Thee for blood to—wash me, for righteousness to justify me, for grace to make me holy, for comfort to make me happy, and for strength to keep me in Thy ways.