February 9: Trusting His Provision.
HIS GARMENT.
"I advise you to buy from Me...white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed."--Revelation 3:18
I had an idea for a visual aid to make my sermon memorable. In order to illustrate the point of the parable of the marriage feast and the man who was found without the festal garment (see Matthew 22:1-14), I brought large, white plastic bags to church for everyone to wear.. There were more than one thousand people there. It was quite a sight to see the entire audience completely dressed in white. In the skit that followed, the one person dressed in black was taken outside of the venue, for his refusal to wear the provided garment.
This parable is not the only place in the Bible where God makes it clear that our own spiritual "clothing" is not good enough to qualify us for heaven. Throughout the Bible, sin is represented as a clothing crisis. It started with Adam and Eve who, having sinned, realized that they were naked (Genesis 3:7). Instead of running back to God to ask for forgiveness and the restoration of God's covering over them, they decided to sew fig leaves together and made themselves coverings, which were not acceptable to God. Time after time, God offers the garments of salvation that He has prepared for us (for examples see Isaiah 61:1-4, 10, 11; Zechariah 3:1-5). In the Gospels, parables such as the one found in Matthew 22 make the same point. Even in Luke 15:22, when the prodigal son returns, the first order of the father is to bring out the "best robe" and put it on him. In the last book of the Bible, God's plea is that the church of Laodicea buy from Him white garments (Revelation 3:18), so that their nakedness may be covered. The sad part is that Laodicea is proud about their many spiritual blessings and wealth; they don't realize their need. They say: "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and God responds: "You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17). God's solution is to give us His garment of righteousness, which He purchased at the high price of the blood of Jesus. Accept His generous offer. The robe of salvation is not found in our own closets; it is only provided by Him!
My Response:___________________________________________________
HIS GARMENT.
"I advise you to buy from Me...white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed."--Revelation 3:18
I had an idea for a visual aid to make my sermon memorable. In order to illustrate the point of the parable of the marriage feast and the man who was found without the festal garment (see Matthew 22:1-14), I brought large, white plastic bags to church for everyone to wear.. There were more than one thousand people there. It was quite a sight to see the entire audience completely dressed in white. In the skit that followed, the one person dressed in black was taken outside of the venue, for his refusal to wear the provided garment.
This parable is not the only place in the Bible where God makes it clear that our own spiritual "clothing" is not good enough to qualify us for heaven. Throughout the Bible, sin is represented as a clothing crisis. It started with Adam and Eve who, having sinned, realized that they were naked (Genesis 3:7). Instead of running back to God to ask for forgiveness and the restoration of God's covering over them, they decided to sew fig leaves together and made themselves coverings, which were not acceptable to God. Time after time, God offers the garments of salvation that He has prepared for us (for examples see Isaiah 61:1-4, 10, 11; Zechariah 3:1-5). In the Gospels, parables such as the one found in Matthew 22 make the same point. Even in Luke 15:22, when the prodigal son returns, the first order of the father is to bring out the "best robe" and put it on him. In the last book of the Bible, God's plea is that the church of Laodicea buy from Him white garments (Revelation 3:18), so that their nakedness may be covered. The sad part is that Laodicea is proud about their many spiritual blessings and wealth; they don't realize their need. They say: "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and God responds: "You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17). God's solution is to give us His garment of righteousness, which He purchased at the high price of the blood of Jesus. Accept His generous offer. The robe of salvation is not found in our own closets; it is only provided by Him!
My Response:___________________________________________________
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