Matthew 12:37  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

For a long time after I was saved, I did not know what this meant.  Basically it says by my words I will either be justified, or condemned.  It comes into focus when we follow the Pharisee and the Publican as they both go to pray.

Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

        We may take this lightly, saying within ourselves, "Sure, sure, I humble myself before the Lord."  But do we really understand what this is saying?  Look at the two characteristics of the pharisees that Luke points out to us:

                                1.  They trusted in themselves.
                                2.  They despised others.

        Self-righteousness leads to immediate hatred of others. We believe that we are "the standard" concerning faith and morals within the Body of Christ.  Everyone who falls short of this standard is for sure not saved.  This is a hard lesson for me to learn.  Originally, I was going to make a web site that took shots at televangelists.  It wasn't totally directed at them, but it definitely was clear in the site that I didn't approve of what they do.  I got done, and then I showed it to a friend of mine, and she said, "Ummmmm...I happen to like these guys."  What pursued was a good lesson I think we all could learn from.

        I will be the first to admit that I don't agree with what many televangelists say or do.  But is my standard the standard to go by?  Absolutely not.  I fall short in many areas as well.  Disagreeing isn't wrong, but despising is.  None of us have any ground to boast before God.  There are many sites dedicated to the mocking and belittling of these men, and  there are sites that mock those that mock, and judge those that feel secure that their character is so unblemished, and so on.

        By my words, I will be justified, and by my words I shall be condemned.  As the self-righteous Pharisee went through all of his religious achievements, there is little doubt that he never hesitated to pat himself on the back, or quite possibly, to grant himself a little leniency.  "You were so good this week, you deserve to take the day off."  While the publican, who knew even his best was not good enough, had no choice but strip himself of any commendation that he might have thought to give himself and with his head lowered whispers, "God, be merciful to me a sinner."  The Pharisee might have even laughed at this poor fellow, thinking God surely is laughing along with him.

Paul said that this type of thinking was unwise.

2 Corinthians 10:12  For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

       The pharisee commended himself.  He compared himself to that "sinner," that dirty publican.  He didn't take the time to compare himself with an Almighty and Perfect God, and realize that he stood in sin.

Jesus sees right through us.

Luke 16:15  And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

We should never think 2 things

                        1.  That we are good enough.

        God wants us to know that we stand condemned before Him, and that is not just going to be washed away by good deeds or a self righteous attitude.  Neither will a immoral lifestyle allow the grace of God to move more freely within our lives.  But with a humble heart, broken before God because you have offended Him with your sin, we ask for His mercy, and we follow Him.

John 8: 2  And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3  And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
 

        We should all be like the woman realizing that the only one who can condemn us laid down His life for us.  And though the scribes and the Pharisees all want to see us stoned to death, Jesus knows that they don't have any more ground to stand on before a Holy and Perfect God than we do. But notice, though He does not condemn us, He warns us. "Go, and sin no more."  The one who has the power to forgive us or cast us into Hell makes it clear that He doesn't want us remaining in the sins that He paid the price for.

        For those who want people to know that we cannot live immoral lifestyles in Christ, and trample the Son of God underfoot with our sins, I say they are right.  I am in total agreement.  We shouldn't abuse the grace of God.  But should we deny it then?  Should we be so focused on our perfection and other's imperfection's that we end up missing the grace of God entirely?

I received an email from a guy who I wrote because I found his web site, and he basically said,

"No, I do not believe I am the only one on the planet who knows the truth.
There are others (Jeremiah 35:19). God has his own, however many or few,
wherever He may have them (1 Kings 19:10, 18; Romans 11:5). I do not know,
as of this date, any other pastor that is in the truth. Nor have I seen any
in history other than those recorded in Scripture.  Not that they have
not and do not exist, but I am not familiar with any. But, wherever they may
be, they would be in the same way as I am, believing the same things (i.e.
God's Word), because there is only one way (John 14:6)."

I wrote him, and this is the response:

"Let us clarify.  We at (Omitted.) are about 30 people and we believe we are in the truth.  (Omitted.) does not know of any other true pastors at this current time, and the men we have studied from the past have shown themselves to be false teachers.  Ben, is your trust in recorded history?  Could it be that true Christians were perhaps not recorded in history or the record has been lost?  We have only studied mainly the teachers, the popular ones, we know very little else.  Does it matter Ben if we have a record or not?  We believe God has always had His remnant."

        This man thinks that he and his 30 followers are THE ONLY ONES who are in the truth.  And he is even going back into history.  But before we even go and say anything against him, let us ALL keep this in mind:
 
 

The parable of the marraige feast for a long time really confused me.
 

MAtthew 22:2-14
2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

        Doesn't anyone ever stop to wonder what that wedding Garment is?  Some say, "those are the righteous deeds we do in Christ."

        Revelation 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Or could it be that we couldn't get the wedding garment on, because of our self righteousness?

        Romans 10:3  For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

        Notice that the man was SPEECHLESS.  Perhaps he spent his time spouting vain words and exalted himself and condemned everyone else that named the name of Christ, sure that he was the only one who had the truth.  But are those words going to help him now?  No.  By his own words he was condemned.  Now what could he say?

Exposing sin is not wrong, but exalting yourself to a status before God that leaves you thinking you are perfect and everyone else is going to Hell is not a wise place to be either.  We have all fallen short of the Glory of God, and we all need the same wedding garment to go to the wedding feast.  We're all invited, but that doesn't mean we can wear what we think will look nice.  A man-made suit of self-righteousness isn't going to do, neither will a suit of "I can commit any sin I want because I am saved" get you anywhere either.  But a humble heart and faith in Christ will.

        We all feel so confident we are standing on the Rock, and so we begin to look around, to see who is standing near our level.  We look out, and we envy those who are higher up, but we mock those who are a little lower than ourselves.  Suddenly, you look down, and realize that you weren't standing on the Rock;  you were standing on your own pedestal.