Imagine that you are a begger dressed in dirty, filthy rags. You work really hard, and after a long time you are able to buy a shirt. You proudly put it over your rags, but the rags are still underneath, and you can still see the rags on your legs. What is more, you note that your new shirt is stained with dirt; it is not as clean as you thought.
Then one day, the son of the king comes through town. You hide in the crowds, but he picks you out, and tells you to come with him. He casts your new shirt aside, and takes your rags. To your surprise, he takes his clean robe and places it on you, as he puts your old rags on himself. What you could not do by your own effort, he has done for you. And the king welcomes you to his palace.
Dear reader – are you still in the rags of your sin or have you received the great exchange offered to you by Jesus, the King’s Son? If you are still in your rags, Jesus offers this great exchange to you – he died to pay for your sins, and he offers you his perfect righteousness. Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus and he will give you a new life. If you have received this great exchange, no matter what you have done, you are pure and clean in his sight.
Have you not read:
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23
“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” – Titus 3: 5a
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” – Isaiah 64:6
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6
“For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” – Romans 3:21-22
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” – Isaiah 1:18
Brian J. Mikul 