DEWITT TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES

THE BRIDE’S ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

By C.W. Wood    October/November 2011

          A PERSONAL NOTE TO OUR READERS: “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are counting our blessings one by one. As we add up all the things that we in America have to be thankful for, the list is quite impressive! We do not ignore all the wrong our nation is guilty of, but at the same time, we thank our God for “Holding the four winds of the earth” (Rev. 7:1) that it be not completely destroyed until the Bride is taken up and the 144,000 Jews are sealed in their foreheads (receive the Holy Ghost). We do know the end of our nation is coming quickly, but do we not also know that we are temporally better off here than any other place on Earth? For this, we thank our gracious Lord.       This writer is so very thankful for you supporters of this ministry. To our friends over seas who have not had a personal letter from us, be it known to you that it’s not that we have found any fault with you, as some have thought! The reason is that I cannot keep up with all the mail that comes to my office. Please remember that our material goes to many other countries besides yours. Also, it is not possible that we can send financial help to all who ask for it, but we can, and we do, pray for you and your needs. We love you all and believe we will very soon meet you in person! Let this note be your letter from me personally and thank you for your confidence in the work here. Remember, you are a part of it also. We would have no ministry if it was not for you.

In Christian Love,

Br. C.W. Wood

          In these last hours before the Coming of the Lord for His Bride, church natural has done all in an effort to misconstrue, change, or cover over the scriptural teaching that, “There is not one righteous man on Earth, no not one.” (Rom. 3:10 )  The pride of the modern church is such that most will not confess the plain words of Scripture that “All the world is guilty before God.” (Rom. 3:19 )  Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament the Word of God straightly declares man to be guilty past the point of no return, as far as his own efforts are concerned. Isaiah, speaking for our Creator, said, “We are all unclean, and ALL our righteousness are as FILTHY RAGS, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities,  like the wind, have taken us away.”

          But God also has promised, through Isaiah, that He was going to furnish us with a “robe of righteousness.” He promised to dress His Bride in this Robe. It would be our “garment of salvation.”

          Isaiah 61:10-11, “¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

                ¹¹For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”

          And we are desperately in need of this righteousness as we read in God’s Word in James 2:10 to break one part of the Law is to be guilty of it all.

          “¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is GUILTY OF ALL.” (James 2:10)  Can any person stand and say with an honest heart, “I have never violated one point of God’s Holy Law? We know that no honest person can make such a confession. This being true then, we will bring another Scripture to light. Gal. 3:10, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in ALL THINGS which are written in the BOOK OF THE LAW, to do them.”

          Can we believe the Word of God? Can we believe that man born of woman is not capable of keeping all of God’s Holy Law, and thereby claim Righteousness by having done so? We must believe that this is our predicament. The Law of God is Holy, it is unchangeable, and no respecter of person. It makes no allowances for our sins and failures, but demands PERFECT obedience to it from our first hour of accountability to our last breath! Therefore, all men have come under the declaration of God wherein He has said, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.” Notice, EVERYONE is under this curse, because there is NO ONE who has ever been able to keep the whole Law all their life. (That is with the exception of ONE MAN, whose name is Jesus Christ.)  The “everyone” in this Scripture includes the church man who is moral, clean living, and respected in his church and community. This is true because it is not good enough to just keep the Law in a general way in our daily walk. The Law insists that our obedience to it be PERFECT in every jot and tittle. To be made righteous by the Law, our performance of it would have to be PERFECT in every degree, and without any violation of it, at any time. So Holy and Righteous is our God that His law must, of necessity, also be perfectly Holy and Righteous, and being so, He must pronounce a curse on the slightest failure concerning it.

          The teaching of Scripture, as we have just given, is meant to cause the BEST of us, as well as the WORST of us to cry out of a heart convicted of sin, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” What must a man do in order to reach the Heaven that awaits the Righteous? If no man can keep your Holy Law well enough to make it in, what provision have you made for sinful man to escape the “Curse of the Law” and come under your blessings? We pray that some who read this sermon will be convicted of sin and will cry out with the Psalmist, “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments.” (Ps. 119-120)

          Those sins that to our natural mind may seem small will not be tolerated by our Holy God. Because so many church folks are not aware of this fact, they have a false hope of Salvation based on what they can do, or stop doing. In plain speech, they trust in their own righteousness. I trust you will bear with me while I tell you some ways in which a man may be lost!    It is drastically important to understand that you may be lost while thinking you are saved. Some of you are very good citizens, moral people, and you never did much that was wrong, perhaps a few things when you were young, but nothing in particular that bothers your conscience now. In your mind, you are past those things. You have a notion that you will enter into Heaven, for after all, you are no worse than your neighbor. In fact, you are better than most of them, and if you are not saved, then God help the others! If you don’t make Heaven, then who will? I say this is how many of you think, especially church-going folks. But friend, you are forgetting that God has warned us all, “Your righteousness is as filthy rags.” (Isa. 64:6)  So, we need to decide your case in light of the Scripture. Since you are ashamed to count yourself as unrighteous, and therefore lost, the Gospel cannot reach you, for it was sent to save the lost! There is no Blood of Christ to wash those who trust in their own righteousness. We are either totally lost or totally saved, completely righteous or completely unrighteous, as far as going in the Rapture!

          Those who trust in their own righteousness will miss the Rapture of the Bride and be left to go through the Great Tribulation period. True, some will be saved during that time, but what a terrible price they will pay to be purged of their unbelief!

          There is another group that we must speak to. They confess that they are guilty of some things, but think that by ridding themselves of some more bad habits and therefore keeping God’s Law as best they can in the future, that they will do away with sins of the past. “I will start to church, and I believe by paying more attention to right and wrong I will be received by the Lord.” But wait, Christ came not to suffer and die for those who can save themselves. As long as you think that, the door of Mercy is closed to you! Jesus came to live a perfect life in our stead, and then offer us “The Robe of righteousness” as a free gift from Heaven. (Rom. 5:17 ) This Robe is not for those who wear one of their own making. In Eden , God stripped Adam and Eve of their robes of fig leaves (Gen. 3:7) and clothed them with one of His own making. An innocent lamb died for them typing the death of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

          When face to face with God, they knew their sin was still there and hid themselves. And still today, our sins show through our self-made robes of righteousness. It takes faith in the Blood of God’s Righteous Lamb to do away with our sins. In Eden , God killed an innocent lamb, pointing to the death that He Himself would later die in our place. Jesus lived a perfectly sin-free life, and then credited that life to our account.

          A third group of people is un-churched and hard-hearted, knowing they are sinners, but loving their life of sin so that they will not even discuss forsaking them. Though Heaven is offered to them, with its Life Eternal, and though Hell is belching beneath their feet, they choose to satisfy the lust of the flesh for the short season they are on Earth! No doubt some of them think along this line, “I will go a while longer down this path of pleasure before I leave it.”  Perhaps some even think, “I will change tomorrow” forgetting, or not knowing, that God has said, “….Now is the day of Salvation.” (II Cor. 6:2)  We may not be here tomorrow!

          The good news of the Gospel, the news that is higher than all other supposed good news, is that God has made known in the scriptures a Perfect righteousness for us all, and all men are in need of it. after making it known in the scriptures that all men are unrighteous through their failure to keep the Holy Law, it goes on to say, “but now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe.” ( Rom. 3:21-22) 

          This is God’s Perfect righteousness, which does away with all sin once we receive it by Faith. The following Scripture must be taken by pure faith. II Cor. 5:21, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” The meaning of this verse is clear and as powerful as it is clear. God would not have us fail to understand it. It is our hope of the Rapture. Let’s examine it carefully. “For He hath made Him…” (God has made Christ) “…To be sin for us..” (God chose to live in a flesh body and name Himself, Jesus, then take our sin-load upon Himself and pay our every debt. Though He knew no sin, He agreed to become God’s guilty Christ.) “..That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (Can we believe such a thing? Do we understand what God has said here? Everyone who will believe has been made as righteous as God, Himself!)

          Rev. 19:7-9, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

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

                ⁹And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

          Joseph was given a robe of many colors, not just as a covering for his body, but it was a type, a covenant between God and man, a promise of our Redemption.

          QUOTE: ISRAEL IN EGYPT 53-0325, “His father give him a coat of many colors. Is that right? Now, if you’ll watch that robe without seam, which represented the Holy Spirit that covered his being…And today it’s the Holy Spirit that covers the church, the Robe of many colors. And there’s seven colors in the rainbow. See? And its seven perfect colors is all the colors we have. And they blend together making the rainbow. And a rainbow in the Bible means a covenant.

          A rainbow, a covenant that God had made through Abraham, through Isaac, through Christ, through the Church, by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The robe of the seven colors that was upon joseph, that was upon Jesus; it’s upon the church today, protects. The body was covered up by the robe. And the church is not you; it’s the Holy Ghost that’s got you covered with the Blood, God’s covenant predestinated before the foundation of the world.” (End of quote)

          QUOTE: Q.A. ON THE SEALS 63-0324M, “…when a bridegroom gives out invitation for his wedding, he just gives out so many invitations. And for every invitation he sent, he had a porter standing at the door to put a robe on him, whether he was poor, or whatever he was, he had…If he was rich or poor, whatever it was, he, all had to wear this wedding garment. When they stood at the door, they put this on him; it covered up what his outside had been. He’s invited—whether he was a millionaire, or whether he was a pauper, whether he was a farmer, ditch digger, or whatever he is, or—or plutocrat, he’s—he’s here with the robe on, now, because the robe’s put on him at the door when he enters in at the door.

          Now, take St. John 10, I believe it is, He said, “I am the door that enter—that you enter in by.”

          Now there he stands at the door, and here’s the man that put the robe on him, the Holy Spirit, to give him the robe of righteousness when he comes in. Now, this man had come by some organization, back at the window over here (some slip-in hole), and he got in at the table and set down.

          And then when the Bridegroom comes up and looks around, he…These had been odd ducks before, now he’s the odd duck. See? “What are you doing here like that without the baptism of the Holy Ghost and all these things? How did you ever get in here?

          Well, he come in somewhere besides the door, and he come with out the proper invitation. See? He come by some educational system (See?), or something like that He got in, and He said to them, “Bind him, hand and feet, cast him out of here into outer darkness where there’ll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” See? He went into the tribulation period. See? He did not come in by the door.” (End of quote)                  

          QUOTE: FOURTH SEAL. THE. 63-0321, “..May the Holy Spirit come down now, the white horse rider, while His Spirit, Spirit of Christ in the face of antichrist, and call His own. Call them out, Lord. May now they repent; come quickly to You and be filled with the Oil and the Wine and be changed from that denominational robe of Cain’s death unto a snow-white robe of Eternal Life given out by the Bridegroom; and then they’ll go to the Wedding Supper someday in the vindicated Word of the Resurrection.” (End of quote)

          Luke 15:22 is another type of God’s Robe of Righteousness. The Prodigal Son was given “the best robe” (The Robe of Righteousness.) This Robe makes us as righteous as God!

          II Cor. 5:17-21, “¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

                ¹⁸And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

                ¹⁹To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

                ²⁰Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

                ²¹For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

          Notice! It is God, Himself, that “has made” us the righteousness of God” by giving us His Robe of righteousness! Bottom line – “God did it!”

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