"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation'" (Isaiah 12:2).
We have been obliged by the Spirit of God to look at the workings of the carnal mind, and what it will do for man, and how it will deceive him in every way.
Did not Jesus say to us, "Therefore be zealous and repent"? (Rev. 3:19). What does that "therefore" mean?
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.... Therefore be zealous and repent" (vss. 15-19).
How much does that "therefore" cover? All of it. The first thing He says is, "I know your works," and the last, "Therefore be zealous and repent." Are you ready to repent of your works now?
How much good are these works going to do you? Are they perfect? Are they righteous? "Whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). Have there been any works about you that have not been of faith, that have had self in them?
Do not forget that garment that we are to buy--that garment "woven in the loom of heaven, in which there is not a single thread of human devising." If you and I have stuck in a single thread of devising in that life that we have professed to be living in Christ, we have spoiled the garment. [1]
"'In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.... This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,' saith the Lord" (Isa. 54:14, 17).
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