NO COVER-UPS

Jer. 13:23 Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you always do evil.  NLT

       There’s a huge difference between covering up your sins and your sins being forgiven.  People are cover-up artists when it comes to their sins.  We masquerade well the true nature of our souls.  Many put on good fronts.  They are good people doing good things, in and outside of the church.  They have the respect of those who know them.  They may even be leaders in the church and community.  It’s not all that hard to come across as being a good person.  With a little bit of effort a person can stay out of trouble and be well-liked by those who know him.

        But, who a person really is cannot be covered up.  Beneath the appearance of goodness lies the soul.  And, the measure of goodness of the soul is not based on the goodness of one’s living.  The Lord declared that before God no one is good.  We are born into this world without Christ and we will die without Christ unless we turn to Him for the forgiveness of our sins and let Him rule our hearts.  No one can live well enough of a life to change the nature of the heart.  Only Christ can change the evil heart of man into a righteous heart before God.

       God is not impressed by what impresses us.  He does not acknowledge the good deeds we do without Jesus in the heart.  There will be many who will stand before God standing on their own righteousness thinking that it will be good enough to get them into heaven and God will declare them unknown to Him.  Only Christ is our righteousness before God.  He is the only way our souls can be made right before God.  Jesus forgives those who come humbly before Him, own up to their sins, and confess them to Him.  When a person does this, God no longer sees him as unworthy of heaven, but embraces him as His child.  And his sins are forever wiped out of God’s memory; he is a new creation in Christ.

       If you are trying to make it to heaven by being and doing good, it will never work.  You are a sinner bound for hell until you let Jesus be your Savior and Lord.  It is impossible to cover up your sins with your goodness.  God sees right through it and sees your sinful heart.  Repent now and let Christ be your righteousness and holiness from God.