Scripture: Matthew 7:15
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
I wish your life will be filled with the love and blessing of God. Today I want to share the grace with you through the message titled with “A person in sheep’s clothing.”
In Jesus’ time the scribes and the Pharisees taught the people of Israel the law in a specialized manner. They kept not only the law but also the traditions of the elders who had been handed down to them from their fathers and fathers ?regulations and instructions.
In addition, they always tried to control themselves and put their lives under the self-control, and so they considered themselves as godly. But our Lord Jesus severely reproached them saying they were like whitewashed tombs. Israelites made their tombs inside tombs, and painted the entrance of the tombs white. But the tombs appeared clean and white but inside it was full of dead man’s bones and bad odors and everything was dirty.
“Whitewashed tombs” refer to those who appear holy on the outside but whose hearts are full of all kinds of evils and sins. Regarding those people, our Lord Jesus said that they come to you in sheep’s clothes but are ravenous wolves inwardly.
Our God wants you to make godly and beautiful not only the outside but also the inner heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7, God said, “For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” So, He really wants you to make your heart clean and pure.
No one likes even seeing stinky dirt or ugly worms, but how much more abominable it is to find those dirty and unclean things on your garments or your body! You will surely try to wipe them off or to wash them away. Now how about your sins? The sins that are not in accordance with the will of God including hatred, arrogance, adultery, and unrighteousness are so unclean and dirty beyond comparison with those worms and dirt.
What then are you to do with the sins if you find them within you?
If you find hatred within you, you had better not try to throw it away by force but instead to change your feeling of it into good one. If someone strikes you, you can think that the person hit you not because of hatred but because of love, and then you will have no ill-feeling against him and be able to treat him with goodness. If you are found arrogant, you must not throw it away unconditionally but had better try to consider others as better than you. When you serve others, arrogance will disappear and you can serve them from the heart.
As said in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, “Abstain from every form of evil,” you have to throw off the heart that is against the truth and possess the true and good heart. Just as bees and butterflies gather on the sweet flowers that give off fragrances, may each of you possess the sweet and truthful aroma in your heart, share joy and happiness with as many people through that aroma and receive and enjoy the love and blessing of God up to the full measure, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray!
