Robe Of Righteousness

+Scripture: Isaiah 61:10; Zechariah 3:1-4; Luke 15:17-24

Title: Robes of Righteousness or Check our These Royal Robes!

INTRO:

Grace and peace this morning!

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If you have gone shopping lately you know that some of the newest Spring Clothes Fashions are already hitting the markets. Some stores starting putting out part of their Spring Wardrobe before the Christmas Season was finished. It seems that before one season is finished another season of new clothes is ready for the public to buy.

However, for most of us we may not really keep up with all the new trends and fashions. After all, who has the time, the money and even the desire?

Flannel shirts and blue jeans do just the trick.

If it still fits why change it?

But just so you will be prepared these are some of the things that are coming back into style for the 2020’s

+Both the color Neon (Green) and Tangerine are going to be hot colors – you will be seeing a lot of them this year

+Skittle colored leather jackets

+Rose Print dresses

+Big and Bold Colors – Disco colors for both men and women – think of the 1970’s

+Rope Belts – made out of real ropes this time

+Bell Bottoms – mostly geared right now for men’s clothing

+A new type of Leisure Suite – only this time it is being called Relaxed Suits

So, in effect if you still own something from the 1960’s and 70’s then drag them out of the closet or pull them down from the attic and either give them to your grandchildren to wear or wear them yourselves. It ought to be an exciting few years in fashion.

This morning, I want for us to talk a little about a special type of clothing: spiritual clothing.

You might think that the Bible doesn’t have much to say about clothing but as you spend time reading the Bible you find that there is quite a bit about clothing mentioned.

+You have the first poorly fashioned nature outfit by Adam and Eve called the FIG LEAF OUTFITS – not real comfortable and not real protective either. It seems that they didn’t catch on.

+You have of course a great looking coat of many colors worn by young Joseph.

+You have the stolen Babylonian garments of Achan that led to an Israelite defeat and eventually led to his whole family being killed.

+You have the woman with the Issue of Blood wanting to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe to be made well. That proved to be a great choice as she was healed.

+You have the clothes of Jesus that the Roman Soldiers gambled for at the foot of the Cross of Calvary.

So, there is a great deal spoken in the Bible about clothes.

This morning, I would like for us to look at a certain robe that is mentioned several times in the Bible that we are invited to wear. We see it most clearly identified in such passages as Zechariah 3:1-4, Isaiah 61:10 and Revelation 3:4.

It is called a Robe of Righteousness and each one of us this morning has been invited to wear this Robe. Let’s take a few moments and examine what all this means and in particular what it means to us today.

I. The Robe of Righteousness is first and foremost a Gift

In Luke 15 we find the Story of the Prodigal Son. It is a wonderful back ground story that Jesus used not only to talk about the Father’s Love but also to reveal to us a little more about our Robes of Righteousness.

Most of us know the story. The youngest son wants his inheritance and so begs and pleads for it until his father agrees to his request.

He then goes out and wastes everything. He spends it all on what the Bible calls wild living. Translation of that we know to be; excessive drinking, committing all kinds of immoral acts and other sundry things. He got so caught up in his life of sin that by the time sin got through with him, he had wasted all of his inheritance. And his only friends, if they were in fact his friends, were a bunch of pigs who didn’t even want to share their pig slop with him.

Ravi Zaccharias is correct when he says:

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

For this young man that was truly the case. He had no idea when he first left home that his life of sin would lead him scrambling for food in a hog lot.