Confessing Our Filthy Rags

I was struck by the following quote from Paul Tripp (HT Of First Importance):

Before you can ever make a clean and unamended confession of your sin, you have to first begin by confessing your righteousness. It’s not just your sin that separates you from God; your righteousness does as well. Because, when you are convinced you are righteous, you don’t seek the forgiving, rescuing, and restoring mercy that can be found only in Jesus Christ.

This calls to mind the famous words of Isaiah 64:6 that “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment,” or as the King James puts it, “like filthy rags.”

We aren’t as good as we think we are.
We aren’t as wise as we think we are.
We aren’t as noble as we think we are.
We aren’t as strong as we think we are.
We aren’t as selfless as we think we are.

If the truth be told, we’re a lot worse than we think we are. Just take a good look in the mirror. If all your thoughts were revealed to the world, what would the rest of us think about you? 

We need to confess your “righteousness” to the Lord because our best efforts are “filthy rags” in his sight. Humbling, isn’t it? It reminds me of that old Shaker hymn:

’Tis a gift to be simple, ’Tis a gift to be free,
’Tis a gift to come down, Where we ought to be.

Here is a good word for religious people on Sunday morning. Let’s not just confess the sins we know about. Let’s confess our righteousness too. That way we can receive the mercy we need from the Lord Jesus Christ.