GOSPEL LIGHT #677

The Emperor Who Had No Clothes and The Self-Righteous Sinner 

There was this emperor who loved fine clothing. He was the perfect patsy for two swindlers to inveigle him to weave for him the finest clothing ever. Not only was the clothing beautiful, majestic and elegant; it was also magical --- only the eyes of fine men and women could see it. To the rest, who are stupid, it will appear invisible. 

On the day of the great procession, the emperor marched in front of his entire kingdom...completely naked...wearing nothing but his pride. Everyone could see it. But for fear of being thought of as stupid, they all, nonetheless, sang his praises. Until a child blurted out the naked truth "But he doesn't have anything on!"

The story is made-up of course. But Hans Christian Andersen's story here is a perfect illustration of a self-righteous sinner. The words of Revelation 3:17 is an apt description of the bankruptcy of a self-righteous sinner: "... you say, “ I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."

The self-righteous sinner thinks, swindled of the truth and hoodwinked by Satan, that he is fine. He doesn't know that, in the eyes of God, he is anything but that. It takes the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit to make him realize that he is a sinner in need of the robes of righteousness, which he could only be attired with, by faith in Christ.