After we admit our spiritual poverty, since we do not possess the righteousness we need, we must hunger and thirst for righteousness from another source. There is only one place we can find it.
How do the wicked not become overwhelmed with guilt? How can they boast, “only God can judge me,” without fear of that terrible day? The reality is that a morality of their own governs even murderers. It is a perverse and twisted virtue, and it should serve as a warning to the rest of us. If the wicked can blind themselves to their evil, so can we who seem to be morally upright.
Man’s ability for self-deception is astounding, and we get a glimpse of it in the chief priests who gave false counsel to have Jesus executed. No greater act of evil has ever occurred. They lied to kill the Son of God but notice what happens when Judas brings back the money they paid him to betray Jesus.
Judas hands them the money and says, “I have betrayed an innocent man.” The chief priests must then decide what to do with the money. They surmise they cannot put it in the temple’s treasury because it is blood money (Matt. 27:6).
Did you catch that? The same men who bore false witness to kill an innocent man are now concerned about adding blood money to the treasury. That would be like a human trafficker being concerned about properly paying taxes on his income.
