Priest with Dirty Clothes, The

We love love this book. We first discovered it as an audiobook on our streaming platform, so I was delighted when I saw it advertised in print. In the form of a story told by a Grandfather it explains so well the fact that we cannot make ourselves clean before God, no matter what we do, but that Christ clothes us with His righteousness. My 8 yr old son has us read it to him most nights. And I don’t tire of it either!!

R.C Sproul has written a story that explains the concept of Christ's imputation when we are justified in Him. His story is based off the passage from Zechariah 3:1-5, which parents are encouraged to read to their children first before the story begins (which is printed in the book), so they can understand that what they are about to hear is not just 'another story' but an explanation of the passage in the form of a story. I'd recommend this for children aged 6+. It is longer than his other work such as 'The Lightlings,' This is a story that explains how and why we need to be clothed with Christ's righteousness in order to stand before the Father. As with his other stories, this one begins with modern day children getting filthy dirty and ruining their clothes in the process, then having their grandfather arrive and begin to tell them a story that this reminds him of. In this story the King represents God, the Prince represents Jesus, Malus represents Satan our accuser, and the priest represents man. It is a story of a priest, who is to preach before the King himself! He is given special priests clothes. On the journey, however, it was wet weather, and his clothes are now dirty and unable to be cleaned before his sermon. Malus points out that he cannot stand before the King in such a state. The King gives him another chance to preach his sermon the following week, but only if he wears clean clothes. But try as he might, he cannot get his clothes clean- he tries many different avenues. It is then suggested that he speak to the Prince and tell him of his problem. The Prince explains how sin stains everything- not just what we see on the outside, but our heart. Nothing we do can make us clean. He calls the priest to trust him and arrive the following week to preach his sermon. Once again, he arrives in dirty clothes, which Malus points out, but this time the Prince arrives and offers to exchange his beautiful clothes for the priests' dirty clothes. It concludes by explaining that the priest could never be 'good enough' to wear the clothes, but that he must trust in the Princes' goodness. Once grandpa has finished the story, he explains this concept to the children. At the back of the book, it contains 12 detailed questions with scriptural references to delve deeper with the children about story and passage. Like other books written by Sproul, contains easy to read font, language, and printed on strong thick paper. This one won't disappoint!