Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. It would be difficult, if not
impossible, to find any person who actually believes that they
have never committed any sin or done wrong things from time
to time. The natural man has some understanding
of his own fallibility and imperfection. Yet it is very rare to find a
man who not only knows that he has sinned but feels himself
to be a sinner from head to foot. Apart from the regenerating work
of God, no man will ever be able to see, understand, and hate
his own innate depravity and recognize his inability to approach
unto an absolutely holy God who will by no means clear the guilty.
By virtue of being born into Adam's race, all of mankind is
in a dire circumstance, worthy of condemnation, estranged from
God, and possessing no ability to appease his wrath nor gain
his favor. Compounding that problem is that
he is, by that same nature, in rebellion against the law of
God, and though he might perform outwardly religious acts, he
does nonetheless despise the dominion of a sovereign God.
He will mistakenly believe that his propensity to forms of worship
is some evidence of a conformity to righteousness. By nature he
is unconcerned and unaware of the ecregious nature of his crimes,
because he is willingly ignorant of the glory of the one against
whom these offenses have been committed. He believes that righteousness
is defined by a comparison to other men and will make excuses
for things he sees in himself that he will condemn in others.
The Lord Jesus startled the Jews with the declaration of his purpose,
saying, I came not to call the righteous. If they had had any
spiritual light at all, they would have rejoiced to hear such
an encouraging word. Yet because they were spiritually
dead, they were offended. They had already expressed their
displeasure that he would consort with those whom they considered
much lower on the scale of what they supposed righteousness to
be. This man eateth with sinners. Since the Lord knew their self-righteous
mind, he responded by declaring his purpose to minister to those
who have no righteousness of their own. As long as a man holds
to some notion of earning favor in the sight of God by any action
of his own, he cannot and will not seek the only righteousness
which is acceptable to the Lord. A man who does not know that
he is ill does not seek out a physician. He is not overly concerned with
a few aches or pains here or there, but is confident in his
health and is not troubled at all. Yet that man who discovers
one morning that his legs no longer work, or is bleeding and
cannot staunch the flow, or finds some malignancy eating away at
his vitals, will drop all that he is doing and seek out one
who can help him with his need. In the same fashion, that man
who is awakened by the Spirit of God to see his hopeless and
helpless condition, as a rebel against the kingdom of God, is
compelled to cry out for mercy to him who alone is able to help
him. Such men are those who have no
righteousness of their own. The Jews went about to establish
their own righteousness and thus despised the righteousness of
Christ. So too are all of those who rely upon their religion,
including good works, relative morality, decisions for Christ,
adherence to laws or rules of order, baptisms, or spiritual
gifts. Paul said, I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. They are those who despair
of approaching the king because they see themselves clothed in
filthy rags and woefully unprepared to stand in judgment before him. They are fearful and afraid that
their sin will overwhelm them and ensure their ultimate doom.
This is that which gripped the heart of the Philippian jailer
who cried out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And those who
were pricked in the heart on the day of Pentecost who said,
Men and brethren, what shall we do? Such men are those who
tremble to consider that their sin is a direct affront to God.
David said, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight. Religious men, or those with
natural repentance, such as a sobered-up drunkard, may express regret
over their actions, but only an awakened sinner can see that
his overwhelming guilt is in disregarding the commandments
of a holy God, for which he has no remedy. and they are those
who are compelled to seek the Savior. The Lord Jesus said,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. These are those whom
the Lord came to call. True sinners can never perish,
for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Come
ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry
till you're better, you will never come at all. Not the righteous,
not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call. Are you a sinner,
or have you merely sinned? He saved sinners. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.