Dec 11
10
Smokin’,Drinkin’,and Cussin’
People love to be preached to about their sins and told to quit smoking, drinking, cussing, and to be kind to their neighbor, tithe, and go to church, etc. It’s because when they are able to manage these outward things, they can feel good about themselves. If I am only a sinner because I do bad things, then there is hope of reformation. Behavior, men believe, can be improved, or at least my good deeds can outweigh my bad (in my own opinion or that of other men). Even this is impossible, since what we consider good deeds are filthy rags to God, but at least men can fool themselves in this way.
If, however, sin is my very nature, then no matter how nice I am to my neighbor, no matter how perfect my church attendance, no matter, how much I put in the plate or avoid the vices of life, I am repulsive, unacceptable, undone, filthy, stinking, and despicable in God’s sight. Men hate this truth of a sin nature, because there is nothing they can do about it. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Jer. 13:23 This truth shuts men up entirely too sovereign mercy in the sin-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A well-behaved maggot is not welcome in my bosom for all his virtues, nor is a well-behaved sinner (even if there were such a thing) fit company for God Almighty. We must be utterly changed, “born again,” given a new nature and even a deranged sinner cannot convince himself that this is something he can do. That is why this doctrine is so vehemently rejected. We have one hope. MERCY! MERCY! MERCY!
“Lord, now indeed I find,
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
and melt the heart of stone.”
Chris Cunningham