(Luke 10:25-30)
“And
behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is
written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ So he answered and
said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your
neighbor as yourself.’ And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly;
do this and you will live.’ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to
Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘A
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves,
who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving
him half dead.’”
What’s human’s biggest problem?
They live with many mistaken illusions.
They live with many mistaken illusions.
Luke 10:28, “Do this and you will live.”
People
live with many mistaken illusions. It seems that they are especially
vulnerable in this respect. They seem to be intelligent but are easily
deceived and remain unaware of their evil sides. We are born without
knowing ourselves, but we still live as if we do. Since people do not
know themselves, the Bible repeatedly tells us that we are sinners.
People
talk about the existence of their own sins. It seems that people are
incapable of doing good, however, they are inclined to characterize
themselves as good. They boast of their good works and show off, though
they say they are sinners with their lips.
They
don’t know that they neither have good in them nor the ability to do
good, so they try to deceive others and sometimes even deceive
themselves. “Come on, we can’t be completely evil. There’s got to be
some good inside of us.”
Consequently,
they look at others and tell themselves, “Gosh, I wish he hadn’t done
that. It would have been better for him if he hadn’t. He would have been
much better off if he talked like this. I think it is better for him to
preach the gospel in such and such a way. He was redeemed before me, so
I think he should act more like one who has been redeemed. I was
redeemed just recently, but if I learn more, I will do much better than
he does.”
They
sharpen the knives in their hearts whenever they are hurt. “You just
wait. You will see that I am unlike you. You may think that you are
ahead of me now, but just you wait. It is written in the Bible that
those who come last will be first. I know it applies to me. Wait and I
will show you.” People deceive themselves.
Even
though he would react the same way if he were in the other person’s
place, he still judges him. When he stands at the pulpit, he suddenly
finds himself stuttering helplessly because he is over conscious of his
attire. When asked if people have the ability to do good, most people
say by their lips that they don’t. But in their hearts, they are under
the illusion that they themselves have the ability. So, they try hard to
be virtuous until they die.
They
think that they have ‘goodness’ in their hearts and that they have the
ability to do good. They also believe that they themselves are good
enough. Regardless of how long they have been religious, especially
among those who have achieved greater progress in the service of God,
they think, ‘I can do this and that for the Lord.’
But
if we take the Lord out of our lives, can we really do good? Is there
good in humanity? Can we really live doing good works? Human beings do
not have the ability to do good. Whenever they try to do things on their
own, they commit sin. Some push Jesus aside after believing in Him and
try to be good on their own. There’s nothing but evil in all of us, so
we can only practice evil. By ourselves (even those who have been
saved), we can only sin. It is the reality of our flesh.
What do we always do, good or evil?
Evil
Evil
In our praise book, ‘Praise the Name of Jesus,’ there is a song that goes like this, “♪Without Jesus we only stumble. We are as worthless as a ship that crosses the sea without the sail♪.” Without Jesus, we can only sin because we are evil beings. We have the ability to do righteous works only after being saved.
The
Apostle Paul said, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but
the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19). If a person
is with Jesus, it doesn’t matter, but when he/she has nothing to do with
Him, he/she tries to do good deeds before God. However, the more the
person tries, the more he/she practices evil.
Even
King David had the same innate nature. When his country was peaceful
and prosperous, one evening, he went up to the roof for a stroll. There,
he saw a tempting picture and fell for sensual pleasure. What was he
like when he had forgotten the Lord? He was truly evil. He committed
adultery with Bathsheba and killed Uriah, her husband, but he couldn’t
see the evil in himself. He made excuses for his actions instead.
Then
one day, the prophet Nathan came to him and said, “There were two men
in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had numerous
flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little lamb.
And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own
flock and from his own herd but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it
for the man who had come to him” (2 Samuel 12:1-4).
David
said, “The man who has done this shall surely die!” His anger was
greatly aroused, so he said, “He has so many of his own; he could surely
take one of them. But instead, he took the poor man’s only lamb to
prepare food for his guest. He should die!” Then, Nathan told him, “You
are the man.” If we do not follow Jesus and be with Him, even the
born-again can do such evil things.
It
is the same for all people, even the faithful. We always stumble and
practice evil without Jesus. So we are thankful again today that Jesus
saved us, regardless of the evil in us. “♪I want to rest under the shade
of the Cross♪” Our hearts rest under the shade of the redemption of
Christ, but if we leave the shade and look at ourselves, we can never
rest.
God Gave Us the Righteousness of Faith before the Law
Which one is earlier to follow, faith or the Law?
Faith
Faith
The Apostle Paul said that God gave us the righteousness of faith from the beginning. He gave it to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Seth and Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and finally to Jacob and his twelve sons. Even without the Law, they became righteous before God through the righteousness that came from the faith in His Word. They were blessed and given rest through the faith in His Word.
Time
passed and Jacob’s descendants lived in Egypt as slaves for 400 years
because of Joseph. Then, God led them out through Moses into the land of
Canaan. However, during the 400 years of slavery, they had forgotten
the righteousness of faith.
So
God let them cross the Red Sea through His miracle and led them into
the wilderness. When they reached the wilderness of Sin, He gave them
the Law at Mount Sinai. He gave them the Law, which contained the Ten
Commandments and the 613 detailed articles. God declared, “I am the Lord
your God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Let
Moses come up to Mount Sinai, and I will give you the law.” Then, He
gave Israel the Law.
He
gave them the Law so that they would ‘have knowledge of sin’ (Romans
3:20). It was to inform them about what He liked and disliked and to
reveal His righteousness and holiness.
All
the people of Israel who had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years
crossed the Red Sea. They had never met the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob. They didn’t know Him.
While
they were living as slaves for those 400 years, they had forgotten the
righteousness of God. At that time, they didn’t have a leader. Jacob and
Joseph were their leaders, but they had passed away long ago. It seems
that Joseph failed to pass the faith onto his sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim.
Therefore,
they needed to find their God again and meet Him because they had
forgotten His righteousness. We have to bear in mind that God gave them
the righteousness of faith first and then gave them the Law, after they
had forgotten the faith. He gave them the Law to return them to Him.
To save Israel and to make them His people, He told them to be circumcised.
His
purpose in calling them was to let them know that He existed by
establishing the Law and secondly, to let them know that they were
sinners before Him. God wanted them to come before Him and become His
people by being redeemed through the sacrificial system that He had
given them. And He made them His people.
The
people of Israel were redeemed through the sacrificial system of the
Law by believing in the Messiah who was to come. But the sacrificial
system had also faded away with time. Let’s see when that was.
In
Luke 10:25, a certain lawyer who tested Jesus is mentioned. The lawyer
was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were extreme conservatives who tried to
live up to God’s Word. They tried to protect the country first and then
live by God’s Law. Then, there were also the Zealots, who were very
impetuous and tended to resort to violence in order to achieve their
vision, the independence of Israel from Rome.
Whom did Jesus want to meet?
Sinners without a shepherd
Sinners without a shepherd
There are some religious figures like them even today. They lead social movements with slogans like ‘save the oppressed people of the world.’ They believe that Jesus came to save the poor and oppressed. So, after learning theology in seminaries, they take part in politics, and try to ‘deliver the deprived’ in every field of society.
They
are the ones who insist, “Let us all live by the holy and merciful
Law...live up to the Law, by His Words.” But they don’t realize the
actual meaning of the Law. They try to live by the letter of the Law
while not recognizing the divine revelation of the Law.
Therefore,
we can say that there were no prophets, servants of God, in Israel for
about 400 years before Christ. Because of this, they became a flock of
sheep without a shepherd.
They
neither had the Law nor a true leader. God didn’t reveal Himself
through the hypocritical religious leaders of that time. The country had
become a colony of the Roman Empire. So, Jesus said to those people of
Israel who followed Him into the wilderness that He would not send them
away hungry. He took pity on the flock without a shepherd because there
were many who were suffering at that time.
The
lawyers and others in such positions were essentially the ones who had
vested privileges; the Pharisees were of the orthodox lineage of
Judaism. They were very proud.
This
lawyer asked Jesus in Luke 10:25, “What shall I do to inherit eternal
life?” He seemed to think that there was no one better than him among
the people of Israel. So this lawyer (one who had not been redeemed)
challenged Him, saying, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
The
lawyer is but a reflection of ourselves. He asked Jesus, “What shall I
do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What is written in the law?
What is your reading of it?”
So
he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and
“love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus told him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
He
challenged Jesus while not knowing himself to be evil, a lump of sin
who could never do good. So Jesus asked him, “What is written in the
law? What is your reading of it?”
What is your reading of the Law?
We are sinners who can never keep the Law.
We are sinners who can never keep the Law.
“What is your reading of it?” With this passage, Jesus asks how one, including you and me, knows and understands the Law.
As
many people do nowadays, this lawyer also thought that God gave him the
Law for him to keep. So he answered, “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all
your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
The
Law was without fault. He gave us the perfect Law. He told us to love
the Lord with all our hearts and souls, with all our strength and minds
and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is right for us to love our
God with all our hearts and strength, but it is a holy commandment that
can never be kept.
“What
is your reading of it?” means that the Law is right and correct, but
how do you understand it? The lawyer thought that God gave it for him to
obey. However, the Law of God was given to us so that we might realize
our shortcomings, by completely exposing our iniquities. “You have
sinned. You killed when I told you not to kill. Why did you disobey
Me?”
The
Law exposes the sins in people’s hearts. Let’s suppose that on my way
here, I saw some ripe melons in the field. God warned me by the Law,
“Don’t pick those melons to eat. It will shame Me if you do.” “Yes,
Father.” “The field belongs to Mr. so and so, therefore, you should
never pick them.” “Yes, Father.”
The
moment we hear that we should never pick them, we feel an inclination
to pick them. If we push down a spring, it bounces back up in reaction.
The sins of people are just like that.
God
told us to never do evil deeds. God can say that because He is holy,
complete and has the ability to do so. On the other hand, we can ‘never’
not sin and ‘never’ be purely good. We ‘never’ have good in our hearts.
The Law is stipulated with the word ‘never’. Why? Because people have
lusts in their hearts. We cannot help but to act on our lusts. We commit
adultery because we have adultery in our hearts.
We
should read the Bible carefully. When I first tried, I analyzed the
Word to the letter. I read that Jesus died on the Cross for me and
couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I was such an evil person and He
died on the Cross for me.... My heart ached so terribly that I believed
in Him. Then I thought, ‘If I’m going to believe, then I’m going to
believe according to the Word.’
When
I read Exodus 20, it said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” I
prayed in repentance according to this commandment. I searched my memory
to recall if I had ever had other gods before Him, called His name in
vain, or if I had ever bowed before other gods. I realized that I had
bowed to other gods many times during the rituals in honor of my
ancestors. I had committed the sin of having other gods.
So
I prayed in repentance, “Lord, I have worshiped idols. I have to be
judged for it. Please forgive my sins. I shall never do it again.”
Afterwards, one sin seemed to be taken care of.
I
then tried to recollect if I had ever called His name in vain. Then, I
remembered that when I first started to believe in God, I smoked. My
friends told me, “Aren’t you bringing shame to God by smoking? How can a
Christian smoke?”
That’s
the same thing as calling His name in vain, isn’t it? So I prayed
again, “Lord, I called Your name in vain. Please forgive me. I’ll quit
smoking.” So I tried to quit smoking but continued to light up, on and
off for a year. It was really hard, almost impossible to quit smoking.
But at last, I managed to quit smoking completely. I felt that another
sin had been dealt with.
The
next one was “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” This meant
that I shouldn’t do other things on Sundays; work or earn money.... So I
stopped that too.
Then
there was “Honor your father and your mother.” I could honor them when I
was away, but there was a source of heartache when I was near. “Oh my
goodness, I have sinned before God. Please forgive me, Lord.” I prayed
in repentance.
But
I couldn’t honor my parents anymore because they were both dead by
then. What could I do? “Lord, please forgive this worthless sinner. You
died on the Cross for me.” How thankful I was!
This
way, I thought that I had dealt with my sins one by one. There were
other laws such as not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to covet....
Until the day I realized I hadn’t kept even a single one, I prayed all
night every night. But you know, praying in repentance is not really
enjoyable. Let’s talk about it.
When
I thought about Jesus’ crucifixion, I was able to sympathize how
painful it was. And He died for us who could not live up to His words. I
cried all night thinking how He loved me and thanked Him for giving me
real pleasure.
My
first year of attending church was generally quite easy but for the
next couple of years it became more and more difficult for me to cry in
repentance because I had to think much harder for the tears to flow
since I did it so often.
When
the tears still did not come, often I went to pray in the mountains and
fasted for 3 days. Then, the tears came back. I was soaked in my tears,
came back to society, and cried in the church.
People
around me said, “You have become so much holier with your prayers in
the mountains.” But the tears inevitably dried up again. It became
really hard the third year. I would think of the wrongs I had done to my
friends and fellow Christians and cry again. After 4 years of this, the
tears dried up again. There were tear glands in my eyes, but they no
longer worked.
After
5 years, I couldn’t cry, no matter how hard I tried. My nose started to
run. After a couple of more years of this, I became disgusted with
myself, so God made me turn to the Bible again.
The Law Is for the Knowledge of Sin
What must we realize about the Law?
We can never keep the Law.
We can never keep the Law.
In Romans 3:20, we read, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” At first, I considered this verse to be merely a personal message to the Apostle Paul and only tried to believe in the words that I preferred. But after my tears dried up, I couldn’t continue my religious life of faith.
So,
I sinned repeatedly and found out that I had sin in my heart and that
it was impossible to live by the Law. I couldn’t bear it, but I also
couldn’t discard the Law because I believed that it was given to be
obeyed. In the end, I became a lawyer, like those mentioned in the
Scripture. It became so difficult for me to continue a life of faith.
I
had so much sin that, while reading the Law, I began to realize those
sins whenever I violated each of the Ten Commandments in my heart.
Sinning in the heart is also committing sin, and I had unwittingly
become a believer in the Law.
When
I kept the Law, I was happy. But when I couldn’t keep the Law, I became
miserable, irritated and sad. Eventually, I became desperate over it
all. How smooth it could’ve been if I were taught from the beginning the
very true knowledge of the Law like this, “No, no. There’s another
meaning to the Law. It shows you that you are a lump of sin; you have
love for money, the opposite sex and for things that are beautiful to
look at. You have things that you love more than God. You want to follow
the things of the world. The Law has been given to you, not to keep,
but to recognize yourself as a sinner with evil in your heart.”
If
only someone had taught me the truth then, I would not have had to
suffer for 10 years. Thus, I had lived under the Law for 10 years before
I came to this realization.
The
fourth commandment is “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” That
means that we should not work on the Sabbath. They teach that we should
walk, not ride if we are traveling far distances on Sunday. I thought
that it was more appropriate and honorable to walk to the place where I
was to preach. After all, I was about to preach the Law. Thus, I felt
that I had to practice what I preached. It was so difficult that I was
about to give up.
As
it is recorded here, “What is your reading of it?” I didn’t understand
this question and suffered for 10 years. The lawyer misunderstood it as
well. He thought that if he obeyed the Law and lived carefully, he would
be blessed before God.
But
Jesus told him, “What is your reading of it?” The man answered
according to his legalistic faith. And then He said to the man, “Yes,
you answered right; you are taking it as it is written. Try and keep it.
You will live if you do, but die if you don’t. The wages of sin is
death. You will die if you don’t.” (The opposite of life is death, isn’t
it?)
But
the lawyer still didn’t understand. This lawyer is like every one of
us, you and me. I studied theology for 10 years. I tried everything,
read everything and did everything: fasting, having illusions, speaking
in tongues...etc. I read the Bible for 10 years and expected to
accomplish something. But spiritually, I was still a blind man.
That
is why a sinner must meet someone who can open his/her eyes, and that
someone is our Lord Jesus. Then, one can realize that “Aha! We can never
keep the Law. No matter how hard we may try to keep the Law, we will
only die while desperately trying. But Jesus came to save us with the
water and the Spirit! Hallelujah!” The water and the Spirit can redeem
us. It is the grace, the gift of God. So we praise the Lord.
I
was lucky enough to graduate from the hopeless line of legalism, but
some spend their whole lives studying theology in vain and never realize
the truth until the day they die. Some people believe for decades or
from generation to generation, but are never born again.
We
graduate from being a sinner when we realize that we can never keep the
Law, then stand before Jesus and listen to the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. When we meet Jesus, we graduate from all judgments and
damnation. We are the worst sinners, but we become righteous because He
saved us by the water and the blood.
Jesus
told us that we could never live in His will. He told this to the
lawyer, but he did not understand. So Jesus told him a story to help him
understand.
What makes men fallen in the life of faith?
Sin
Sin
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead” (Luke 10:30). Jesus told the lawyer this parable to awaken him from the fact that he suffered all his life, just as this man was beaten by thieves and almost died.
A
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jericho represents the secular
world while Jerusalem represents the city of religion; the city of
faith, populated with the boasters of the law. This story tells us that
if we believe in Christ in just a religious way, we will be ruined.
“A
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed,
leaving him half dead.” Jerusalem was a big city with a large
population. There was a high priest, a host of priests, Levites and many
outstanding men of religion there. There were many who knew the Law
well. There, they tried to live up to the Law, but eventually failed and
headed for Jericho. They kept falling into the world (Jericho) and
could not avoid meeting thieves.
The
man also met thieves on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho and was
stripped of his clothes. ‘To be stripped of his clothes’ means that he
lost his righteousness. It is impossible for us to live by the Law, to
live up to the Law. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:19-20, “For the
good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that
I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do
it, but sin that dwells in me.”
I
wish I could do good and live in His words. But in the heart of a man
are evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murder, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, and foolishness (Mark 7:21-23).
Because
they are in our hearts and come out now and then, we do what we will
not to do and we do not do what we should do. We keep repeating those
evils in our hearts. What the devil has to do is to give us only a small
stimulus to sin.
The Sins within the Heart of All Humankind
Can we live by the Law?
No
No
It is said in Mark 7, “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him those are the things that defile a man.”
Jesus
is telling us that there are evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murder, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, and an
evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness in the heart of a man.
We
all have murder in our hearts. There is no one who does not murder.
Mothers yell at their children, “No. Don’t do that. I told you not to do
that, damn you. I told you over and over not to do that. I’m going to
kill you if you do that again. I said don’t do that.” That is murder.
You might have killed your children in your mind with your thoughtless
words.
Our
children must be alive because they run away from us so swiftly; but if
we had let out all our anger on them, we may have killed them.
Sometimes we scare ourselves. “Oh my God! Why did I do that?” We look at
the bruises after hitting our children and think that we must have been
crazy to do that. We cannot but act that way because we have murder in
our hearts.
So, ‘I do what I will not to do’ means that we do evil because we are evil. It is so easy for Satan to tempt us to sin.
Let’s
say that a man who has not been redeemed sat in a hut for 10 years,
facing a wall and meditating like Sungchol, the late great Korean monk.
It is fine while he is sitting with his face to the wall, but someone
has to bring him food and take away his excrement.
He
has to have contact with someone. It would not be a problem if it was a
man, but let’s suppose it was a beautiful woman. If he happened to see
her by chance, all of the time he spent sitting would have been in vain.
He may think, “I should not commit adultery; I have it in my heart, but
I have to blot it away. I have to drive it out. No! Get out of my
mind!”
But
his determination is evaporated the moment he sees her. After the woman
leaves, he looks into his heart. Five years of his ascetic exercises
turns into nothing, all for naught.
It
is so simple for Satan to take away a person’s righteousness. All that
Satan has to do is give him/her a little push. When a person struggles
not to sin without being redeemed, he/she keeps falling into sin
instead. That person may pay the tithe faithfully every Sunday, fast for
40 days, offer 100 days of dawn prayers...etc. But Satan tempts and
deceives him/her with the seemingly good things in life.
“I
would like to give you an important position in the company, but you
are a Christian and you cannot work on Sundays, can you? It is such a
great position. Maybe you could work 3 Sundays and go to church just
once a month. Then, you would enjoy such high prestige and have a big
fat paycheck. How about it?” At this, probably 100 out of 100 people
would be bought.
If
that doesn’t work, Satan plays another trick on people who are easily
trapped in lust for women. Satan puts a woman in front of him and he
falls head over heels in love, forgetting God in an instant. That is how
the righteousness of man is stripped.
If
we try to live by the Law, all we have in the end are the wounds of
sin, pain and spiritual poverty; we lose all righteousness. “Went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of
his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”
This
means that though we may try to stay in Jerusalem by living by the will
of Holy God, we will stumble time after time because of our weaknesses
and will eventually be ruined.
You
may still pray in repentance before God. “Lord, I have sinned. Please
forgive me; I shall never do it again. I promise you that this will
really be the last time. I beg and implore you to forgive me just this
once.”
But
it never lasts. People cannot live in this world without sinning. They
may be able to avoid it a couple of times, but it would be impossible
not to sin again. So, we cannot help but to repeatedly commit sins.
“Lord, please forgive me.” If this goes on, they will drift away from
the church and their religious lives. They drift away from God because
of their sins and eventually end up in hell.
To
travel to Jericho means to fall into the secular world; getting closer
to the world and farther away from Jerusalem. In the beginning,
Jerusalem is still closer, but as the cycle of sinning and repenting is
repeated, we find ourselves standing in the downtown of Jericho; fallen
deeply into the world.
Who can be saved?
Those who give up trying to establish their own righteousness
Those who give up trying to establish their own righteousness
Who did the man meet on his way to Jericho? He met thieves. One who doesn’t even know and live by the Law lives a life similar to an abandoned dog. He/she drinks, falls asleep anywhere and urines anywhere. This dog wakes up the next day and drinks again. An abandoned dog would eat its own excretion. That’s why such a person is called a dog. He/she knows not to drink, yet does so and repents the next morning, repeating the process over and over again.
It
is like the man who met thieves on the way to Jericho. He is left
behind, wounded and almost dead. It means that there’s only sin in his
heart. This is what a human is.
People
believe in Jesus while trying to live by the Law in Jerusalem, the
religious community, but are left behind with only sin in their hearts.
All they have to show for their religious lives are the wounds of sin.
Those with sin in their hearts are thrown into hell in the end. They
know it, but don’t know what to do. Haven’t you and I been in a
similarly religious city too? Yes. We were there all the same.
The
lawyer who misunderstood the law of God would struggle all his life,
but end up in hell, wounded. He is one of us, you and me.
Only
Jesus can save us. There are so many intelligent people around us and
they constantly brag about what they know. They all pretend to live by
the Law of God and aren’t honest with themselves. They cannot call a
spade a spade, but are always bent on grooming their outer appearances
to look faithful.
Among
them are sinners on the way to Jericho, the ones who are beaten up by
thieves and left almost dead. We have to know how fragile we are before
God.
We
should admit before Him, “Lord, I will go to hell if You do not save
me. Please save me. I will go wherever You want, whether it hails or
storms, if I can only hear the true gospel. If You leave me alone, I
will go to hell. I beg You to save me.”
Those
who know that they are heading for hell and give up trying to pursue
their own righteousness, while hanging on to the Lord, are the ones who
can be saved. We can never be saved by our own efforts.
We must understand that we are like the man who fell among thieves.
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