“Later, Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with such scum?’ When Jesus heard this, He said, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.’ Then He added, ‘Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.” For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.’” (Matthew 9:10-13 NLT)
Do you know you are a sinner? If not, you likely haven’t and perhaps never will seek the mercy that is demanded for you to inherit eternal life. Personally, my sins were forgiven more than sixty years ago, but today I’m still a sinner saved by grace. Does that mean I continue to walk in daily sin? No, not at all. My goal is to walk in newness of life, transformed by the renewing of my mind, but if I ever lose sight of the fact I’m still very capable of sin, I may be tempted to wrongly believe I no longer live under absolute dependence upon my Savior. There will not be a millisecond in all of eternity that we won’t be dependent upon the grace and mercy of our eternal Savior.
Forgiveness doesn’t cleanse us of our sin, the blood of Jesus does that, but it’s appropriated by the grace of God through believing faith. The only part we have in our salvation is acceptance of the completed work of Christ on Calvary. None of our good works contribute one iota of anything to what Jesus died to accomplish on our behalf.
He said from the Cross: “It is finished!” Which literally means: “The debt is paid in full!” “What debt”? you may wonder. The debt we acquired with God as we lived our sinful lives without regard to His holiness. Our sin built a wall of separation between us and God, a wall that we had no resource of strength to break down. Only the power of the redemptive blood of Jesus that flowed from the Cross had the power to tear down the wall of separation our sin built that we were powerless to remove.
Our eternal debt has been paid, and our response is to live a life of surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, daily seeking to live pleasingly before Him, leaving our sin behind. Living a holy, separated life unto the Lord isn’t something we muster the strength to live on our own, it’s the process of yielding our lives to the energy of God’s Spirit as He lives His life out through us each day.
What about our sin, doesn’t it still master us? Absolutely not! Paul declared in Romans 8:1: “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” We’re no longer seeking God’s approval by trying to clean up our own life, we’re now subject to His mercy and grace that by His Spirit, fills, empowers, and enables us to live a holy life, separated and set apart for the Lord’s sacred use.
We’re no longer hungering for God’s approval because we’ve been set free by His grace. Jason Wing reminds us: “We ought not confuse God’s mercy with His approval”. When we confess, repent, and open our heart and life to the Lordship of Jesus, we’re freed from seeking anyone’s approval. Why? Because we’ve received the Savior’s mercy and are living under grace, we’re no longer enslaved by self-righteousness. Does that mean we can live anyway we please and believe the Lord approves when we sin? Of course not, living under grace plants within us the longing to live without sin and pretense, no longer trusting our own goodness, but the grace and mercy of our Savior.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
