Posted on 01/20/2020 6:52:08 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (Proverbs 20:9).
Nobody can. The Bible says that all have sinned. And no man can be pure from sin by any work that he does. The only standard that God will accept is the standard that His own Son met, and that is an absolutely 100% perfect standard. Anything less is to fall short of the glory of God. Paul said, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). He further stated: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). Attempting to gain salvation through one’s good works is a “bloodless gospel,” and is accursed according to Paul for holding to “another gospel.”
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean,” nobody can say that. The Bible teaches that all men are guilty before God: “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:9-18). All of man is condemned as unrighteous.
We may not have swung the hammer that drove the nails into our Saviour’s body, but it was our wickedness that made it necessary. Isaiah says from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, there is nothing good about man.
“Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5-6).
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Anyone who is saved can. We can say, “I have been made clean,” because it is God that does it. How is it done? “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).
A man’s free will is not under the complete and total control of his wicked nature. He can desire to change; he can exercise his ability to repent of his sins and accept God’s new nature and eternal life. It does require a hearing of the Gospel and the conviction of the Holy Spirit—and by a man’s free will he can also tell God no. For all the talk of the Calvinists, God is still powerless to make a man act one way or the other against his own free will. Man’s free will is spoken of in Ezra 7:13 and 16.
Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.
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