Two evangelists were conducting gospel services in a fishing village, and numbers of fishermen who had formerly been faithful servants of sin and Satan were thoroughly converted. By their lives they proved the truth of the scripture, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17).
One day, while the two preachers were taking a walk, they met the wife of one of the fishermen of the village carrying a basket of coal. She stopped and expressed her gratitude to them for being the means, in God's hand, of the conversion of her husband. "And are you saved?" inquired one of the evangelists.
"Oh, yes, a good while ago," was the reply; and she turned and walked on rapidly.
An open air meeting was held that night, which was attended by a large crowd. One of the speakers, in the course of his address, remarked that "God only justifies those who condemn themselves, and condemns those who justify themselves.”
To illustrate this principle, so clearly laid down in God's Word, he mentioned the case of the Pharisee and the publican. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are,... I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:11-1311The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:11‑13). The one man justified himself, and God condemned him; the other condemned himself, and went down to his house justified by God.
A meeting for inquirers was held afterward. The Word had struck home, and some who had been justifying themselves and condemning God were now condemning themselves and inquiring if God would justify them. It was a simple and happy work to point these to God's way of justification. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Rom. 5:11Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1).
While the anxious ones were being spoken to by Christian workers, a voice was heard on the stair leading in to the hall. Someone was weeping and exclaiming, "God have mercy on me a sinner! I told him a lie.”
All eyes were turned to the door through which came a woman, weeping bitterly. She was led by one of the Christians. It was the fisherman's wife whom the preacher had met in the street. On being spoken to and asked what caused her tears, she replied, "I told you a lie; I said I was saved just to get rid of you; and I am not saved.”
She had been stripped of her rags of self-righteousness, and had learned that she was, in God's sight, lost and condemned. In the past she had been justifying herself, but she could do so no longer. Having accepted God's estimate of herself and taken the place of "lost," she longed to know how deliverance could be obtained. That very night she accepted the finished work of Christ and found rest and peace for her sin-sick, weary, heavy-laden soul.
Reader, are you justifying yourself or God? Have you taken the place of a "condemned" sinner and been pardoned by the Lord Jesus? Forgiveness, eternal life, and justification are to be had through faith in Him who bore sin's penalty and died that we might live. If you have not yet received the free, full, and present forgiveness of sins, look to Him who "was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.”