MY dear reader, in these days of loud profession it is of the greatest importance to be individually real and honest. God loves reality and hates hypocrisy. He desireth truth in the inward parts. (Psa. 51:6).
God searcheth the heart, and He knows who are real and who are unreal. Yes, “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:13). “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7), and proclaims it to be “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jer. 17:9). He is, dear friend, a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart.
I should like to draw your attention for a moment to Luke 18:10-14, where we read, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a pharisee, and the other a publican. The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are... 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.”
The publican was real in heart before God. He took his true place—a sinner—and we read that (v. 14) he “went down to his house justified rather than the other.” On the other hand, look at the proud, self-righteous pharisee, taking a false place, in all the unreality and hypocrisy of his heart, and saying, “God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are.” Oh, my friend, is such the language of your heart? The pharisee made a great difference between himself and the poor sinful publican; but the word of God says, “There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:22, 23). I do not know your heart, but God does. He knows whether you are real or unreal; but in love to your precious, never-dying soul let me implore you to take your true place—a sinner—like the publican. Whether you own it or not, you are “condemned already,” and if unsaved at this moment you are exposed to the wrath of a holy, Sin-hating God! Awful position!
“Eternal wrath hangs o’er thy head,
And judgment lingers nigh.”
God can by no means clear the guilty.
“He could not pass the sinner by,
His sin demands that he must die.
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save—yet righteous be.”
Listen, friend, listen! “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation” (it is worthy of yours), “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Tim. 1:15). “I came not to call the righteous,” said the blessed Lord, “but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32). Oh, needy one, on Calvary’s shameful cross a work was accomplished, on the ground of which God can “be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:26).
And now—
“The sinner who believes is free,
Can say the Saviour died for me,
Can point to the atoning blood,
And say, This made my peace with God.”
For “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7).
J. A. D.