A Covenant With Sinners

Scripture

“It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I came to call not the upright, but sinners.” 

~Mark 2:17, NJB

Quote

I identify most with those Old Testament characters who struggled with their doubts, fears and inward demons.

~Gerald H. Wilson

For the record, Gerald H. Wilson is a scholar who wrote volume one of the new NIV Application Commentary on Psalms. In preparation for my message on Psalm 25 which I will share tonight LORD willing, I came across this quote and had to share it. David’s understanding of grace in Psalm 25 is staggering to the mind. We don’t usually associate grace with the Old Testament but it is definitely there and especially in Psalm 25. David understood that God relates to sinners when they are humble themselves, confess their sins and reverently rely on God for mercy and forgiveness. The Jewish religious leaders, especially the scribes, pharisees and priest were on a point system which produced the opposite of humility. They were keenly committed to religious observance but this rigid code of conduct had made them proud and unbearable. Not even Jesus wanted to be around them. They were upset that Jesus spent time with sinners, a term they used to describe everyone who was not like them. It’s a kin to what the liberals have done with the word ‘racist.’ Everyone who does not agree with them is a racist.

I have some disturbing news for the democrats and the self-righteous pharisees of our day– We are all sinners and we are all racists. There is no one free of bias just as there is no one free of sin. When it comes to our need for mercy and grace, we are all in the same boat. Now the Pharisees and Scribes of our day do not agree with this statement. They can easily spot my sin but they do not see their own just as the libs see my prejudice but do not see their own. There is one basic difference: I am a sinner and I know it–They are sinners and they don’t know it. Jesus responds favorably to the humble and repentant. He forgives our sins; He guides us to the right path; He saves us from ourselves, our sin, our loneliness and despair. Above all, He saves us from the humiliation that are sins deserve. Jesus took our shame upon Himself when He took our sin. He suffered for us the violence of hate which we deserved. Hate is not satisfied with a man’s death: hate demands public humiliation and shame before he dies. Jesus suffered this to save us from it: praise the name of Jesus.

President Trump is a good example of that last point: the dems, Hollywood, the media, big corps and the entertainment industry are intend on his public humiliation. It was not enough to remove him from office illegally, they want to destroy his name, reputation, legacy, family, you name it. It is a portrait of pure and evil hate and yet they have the audacity to call us “haters.”

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