Job 13:23; Romans 7:18; Romans 5:8
How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): We lately met with an old man, in the West of England, who for forty-five years he had never entered any place of religious instruction. He was, however, induced by a friend to come under the sound of the gospel; and, on the very first occasion, his soul was arrested. He continued to attend regularly, and divine light shone in gradually upon his soul. After attending for some weeks, he was speaking to a Christian friend, and telling him, in his own simple style, his spiritual experience. “Sir,” said he, “the first thing I learned was that I had never done a right thing, all my life. The next thing I learned was that I could not do a right thing, my nature was that bad. And, then, sir, I learned that Christ had done all, and met all.”
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): This, indeed, is the sum of the Gospel; and an epitome of its operations in the hearts of men.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: Now, these are what we may call, three good things to learn; and, if the reader has not already learned them, we would earnestly entreat him to apply his heart to them now. Let us briefly glance at these three points of Christian knowledge. They be at the very foundation of true Christianity. And, first, then, our poor old friend discovered that he had never done a right thing, all his days.
THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): No man begins to be good till he sees himself to be bad.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: This is a serious discovery for a soul to make. It marks an interesting epoch in the history of a soul when the eyes are first opened and thrown back upon the entire career, from the earliest moment, and the whole thing is found to have been one tissue of sin from beginning to end―every page of the volume blotted, from margin to margin. This, we repeat, is very serious. It marks the earliest stage of spiritual conviction. But there is more than this. Our old friend not only learned that his acts―all his acts―the acts of his whole life had been bad; but also that his nature was bad; and not only bad, but utterly unmendable. This is a grand point to get hold of. It is an essential element in all true repentance.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Many will confess, they do not as they should, who will not think by any means so ill of themselves, that theirs is a state of sin and death; whereas, the convinced soul freely puts himself under this sentence, owns his condition―“I am a vile wretch,” saith he, “as full of sin as the toad is of poison. My whole nature lies, in wickedness, even as the dead, rotten carcass does in its putrefaction.”
C. H. MACKINTOSH: It is of all importance, therefore, for the reader to give attention to the second point learned by our dear old friend. He will have to learn, not only that the acts of his life have been all bad, but that his nature is incurable. No doubt, people differ as to their acts and their ways; but the nature is the same. A crab tree is a crab tree, whether it bear but one crab in ten years, or ten thousand crabs in one year. Nothing but a crab tree could produce even a solitary crab; and hence the nature of the tree is as clearly proved by one crab as by ten thousand. And further, we may say that all the art of man; all his cultivation; all his digging and pruning, cannot change the nature of a crab tree. There must be a new nature, a new life, ere any acceptable fruit can be produced. “Ye must be born again.”
WILLIAM GURNALL: The convinced sinner does not only condemn himself for what he has done and is, but he despairs as to anything he can do to save himself―he sees himself beyond his own help, like a poor, condemned prisoner, laden with so many irons, that he sees it is impossible for him to make an escape, with all his skill or strength, out of the hands of justice. O, friends, look whether the work be gone thus far in your souls!
C. H. MACKINTOSH: But this leads us to look at what our old friend learned, as the third point, namely, that Christ had done all, and met all…The Lord Jesus has met the sins of my life―and the sin of my nature. He has cancelled the former, and condemned the latter. My sinful acts are all forgiven, and my sinful nature is judged. The former are washed away from my conscience, the latter is forever set aside from God’s presence. It is one thing to know the forgiveness of sins, and another to know the condemnation of sin. We read in Romans 8:3 that “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” It does not speak of the forgiveness of sin. Sins are forgiven―the sinner is pardoned; but sin is condemned―an immensely important distinction for every earnest soul. The reign of sin is ended forever, as to the believer; and the reign of grace is begun.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Christ washes away our sins by his blood, and reconciles our Heavenly Father to us by the sacrifice of his death; but, at the same time, in consequence of “our old man being crucified with him, and the body of sin destroyed,” Romans 6:6, He makes us “alive” unto righteousness. The sum of the Gospel is, that God, through his Son, takes away our sins, and admits us to fellowship with Him, that we, “denying ourselves ” and our own nature, may “live soberly, righteously, and godly.”
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; this is the sum of the gospel.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): I have heard of a certain man who always carried with him a little book. This tiny volume had only three leaves in it; and truth to tell, it contained not a single word. The first was a leaf of black paper, black as jet; the next was a leaf of red paper—scarlet; and the last was a leaf of white paper without spot. Day by day he would look upon this singular book, and at last he told the secret of what it meant. He said, “Here is the black leaf, that is my sin, and the wrath of God which my sin deserves; I look, and look, and think it is not black enough to represent my guilt, though it is as black as black can be. The red leaf reminds me of the atoning sacrifice, and the precious blood; and I delight to look at it, and weep, and look again. The white leaf represents my soul, as it is washed in Jesus’ blood and made white as snow.”
