Have you ever been trying to prove that something was or was not accurate or factual, but during that process you realized that you were completely wrong?
Have you ever received a bill for something, maybe you received a bill for some automotive work or home repair and when you looked at the receipt that you received you thought to yourself, This isn’t correct, so you start to add up the numbers yourself. But once all of the numbers had been calculated you realized that the original calculation had been correct, and you had been wrong, and that it was you yourself that proved your own error.
This same example has great similarities to our faith. A person may say that they have never sinned, that they are perfect and blameless, but if they would just take a moment to examine themselves, what they will find will surprise them. Through the study of God’s Word and a deep reflection on one’s life, anyone and everyone who does this will soon recognize the truth of the words of Job.
Job 9:20 “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.”
When a lawyer begins to question the opposing party’s witness in a courtroom, one of the things that they will try to do is to attempt to get that witness to contradict themselves, and therefore render their witness invalid.
There are so many people who want to believe that they are perfect and that they have nothing to repent of. They continuously walk in this state of mind, unwilling to accept the truth that they are sinners just like everyone else. The simplest example of this type of a person has to be the Pharisee from Luke 18.
Luke 18:10-12 “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, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”
In his prayer to God, what this Pharisee was basically saying was, I am not a sinner. He was so confident of this in himself that he even felt that he needed to tell God this. “I’m good, I’m great, I’m wonderful, you’re a sinner and I’m not.” This was the feeling inside of this Pharisee. In fact, those Pharisees who brought the adulterous woman before Christ seemed to have this sort of mindset as well, until Jesus got them to really look at themselves to recognize that they too were sinners just the same.
No one is better than another, and no one is exempt from the stain of sin. How do we know this? Because of the sin that started in the Garden of Eden, death started as well. Remember, Adam and Eve had been created to be eternal creatures, and it was only after the first sin that they began to die. And since that time, how many people have been able to escape the curse of death? 0.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
“All” means the entire amount of something. Everyone. Everyone has sinned at least once, and that one sin moves you under the classification of “sinner”. It doesn’t matter who you are, your skin color, ethnicity, gender, age–you are a sinner. There is no escape from it, so don’t even try to claim that you are not one. You will only contradict yourself.
Romans 3:9-12 “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.”
We’re all sinners, plain and simple. What we need is to admit this and turn to Christ for His forgiveness.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 