Honesty
One thing I've always appreciated about Jesus is His honesty. He is sinless, so He never lied. But more than that, He never told a half-truth. What He said, He meant. He was sneaky or devious with His words. And, since the Scriptures are the Word of God, we see the same things in the Scriptures. They are brutally honest: about the state of human beings, the reality of life on earth, etc.
The last two weeks in the sermon, we have spent time in Romans chapter 7. And, again, I was confronted with the brutal honesty of the Scriptures. Here is Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, and he gives an autobiography of his inner life....and it is not pleasant. "I know that nothing good dwells in me." "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing." The Scriptures give an honest picture about everybody.
The Apostle Peter denied Jesus three times during the most difficult period of Jesus' earthly life. The great King David committed adultery and planned a murder. The Apostle Paul gave approval to murder. These men of God were sinners before they came to believe in the Messiah Jesus, and they were sinners until their death.
If we are honest about ourselves, we will agree with the Scriptures that we were, are, and will be sinners. Of course, covered in the purifying blood of Jesus by grace through faith, we are presented to God as people who are righteous through that blood of Jesus. Apart from Jesus, we are sinners. In Jesus, we are at the same time righteous. And that is the honest truth!
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Dan at July 16th, 2011 9:52am
Nice blog post Pastor. If only we were as honest as Jesus in all we do. Thank God for His son, and the sacrifice of His blood to wash us clean of sin!