Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?”
Here is a question that pains the hearts of born-again Children of God; yet it moves them to joyfully reflect upon the grace and mercy of our Lord Who came into this world to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The message is that no one can truthfully say “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin”! For, “there is no man that sinneth not” (I Kings 8:46) and “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20) and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Furthermore, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (I John 1:8). If we, or some other person, could make our “heart clean” and make ourselves “pure from … sin”, why would we need a Savior? If some statement or act or sacrifice on our part could free us of our sin-debt, why did our Lord have to endure “such contradiction of sinners against himself” (Hebrews 12:3)? The truth is we “know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Romans 7:18). This is why, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)! This is why we lovingly and adoringly worship and serve our Lord “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” (II Timothy 1:9)![St. Andrew Primitive Baptist Church website is being restored after technical problems shut it down.