Man's Heart is Deceitful
The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it? Jeremiah 17:9.
Sin
is a personal matter. It is in the heart of man. "For from within, out
of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all the evil things come from
within." Mark 7:21-23. Sin is in every fiber of our being by nature. We
are born in it, and our life is sin, so that sin cannot be taken from us
without taking our life.
What
I need is freedom from my own personal sin—that sin which not only has been
committed by me personally, but which dwells in the heart, the sin which
constitutes all of my life. Shall I cast it on the Lord? Yes, that is right;
but how? Can I gather it up in my hands and cast it from me, so that it will
light upon Him?
If I
could separate it but a hair's breadth from me, then I should be safe, no
matter what became of it, since it would not be found in me. In that case I
could dispense with Christ. For if sin were not found on me, it would make
no matter to me where it was found. It would then be away from me, and I
would be cleared. But nothing that I can do can save me. Therefore all my
efforts to separate myself from my sins are unavailing. My sin is committed
by myself, in myself, and I cannot separate it from me.
All
any man in the world has to do in order to be saved is to believe the truth;
that is, to recognize and acknowledge facts, to see things just as they
actually are, and to confess them. Whoever believes that Christ is crucified
in him, risen in him, and dwells in him, is saved from sin. And he will be
saved as long as he holds to his belief. This is the only true confession of
faith.
The
Glad Tidings, pp. 44, 45 |
