While We Were Yet Sinners

July 8

I Chronicles 18-19

Psalm 78:56-64

Proverbs 17:14-15

Romans 5

While We Were Yet Sinners

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:8 LSB

This verse is the best verse to share with someone who has the idea that we have to clean ourselves up before we can come to God.  Unfortunately, many in the church have somehow given people the idea that you have to wear certain clothes to be accepted in church, or that if you had a drink on Saturday night then you shouldn’t come to church on Sunday.  They have made a list of “unspoken” rules about what you have to do to make yourself ready to come to God.  This verse clearly explains that is not how it works.  We are all sinners.  We are filthy, wretched people and we are unable to clean ourselves up.  We can’t fool God.  He knows everything about us.  He sees our thoughts and knows the intentions of our hearts.  He sees all our selfish motives and He understands our weaknesses better than we do.  A couple of days ago we read in Psalm 78 that, “God remembered that they were but flesh.”  Thankfully, God doesn’t love us because we deserve His love or because we are “good.”  He loves us because He is love.  His love is not based on our actions or character.  It is based on who He is.  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Knowing everything about us, the good, the bad and the ugly, He chose to leave heaven, come to earth and live life as one of us.  He willingly gave His life to take the punishment for our sins.  We couldn’t earn it.  We don’t deserve what He did for us.  We are without excuse and without hope.  We bring nothing to the table.  We don’t have any cards to negotiate with.  All we can do is humbly accept His free gift of salvation. 

One of Satan’s most effective tactics has always been to convince people that they have to earn their way to God.  He wants us to believe that we have to make ourselves righteous in order to come to God.  He knows we are weak and sinful and there is no way that we can clean ourselves up enough.  The result of this works-based salvation is always that we either don’t bother trying because it is too hard, we give up when we realize we can’t do it or we are so distracted trying to do “good” things that we miss out on the truth of what God has for us.  It can also be a pride issue.  In our Western culture, we want to earn our way.  There is pride in pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and working our way to the top.  We don’t want charity.  That may be honorable in business but in God’s economy it is a pathway to hell.  We have to come to the place where we recognize our condition as a sinful, helpless human with no hope.  When we accurately see who we are, we realize our need for a Savior and we are able to believe in Him and accept His gracious free gift to us.  There is no other way to come to God.  “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:12 LSB