COV LIFE BLOG

Mark 2:13-17 – The Mercy of Jesus Towards Sinners

The more closely we look, the more clear this fact becomes, for, brethren, the work of salvation was certainly not performed for any of us who are saved on account of any goodness in us. If there is any goodness in us, it was put there by the grace of God and it certainly was not there when first the heart of Jehovah’s love began to move towards us. If you take the first sign of salvation that was actually visible on earth, namely, the coming of Christ, we are told concerning it that, “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” So that our redemption, my brethren, was effected before we were born. This was the fruit of the Father’s great love, “wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins.”
 
Now, it is evident that it is our wisdom to accept the situation. I know that to many this is a very unpalatable doctrine. Well, friend, you had better have your palate altered, for you will never be able to alter the doctrine. The very best thing you can do, since the gospel looks towards sinners, is to get where the gospel looks and I can recommend this to you, not merely on the ground of policy, but on the ground of honesty, because you will be only in your right place when you get there. I think I hear you raising objections. “I do not admire this system. Am I to be saved in the same way as the dying thief?” Precisely so, sir, unless there should happen to be even more grace shown towards you than to him. “But you do not mean to assert that in the matter of salvation I am to be put on a level with the woman that was a sinner? I have been pure and chaste and am I to owe my salvation just as much to the absolute mercy of God as she did?” Yes, sir, I do say that, exactly as it stands. There is but one principle upon which the Lord saves men and it is that of pure grace.
 
This truth, when it enters the heart, deals a deadly blow at the man’s self-conceit. Many a man would have become wise only he thought he was so already. And many a man would have been virtuous, only he concluded that he had already attained thereto. Behold, this doctrine smites upon the skull all confidence in your own goodness and makes you feel your guilt, and in so doing, it removes the great evil of pride. A sense of sin is the very threshold of mercy.
 
And dear brethren, I think you will all see that free forgiveness to sinners is very conducive towards one part of a true character, namely, readiness to forgive others, for he who has been forgiven much himself is the very man who finds it easy to pass by the transgressions of others. If he does not so, he may well doubt whether he has been himself forgiven, but if the Lord has blotted out his debt of a thousand talents, he will readily enough forgive the hundred pence which his brother owes him.

Charles Spurgeon

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SCRIPTURES FOR THIS SUNDAY
Read Mark 2:13-17. Consider the great grace of Jesus to save sinners. Do you remember often how undeserving you were of his grace? And how do you respond to such great grace freely offered to you?

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
Come Ye Sinners by Vertical Worship