Key Text: Luke 16:15
He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight."
Theme:
God is the great forgiver. There is no sin which he cannot remove. The is no wrong too great for his mercy to cover. There is one thing that can separate us from the mercy of God - our blindness to our need for forgiveness. Of all the sins of man, the one most loathsome to God is that self-righteousness and hypocrisy which keeps us from confessing our sins and falling on His mercy alone. It is never the sinfulness of man which constrains God’s forgiveness, but rather man’s unwillingness to admit he is a sinner.
Application:
Remember throughout this week that your standing before God has nothing to do with your worthiness and everything to do with God’s mercy. It is better to agonize over your sin than to gloat over you righteousness.
From Look at the Man, page 45, Copyright 1989, Tim Woodroof and Glen Gray, Lincoln Church of Christ, 820 N. 56th Street, Lincoln, NE 68504 , Used by permission.
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