Scripture

When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:17, CSB

Quote

Millions of hells of sinners cannot come close to exhausting infinite grace.

~Samuel Rutherford

Jesus had a marvelous sense of humor and he said many things tongue in cheek. In the text above, He is not saying that the Pharisees and Scribes are sinless and in no need of grace. He is speaking satirically and what He is saying is that they think they are whole and need no grace. In truth they were filled with lust, greed, and pride. These are not good sins. There are no good sins. These religious Jews thought they were good but they were black hearted sinners. No sin is more repulsive to God than pride, especially when they pride comes from out supposed goodness. Even Solomon knew that all men were sinners. He said,Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. [Ecclesiastes 7:20] Then there is Psalm 14:2-3, The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt.
No one does good, not a single one! Then there is I Kings 8:46, Who has never sinned? Then there is Proverbs 20:9, Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

Notice all these verses are found in the Old Testament, the Bible that the Jews new by heart. How could they read these scripture and not see their depravity? I suppose they were blinded by their own pride and self-righteousness. Jesus saw their sin and so did everyone else. He is making fun of them to their face and they don’t get it.

A wealthy woman came forward during the invitation. Her intention was to join a prestigious city church. She believed it would help her image and her business. She took the pastor by the hand and said, “I want to join this church.” He said, “That’s good mam, but I have to ask you a question first, have you repented of your sin and given your life to the LORD Jesus?” She was offended, “What do you mean, ‘have I repented of my sins’, I am not a sinner.” He said, “In that case, you cannot join this church, please return to your seat.” She went back to her seat but she was angry; the very idea of this man rejecting her offer to become a member of the church. She stood through another verse and then more determined than ever, she went back to the pastor. “I demand that you allow me to join this church,” she said. “I am very sorry, said the pastor, “but until you repent of sin and trust them to Christ, you cannot join this church. You need to return to your seat.” She did but she was very angry. When she got back to her seat and rehearsed what the pastor had said, the Holy Spirit convicted her. She went forward for the third time but this time she was weeping in repentance of her sin, and yes, the pastor allowed her to become a member of the church. The Pharisees and Scribes were sinners: black, cold-hearted sinners, but they never repented, not did they trust Christ.

Extra

One of the changes in preparing the blog is that I have to duplicate and old blog or else reformat it all together. Matt, the new Tech supervisor showed me how, but I have to remember to erase all the old text and yesterday mornning I was in a hurry and I did not see the extra below the extra. The second extra was from an old blog. Sorry about that: I did not have two COLS yesterday. That was a couple of weeks ago.

David and I did make it to Decatur General for Shay’s surgery, which came out fine. While Bo, David and I were talking, the news on the TV mentioned the death of Jesse Jackson and of course they were making him out to be a hero of some sort, and I said out loud, “Jesse Jackson was a fraud.” He was motivated by greed, not love for black people. Well a woman overheard me and took issue with what I said. If you want to know what happened, talk to David. Bo is quiet man, I doubt he wants to discuss it. I thought David handled the situation very well. I am no Charlie Kirk, I was getting a little heated so David took the lead and I listened. I think she mellowed some before it was all over, but I don’t think she has a high opioion of me. She said prior to David taking the lead, “I bet you think women should not be allowed to vote.” I said, “You are right and they should be allowed to drive either.” I can’t figure out why she was upset with me.

Before all you women go off on me. I was speaking tongue in cheek, in a satrirical tone of voice, and she knew I was kidding. She did laugh, just a little. Her name was Jennifer and we prayed for her mother who was having surgery.

I hope you have a great day; thanks for reading the blog.