And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” - Mark 1:40-41
If we were ill with a terminal disease, is there anything we wouldn’t do to be cured? This question assumes that we are ill and that we are aware of our illness. But what of those who are both sick and dying but do not know it? This, of course, brings us to the truth that we must recognize our great need for restoration to begin with. Our blindness as sinners often keeps us from admitting both our sins and our need for the cure.
There are many who know they are sinners and simply don’t care. They don’t have the least concern about offending God. They see no great requirement of repentance or contrition because they don’t see that they have done anything wrong. There are the very people who claim that they are basically good people. They are wrong. “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
Of course, there will always be a dying soul who asks about all the fine things he or she has done in their lives. “Do they count for nothing?” They ask. Again, the Scriptures are clear - “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” - Isaiah 64:6. The KJV refers to our ‘righteous deeds’ as ‘filthy rags.’ So we clearly have not recognized our need for forgiveness. As long as we go about our lives believing God grades us all on a curve after we die, He will not forgive or redeem us from an eternity in hell. But there are many who complain and say “That’s not fair!” Unfortunately, we have all become like the culture we live in. We no longer believe in the equality of opportunity. We demand equality of outcome. Hint: God makes the rules, not us, and complain as we might, until we recognize our need for forgiveness, we are all headed for hell. We must know our salvation is not accessible by anything we can possibly do. We must rely on God’s grace to find our redemption. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9.
We must put away our human pride and recognize that our greatest need cannot be emphasized enough. We first have to come to conclude that we are sinners. On our own, we will never come to that understanding. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. With His illumination of our thoughts, words, and deeds, He convicts us of our sins. If His conviction of our sins does not lead us to regeneration and faith, we are left in a world without truth, without promise, without hope! “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” - 1 Corinthians 2:14.
What all of us must do if we don’t want to end up in hell is listen to and heed the words of Jesus Christ. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” - Matthew 7:21-23.
No valiant human virtue will accomplish for us what only God can do. Neither all the charitable works, nor all the generosity, nor all the mercy we show to others will do what only God can do. Only He can save us in eternity.
Each of us is running out of time. Acknowledging our sinful natures and being regenerated by the Holy Spirit is our only hope of being washed clean in the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This is our most pressing need!
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