Your ShelfYour Projects

Untitled article

33%

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, December 31, 1867

FromReview and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 3

Read the full edition

The Sinner's Case Fully Met.

SATAN has been saying to you, “You have broken God’s law, you have offended him, you have been a sinner.” “Soul, if thou hast any wit left, cut the Devil’s head off with his own sword; say to him, “I am a sinner, but it is written, ‘It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ What sayest thou to that, Satan? If I be a sinner, he came into the world to save sinners. If I had not been a sinner, Jesus would not have come to save me, for it is nowhere written that he came to save those who are not sinners. The more clearly I prove that I am a sinner, the more clearly I prove that I am an object for the Saviour’s mercy.”
Perhaps conscience whispers, “You are not a sinner of an ordinary kind; you have gone to the greatest lengths, and you have made your heart hard; you are a lost sinner.” “Ah!” say you, “I will catch at that, for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He did not come to seek those who did not want seeking; he did not come as the Great Shepherd, to find out the sheep that were in the fold, but those which had gone astray; and I, being a lost one, when I see the Shepherd going over the mountains after the lost ones, I will bleat like a lost sheep, for mayhap he has come to look after me.” But conscience says to you again, “You are such an undeserving one; you are not only a lost sinner, but you are utterly unworthy.” Sinner, catch at that, and say, “God is a God of mercy. If I deserved anything, there would be the less room for mercy; for something would be due to me as a matter of justice; but as I am a sheer mass of undeservingness, there is room for the Lord to reveal the aboundings of his grace.” When the God of mercy comes down to distribute mercies, he cannot give it to those who do not want it; but you need forgiveness, for you are full of sin, and you are just the person to receive it.