Considering the Passion of Our Lord

As I was sitting here at home thinking on the Message which I delivered last Sunday, “The Sunflower - Are there Limits on Forgiveness” - and began to considered my own ‘Alexander the coppersmith’ - Though never having have a word from him, when I recall the things said I consider the words of Christ as recorded in Matthew 6:15, “if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Still knowing that “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who [can] really know how bad it is? (Jeremiah 17:9); I remember the Psalmist words that “There is no one who does good. God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, Who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. [And I can add to that, not even preachers], (Psalm 53: 2-3)

Then Paul, (the other one, the Apostle), writes in his letter to Timothy, “. . . though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.(1 Timothy 1:13-15). If Paul said he was the chief of sinners, then how dare we, with so much less grace and salvation, lay claim to anything higher? No matter how much grace one has received from the Lord he can never get beyond the place where he is reckoned a sinner. “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)

So I can truly say with the Apostle Paul, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”