Till we are reconciled to God, and, born again through His Spirit, have become new creatures in Christ Jesus, we are His enemies.
Our works do not spring from love for Him, and therefore cannot have any value in His eyes. And how imperfect are even the best works of the saints! There is foulness enough in the purest heart, and in respect of their motives, manner, and object, sin enough in our best actions—those whereby we do most good, and earn most commendation, to condemn us.
To speak of us not in our worst, but in our best state, not of the sins we commit, but of the services we render, our wine has its water, our silver has its dross.
And so, abandoning every hope of acceptance with a holy God through our own merit, let us cling to Christ, as a drowning man to the plank that, embraced in his arms, floats him to shore; the language of our faith an echo of His who breathed out His life with these words on His lips, “None but Christ I none but Christ.”—GUTHRIE.
