Riff's Christian Journal

After reading the title you might say, “Did not Jesus come to seek and save they who are lost?” Why, then, do you say that He came to reveal the sin in us?

Good Question and here is the short answer. If we do not know that we are lost there would be no reason for us wanting to be saved. Think of this. Go and read again the Sermon on the Mount, and ask yourself if you have kept all those sayings that Jesus gave us. I am sure you would say, “No.” Why? Because we all have a sin nature and we want to do only according to our nature. We want to do things “our” way.

You see, none of us can say that we are without sin. In fact that is just what Jesus came to teach us. In His teachings and in the activities and miracles that He did He would mention sin.

In the story about the man who was lying on a mat by the pool of Bethesda Jesus healed him and later when He encountered the man again, we read this:

John_5:14  (KJV)  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

What about the woman caught in the very act of adultery, “the very act” they said? All these righteousmen said that in their law a person doing this was to be stoned. What was Jesus going to do about this? Well, let us see what Jesus said and what was their response:

John 8:7  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

John 8:9  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last:

You see, these perfect, these righteous men saw in themselves their own sin and realized that they, too, were sinful people.

However, Jesus did not stop there. He now turned to the women and said this:

John 8:10  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 

John 8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Even to the woman whom He just kept from being stoned He revealed to her the sin that was in her life.These are just a few examples of Jesus revealing sin us.

Here are a few more verses that Jesus said about sin:

John_8:34  (KJV)  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sinis the servant of sin.

John_9:41  (KJV)  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

John_15:22  (KJV)  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

Jesus knew that man thought of himself to be a good person, a righteous person, one who will go to Heaven because of their basic (sometimes) obedience to God. Just as I thought of myself – when I die God will weigh all of my good deeds against all of my bad deeds, the good will outweigh the bad, and for that reason God will welcome me into heaven. I sure am glad I found out how wrong I was, when Jesus revealed my own sin to me.

Did you, or do you now, believe the same thing? Remember what the Apostle John said:

I John_1:8  (KJV)  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

The problem is that we “all” have sin in us, and unless we see our sinfulness in all of its ugliness and filth, and how we need to be saved from facing the wrath of God because of our sinfulness, we will never want to be saved. We are a sinful people and for that reason, we need to be saved from our own sinfulness, and its consequences.

Yes, Jesus came to seek and save the lost, but until man sees that he is lost he will never see the need to be saved. We need to see our sinfulness and confess it so. Only then, once our sin is revealed to us and we see it for what it is will we cry out to be saved.

For woe is us that we are such a sinful people. We need to have our sin taken away in order to be saved, and only Jesus can do that. As John the Baptist said:

John_1:29  (KJV)  The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Has your sinfulness been revealed to you? Do you now see that you are lost and need to be saved? Jesus has sought you, He has revealed your sinfulness to you and He has done so in order to save you; because He loves you.

Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.