Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Monday, June 29, 2009 6:34:58 PM
‘The most strident accusations of hypocrisy come not from those saddened that Sanford fell short of the traditional values to which he subscribes. They're from those who want to de-legitimize and marginalize those traditional values.’ –Star Parker
Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/06/29/is_this_the_end_for_mark_sanford
Who are the biggest hypocrites and the most self-righteous: those who deny sin and man’s accountability before the Law of God or those who believe in the Law as the standard of righteousness and yet transgress the Law?
The lost man doesn’t know that he is lost; he is completely blinded by his sin, thinking he is free while a slave to unrighteousness. He does what is right in his own eyes, judging others by his own standard of judgment; he is righteous in his own eyes.
But he does not understand that in his condemnation of another man’s transgression he has agreed that the Law is good. He condemns himself as a law breaker and is without excuse. Since sin is of the heart, how shall any escape its condemnation? How can a man change his heart?
The Christian does not claim sinlessness because he knows his own heart. He has a renewed heart, but it is not without sin. There is a struggle now against sin, where before he was a willing captive to its power. He knows that all his righteousness is as filthy rags and claims no righteousness of his own, except that imputed to him through faith in Christ.
We see again the deceitfulness of sin in the believer and in those who accuse him. All men know that God exists by the living things He has made and through the world He has made to sustain their life. The biggest hypocrites are the ones who suppress this knowledge and deny that they will give account to God for their own sin.
Not only does moral guilt exist for transgressions of the Law that carries with it a death penalty described in Revelation 20 as the second death, but a real redemption that removes guilt is accomplished in Christ and its application continues to bring life over which the second death has no power…
‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works’ [Titus 2].