The sin which our Lord here denounces, is "self-righteousness." We are all naturally self-righteous. It is the family disease of all the children of Adam. From the highest to the lowest, we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We secretly flatter ourselves that we are not as bad as some, and that we have something to merit the favor of God.
We forget the plain testimony of Scripture: "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." "What is man, that he could be pure; or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?" "There is no one righteous, not even one!"
[J. C. Ryle]
✞✞✞
Leviticus 13:45 … And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
Romans 3:10 … As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Luke 5:32 … I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Romans 5:6 … For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.❤
