how befilthying a thing it is

"Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood!" Revelation 1:5

“We are all loathsome to God, before we are washed pure in the blood of Christ!

By nature, we are all in a filthy and cursed condition. We are a lump of clay and sin mingled together. Sin not only blinds us—but defiles us. It is called filthiness (James 1:21). And to show how befilthying a thing it is, it is compared . . .
to a plague of the heart (1 Kings 8:38),
to corruption (Deuteronomy 32:5),
to vomit (2 Peter 2:22),
to a menstrual cloth (Isaiah 30:22).

If all the evils in the world were put together and their quintessence strained out—they could not make a thing so black and polluted as sin is! A sinner is a devil in a man's shape! When Moses' rod was turned into a serpent—he fled from it. If God would open men's eyes and show them their deformities and damnable spots —they would fly from themselves, as from serpents!

When grace comes—it washes off this hellish filth! It turns ravens into swans. It makes those who are as black as hell—to become as white as snow!

"Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own." Christ shed His blood—to wash off our filth. The cross was both an altar and a laver. Jesus died not only to save us from wrath (1 Thes. 1:10)—but to save us from sin! (Matthew 1:21). Out of his side came water which signifies our cleansing—as well as blood which signifies our justifying (1 John 5:6).” - Thomas Watson “The Beatitudes” from Grace Gems.

strewing flowers on a dead corpse

"External morality is not heart-purity. A person may be clothed with great moral virtues, such as justice, charity, prudence, and temperance—and yet go to hell.

We must not rest in mere outward morality. A swine may be washed—yet be a swine still. Morality does but wash a man—grace changes him. Morality may shine in the eyes of the world—but it differs as much from purity, as a pebble differs from a diamond!

Morality is but strewing flowers on a dead corpse!

A man who is but highly moral—is but a tame devil.

How many have made 'morality' their Savior! Morality will damn—as well as vice! A boat may be sunk with gold—as well as with dung.

The moral person, though he will not commit gross sins—yet he is not sensible of heart sins. He is not troubled for unbelief, hardness of heart, vanity of thoughts. He abhors gross-sins, not gospel-sins.

The snake has a fine appearance—but has a deadly sting! Just so, the moral man is fair to look on—but has a secret antipathy against the holy ways of God.

Morality is not to be rested in. The heart must be pure. God would have Aaron wash the inner parts of the sacrifice (Leviticus 9:14). Morality does but wash the outside; the inside must be washed."

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8

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Thomas Watson “The Beatitudes” from Grace Gems.

“’There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.’ —By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.—The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.” - Jonathon Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741,

“We do well to consider that in the most moral culture this world will ever know, man will love sin. Unless you think that’s shocking, go back to the perfect environment in the Garden of Eden. And remember, there were only two people and they both chose sin. And they did it from innocence, what will humanity do from depravity? It doesn’t matter what age, doesn’t matter what kind of world they live in; depraved people love sin.” – John F. MacArthur Jr. "The Coming Earthly Kingdom of Jesus Christ" GTY 9/6

“The very thing that sinners are hoping will save them on the Day of Judgment, the goodness of God, will be the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must, by nature, punish murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, blasphemers. God is going to punish sin wherever it is found." - Ray Comfort, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret”

“God has given light to every man. The Holy Spirit convicts him of sin, righteousness, and judgment; sin which is transgression of the Law, holiness which is of the Law, and judgment which is by the Law. His conscience accuses him, the work of the Law written on the heart, and the Law condemns him.“ - Ray Comfort, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret”

“I ask them, ‘How do [professing Christians] know that they’re saved?’ Well because they believe! How do you know that you believe? ‘Well I know in my heart of hearts that I am saved.’ The bible says that the heart is deceitfully wicked, Do you really want to trust a heart that can be wicked? Examine yourself. Take the Word of God, and what the Word of God says about a true Christian, and if you fall short of the test, repent. One of the greatest evidences that a person is truly a child of God is that they will be sensitive to the sin in their life. And they will be led to repentance and confession of that sin. If you don’t have a new relationship with sin, you don’t have a new relationship with God.” - Paul Washer

“We, on the other hand—poor blind creatures, here today and gone tomorrow, born in sin, surrounded by sinners, living in a constant atmosphere of weakness, infirmity and imperfection—can form none but the most inadequate conceptions of the hideousness of evil. We have no line to fathom it and no measure by which to gauge it. The blind man can see no difference between a masterpiece of Titian or Raphael and the queen’s head on a village signboard. The deaf man cannot distinguish between a penny whistle and a cathedral organ. The very animals whose smell is most offensive to us have no idea that they are offensive and are not offensive to one another. Fallen men and women, I believe, can have no just idea what a vile thing sin is in the sight of that God whose handiwork is absolutely perfect—perfect whether we look through telescope or microscope;” - J.C. Ryle

(Holiness: It's Nature, Hinderance, Difficulties, & Roots by J.C. Ryle p. 7)

“Every six year old in this church should be able to answer the question, ‘How could God punish sin in Jesus if Jesus had no sin?’ And if our six-year-olds cannot answer that question, we need to beef-up our devotional life at home.” – John Piper

(2/8/07 dg netcast – heard on 4/11/07)

“There’s a real sense, for thousands of years, up until Christ, there was a moral scandal in the universe. Divine righteousness seemed to be sleeping. Some might [have] asked if it even existed. Where is the God of justice, [because] men sin and they live.” – Dr. John F. MacArthur Jr.

(Speaking about the death of Christ as necessary for salvation/justification & without it, any forgiveness would have been evil. (4/6/7 radio; heard on 4/11/07)

“The damned think they’re good; the saved know they’re wicked.” – John F. MacArthur Jr.

(“Who Can be Right With God? Part 2” GTY TV 3/25/07)