Who can say, “I have made my heart pure;
I am clean from my sin”?
Proverbs 20:9
This is a deeply troubling and profound rhetorical question. It is not within the power of sinners to save themselves. We cannot purify our own hearts, no matter how diligent our good deeds or how noble our intentions. In the end, the best we do is still overshadowed by the worst that we are. Our sin natures still taint our self-righteous actions. It’s a losing effort because sin is entrenched in us from birth. Only God can declare sinners righteous because only He is 100% pure and holy.
The only hope of the aspirations of Proverbs 20:9 is found in the work of Christ as detailed in Romans 5:19 — “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Even then, those who trust Jesus cannot claim to have cleaned up their own act. Jesus’ righteousness is given to them to cancel out the debt of sin and free them from its bondage. Thank God that He loves us enough to to provide the way for our forgiveness. We are only holy because Jesus Christ is holy.
There is a fountain
filled with blood
drawn from Immanuel’s veins
and sinners plunged
beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains!
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