During His time on earth Jesus met many different kinds of people and talked with them. He did not have to talk to them very long before it was apparent that in a certain sense there were just two types of people: the righteous and the sinners. He needed not that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man (Johm 2:25).

The righteous thought they could be saved without Jesus and without a change of heart. They were not acceptable to Jesus. These people were not actually righteous. They only thought themselves to be righteous.

Even now Jesus looks into human hearts and sees that many people feel no need for a change of heart. He is sad because of them. Among these self?righteous people there are those who are respectable in the eyes of society and those who are not, those who lead outwardly decent lives and those who do not. They may live in fear and have a troubled conscience, but they are unwilling to admit that they have deserved eternal damnation, or that they need to be converted. To such people Jesus says: "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, 'We see'; your sin remains" (John 9:41).

Sinners on the other hand were people without hope when they thought of themselves. God's Law had struck their conscience. They were not able to defend themselves before God.

There are people like this also today. They have lived here in this world along side of the self?righteous. Some have been spared from falling into gross outward sins. Others have fallen into the very depths of sin and corruption. But they all differ from the self?righteous in this that they are sorry for their sins and feel the need for repentance. For them the Gospel has become the power of God unto salvation. The message that God has forgiven their sins for the sake of His Son's work of atonement is music to their ears.

Do you feel that you are such a person? Remember: Jesus has come to seek the lost. He has taken your sins as His own and suffered the punishment which you should have suffered. He is your vicarious sufferer. He has atoned for your sins. They have been forgiven in His name. His blood has freely flowed as a payment for them. Courageously grasp hold of this grace. Even though your sins appear as great as can be, remember: Jesus is greater than your sins. He has already conquered them. You receive forgiveness through grace as a free gift of God. Only trust in Jesus Christ and you will be saved.