Measured By His Standard


THE rescue mission or homeless shelter is a tragic place. 

  • There you see men and women shabbily dressed, some drunk, some with scarred faces, and some unable to walk. 
  • The reason why they are so terrible looking is because of sin. 
  • They have gone deep down into sin, and it has left its marks upon them. 
  • Just as soon as you look at them you know they are sinners. 
There are other people who do not look like sinners, 

  • beautiful and gracious ladies, 
  • men who are kind and generous and who seem to be perfect gentlemen, 
  • and do not appear to be sinners like these others; 
  • but that is looking at them from the outside only. 
We cannot see their hearts. 

  • Only God can see hearts, 
  • and He has told us in His Word secrets about people 
  • that we would never guess from looking at the outside.
We speak of little sins and big sins. 
  • Some people even talk about “little white lies.” 
  • That is because they do not realize the holiness of God.

What is holiness? 
  • It is perfection—absolute freedom from sin or wrong of any kind.
  • God is perfect. 
  • He is holy. 
Let us find Psalm 145:17 in our Bibles and see what God says about Himself. 
  • The Lord is righteous in all his ways and gracious in all his works.
He says He is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. 
  • He has never done anything or thought anything that could be even the least little bit wrong. 
Here is another verse in Habakkuk 1:13.
  • Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing...
It says that God cannot look on sin.
  • He is so pure that when He sees sin, He turns away from it. 
  • When we think of a holiness like that, all our own goodness begins to look like dirty rags.
  • For God, everything that is not absolutely perfect, is sin. 
Here are some verses that tell us what sin is before God:

Matthew 5:8 with Hebrews 12:14
  • Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.
  • Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
1 John 3:4
  • Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
1 John 5:17
  • All wrongdoing is sin...
Romans 14:23b
  • ... and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
James 2:10
  • For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Sin is breaking God’s law. 
  • God’s law is like a measure, 
  • and when the things we do are measured by it, 
  • we see how far from perfect they are. 
Just think of the commandment which is called the great commandment of the law. You will find it in Matthew 22:36-39. 
  • "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
  • Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
  • This is the first and greatest commandment.
  • And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
  • All the law and the Prophets hang on thes two commandments."
No one has ever kept it perfectly for one hour! 
  • So you see we have all broken the law, 
  • and so have all sinned, 
  • in fact, having broken the first and great commandment, we are “first and great" sinners.
You cannot see into my heart, to see whether or not I am a sinner, 
  • and I cannot see into yours, 
  • but God’s Word tells. 
  • I know you are a sinner, and you know I am. 
Here are the verses:

Romans 3:23
  • for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:9
  • What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage?  Not at all!  For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
Romans 3:12
  • All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Romans 3:19
  • Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth shall be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
Jeremiah 17:9-10
  • The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?
  • "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve."
God says we are all sinners. 
  • That is why Jesus died for us all.
Some people are better than others 
  • when judged by man’s standards, 
  • but before God all have sinned, 
  • and therefore all are under God’s condemnation.
Adapted Excerpt From
Teaching the Word of Truth
Donald Grey Barnhouse


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