Glen Bond

Sept. 16, 2007
Picayune MS


Isaiah 40:29   He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Luke 5:32   I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Mat. 9:12   But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

Matthew Henry  says: The publicans are sick and they need one to help and heal them which the Pharisees THINK they do not need.


This is the whole point of Holy Spirit conviction shown here. We see that the Lord will help those who need help. But not only those who need help, but those who admit to that need. When it says "he giveth power to the faint" he is talking about those fainting ones who admit to Him that they need his help. This is not said to those who, though they are fainting, are going on in their own strength and saying in their heart “I can make it”.

When He says "Luke 5:32   I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 

The Lord is not saying that the Pharisees ARE righteous, but he is saying that he is calling those who see their need of salvation. He is calling those who see their sinful condition before God. If you don't see your sinful condition before God, then YOU are one of the self righteous Pharisees who the Lord is not calling to repent.

Proverbs 23:7   For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

When a person thinks that he is good, or when a person does not see himself a sinner, the person is thinking in his heart “I am not a sinner”, and these same thoughts are what the Lord is looking at when he says “Luke 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

When the Lord first began to deal with me, I thought that I was not sinful enough to be saved. I “thought in my heart”, that I was good. I was as self righteous as a Pharisee. By my own thoughts, I excluded myself from salvation.

This is what every lost sinner does. We don't see ourselves as sinners, we are blinded by Satan.