Some people speak of the
worship offered to God by “poor sinners.” Many hymns never bring the soul
beyond this condition. But what is meant by “sinner” in the Word of God is a
soul altogether without peace, a soul that feels its want of Christ, without
the knowledge of redemption. It is not truthfulness to deny what saints are in
the sight of God. If I have failed in anything, will taking the ground of a
poor sinner make the sin to be less, or give me to feel it more? No! If I am a
saint, blessed with God in His beloved Son, made one with Christ, and the Holy
Spirit given to dwell in me, then I ought to feel and say, “How terrible that I
have failed, and dishonored the Lord, and been indifferent to His glory!” If I
feel my own coldness and indifference, it is to be hated as sin. On the other
hand, to take the ground of a “poor sinner” is really to make excuses for evil.
Which of the two ways would act most powerfully upon the conscience? Which
humbles man and exalts God most? Clearly the more that we realize what God has
made us in Christ, the more we will feel the dishonor of our course if walking
inconsistently. But if we keep speaking about ourselves merely as a sinner, it
may seem lowly to the superficial, but it becomes a kind of palliative of our
evil, and never causes the thorough humbling that God looks for in the child of
faith.

    (From Lectures on the
Epistle to the Galatians.)