Works Don't Work (Proverbs 20:9)

There is only one way to wash the human heart, and that is with the blood of Jesus.

"Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" Proverbs 20:9, Amplified

No one can utter these words and be truthful. This statement here deals with works and makes the sacrifice of Jesus of no consequence. There are many religions out there that place the sinner on the road to redemption, but sadly he or she will never get to heaven for there is nothing good in and of themselves.

The Lord told Jeremiah, "The heart os deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV) These are the Lord's words, not man's. Job even understood this concept. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!" (Job 14:4, NKJV) It is in the nature of man to be sinful. Ever since Adam and Eve transgressed, man has been born into sin. How then, can a sinner who knows nothing but sin cleanse himself from that very same sin? We are born into it, the Word tells us so. "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5, NKJV)

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (First John 1:8, NKJV) Deception is that name of the enemy's game. He longs to deceive us so that our focus is not going to be on the Lord. So if he can replace that focus with works, then why not. Works is an institution that man understands, he can see the progress he is making by the work that he does. But salvation is not about the works of man, it is about the work of Christ. One act to redeem all man kind. So where does the answer lie? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (First John 1:9, NKJV)