2. "I do not feel fit for God; I am so unworthy, I fear He will not take me in.”
What a wretched condition would be yours if you imagined you were fit, in yourself, for heaven, or that you were worthy of such love as God has shown! It is because of your lack of fitness that Christ died to redeem you. It is because you are worthy only of eternal judgment that He “who knew no sin" was made sin for you, that you might become the righteousness of God in Him. If you had any fitness of your own, you would not need a Saviour.
When the Roman centurion sought the healing power of Jesus for his servant, he sent the Jewish elders to the Lord to intercede for him. They said, "He is worthy that thou shouldest do this for him; for he loveth our nation, and himself built us a synagogue." But when the centurion faced the Lord, he exclaimed, "I am not 'worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.”
They said, "He is worthy"; he declared, "I am not worthy," and this moved the heart of Jesus, so that He exclaimed, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
So long as a man considers himself worthy there is no salvation for him; but when, in repentance, he owns his unworthiness, there is immediate deliverance for him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without repentance the sinner is unable to believe unto salvation.
“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth,
Is to feel your need of Him.”
