"They have the form of godliness but deny the power thereof" (2 Tim. 3:5). Because men call themselves Christians and yet do not act as Christians, Christ is denied, mocked, despised, insulted, beaten, crucified, cut off, and killed as the Epistle to Hebrews 6:6 states that some men crucify and mock the Son of God again. The holy prophet Daniel foresaw that-in the last days Christ would be cut off (Dan. 9:26). This prophecy was fulfilled at the crucifixion in Jerusalem when the Jews cried: Crucify him, crucify him. Indeed, Christ is daily crucified and cut off with the result that one is hardly able to see him, that is, his holy noble life any longer. Where Christ’s life is not, Christ is not, even if one speaks many words concerning faith and doctrine. What is Christian faith without a Christian life? A tree without fruits, as the Apostle Jude calls the false apostle (Jude 12). One finds the whole world filled with these now. Therefore the Lord says in Luke 18:8: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Johann Arndt

The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 9:12–13: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” In this the Lord tells us that he calls the sinner but [he calls him] to repentance. It follows, therefore, that no one can come to the Lord without true repentance and conversion from sins and without true faith. Repentance is nothing other than to die through true regret and sorrow for sins and to receive forgiveness of sins through faith, and to live righteously in Christ. True, divine regret must precede repentance. By it, the heart is broken and the flesh is crucified. The Epistle to the Hebrews (6:1) calls this repentance of dead works, that is, the leaving of works that bring about death. If these are not left, Christ with all his merits is of no use to a man. Christ our Lord placed himself before us as a physician and his holy blood as the precious, sanctifying medicine for sins.

Johann Arndt

‘For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.’ Psalm 72:12

We begin life in a needy state. We are full of needs in our infancy and cannot help ourselves. We continue throughout life in a needy state. The very breath in our nostrils has to be the gift of God’s goodness; ‘in him we live, and move, and have our being’. As we grow old our needs become even more apparent.

C. H. Spurgeon