OUTLINE:

Through Christ, worthless evil vessels like ourselves have been brought into the fold. Not only did Christ bring us into the fold, but we were made brand new, and made into something with eternal value.
Eph 2:3, Gal 6:15

"Vessels Of Mercy"
This means that our very lives are fully and totally about God's mercy towards us... and there is nothing good in ourselves that gives us a status or position with Him.

What's Our Motivation?
Love is the great motivation.
2 Co 5:14 NIV
For Christ's love compels us,

1 Th 2:4
but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts

Pr 16:2, Pr 17:3
All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,
But the Lord weighs the motives…
The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
But the Lord tests hearts.

We, as believers, as those who have turned to Christ in humble, repentant faith, must never confuse goodness in our lives as belonging to ourselves.
We are solely vessels of mercy.

The biblical fact is that we are NOTHING MORE than vessels of mercy... not even .01% more. We are nothing more than a product of His grace alone, and anything good about us is from Him.

Self-Righteousness
Why do we try to steal some of the Lord's glory???
If not in our actions, in our hearts?!!

A Question To Ponder
WHY is anyone self-righteous, even as a believer in the Lord?

Our obedience, if it's godly, has nothing to do with SELF. It has to do with gratitude FOR THE LORD. In fact, it's getting SELF out of the way and listening to the Spirit and the Word.
It's living in the new creature, not working on the old.

Man's flesh, which includes his relative goodness, is worthless in God's eyes.

Pr 30:1-9
Do we actively pray for protection from ourselves, aware of the constant temptation to rely on the flesh, if not today, tomorrow?!

Pr 26:12
Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Man must humble himself before God, admitting his foolishness compared to God, before he can see the light of the truth and be truly wise.
1Co 3:18, 8:2

We are NOTHING MORE than "vessels of mercy", and when we forget that, we are in for a rough ride in life!
Pr 11:2,16:17,18:12, Is 2:11-12, Mt 23:12, Ro 9

Is 2:11-12
The proud look of man will be abased
And the loftiness of man will be humbled,
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be abased.

A Curse Of Our Sinful Flesh
We often conveniently forget where we came from so we can try to take some credit with God.

Where Did We Come From?!
- All men are born in sin. Ro 5:12
- There is no soundness in us! Is 1:6
- Man's heart without Christ is desperately sick and deceitful (who can understand it?!) Jer 17:9

Understanding our total depravity opens our eyes to appreciate and love God more and more for having mercy on us!

We will be set free because, even though we are in horror as we realize our total depravity, we are in awe of God's mercy towards us all the more.

You Saved A Wretch Like ME?!
ALL the glory and honor has to go to our God and Savior!
There is NO ROOM for self- righteousness!
Ro 7:21-25, Rev 3:17, 2Pe 3:18

2 Pe 3:18
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Many a man is tricked into believing his own goodness is good enough, when without God it's just excrement covered by a layer of powdered sugar.
Php 3:8, Is 64:6

Php 3:7-8 KJV
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Is 64:6 ASV
For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Each of us, in our own souls, need to reckon that there is NOTHING good about ourselves without Christ.

"What Is A Good Name?“ - Blog
"God is good. Man, on his own, is not and must be stripped of the latter notion and given wisdom to know the prior. Such is sanctification in Christ’s good name."

Only the Lord can make something totally useless useful.