When Jesus Christ called the publican to be His disciple and ate with the sinners, the Pharisees asked the Lord’s disciples, “How is it that he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners? ” The Lord Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The intention of the Lord’s words is to tell mankind the main objective of God coming to earth to do His work is to redeem mankind and save sinners. Those who believe they themselves are not sinful will not accept the Lord Jesus’ redemption. Just like the Pharisees, they believed that they could keep the law and that they were righteous men, so they didn’t accept the Lord Jesus’ work, and even accused Jesus Christ of eating with the sinners. The Lord Jesus is God incarnate and is a righteous and holy God. In order to redeem mankind, He personally came to earth, sent His mercy down to man, gave man great forbearance and patience and abundant grace, and even ate with the sinners. Only by bestowing upon mankind enough mercy, lovingkindness, and abundant grace could He redeem mankind from the influence of Satan.

Just as God’s words say, “The work Jesus did was in accordance with the needs of man in that age. His task was to redeem humanity, to forgive them their sins, and so His disposition was wholly one of humility, patience, love, piety, forbearance, mercy, and lovingkindness. He blessed humanity richly and brought them grace in abundance, and all the things that they could possibly enjoy, He gave them for their enjoyment: peace and happiness, His tolerance and love, His mercy and lovingkindness. … And so, before they could be redeemed, they had to enjoy the many kinds of grace that Jesus bestowed on them; only this was beneficial to them. This way, they could be forgiven of their sins through their enjoyment of grace, and could also have the chance to be redeemed through enjoying Jesus’ forbearance and patience. … If Jesus had been incarnated with the disposition of judgment, curse, and intolerance of man’s offenses, then man would never have had the chance to be redeemed, and would then have remained forever sinful. Had this been so, the six-thousand-year management plan would have come to a stop in the Age of Law, and the Age of Law would have been prolonged for six thousand years. Man’s sins would only have grown more numerous and more grievous, and the creation of humanity would have been for naught. Men would only have been able to serve Jehovah under the law, but their sins would have exceeded those of the first created humans. The more Jesus loved mankind, forgiving them their sins and bringing unto them enough mercy and lovingkindness, the more mankind gained the capacity to be saved, to be called the lost lambs that Jesus bought back at a great price. Satan could not meddle in this work, because Jesus treated His followers as a loving mother treats the infant in her bosom. He did not grow angry at them or despise them, but was full of consolation; He never flew into a rage in their midst, but forbore with their sins and turned a blind eye to their foolishness and ignorance, to the point of saying, ‘Forgive others seventy times seven times.’ So His heart transformed the hearts of others. It was in this way that the people received forgiveness of sins through His forbearance.”

Through God’s words, we can know the principles and meaning of God’s work in the Age of Grace. Since we are corrupted by Satan and we are sinners, without God’s salvation, we can only live under the bonds of sin and finally be the object of punishment. If we acknowledge that we are sinful and accept the Lord Jesus’ redemption, then we will have the chance to receive God’s salvation. While those who think highly of themselves and do not acknowledge that they are sinful can never know themselves and accept God’s salvation. In God’s words “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” are hidden God’s great mercy and salvation for man. So, having understood God’s will of saving man, for what reason do we not accept God’s salvation and love?