FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. – Romans 10-11.

We are not yet what we will be, and that is why we can never find a basis for security or confidence before God through anything in ourselves. There is only one solid ground of assurance, and it is nothing to do with me: It is the blood of Christ. We are “justified by his blood.”

All the labor of my hands can’t fulfil Your law’s demands: Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; You must save and You alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Your cross I cling: Naked, come to You for dress, Helpless, look to You for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly: Wash me, Savior, or I die. ¹

It is important to understand that the phrase “justified by faith,” or “justified through faith” (Romans 3:28; 5:1; Galatians 2:16; 3:24), is a kind of shorthand. We are justified by Christ through His blood applied to us when we put our faith in Him. But the justifying thing is the blood of Christ. Faith is simply the means by which this justification comes to me. God does not invite me to have faith in my faith, but to have faith in Christ.

In the words of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

It is not faith that saves us. What saves us is the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect work. It is the death of Christ upon Calvary’s cross that saves us. It is His perfect life that saves us. It is His appearing on our behalf in the presence of God that saves us. It is God putting Christ’s righteousness to our account that saves us. This is the righteousness that saves; faith is but the channel and the instrument by which His righteousness becomes mine. . . . Faith is nothing but that which links us to Christ and His righteousness. ²

So if you want to cultivate assurance and joy in God, the question you should be asking is not, “How strong is my faith?” or “How warm is my heart?” or “How deep is my commitment?” Instead you should ask, “Is the blood of Jesus Christ rich enough and strong enough to wash away every sin and to cover every weakness, failure, and inadequacy of my life from this point until the day I arrive in the presence of God?”

The answer to that question is, “Absolutely, without question, yes!”

Since our standing before God is not based on anything in us but rather on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we can be absolutely confident that all will be well on the Last Day, because our salvation will rest, then as now, not on us but on Him. No wonder Paul said, “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We rejoice because our final salvation rests not on our performance in the Christian life but on the blood of Jesus Christ.

¹ Adapted from Augustus Montague Toplady, “Rock of Ages,” verses 2–3.
² D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 3:20–4:25.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Genesis 3

The Way of Redemption – Continued

One time a dear friend of mine told me a story of when he was asked to lead a revival meeting at a local church. He gladly accepted the invitation and was a guest in his home for the duration of the campaign. During those days he stated that he learned of a great sorrow that had broken the hearts of the couple he was staying with. Their only son, a boy of thirteen years, became desperately ill of a dreadful disease. The boy suffered untold agonies as his body was torn with convulsions. Then the day came that the boy died. My friend asked the couple, “Didn’t it nearly tear your heart out when the day came for the boy to die?”

“No,” replied his pastor friend. “No, it was not that way at all. Our boy was so sick, suffering so intensely that I went down on my knees by his bed and prayed to God that, if it could be His will, He would not let him suffer any longer. I prayed God to take him to heaven, to let him be released; his suffering was too great. And when our boy died a great burden was lifted from our hearts because of his merciful release.”

It is because of this that death comes to man, and that the tree of life has been removed from our grasp, “lest we eat, and live forever,” live forever in this frail body of pain and sorrow.

There is a way back to God, back to the tree of life, back to the paradise of God our Savior. “He [God] placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” – Genesis 3:24. In every instance where the cherubim are mentioned, they are connected with, and are symbols of, the divine mercy and grace. They are not ministers of vengeance; they are not messengers of judgment. In the holy of holies was the ark of the covenant. On the top of the ark of the covenant was the mercy seat. On each side of the mercy seat were the cherubim, their eyes full upon it, their wings covering it. Between them flamed the Shekinah, the fire of the glory and the presence of God. To that altar came the high priest, with blood of atonement, and there the mercy and forgiveness of the Holy One met the repentance and confession of man.

It was so on the east side of the garden of Eden after the man had been driven out. The man who was rebellious and self-willed in the garden of Eden was invited back, in repentance and faith, to bow, to worship, to come home, to find peace, to seek forgiveness and shelter at the altar of the mercy of God. The cherubim are there, symbols of the divine love and grace. The Shekinah glory is there, the pointed, gleaming flame that keeps open the way to the tree of life. The altar of God is there, the place of prayer and of worship. And God himself is there, ready to receive the humble penitent in mercy and forgiveness.

O my friend, will you not come to Him now?

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and power.

Let the deepest answer of our hearts be,

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms,
In the arms of my dear Saviour,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.

It is the gospel of the grace of the Son of God. Here it is in the first part of the first book of the Bible—the “protevangelium,” the first announcement, the first gospel. The grace of God is freely and fully given to all who come to Him with humble and contrite hearts.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Genesis 3

The Way of Redemption

Now we come to the merciful plan of redemption, the way of salvation announced here in the beginning of God’s Book. It is called the “protevangelium,” meaning, “the first gospel,” and this is it: “So the Lord God said to the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” – Genesis 3:14-15. “And the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” How much, how much, when we come to know what finally and fully that meant! It meant Calvary; it meant the blood of the cross. It meant the coming of Jesus into the world. It meant the crown of thorns and the atoning blood in the hill called the “place of a skull.” It was through the deception of the woman that sin came into the world. It was through the conception of the woman, the seed of the woman, the Son of Mary, that redemption was brought to the fallen race. This “protevangelium” was the first announcement of the glorious message of the gospel of hope.

This same gospel of blood-bought redemption is prefigured in the third chapter of Genesis: “For Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” – Genesis 3:21. When the man found himself naked, and his wife, they sewed fig leaves together that they might hide their shame. “The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” – Genesis 3:7. This is a profound impulse in the human heart. All of us have tried to hide away, to cover out of sight the sin and guilt of our lives. But we cannot do it; fig leaves will not cover it up. One reason a desperately wicked man is sometimes a leader in some of the noble philanthropies and charities of the community is because he seeks to cover up the hideousness, the gross sensuality of his life. He may succeed, too, in his attempt to hide from the sight of man his guilt. Fig leaves may suffice to cover our sins from human eyes, but in the presence of the Almighty who knows all things, how empty and shallow are those attempts! It takes something more than manmade aprons, good works, generous deeds, to hide away sin.

Somewhere in the garden of Eden the Lord God slew the first sacrificial victim, an innocent animal that had nothing to do with the transgression of the guilty pair. Somewhere in the paradise of Eden the ground drank the blood of the first offering for sin, and from that harmless and blameless creature a coat was made to cover up the shame and the nakedness of the man and his wife. It is a picture of the covering, the atonement, the washing away of our sins in the sacrificial victim on the cross of Calvary.

The chapter ends with this final word:

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. – Genesis 3:22-24.

What could that mean? The tree of life is taken from the man “lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” It means that had the man in his sin eaten of the tree of life, he would have lived forever in his sin, in his wretchedness and misery. He would have been confirmed in his sin; and confirmation in sin is eternal hell. He would have lived forever in a body of death, a frail body that is forever perishing, subject to all the ills and hurts that flesh is heir to. Death is given to man as a privilege and a release, that he might die to this life of sin and live to God forever. Revelation 9:6 describes the torment and horror of men who seek death and cannot find it. “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.” Death was a merciful provision on the part of the Lord God, and any man who lives long enough will come to recognize in the summons of the pale horseman a release from bodily affliction that ultimately grows unendurable.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.