WELL, how?
Granted that God is infinitely holy, and man utterly sinful, how can man approach God?
Fire and water cannot be reconciled; there is in the nature of each that which renders infusion impossible. And yet far less can sinful and guilty man, as such, come into contact with God. The moral distance between each must be eternal, unless God find out a way in which He can, consistently with His own holiness, bring the sinner near.
But how can this be done? How can the impossibility mentioned be overcome? How, without taking from infinite holiness on God’s side, or improving man’s condition on the other, can the boundless chasm be bridged?
That is the grand question. It may well perplex the infidel, and tax the mind of the reformer. The one may scout the whole thing as absurd; and the other may skillfully invent all kinds of religious plans to meet the difficulty, but neither can the contempt of infidelity, nor the many devices of the religious human brain, solve the question, “How should man be just with God?”
First, God cannot abate one iota of His holiness, in order to meet the sinner. That essential element of His nature may not be diminished on any pretext whatsoever. The holiness of God stands immutable. There is therefore no hope on that ground.
Second, The condition of man is such that it cannot be mended. His nature is essentially evil. He may, no doubt, be reformed, or outwardly altered, so that the drunkard may be made sober, or the adulterer chaste; but the nature― the springs within, the heart itself―remains the same. It is incurably wicked. There is no hope therefore in this respect either. No hope! Is the case hopeless? Most certainly it is on the above grounds; and yet happy is it when the soul has been led to the discovery of its own total hopelessness.
Have you, dear reader, really learned that you cannot lessen God’s holiness, so as to enable you to meet Him; and, on the other hand, that you cannot lessen your own sinfulness so as to enable God to come nearer to you. Have you truly discovered that the chasm is infinite? that these two words, of three letters each, express two principles that can never coalesce―GOD and SIN?
It is well if you have, for a dawning of that truth is the first shining of the light of heaven’s day upon the soul. But yet all this only goes to make the answer to our question the more intensely interesting― “How should man be just with God?”
Notice, first, it is not “How should man be just with man?” That is an important question too, and worthy of a large place in the moral world of today, but our question is more important still. Neither is it, secondly, “How shall man be as good as he can with God?” Nay, for that is only human merit―a thing that cannot be! If otherwise, why did the blessed Lord tell Nicodemus that he, one of the best of men, must be born again?
Mark, “just with God” is the demand, and nothing short of that will do.
Well, how? The infidel may well give it up, or the mere religionist sink in despair; yet there is a way in which man―you or I―can be “just with God,” and that without the smallest modification of the sinfulness of our nature, or of God’s absolute holiness.
One splendid statement, in Romans 3:20,20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20) furnishes the divine and perfect answer, viz., “That he (God) might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.”
Blessed answer indeed! In it we find that God is viewed as “just,” and the believer as “justified.” The two, hitherto immeasurably separated by holiness on God’s side, and guilt on the sinner’s, are now brought righteously together, so that no charge of inconsistency can be’ preferred! And how? Just because between the justice of God, and the judgment of the sinner, comes the cross of Christ! At that cross all the judgment was borne, and
“Justice now demands no more, And mercy yields her boundless store.
Therefore our answer speaks of “the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.”
That Name, in all its sweet and living charms, tells of the ground on, which God, in undiminished holiness, can bless the sinner, spite of undiminished guilt. “The blood of Jesus” is the ground!
On that ground the dying thief, repentant and believing, entered paradise unchallenged. His perfect title lay in that precious blood! He could plead no human merit, nor did he need any! He had no time for improvement, nor could he if he had! That blood-bought title needs no improvement. It is divinely sufficient.
“I have no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.”
Yes, it is enough to satisfy every claim of God, and therefore to calm every fear of my soul. Mark, “God is just”―just―just! “and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.”
If you truly believe in Jesus you are justified on terms of divine satisfaction. Thank God for such an answer.
“The perfect righteousness of God
Is witnessed in the Saviour’s blood;
‘Tis in the Cross of Christ we trace
His righteousness, yet wondrous grace.
God could not pass the sinner by
His sin demands that he must die;
But in the Cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be.”