“HE will never get peace till he confesses,”
said one gentleman to another in a railway carriage in my hearing.
"Never get peace till he confesses," thought I, Whatever has the man done. Guilty of some sinful, unworthy action that has brought him into trouble?
I did not know the facts of the case, but if the one against whom the offense was committed was both willing and able to forgive the offender, then it should not have given him much difficulty to confess the whole truth of his sin.
It is just in this way that sinners find peace with God. All have sinned. Without repentance and confession there can be no forgiveness, and without forgiveness there can be no peace.
And what invites us to make a clean breast of our sinful past is the fact that the One against whom we have sinned is ready and willing to forgive. If He commands men everywhere to repent the knowledge of such love in His heart ought to make them repent. "The goodness of God leadeth... to repentance.”
Hear the proclamation, "COME NOW, and, let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. 1:18.)
Think of a creditor sending forth such an invitation to his creditors. "Come to my office and acknowledge your debt, and I will give you a discharge in full and forgive you all." Who would stay away? Nor would you blame the creditor if he announced that any failing to accept his offer would never have another opportunity.
Yet God offers again and again the Gospel to indifferent men and women. Whom can they blame if they find themselves lost forever and the opportunity gone beyond recall.
We may well inquire how God can act so graciously to sinful men, and yet maintain His righteous claims. God is righteous, and has claims on us His creatures.
You remember the case of the murderer, Absalom, fleeing from the justice of the throne.
The occupant of that throne was his own father. David longed to bring Absalom back, but how could he do it and yet maintain the justice of his throne? Impossible.
Alas! he sacrificed justice to affection—Absalom was brought back, but what trouble it brought David into.
God must act differently. His throne is established in righteousness. If He shows mercy to the sinner it is not at the expense of His throne. Before God can send forth His servants with the proclamation of pardon and peace it must be at a tremendous cost.
Creation—the vastness of which we have but little conception—showed His "eternal power and Godhead," but not His heart. How, then, can He show His love to sinful men, and yet be righteous? Ah! for that we must turn to the cross of shame. He gave His Son; and, in the Person of His Son, He Himself came down into the midst of the rebels.
What a marvelous conception! What infinite wisdom! What love displayed in the redemption of man! There we learn the secret of that wonderful verse, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." (Psa. 85:1010Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. (Psalm 85:10).)
Are we brought back unrighteously, like Absalom? No! "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." An infinite atonement has been made. All the claims of God's holy throne have been met. God forsook Jesus on the cross, and He underwent all the judgment due to our sins, until He was able to exclaim in mighty victor tones, "IT IS FINISHED!" What a work! What a finish! All God's divine and glorious attributes upheld and the love of His heart able to flow out righteously to sinful men.
From the throne of high heaven, where the Savior sits in righteous grace, His brow encircled with glory's crown, the message is sent: "Through this Man is preached unto you THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." (Acts 13:38, 39.)
It is indeed a message of pardon and peace that can never be shaken, because it comes from A Righteous Throne.
Well may the poet sing:
“That which can shake the cross may shake the
peace it made,
Which tells me Christ has never died or never
left the grave.
Till then my peace is sure—it will not, cannot
yield.
Jesus I know has died and lives—on this firm
rock I build.”
The work of redemption finished, and alive from the grave, well might the Savior’s own lips in resurrection power say to His own, "PEACE BE UNTO YOU.”
How blessedly simple and true, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1)
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, dear reader, and forgiveness and pardon, and peace are yours. P. W.