Mark 12:30.
ALL natural religion is based upon the assumption, that there is strength and sufficiency in the creature to meet the claims of God. Man, in the pride of his heart, either prescribes to himself a set of rules for his own guidance, the observance of which is to constitute his perfection in the eyes of his Maker, or he takes the commandments of God, and seeks, by a literal obedience to them, eked out perhaps by a round of religious ceremonies and a profusion of what is called charitable works, to raise a righteousness which shall give him approval before God. Now both these ways are the result of ignorance, ignorance of God and of himself. It is perfectly true that man is under obligations to his Maker, obligations which he cannot evade―he is bound to do the will of God. This is the proper condition of his being, the great element of his happiness. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,” is not merely a precept, but also the expression of what man was when formed at first by the hand of God. He loved his Maker, and had pleasure in doing His will. Here was his happiness. But this we know was lost. As long as the will remained in subjection to the declared will of God (and this was very simple and definite) all was well: obedience was perfect, and therefore bliss was perfect too. “God saw all things that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31.)
But the tempter came. He challenged the right of the Creator to rule in the creature’s heart. What Satan aimed at was the producing a will in man opposed to the will of God, a contempt of God’s authority, which would uproot the foundations of order. In this he succeeded. Man was under one prohibition, and the enemy urged him to break through it. Once yielding, misery broke in like a flood. All confidence in God was gone, and the creature became a total wreck. Whereas, before all was light and joy within, because the eye was single, now that that eye was darkened by transgression not a ray of true comfort remained. One sin had effaced the image of Him who is love, and purity, and truth, and brought the soul under the dominion of the father of lies, whose subtle and malignant character it now too readily imbibed. (John 8:44.) Thus fell our first father, and all his posterity in him. (Romans 5:12-19.) Thus are we born heirs of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), because inheriting a sin-defiled and ruined nature—a nature in which God can take no pleasure, because its every thought is enmity against Him. (Romans 8:7, 8.) And yet so blinded are we to our true condition, that the “many inventions” which prevail in the world in the shape of religious systems, assume, in a greater or less degree, that man has the power of rendering acceptable worship to God; and the very last ground he is willing to take is that which Scripture assigns him, as a sinner, lost, ruined, vile, powerless to rescue or help himself, exposed to God’s righteous indignation, curse, and eternal judgment, on account not only of what he does, but of what he is in himself. Nay, more, that his very religiousness is only an insult to the blessed God, who has declared that “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20), and whose truth is denied and contradicted by every effort of the creature to build up a righteousness before Him. It is the crafty suggestions of the great adversary, seeking to perpetuate the ruin he has wrought, which puts the sinner upon the attempt, lulling him to sleep in self-complacency while the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36.) Thus it is with multitudes now, even of those who are called Christians. From education, or in virtue of some accredited ordinance, they have taken up the name and profession; but they are strangers to the life of God, and this because they know not Him who is the life, even Jesus. They have never entered into the “secret” of God, or understood the nature of His covenant. (Psalms 25:14.) If they had, they would “cease from their own works,” and desire only to “meditate on His work, and talk of His doings.” The Person of the Saviour, God manifest in the flesh; His amazing sacrifice for the redemption of His people; and the wonderful results of that sacrifice in their present peace and future glory, are themes which would occupy their minds, and be found frequently upon their tongues; for the true believer is jealous for the glory of the Lord. He knows that salvation is by Christ alone, and desires that Christ shall have all the honor of it. He feels that, except for the voluntary suretyship of the Son of God, he must have remained in his lost estate forever. He traces with delight, in the word of inspiration, the design of eternal love for his redemption. He sees the Second Person of the Eternal Trinity becoming incarnate to carry out the wondrous plan. “A body thou hast fitted me.” (Heb. 10:5, margin.) A perfect, pure, and true humanity, in which the Godhead might and did dwell. (John 14:9; Colossians 2:9.) A marvelous Person manifested to achieve a marvelous work. A glorious Surety under covenant responsibilities, freely and generously undertaken for a people dead in trespasses and sins. “Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God.” And this He accomplished perfectly. In His life we see a faultless obedience rendered to the holy law of God, and in this death a full atonement made for all His people’s sins. His resurrection from the grave, and ascension to the throne of God, prove that His mighty work is done, and that by Him all that believe are justified from all things. There is now no condemnation to those that trust in Him. His work has perfected them forever―His work alone. This is what we are exhorted to keep in memory; for our hearts are prone to forget it, and so lose the comfort it conveys. This is the fight of faith,― to preserve in our souls the living sense of this most blessed truth, that we are “complete in Him.” To this the Divine Comforter, the Holy Ghost witnesses, from day to day, the glory of the person, and the all-sufficiency of the work of Jesus. This is our stay in temptation―our hope amid the ruin and confusion of all things here. Everything else may fail us, but this never can. He changes not; His blood has an eternal efficacy to cleanse our souls from guilt, and give us access with freedom to His Father and our Father, His God and our God. Here we learn what our relationships are to Him and His, and here we obtain power for the enjoyment of these relationships. Here, above all, we learn Himself, though now it be but through a glass darkly, and the provision He has made for our eternal blessing. We see that this depends not upon ourselves, but upon His promise. faithfulness, and truth. All, and more than all, we lost in Adam, we find secured to us in Christ. He restores us that which He took not away. We are made partakers of the Divine nature by means of His exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:11); for thus runs the covenant, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts;” and thus we may read that blessed word, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength,” not as a legal demand, but as a promise to be made good in power, in that happy world where all is perfectness, and all is peace.
Jesus is the name given to our Lord―1st, before birth; 2nd, at circumcision; 3rd, when received up on high.