The First Commandment.

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 1:3131And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (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 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44).) Thus fell our first father, and all his posterity in him. (Romans 5:12-1912Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:12‑19).) Thus are we born heirs of wrath (Ephesians 2:33Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (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, 87Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (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 3:2020Therefore 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)), 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 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but 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 25:1414The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. (Psalm 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. 10:55Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Hebrews 10:5), margin.) A perfect, pure, and true humanity, in which the Godhead might and did dwell. (John 14:99Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (John 14:9); Colossians 2:99For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (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 1:1111For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (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.