“Concluded all under sin.”
“Concluded all in unbelief.”
“Conclude that a man is justified by faith.”
It is a wonderful comfort for the heart amidst all the uncertainty that prevails around us to have the tried word of God to rest upon. While men are discussing topics of the gravest kind, and speaking and writing concerning them as though God had not in His grace given us a revelation of Himself, while they are wearying themselves with ever changing and all unsatisfying speculations, both as regards God and as concerns their own condition, it is no slight gain―though men may deride us as simple—to have God’s conclusions on which to lean, and to enjoy the light which flows into the soul when once the heart has taken its right place in His presence. It is in the 3rd chapter of Galatians and the 22nd verse, we meet with the conclusion which I have placed first on my paper, viz.:
(1.) “The Scripture hath concluded all under sin.” when we reflect that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” a more solemn declaration than the above for any child of Adam can hardly be conceived; for the expression implies being under the hand of another, even as a slave is under the hand of his master, or, as the children of Israel were under the iron yoke of Pharaoh.
And where is deliverance to be found? In thine efforts, Christless soul? Nay, Satan will smile at them all. As there is but one name God owns, so there is but one at which Satan trembles, and that is the peerless, priceless name of Jesus.
Believe in that precious name, and you have deliverance, you are saved; but reject Him, and though, like the Jews in the 8th chapter of John’s Gospel, you may say, “we were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, ye shall be made free,” the Lord’s answer will be true of you as of them, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin;” but, “if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Neglect Him, however, and whatever you may think of yourself God concludes you still “under sin.”
There is another very solemn conclusion of God’s, the second, on my paper, and it is found in the 11th chapter of Romans and the 32nd verse:
(2.) “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief.” How frequently, alas, we meet with those who would consider you insulted them if you did not own them as Christians, and would retort, “We are not heathen;” yet they give no evidence of trusting in the Lord Jesus, but, on the contrary, appear to be resting in themselves.
Faith is with them a subject they have mastered, part of a polite education in which they have been reared. They are at home with gospel truths, will even converse with you about them, and can demonstrate to you points of doctrine with the same precision as they would a problem in Euclid. But all the while you feel they are strangers to Jesus, to the Son of God Himself, they have never felt their need of Him, nor come to Him for mercy as lost and ruined sinners, and hence, though they may say, “We see,” they really are blind and “their sin remaineth.” Oh, that such would listen to those words of Jesus, “If ye were blind ye should have no sin,” would bow to God’s conclusion of them as given in our text, and as empty sinners having nothing in themselves, neither works, nor faith, nor feelings, would take the place before Him of utter unworthiness, as the Syrophenician woman did of old, to whom He said, when she pleaded there were at least crumbs for dogs, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt” (Matt. 15:28).
But we turn with joy to the conclusion which I have placed last, and which will be found in the 3rd chapter of the Romans and the 28th verse: (3.) “We conclude a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” How blessed thus to find it is no “open question” but “concluded,” and “IS JUSTIFIED” is God’s word of all who rest in Jesus: “He is just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Of His sheep Jesus says, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Is that enough for thee, beloved soul, or dost thou want to earn it? Thou canst not, for He gives it. And who are His sheep? Let Him speak: “My sheep hear my voice.” And what does that voice say?
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Then rest thy weary soul upon His bosom of eternal love. Let not thy legal heart challenge His right to give thee eternal life. He has the right to do it. It cost Him His life, all His sufferings, that hour of darkness, that shutting out from the presence of God (which belongs to thee by nature) when He took the sinner’s place upon the cross, was made sin for us, and exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Oh, rejoice in it, that whilst thou hast the right to nothing but hell, Jesus has the right on earth to forgive sins, to give eternal life; and blessed be His name He ever exercises that right to the sinner in His presence. He is the true and only good Samaritan, who when he saw the poor wounded man “had compassion.” Dearest reader, rest assured, however, that had the Jew in that parable been aught but a wounded man and utterly unable to help himself, he would have despised and rejected the kind offices of the good Samaritan. Hence the grace that shines in that narrative; the oil and wine, and all the rich provision were for a natural enemy, and such art thou by nature; but, ah, how precious if thou hast learned by the Spirit’s teaching that thou art indeed without strength, but being so that Christ has died for the ungodly, and that God justifies the ungodly who believe in Him.
None else are saved or justified, for He came not to call the righteous; but all who trust Him are, for “we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
Z.