66. Brazen Impudence of Salvation by Character

Brazen Impudence of “Salvation by Character”

Think of the exhibit man makes of his sin as he stands before the cross and proclaims to all, that the only verdict he could find in his heart for the one Man who alone of all men ever did God’s will on this earth, was a brutal hanging on a Roman gibbet, the most disgraceful death man’s sin has ever been able to devise! And then think of the insult that is wholly beyond words to describe, when men, with brazen impudence, expect God to accept their own “good” deeds with approval, which they hold out to Him in hands stained with the blood of His Son! The Law was given to shut men’s mouths (Romans 3:19), not to give them aught in themselves to commend. Then comes the cross, standing at the focal point of time and eternity, and shows that every being in the race is by sin a born murderer, needing only the occasion and sufficient provocation to make him an actual murderer. Where then is man’s native nobility and greatness, except buried under a world of unspeakable sin and shame! The Law says: “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17). That commandment is not the weak summary of the other nine, but the burning climax of the whole ten. It is the one commandment which, if kept perfectly, will issue in the flawless keeping of the whole Law, but which, if broken, will be the breaking in spirit of all the other commandments. And yet it is the commandment of which men say, more than of any other of the ten, Not guilty! How little do men know what sin is! To covet is to desire to possess or control, for one’s own purposes and without his consent, property that belongs wholly to another. Can you say, Not guilty, to that? Whose property are you? The sole property of Him who created you, and then when by personal sin you had sold His property to the devil for nothing, bought you back to the possibility of rescue from such a fate, by that very cross before which you stand. Do you ever have any desire to possess or control the property which, by this two-fold right, belongs to Him? Who does not have that desire? Not a soul on earth! Can you now say, Not guilty? Or put it as Paul translates it into its inner principle when he quotes it: “Thou shalt not desire” (Romans 7:7, marg.). Who can keep that? Can you? We are all animated bundles of insistent desires which we can no more escape than we can escape ourselves, and yet God says: “Thou shalt not desire”! What can He mean?

Emphasize the first word and the meaning will be clear. He does not say: “Thou shalt have no desires,” for that would be impossible even to Him, but “Thou shalt not desire,” or, no desires of our own for ourselves, but His desires only for us, experienced only under His perfect control. No desires whatever apart from His for us. Do you keep that commandment? Of course not!