71. Man's Weapon against God Goes Astray
Man’s Weapon against God Goes Astray But there is something more God can do! For the very cross by which the race forfeited every claim on God for the fulfillment of His promises and oaths, is the same cross through which He can now open wide the door of salvation in unhindered grace, all man’s claims on Him being forever at an end. “For by grace ye are saved, through faith, and that (even the faith) not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Both the salvation and the faith to receive it are God’s outright gift, and all on the simple condition of consent toward Him.
Whatever God does for sinners from the cross forward, therefore, is not because of any promises or covenants apart from Christ, “For how many soever be the promises of God, in him (Christ) is the yea; wherefore through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20, R.V.). Everything, therefore, that has come to all men since the cross, has come by grace through Christ, because every claim God ever gave man on Himself is forever forfeited. With what divine irony does God use man’s very weapon by which he sought to be forever rid of Him, to open his way to receive forgiveness and love and forever live with Him. It is the irony supreme that the cross by which Satan used both Jews and Gentiles to cast Christ out of the world, is the very cross by which He casts Satan out forever (John 12:31). The cross did not procure grace, for grace flowed from it as through an open door. Procured grace is a contradiction in terms. Anything done to procure salvation is the very thing that makes it impossible. We can never make a bargain with God to give us salvation if we do the best we can to live as we should. How could God permit a thing like that when salvation is a gift? God does not give salvation to us even though we do not deserve it, and then take it away from us because we do not deserve it! A Christian can never be made nor unmade by anything he does. It all depends on what God has already done in grace on the cross, and so on our simple acceptance of it as an outright gift. We cannot be saved by grace and at the same time pay our way to heaven by living up to a certain standard, for that puts God under obligation to keep us saved, and all obligation from God to man is at a full end. There is no barter and exchange in salvation. Forgiveness of sins is not for sale! Grace can never go into debt!
If we could do anything toward God to make Him either willing or able to save us, He would have to approve of it. What He approves of must have merit for its intended purpose. If He approves of anything any man can do as a condition of or a means to eternal salvation, it will be because it has merit for that purpose. But merit deserves reward. So reward ought to be given, else an injustice is done. But “ought” is the word of obligation, so it pushes grace out, and therefore salvation goes out with it.