51
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
February 1932
(Crumbsfrom THE KING’S TABLE . . .By THE EDITOR
The Gospel of the Grace of God
the Saviour’s atonement that refracts the white beam of justice and sends it forth into divided rays of grace, mercy, and peace. Judgment fell upon our Substitute, till He cried out, “ My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And thereby pardon fell upon us in the Father. “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Faith is the condition of our receiving forgiveness, but it is not the condition of God’s bestowing it. We were forgiven in Christ
heistianity is separated heaven-wide from every other religion. All other religions proceed upon the idea that a guilty sinner must do some thing to propitiate God’s favor and make Him reconciled to us. The glad tidings of the gospel are that God “ hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.” And this is the message which we are sent to proclaim; this is the ministry
of reconciliation which has been committed to us, “ to wit, that God was in Christ, recon ciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” In other words, we are not sent to show men how they can produce pardon by their penitence and impor tunity, but how pardon has been procured for them in Jesus Christ, and how that par don has now come begging at their stubborn hearts and be seeching for acceptance. If this is not so, then “ grace is no more grace.” If Christ’s works must be supplemented with some work of ours, if His atonement a n d intercession must be assisted and made ef ficacious by our importunity, then the “mine own sake” of God has been tinctured and conditioned by the “ thine own sake” of the sinner, and the quality of pure grace is gone. It is humbling to the transgres sor that even his tears must be ruled out of court as having no weight in determining his ac quittal. Let tears be shed, in deed, but not as the showers that are to soften and pro
before we believed, just as truly as we were forgiven in ourselves after we believed. Our hand must be stretched out to take God’s gift, but our extended hand is not the con dition on which that gift is be stowed. It is Christ’s extended hands that constitute that con dition-—hands extended to grasp the awful penalty of sin that they might thereby hold out the blessed gift of peace, hands bearing in their pierced palms the pains of our trans gressions that they m i g h t thereby lift up before the world the free grace and the unconditional remission of sins. That is where the contro versy between God and man was settled; that is where the release of t h e condemned transgressor was procured; that is where the sole condition of the sinner’s pardon was met, and met to the full. We are to receive the atone ment of Christ as a .finished work, not as a work that needs to be supplemented or aug mented by ourselves. Instead of begging God to have mercy
Words of Grace
O
what amazing words of grace Are in the gospel found!
Suited to every sinner’s case, Who knows Ihe joyful sound. Poor, sinful, thirsty, fainting souls
Are freely welcome here; Salvation, like a river, rolls Abundant, free, and clear. Come, then, with all your wants and wounds, Your every burden bring: Here love, unchanging love, abounds, A deep, celestial spring. Whoever will— 0 gracious word! May of this stream partake; Come, thirsty souls, and bless the Lord, 'And drink for Jesus’ sake.
Millions o f sinners, vile as you, - Have here found life and peace, Come, then, and prove its virtues too, And drink, adore, and bless.
-—S amuel M edley .
pitiate the unrelenting heart of God. Let them be poured out as the streams of a fountain that has at last been opened, and its great depths broken up by the revelation of the amazing truth that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Here is the sovereignty of God in mercy as it appears elsewhere in judgment. The divine Lord becomes incarnate, and then settles in Himself the whole question of sin and pardon. In Himself, He fills up the appalling measure of wrath which guilt deserves; and from Himself, He pours out the marvelous measure of grace which the sinner could never deserve. “ Even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”—as though in the act of pardon, the Lord did not even look upon the sinner, as though He determined the question entirely outside of him, and independently of him. It is not the penitent’s tears, but
upon us, we ought to lift our eyes to the Redeemer’s cross and behold there how He had mercy on us, and then pen itently and humbly and believingly accept the mercy that He has bestowed. It is not by making friendship with God that we are to become reconciled to Him, for “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of nis Son.” It is not by making our peace with God that we are to find rest of soul, for “ he is our peace” who hath “ abolished in his flesh the enmity, . . . so making peace.” It is not by doing good works that we are to gain divine favor, “ for by grace are ye saved . . . and that not of your selves.” It is for us to see what God has done in Jesus Christ, and with shamefacedness at our long obstinacy, and melting contrition at our continued rejection of His grace, to fall at His feet and accept it.
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