Law and Gospel, part VI

In part part V of this series, we saw that the New Testament teaches the “lawful use of the law” in revealing sin.  We saw that the rich young ruler thought he had successfully kept the commandments from his youth, just as many Adventists believe that perfect law-keeping is achievable and even necessary to hasten the second coming of Christ.  In both cases, the person who trivializes the law by believing he is capable of meeting its demands risks relying upon his own effort instead of depending on the mercy and grace of God through his Son.  By defining the law so narrowly that we can rise to its demands, we fail to appreciate the incomparable holiness of God and, by contrast, the depths of our own depravity.  As such, we don’t fall under the weight of our own sin and acknowledge our total inability to meet the law’s requirements.

In Psalm 32, we see the biblical response of a sinner’s confrontation with the law.  Perhaps no biblical figure understood his own guilt and the need for God’s grace better than David, who was guilty of committing both murder and adultery.  There is much to learn by reading and applying the words he uses in acknowledging his own sin, having been crushed under the weight of his transgressions.

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:1-5 ESV)

Charles Spurgeon eloquently unpacks the truths in these verses in his Treasury of David.  “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. He is now blessed and ever shall be. Be he ever so poor, or sick, or sorrowful, he is blessed in very deed. Pardoning mercy is of all things in the world most to be prized, for it is the only and sure way to happiness. To hear from God’s own Spirit the words, ‘absolvo te’ is joy unspeakable. Blessedness is not in this case ascribed to the man who has been a diligent law keeper, for then it would never come to us, but rather to a lawbreaker, who by grace most rich and free has been forgiven. Self righteous Pharisees have no portion in this blessedness. Over the returning prodigal, the word of welcome is here pronounced, and the music and dancing begin. A full, instantaneous, irreversible pardon of transgression turns the poor sinner’s hell into heaven, and makes the heir of wrath a partaker in blessing. The word rendered forgiven is in the original taken off or taken away, as a burden is lifted or a barrier removed. What a lift is here! It cost our Saviour a sweat of blood to bear our load, yea, it cost him his life to bear it quite away. Samson carried the gates of Gaza, but what was that to the weight which Jesus bore on our behalf?

Covered by God, as the ark was covered by the mercyseat, as Noah was covered from the flood, as the Egyptians were covered by the depths of the sea. What a cover must that be which hides away for ever from the sight of the all seeing God all the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit! He who has once seen sin in its horrible deformity, will appreciate the happiness of seeing it no more for ever. Christ’s atonement is the propitiation, the covering, the making an end of sin; where this is seen and trusted in, the soul knows itself to be now accepted in the Beloved, and therefore enjoys a conscious blessedness which is the antepast of heaven. It is clear from the text that a man may know that he is pardoned: where would be the blessedness of an unknown forgiveness? Clearly it is a matter of knowledge, for it is the ground of comfort.”

The same God who forgives sin also tells us he will remember it no more, casting our sin into the depths of the sea and removing our sin “as far as the East is from the West” (Isaiah 43:25, Micah 7:18-19, Psalm 103:12).  These promises provide infinite reassurance to the sinner whose salvation is secure in Christ while dealing a death blow to the belief that an investigative judgment of professed Christ-followers is now underway.

Truly God’s grace is unsearchable, a grace that is apprehended by the faith of a sinner who knows the depths of his own impotent unrighteousness, confessing it without hesitation.

Read more in part VII.