I Mean It, You’re Really Free

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.” –Psalm 103:8-13 {ESV}

Could there be any better news for the saints of God today? What a wondrous thought that this passage of Scripture was fully operative while some slept through the night, some worked through a hectic day, others mourned over personal failures, and still more meandered thoughtlessly through another day of life on planet earth. The grace of God was overflowing like a bursting fountain while His anger towards us remained as a barren desert. The former was full and flowing and the latter was dusty and dried up. For those who are constantly scolded in their hearts by the accusing voice we learn anew today that God does not deal with us according to our sins. Think: what if He did? What if God dealt with you, not on the basis of grace and mercy, but through blazing judgment? Every fallen thought would send us hurled into hell. Each loveless word would damn our souls. Any deed of depravity would signal instant death and separation from God. The prophet, Nahum, asked, “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire.” {Nah. 1:6} Sin does not receive a slap on the wrist from divine justice – sin requires execution and it would surely be yours and mine were it not for the covenant of grace and love from the God who initiates relationship with us. For all who have bowed in repentance before Jesus Christ, mark it down…your record is immaculate in Heaven’s court.

I notice also that He does not “repay us according to our iniquities”. This is really good news for the self-sufficient who subtly believe that every personal transgression must be matched with an offsetting act of righteousness of the same weight. We gossiped, therefore we should erase it with a verbal witness for Christ. We skipped the Sunday gathering to sleep in so we must give a little extra in the plate the following week. We lied, lusted, lifted or laughed and now we must balance out the scales by some inward resolve towards a noble deed. Many saints think this way in hopes that an extra amount of doing good will help to evade the outflow of anger presumably heading their way. They believe that they can deflect the blow of anger with the shield of self-righteousness. There are two things these folks fail to understand:

1. The shield of self-righteousness is infinitesimally small and could never cover us from righteous payback.
2. God does not repay us according to our iniquities.

We need to all remember with deep and lasting humility that to be paid back for our sins means eternal destruction. Penance is worthless because it underestimates the burning hatred of God against sin and overestimates our ability to assuage that same hatred. We need to come to terms with grace in recognizing that justification is an “all-or-nothing” endeavor. You are, right now, either fully pardoned or fully condemned. There is no middle ground and there is no offer being extended to you to join-up and help God out with the standing of your soul. The reason why we need not fear the full weight of God’s wrath upon sin and sinners is because of the Gospel gold that God has already poured out in fullness that punishment upon His own Son. Your sin has not been overlooked by God, it has been paid for. He is satisfied in having made His own Son to be sin for us. You are able to stand in perfection before the Father for one reason only: the Son hung before Him in condemnation. Jesus bore the full load of righteous fury in one moment upon Calvary. The horrors of sin and hell were thrown upon Him as He was reckoned guilty that we might be declared pardoned. Perhaps in eternity we might be able to comprehend the depth of that payment He made in love for us. In the meantime, let us not release insult to Him by offering our own paltry tokens as evidence we love Him. For those who have been loved by Him in redeeming grace, let’s honor Him today by not trying to match His free offer of forgiveness with pebbles of piety and grains of goodness. Declare yourself continually needy and perpetually grateful by accepting that It Is Finished and nothing else is required of you. What, if anything, is left for you and me? Love, gratitude, humility and faithfulness. The motivation for none of these virtues can ever be fear of reprisal if they are not engaged. The motivation for living in grace is the grace itself…more specifically, the One who has given it.