WHAT PRICE SALVATION?

"By the Law is the knowledge of sin." The rich, young ruler thought he saw in the Law a savior. Christ wanted him to see the Law as an executioner. The inquirer trusted in his own righteousness which was of the Law. The Law had not done its work in him. The Law was meant to dash every hope of satisfying God as man in the flesh.

Two men went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed proudly, making the Law his boast. He had studied the Law all of his life; he was actually a teacher of the Law, and yet had never really heard it speak. The Law demands perfect human righteousness; not a little righteousness, nor even a lot, but perfect human righteousness! The publican, or tax collector, would not even look up toward Heaven but, looking down, smote his breast in the realization that sin prevented his having any claim on God. The Law had done its work in him. The Law is not a defender of fallen man. It is a prosecutor. If you and I will listen to it, it will smash all hope of our standing before God in our own imagined righteousness. It is a steam roller, crushing all that stands in its path. When God gave the Law to His chosen people they could not even stand in His presence. If men or beasts even touched the mountain they were to be slain on the spot.

Today's man hasn't heard the Law; it isn't preached today the way it should be. The Law when taken seriously, should bring agony, not pride. When God sent the Law He meant it to make man uncomfortable in his sin. The Pharisee was comfortable. He saw the Law applauding him for well-doing, not condemning him for his sin. The Law is not interested in what we have done right, but in what we have done wrong. Its ministry is condemnation and death, not righteousness and life.

That is the job that God gave it to do ... condemn and slay. It abhors human good. It is not even looking for relative righteousness. If understood, it does not elicit the boast, "I am not as other men," but wrings from the heart the cry, "God be merciful." It is the voice of doom to sinners, and we are all sinners.

When the Law was preached as it ought to be preached it struck terror into the heart of man. It brought sinful man face to face with an infinitely holy God and showed him the wretchedness of his own condition. It crushed the breath out of vain man and left him gasping ... crying out for one breath of air. The human righteousness in which you and I pride ourselves is filthy rags in the sight of Him who is infinite in His perfection. The expression "filthy rags" is really "menstrual cloths" in the original. Imagine a man standing in the presence of a thrice-holy God and thinking to impress Him with the fine, white linen of righteousness, only to discover that he is clad in used menstrual cloths. God is not unreasonable. But He is accurate! His picture of us in our sin is not arbitrary. His Law, in demanding perfection, only requires what He has a right as Creator to expect from His creatures.

The rich young ruler was standing in the presence of God, though he certainly didn't know it. He thought he qualified to live forever with the blessing of God. He never once dreamed that he was as lost as the traitorous tax collectors who had sold their souls to the Roman enemy, or the despised prostitutes who rented their bodies to foolish men. We don't become conscious of our totally lost condition by comparing ourselves with others because we're careful to compare ourselves with those that we consider the worst of men, not the best. That Almighty God treated this ruined sinner courteously does not mean that he was any less lost. It tells us much about God and nothing about the ruler. God is long-suffering, not desirous that any should perish, but that all should come to a change of heart. Christ came "to seek and to save that which was lost." He was not rude. He was gentle. He was kind. He told the ruler the truth, in an effort to win him, not to put him down. If we want to "inherit" eternal life we must keep the Law perfectly. The Law is the only merit system that God has given to men. If eternal life is to be had by "doing," the doing must be continuous and complete. Trying doesn't count. The Law requires perfection and, when understood, crushes man's hope of approaching God on any ground other than grace.

Had the rich, young, ruler forsaken his false hope in human righteousness and followed Christ, he would have learned that eternal life is a gift, and a gift is not received by doing. A gift is always absolutely free to one person because fully paid for by another. The donor does all the giving. The recipient does only all the receiving. Christ would pay for the ruler's eternal life through His death on the cross, as He did for yours and mine.

This bit of history ends sadly, for the rich, young, ruler turned away from truth, from Christ his Savior, from eternal life itself. The very thing he sought, he rejected. The Law required him to love God and man completely. Christ tested his love of God and man by asking him to give his great wealth to others. Our Lord wanted him to see that he was not a Law keeper after all, but a Law breaker. The Law said, "Love God enough to obey Him in everything," and he disobeyed. The Law said, "Love others as much as you [already] love yourself," and he couldn't. We would have failed as miserably as he. And that is the point. The Law is certain death to sinners. If we want life we will never find it at Sinai. Life is at Calvary. Law is doom. It is the end of all hope in man's righteousness. Wherever the Law is given its rightful glory, man must cry out in despair, "Be merciful!" The Law, far from bringing comfort to fallen man, destroys all comfort. It was meant to do just that..." by the Law is the (full) knowledge of sin." The Law will never pronounce me saved ... it cannot! The Law will always thunder in my ear, SINNER! That is what it is supposed to do. The Law drove Israel away from Sinai; that was its job. If I hear what the Law is saying I will flee to Calvary. The Law is a judge, but I need a Savior. The Law tells me that ... if I am listening!

This is why Christ told Israel, "The flesh profits nothing." The flesh is a term that reaches far beyond Israel. It includes fallen Gentiles as well as fallen Jews. "They that are in the flesh, cannot please God," says the risen, glorified Lord through our Apostle. I cannot find any hope in myself, for there is none there. Salvation is of the Lord. He, and He alone, can save.

Salvation's price is terrible indeed, but it is not demanded of sinners. We could not pay it if it were. The "bill" for our salvation was tendered to Christ on Calvary. God the Son accepted it from God the Father and paid it in full. For us! Our debt is paid in its entirety ... and for all Eternity. This is not "cheap grace." Nothing that cost God the life of His Son could ever be cheap. Grace is expensive in the extreme. Calvary was the ultimate price tag. Nothing will ever cost more. Nor is this "easy believism." To believe that God gives eternal life freely to His enemies is not "easy" to believe. Nothing will ever challenge faith more.

Saving faith brings nothing with it to Calvary. It has no merit of its own. Saving faith simply takes God at His Word, trusts in His infinite generosity, receives His measureless grace.