Sin Unveiled, Grace Outshining

ee ce we know the true nature of sin, and the deepest

facts concerning the grace of God, we must come to the

Cross. In Peter’s first message after Pentecost, referring to the Cross he said: “Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay.”! Herein is a most remarkable statement, declaring two facts concerning the Cross, which seem to contradict each other, but yet which reveal the actual causes of the Cross. “Delivered by the determinate counsel and -foreknowledge of God.” Therein is declared the purpose and acti.on of that grace which lies at the back of the whole plan of redempt’on. “Ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay.” Therein is contained a statement of how God’s plan was carried out in history by the very principle of lawlessness, which His grace operating through the Cross contradicted and overcame. The first declaration is that of the cause of the Cross from the Godward side, and in the light of it the Cross is seen as the epiphany of grace. The second statement is the cause of the Cross so far as man was concerned, and in the light of it the Cross is seen as the revelation of human degradation. These facts of the unmasking of sin, and the unveiling of the Divine heart are now to receive attention.

In the fact of the Saviour’s sufferings, sin deepened into densest darkness, and grace broke forth in brightest brilliance. In the strange mystery upon which we have already reverently looked, sin and love met in fiercest conflict. All other forces were withdrawn, and alone in a death grapple in the darkness, sin took hold on love, and love took hold on sin. The issue of the conflict is not

*Acts 2. 22, 23.

now the subject of consideration, but only the contemplation of the opposing forces, as seen in this supreme hour. Love incarnate has taken hold upon sin, and the issue must be a decisive victory for one or the other. In this hour sin or grace will triumph for ever. If sin and grace are seen as here revealed, there will be no possibility of mistake as to the nature of both. ‘Whoever may be inclined to judge sin by the superficial measurements of much so-called new thought, should be brought back to the Cross for a revelation of its true nature; and all those, moreover, who would confine the river of grace within small human.channels, should stand again in the presence of the Cross for an understanding of the irresistible sweep and might of this river of life, flowing from the throne of God.

Let us then examine sin and grace as here revealed, in each case considering the essence, the expression, and the end.

I. These studies are unified in certain directions by the analysis of human personality, which was accepted at the beginning. In speaking of the essence of sin as revealed in the Cross, therefore, it will be considered in the realm of the intelligence, the emotion, and the will of man, taking these in the reverse order. As at the first, man’s sin proceeded through the avenue of the darkening of the intelligence, the deadening of the emotion, and the degradation of the will, so here is the ultimate expression of degraded will, deadened emotion, and darkened intelligence.

The casting out of Jesus on the Cross was the protest of license against law. It was the most daring act of man in his revolt against the government of God. The Cross was man’s response to the fact intimated in the superscription which Pilate in mockery of those Jews had written and placed over His head. There can be no doubt that the Roman governor was far more angry with the priests than with Jesus, and yet driven by the false principle of expediency, He handed Christ to crucifixion, and in doing so mocked the men that had clamoured for the blood of the Nazarene, by placing over His head in letters of Hebrew, and Latin, and Greek the words, “Tus 1s Jesus THE KING oF THE Jews.”! Thus from whatever cause, man wrote above the Cross the supreme fact, and in the Cross expressed. his attitude towards it.

At the time of Christ’s life and death, the three great world forces were all represented in that little land of Palestine, and it is not without deep significance that over His Cross these words were written in letters of Hebrew, and Latin, and Greek, the national language, the official language, the common language; the language of religion, the language of government, and the language of culture. The attitude of all the forces represented by these was antagonistic to Christ. Out of the religion of the time, the Hebrew, arose the inspiration of the crucifixion, while the power of the time, the Roman, was the agent for its execution, and the culture of the time, the Greek, was scornfully indifferent to Him and His claims. Sinful religion rejected Him, sinful power murdered Him, sinful culture neglected Him. He was cast out. The reason is to be found in the burden of His ministry as revealed in the first word of His preaching, the word “repent.” In the uttering of this word, He called all men to a course of life exactly opposite to that being pursued. This first note of His message was a criticism and condemnation of all things as He found them. He practically declared that man had lost the true centre of his life, and that all the lines of human activity were proceeding in wrong directions. In the statement which immediately followed the first word, He revealed the nature of the wrong and of the right, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” * This word is a declaration of the departure of man from the Divine government. It was an announcement, moreover, of the setting up of that government, and the whole burden of His preaching was that of a call to men to submit to God. It was a stern, severe, revolutionary cry that He sent ringing forth over all the manners and methods of men. The sternness was that of a great love, the severity was that of a great tenderness, the revolution was that of restoration. Men did not understand this. They recognised the meaning of the word, and the nature of the call. They knew that if they listened and obeyed, the whole current of life would be changed as to course, because changed at the centre. There was no apology in the preaching of Jesus. He did not submit to men a proposal which they might discuss and vote upon. He spoke with authority, and not as the scribes, and the great burden of His message as men heard it, is perfectly expressed in that one word, “Repent.”

Through the years of His public ministry, they criticised Him, they entered into conflict with Him, they endeavoured to entrap Him in His talk, and at last they gave their final answer to His message, and the answer was the Cross. If Calvary’s Cross means anything, it means that men have said, We decline to repent, we will not have this Man to reign over us, we will not submit ourselves to the Divine government.

Jesus had come into the world for the restoration of the lost order. In the midst of the chaos that He found, He uttered the first word, “repent,” and then enunciated the principles of life within the Kingdom of God, proceeding to illustrate the breadth and beauty and beneficence of that kingdom, by all the deeds of tenderness and of love with which He filled the days. Men appreciated the benefits, but declined to submit to the authority. - There is one startling instance of the attitude of man towards Christ. He passed over into the country of the Gadarenes, and at once came into contact with a man who must have been the very plague of the whole life of the district. He freed him from the possession of the evil spirits, and in the account of how the men who watched the working of His mighty power told the story in the city, there is this somewhat strange and yet revealing statement, “They... told everything, and — —” Is it then possible to tell “everything, and — —”: What can there be to tell, when everything is told? Now hear the whole statement, “They... told everything, and what had befallen” to the man “possessed with devils.”* Now mark this inversion of values. What was the “everything” in the sight of these men? The destruction of their pigs. What was the “and” 2 A man was delivered from demon possession, and set upright in the dignity of his manhood. Is it to be thought for a single moment that these men did not desire the benefit offered in the casting out of devils? There is no doubt that they would gladly have accepted all such benefits, and yet it is written, “they besought Him that He would depart from their borders.” What can the explanation of such strange conduct be? ‘This simply. They were not prepared to pay the price. This is not the occasion upon which to enter into any discussion of the vexed question as to our Lord’s permitted destruction of the swine. It is enough that

“Matt. 8. 33. *Matt. 8. 34.

He permitted it to vindicate the action, And yet it may be declared in a sentence that at this period Jesus was exercising His Jewish Messiahship, and when He permitted the devils to destroy the swine, He but rebuked an unholy traffic, forbidden among these people whose Messiah He was. They fain would have the benefits of the kingdom, but this revolutionary interference with their profits they were not prepared to tolerate. This is but illustration of the fact evident through all His ministry, which had its final expression in the Cross. Men were determined to silence His voice, because they would not submit to that actual Kingdom of God which He proclaimed among them. The Cross is the incontrovertible proof that sin has degraded man’s will.

Few words need be uttered to prove that the Cross is the supreme evidence of the prostitution of emotion. If it be indeed true that the same capacity operates along the lines of love and hate, then of all fearful revelations of prostituted emotion, there is none equal to the Cross of Jesus. There, in all the details, is an expression of the brutal and barbarous in human life, such as the world has never seen at any other point.

But was not this also the revelation of the darkening of human intelligence: There is nothing more patent in the Cross than the blindness of the sin which erected it, both as to immediate interests, and as to far-reaching issues. What utter folly was this murder of the Emancipator, the giving over to death of the Life-giver, the whelming in darkness of the one and only Light of life. Thus the essence of sin is revealed in the Cross, as madness, and hatred, and rebellion.

This statement will cover also the fact, as the consideration leading to it has already covered the subject, of the expression of sin.

Sin as the rebellion of the will expressed itself finally in the murder of God’s anointed King. Sin as degraded emotion expressed itself most fully in the refined cruelty and malicious brutality of the whole process by which Christ was apprehended and cast out. Sin as darkened intelligence expressed itself most surely when it found no room in its counsels for the Voice which alone was that of perfect wisdom.

What then was the end of sin as expressed in the Cross? The rejection of the King, the destruction of the Priest, the silencing of the Prophet. The exercising of authority must not be permitted, so sin murdered the King. Man’s return to God must be prevented, so the great High Priest was refused. The shining of light upon the darkness sin loved, must not be allowed, so the voice of the Prophet was silenced. Thus sin has finally expressed itself in anarchy, for the King is dethroned; in irreligion; for the Priest is destroyed; in ignorance, for the Prophet is silenced.

Il. There is, however, another side to the Cross, and to it we turn with great gladness of heart, for therein is revealed the grace of God answering and triumphing over everything that sin is. Grace in the Cross is the assertion of the unquestioning authority of God. It is the revelation and working of His unquenchable love. It is the outshining of His unclouded wisdom.

First, grace asserted itself in unquestioning authority. It asked no permission. It took no counsel with man. It moved along the line of a great right and authority, in spite of man’s wilful rebellion against the throne. Man had not dethroned God when he erected the Cross, neither did man destroy God’s King therein. God is love, and He did not abandon man, even when man abandoned Him. That is the great lesson of the Cross. Men said, We will not be governed by God, and yet there in the Cross expressing that attitude, love is seen still retaining the throne, still holding the reins of government, still declaring to men that without Him they can do nothing. Apart from His authority, they are hopelessly and for ever ruined. Even in the blood-baptism of that awful passion, in which man’s sin has declared its refusal of God, God enthrones Himself, and asserts the will of essential love as superior to the will of rebellion. Never for one moment did He vacate the throne. Men cast His appointed King out into darkness, but in the darkness He was still the King, and prosecuted His reign in love. It was not merely the enforcement of authority. It was not merely an insistence upon government. It was not merely the defence of a right, for it seems as though if these had been all, God might have established all these things by ridding Himself of man. These are not the principles vindicated and revealed in the Cross. The Cross is the insistence of love. It is the persistence of love. It is love that holds the throne in the darkness. But for love there would have been no Cross. Every violated fact within the Divine purpose might have been re-established by the destruction of that which had so signally and awfully failed. Love by determinate counsel and foreknowledge permits man to express his sin in the Cross; and in that very act of full and final expression, grace occupies the throne, sways the sceptre, and reveals, as in no other way, the authority of God, and its reason of love.

For one moment, to change slightly the angle of observation, let it be borne in mind that, in that Cross of Jesus, God expressed His unqualified hatred of sin. The very fires that burn the sacrifice were the fires of His wrath against all evil. The fierceness of the flame was created by the intensity of love. God will not be dethroned, though His enthronement cost Him the Son of His love; and therein is most awfully visible the severity and the judgment of God. Yet that severity and judgment can never be understood save as it is clearly recognised that the force of them is His compassion. Of this there is no perfect illustration other than the Cross itself. Let me attempt one, faint and far-away and yet perhaps appealing to us in the realm in which we most perfectly find an expression of human love. Once it was my lot to see a mother snatch up her child from a railway track, just as the rushing train was almost upon it. I do not know that I ever saw anything much more roughly done. The mother was transformed for the moment into a veritable fury, as she caught up the child with hands that must have bruised it and carried it out of danger. Yet never did I see love more radiant than in the wild fury of that mother. How imperfect the illustration none can be more conscious than am I. I lift my eyes again to the Cross, and this I see, that in the mystery of its unfathomable anguish I discover that God will not be dethroned, though all hell be against Him, and this because of His mighty love. Let me utter it slowly and carefully, and yet out of my profoundest heart, if there be nothing to vindicate but His authority, then there is no necessity for the Cross; for the vindica- tion of justice, or judgment, or righteousness, or holiness in the last analysis may be realised by the destruction of man. In such destruction, however, love would have been defeated, and for the vindication of that love, and what is infinitely more than its vindication, for its own satisfaction, He will not permit man to dethrone

Him. Amid the depth of the darkness of Calvary it is grace that triumphs in a great authority. He will not consult with man in his folly, but He will retain the throne for very love of the foolish one. God found even in the midst of the ruin the possibility of redemption, and while God in Christ — for They cannot be separated — became the butt of brutal malice, He responded with tenderness; and when man’s sin has done its worst in nailing Christ to the Cross with lawless hands, in that very Cross God plants the kiss of forgiveness upon the face of the murderers. It is the magnificent and majestic authority of love. He will love. We cannot prevent Him loving, and let me add reverently to that statement, He cannot help loving because He is Love. Love is stronger than death, mightier than the grave. Many waters cannot quench love. That is the anthem of the Cross. God retains the throne of authority because of His infinite love. He will never cease to love a single soul He has created.

In that Cross, moreover, there is revealed the unclouded wisdom of God. Seeing all that man in his blindness failed to see, and knowing perfectly the whole fact of the depravity wrought by man, He yet originated and carried out a plan of redemption so wonderful that the very unfallen intelligences of the upper world have ever desired to look into this great mystery of wisdom, and no man has been able perfectly to fathom its depths. To the Jews a stumbling-block, something in the way over which they fall; to the Greeks utter foolishness; and yet blessed be God, both to Jew and Greek, not only power, but wisdom. What wondrous words were those that passed the lips of Jesus. “It is finished.”* What is finished? Sin was finished as to its power to work the final ruin of any man. In the mystery of the passion of Jesus, sin which had mastered men, and held them in slavery, was in turn mastered and robbed of its force. Whatever bruised, broken, beaten slave of sin will but hide in the cleft of that rock, and trust in the Crucified, for such an one sin is no more master. To the truth of this statement, testimony can be borne by the great multitudes of men and women who, standing at the Cross, have said, and still can say, The impossible has become possible, for all the forces of sin have been broken by the way of this victory of grace. Sin as a force that

John 19. 30, ruins, is ended in the Cross. It is not ended anywhere else. If men will not come into relation with that Cross, then sin is still an element of force, so great that no man is equal to its overcoming. In the cleft rock there is perfect security and perfect victory. “It is finished,” said the Master, and because He meant that sin was finished, He meant that the work was finished through which grace might flow out like a river.

Not very long ago in London on a cold raw winter day, in the midst of the squalor and the degradation of the East End, I saw a little group of Salvationists, and I heard them sing, and never anthem sounded half so sweet. These were the words:

“Grace is flowing like a river, Millions there have been supplied, Still it flows as fresh as ever From the Saviour’s wounded side.” Did I hear some one say something about doggerel 2 It is the poetry of heaven. Did some one ask as to the balance of the music? It had in it all the harmonies of the heart of God. Grace is flowing like a river. How is it that grace is thus flowing for the healing and the uplifting of men? Because Jesus has said, “It is finished.” He accomplished the work that made possible the outflowing of this river of God.

Let us pause for a moment. Is some soul conscious of sin that masters, of pollution that blights: The river is flowing even here and now, and you may be cleansed, purified, saved. Oh, the matchless splendour of this outshining grace! In that Cross in very deed we see the deepest meaning of sin, and the fullest force of grace. There sin refuses God’s King. There grace announces:

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun Doth his successive journeys run.”* There sin manifested its prostitution of emotion in the brutality of an awful tragedy. There grace through the untold abyss of suffering smiled back with love ineffable, until the very murderers of Christ found the highway open to the heart of God. There sin in its ignorant madness put out the light of life. There grace in infinite wisdom shone through the gloom and there fell upon the pathway of the race the light that leads to God.

‘Watts.

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Oh, wondrous Cross! Therein sin rejected the King, and grace crowned Him. ‘Therein sin destroyed the Priest, and grace through the Priest made atonement. Therein sin silenced the voice of the Prophet, and grace caught up the message and repeated it to all the race, for a new law of life and love. In the Cross I see my sin. In the Cross I see God’s grace. And, hear me, His grace is mightier than my sin, for “where sin abounded grace did abound more exceedingly.”* Yet let me try to show that I cannot put all into it that is suggested by it. Did you ever watch the children playing on the seashore? How I have watched them, the goldenhaired, laughing-eyed, dimple-fisted darlings! I ask this little group what they are doing, and they tell me that they are digging a big hole. What for, I say to them, and they reply, We want to see if the sea can fill it. The hole is dug, and the bairns stand on the mounds of sand, and I wait with them. We wait and watch and wonder as the waves come nearer in, those white horses of the mighty deep, and at last one, the seventh, perchance, stronger and bigger than his brothers, breaks up and over the hole with the sweet swish of summer music, and I look and they look. What has happened: Is the hole filled 2 More exceedingly, more exexceedingly! And the sea is yet behind! “Where sin abounded grace did abound more exceedingly.” *

‘Rom. §. 20. “Rom. §. 20.