Luke 7:42

NOTHING TO PAY

‘They had nothing to pay.’

Luke 7:42

In this parable of the two debtors, as well as in another of His parables, our Lord teaches us that our sins are like so many debts which we owe to Almighty God, and that we cannot possibly pay them ourselves. Endless are the devices by which men, deceived by their own hearts and by the suggestions of Satan, contrive to persuade themselves that they have something to pay. But it is all of no use. Not what a man has done or felt, nor what he has avoided doing, can make him stand acquitted at the great day of reckoning, and gain him his discharge.

I. The debt paid.—Only One ever lived a perfect, holy, and sinless life on earth—the Man Christ Jesus. He, and He alone, perfectly fulfilled the law of God. Jesus Christ is more than man. He is God. He did not come into the world as all other men come without any choice of their own. He, being the Eternal Son of the Eternal God, became man of His own will, and the union in Him of the Godhead with the Manhood gave to His human life and death an infinite value, so as to atone for all the sins of all the generations of men that ever lived or shall live. Thus He was able to give His life a ransom for many. He has paid the whole debt for each and every one.

II. The Atonement appropriated.—You and I have to believe this—to take God at His word: ‘God so loved the world’—this poor, perishing world of helpless sinners—‘that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ Can words be plainer? You and I must trust with all our hearts in Christ—in His perfect work, His all-atoning Sacrifice, His precious blood.

III. What follows.—If we believe this, and put all our dependance on Christ alone for pardon and acceptance with God, what will follow? What will be the effect? ‘Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?’ Shall we cast away all Church ordinances as useless? God forbid. But we shall see them in their proper light. Trust in itself is not enough unless we are brought into sacramental union with Christ. It is not only our belief in Him but His life in us which will save us. We shall not put the sacraments in the place of Christ. We shall be diligent and earnest in prayer, in worship, and in the study of the Scriptures, as helps to a holy life of grateful love and service. We shall highly value the sacraments as privileges granted to God’s reconciled children in Christ Jesus. We shall give alms liberally, and be forward in works of mercy and love, as ways of showing our love and gratitude for the love and mercy that has been shown to us. We shall love much, feeling that to us much has been forgiven. If our faith in Christ crucified does not produce such fruits as these, it cannot be a real, a saving faith.

—Rev. J. E. Vernon.