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NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 44

You have in this first scripture the misery of the sinner, his state, how he has suffered here; he fell ^[p. 92] among thieves who stripped him and wounded him, and left him half dead. This is man’s state as a sinner; the grace of God that bringeth salvation is described by the Samaritan, who, as he journeyed, came where he was. Christ came to the place where the sinner is, He was beside the thief on the cross. The light from God shone into him, and he could see in Jesus One who had done nothing amiss, and that He could deliver him from all his misery. The sinner is not only relieved, his wounds bound up, and oil and wine poured in, but the very power which brought Christ into the place of our misery carries the sinner out of it; he is brought to an inn and there cared for. This is the grace to the sinner respecting his own state; he is relieved, he is carried by a new power, and he is cared for all through his pilgrimage. “Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13: 5); he is to be taken care of as a traveller in an inn until the Lord returns; there is nothing for him on earth till then.

Now in chapter 15 we are taught that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Many confine the gospel to the sinner’s side, to the relief of his misery. The cause of all man’s misery is that he has offended against God. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin”. (Romans 5:12) The younger son is man in his natural state; the greater his abilities the more abandoned he has become. At length grace works, all his resources as a man have failed, he is compelled. No one is converted easily - he is reduced to the lowest point, death stares him in the face - no one is converted who is not made conscious that he cannot stand before God. He comes to himself, he counts on his father’s goodness, for he has not a word to say for himself; he comes, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and ran and fell on his neck and covered him with kisses; all the ^[p. 93] offence has been so fully removed that the heart of the father can fully express itself. We must bear in mind that if the shepherd had not gone out and given his life for the sheep, the father never could have come out in righteousness, and if the light that fell on the silver piece had not shone into the prodigal’s heart, he never would have come to his father.

All has been so fully removed by Christ, who followed the lost sheep to the dark mountains whither it had wandered, that the love of God in all its mighty volume can flow out righteously to the returning prodigal. And it is not only that all which offended Him has been removed from the eye of God, but He fits the returning one for Himself, He enables him to enjoy His own presence. Not only is His love shed abroad in your heart, so that you know the heart of God as it is towards you, but the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes you free from the law of sin and death. You are in Christ, and you have begun to make merry.

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