The Gospel of Thy grace
4 “He must increase, I must decrease”
Let me my days thus spend
Till I at last depart in peace,
Enduring to the end.
C.M.
Preparatory Reading: Old Testament: Genesis 19; New Testament: Matthew 8 Psalm: 8
1 Timothy 1:6–7
6From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
I put out my hand, and count the fingers. For every finger, I know a name. Each name belongs to a man once active in the Gospel ministry. Every man was better, brighter, more able, more attractive, than ever I could be. I remember them, because I admired them; yes, I loved them. Everyone of them is now out of Christian service. When I think of them, I weep. When I think of myself, I shudder.
Every pastor probably knows such names—more, or less. Every seminarian can expect that one or other class-mate may fall, or depart from the faith.
Paul warned the saints “often” of “many” who had become “enemies of the cross of Christ.” He warned them “even weeping” (Phil. 3:18). He must have known some of them by name, from better days. During his first prison term in Rome, he wrote happily enough about Demas, right alongside Luke (Col.4:14). At his last imprisonment in Rome, he must break the news to Timothy, “Demas hath forsaken me . . . only Luke is with me” (2 Tim. 4:10–11). The Apostle John might have felt the same sorrow of soul as he wrote his host Gaius, condemning Diotrephes, and commending Demetrius (3 John)
Why do such men of which Paul speaks here, careen from the sense and sanctity of a Scriptural ministry of the Gospel? Some, he tells us, desire to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. They long to strike a pose, assume airs, take a name as teachers of the law. Like the scribes, they yearn and “love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the market places, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts” (Mark 12:38–39). Every age and place sees such, who in their own culture and context hanker for the privilege, purse, and prestige of the sage, and are willing to play the fool to get them.
And fools they are. They run, but have no tidings; they run when the Lord did not send them (2 Sam 18:19–32; Jer 23:21–22). They have no content; no vital grasp of Biblical theology, no sound doctrine, no aim at “godly edifying in faith” and no fruit of “charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned.”
Dare I dabble in passages or controversies where I understand neither what I say, nor whereof I affirm? Let me keep silence, Lord Jesus, rather than give out the vain jangling of sounding brass and clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13:1).
9. Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior King
I.
1 Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior King,
Thy praise our willing hearts would sing:
We bow the knee before Thy throne—
We glory in Thy Name alone!
2 Thou art the promised Woman’s Seed,
Which hast our souls from bondage freed:
Who, dying, crushed the serpent’s head,
And rose victorious from the dead.
3 Our King of righteousness and peace,
Thy royal priesthood ne’er shall cease:
For through Thy veil of flesh, to God
Thou hast redeemed us by Thy Blood.
4 Thou art the Star of Jacob bright,
Which brings to all the nations light—
Scepter of Judah, Shiloh, Sun,
To whom the people gathering come.
5 Trembling we kiss Thee, Son of God,
Who rules the earth with iron rod
To dash in shards of potter’s clay
The wicked in Thy power’s day.
6 Thou King of glory, Lord of hosts,
O save us to the uttermost:
Thou hast ascended up on high
Captive to lead captivity.
L.M.
Preparatory Reading: Old Testament: Genesis 20; New Testament: Matthew 9 Psalm: 9
1 Timothy 1:8–11
8But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
We know . . . knowing this: the Apostle calls me to keep every truth in the context and proportion of other truths; to make “the whole counsel of God” my aim. The Law is good if a man use it lawfully: Zeal for God without knowledge prompted rabbinical Jews, ignorant of God’s righteousness in Christ, to go about to establish their own righteousness (Rom 10:2–3). But the works of the Law bring a curse upon us in our depravity and with it death (Rom 7:9–13; Gal 3:10). Thus the Law is not made for a righteous man—it does not create man’s righteousness by merit of his works, but reveals his sin, to drive him to Christ.
What does the righteous standard of the holy Law reveal in all, in me? It reveals we are all the lawless who despise God’s commandment; the disobedient who willfully violate it; the ungodly who have no fear of Him before their eyes; sinners enslaved to iniquity; unholy who are too defiled for God’s sight; profane who actively desecrate all that reveals or represents God; murderers of mothers, manslayers who regard neither order nor life itself; whoremongers who exploit our sexual life for money; those that defile themselves with mankind and pervert our sexual life altogether to our confusion and damnation; menstealers who traffic in human life to enslave or kidnap, turning humanity to chattel like horseflesh; liars who love to deceive and be deceived; perjured persons who compound their deceit with the blasphemy of false swearing.
Is not all this heinous, horrid before my God? And is not my own heart tainted with all this, if not in open vice, then in its impulses of self-will, rebellion, uncleanness, hatred, and deceit? Yes, the Law has made me out to be what I really am before God, in anything that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. The Law reveals my need of the Gospel’s pardon. The Gospel alone can make of me what the Law shows I am not at all.
10.
