Those who have a genuine concern for the glory of God and the praise of his righteousness, are full of admiration for his justice. They do not want God to do anything that would compromise his truth. They do not want the wicked to be let off their punishment at the expense of God’s justice, which is what the objector here is really asking for. But they are intensely happy that God has found a way that is consistent with his justice to pardon sinners, and to pardon them in particular. They admire greatly the mechanism of salvation by which Christ has made an atonement for sin, which answers every objection that could be raised against the fairness and justice of God in forgiving sinners. But this atonement and the wonderful grace that is given in pardoning sinners, is only given to those who have died to sin and turned to God in wholehearted obedience. Nobody can be really saved if their eyes have not been opened to the great holiness and justice of God, so that they say in fear, ‘I am doomed, I am condemned, I am a sinner. God would not be God if he did not punish my sins. God would no longer be infinitely perfect if he overlooked my sin. He is God. His attributes are perfect holiness, perfect justice; he must punish sin. Thanks be to God that he has provided a sacrifice for me, a Saviour who is willing to take my place and take my punishment.’ I must throw away any idea of privilege. I must see the perfect holiness of God, otherwise I will never meaningfully repent and yield to him.
The Jews were not saved, or not many of them. They did not experience salvation, because instead of seeking the Lord they imagined they had some privilege – all Jews will be saved. ‘We are a privileged nation. We are accepted.’ ‘No,’ says Paul, ‘you have got to come in your heart and repent. You have got to experience salvation personally.’ ‘Oh,’ but they argue, ‘how can that be? Then there would no advantage in being a Jew. There would be no point in circumcision. Then God would not be fair, in some way or another.’ The bottom line is that they trusted in their Jewishness; they trusted in their ethnic descent. And we can do the same. There are people who imagine that God will accept them, and they will go to heaven, and they are blessed by him, and they are his children simply because – loosely speaking – they are within the pale of the church. They have always worshipped, and therefore they think they are privileged; they are accepted by God. Or they grew up in a Christian home, a Christian family. Surely that makes a difference. No, that would be to make the same mistake as the Jews. They trusted in what they imagined was a special privilege. God would accept all of them. And we must not make the same mistake. ‘God will accept me, because I loosely believe in him, I loosely believe in Christ. I worship if not regularly, sometimes, perhaps even regularly. My relatives are Christians. Therefore surely I am one of the privileged band who God will accept. I am not like a heathen, a pagan.’ Oh, but you are, if you have not personally come to him, experienced a personal conversion, trusted in him for yourself, realised that you cannot be saved except through Christ and the offering he made in taking the punishment of sin for those who believe.