Cloudy Medicine
By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.
02/03/2020
"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)
Several years ago, my wife Wendy was dispensing a dropper full of medicine to one of our daughters, who was an infant at the time and had a fever. While mom was administering the medicine, our two-year-old son snatched the medicine bottle and tried to play pharmacist by pouring milk from his sippy cup into the open bottle. Before Wendy could get the bottle away from him a drop or two of milk had escaped from the sippy cup and landed right in the medicine bottle. As Wendy looked discouragingly at the cloudy medicine, she realized the entire bottle had to be thrown away. Even though the bottle contained 99% medicine and less than 1% milk, it was still contaminated and unfit for use.
Grace is a lot like medicine. It must be pure for it to be effectual. Grace tainted with any form of human works, behavior, efforts, requirements, merit, etc., becomes spoiled. It has been nearly 2000 years since Jesus died and rose again to pay the penalty for sin and provide eternal salvation to all who will simply receive it by faith. Yet efforts to gain heaven on the merits of one’s own righteous acts are still contaminating the pure message of grace everywhere you look. The pride of men and women is so strong that it will not allow them to believe that they can get something as valuable as forgiveness and eternal life for free. This is in spite of the fact that the Apostle Paul and the other early church leaders taught that the true gospel message was one of salvation by grace through faith as a free gift from God. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Elsewhere Paul writes, “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” (Galatians 2:21) What Paul was saying could not be clearer. The righteousness that God’s holiness demands is perfect righteousness. If mankind could gain eternal life by keeping the law, or doing good works, Christ's death was irrelevant. Moreover, anyone who hopes to justify himself before God by keeping the law must be willing to keep all of it. Since this is impossible for fallen man, eternal salvation must come from some other source. There must be some other means by which we can gain perfect righteousness. There is. It's called GRACE.
At first this may sound too good to be true. But that is what makes grace so amazing. You cannot earn it….it is free! That is the essence of grace. It is undeserved, unmerited favor. You can keep trying to earn heaven by your own righteous behavior if you want to. Yet, just remember, righteousness gained by human effort is cloudy medicine. James said, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." In other words, no matter how much medicine is in the bottle, if you add even one ounce of human effort, it spoils the whole batch. When it comes to keeping the law, close does not count. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and eternal salvation is not a game. If you want it, you must simply receive it by faith. It is a gift. It cannot be earned. Have you trusted Christ for salvation?
02/03/2020
"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)
Several years ago, my wife Wendy was dispensing a dropper full of medicine to one of our daughters, who was an infant at the time and had a fever. While mom was administering the medicine, our two-year-old son snatched the medicine bottle and tried to play pharmacist by pouring milk from his sippy cup into the open bottle. Before Wendy could get the bottle away from him a drop or two of milk had escaped from the sippy cup and landed right in the medicine bottle. As Wendy looked discouragingly at the cloudy medicine, she realized the entire bottle had to be thrown away. Even though the bottle contained 99% medicine and less than 1% milk, it was still contaminated and unfit for use.
Grace is a lot like medicine. It must be pure for it to be effectual. Grace tainted with any form of human works, behavior, efforts, requirements, merit, etc., becomes spoiled. It has been nearly 2000 years since Jesus died and rose again to pay the penalty for sin and provide eternal salvation to all who will simply receive it by faith. Yet efforts to gain heaven on the merits of one’s own righteous acts are still contaminating the pure message of grace everywhere you look. The pride of men and women is so strong that it will not allow them to believe that they can get something as valuable as forgiveness and eternal life for free. This is in spite of the fact that the Apostle Paul and the other early church leaders taught that the true gospel message was one of salvation by grace through faith as a free gift from God. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Elsewhere Paul writes, “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” (Galatians 2:21) What Paul was saying could not be clearer. The righteousness that God’s holiness demands is perfect righteousness. If mankind could gain eternal life by keeping the law, or doing good works, Christ's death was irrelevant. Moreover, anyone who hopes to justify himself before God by keeping the law must be willing to keep all of it. Since this is impossible for fallen man, eternal salvation must come from some other source. There must be some other means by which we can gain perfect righteousness. There is. It's called GRACE.
At first this may sound too good to be true. But that is what makes grace so amazing. You cannot earn it….it is free! That is the essence of grace. It is undeserved, unmerited favor. You can keep trying to earn heaven by your own righteous behavior if you want to. Yet, just remember, righteousness gained by human effort is cloudy medicine. James said, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." In other words, no matter how much medicine is in the bottle, if you add even one ounce of human effort, it spoils the whole batch. When it comes to keeping the law, close does not count. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and eternal salvation is not a game. If you want it, you must simply receive it by faith. It is a gift. It cannot be earned. Have you trusted Christ for salvation?
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