WE are not aware that any question more widely engages men’s minds all over the world, nor about which there is keener agitation and anxiety today, than regarding what is so well known as “The Great Wages Question,” i.e., the due relation between capital and labor.
This question of wages, which lies between man and man, is no doubt very important in its way, but is not within the sphere of these pages to enter upon, except to compare it briefly with the infinitely greater wages question which is between man and God, and respecting which we fear there is far too little concern amongst men.
The first-named question has chiefly to do with time, but the second is connected with eternity and God, with whom we all have to do.
All like to have their due, and everyone will readily admit that if a man perform a day’s work he is entitled to receive a day’s wages, and that it would be unrighteous to withhold such wages, or any part of them.
Now, do you suppose for a moment that God is less righteous than man? By no means. We learn from God’s Word that “the wages of sin is death,” and “after this the judgment,” i.e., “the lake of fire, which is the second death.”
God, who cannot lie, also tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
So you see that ALL, without exception, have earned their wages―death and judgment! It is clear enough, therefore, in common righteousness, that those well-earned wages must not only be paid but be received.
For you, therefore, my reader, if unsaved, the awfully solemn question is―What about the receiving of the wages for your sins? For as surely as you have earned them, they must be received either by yourself or by your Substitute, and we earnestly ask, which of the two is it to be? We beseech you not to thrust away from you this solemn question as though it were of no moment! Death and judgment lie straight before you as your just due, and must ere long be your sad portion, unless you accept in this day of grace the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, and Wages Receiver, “who suffered, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” Do not go on unmoved till you reap “the due reward of your deeds”―namely, an unending duration of misery in receiving your wages in the lake of fire!
The God of love and the God of all grace, who is withal absolutely holy, has come forward with a release, and with blessing for all who own they have really earned what is their due, and who warned of God, by faith accept His Beloved Son as their gracious Substitute and Soul-Blesser. All such are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ” Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins... that he might be just and the justifier of him, who believeth in Jesus.... That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 3:25, 26, 5:21).
Dear reader, I implore you not to be like Balaam, the son of Bosor, “who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.” And mark, that same Balaam said, “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh!” (Num. 24:1717I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. (Numbers 24:17)).
Oh, be wise today, while God is long-suffering, and not only make sure of being clear of the great eternal pay-day, but take care that you secure present blessing and an eternal home in the glory, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“We thank Thee for the blood,
The blood of Christ Thy Son;
The blood by which our peace is made,
Our victory is won.”
J. N.