AT the tea-table of a Christian in Manchester sat two guests; one a gospel preacher who was expected to preach that night, the other a gentleman who had, for many years, held the office of inspector of schools in Jamaica.
In the course of conversation respecting the way in which examination papers are dealt with in Jamaica, this gentleman said that it was a rule to put on all papers, which failed to satisfy the examiners, three letters, in bold, legible characters―B.G.R.
When the preacher stood up that night to preach he related to his audience what he had himself heard just before. He said that the whole of Adam’s race had been put to the test, and with this result, that the same letters B.G.R. had been written against every one of them as natural men. The best and the worst alike, without a single exception, were pronounced B.G.R.
A quaint open-air preacher in Scotland who was one day trying to show his hearers that salvation is not of merit but of grace, remarked that many fell into the serious mistake of thinking that it was the G.P.O. class that God saves.
We have thought it would be useful to the reader to have these two testimonies placed side by side for his thoughtful consideration; for all hope of his belonging to the second class is forever wiped out, if it is really true that he belongs to the first.
But a little explanation is here necessary.
What was meant by B.G.R. on an examination paper was that it was “BELOW GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS.” In applying this to the subject before him―the truth presented to us in the third chapter of Romans―he said that if God’s law required righteousness from man; if God had the right to require what was suitable to His own glory; if all had sinned and come short of His glory; if every mouth had been stopped and all brought in guilty before Him, then it was certainly true that every man, weighed in this just balance, came BELOW GOD’S REQUIREMENTS. The preacher showed, moreover, that the Spirit of God had recorded this solemn verdict plainly enough; and that any but the willfully blind might read it.
But what did the other preacher mean by the G.P.O. class?
Possibly some of his hearers thought that these initials referred to the Government Post Office staff. But not so. He only wanted to draw their attention to, and then correct the mistake that appears so common in the minds of many religious people today, that it is “GOOD PEOPLE ONLY” that God blesses. Tell them that God says, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10,1210As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10)
12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:12)), and they will answer, “Oh, I know I have not been good in the past, but I hope to be good in the future.” But the reader of a man’s examination papers does not confine himself to a few of the best pages. He passes his judgment on the whole, and gives his award accordingly. In like manner, if a man stands before God in judgment on the ground of his own merit, the whole of his history will be taken into account. It is, no doubt, with such a fact before him that David cried out, “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant (O Lord); for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psa. 143:22And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. (Psalm 143:2)). Then his son Solomon was inspired to write something that bears its searching light directly upon the words of his inspired father and shows the necessity for them: “God requireth that which is past” (Eccl. 3:1515That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. (Ecclesiastes 3:15)).
My dear reader, you can stand before God’s holy eye, in judgment for the past, or you can not. If you cannot, why allow yourself to be blinded by the thought that you can?
Jesus, the sent One of the Father, has been here: not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
It was sinners he called.
It was sinners whom He received.
It was for sinners He died.
Before He went on high He gave a commission to His servants to preach repentance and remission of sins in His name among all nations. Blessed proclamation! If He had sent a message to “good people only,” nothing could have been said about either repentance or remission of sins. Good people have nothing to repent of; nothing that needs forgiveness. They come up to God’s requirements. God’s holy ear never heard an idle word from their lips; His holy, all-searching eye never traced the smallest bit of deceit or uncleanness in their heart. Their history is spotless, blameless!
Who but a fool would take this ground and allow the hand of time to push him into the presence of God in judgment, refusing to take, in the name of Him who died for sinners, immediate advantage of the open door of repentance and the proclamation of forgiveness?
You are and forever will be below God’s requirements. Without Christ you must be rejected.
In Christ you will be fully and unchangeably accepted; yea, as fit for the light of God’s glory as the rich merits of His beloved Son can make you.
All that God could wish for in a man He finds in Christ, and nothing would rejoice His heart more than to know that you have found all you want in Christ also. Flee from guilty self to the gracious Saviour; condemn yourself and confide in Him; deny yourself and follow Him.
GEO. C.