For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James 2:12
A man who had planned to challenge his parking ticket changed his mind when he came before the judge in the courtroom. He pleaded guilty, and the judge fined him $50. The man walked down to the office, paid his fine, and left the building. Two hours later, a different case came before the same judge. This time, it was a young man closely guarded by a couple of burly sheriff’s deputies. This was no parking offense; this was a case of first-degree murder, and the judge was very careful to make sure the accused man was returned to secure custody after making his appearance. There could scarcely be two cases more different as far as the court was concerned. And there was a great difference in how the two men were treated: one was at perfect freedom while the other was under close guard. The reason: there was a huge difference in the type of crime that the two men were charged with. And that is as it should be. Our world would be a horrible place if people committing minor offenses were incarcerated or if murderers were slapped with a paltry fine. But when it comes to crimes against God, and how God deals with those crimes, the bar of justice is set at the same level for all.
We have all encountered people to whom we have presented the Gospel who consider the message irrelevant to them. ‘I’m not a bad sinner,’ they tell us, ‘not as bad as that character over there.’ They assume that because they have not committed great crimes and have made a reasonable attempt to be a good citizen and family member, that they are free of condemnation. As far as the people around them goes, they are right. Some people take their responsibility of being a good neighbour and a good citizen very seriously. Good for them! The world is a better place for that. But they fail to recognize the difference between man’s standard and God’s standard. It’s a huge obstacle to the Gospel to get that difference across to people. And it’s a huge mark of the grace of God that He has allowed us to see the difference.
If we were to all sit down in a circle and tell our testimonies, one of the few elements of our stories that would be the same would be our recognition that we were sinners deserving of God’s judgment. None of us were saved until we understood that. Some of us came from Christian homes where the crimes of our childhood were pretty small in the world’s eyes. But they were all sins in God’s eyes. Some of us came from godless homes and unholy environments where sin was rampant and respect for the laws of God and man were disregarded. And God knew every sin. And yet, guilty of breaking every commandment, God made us to see that it was all against Himself. Then He made us to appreciate that the Lord Jesus bore the wrath for all of those sins and for all of our sinfulness. That is why, when we consider our need for salvation, we recognize that the work of redemption at Calvary must be infinite.
We were unable to pay the penalty for breaking the whole law, which we did not even try to keep. But the Lord Jesus was able to pay the penalty, even though He did keep the whole law, not offending in even one point. – Jim MacIntosh