Mankind was created absolutely perfect. He was able to obey God’s commandments without in the least degree coming short of God’s high standard: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind”. Both Adam and Eve were able to give that full-hearted love to God in all that they did and said and thought. They owed perfect obedience to God and they actually gave Him perfect obedience.
But before long they fell into sin. No longer did they love God perfectly. Indeed, at that point in their lives, they did not love Him at all. And the whole human race fell in Adam, which means that all of mankind “go astray as soon as they be born”. They do not love God; they come short of His glory in everything; they sin continually. They are therefore guilty, and all the time they are adding to their guilt. Because they are not rendering to God the obedience they owe to Him, they are in debt to Him. And every transgression is adding to that debt.
God is infinitely just; He must punish sin. In other words, He cannot overlook that debt. So every sinner who is still in debt at the end of his life must go to a lost eternity, the prison for debtors to divine justice, where they are “reserved unto judgement”. From that prison there is no possibility of getting out. The sentence has been pronounced on every condemned sinner: “Thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matt 5:26), and it will be confirmed on the day of judgement. These words, spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, are in the context of earthly disputes, and follow advice to “agree with thine adversary quickly . . . lest . . . thou be cast into prison” – for, in particular, debt. But J A Alexander comments that the words “are intended . . . to remind the hearer that perpetual imprisonment for debt on earth is but a shadow of perpetual imprisonment in hell for sin”. God would be unjust to ignore that debt unless complete satisfaction is made for it – unless the whole debt is paid, to the very last farthing (the Saviour was referring to a coin of very small value).
As One who is perfectly righteous, God cannot accept anything less than the full payment of the debt we owe. And, throughout all eternity, the justice of God will pursue the sinner in hell crying, as it were: “Pay me that thou owest”. But the sinner cannot pay off the smallest part of his debt. In fact, he will always go on adding to it. One of the solemn aspects of existence in a lost eternity is the lack of restraint on sin; so that, far from the sinner being able to reduce his debt to divine justice, he is continually adding to it. There is no possibility of reducing that debt. The uttermost farthing will never be paid. The sinner can never be freed from a lost eternity.
Is there then any hope of reducing the debt in this life? Could the sinner not turn over a new leaf and begin to please God by keeping His law? The truth is that no one in this fallen world can meet God’s standard; no one can love God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind. The Bible is clear on the matter: “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin”. By our attempts to keep the law, we can never please God. Fallen creatures that we are, we cannot meet that perfectly holy standard which He has set for us. What the law does is to show us that we come short of this standard, that we are sinning, that we are adding to our debt. Our only hope is to find a substitute who can pay the debt for us before it is too late.
It is the great wonder of this world’s history that such a substitute was provided, that the Son of God came into this world to pay this debt on behalf of a multitude which cannot be numbered. It is to God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – that every sinner is in debt. And God has made a perfectly just provision which allows sinners to escape the eternal prison which their debt deserves. But He has not ignored the debt – that would be unjust. He has laid it on His Son, who came “to give His life a ransom for many”. He undertook the responsibility of paying the debt on behalf of all whom God had a purpose to save. And He discharged that responsibility in His sufferings and death. He could pay that debt to the uttermost farthing – and He did. That is what He was announcing when He said on the cross: “It is finished”. But can we be sure that the payment was accepted? Yes, we can; God the Father has made a public declaration that He has accepted the payment made by Christ as the substitute for indebted sinners. In the resurrection of Christ we may see that the debt was paid, to the uttermost farthing.
Thus what no sinner can do has been accomplished. So, when a sinner believes in Jesus, he may be sure that his debt has been completely paid. Thus it is said: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1); those who believe in Jesus are freely justified. No contribution is required from the sinner, however great his debt. Many have wished to bring a contribution. Among them was the rich young ruler, who asked, “What lack I yet?” Indeed he thought he had all his life been making a considerable contribution to his salvation; was he not already keeping the commandments as well as it was reasonable to expect? But no such contribution is possible. As we have already seen, our best deeds are only adding to our debt because they are not full of love to God. To think of purchasing our salvation with our imperfect works is altogether dishonouring to God. They cannot possibly be accepted.
It is a full salvation that is proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And let no sinner question the perfection of this salvation, for he is further assured that Christ “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). If he is looking to Christ, the sinner can be certain that his debt has been completely paid, and that the One who has paid his debt is representing him at the right hand of God. Just as his debt has been paid to the uttermost, so will all his other needs be supplied to the uttermost. The work of sanctification, begun when his debt was paid, will be continued until he is made perfect, at the moment when he will pass into glory. The intercession of his Saviour at the right hand of the Father will ensure this. How glorious then is this salvation! What reason for thankfulness they have whose infinite debt has been so willingly paid, and who have the promise of eternal blessedness and of the supply of all their needs while this life continues! What reason also to live a life of wholehearted obedience to the will of God as expressed in His commandments!
But how sad that so few come to Christ to have their debt paid! Though their debt is infinite, they do not realise the seriousness of their position; they do not realise the guilt of every one of their sins; they do not take it to heart that, if they do not come to Christ as heavily-indebted sinners, they must yet appear before His judgement seat to have their debts announced publicly and be sent to the eternal prison from which they can never get free.
But we are still in life. Let us take to heart the solemnity and the seriousness of being sinners infinitely in debt to the justice of God. We must not doubt the willingness of Christ to clear that debt, even to the uttermost farthing. If God is still our adversary, let us heed the words of Christ: “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matt 5:25,26). Yet Christ still calls: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. He is calling sinners to come, no matter how heavily indebted they are, to have it all forgiven. Let no one refuse.