“Thou Must Save, and Thou Alone”

March 6, 2010 at 10:00 AM (Grace, Law and Gospel)

As I was preparing to preach at the Federal Prison today, my mind turned to a verse of Augustus Toplady’s hymn, Rock of Ages. It says a great deal about the purpose of God in our salvation:

“Not the labors of my hands, Can fulfill Thy Law’s commands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.”

No matter how diligently we work, we will never work hard enough. No matter how much we try to keep God’s Law, we will always break His commands. No matter how sincere we may be, we will always have a deceitful heart. No matter how many times we weep over our sins, we will never be sorrowful enough for them. Jeremiah said it correctly, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23) No, we can’t do good, because we are so accustomed to doing evil.

I am so grateful for Christ who did on our behalf, what we could never do for ourselves: “For our sake he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Yes, “Thou must save, and Thou alone.”