There are many statements in scripture which pass scathing comment upon ALL of us and our condition. Statements for which there is no apparent exception.
- All have sinned (Rom 3.23) – our sentence
- There is none that does good (Psalm 14. 1-3); Rom 3.11-12) – our inadequacy
- All flesh is as grass (1 Peter 1.24) – our mortality
These statements from scripture are properly brutal. Fantastically honest, scathing and comprehensive. All men are sinners, there is none that does good and all men are mortal. We may forget these scathing statements of truth, sitting around the bread and wine on a Lord’s Day morning.
How properly offensive scripture is to our human tendency which has us segment humankind into a hundred and one different levels and categories. It takes the rug from underneath of all of it. We are in fact, all in the same boat.
The Word of God is clear. There are no exceptions, all have sinned, all flesh is as grass and there is not one that does good. Not even, one.
How glorious it is that in the face of these frightfully brutal statements about humanity there is in fact, just one exception.
The man Christ Jesus.
Christ is exceptional.
The Exception to Falling Short
When it comes to all men having sinned and come short of the glory of God – Christ is the exception. Perhaps some men were more off course than others. But ultimately, as we scan the field for the arrow shafts of righteousness we find that they have all fallen short of the target. None of them have attained God’s standard. All have sinned. All, but Christ – Praise God!
But was he not born of a women (Gal. 4.4) – most assuredly He was – yet conceived of The Holy Spirit in a virgin womb! (Lk. 1.27). But was He not tempted in all points as we are – for sure He was – yet without sin (Heb. 4.15). Even the prince of this world had no hold over the Saviour (John 14.30). Happy exception this is – that though ‘by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous’ (emphasis mine).
The Exception to Not Doing Good
Here in Psalm 14 The Spirit of God inspired David to characterise the whole of humanity as basically, unable to do good. ‘They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one’. Because we are all born sinners, all that we do is marred by sin. What with our confused motives and pride fuelled endeavours, even the best of men doing the best of things, can all be characterised in this way.
Except, The best man.
Hallelujah brother and sister. He went about doing good (Acts 10.38). Anointed by God, empowered by the Spirit, He went about doing, properly good things. Unimpeded by a sinful nature that complicated His pursuit of His Fathers will He well pleased Him and invoked praise to that effect, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased’ (Lk. 3.22). There is one that has done good. Exceptional indeed.
The Exception to Being like Grass
When it comes to all flesh being like grass, we hardly need the Word of God to spell this out. The glory of man is certainly as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away. Miserable reality. ‘Vanity’ says the Preacher. ‘Brief’ says the Psalmist (Ps. 90,10). Every time.
Well almost.
In fact, every time we read these brutal statements, our souls run to the exceptional man, the Saviour of our souls. Did He wither, did his glory fall away? If this meditation is anything to go by dear saint then quite patently the answer is no! His glory shall never fall. The vigour of life in Christ is remarkable – even as He cried ‘it is Finished’ it was with a loud voice. In the very same Psalm where Moses meditates on the mortality of man He comments on the everlasting God. That is our Saviour. He was no grass, His flower did not fall away.
So in a very real sense, we can be glad of Scripture’s scathing verdict. It draws us to worship the one who is without exception, The exception.
To quote the children’s chorus
I know a man, Different to other men
Unmarked by sin, Untouched by Adam’s fall
Holy and pure, Spotless humanity,
His name is Jesus The Lord
