“If, then, dread of God, and hatred of God, be the cause of all our sins, how shall we be cured of the love of sin, but by taking away the cause? How do you most effectually kill the noxious weed? is it not by striking at the root? In the love of Christ to man, then – in that strange unspeakable gift of God, when he laid down his life for his enemies – when he died the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God – do not you see an object which, if really believed by the sinner, takes away all his dread and all his hatred of God? The root of sin is severed from the stock. In His bearing double for all our sins, we see the curse carried away – we see God reconciled. Why should we fear any more? Not fearing, why should we hate God any more? Not hating God, what desirableness can we see in sin any more? Putting on the righteousness of Christ, we are again placed as Adam was – with God as our friend. We have no object in sinning; and, therefore, we do not care to sin. In the 6th chapter of Romans, Paul seems to speak of the believer sinning, as if the very proposition was absurd: ‘How shall we that are dead to sin’ – that is, who in Christ have already borne the penalty – ‘how shall we live any longer therein?’ And again he saith very boldly: ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you’ – it is impossible in the nature of things – ‘for ye are not under the law, but under grace’ ye are no longer under the curse of a broken law, dreading and hating God; ye are under grace – under a system of peace and friendship with God.
“But is there anyone ready to object to me, that if these things be so – if nothing more than that a man be brought into peace with God is needful to a holy life and conversation – how comes it that believers do still sin? I answer, It is indeed too true that believers do sin; but it is just as true that unbelief is the cause of their sinning. If, brethren, you and I were to live with our eye so closely on Christ bearing double for all our sins – freely offering to all a double righteousness for all our sins; and if this constant view of the love of Christ maintained within us – as assuredly it would, if we looked with a straight forward eye – the peace of God which passeth all understanding – the peace that rests on nothing in us, but upon the completeness that is in Christ – then, brethren, I do say, that frail and helpless as we are, we should never sin – we should not have the slightest object in sinning. But, ah! my friends, this is not the way with us. How often in the day is the love of Christ quite out of view! How often is it obscured to us – sometimes hid from us by God himself, to teach us what we are. How often are we left without the real sense of the completeness of his offering – the perfectness of his righteousness, and without the will or the confidence to claim an interest in him! Who can wonder, then, that, where there is so much unbelief, dread and hatred of God should again and again creep in, and sin should often display its poisonous head? The matter is very plain, brethren, if only we had spiritual eyes to see it. If we live a life of faith on the Son of God, then we shall assuredly live a life of holiness. I do not say, we ought to do so; but I say we shall, as a matter of necessary consequence. But, in as far as we do not live a life of faith, in so far we shall live a life of unholiness. It is through faith that God purifies the heart; and there is no other way.” (Robert Murray M’Cheyne, “The Love of Christ”)
