The words of the Law are bitter words for the sinner. It confirms what their conscience already knows: they’re guilty. The words of the Accuser are sweet poison. They drip with the syrup of self-flattery, but once swallowed the paralysis of fear, shame, and self-pity sets in.
The Accuser heaps the words of the Law in front of sinners: guilty, transgressor, unholy, law-breaker. The Accuser will serve up a steady diet of these words, all of them true. Either you’ll be crippled by the immense shame of all your transgressions of God’s holy law, or you’ll be impossibly tangled in the pride of your self-righteousness. The legalist & the lawbreaker alike only know the bitter words of Sinai: cursed is the one who does not obey all the words of this law (Deu. 27:26). They hate this meal of Law, but it’s the only meal they know.
But laid on this table are edible words of Comfort. When the Father feeds us this meal, the first course is still the Law, but it isn’t the only course. The Father takes the Law, and by the Spirit convicts you of your guilt. He then convinces you of Christ’s righteousness. Then, as you partake of Christ, all the words of Guilt, all the words of Accusation, all the words of Shame melt into words of Comfort. I am a great Sinner, but Christ is a merciful Savior. He is mine, and I am His.
Here on this table is free grace, and plenty for every last sinner who comes. You’ve tasted the bitter medicine of the convicting power of the Law, you’ve listened for too long to the Accuser’s half-Gospel. Hear now the full Gospel: though your sins are as scarlet, by Christ you are washed clean as February snow.
So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…
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