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2. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
If man were his own judge, who would be condemned? But man judges by acts; God by principles. His eye therefore beholds a mass of corruption; while all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes. (Genesis 6:5. Psalm 14:3.) In fact — man will never believe his real character, until the looking-glass is held to his face with convincing light (Romans 7:9), or some subtle temptation unfolds the hateful discovery. He confesses himself indeed to be a sinner. But what his sins are, he knows not; probably only venial, and abundantly compensated by his fancied virtues. “Ye are they” — said our Lord to men of this stamp — “which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15.)
Sometimes we see this delusion under the most shadowy cover: Pilate washed his hands, and was clean in his own eyes, from the blood of his condemned victim. (Matthew 27:24.) The murderers of Christ were clean, by refraining from the defilement of the judgment-hall, and by eating the passover. (John 18:28.)
The persecutors of the Church blinded their consciences in the sincerity of unbelief. (Acts 26:9.) Often has the self-deceiver passed into eternity under a creditable profession. But how does he stand before God? He never acted from principle. He had the form and the shape of a Christian, so drawn to life as to pass for a living man. But the eyes that are as a flame of fire, bare witness — “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” (Revelation 3:1.)
External form without a sanctified heart is a baseless religion. Our real worth is, what we are in the sight of God. He weighs , not “the actions”† only, but the spirits. His eye discerns, if but one grain too light, and pronounces the sentence. Saul was thus “weighed in the balances, and found wanting.”† And “if thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities” — the short-comings of thy full and righteous demands — “O LORD, who shall stand?”† Must we not fly from Omniscience to satisfied justice, and there find, that “there is forgiveness with God”?† Joyous, indeed, is it to mark the even balances of our Judge; in one scale, his own perfect law; in the other, his Son's perfect obedience. Here, O my God, is my peace, my security. “Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.” (Isaiah 26:7.) But oh! place the blood of thy beloved Son even in the scale of thy justice; and we will render to thee the glory of thy wondrous work of grace.
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