As we look at the Ten Commandments, we find ourselves wanting. We have not worshiped God as we ought. We have worshiped idols, albeit of our own making. We have not fully honored his name. We have not rejoiced in the Lord’s Day nor served God on it. We are delinquent in regard to our earthly parents. We have killed, by anger and looks, if not in more obvious ways. We have committed adultery by thoughts and perhaps in more cases than we care to admit by acts as well. We have not been truthful. We have wished for and plotted to get that which is our neighbor’s.

Moreover, it is not just we who see our sinfulness at this point, though we do see it as the commandments speak to us. It is also God who sees us. For, as the author of Hebrews states, “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).

What will be his reaction? Not to excuse us, certainly, for God cannot simply condone sin however much we might wish it. On the contrary, he tells us that he will by no means clear the guilty. He teaches that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). What shall be done? We are guilty. We stand condemned. The judgment is soon to be executed. What can we do? Left to ourselves we can do nothing. But the glory of the gospel is that we are not left to ourselves. Rather, God has intervened to do what we cannot. We are judged by the law and found wanting. But God has sent Jesus, judged by the law and found perfect. He has died in our place to bear our just judgment in order that the way might be clear for God to clothe us in his righteousness. That is why the Bible goes on to say that even though “the wages of sin is death,” nevertheless, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If the law does its proper work in us, it will not make us self-righteous. It will make us Christ-righteous, as it turns us from our own corrupt works to him who is our only hope, our Savior.