No More To Pay – Scott Groom / Andy Judd (sheet music)

Description

VERSE 1:
Why would I dwell on the past?
Why would I hide in the dark as if I’m still in chains?
Shouldn’t my conscience be clear?
Didn’t my Saviour bleed?
His grace is enough for me

CHORUS:
This is my right
Now I’m in Christ
Now He stands in my place
Whatever I’ve done or I’ve become
I am covered by grace
This is my only claim
Now He speaks for me
There’s no more to pay
No more to pay

VERSE 2:
Who will now try to accuse?
Now that I’m washed in His blood I am free indeed
Knowing my verdict to come
Nothing is left undone
My Judge is the One who rose

BRIDGE:
Once and for all
It is won
It is won now
In Jesus’ name
It is done
It is done
He made a way
I can come
I can come now
No more to pay
It is done
It is done

© 2016 Scott Groom and Andrew Judd (Admin by SHOUT! Music Publishing) CCLI# 7068899

About the song

This song came about when our mutual friend Nathan Eshman (from Shout! Music Publishing) set the two of us up for a co-writing session.  Scott had listened to one of my (Andy’s) sermons given at Barneys on Zechariah 3 called ‘Baggage: What to do with your regrets’, and wanted to write a song that captured the application of that sermon: in Christ you have a legal right not to have your sins held against you – after all, is God really so unjust as to demand again from you the penalty Jesus already paid?

The context for the sermon is this: in Zechariah 3 the prophet sees a vision of Joshua the high priest, with Satan standing beside him accusing him. Joshua is in filthy clothes, symbolising his sinfulness. But rather than condemn Joshua, the Lord rebukes Satan for trying to accuse him – after all, God has chosen to reinstate Joshua, washing his filthy garments – so how dare anyone try to accuse him?

Who will now try to accuse? Now that I’m washed in his blood, I am free indeed.

The reformed doctrine of justification is incredibly important. As a pastor, I know from literally hundreds of private pastoral conversations with people in our church that many of us struggle to feel forgiven, to be confident we are accepted by him. We hope, but we do not know, that God will welcome us on that final day. You see, Satan is still the accuser, and while he loves to convince non Christians that they are fine with God without Jesus, his favourite thing to do with Christians is whisper to them accusations: “God can’t forgive this! You’ve gone too far again! You’re done for!” Why do we fall for these lies?

Why would I dwell on the past?

Why would I hide in the dark, as if I’m still in chains?

The only way to fight these accusations is to look to Jesus, not ourselves. First, when we see Jesus on the cross we know that our debt has already been paid. Second, we need to ask ourselves “do I really think God is so unjust that he would demand again from me the penalty Jesus already paid?”

Shouldn’t my conscience be clear?
Didn’t my Saviour bleed?
His grace is enough for me.
This is my right now I’m in Christ
Now he stands in my place,
Whatever I’ve done or I’ve become, I am covered by grace.
This is my only claim: now he speaks for me there’s no more to pay

The Roman Catholic doctrine of justification says that when we are saved, Christ’s merits are infused into us, which then helps us to do good works and ‘gradually progress towards justification’.[1]  This is not the reformed understanding. As the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles (XI) put it, ‘We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deserving.’ The rights Jesus has by his own merit is ‘imputed’ to us; just as God’s declaration ‘let there be light’ caused the dark sky to explode, so when God declares us to be righteous we really become what he says.

If the language of ‘my right’ sounds uncomfortably close to our ethical and legal discourse of rights – and so you’d rather tone it down and be less bold – then you’re beginning to understand what is so scandalous about the doctrine of justification. There’s a reason they threw Paul out of the synagogues, and tried to kill Martin Luther. Everyone believes God is merciful, gracious and forgiving. That’s not controversial enough to justify a reformation. But ‘Justification’ is more than just ‘I forgive you’. A Muslim knows that Allah is forgiving. But only the Christian God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). And so only a Christian can answer the Accuser with such confidence – we are not waiting for God to forgive us one day because he is merciful; we are already legally right before God.

Of course, you can misunderstand this. You can abuse the right and take it as licence for lawlessness (Rom 6:1). But misunderstanding does not negate the doctrine. Jesus, Paul, Luther: they were all accused of advocating lawlessness.

So I hope when the chorus of ‘No More To Pay’ comes up you will be provoked and challenged to ask yourself ‘on what basis could I claim such a presumptuous thing?’. And at that point I want you to look to Jesus and ask whether he has the right to stand before God as his perfect obedient Son. Of course he does.

Well then, so do you.

That right, which Jesus has by nature and by his obedience, belongs to you now.

That’s what it means to be justified (declared to be righteous) before God and so have peace with him (Rom 5:1)

You have the right to be called a child of God (John 1:12).

You have the right to the tree of life (Revelation 22:14)

And don’t let anyone tell you different.

[1] Vazquez, Primum secundae II, d222.2, cited in Andrew Leslie, Doctrines of Grace: Justification  (Moore College CT300 notes).