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SERMON 36. THE LAW ESTABLISHED THROUGH FAITH

SERMON 36 THE LAW ESTABLISHED THROUGH FAITH

DISCOURSE 2

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid:

Yea, we establish the law.” <450331>Romans 3:31.

1. IT has been shown in the preceding discourse, which are the most usual

ways of making void the law through faith; namely, First, the not

preaching it at all; which effectually makes it all void at a stroke; and this

under color of preaching Christ and magnifying the gospel, though it be, in

truth, destroying both the one and the other: Secondly, the teaching,

(whether directly or indirectly,) that faith supersedes the necessity of

holiness; that this is less necessary now, or a less degree of it necessary,

than before Christ came; that it is less necessary to us, because we believe,

than otherwise it would have been; or, that Christian liberty is a liberty

from any kind or degree of holiness: (So perverting those great truths, that

we are now under the covenant of grace, and not of works; that a man is

justified by faith, without the works of the law; and that “to him that

worketh not, but believeth, his faith is counted for righteousness:”) Or,

Thirdly, the doing this practically; the making void the law in practice,

though not in principle; the living or acting as if faith was designed to

excuse us from holiness; the allowing ourselves in sin, “because we are not

under the law, but under grace.” It remains to inquire how we may follow a

better pattern, how we may be able to say, with the Apostle, “Do we then

make void the law through faith? God forbid: Yea, we establish the law.”

12. We do not, indeed, establish the old ceremonial law; we know that is

abolished forever. Much less do we establish the whole Mosaic

dispensation; this we know our Lord has nailed to his cross. Nor yet do

we so establish the moral law, (which it is to be feared too many do,) as if

the fulfilling it, the keeping all the commandments, were the condition of

our justification: If it were so, surely “in His sight should no man living be

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justified.” But all this being allowed, we still, in the Apostle’s sense,

“establish the law,” the moral law.

1. We establish the law, First, by our doctrine; by endeavoring to preach it

in its whole extent, to explain and enforce every part of it, in the same

manner as our great Teacher did while upon earth. We establish it by

following St. Peter’s advice: “If any man speak, let him speak as the

oracles of God;” as the holy men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost, spoke

and wrote for our instruction; and as the Apostles of our blessed Lord, by

the direction of the same Spirit. We establish it whenever we speak in his

name, by keeping back nothing from them that hear; by declaring to them,

without any limitation or reserve, the whole counsel of God. And in order

the more effectually to establish it, we use herein great plainness of

speech. “We are not as many that corrupt the word of God;”

kaphleuontes (as artful men their bad wines;) — we do not cauponize,

mix, adulterate, or soften it, to make it suit the taste of the hearers: —

“But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in

Christ;” as having no other aim, than “by manifestation of the truth to

commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

2. We then, by our doctrine, establish the law, when we thus openly

declare it to all men; and that in the fullness wherein it is delivered by our

blessed Lord and his Apostles; when we publish it in the height, and

depth, and length, and breadth thereof. We then establish the law, when

we declare every part of it, every commandment contained therein, not

only in its full, literal sense, but likewise in its spiritual meaning; not only

with regard to the outward actions, which it either forbids or enjoins, but

also with respect to the inward principle, to the thoughts, desires, and

intents of the heart.

3. And indeed this we do the more diligently, not only because it is of the

deepest importance; — inasmuch as all the fruit, every word and work,

must be only evil continually, it the tree be evil, if the dispositions and

tempers of the heart be not right before God; — but likewise, because as

important as these things are, they are little considered or understood, —

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so little, that we may truly say of the law, too, when taken in its full

spiritual meaning, it is “a mystery which was hid from ages and

generations since the world began.” It was utterly hid from the heathen

world. They, with all their boasted wisdom, neither found out God, nor

the law of God; not in the letter, much less in the spirit of it. “Their

foolish hearts were” more and more “darkened;” while “professing

themselves wise, they became fools.” And it was almost equally hid, as to

its spiritual meaning, from the bulk of the Jewish nation. Even these, who

were so ready to declare concerning others, “This people that knoweth not

the law are cursed,” pronounced their own sentence therein, as being under

the same curse, the same dreadful ignorance. Witness our Lord’s continual

reproof of the wisest among them, for their gross misinterpretations of it.

Witness the supposition almost universally received among them, that

they needed only to make clean the outside of the cup; that the paying

tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, — outward exactness, — would atone

for inward unholiness, for the total neglect both of justice and mercy, of

faith and the love of God. Yea, so absolutely was the spiritual meaning of

the law hidden from the wisest of them, that one of their most eminent

Rabbis comments thus on those words of the Psalmist, “If I incline unto

iniquity with my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” “That is,” saith he, “if

it be only in my heart, if I do not commit outward wickedness, the Lord

will not regard it; he will not punish me, unless I proceed to the outward

act!”

4. But, alas! the law of God, as to its inward, spiritual meaning, is not hid

from the Jews or Heathens only, but even from what is called the

Christian world; at least, from a vast majority of them. The spiritual sense

of the commandments of God is still a mystery to these also. Nor is this

observable only in those lands which are overspread with Romish

darkness and ignorance: But this is too sure, that the far greater part even

of those who are called Reformed Christians are utter strangers at this day

to the law of Christ, in the purity and spirituality of it.

5. Hence it is that to this day, “the Scribes and Pharisees,” the men who

have the form but not the power of religion, and who are generally wise in

their own eyes, and righteous in their own conceits, — “hearing these

things, are offended;” are deeply offended, when we speak of the religion

of the heart; and particularly when we show, that without this, were we to

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“give all our goods to feed the poor,” it would profit us nothing. But

offended they must be; for we cannot but speak the truth as it is in Jesus.

It is our part, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, to

deliver our own soul. All that is written in the book of God we are to

declare, not as pleasing men, but the Lord. We are to declare, not only all

the promises, but all the threatening too, which we find therein. At the

same time that we proclaim all the blessings and privileges which God hath

prepared for his children, we are likewise to “teach all the things

whatsoever he hath commanded.” And we know that all these have their

use; either for the awakening those that sleep, the instructing the ignorant,

the comforting the feeble minded, or the building up and perfecting of the

saints. We know that “all Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is

profitable,” either “for doctrine,” or “for reproof;” either “for correction,

or for instruction in righteousness;” and that “the man of God,” in the

process of the work of God in his soul, has need of every part thereof,

that he may at length “be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good

works.”

6. It is our part thus to preach Christ, by preaching all things whatsoever

he hath revealed. We may indeed, without blame, yea, and with a peculiar

blessing from God, declare the love of our Lord Jesus Christ; we may

speak, in a more especial manner, of “the Lord our righteousness;” we may

expatiate upon the grace of God in Christ, “reconciling the world unto

himself;” we may, at proper opportunities, dwell upon his praise, as

“bearing the iniquities of us all, as wounded for our transgressions, and

bruised for our iniquities, that by his stripes we might be healed:” — But

still we should not preach Christ according to his word, if we were wholly

to confine ourselves to this: We are not ourselves clear before God, unless

we proclaim him in all his offices. To preach Christ, as a workman that

needeth not to be ashamed, is to preach him, not only as our great High

Priest, “taken from among men, and ordained for men, in things pertaining

to God;” as such “reconciling us to God by his blood,” and “ever living to

make intercession for us;” — but likewise as the Prophet of the Lord,

“who of God is made unto us wisdom;” who, by his word and his Spirit,

is with us always, “guiding us into all truth;” — yea, and as remaining a

King forever; as giving laws to all whom he has bought with his blood; as

restoring those to the image of God, whom he had first re-instated in his

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favor; as reigning in all believing hearts until he has “subdued all things to

himself,” — until he hath utterly cast out all sin, and brought in everlasting

righteousness.

II.

1. We establish the law, Secondly, when we so preach faith in Christ as

not to supersede, but produce, holiness; to produce all manner of holiness,

negative and positive, of the heart and of the life.

In order to this, we continually declare, (what should be frequently and

deeply considered by all who would not “make void the law through

faith,”) that faith itself, even Christian faith, the faith of God’s elect, the

faith of the operation of God, still is only the handmaid of love. As

glorious and honorable as it is, it is not the end of the commandment. God

hath given this honor to love alone: Love is the end of all the

commandments of God. Love is the end, the sole end, of every

dispensation of God, from the beginning of the world to the consummation

of all things. And it will endure when heaven and earth flee away; for

“love” alone “never faileth.” Faith will totally fail; it will be swallowed up

in sight, in the everlasting vision of God. But even then, love, —

Its nature and its office still the same,

Lasting its lamp and unconsumed its flame, —

In deathless triumph shall forever live,

And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive.

2. Very excellent things are spoken of faith, and whosoever is a partaker

thereof, may well say, with the Apostle, “Thanks be to God for his

unspeakable gift.” Yet still it loses all its excellence when brought into a

comparison with love. What St. Paul observes concerning the superior

glory of the gospel, above that of the law, may, with great propriety, be

spoken of the superior glory of love, above that of faith: “Even that which

was made glorious hath no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory

that excelleth. For if that which is done away is glorious, much more doth

that which remaineth exceed in glory.” Yea, all the glory of faith, before it

is done away, arises hence, that it ministers to love: It is the great

temporary means which God has ordained to promote that eternal end.

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3. Let those who magnify faith beyond all proportion, so as to swallow up

all things else, and who so totally misapprehend the nature of it as to

imagine it stands in the place of love, consider farther, that as love will

exist after faith, so it did exist long before it. The angels who, from the

moment of their creation, beheld the face of their Father that is in heaven,

had no occasion for faith, in its general notion, as it is the evidence of

things not seen. Neither had they need of faith, in its more particular

acceptation, faith in the blood of Jesus: For he took not upon him the

nature of angels; but only the seed of Abraham. There was, therefore, no

place before the foundation of the world for faith, either in the general or

particular sense. But there was for love. Love existed from eternity, in

God, the great ocean of love. Love had a place in all the children of God,

from the moment of their creation: They received at once, from their

gracious Creator, to exist and to love.

4. Nor is it certain, (as ingeniously and plausibly as many have descanted

upon this,) that faith, even in the general sense of the word, had any place

in Paradise. It is highly probable, from that short and uncircumstantial

account which we have in holy writ, that Adam, before he rebelled against

God, walked with Him by sight, and not by faith.

For then his reason’s eye was strong and clear,

And (as an eagle can behold the sun)

Might have beheld his Maker’s face as near

As the’ intellectual angels could have done.

He was then able to talk with Him face to face, whose face we cannot now

see and live; and consequently had no need of that faith, whose office it is

to supply the want of sight.

5. On the other hand, it is absolutely certain, faith, in its particular sense,

had then no place. For in that sense, it necessarily pre-supposes sin, and

the wrath of God declared against the sinner; without which there is no

need of an atonement for sin, in order to the sinner’s reconciliation with

God. Consequently, as there was no need of an atonement before the fall,

so there was no place for faith in that atonement; man being then pure

from every stain of sin; holy as God is holy. But love even then filled his

heart; it reigned in him without a rival; and it was only when love was lost

by sin, that faith was added, not for its own sake, nor with any design that

it should exist any longer than until it had answered the end for which it

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was ordained, — namely, to restore man to the love from which he was

fallen. At the fall, therefore, was added this evidence of things unseen,

which before was utterly needless, this confidence in redeeming love,

which could not possibly have any place till the promise was made, that

“the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head.”

6. Faith, then, was originally designed of God to re-establish the law of

love. Therefore, in speaking thus, we are not undervaluing it, or robbing it

of its due praise; but, on the contrary, showing its real worth, exalting it in

its just proportion, and giving it that very place which the wisdom of God

assigned it from the beginning. It is the grand means of restoring that holy

love wherein man was originally created. It follows, that although faith is

of no value in itself, (as neither is any other means whatsoever,) yet as it

leads to that end, the establishing anew the law of love in our hearts; and

as, in the present state of things, it is the only means under heaven for

effecting it; it is on that account an unspeakable blessing to man, and of

unspeakable value before God.

III.

1. And this naturally brings us to observe, Thirdly, the most important

way of establishing the law; namely, the establishing it in our own hearts

and lives. Indeed, without this, what would all the rest avail? We might

establish it by our doctrine; we might preach it in its whole extent; might

explain and enforce every part of it; we might open it in its most spiritual

meaning, and declare the mysteries of the kingdom; we might preach Christ

in all his offices, and faith in Christ as opening all the treasures of his love;

and yet all this time, if the law we preached were not established in our

hearts, we should be of no more account before God than “sounding brass,

or tinkling cymbals.” All our preaching would be so far from profiting

ourselves, that it would only increase our damnation.

2. This is, therefore, the main point to be considered, How may we

establish the law in our own hearts, so that it may have its full influence

on our lives? And this can only be done by faith.

Faith alone it is which effectually answers this end, as we learn from daily

experience. For so long as we walk by faith, not by right, we go swiftly on

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in the way of holiness. While we steadily look, not at the things which are

seen, but at those which are not seen, we are more and more crucified to

the world, and the world crucified to us. Let but the eye of the soul be

constantly fixed, not on the things which are temporal, but on those which

are eternal, and our affections are more and more loosened from earth, and

fixed on things above. So that faith, in general, is the most direct and

effectual means of promoting all righteousness and true holiness; of

establishing the holy and spiritual law in the hearts of them that believe.

3. And by faith, taken in its more particular meaning, for a confidence in a

pardoning God, we establish his law in our own hearts, in a still more

effectual manner. For there is no motive which so powerfully inclines us

to love God, as the sense of the love of God in Christ. Nothing enables us

like a piercing conviction of this to give our hearts to Him who was given

for us. And from this principle of grateful love to God arises love to our

brother also. Neither can we avoid loving our neighbor, if we truly believe

the love wherewith God hath loved us. Now this love to man, grounded on

faith, and love to God, “worketh no ill to” our “neighbor:” Consequently,

it is, as the Apostle observes, “the fulfilling of the” whole negative “law.”

“For this, That shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt

not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness; Thou shalt not covet; and if

there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this

saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Neither is love content

with barely working no evil to our neighbor. It continually incites us to do

good, as we have time and opportunity; to do good, in every possible

kind, and in every possible degree, to all men. It is, therefore, the fulfilling

of the positive, likewise, as well as of the negative law of God.

4. Nor does faith fulfill either the negative or positive law, as to the

external part only; but it works inwardly by love, to the purifying of the

heart, the cleansing it from all vile affections. Every one that hath this faith

in himself, “purifieth himself even as he is pure;” — purifieth himself from

every earthly, sensual desire; from all vile and inordinate afflictions; yea,

from the whole of that carnal mind, which is enmity against God. At the

same time, if it have its perfect work, it fills him with all goodness,

righteousness, and truth. It brings all heaven into his soul; and causes him

to walk in the light, even as God is in the light.

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5. Let us thus endeavor to establish the law in ourselves; not sinning

“because we are under grace,” but rather using all the power we receive

thereby, “to fulfill all righteousness.” Calling to mind what light we

received from God while his Spirit was convincing us of sin, let us beware

we do not put out that light; what we had then attained let us hold fast.

Let nothing induce us to build again what we have destroyed; to resume

anything, small or great, which we then clearly saw was not for the glory

of God, or the profit of our own soul; or to neglect anything, small or

great, which we could not then neglect, without a check from our own

conscience. To increase and perfect the light which we had before, let us

now add the light of faith. Confirm we the former gift of God, by a deeper

sense of whatever he had then shown us; by a greater tenderness of

conscience, and a more exquisite sensibility of sin. Walking now with joy,

and not with fear, in a clear, steady sight of things eternal, we shall look on

pleasure, wealth, praise, all the things of earth, as on bubbles upon the

water; counting nothing important, nothing desirable, nothing worth a

deliberate thought, but only what is “within the veil,” where Jesus “sitteth

at the right hand of God.”

6. Can you say, “Thou art merciful to my unrighteousness; my sins thou

rememberest no more?” Then, for the time to come, see that you fly from

sin, as from the face of a serpent! For how exceeding sinful does it appear

to you now! How heinous above all expression! On the other hand, in how

amiable a light do you now see the holy and perfect will of God! Now,

therefore, labor that it may be fulfilled, both in you, by you, and upon

you! Now watch and pray that you may sin no more, that you may see

and shun the least transgression of his law! You see the motes which you

could not see before, when the sun shines into a dark place. In like manner,

you see the sins which you could not see before, now the Sun of

Righteousness shines in your heart. Now then do all diligence to walk, in

every respect, according to the light you have received! Now be zealous to

receive more light daily, more of the knowledge and love of God, more of

the Spirit of Christ, more of his life, and of the power of his resurrection!

Now use all the knowledge, and love, and life, and power you have already

attained: So shall you continually go on from faith to faith; so shall you

daily increase in holy love, till faith is swallowed up in sight, and the law

of love is established to all eternity!

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