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026 - Upon our Lords Sermon on the Mount Discourse V · Sermons on Several Occasions, First Series

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Speaker 1: Section twenty five of Sermons on Several Occasions First Series.
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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Sermons on Several Occasions, First Series
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Speaker 1: by John Wesley upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount,
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Speaker 1: Discourse five. Think not that I am come to destroy
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Speaker 1: the law or the prophets.
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Speaker 2: I am not come to.
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Speaker 1: Destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,
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Speaker 1: till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle,
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Speaker 1: shall in no wise pass from the Law till all
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Speaker 1: be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least
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Speaker 1: commandments and shall teach men, so he shall be called
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Speaker 1: the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whosoever shall
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Speaker 1: do and teach them, the same shall be called great
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Speaker 1: in the Kingdom of Heaven. For verily I say on
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Speaker 1: to you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
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Speaker 1: of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case
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Speaker 1: enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew five seventeen to twenty.
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Speaker 1: Among the multitude of reproaches which fell upon him who
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Speaker 1: was despised and rejected of men. It could not fail
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Speaker 1: to be one that he was a teacher of novelties
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Speaker 1: and introducer.
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Speaker 2: Of a new religion.
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Speaker 1: This might be affirmed with the more color because many
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Speaker 1: of the expressions he had used were not common among
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Speaker 1: the Jews, either they did not use them at all,
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Speaker 1: or not in the same sense, not in so full
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Speaker 1: and strong a meaning. Add to this that the worshiping God,
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Speaker 1: in spirit and in truth must always appear in new
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Speaker 1: religion to those who have hitherto known nothing but outside
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Speaker 1: worship nothing but the form of Godliness. And it is
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Speaker 1: not improbable. Some might hope it was so that he
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Speaker 1: abolishing the old religion and bringing in another one which
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Speaker 1: they might flatter themselves, would be an easier way to heaven.
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Speaker 1: But our Lord refutes in these words both the vain
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Speaker 1: hopes of the one and the groundless calumnies of the other.
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Speaker 1: I shall consider them in the same order as they lie,
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Speaker 1: taking each verse for a distinct head or discourse. And
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Speaker 1: first think not that I am come to destroy the
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Speaker 1: law or the prophets.
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Speaker 2: I am not come to.
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Speaker 1: Destroy, but to fulfill the ritual or ceremonial law delivered
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Speaker 1: by Moses to the children of Israel, containing all the
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Speaker 1: injunctions and ordinances which related to the old sacrifices and
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Speaker 1: service of the Temple. Our Lord indeed did come to destroy,
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Speaker 1: to dissolve, and utterly abolish. To this bear all the
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Speaker 1: apostles witness, not only Barnabas and Paul, who vehemently withstood
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Speaker 1: those who taught the Christs ought to keep the law
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Speaker 1: of Moses, Acts fifteen five, not only Saint Peter, who
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Speaker 1: termed the insisting on this on the observance of the
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Speaker 1: ritual law a tempting God, and putting a yoke upon
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Speaker 1: the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers saith
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Speaker 1: he nor we were able to bear. But all the Apostles,
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Speaker 1: elders and brethren, being assembled with one accord, Acts fifteen
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Speaker 1: twenty two, declared that to command them to keep this
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Speaker 1: law was to subvert their souls, and that it seemed
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Speaker 1: good to the Holy Ghost and to them to lay
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Speaker 1: no such burden upon them Acts fifteen twenty eight. This
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Speaker 1: handwriting of ordinances, our Lord did blot out, take away
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Speaker 1: and nail to his cross. But the moral law contained
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Speaker 1: in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets he
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Speaker 1: did not take away. It was not the design of
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Speaker 1: his coming to revoke any part of them. This is
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Speaker 1: a law which never can be broken, which stands fast
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Speaker 1: as the faithful witness in heaven. The moral stands on
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Speaker 1: an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law,
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Speaker 1: which was only designed for a temporary restraint upon a
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Speaker 1: disobedient and stiff necked people.
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Speaker 2: Whereas this was from.
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Speaker 1: The beginning of the world, being written not on tables
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Speaker 1: of stone, but on the hearts of all the children
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Speaker 1: of men, when they came out of the hands of
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Speaker 1: the Creator. And however, the letters once wrote by the
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Speaker 1: finger of God are now in a great measure defaced
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Speaker 1: by sin. Yet can they not wholly be blotted out?
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Speaker 1: While we have any consciousness of good and evil? Every
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Speaker 1: part of this law must remain in force upon all
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Speaker 1: mankind and in all ages, as not depending either on
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Speaker 1: time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change,
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Speaker 1: but on the nature of God and the nature of man,
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Speaker 1: and their unchangeable relation to each other. I am not
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Speaker 1: come to destroy, but to fulfill. Some have conceived our
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Speaker 1: Lord to mean. I am come to fulfill this by
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Speaker 1: my entire and perfect obedience to it, and it cannot
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Speaker 1: be doubted.
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Speaker 2: But he did, in this sense fulfill every part of it.
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Speaker 1: But this does not appear to be what he intends here,
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Speaker 1: being foreign to the scope of his present discourse. Without question,
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Speaker 1: his meaning in this place is consistently with all that
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Speaker 1: goes before and follows after. I am come to establish
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Speaker 1: it in its fullness, in spite of all the glosses
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Speaker 1: of men, I am come to place in a full
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Speaker 1: and clear view, whatsoever was dark or obscure therein. I
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Speaker 1: am come to declare the true and full import of
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Speaker 1: every part of it, to show the length and breath,
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Speaker 1: the entire extent of every commandment contained therein, and the
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Speaker 1: height and depth the incanceivable, purity, and spirituality of it
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Speaker 1: in all its branches. And this our Lord has abundantly
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Speaker 1: performed in the preceding and subsequent parts of this discourse
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Speaker 1: before us, in which he has not introduced a new
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Speaker 1: religion into the world, but the same which was from
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Speaker 1: the beginning a religion, the substance of which is without
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Speaker 1: question as old as the creation, being coeval with man
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Speaker 1: and having proceeded from God at the very time when
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Speaker 1: man became a living soul. The substance, I say, for
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Speaker 1: some circumstances of it now relate to man as a
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Speaker 1: fallen creature, a religion witnessed to both by the law
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Speaker 1: and by the prophets in all succeeding generations. Yet was
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Speaker 1: it never so fully explained, nor so thoroughly understood, till
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Speaker 1: the great author of it himself condescended to give mankind
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Speaker 1: this authentic comment on all the essential branches of it,
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Speaker 1: at the same time declaring it should never be changed,
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Speaker 1: but remain in force to the end of the world.
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Speaker 1: For verily, I say unto you a solemn preface which
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Speaker 1: denotes both the importance and certainty of what is spoken.
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Speaker 1: Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle,
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Speaker 1: shall in no wise pass from the law till all
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Speaker 1: be fulfilled one jot. It is literally not one iota,
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Speaker 1: not the most inconsiderable vowel, or one tittle mia kiah,
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Speaker 1: one corner or point of a consonant. It is a
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Speaker 1: proverbial expression which signifies that no one commandment contained in
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Speaker 1: the moral law, or the least part of any one,
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Speaker 1: however inconsiderable it might seem, should ever be disannulled, shall
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Speaker 1: in no wise pass from the law. O may pa
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Speaker 1: althay appo tou no mo. The double negative here used
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Speaker 1: strengthens the sense so as to admit of no contradiction.
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Speaker 1: And the word parlthae, it may be observed, is not
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Speaker 1: barely future declaring what will be, but has likewise the
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Speaker 1: force of an imperative ordering what shall be. It is
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Speaker 1: a word of authority, expressing the sovereign will and power
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Speaker 1: of Him that spake of Him whose word is the
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Speaker 1: law of heaven and earth, and stands fast forever and ever.
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Speaker 1: One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
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Speaker 1: till heaven and earth pass, or, as it is expressed
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Speaker 1: immediately after hues on Ponta GENETI, till all, or rather
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Speaker 1: all things be fulfilled, till the consummation of all things.
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Speaker 1: Here is therefore no room for that poor evasion with
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Speaker 1: which some have delighted themselves greatly, that no part of
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Speaker 1: the law was to pass away till all the law
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Speaker 1: was fulfilled. But it has been forfeit filled by Christ,
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Speaker 1: and therefore now must pass for the Gospel to be established.
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Speaker 1: Not so, the word all does not mean all the law,
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Speaker 1: but all things in the universe, as neither has the
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Speaker 1: term fulfilled any reference to the Law, but to all
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Speaker 1: things in heaven and earth. From all this we may
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Speaker 1: learn that there is no contrarity at all between the
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Speaker 1: Law and the Gospel, that there is no need for
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Speaker 1: the Law to pass away in order to the establishing
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Speaker 1: of the Gospel. Indeed, neither of them supersedes the other,
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Speaker 1: but they agree perfectly well together. Yea, the very same words,
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Speaker 1: considered in different respects, are parts both of the Law
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Speaker 1: and of the Gospel. If they are considered as commandments,
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Speaker 1: they are parts of the Law, if as promises of
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Speaker 1: the Gospel, Thus thou shalt love the Lord thy God
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Speaker 1: with all thy heart, when considered as a commandment, is
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Speaker 1: a branch of the Law. When regard as a promise,
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Speaker 1: is an essential part of the Gospel, the Gospel being
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Speaker 1: no other than the commands of the Law proposed by
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Speaker 1: way of promises. Accordingly, poverty of spirit, purity of heart,
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Speaker 1: and whatever else is enjoined in the Holy Law of
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Speaker 1: God are no other, when viewed in a Gospel light,
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Speaker 1: than so many great and precious promises. There is, therefore
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Speaker 1: the closest connection that can be conceived between the Law
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Speaker 1: and the Gospel. On the one hand, the Law continually
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Speaker 1: makes way for and points us to the Gospel. On
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Speaker 1: the other, the Gospel continually leads us to a more
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Speaker 1: exact fulfilling of the law. The Law, for instance, requires
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Speaker 1: us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble,
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Speaker 1: or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for
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Speaker 1: these things. Yea that with man this is impossible. But
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Speaker 1: we see a promise of God to give us that love.
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Speaker 2: And to make us humble, meek and holy.
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Speaker 1: We lay hold of this Gospel, of these glad tidings.
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Speaker 1: It is done unto us according to our faith, and
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Speaker 1: the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us through
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Speaker 1: faith which is in Christ Jesus. We may yet further
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Speaker 1: observe that every command in holy writ is only a
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Speaker 1: covered promise, For by that solemn declaration, this is the
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Speaker 1: covenant I will make after those days, saith the Lord.
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Speaker 1: I will put my laws in your minds and write
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Speaker 1: them on your hearts. God hath engaged to give whatsoever
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Speaker 1: he commands. Does he command us then to pray without ceasing,
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Speaker 1: to rejoice.
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Speaker 2: Evermore, to be holy as He is holy.
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Speaker 1: It is enough He will work in us this very thing,
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Speaker 1: it shall be unto us according to His word. But
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Speaker 1: if these things are so, we cannot be at a
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Speaker 1: loss what to think of those who, in all ages
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Speaker 1: of the Church, have undertain and to change or supersede
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Speaker 1: some commandments of God, as they professed by the peculiar
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Speaker 1: direction of His spirit. Christ has here given us an
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Speaker 1: infallible rule whereby to judge of all such pretensions. Christianity,
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Speaker 1: as it includes the whole moral love of God, both
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Speaker 1: by way of injunction and of promise, if we will
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Speaker 1: hear him, is designed of God to be the last
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Speaker 1: of all his dispensations. There is no other to come
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Speaker 1: after this. This is to endure till the consummation of
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Speaker 1: all things. Of consequence, all such new revelations are of
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Speaker 1: Satan and not of God, and all pretenses to another
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Speaker 1: more perfect dispensation fall to the ground.
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Speaker 2: Of course, heaven and.
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Speaker 1: Earth shall pass away, but this word shall not pass away.
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Speaker 1: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
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Speaker 1: shall teach men so he shall be called the least
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Speaker 1: in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whosoever shall do and
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Speaker 1: teach them the same shall be called great in the
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Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven. Who what are they that make the
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Speaker 1: preaching of the law a character of reproach? Do they
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Speaker 1: not see on whom their reproach must fall, on whose
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Speaker 1: head it must light?
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Speaker 2: At last?
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Speaker 1: Whosoever on this ground despiseth us, despiseth Him that sent us.
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Speaker 1: For did ever any man preach the law like him,
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Speaker 1: even when he came not to condemn but to save
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Speaker 1: the world, when he came purposely to bring life and
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Speaker 1: immortality to light through the Gospel. Can any preach the
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Speaker 1: law more expressly more rigorously than Christ does in these words?
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Speaker 1: And who is he that shall amend them? Who is
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Speaker 1: he that shall instruct the Son of God how to preach?
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Speaker 2: Who will teach.
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Speaker 1: Him a better way of delivering the message which he
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Speaker 1: hath received of the Father. Whosoever shall break one of
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Speaker 1: these least commandments, or one of the least of these commandments,
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Speaker 1: these commandments we may observe is a term used by
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Speaker 1: our Lord as equivalent with the law or the law
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Speaker 1: and the prophets, which is the same thing. Seeing the
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Speaker 1: prophets added nothing to the law, but only declared, explained,
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Speaker 1: or enforced it as they were moved by the Holy
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Speaker 1: Ghost whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, especially
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Speaker 1: if it be done wilfully or presumptuously one. For he
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Speaker 1: that keepeth the whole law and thus offends in one
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Speaker 1: point is guilty of all the wrath of God abideth
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Speaker 1: on him, as surely as if he had broken every one,
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Speaker 1: So that no allowance is made for one darling lust,
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Speaker 1: no reserve for one idol, no excuse for refraining from
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Speaker 1: all besides and only giving way to one bosom sin.
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Speaker 1: What God demands is an entire obedience. We are to
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Speaker 1: have an eye to all his commandments. Otherwise we lose
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Speaker 1: all the labor we take in keeping some and our
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Speaker 1: poor souls. Forever and ever one of these least or
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Speaker 1: one of the least of these commandments, here is another
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Speaker 1: excuse cut off, whereby many who cannot deceive God miserably
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Speaker 1: deceive their own souls. This sin saith the sinner. Is
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Speaker 1: it not a little one? Will not the Lord spare
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Speaker 1: me in this thing? Surely He will not be extreme
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Speaker 1: to mark this since I do not offend in the
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Speaker 1: greater matters of the law. Vain hope, speaking after the
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Speaker 1: manner of men, we may term these great and those
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Speaker 1: little commandments, But in reality they are not so. If
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Speaker 1: we use propriety of speech, there is no such thing
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Speaker 1: as a little sin, every sin being a transgression of
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Speaker 1: the holy and perfect Law and an affront on the
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Speaker 1: great majesty of Heaven, and shall teach men. So in
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Speaker 1: some sense, it may be said that whosoever openly breaks
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Speaker 1: any commandment teaches others the same. For example, speaks and
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Speaker 1: many times louder than precept. In this sense, it is
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Speaker 1: apparent every open drunkard is a teacher of drunkenness. Every
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Speaker 1: sabbath breaker is constantly teaching his neighbor to profane the day.
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Speaker 2: Of the Lord. But this is not all.
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Speaker 1: An habitual breaker of the law is seldom content to
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Speaker 1: stop here. He generally teaches other men to do so too,
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Speaker 1: by word as well as example, especially when he hardens
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Speaker 1: his neck and.
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Speaker 2: Hateth to be reproved.
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Speaker 1: Such a sinner soon commences an advocate for sin. He
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Speaker 1: defends what he is resolved not to forsake. He excuses
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Speaker 1: the sin which he will not leave, and thus directly
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Speaker 1: teaches every sin which he commits. He shall be called
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Speaker 1: least in the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, shall have
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Speaker 1: no part therein he is a stranger to the Kingdom
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Speaker 1: of Heaven, which is on earth. He hath no portion
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Speaker 1: in that inheritance, no share of that righteousness and peace
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Speaker 1: and joy in the Holy Ghost. Nor by consequence can
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Speaker 1: he have any part in the glory which shall be revealed.
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Speaker 1: But if those who even thus break and teach others
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Speaker 1: to break one of the least of these commandments shall
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Speaker 1: be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven, shall have
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Speaker 1: no part in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
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Speaker 1: If even these shall be cast into outer darkness where
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Speaker 1: is wailing and gnashing of teeth, then where will they appear?
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Speaker 1: Whom our Lord chiefly and primarily intends in these words,
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Speaker 1: They who, bearing the character of teachers sent from God,
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Speaker 1: do nevertheless themselves break his commandments yea, and openly teach
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Speaker 1: others so to do, being corrupt both in life and doctrine.
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Speaker 1: There are of several sorts. Of the first sort, are
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Speaker 1: they who live in some wilful habitual sin. Now if
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Speaker 1: an ordinary sinner teaches by his example, how much more
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Speaker 1: a sinful minister, even if he does not attempt to defend, excuse,
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Speaker 1: or extenuate his sin. If he does he is a murderer, indeed,
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Speaker 1: yea the murderer general of his congregation. He peoples the
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Speaker 1: regions of death. He is the choicest instrument of the
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Speaker 1: Prince of Darkness when he goes, thence Hell from beneath
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Speaker 1: is moved to meet him at his coming. Nor can
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Speaker 1: he sink into the bottomless pit without dragging a multitude
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Speaker 1: after him. Next to these are the good natured, good
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Speaker 1: sort of men who live an easy, harmless life, neither
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Speaker 1: troubling themselves with outward sin nor with inward holiness. Men
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Speaker 1: who are remarkable neither one way nor the other, neither
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Speaker 1: for religion nor irreligion, who are very regular in both
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Speaker 1: public and private, but do not pretend to be any
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Speaker 1: stricter than their neighbors. A minister of this kind breaks
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Speaker 1: not one or a few only of the least of
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Speaker 1: the commandments of God, but all the great and weighty
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Speaker 1: branches of his law, which relate to the power of Godliness,
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Speaker 1: and all that require us to pass the time of
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Speaker 1: our sojourning in fear, to work out our salvation with
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Speaker 1: fear and trembling, to have our loins always girt and
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Speaker 1: our lights burning, to strive or agonize, to enter in
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Speaker 1: at the strait gate, and he teaches men so by
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Speaker 1: the whole form of his life and the general tenor
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Speaker 1: of his preaching, which uniformly tends to soothe those in
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Speaker 1: their pleasing dream who imagine themselves Christians, and are not
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Speaker 1: to persuade all who attend upon his ministry to sleep
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Speaker 1: on and take their rest no marvel. Therefore, if both
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Speaker 1: he and they that follow him wake together in everlasting burnings.
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Speaker 1: But above all these in the highest rank of the
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Speaker 1: enemies of the Gospel of Christ are they who openly
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Speaker 1: and explicitly judge the law itself and speak evil of
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Speaker 1: the law. Who teach men to break, lie, say, to dissolve,
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Speaker 1: to loose, to untie the obligation of not one only,
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Speaker 1: whether of the least or of the greatest, but all
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Speaker 1: the commandments at a stroke, who teach without any cover
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Speaker 1: in so many words, what did our.
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Speaker 2: Lord do with the law? He abolished it?
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Speaker 1: There is but one duty, which is that of believing
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Speaker 1: all commands are unfit for our times. From any demand
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Speaker 1: of the law, no man is obliged now to go
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Speaker 1: one step, to give away one farthing, to eat, or
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Speaker 1: omit one morsel. This is indeed carrying matters with a
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Speaker 1: high hand. This iswithstanding our Lord to the face and
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Speaker 1: telling him that he understood not how to deliver the
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Speaker 1: message on which he was sent. O, Lord, lay not
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Speaker 1: this sin to their charge. Father, forgive them, for they
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Speaker 1: know not what they do. The most surprising of all
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Speaker 1: the circumstances that attend this strong delusion is that they
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Speaker 1: who are given up to it really believe that they
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Speaker 1: honor Christ by overthrowing his law, and that they are
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Speaker 1: magnifying his office while they are destroying his doctrine. Yea,
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Speaker 1: they honor him just as Judas did when he said,
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Speaker 1: Hail Master and kissed him. And he may as justly
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Speaker 1: say to every one of them, betrayest thou the son
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Speaker 1: of Man with a kiss. It is no other than
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Speaker 1: betraying him with a kiss, to talk of his blood
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Speaker 1: and take away his crown, to set light any part
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Speaker 1: of his law under pretense of advancing his gospel.
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Speaker 2: Nor, indeed, can any one.
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Speaker 1: Escape this charge who preaches faith in any such manner as,
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Speaker 1: either directly or indirectly, tends to set aside any branch
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Speaker 1: of obedience, who preaches Christ so as to disannal or
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Speaker 1: weaken in any wise the least of the commandments of God.
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Speaker 1: It is impossible, indeed, to have too high in esteem
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Speaker 1: for the faith of God's elect. And we must all
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Speaker 1: declare by grace, are ye saved through faith, not of works,
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Speaker 1: lest any man should boast. We must cry aloud to
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Speaker 1: every penitent sinner, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
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Speaker 1: thou shalt be saved. But at the same time we
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Speaker 1: must take care to let all men know we esteem
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Speaker 1: no faith but that which worketh by love Galatians five six.
22:44
Speaker 1: And that we are not saved by faith unless so
22:47
Speaker 1: far as we are delivered from the power as well
22:49
Speaker 1: as the guilt of sin. And when we say believe
22:53
Speaker 1: and thou shalt be saved, we do not mean believe
22:57
Speaker 1: and thou shalt step from sin to heaven without any
23:00
Speaker 1: holiness coming between faith supplying the place of holiness. But
23:06
Speaker 1: believe and thou shalt be holy, Believe in the Lord Jesus,
23:10
Speaker 1: and thou shalt have peace and power.
23:12
Speaker 2: Together, thou shalt have.
23:14
Speaker 1: Power from Him and whom thou believest to trample sin
23:18
Speaker 1: under thy feet, power to love the Lord thy God
23:21
Speaker 1: with all thy heart, and to serve him with all
23:23
Speaker 1: thy strength. Thou shalt have power by patient continuance in
23:28
Speaker 1: well doing, to seek for glory and honor and immortality.
23:32
Speaker 1: Thou shalt both do and teach all the commandments of God,
23:36
Speaker 1: from the least even to the greatest. Thou shalt teach
23:40
Speaker 1: them by thy life as well as thy words, and
23:43
Speaker 1: so be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever
23:47
Speaker 1: other way we teach to the Kingdom of Heaven to glory, honor,
23:51
Speaker 1: and immortality.
23:53
Speaker 2: Be it called the way of faith or by any
23:56
Speaker 2: other name, it is in.
23:58
Speaker 1: Truth the way to destruction. It will not bring a
24:01
Speaker 1: man peace at the last. For thus saith the Lord.
24:05
Speaker 1: Verily I say unto you that except your righteousness shall
24:09
Speaker 1: exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall
24:13
Speaker 1: in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The scribes,
24:17
Speaker 1: mentioned so often in the New Testament as some of
24:20
Speaker 1: the most constant and vehement opposers of our Lord, were
24:24
Speaker 1: not secretaries or men employed in writing, only, as that
24:28
Speaker 1: term might incline.
24:29
Speaker 2: Us to believe.
24:31
Speaker 1: Neither were they lawyers in our common sense of the word,
24:35
Speaker 1: although the word nomi koi is so rendered in our translation.
24:39
Speaker 1: Their employment had no affinity at all to that of
24:42
Speaker 1: a lawyer.
24:43
Speaker 2: Among us.
24:44
Speaker 1: They were conversant with the laws of God, and not
24:47
Speaker 1: with the laws of man. These were their study. It
24:51
Speaker 1: was their proper and peculiar business to read and expound
24:54
Speaker 1: the law and the prophets, particularly in the synagogues. They
24:59
Speaker 1: were the ordinary, ver stated preachers among the Jews, so
25:03
Speaker 1: that if the sense of the original word was attended to,
25:06
Speaker 1: we might render it the divines. For these were the
25:09
Speaker 1: men who made divinity their profession, and they were generally,
25:13
Speaker 1: as their name literally imports, men of letters, men of
25:17
Speaker 1: the greatest account for learning that were then in the
25:20
Speaker 1: Jewish nation. The Pharisees were a very ancient sect or
25:25
Speaker 1: body of men among the Jews, originally so called from
25:29
Speaker 1: the Hebrew word for rash, which signifies to separate or divide.
25:35
Speaker 1: Not that they made any formal separation from or division
25:38
Speaker 1: in a national church. They were only distinguished from others
25:42
Speaker 1: by greater strictness of life, by more exactness of conversation.
25:47
Speaker 1: For they were zealous of the law in the minutest points,
25:51
Speaker 1: paying tithes of mint annis and cumen, and hence they
25:55
Speaker 1: were had in honor of all the people, and generally
25:58
Speaker 1: esteemed the holiest of men. Many of the scribes were
26:02
Speaker 1: of the sect of the Pharisees. Thus, Saint Paul himself,
26:06
Speaker 1: who was educated for a scribe, first at the University
26:09
Speaker 1: of Tarsus, and after that in Jerusalem at the feet
26:12
Speaker 1: of Gamaliel, one of the most learned scribes or doctors
26:16
Speaker 1: of the law that were then in the nation, declares
26:19
Speaker 1: of himself before the council, I am a Pharisee, the
26:22
Speaker 1: son of a Pharisee, Acts twenty three, verse six. And
26:26
Speaker 1: before King Agrippa, after the straightest sect of our religion,
26:31
Speaker 1: I lived a pharisee, Acts twenty six five. And the
26:35
Speaker 1: whole body of the scribes generally esteemed and acted in
26:38
Speaker 1: concert with the Pharisees. Hence we find our saviors so
26:42
Speaker 1: frequently coupling them together, as coming in many respects under
26:46
Speaker 1: the same consideration. In this place they seemed to be
26:50
Speaker 1: mentioned together as the most eminent professors of religion, the
26:54
Speaker 1: former of whom were accounted the wisest, the latter the
26:58
Speaker 1: holiest of men. What the righteousness of the scribes and
27:03
Speaker 1: Pharisees really was is not difficult to determine. Our Lord
27:07
Speaker 1: has preserved an authentic account which one of them gave
27:10
Speaker 1: of himself. And he is clear and full in describing
27:14
Speaker 1: his own righteousness, and cannot be supposed to have omitted
27:18
Speaker 1: any part of it. He went up, indeed, into the
27:21
Speaker 1: temple to pray, but was so intent upon his own
27:25
Speaker 1: virtues that he forgot the design upon which he came.
27:29
Speaker 1: For it is remarkable he does not properly pray at all.
27:33
Speaker 1: He only tells God how wise and good he was. God.
27:37
Speaker 2: I thank THEE that I.
27:38
Speaker 1: Am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or
27:43
Speaker 1: even as this publican.
27:45
Speaker 2: I fast twice in the week.
27:47
Speaker 1: I give tithes of all that I possess. His righteousness
27:51
Speaker 1: therefore consisted of three parts. First saith he I am
27:56
Speaker 1: not as other men are. I am not an extortioner,
27:59
Speaker 1: not unjust, not an adulterer, not even as this publican. Secondly,
28:06
Speaker 1: I fast twice in the week. And thirdly, I give
28:10
Speaker 1: tithes of all that I possess. I am not as
28:13
Speaker 1: other men are. This is not a small point. It
28:17
Speaker 1: is not every man that can say this. It is
28:20
Speaker 1: as if he had said, I do not suffer myself
28:23
Speaker 1: to be carried away by that great torrent custom I
28:27
Speaker 1: live not by custom, but by reason, not by the
28:31
Speaker 1: examples of men, but the word of God. I am
28:34
Speaker 1: not an extortioner, not unjust, not an adulterer. However common
28:39
Speaker 1: these sins are, even among those who are called the
28:42
Speaker 1: people of God. Extortion in particular a kind of legal injustice,
28:47
Speaker 1: not punishable by any human law, the making gain of
28:51
Speaker 1: another's ignorance or necessity, having filled every corner of the land.
28:57
Speaker 1: Nor even as this publican not guilty of any open
29:00
Speaker 1: or presumptuous sin, Not an outward sinner, but a fair,
29:04
Speaker 1: honest man, of blameless life and conversation.
29:09
Speaker 2: I fast twice in the week.
29:11
Speaker 1: There is more implied in this than we may at
29:13
Speaker 1: first be sensible. Of all the stricter Pharisees observed the
29:18
Speaker 1: weekly fasts, namely, every Monday and Thursday. On the former day,
29:23
Speaker 1: they fasted in memory of Moses receiving on that day,
29:27
Speaker 1: as their tradition, taught the two Tables of Stone written
29:30
Speaker 1: by the finger of God, on the latter, in memory
29:34
Speaker 1: of his casting them out of his hand when he
29:37
Speaker 1: saw the people dancing round the Golden calf. On these
29:41
Speaker 1: days they took no sustenance at all till three in
29:43
Speaker 1: the afternoon, the hour at which they began to offer
29:47
Speaker 1: up the evening sacrifice in the temple. Till that hour,
29:51
Speaker 1: it was their custom to remain in the temple in
29:54
Speaker 1: some of the corners, apartments, or courts thereof, that they
29:58
Speaker 1: might be ready to assist at all the sacrifices and
30:01
Speaker 1: to join in all the public prayers. The time between
30:05
Speaker 1: they were accustomed to employ partly in private addresses to God,
30:09
Speaker 1: partly in searching the scriptures, in reading the law, in
30:13
Speaker 1: the prophets, and in meditating thereon. Thus much is implied
30:17
Speaker 1: in I fast twice in the weak, the second branch
30:21
Speaker 1: of the righteousness of a pharisee, I give tithes of
30:26
Speaker 1: all that I possess. This the Pharisees did with the
30:30
Speaker 1: utmost exactness. They would not accept the most inconsiderable thing,
30:35
Speaker 1: know not mint Annis and Cumen. They would not keep
30:38
Speaker 1: back the least part of what they believed properly to
30:41
Speaker 1: belong to God, but gave a full tenth of their
30:44
Speaker 1: whole substance yearly, and of all their increase whatsoever. It
30:48
Speaker 1: was yea the stricter Pharisees, as has been often observed
30:53
Speaker 1: by those who are versed in the ancient Jewish writings,
30:56
Speaker 1: not content with giving one tenth of their substance to
30:59
Speaker 1: God is his priests and levites gave another tenth to
31:03
Speaker 1: God in the poor, and that continually they gave the
31:07
Speaker 1: same proportion of all they had in alms as they
31:10
Speaker 1: were accustomed to give in tides. And this likewise they
31:13
Speaker 1: adjusted with the utmost exactness, that they might not keep
31:17
Speaker 1: back any part, but might fully render unto God the
31:21
Speaker 1: things which were gods. As they accounted this to be,
31:25
Speaker 1: so that upon the whole they gave away, from year
31:28
Speaker 1: to year an entire fifth of all that they possessed.
31:32
Speaker 1: This was the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, a
31:36
Speaker 1: righteousness which in many respects went far beyond the conception
31:41
Speaker 1: which many have been accustomed to entertain concerning it. But
31:45
Speaker 1: perhaps it will be said it was all false and feigned,
31:49
Speaker 1: for they were all a company of hypocrites. Some of them, doubtless,
31:53
Speaker 1: were men who had really no religion at all, no
31:56
Speaker 1: fear of God or desire to please Him, who had
32:00
Speaker 1: no concern for the honor that cometh of God, but
32:03
Speaker 1: only for the praise of men. And these are they
32:06
Speaker 1: whom our Lord so severely condemns so sharply reproves on
32:10
Speaker 1: many occasions.
32:12
Speaker 2: But we must not suppose.
32:14
Speaker 1: Because many Pharisees were hypocrites, therefore all were so, nor
32:19
Speaker 1: indeed as hypocrisy by any means essential to the character
32:23
Speaker 1: of a Pharisee. This is not the distinguishing mark of
32:26
Speaker 1: their sect. It is rather this, according to our Lord's account,
32:31
Speaker 1: they trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.
32:36
Speaker 1: This is their genuine badge. But the Pharisee of this
32:40
Speaker 1: kind cannot be a hypocrite. He must be in the
32:43
Speaker 1: common sense sincere. Otherwise he would not trust in himself
32:48
Speaker 1: that he is righteous. The man who was here commending
32:52
Speaker 1: himself to God unquestionably thought himself righteous. Consequently, he was
32:58
Speaker 1: no hypocrite. He was not conscious to himself of any insincerity.
33:03
Speaker 1: He now spoke to God just what he thought, namely
33:07
Speaker 1: that he was abundantly better than other men. But the
33:11
Speaker 1: example of Saint Paul, were there no other, is sufficient
33:15
Speaker 1: to put this out of all question. He could not
33:18
Speaker 1: only say, when he was a Christian, herein do I
33:21
Speaker 1: exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense
33:25
Speaker 1: toward God and toward men, Acts twenty four sixteen. But
33:30
Speaker 1: even concerning the time when he was a pharisee, Men
33:33
Speaker 1: and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before
33:36
Speaker 1: God until this day, Acts twenty three, verse one. He
33:41
Speaker 1: was therefore sincere when he was a Pharisee, as well
33:44
Speaker 1: as when he was a Christian. He was no more
33:47
Speaker 1: a hypocrite when he persecuted the church than when he
33:51
Speaker 1: preached the faith which once he persecuted.
33:54
Speaker 2: Let this then be added.
33:55
Speaker 1: To the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, a sincere
33:59
Speaker 1: belief that they are righteous and in all things doing
34:03
Speaker 1: God's service. And yet except your righteousness, saith, our Lord,
34:09
Speaker 1: shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Ye
34:13
Speaker 1: shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
34:16
Speaker 1: A solemn and weighty declaration, and which it behooves all
34:20
Speaker 1: who are called by the name of Christ seriously and
34:23
Speaker 1: deeply to consider. But before we inquire how our righteousness
34:28
Speaker 1: may exceed theirs, let us examine whether at present we
34:32
Speaker 1: come up to it. First, a pharisee was not as
34:37
Speaker 1: other men are in externals. He was singularly good. Are
34:42
Speaker 1: we so do we dare to be singular at all?
34:45
Speaker 1: Do we not rather swim with the stream? Do we
34:48
Speaker 1: not many times dispense with religion and reason to gather
34:52
Speaker 1: because we would not look particular? Are we not often
34:56
Speaker 1: more afraid of being out of the fashion than of
34:59
Speaker 1: being out of the way of god salvation? Have we
35:02
Speaker 1: courage to stem the tide, to turn counter to the world,
35:05
Speaker 1: to obey God rather than man? Otherwise the Pharisee leaves
35:10
Speaker 1: us behind at the very first step. It is well
35:13
Speaker 1: if we overtake him any more, But to come closer?
35:18
Speaker 1: Can we use his first plea with God, which is
35:21
Speaker 1: in substance. I do no harm, I live in no
35:24
Speaker 1: outward sin. I do nothing for which my own heart
35:27
Speaker 1: condemns me. Do you not are you sure of that?
35:32
Speaker 1: Do you live in no practice for which your heart
35:34
Speaker 1: condemns you? If you are not an adulterer, if you
35:39
Speaker 1: are not unchaste, either in word or deed, are you
35:42
Speaker 1: not unjust? The grand measure of justice as well as
35:46
Speaker 1: of mercy is do unto others as thou wouldst they
35:49
Speaker 1: should do unto thee. Do you walk by this rule?
35:53
Speaker 1: Do you never do unto any what you would not
35:56
Speaker 1: they should do unto you nay. Are you not grossly unjust?
36:01
Speaker 1: Are you not an extortioner? Do you not make a
36:04
Speaker 1: gain of anyone's ignorance or necessity, neither in buying nor selling.
36:10
Speaker 1: Suppose you are engaged in trade, do you demand? Do
36:13
Speaker 1: you receive no more than the real value of what
36:16
Speaker 1: you sell? Do you demand? Do you receive no more
36:20
Speaker 1: of the ignorant than of the knowing of a little
36:23
Speaker 1: child than of an experienced trader? If you do, why
36:28
Speaker 1: does not your heart condemn you? You are a bare
36:31
Speaker 1: faced extortioner. Do you demand no more than the usual
36:34
Speaker 1: price of goods of any who is in pressing want,
36:38
Speaker 1: who must have, and that, without delay, the things which
36:41
Speaker 1: you only can furnish him with. If you do, this
36:45
Speaker 1: is also flat extortion. Indeed, you do not come up
36:49
Speaker 1: to the righteousness of a pharisee. A pharisee, secondly, to
36:54
Speaker 1: express his sense in our common way, used all the
36:57
Speaker 1: means of grace, as he fasts, did often in much
37:01
Speaker 1: twice in every week. So he attended all the sacrifices.
37:06
Speaker 1: He was constant in public and private prayer, and in
37:09
Speaker 1: reading and hearing the scriptures. Do you go so far
37:13
Speaker 1: as this? Do you fast much and often twice in
37:16
Speaker 1: the week. I fear not once at least on all
37:20
Speaker 1: Fridays in the year. So our Church clearly and peremptorily
37:24
Speaker 1: enjoins all her members to do to observe all these,
37:27
Speaker 1: as well as the vigils and the forty days of Lent,
37:31
Speaker 1: as days of fasting or abstinence. Do you fast twice
37:35
Speaker 1: in the year? I am afraid some among us cannot
37:38
Speaker 1: plead even this. Do you neglect no opportunity of attending
37:42
Speaker 1: and partaking of the Christian sacrifice? How many are they
37:46
Speaker 1: who call themselves Christians and yet are utterly regardless of it?
37:51
Speaker 1: Yet do not eat of that bread or drink of
37:53
Speaker 1: that cup for months, perhaps years together? Do you every
37:59
Speaker 1: day either hear the scriptures or read them and meditate thereon?
38:03
Speaker 1: Do you join in prayer with the Great Congregation daily
38:07
Speaker 1: if you have opportunity, if not, whenever you can, particularly
38:12
Speaker 1: on that day which you remember to keep it holy?
38:16
Speaker 1: Do you strive to make opportunities? Are you glad when
38:19
Speaker 1: they say unto you, we will go into.
38:22
Speaker 2: The House of the Lord.
38:23
Speaker 1: Are you zealous of and diligent in private prayer? Do
38:27
Speaker 1: you suffer no day to pass without it? Rather, are
38:31
Speaker 1: not some of you so far from spending therein with
38:34
Speaker 1: the Pharisee several hours in one day, that you think
38:38
Speaker 1: one hour full enough, if not too much? Do you
38:42
Speaker 1: spend an hour a day or in a week in
38:45
Speaker 1: praying to your father, which is in secret?
38:48
Speaker 2: Yeay?
38:48
Speaker 1: An hour in a month? Have you spent one hour
38:51
Speaker 1: together in private prayer? Ever since you was born? Ah,
38:55
Speaker 1: poor Christian, shall not the Pharisee rise up in the
38:58
Speaker 1: judgment against thee and condemn thee? His righteousness is far
39:03
Speaker 1: above thine, as the heaven is above the earth. The
39:08
Speaker 1: Pharisee thirdly paid tithes and gave alms of all that
39:12
Speaker 1: he possessed, and in how ample a manner, so that
39:16
Speaker 1: he was, as we phrase it, a man that did
39:19
Speaker 1: much good? Do we come up to him here? Which
39:23
Speaker 1: of us is so abundant as he was in good works?
39:27
Speaker 1: Which of us gives a fifth of all his substance
39:29
Speaker 1: to God, both of the principle and of the increase,
39:34
Speaker 1: Who of us, out of suppose and hundred pounds a
39:36
Speaker 1: year gives twenty to God, and the poor out of
39:40
Speaker 1: fifty ten. And so in a larger or a smaller proportion,
39:45
Speaker 1: when shall our righteousness, in using all the means of grace,
39:49
Speaker 1: in attending all the ordinances of God, in avoiding evil
39:53
Speaker 1: and doing good, equal at least the righteousness of the
39:56
Speaker 1: scribes in Pharisees. Though if it only equalled theirs, what
40:02
Speaker 1: would that profit? For? Verily, I say unto you, except
40:06
Speaker 1: your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
40:11
Speaker 1: ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
40:14
Speaker 1: But how can it exceed theirs? Wherein does the righteousness
40:18
Speaker 1: of a Christian exceed that of a scribe or Pharisee.
40:22
Speaker 1: Christian righteousness exceeds theirs first in the extent of it.
40:27
Speaker 1: Most of the Pharisees, though they were rigorously exact in
40:31
Speaker 1: many things, yet were emboldened by the traditions of the
40:34
Speaker 1: elders to dispense with others of equal importance. Thus they
40:39
Speaker 1: were extremely punctual in keeping the fourth commandment. They would
40:43
Speaker 1: not even rub an ear of corn on the Sabbath day,
40:46
Speaker 1: but not at all in keeping the third, making little
40:49
Speaker 1: account of light or even false swearing, so that their
40:53
Speaker 1: righteousness was partial. Whereas the righteousness of a real Christian
40:57
Speaker 1: is universal, he does not observe one or some parts
41:02
Speaker 1: of the Law of God and neglect the rest, but
41:06
Speaker 1: keeps all His commandments, loves them all, values them above
41:10
Speaker 1: gold or precious stones. It may be, indeed, that some
41:14
Speaker 1: of the scribes and pharisees endeavored to keep all the commandments,
41:18
Speaker 1: and consequently were as touching the righteousness of the law,
41:23
Speaker 1: that is, according to the letter of it, blameless.
41:27
Speaker 2: But still, the.
41:27
Speaker 1: Righteousness of a Christian exceeds all this righteousness of a
41:31
Speaker 1: scribe or pharisee, by fulfilling the spirit as well as
41:35
Speaker 1: the letter of the law, by inward as well as
41:38
Speaker 1: outward obedience. In this in the spirituality of it, it
41:43
Speaker 1: admits of no comparison. This is the point which our
41:46
Speaker 1: Lord has so largely proved in the whole tenor of
41:50
Speaker 1: this discourse. Their righteousness was external. Only Christian righteousness is
41:56
Speaker 1: in the inner man. The Pharisee cleansed the outside of
42:00
Speaker 1: the cup and the platter. The Christian is clean within.
42:04
Speaker 1: The Pharisee labored to present God with a good life,
42:07
Speaker 1: the Christian with a holy heart. The ones shook off
42:11
Speaker 1: the leaves, perhaps the fruits of sin. The other lays
42:15
Speaker 1: the axe to the root, as not being content with
42:18
Speaker 1: the outward form of Godliness, how exactsoever it be unless
42:22
Speaker 1: the life, the spirit, the power of God unto salvation
42:26
Speaker 1: be felt in the inmost soul. Thus, to do no harm,
42:31
Speaker 1: to do good, to attend the ordinances of God, the
42:34
Speaker 1: righteousness of a Pharisee are all external, whereas on the contrary,
42:40
Speaker 1: poverty of spirit, mourning, weakness, hunger and thirst after righteousness,
42:45
Speaker 1: the love of our neighbor, and purity of heart, the
42:49
Speaker 1: righteousness of a Christian are all internal, and even peace
42:53
Speaker 1: making or doing good and suffering for righteousness sake stand
42:58
Speaker 1: entitled to the blessings Anna to them only as they
43:01
Speaker 1: imply these inward dispositions, as they spring from exercise and
43:06
Speaker 1: confirm them. So that, whereas the righteousness of the scribes
43:10
Speaker 1: and Pharisees was external only, it may be said in
43:14
Speaker 1: some sense that the righteousness of a Christian is internal only,
43:19
Speaker 1: all his actions and sufferings being as nothing in themselves,
43:23
Speaker 1: being estimated before God only by the tempers from which
43:27
Speaker 1: they spring. Whosoever therefore thou art, who bearest the holy
43:33
Speaker 1: and venerable name of a Christian, see first that any
43:37
Speaker 1: righteousness fall not short of the righteousness of the scribes
43:41
Speaker 1: and pharisees. Be not thou as other men are, dare
43:45
Speaker 1: to stand alone, to be against example, singularly good. If
43:50
Speaker 1: thou follow a multitude at all, it must be to
43:54
Speaker 1: do evil. Let not custom or fashion be thy guide,
43:58
Speaker 1: but reason and really religion. The practice of others is
44:02
Speaker 1: nothing to thee. Every man must give an account of
44:05
Speaker 1: himself to God. Indeed, if thou canst save the soul
44:10
Speaker 1: of another, do but at least save one thy own.
44:15
Speaker 1: Walk not in the path of death, because it is broad,
44:18
Speaker 1: and many walk therein. Nay, by this very token thou
44:22
Speaker 1: mayest know it is the way wherein thou now walkest
44:26
Speaker 1: a broad, well frequented, fashionable way. Then it infallibly leads
44:30
Speaker 1: to destruction. Oh, be not thou damned for company. Cease
44:35
Speaker 1: from evil, fly from sin as from the face of
44:38
Speaker 1: a serpent. At least do no harm. He that committeth
44:43
Speaker 1: sin is of the devil. Be not thou found in
44:46
Speaker 1: that number touching outward sins. Surely the grace of God
44:51
Speaker 1: is even now sufficient for THEE.
44:53
Speaker 2: Herein.
44:54
Speaker 1: At least exercise thyself to have a conscience void of
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Speaker 1: offense toward God and towards men. Secondly, let not thy
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Speaker 1: righteousness fall short of theirs with regard to.
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Speaker 2: The ordinances of God.
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Speaker 1: If thy labor or bodily strength will not allow of
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Speaker 1: thy fasting twice in the week, however, deal faithfully with
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Speaker 1: thy own soul, and fast as often as thy strength
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Speaker 1: will permit. Omit no public, no private opportunity of pouring
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Speaker 1: out thy soul in prayer. Neglect no occasion of eating
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Speaker 1: that bread and drinking that cup, which is the communion
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Speaker 1: of the body in the blood of Christ. Be diligent
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Speaker 1: in searching the scriptures, read as thou mayest, and meditate
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Speaker 1: therein day and night. Rejoice to embrace every opportunity of
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Speaker 1: hearing the word of reconciliation declared by the ambassadors of Christ,
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Speaker 1: the stewards of the mysteries of God. In using all
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Speaker 1: the means of grace, in a constant and careful attendance
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Speaker 1: on every ordinance of God, live up to at least
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Speaker 1: till thou canst go beyond and the righteousness of the
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Speaker 1: scribes and Pharisees. Thirdly, fall not short of a pharisee
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Speaker 1: in doing good. Give alms of all thou dost possess.
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Speaker 1: Is any hungry feed him. Is he a thirst, give
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Speaker 1: him drink naked, cover him with a garment. If thou
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Speaker 1: hast this world's goods, do not limit thy beneficence to
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Speaker 1: a scanty proportion. Be merciful to the uttermost of thy power.
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Speaker 1: Why not, even as this Pharisee, now make thyself friends
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Speaker 1: while the time is of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that
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Speaker 1: when thou failest, when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, they
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Speaker 1: may receive THEE into everlasting habitations. But rest not here.
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Speaker 1: Let thy righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
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Speaker 1: Be not thou content to keep the whole law and
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Speaker 1: offend in one point, Hold thou fast to all His
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Speaker 1: commands and all false ways. Do thou utterly abhor do
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Speaker 1: all the things whatsoever he hath commanded, And that with
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Speaker 1: all thy might thou canst do all things through Christ,
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Speaker 1: strengthening THEE, though without Him thou canst do nothing. Above all,
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Speaker 1: Let thy righteousness exceed theirs in the purity and spirituality
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Speaker 1: of it. What is the exactest form of religion to thee,
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Speaker 1: the most perfect outside righteousness. Go thou higher and deeper
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Speaker 1: than all this. Let thy religion be the religion of
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Speaker 1: the heart. Be thou poor in spirit, little and base
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Speaker 1: and mean and vile in thine own eyes amazed and
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Speaker 1: humbled to the dust at the love of God which
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Speaker 1: is in Christ. Jesus, thy Lord, be serious. Let the
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Speaker 1: whole stream of thy thoughts, words, and works be such
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Speaker 1: as flows from the deepest conviction that thou standest on
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Speaker 1: the edge of the great gulf. Thou and all the
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Speaker 1: children of men, just ready to drop in, either into
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Speaker 1: everlasting glory or everlasting burnings, be meek. Let thy soul
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Speaker 1: be filled with mildness, gentleness, patience, long suffering toward all men,
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Speaker 1: at the same time that all which is in thee
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Speaker 1: is athirst for God, the Living God, longing to awake
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Speaker 1: up after His likeness and to be satisfied with it.
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Speaker 1: Be thou a lover of God and of all mankind.
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Speaker 1: In this spirit, do and suffer all things thus exceed
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Speaker 1: the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. And thou shalt
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Speaker 1: be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. End of
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Speaker 1: Section twenty five.