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035 - The Original Nature Property and Use of the Law · Sermons on Several Occasions, First Series

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty four 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. Recording by Greg Giardano. Sermons on
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  Speaker 1: Several Occasions, First Series by John Wesley, Sermon thirty four
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  Speaker 1: The original nature, property, and use of the Law. Wherefore
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  Speaker 1: the law is holy in the Commandment, holy and just
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  Speaker 1: and good Romans seven twelve. Perhaps there are few subjects
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  Speaker 1: within the whole compass of religion so little understood as this.
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  Speaker 1: The reader of this epistle is usually told by the
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  Speaker 1: law Saint Paul means the Jewish law, and so, apprehending
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  Speaker 1: himself to have no concern therewith, passes on without farther
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  Speaker 1: thought about. Indeed, some are not satisfied with this account,
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  Speaker 1: but observing the epistle is directed to the Romans, thence
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  Speaker 1: infer that the apostle in the beginning of this chapter
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  Speaker 1: alludes to the old Roman law. But as they have
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  Speaker 1: no more concern with this than with the ceremonial law
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  Speaker 1: of Moses, so they spend not much thought on what
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  Speaker 1: they suppose is occasionally mentioned barely to illustrate another thing.
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  Speaker 1: But a careful observer of the apostle's discourse will not
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  Speaker 1: be content with thesis light explications of it. And the
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  Speaker 1: more he weighs the words, the more convinced he will
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  Speaker 1: be that Saint Paul, by the law mentioned in this
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  Speaker 1: chapter does not mean either the ancient law of Rome
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  Speaker 1: or the ceremonial law of Moses. This will clearly appear
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  Speaker 1: to all who attentively consider the tenor of his discourse.
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  Speaker 1: He begins the chapter, Know ye not, brethren, For I
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  Speaker 1: speak to them that know the law, to them who
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  Speaker 1: have been instructed therein from their youth, that the law
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  Speaker 1: hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.
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  Speaker 1: What the law of Rome only, or the ceremonial law, No, surely,
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  Speaker 1: but the moral law. For to give a plain instance,
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  Speaker 1: the woman which hath an husband, is bound by the
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  Speaker 1: moral law to her husband so long as he liveth.
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  Speaker 1: But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from
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  Speaker 1: the law of her husband. So then if while her
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  Speaker 1: husband liveth she be married to another man, she shall
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  Speaker 1: be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead,
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  Speaker 1: she is free from that law, so that she is
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  Speaker 1: no adulteress, though she be married to another man. From
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  Speaker 1: this particular instance, the apostle proceeds to draw that general conclusion. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: my brethren, by a plain parity of reason, ye also
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  Speaker 1: are become dead to the law, the whole mosaic institution,
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  Speaker 1: by the body of Christ offered for you, and bringing
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  Speaker 1: you under a new dispensation, that ye should, without any
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  Speaker 1: blame be married to another, even to him who is
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  Speaker 1: raised from the dead, and hath thereby given proof of
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  Speaker 1: his authority to make the change, that we should bring
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  Speaker 1: forth fruit unto God. And this we can do now,
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  Speaker 1: whereas before we could not when we were in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: under the power of the flesh, that is, of corrupt nature,
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  Speaker 1: which was necessarily the case till we knew the power
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  Speaker 1: of Christ's resurrection. The motions of sins which were by
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  Speaker 1: the law, which were shown and inflamed by the Mosaic
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  Speaker 1: law not conquered, did work in. Our members broke out
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  Speaker 1: various ways to bring forth fruit unto death. But now
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  Speaker 1: we are delivered from the law, from that whole moral
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  Speaker 1: as well as ceremonial economy, that being dead, whereby we
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  Speaker 1: were held that entire institution being now as it were dead,
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  Speaker 1: and having no more authority over us than the husband
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  Speaker 1: when dead hath over his wife, that we should serve
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  Speaker 1: him who died for us and rose again in newness
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  Speaker 1: of spirit, in a new spiritual dispensation, and not in
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  Speaker 1: the oldness of the letter with the bare outward service.
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  Speaker 1: According to the letter of the Mosaic Institution Romans seven
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  Speaker 1: one through six, the Apostle, having gone thus far in
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  Speaker 1: proving that the Christian had set aside the Jewish dispensation,
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  Speaker 1: and that the moral law itself, though it could never
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  Speaker 1: pass away, yet stood on a different foundation from what
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  Speaker 1: it did before, now stops to propose and answer an objection.
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  Speaker 1: What shall we say, then, is the law sin? So
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  Speaker 1: some might infer from a misapprehension of these words the
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  Speaker 1: motion of sins which were by the law God forbid
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  Speaker 1: saith the Apostle that we should say so, nay, the
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  Speaker 1: law is an irreconcilable enemy to sin by the law.
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  Speaker 1: For I had not known lust, evil, desire to be sin,
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  Speaker 1: except the Law had said thou shalt not covet Romans
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  Speaker 1: seven seven. After opening this farther in the four following verses,
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  Speaker 1: he subjoins this general conclusion with regard more especially to
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  Speaker 1: the moral law from which the preceding instance was taken.
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  Speaker 1: Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment wholly and
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  Speaker 1: just and good. In order to explain an in forced
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  Speaker 1: these deep words, so little regarded, because so little understood,
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  Speaker 1: I shall endeavor to show first the original of this law,
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  Speaker 1: secondly the nature thereof, thirdly the properties that is holy
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  Speaker 1: and just and good, and fourthly the uses of it.
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  Speaker 1: I shall first endeavor to show the original of the
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  Speaker 1: moral law, often called the law by way of eminence.
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  Speaker 1: Now this is not, as some may have possibly imagined,
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  Speaker 1: of so late an institution as the time of Moses.
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  Speaker 1: No declared it to men long before that time, and
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  Speaker 1: Enoch before him. But we may trace its original higher still,
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  Speaker 1: even beyond the foundation of the world, to that period,
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  Speaker 1: unknown indeed to men, but doubtless enrolled in the annals
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  Speaker 1: of eternity. When the morning stars first sang together, being
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  Speaker 1: newly called into existence, it pleased the Great Creator to
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  Speaker 1: make these his first born sons intelligent beings, that they
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  Speaker 1: might know him that created them. For this end, he
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  Speaker 1: endued them with understanding to discern truth from falsehood, good
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  Speaker 1: from evil, and as a necessary result, of this with liberty,
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  Speaker 1: a capacity of choosing the one and refusing the other.
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  Speaker 1: By this, they were likewise enabled to offer him a
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  Speaker 1: free and willing service, a service rewardable in itself, as
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  Speaker 1: well as most acceptable to their gracious master, to employ
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  Speaker 1: all the faculties which he had given them, particularly their
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  Speaker 1: understanding and liberty. He gave the law a complete model
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  Speaker 1: of all truth, so far as is intelligible to a
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  Speaker 1: finite being, and of all good so far as angelic
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  Speaker 1: minds were capable of embracing it. It was also the
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  Speaker 1: design of their beneficent governor herein to make way for
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  Speaker 1: a continual increase of their happiness, seeing every instance of
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  Speaker 1: obedience to that law would both add to the perfection
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  Speaker 1: of their nature and entitle them to a higher reward,
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  Speaker 1: which the righteous judge would give in its season. In
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  Speaker 1: like manner, when God in his appointed time had created
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  Speaker 1: a new order of intelligant beings, when he raised man
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  Speaker 1: from the dust of the earth, breathed into him the
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  Speaker 1: breath of life, and caused him to become a living soul,
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  Speaker 1: endued with power to choose good or evil, he gave
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  Speaker 1: to this free, intelligent creature the same law as to
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  Speaker 1: his first born children. Not wrote indeed upon tables of
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  Speaker 1: stone or any corruptible substance, but engraven on his heart
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  Speaker 1: by the finger of God, wrote in the inmost spirit,
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  Speaker 1: both of men and of angels, to the intent might
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  Speaker 1: never be far off, never hard to be understood, but
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  Speaker 1: always at hand, and always shining with clear light, even
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  Speaker 1: as the sun in the midst of heaven. Such was
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  Speaker 1: the original of the law of God. With regard to man,
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  Speaker 1: it was coevil with his nature. Both regard to the
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  Speaker 1: elder sons of God, it shone in its full splendor
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  Speaker 1: where over the mountains were brought forth, or the earth
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  Speaker 1: and the round world were made. But it was not
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  Speaker 1: long before man rebelled against God, and by breaking this
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  Speaker 1: glorious law while nigh effaced it out of his heart,
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of his understanding being darkened in the same
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  Speaker 1: measure as his soul was alienated from the life of God.
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  Speaker 1: And yet God did not despise the work of his
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  Speaker 1: own hands. But being reconciled to man through the son
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  Speaker 1: of his Love, he in some measure reinscribed the law
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  Speaker 1: on the heart of his dark, sinful creature. He again
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  Speaker 1: showed thee o man what is good although not as
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning, even to do justly, and to love mercy,
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  Speaker 1: and to walk humbly with thy God. And this he
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  Speaker 1: showed not only to our first parents, but likewise to
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  Speaker 1: all their posterity, by that true light which enlightens every
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  Speaker 1: man that cometh into the world. But notwithstanding this light,
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  Speaker 1: all flesh had, in process of time corrupted their way
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  Speaker 1: before him, till he chose out of mankind a peculiar people,
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  Speaker 1: to whom he gave him more perfect knowledge of his law,
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  Speaker 1: and the heads of this because they were slow of understanding,
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  Speaker 1: he wrote unto tables of Stone, which he commanded the
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  Speaker 1: fathers to teach their children through all succeeding generations. Thus
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  Speaker 1: it is that the law of God is now made
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  Speaker 1: known to them that know not God. They hear with
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  Speaker 1: the hearing of the ear, the things that were written
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  Speaker 1: aforetime for our instruction. But this does not suffice. They cannot,
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  Speaker 1: by this means comprehend the height and depth, and length
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  Speaker 1: and breadth. Thereof God alone can reveal this by his spirit,
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  Speaker 1: And so he does to all that truly believe. In
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  Speaker 1: consequence of that gracious promise made to all the Israel
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  Speaker 1: of God. Behold the days come, Saith the Lord, that
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  Speaker 1: I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and this shall be the covenant that I will make.
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  Speaker 1: I will put my law in their inward parts and
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  Speaker 1: write it in their hearts, and I will be their God,
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  Speaker 1: and they shall be my people. Jeremiah thirty one thirty
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  Speaker 1: one and continued. The nature of that law which was
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  Speaker 1: originally given to angels in heaven and man in paradise,
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  Speaker 1: in which God has so mercifully promised to write afresh
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  Speaker 1: in the hearts of all true believers. Was the second
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  Speaker 1: thing I propose to show, in order to which I
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  Speaker 1: would first observe that, although the Law and the Commandment
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  Speaker 1: are sometimes differently taken, the commandment meaning but a part
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  Speaker 1: of the law, yet in the text they are used
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  Speaker 1: as equivalent terms, implying one in the same thing. But
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  Speaker 1: we cannot understand here either by one or the other
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  Speaker 1: the ceremonial law. It is not the ceremonial law, whereof
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  Speaker 1: the apostle says in the words above recited, I had
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  Speaker 1: not known sin. But by the law this is too
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  Speaker 1: plain to need a proof. Neither is it the ceremonial
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  Speaker 1: law which Saith in the words immediately subjoined, thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: not covet. Therefore, the ceremonial law has no place in
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  Speaker 1: the present question. Neither can we understand by the law
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in the text, the Mosaic dispensation. It is true
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  Speaker 1: the word is sometimes so understood, as when the Apostle says,
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  Speaker 1: speaking to the Galatians Galatians three seventeen, the covenant that
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  Speaker 1: was confirmed before, namely with Abraham, the father of the faithful.
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  Speaker 1: The law, that is, the Mosaic dispensation, which was four
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  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty years after, cannot dissn all. But it
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  Speaker 1: cannot be understood in the text. For the Apostle never
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  Speaker 1: bestows so high commendations as these upon that imperfect and
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  Speaker 1: shadowy dispensation. He nowhere affirms the Mosaic to be a
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  Speaker 1: spiritual law, or that it is wholly injust and good.
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  Speaker 1: Neither is it true that God will write that law
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  Speaker 1: in the hearts of those whose iniquities he remembers. No more,
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  Speaker 1: it remains that the law, eminently so termed, is no
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  Speaker 1: other than the moral law. Now, this law is an
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  Speaker 1: incorruptible picture of the high and holy one that inhabiteth eternity.
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  Speaker 1: It is he whom in his essence no man hath
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  Speaker 1: seen or can see, made visible to men and angels.
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  Speaker 1: It is the face of God, unveiled God, manifested to
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  Speaker 1: his creatures as they are able to bear it, manifested
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  Speaker 1: to give and not to destroy, life, that they may
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  Speaker 1: see God and live. It is the heart of God
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  Speaker 1: disclosed to man. YEA, in some sense we may apply
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  Speaker 1: to this law what the apostle says of his son.
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  Speaker 1: It is apalgosma des otoxis chai character tes hippostasos ato,
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  Speaker 1: the streaming forth or outbeaming of his glory, the express
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  Speaker 1: image of his person. If virtue, said the ancient heathen,
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  Speaker 1: could assume such a shape as this, we could behold
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  Speaker 1: her with our eyes. What wonderful love would she excite
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  Speaker 1: in us? If virtue could do this, it is done already.
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  Speaker 1: The law of God is all virtues in one and
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  Speaker 1: such a shape as to be beheld with open face
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  Speaker 1: by all those whose eyes God hath enlightened. What is
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  Speaker 1: the law but divine virtue and wisdom assuming a visible form.
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  Speaker 1: What is it but the original ideas of truth and good,
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  Speaker 1: which were lodged in the uncreated mind from eternity, now
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  Speaker 1: drawn forth and clothed with such a vehicle as to
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  Speaker 1: appear even to human and understanding, if we survey the
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  Speaker 1: law of God in another point of view, it is supreme,
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  Speaker 1: unchangeable reason, it is unalterable. Rectitude is the everlasting fitness
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  Speaker 1: of all things that are, or ever were created. I
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  Speaker 1: am sensible, what a shortness, and even in propriety there
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  Speaker 1: is in these and all other human expressions. When we endeavor,
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  Speaker 1: by these faint pictures to shadow out the deep things
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  Speaker 1: of God. Nevertheless, we have no better, indeed no other way,
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  Speaker 1: during this our infinite state of existence, as we now know.
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  Speaker 1: But in part so we are constrained to prophecy, that is,
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  Speaker 1: speak of the things of God. In part also we
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  Speaker 1: cannot order our speech by reason of darkness while we
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  Speaker 1: are in this house of clay. While I am a child,
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  Speaker 1: I must speak as a child, but shall soon put
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  Speaker 1: away childish things, For when that which is perfect is come,
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  Speaker 1: that which is in part shall be done away. But
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  Speaker 1: to return the Law of God speaking after the manner
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  Speaker 1: of men is a copy of the eternal mind, a
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  Speaker 1: transcript of the divine nature. Yea, it is the fairest
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  Speaker 1: offspring of the Everlasting Father, the brightest efflux of His
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  Speaker 1: essential wisdom, the visible beauty of the most High. It
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  Speaker 1: is the delight and wonder of Cherabim and Seraphim and
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  Speaker 1: all the company of Heaven, and the glory and joy
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  Speaker 1: of every wise believer, every well instructed child of God
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  Speaker 1: upon earth. Such is the nature of the ever blessed
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  Speaker 1: Law of God. I am in the third place to
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  Speaker 1: show the properties of it, And not all, for that
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  Speaker 1: would exceed the wisdom of an angel, but those only
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  Speaker 1: which are mentioned in the text. These are three. It
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  Speaker 1: is holy, just, and good. And first, the Law is holy.
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  Speaker 1: In this expression, the apostle does not appear to speak
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  Speaker 1: of its effects, but rather of its nature, as Saint James,
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  Speaker 1: speaking of the same thing under another name, says, the
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  Speaker 1: wisdom from above, which is no other than this law
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  Speaker 1: written in our heart art is first pure James three
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  Speaker 1: seventeen Agne, chaste, spotless, eternally and essentially holy. And consequently,
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  Speaker 1: when it is transcribed into the life as well as
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  Speaker 1: the soul, it is as the same apostle terms it
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  Speaker 1: James one twenty seven, Thrisichia Cathara chai amiantus, pure religion
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  Speaker 1: and undefiled or the pure, clean, unpolluted worship of God.
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  Speaker 1: It is indeed, in the highest degree, pure, chaste, clean, holy,
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  Speaker 1: Otherwise it could not be the immediate offspring, and much
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  Speaker 1: less the express resemblance of God, who is essential holiness.
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  Speaker 1: It is pure from all sin, clean and unspotted from
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  Speaker 1: any touch of evil. It is a chaste of virgin,
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  Speaker 1: incapable of any defilement of any mixture which is unclean
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  Speaker 1: or unholy. It has no fellowship with sin of any kind,
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  Speaker 1: For what communion hath light with darkness? As sin is
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  Speaker 1: in its very nature enmity to God, so his law
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  Speaker 1: is enmity to sin. Therefore it is that the Apostle
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  Speaker 1: rejects with such abhorrence that blasphemous supposition that the Law
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  Speaker 1: of God is either sin itself or the cause of sin.
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  Speaker 1: God forbid that we should suppose it is the cause
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  Speaker 1: of sin, because it is the discoverer of it, because
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  Speaker 1: it detects the hidden things of darkness and drags them
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  Speaker 1: out into open day. It is true by this means,
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  Speaker 1: as the Apostle observes Romans seven thirteen, sin appears to
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  Speaker 1: be sin. All its disguises are torn away, and it
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  Speaker 1: appears in its native deformity. It is true likewise that sin,
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  Speaker 1: by the commandment becomes exceeding sinful, a being now committed
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  Speaker 1: against light and knowledge. Being stripped even of the poor
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  Speaker 1: plea of ignorance, it loses its excuse as well as disguise,
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  Speaker 1: and becomes far more odious, both to God and man. Yea.
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  Speaker 1: And it is true that sin worketh death by that
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  Speaker 1: which is good, which in itself is pure and holy.
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  Speaker 1: When it is dragged out to light, it rages the more.
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  Speaker 1: When it is restrained, it bursts out with greater violence.
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  Speaker 1: Thus the apostle speaking in the person of one who
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  Speaker 1: is convinced of sin, but not yet delivered from it.
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  Speaker 1: Sin taking occasion by the commandment, detecting and endeavoring to
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  Speaker 1: restrain it, disdain the restraint, and so much the more
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  Speaker 1: wrought in me all manner of concupiscience Romans seven eight,
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  Speaker 1: all manner of foolish and hurtful desire, which that commandment
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  Speaker 1: sought to restrain. Thus, when the commandment came, sin revived
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  Speaker 1: Romans seventy nine, it fretted and raged the more. But
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  Speaker 1: this is no stain on the commandment. Though it is abused,
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  Speaker 1: it cannot be defiled. This only proves that the heart
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  Speaker 1: of man is desperately wicked. But the Law of God
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  Speaker 1: is wholly still, and it is secondly just. It renders
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  Speaker 1: to all their due. It prescribes exactly what is ro right,
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  Speaker 1: precisely what ought to be done, said, or thought, both
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  Speaker 1: with regard to the author of our being, with regard
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  Speaker 1: to ourselves, and with regard to every creature which He
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  Speaker 1: has made. It is adapted in all respects to the
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  Speaker 1: nature of things, of the whole universe and every individual.
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  Speaker 1: It is suited to all the circumstances of each and
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  Speaker 1: to all their mutual relations, whether such as have existed
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  Speaker 1: from the beginning or such as commenced in any following period.
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  Speaker 1: It is exactly agreeable to the fitnesses of things, whether
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  Speaker 1: essential or accidental. It clashes with none of these in
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  Speaker 1: any degree, nor is ever unconnected with them. If the
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  Speaker 1: word be taken in that sense, there is nothing arbitrary
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  Speaker 1: in the law of God, although still the whole in
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  Speaker 1: every part thereof, is totally dependent upon His will, so
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  Speaker 1: that Thy will be done. Is the supreme universal law,
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  Speaker 1: both in Earth and heaven. But is the will of God.
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  Speaker 1: The cause of his law is his will, the original
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  Speaker 1: of right and wrong is a thing therefore right because
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  Speaker 1: God wills it, or does he will it because it
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  Speaker 1: is right? I fear the celebrated question is more curious
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  Speaker 1: than useful, and perhaps in the manner it is usually
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  Speaker 1: treated of it does not so well consist with the
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  Speaker 1: regard that is due from a creature to the creator
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and governor of all things. It is hardly decent for
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: man to call the supreme God to give an account
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: to him. Nevertheless, with awe and reverence we may speak
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: a little. The Lord pardon us if we speak amiss.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: It seems then that the whole difficulty arises from considering
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: God's will as distinct from God. Otherwise it vanishes away.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: For none can doubt but God is the cause of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the law of God. But the will of God is
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: God himself. It is God considered as willing. Thus or
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: thus consequently, to say that the will of God, or
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: that God himself is the cause of the law, is
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: one and the same thing. Again, if the law, the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: immutable rule of right and wrong, depends upon the nature
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: and fitnesses of things, and on their essential relations to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: each other, I do not say their eternal relations. Because
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the eternal relation of things existing in time is little
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: less than a contradiction. If I say this depends on
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the nature and relations of things, then it must depend
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: on God or the will of God, because those thing themselves,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: with all their relations, are the works of His hands,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: by his will for his pleasure alone. They all are
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and were created. And yet it may be granted, which
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: is probably all that a considerate person would contend for,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that in every particular case God wills this or this.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Suppose that men should honor their parents, because it is right,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: agreeable to the fitness of things to the relation wherein
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: they stand. The law then is right and just concerning
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: all things, and it is good as well as just this.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: We may easily infer from the fountain whence it flowed from?
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: What was this but the goodness of God? What but
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: goodness alone inclined him to impart that divine copy of
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: himself to the holy angels. To what else can we
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: impute his bestowing upon man the same transcript of his
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: own nature. And what but tender love constrained him afresh
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: to manifest his will to fallen man, either to Adam
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: or any of his seed, who like him were come
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: short of the glory of God. Was it not mere
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: love that moved him to publish his law after the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: understandings of men were darkened, and to send his prophets
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to declare that law to the blind, thoughtless children of men.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Doubtless his goodness it was which raised up Enoch and
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Noah to be creatures of righteousness, which caused Abraham his friend,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: and Isaac and Jacob to bear witness to his truth.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: It was his goodness alone which, when darkness had covered
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the earth in thick darkness, the people, gave a written
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: law to Moses, and through him to the nation whom
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: he had chosen. Was Love which explained these living oracles
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: by David, and all the prophets that followed, till when
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the fullness of time was come, he sent his only
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: begotten son, not to destroy the law, but to fulfill
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: confirm every jot and tittel thereof till having wrote it
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: in the hearts of all his children, and put all
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: his enemies under his feet, he shall deliver up his
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: mediatorial kingdom to the Father, that God may be all
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: in all First Corinthians fifteen twenty eight. And this law
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: which the goodness of God gave it first and has
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: preserved through all ages. Is like the fountain, from whence
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: it springs, full of goodness and benignity. It is mild
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and kind. It is, as the Psalmist expresses it, sweeter
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: than honey in the honeycomb. It is winning and amiable.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: It includes whatsoever things are lovely or of good report,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: if there be any virtue, if there be any praise
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: before God and his holy angels, they are all comprised
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in this wherein are hid all the treasures of the
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: divine wisdom and knowledge and love. And it is good
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: in its effects as well as in its nature. As
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: it tree is, so are its fruits. The fruits of
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the Law of God written in the heart are righteousness
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: and peace and assurance forever. Or rather, the law itself
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is righteousness, filling the soul with the peace which passeth
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: all understanding, and causing us to rejoice evermore. In the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: testimony of a good conscience toward God. It is to
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: so properly a pledge as in earnest of our inheritance,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: being a part of the purchased possession. It is God
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: made manifest in our flesh and bringing with him eternal life,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: assuring us by that pure and perfect love, that we
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: are sealed unto the day of redemption, that He will
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: spare us as a man spareth his own son, that
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: serveth him in that day when he maketh up his jewels,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: And that there remaineth for us a crown of glory,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: which fadeth not away. It remains only to show in
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the fourth and last place the uses of the law,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: And the first use of it, without question, is to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: convince the world of sin. This is indeed the peculiar
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: work of the Holy Ghost, who can work it without
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: any means at all, or by whatever means it pleaseth him,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: however insufficient in themselves or even improper to produce such
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: an effect. And accordingly, some there are whose hearts have
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: been broken in pieces in a moment, either in sickness
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: or in health, without any visible cause or any outward
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: means whatever, And others one in an age have been
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: awakened to a sense of the wrath of God abiding
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: on them, by hearing that God was in Christ reconciling
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the world unto himself. But it is the ordinary method
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by the law.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: It is this which being set home on the conscience,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: generally breaketh the rocks and pieces. Is more especially this
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: part of the Word of God, which is zonkite energies,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: quick and powerful, full of life and energy, and sharper
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: than any two edged sword. And this in the hand
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: of God and of those whom he hath sent, pierces
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: through all the folds of its deceitful heart, and divides
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: asunder even the soul and the spirit yea as it were,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the very joints and marrow. By this is the sinner
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: discovered to himself. All his fig leaves are torn away,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and he sees that he is wretched and poor, and miserable,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and blind and naked. The Law flashes conviction on every side.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: He feels himself a mere sinner. He has nothing to pay,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: His mouth is stopped, and he stands guilty before God.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: To slay the sinner is then the first use of
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the law to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and convince him that he is dead while he liveth
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: not only under the sentence of death, but actually dead
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: unto God, void of all spiritual life, dead in trespasses
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and sins. The second use of it is to bring
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: him unto life, unto Christ, that he may live. It
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: is true, in performing both these offices it acts the
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: part of a severe schoolmaster, drives us by force rather
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: than draws us by love. And yet love is ring
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of all. It is the spirit of love which, by
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: this painful means, tears away our confidence in the flesh,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: which leaves us no broken reed whereon to trust, and
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: so constrains the sinner, stripped of all, to cry out
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: in the bitterness of his soul, or grown in the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: depth of his heart. I give up every plea beside, Lord,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I am damned, but thou hast died. The third use
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: of the law is to keep us alive. It is
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the grand means, whereby the blessed Spirit prepares the believer
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: for larger communications of the life of God. I am
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: afraid this great and important truth is little understood, not
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: only by the world, but even by many whom God
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: hath taken out of the world, who are real children
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of God by faith. And many of these lay it
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: down as an unquestioned truth, that when we come to Christ,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: we have done with the Law, and that in this sense,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Christ is the end of the law. To every one
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: that believeth the end of the law, so he is
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: for righteousness, for justification to every one that believeth. Herein
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: theold law is at an end. It justifies none, but
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: only brings them to Christ, who is also in another
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: respect the end or scope of the law point at
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: which it continually aims. When it has brought us to Him,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: it is yet a farther office, namely to keep us
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: with Him, for it is continually exciting all believers the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: more they see of its height and depth, and length
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and breadth, to exhort one another so much the more
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: closer and closer let us cleave to His beloved embrace,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: expect His fullness to receive, and grace to answer. Grace.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Allowing then that every believer has done with the law
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: as it means, the Jewish ceremonial law, or the entire
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: mosaic dispensation, for these Christ hath taken out of the way, Yea,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: allowing we have done with the moral law as a
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: means of procuring our justification, for we are justified freely
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Yet in another sense we have not done with this law,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: for it is still of unspeakable use, first in convincing
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: us of the sin that yet remains both in our
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: hearts and lives, and thereby keeping us close to Christ,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: that his blood may cleanse us every moment. Secondly in
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: deriving strength from our head into his living members, whereby
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: he empowers them to do what his law commands. And
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: thirdly in confirming our hope of whatsoever it commands. And
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: we have not yet attained of receiving grace upon grace
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: till we are in actual possession of the fullness of
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: His promises. How clearly does this agree with the experience
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: of every true believer? While he cries out, Oh, what
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: love have I unto Thy law? All the day long?
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Is my study in it? He sees daily in that
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: divine mirror more and more of his own sinfulness. He
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: sees more and more clearly that he is still a
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: sinner in all things, than neither his heart nor his
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: ways are right before God, and that every moment sends
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: him to Christ. This shows him the meaning of what
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: is written, Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and grave upon it holiness to the Lord, and it
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: shall be upon Erin's forehead. The type of our Great
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: High Priest, that Eron may bear the iniquity of the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: all their holy gifts. So far are our prayers or
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: holy things from atoning for the rest of our sin,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and it shall be always upon His forehead that they
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: may be accepted before the Lord Exodus twenty eight thirty
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: six thirty eight. To explain this by a single instance,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the Law says thou shalt not kill, And hereby as
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: our Lord teaches, forbids not only outward acts, but every
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: unkind word or thought. Now, the more I look into
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: this perfect law, the more I feel how far I
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: come short of it. And the more I feel this,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: the more I feel my need of His blood to
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: atone for all my sin, and of His spirit to
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: purify my heart and make me perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Therefore,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: I can spare Christ. Seeing I now want it as
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: much to keep me to Christ as I ever wanted
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: it to bring me to Him. Other Wise this evil
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: heart of unbelief would immediately depart from the living God. Indeed,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: each is continually sending me to the other, the Law
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to Christ and Christ to the Law. On the one hand,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the height and depth of the law constrain me to
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: fly to the love of God in Christ. On the other,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the love of God in Christ endears the Law to
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: me above gold or precious stones. Seeing I know every
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: part of it is a gracious promise which my Lord
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: will fulfill in its season. Who art thou then, o
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: man that judgest the law, and speakest evil of the Law,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: that rankest it with sin, Satan and death, and sendest
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: them all to Hell together? The apostle James esteem judging
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: or speaking evil of the law so enormous a piece
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: of wickedness, that he knew not how to aggravate the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: guilt of judging our brethren more than by showing it
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: included this, So now says he, thou art not a
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: doer of the law, but a judge, a judge of
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: that which God hath ordained to judge thee. So thou
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: hast set up thyself in the judgments seat of Christ,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: and cast down the rule, whereby he will judge the world. Oh,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: take knowledge what advantage Satan hath gained over thee, And
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: for the time to come, never think or speak lightly
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of much less. Dress up as a scarecrow, this blessed
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: instrument of the grace of God. Yea love and value
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: it for the sake of Him from whom it came
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: in of Him, to whom it leads. Let it be
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: thy glory and joy next to the Cross of Christ.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Declare its praise, and make it honorable before all men.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: And if thou art thoroughly convinced that it is the
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: offspring of God, that is the copy of all His
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: inimitable perfections, and that it is the holy and just
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: and good. But especially to them that believe that, instead
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: of casting it away is a polluted thing, see that
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: thou cleave to it more and more. Never let the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Law of mercy and truth, of love to God and
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: man of lowliness, meekness and purity forsake THEE. Bind it
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: about thy neck, rid it on the table of thy heart.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Art keep close to the Law. If thou wilt keep
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: close to Christ, hold it fast, Let it not go.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Let dis continually lead THEE to the atoning Blood. Continually
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: confirm Thy hope, till all the righteousness of the Law
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: is fulfilled in THEE. When thou art filled with all
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the fullness of God. And if thy Lord hath already
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: fulfilled his word, if he hath already written his law
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: in thy heart, then stand fast in the liberty wherewith
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Christ hath made thee free. Thou art not only made
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: free from the Jewish ceremonies, from the guilt of sin
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: and the fear of hell. These are so far from
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: being the whole that they are the least and lowest
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: part of Christian liberty. But what is infinitely more from
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: the power of sin, from serving the devil, from offending God.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: O stand fast in his liberty, in comparison of which
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: all the rest is not even worthy to be named.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Stand fast in loving God with all thy heart and
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: serving Him with all thy strength. This is perfect freedom.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Thus to keep His law and to walk in all
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: His commandments blameless. Be not entangled again with the yoke
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: of bondage. I do not mean of Jewish bondage, nor
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: yet of bondage to the fear of hell. These I
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: trust are far from thee. But beware of being entangled
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: again with the yoke of sin, of any inward outward
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: transgression of the law. Poor sin, far more than death
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: or hell of poor sin itself far more than the
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: punishment of it. Beware of the bondage of pride, of desire,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: of anger, of every evil temper or word, or work.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Look unto Jesus, and in order there too, look more
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: and more into the perfect law, the Law of liberty,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: and continue therein. So shalt thou daily grow in grace
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. End
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: of section thirty four. Recording by Greg Giardano, Newport, Richie, Florida.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Ye