Teaching Resources International

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14.

The Believer’s Desire

Both the way to peace and the way of peace [is] to submit one’s whole self unto God. Nor [is it] an irksome task to a true believer [to submit to God], but the desire of his heart, the pleasure of his life. He shudders at the idea of yielding his members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but according to the language of the verse which precedes our text, he yields himself unto God as one who has been made alive from the dead, and his members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Complete consecration of every faculty of mind and body unto the Lord is our soul’s deepest wish.

We can sing most sincerely that sweet consecration hymn:

“Take my hands and let them move,

Another Law

But, beloved, we find another law in our members, warring against the law of our mind. To the full yielding up of all our members we find a hindrance in the sin which dwelleth in us, that sin which finds its haunt and hiding place in our mortal body, in the desires, passions, and appetites of our animal nature. These within proper limits are right enough; it is right that we eat and drink, and so forth, but our natural instincts are apt to demand indulgence, and so to become lusts. Our mortal body, in its natural desires, affords dens for the foxes of sin. The carnal mind, also, readily leans to the indulgence of the body, and thus there is presented a powerful opposition to the work of grace. Every true child of God must be conscious of the presence of the rebellious power and principle of sin within him. We strive to keep it under, to subdue and conquer it, and we hope to see it utterly exterminated at the last, for our case is like that of Israel with the Canaanites, and we long for the day when “There shall no more be the Canaanite in the house of the land.”

Sin is a domineering force. A man cannot sin up to a fixed point and then say to sin, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.” It is an imperious power, and, where it dwells, it is hungry for the mastery. Just as our Lord, when he enters the soul, will never be content with a divided dominion, so is it with sin, it labors to bring our entire manhood under subjection. Hence we are compelled to strive daily against this ambitious principle: according to the working of the Spirit of God in us, we wrestle against sin that it may not have dominion over us. It has unquestioned dominion over multitudes of human hearts, and in some it has set up its horrid throne on high, and keeps its seat with force of arms, so that its empire is undisturbed. In others, the throne is disputed, for conscience mutinies, but yet the tyrant is not dethroned. Over the whole world, sin exercises a dreadful tyranny. It would hold us in the same bondage were it not for one who is stronger than sin, which has undertaken to deliver us out of its hand, and will certainly perform the redeeming work.

Here is the charter of our liberty, the security of our safety: “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” It reigns over those who abide in unbelief, but it shall not have dominion over you, “because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” The whole world lies in the wicked one, but “ye are not of the world,” and therefore “sin shall not have dominion over you.” If we are distressed by the fear that sin will ultimately get the mastery over us, let us be comforted by our text.

Three things will demand our consideration and afford us consolation this morning. The first is, the peculiar position of believers—”Ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Secondly, the special assurance made to them—”Sin shall not have dominion over you.” And thirdly, the remarkable reason given for this statement—”for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

I. First, then, here is A PECULIAR POSITION: “Ye are not under the law.”

All men are under the law by nature, and consequently they are condemned by it because they have broken its commands. [They are] still under sentence and waiting for the appointed hour when the warrant shall be solemnly executed upon them. But believers are regarded as having died in Christ, and by that death they have escaped from under the law. They are clean delivered from the law by the fact that their Redeemer endured the penalty of the law on their behalf, and at the same time honored the law by rendering perfect obedience to it: meeting all the law’s requirements, so that it has no more demands upon his people.

“Not under the law,” means that we are not trying to be saved by obedience to law. We do not pretend to earn eternal life by merit, nor hope to claim anything of the Lord as due to us for good works. The principle that rules our life is not mercenary. We do not expect to earn a reward, neither are we flogged to duty by dread of punishment. We are under grace—that is to say, we are treated on the principle of mercy and love, and not on that of justice and desert. Freely, of his own undeserved favor, God has forgiven us for Christ’s sake. He has regarded us with favor, not because we deserved it, but simply because he willed to do so, according to that ancient declaration, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

The Lord did not choose us because of any goodness in us, but he hath saved us and called us according to the purpose of his own will. Moreover, our continuance in a state of salvation depends upon the same grace which first placed us there. We do not stand or fall according to our personal merit; but because Jesus lives we live, because Jesus is accepted we are accepted, because Jesus is beloved we are beloved: in a word, our standing is not based upon merit, but upon mercy; not upon our changeable character, but upon the immutable mercy of God. Grace is the tenure upon which we hold our position before the Lord. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God;” “but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, the man that doeth them shall live in them.”

Evils from which We Are Released

Let us endeavor to recount the privileges of this position by mentioning the evils from which it releases us.

First, we no longer dread the curse of the law. Those who are under the law may well be horribly afraid because of the penalties which are due through their many failures and transgressions. They have broken the law, and are therefore in constant danger of judgment and condemnation. The careless try to shake off the thought as much as possible by putting off the evil day, by forgetting death, and by pretending to disbelieve in judgment and eternal wrath; but still more or less this thought disturbs them, a dreadful sound is in their ears. When men are once awakened the dread of punishment for sin haunts them day and night, and fills them with terror. Every transgression and disobedience must receive a just recompense of reward.

Now, believers have no fear as to the punishment of their sin, for our sin was by the Lord himself laid upon Jesus, and the penalty was borne by him: “the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Substitution clears the Christian from all debt to justice, and he dares to challenge the law itself with the question—”Who is he that condemneth, since Christ has died?” Yea, he goes further, and challenges an accusation—”Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” Since God hath justified, no penalty do we dread, for we are forgiven, and God will not pardon and then punish. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Will God punish those from whom he has removed transgression, or cast those into hell whose sins he has cast behind his back? Impossible! Hence, when we see the stern array of the judgment seat, and hear the threatenings of vengeance, we who are believers rejoice to feel that these terrors have nothing to do with us. The Great Surety has secured his people from all risk of wrath. The undying worm is not for them, the unquenchable fire is not for them, neither shall the pit shut her mouth upon them, for they are not under the law.

[Second,] the believer no longer drudges in unwilling obedience, seeking to reach a certain point of merit. The man under the law who is awakened and aroused very frequently tries to keep the commands in order to attain, at any rate, to a fair measure of goodness. For this he labors very hard, as men who tug at the oar to escape from a tempest. If he could but reach a certain degree of virtue he would feel safe; if he were equal to such an one he would be at rest. Alas, he has no power to attain even to his own ideal; he finds his resolutions written in water, and his goodness vanishes like the morning mist. His servile works are ill done, and fail to yield him peace of mind.

Now, the believer is under no such drudgery. Christ has fulfilled the law for him, and he rests in that finished work. He does not aim at high attainments in order to win the favor of God—he has that favor; it has come to him freely and undeservedly, and he rejoices in it. A high ambition moves him, but it is not that of saving himself by his own works. He obeys out of love. He delights in the law after the inner man, and confesses with Paul, “the law is holy, and just, and good.” He wishes that he could live without sin, but he never dreams that even then he could make an atonement for the past, nor does he fancy that by his own merit, he is to obtain salvation for the future. The work through which he is saved is complete; it is not his own work, but the work of Jesus, and hence, when he sees his own shortcomings and iniquities, he does not, therefore, doubt his salvation, but continues to rest in Jesus. He is no longer a slave, flogged with the whip of fear, and made to labor for his very life, and gather nothing for his pains. But he is free from the principle of law, and works from a principle of love; not to secure divine favor, but because that favor has been freely manifested towards him.

[Third,] the Christian man is now no longer uncertain as to the continuance of divine love. Under the law, no man’s standing can be secure, since by a single sin he may forfeit his position. If a legalist should be able to persuade himself that he has reached a sufficient point of merit and is safe, yet he cannot be sure of continuing in his exalted position, for like the flower of the grass all human comeliness withers away. However meritorious a man may conceive himself to be, yet he may fall short of the standard even now; and if not, in the future, he may spoil it all.

The merit of Christ is always a constant and abiding quantity; if, therefore, we rest thereon, our foundation is as secure at one time as at another. The merits of Jesus will be throughout eternity sweet before God on our behalf. Is he not “the same yesterday, today, and for ever?” Hence the confidence of the believer rests upon a foundation which will no more be shaken in the future than it is today. Glory be to God, he doth not cast away his people whom he did foreknow; he doth not love today and hate tomorrow; nor favor with his grace the child whom he has adopted and afterwards disown him. “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” We are clear from the bondage of the law, since we are no longer under the covenant of works, but have come under the covenant of grace, which is founded upon promises which nothing can disannul. In consequence of this, the believer is no longer afraid of the last great day. Shall all our sins be read and published before an assembled universe? “If so,” saith the man who is under the law, “it will go hard with me.” Judgment is a terrible word to those who are hoping to save themselves, for if their doings are to be put into the balances they will surely be found wanting.

But judgment has no terror in it to a believer—he can sing with our poet:

“Bold shall I stand in that great day,

Will the sins of believers be published at the last day? If it be to the glory of forgiving love, let them be. Who among us need be afraid since at the end of the whole list there shall be written, “and all these were blotted out for Jesus Christ’s sake.” And if not published at all because all our sins were cast behind Jehovah’s back. And if instead thereof the Judge shall only proclaim the good works of his people and say, “I was hungry and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; and inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me,” then we may well welcome the last assize and cry, “Welcome, welcome, Son of God.” If the book of record shall be opened which might justly condemn us, yet it is written, “And another book was opened, which was the book of life.” If our names be there we have naught to fear.

One word may be added here, namely, that the believer being no longer under the law has no slavish dread of God. As long as I am at enmity with God, guilty of breaking his law, and liable to his righteous wrath, I dread his name and shrink from his presence. The soul under the law stands as the Israelites did, far off from the mountain, with a bound set between themselves and the glory of God. Distance and separation are the natural condition of all who are under the law. Far hence, cries the heart of man, when it beholds God touching the hills so that they smoke; and when it hears the voice of God like a trumpet waxing exceeding loud and long it beseeches that it may not hear such words any more.

Not so the believer, for his heart and his flesh cry out for the Lord, and he pants to come and appear before God. We have access with boldness to the throne of the heavenly grace, and we delight to avail ourselves of it. Through the Mediator, we have fellowship with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost has made us long to be brought nearer and nearer to our divine Father. Our God is a consuming fire, but that consuming fire has no terror for us, since it will only melt the alloy from the gold and remove the dross from the silver. The law could only say to us, “Depart, ye cursed,” but grace saith, “Come, ye blessed.” The law said, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet;” but grace cries with a voice of pity, “Whosoever is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him come.” We have accepted the call of grace, and now we know the Lord and love him. Perfect love has cast out fear, for fear hath torment. We are not under the law, but we have “known and believed the love that God hath to us.”

Now I speak to you Christian people, even to you who believe in Christ. I beg you to understand this freedom from the law, and then to hold it fast, for there are some of you who return in a measure to the legal yoke, whereas the apostle says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Do you feel helpless, cold, and heavy, and do you therefore conclude that you are not saved? Are you not coming under the law, and measuring the power of the grace of God by your own deservings or excellencies? If you judge your standing before God by anything except your faith in his promise, you will bring yourself into bondage. You can walk by faith, but you will stumble if you try any other way. There is but one deliverance for me when I question my own state, and that is to fly to simple faith in Jesus. When Satan says, “You are no saint,” do not argue with him, for he is too subtle for a poor soul like you. Yield the point and say, “It may be I am no saint, nor are you either.” “No,” saith he, “you are deceived, you are a hypocrite.” Reply to him, “If I am not a saint, I am a sinner; and being a sinner, I find it written that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I put myself in that list, O Satan, and even thou canst not deny that I am such. I believe in Jesus, and believing in him I am justified before God by the righteousness of my Lord, and I have peace with God through Jesus Christ.”

Beloved, this is safe standing. If we are indeed saved by the righteousness of another, why do we question the power of that righteousness to save us because of our own conscious feebleness? For we are not saved by our own strength or feebleness, but by the power of the Lord Jesus. If we are standing with one foot on the rock of Christ’s finished work and the other upon the sand of our own doings, then we may well stand or totter according to which foot we are trusting to. But if we set both feet upon the rock then we may stand fast though the sea roar and the floods sweep the sand away. Mind you do not try the double foundation, for it will never answer. Partly Christ and partly self-will soon come to a failure. No, our great Redeemer cried, “It is finished,” and it is finished, and those who rest on him have a finished salvation, for they are not under the law, but under grace.

II. Now, secondly, we come to THE SPECIAL ASSURANCE of the text: “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”

This is a very needful assurance, especially at times. Sin is a great working power, and all around us we see its hideous operations: it is an evil as incessant in its activity as it is deadly in its results. As we look at its forcible workings, we cry in alarm, “It will surely drag me down one of these days,” but the dread fear is removed by the cheering voice of the Holy Ghost, who assures us, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”

Alas, we not only see the evil working in others, but it assails ourselves: our eyes are drawn aside to look on vanity, our ears hearken to evil speaking, and our heart itself at times grows cold or wanders. Then we are apt to be cast down and to doubt. Here the sweet assurance cheers us—though you be tempted you shall not be led astray, for “sin shall not have dominion over you.” “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Stand in the strength of faith and in the power of the precious blood, and though you are beset with evil suggestions a thousand times a day, and every sense is assailed by the witcheries of evil, yet “sin shall not have dominion over you.” Cheered by such a word as this we remain on our watchtower, and are not overcome of evil.

Christians Sin

Sometimes sin forces its way into our souls and rouses our inward evil to an awful degree, so that the imagination sets fire to our lusts, and the smoke of the conflagration blows in the eyes of the affections, and almost chokes the understanding. Yes, sin may invade your soul, and for awhile find a lodgment there, so as to be your plague and torment. It may even crush you down, rob you of your comfort, injure your graces, and create intense war to the detriment of your peace, but it shall not have dominion over you. Those of you who are acquainted with John Bunyan’s “Holy War” will remember how wonderfully the glorious dreamer describes Diabolus besieging the town of Mansoul after it had been occupied by the Prince Immanuel. After many battles and cunning plots, the enemy entered into the city, filled all the streets with the yells of his followers, and polluted the whole place with the presence of his hosts; but yet he could not take the castle in the center of the town, which held out for Immanuel.

That castle was the heart, and he could by no means secure a footing in it. He beat his big hell drum almost day and night around the walls, so that those who had fled to the castle had a very terrible time of it, and he set all his huge machinery to work to batter down the walls, but he could not enter. No, sin may for awhile seem to prevail in the believer till he has no rest, and is sore beset, hearing nothing but the devil’s tattoo sounding in his ears—”Sin, sin, sin;” but nevertheless sin shall not have dominion over him.

Sin may haunt your bed and board, and follow you down the streets in your walks, and enter the very room into which you withdraw to pray; but your inmost self shall still cry out against it, for “sin shall not have dominion over you.” Sin may vex you and thrust itself upon you, but it cannot become your lord. The devil hath great wrath, and rages horribly for awhile, knowing that his time is short; but he shall be subdued and expelled, for the Lord our God giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ.

Christians Struggle with Sin

Sometimes, alas, sin not only enters us, but prevails over us, and we are forced in deep anguish to confess that we have fallen beneath its power. It is terrible that it should be so, even for a moment, and yet it would be idle to deny the mournful fact. Still, a temporary defeat is not sufficient to effect a total subjugation. Sin shall not have dominion over the believer, for though he fall, he shall arise again. The child of God when he falls into the mire is like the sheep which gets up and escapes from the ditch as quickly as possible; it is not his nature to lie there. The ungodly man is like the hog which rolls in the filth and wallows in it with delight. The mire has dominion over the swine, but it has none over the sheep. With many bleatings and outcries the sheep seeks the shepherd again, but not so the swine. Every child of God weeps, mourns, and bemoans his sin, and he hates it even when for awhile he has been overtaken by it, and this is proof that sin hath not dominion over him. It has an awful power, but it has not dominion: it casts us down, but it cannot make us take delight in its evil.

There are times when the believer feels greatly his danger: his feet have almost gone, his steps have well nigh slipped: then how sweetly doth this assurance come to the soul, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” The Lord is able to keep you from falling, and you shall be preserved even to the end.

Sin does not have dominion

This assurance secures us from a very great danger: from the danger of being under the absolute sway of sin. What is meant by sin having dominion? Look and see; there are men who live in sin, and yet they do not appear to know it; sin has dominion over them by spreading a veil over their hearts, so that their conscience is deadened. They are so enslaved as to be content in bondage. You shall not be so; you shall be enlightened and instructed, so that, when you sin, you shall be well aware of it. Self-excuse shall be impossible to you. Many men live in gross sin, and are not ashamed, they are at ease in it, and all is quiet; but it shall not be so with you, in whom the life of God has been implanted. If you do wrong, you shall smart for it, and your nest shall be stuffed with thorns. God has so changed your nature by his grace that, when you sin, you shall be like a fish on dry land, you shall be out of your element, and long to get into a right state again. The sinner may drink sin down as the ox drinketh down water, but to you it shall be as the brine of the sea. You may become so foolish as to try the pleasures of the world, but they shall be no pleasures to you; you shall cry out with Solomon, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

An ungodly man under the dominion of sin loves sin, but that you shall never do. He wishes he could sin more, for he has upon him the thirst of intoxication; but as for you, you shall never be made happy by evil, but shall groan under it if you ever yield to its power. You shall hate yourself to think you ever consented to its solicitations; you shall be wretched and unhappy and shall find no rest till you return unto your Lord. Your nature has been so changed that you cannot henceforth give a moment’s entertainment to sin without feeling like one who carries burning coals in his bosom, or thrusts thorns into his flesh. No, beloved, if you be indeed a believer in Christ, you must fight with sin till you die, and, what is more, you must conquer it in the name of the Lord. You are sometimes afraid that it will vanquish you, but if you be of the true seed it cannot prevail. Like Samson, you shall break all its bands.

This assurance is confirmed by the context—”Sin shall not have dominion over you,” because you are dead to it by virtue of your union to Christ. You died with Christ and you have been buried with Christ, how then shall sin have dominion over you? Besides, you live in Christ in newness of life by reason of his living in you. How can the new nature live in sin? How can that which is born of God live like that which is born of the devil? No, no, it cannot be, Christ has undertaken to save you from your sins, and he will do it: he will keep you watchful, prayerful, vigilant; he will instruct you in his word, he will help you by his Spirit, he will perfect you in himself. You are bound for victory and you shall have it; thanks be unto God who gives it to you through Jesus Christ our Lord. “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”

III. Now I come to my last head, which is, THE REMARKABLE REASON that is given for sin’s never having dominion: “For ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

“There, there,” says many an unconverted man, “did you ever hear such doctrine as he has been preaching to us this morning? Not under the law! Well, then, we may sin as we like.” That is your logic, that is the way in which a base heart sours the sweet milk of the word; but it is not the argument of a child of God. Mark how Paul puts it: “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” He flings away the inference with horror and detestation, crying, “God forbid!” Let me just show you why being under the law is not helpful to holiness, while being under grace is the great means of it.

Those who are under the law will always be under the dominion of sin, and it cannot be otherwise.

First, because the law puts a man under the dominion of sin by pronouncing sentence of condemnation upon him as soon as he has transgressed. What does the law say to him? “Henceforth you are guilty, and I condemn you. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. Thus the law shuts a man up to being a sinner, and offers him no space for repentance. It accuses, condemns, and sentences, but affords no hope and offers no encouragement. It is not so with those who are under grace; to them grace saith, “You are sinners, but you are freely forgiven; your iniquity is pardoned; your transgression is put away; go, and sin no more.” Thus relieved, the penitent lifts up his head, and cries, “Enable me to praise thee, and grant that I may be upheld by grace in the way of uprightness.” The amazing love of God when shed abroad in the heart creates a desire for better things, and what the law could not do, grace accomplishes.

A man under the law is by the law driven to despair. “What,” saith he, “am I to keep this law in order to be saved? Alas! I have already broken it, and if I had not, it is too high and holy for me to rise to its full height.” Therefore he resolves that he will not attempt the task, and he sinks into indifference. Because there is no hope, he will plunge into iniquity. He vows that if hell must be his portion forever, at any rate, he will enjoy the sweetness there is in sin while he may. So the law, because of the evil heart it has to deal with, excites such a condition of heart that sin is confirmed in its dominion. Being threatened, the rebellious heart hardens itself, and defies the Lord; and then concluding that peace is impossible, it continues more and more to fight against the Lord. Not so the child of God, he saith, “God, for Christ’s sake, hath cast my sins behind his back, and I am saved. Now, for the love I bear his name, I will serve him with all my might, because of all that he has done for me.” Thus the grace of our Lord Jesus, by its freeness and richness, breaks the dominion of sin which the law only served to establish and confirm. Not that the law is evil, God forbid! But because we are evil and rebel against the holy law.

A man under the law does not escape from the dominion of sin because the law rouses the opposition of the human heart. There are a great many things which people never wish to do, nor think of doing till they are forbidden. Lock up a closet in your house and say to your wife and children, “You must never enter that closet, nor even look into the keyhole.” Perhaps they have never wanted to look into the dingy old corner before, but now they pine to inspect it. Law, by reason of our unruly nature, excites opposition, and creates sin, for what a man may not do he immediately wants to do. He who is under the law will never escape from the dominion of sin, for sin comes by the law by reason of the iniquity of our hearts. But when we are not under the law, but under grace, we love God for his love to us, and labor to please him in all things.

The law moreover affords a man no actual help. All it does is to say, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” It can do no more: but grace gives us what the law requires of us. The law says, “make you a new heart;” grace replies, “A new heart also will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you.” The law says, “Keep my commandments;” and grace answers, “Thou shalt keep my commandments and do them.” Grace brings the Holy Spirit into the soul to work in us holy affections and a hatred of sin, and hence what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, grace accomplishes for us by its own almighty power.

Further, the law inspires no sentiment of love, and love after all is the fulfilling of the law. If you are told you shall and you shall not, there is nothing in this to inspire love to the lawgiver; law is hard and cold, like the two tables of Moses. Law does not change the heart or remove enmity: it tends rather the other way. Law never excites enthusiasm for that which is right, it is too stern and chill to touch the heart. Mere law does not even raise in a man’s heart a high ideal of what he ought to be. Look at the legalist, the man who hopes for salvation by the law. He looks upon religion as a task in which he has no delight; he is a bondslave, and nothing more. He does as much or as little as he is forced to do, but his heart is not in it.

The men who think they have kept the law of God are evidently very far from understanding its meaning. They have a very poor idea of the mind of God or they would not have thought that they had fulfilled the will of God with such a poor, miserable, hypocritical righteousness as theirs. The Pharisee thought he had kept the law, for he fasted twice a week, and paid tithes of all he possessed, and yet the same man could go and swallow a widow’s house behind the door and do all sorts of abominable actions. It is clear that he had formed a shockingly low notion of true holiness. In fact, he had degraded the law into a mere external ordinance, which took note of the outside of the cup and platter and left the inside full of filthiness. But see what grace does: it fires a man with enthusiasm and sets before him a lofty idea of excellence. It causes him to love the Lord, and then it gives him a high idea of purity and holiness. Though he rises many grades beyond the Pharisee, yet the believer cries, “I am not what I should be.” And if he becomes the most zealous, consecrated man that ever lived, the law is still beyond him, and he still asks that he may be able to rise to greater heights of holiness and virtue. This grace does, but this the law can never do.

The law provides no pleasure in service. The most pleasing service in the world is that which is done from motives of affection, and not for wages. The servant who only does his work for his 300 pay is not valued like the old attached domestic who nursed you when you were a boy, and waited on your father before you. No money can purchase such service as he renders; it is so thoroughly hearty and prompt. If you could not afford to pay his wages, he would stop with you. And if anything goes awry he puts up with it, because he loves you. You prize such a man above rubies. So is it with the child of God. The mere legalist does what he ought, or at least thinks he does so; but as for heartiness and zeal, he knows nothing of such things. The child of God, with all his feebleness and his blundering, is far more accepted, for he does all he can out of pure love, and then cries, “I am an unprofitable servant, I have done no more than was my duty to have done; the Lord help me to do more.” God accepts heart service, but heart service the law never did produce, and never will.

The only true heart service in the world comes from those who are not under the law, but under grace; hence sin shall not have dominion over those who are not under the law. The spirit of the world is legal, and its wise men tell us that we must preach to people that they must be virtuous or they will go to hell, and we must hold out heaven as the reward of morality. They believe in the principle of chain and whip. But what comes of such doctrine? The more you preach it, the less virtue and the less obedience there is in the world. But when you preach love the effect is very different—”Come,” saith God, “I forgive you freely. Trust my Son, and I will save you outright, though in you there is nothing to merit my esteem. Accept my free favor, and I will receive you graciously, and love you freely.” This looks at first sight as if it gave a license to sin, but how does it turn out? Why, this wondrous grace taking possession of the human heart breeds love in return, which love becomes the fountain of purity and holiness, and such as receive it endeavor to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

Beloved, do not get under the law, do not yield to legal threats or legal hopes, but live under the free grace gospel. Let the note that peals on your ear be no longer the thunder of Sinai. “Do and live,” but let it be the sweet song of free grace and dying love. Ah, ring those charming bells from morn till eve. Let us hear their liquid music again and again. “Live and do”; not “do and live:” not “work for salvation,” but “being saved, work;” being already delivered, go forth and prove by your grateful affections and zealous actions what the grace of God has done for you. “Whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ hath everlasting life.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Amen.

Excerpted and edited from Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 24.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Read Full Post »

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” Romans 6:14, 15.

Last Sabbath morning I tried to show that the substance and essence of the true gospel is the doctrine of God’s grace—that, in fact, if you take away the grace of God from the gospel you have extracted from it its very life-blood, and there is nothing left worth preaching, worth believing, or worth contending for. Grace is the soul of the gospel: without it the gospel is dead. Grace is the music of the gospel: without it the gospel is silent as to all comfort. I endeavored also to set forth the doctrine of grace in brief terms, teaching that God deals with sinful men upon the footing of pure mercy: finding them guilty and condemned, he gives free pardons, altogether irrespective of past character, or of any good works which may be foreseen. Moved only by pity, he devises a plan for their rescue from sin and its consequences—a plan in which grace is the leading feature. Out of free favor he has provided, in the death of his dear Son, an atonement by means of which his mercy can be justly bestowed. He accepts all those who place their trust in this atonement, selecting faith as the way of salvation, that it may be all of grace. In this he acts, from a motive found within himself, and not because of any reason found in the sinner’s conduct, past, present, or future.

I tried to show that this grace of God flows towards the sinner from of old, and begins its operations upon him when there is nothing good in him. It works in him that which is good and acceptable, and continues so to work in him till the deed of grace is complete, and the believer is received up into the glory for which he is made meet. Grace commences to save, and it perseveres till all is done. From first to last, from the “A” to the “Z” of the heavenly alphabet, everything in salvation is of grace, and grace alone; all is of free favor, nothing of merit. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God;” “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

No sooner is this doctrine set forth in a clear light than men begin to cavil at it. It is the target for all carnal logic to shoot at. Unrenewed minds never did like it, and they never will; it is so humbling to human pride, making so light of the nobility of human nature. That men are to be saved by divine charity, that they must as condemned criminals receive pardon by the exercise of the royal prerogative, or else perish in their sins, is a teaching which they cannot endure. God alone is exalted in the sovereignty of his mercy; and the sinner can do no better than meekly touch the silver scepter, and accept undeserved favor just because God wills to give it.

This is not pleasant to the great minds of our philosophers, and the broad phylacteries of our moralists, and therefore they turn aside, and fight against the empire of grace. Straightway the unrenewed man seeks out artillery with which to fight against the gospel of the grace of God, and one of the biggest guns he has ever brought to the front is the declaration that the doctrine of the grace of God must lead to licentiousness. If great sinners are freely saved, then men will more readily become great sinners; and if when God’s grace regenerates a man it abides with him, then men will infer that they may live as they like, and yet be saved. This is the constantly-repeated objection which I have heard till it wearies me with its vain and false noise. I am almost ashamed to have to refute so rotten an argument. They dare to assert that men will take license to be guilty because God is gracious, and they do not hesitate to say that if men are not to be saved by their works they will come to the conclusion that their conduct is a matter of indifference, and that they may as well sin that grace may abound.

This morning I want to talk a little about this notion; for, in part, it is a great mistake, and in part it is a great lie. In part, it is a mistake because it arises from misconception, and, in part, it is a lie because men know better, or might know better if they pleased.

I begin by admitting that the charge does appear somewhat probable. It does seem very likely that if we are to go up and down the country, and say, “The very chief of sinners may be forgiven through believing in Jesus Christ, for God is displaying mercy to the very vilest of the vile,” then sin will seem to be a cheap thing. If we are everywhere to cry, “Come, ye sinners, come and welcome, and receive free and immediate pardon through the sovereign grace of God,” it does seem probable that some may basely reply, “Let us sin without stint, for we can easily obtain forgiveness.” But that which looks to be probable is not, therefore, certain: on the contrary, the improbable and the unexpected full often come to pass.

In questions of moral influence, nothing is more deceptive than theory. The ways of the human mind are not to be laid down with a pencil and compasses; man is a singular being. Even that which is logical is not always inevitable, for men’s minds are not governed by the rules of the schools. I believe that the inference which would lead men to sin because grace reigns is not logical, but the very reverse; and I venture to assert that, as a matter of fact, ungodly men do not, as a rule plead the grace of God as an excuse for their sin. As a rule, they are too indifferent to care about reasons at all; and, if they do offer an excuse, it is usually more flimsy and superficial. There may be a few men of perverse minds who have used this argument, but there is no accounting for the freaks of the fallen understanding. I shrewdly suspect that in any cases in which such reasoning has been put forward it was a mere pretence, and by no means a plea which satisfied the sinner’s own conscience. If men do thus excuse themselves, it is generally in some veiled manner, for the most of them would be utterly ashamed to state the argument in plain terms.

Twisted Logic
I have admitted that a few human beings have turned the grace of God into lasciviousness; but I trust no one will ever argue against any doctrine on account of the perverse use made of it by the baser sort. Cannot every truth be perverted? Is there a single doctrine of Scripture which graceless hands have not twisted into mischief? Is there not an almost infinite ingenuity in wicked men for making evil out of good? If we are to condemn a truth because of the misbehavior of individuals who profess to believe it, we should be found condemning our Lord himself for what Judas did, and our holy faith would die at the hands of apostates and hypocrites. Let us act like rational men. We do not find fault with ropes because poor insane creatures have hanged themselves therewith; nor do we ask that the wares of Sheffield may be destroyed because edged tools are the murderer’s instruments.

It may appear probable that the doctrine of free grace will be made into a license for sin, but a better acquaintance with the curious working of the human mind corrects the notion. Fallen as human nature is, it is still human, and therefore does not take kindly to certain forms of evil—such, for instance, as inhuman ingratitude. It is hardly human to multiply injuries upon those who return us continued benefits.

The case reminds me of the story of half-a-dozen boys who had severe fathers, accustomed to flog them within an inch of their lives. Another boy was with them who was tenderly beloved by his parents and known to do so. These young gentlemen met together to hold a council of war about robbing an orchard. They were all of them anxious to get about it except the favored youth, who did not enjoy the proposal. One of them cried out, “You need not be afraid: if our fathers catch us at this work, we shall be half-killed, but your father won’t lay a hand upon you.” The little boy answered, “And do you think because my father is kind to me, that therefore I will do wrong and grieve him? I will do nothing of the sort to my dear father. He is so good to me that I cannot vex him.” It would appear that the argument of the many boys was not convincing to their companion: the opposite conclusion was quite as logical, and evidently carried weight with it. If God is good to the undeserving, some men will go into sin, but there are others of a nobler order whom the goodness of God leads to repentance.

Looking back in history, I see upon its pages a refutation of the oft-repeated calumny. Who dares to suggest that the men who believed in the grace of God have been sinners above other sinners? With all their faults, those who throw stones at them will be few if they first prove themselves to be their superiors in character. When have they been the patrons of vice, or the defenders of injustice? Pitch upon the point in English history when this doctrine was very strong in the land; who were the men that held these doctrines most firmly? Men like Owen, Charnock, Manton, Howe, and I hesitate not to add Oliver Cromwell. What kind of men were these? Did they pander to the licentiousness of a court? Did they haunt alehouses and places of revelry? Every historian will tell you, the greatest fault of these men in the eyes of their enemies was that they were too precise for the generation in which they lived, so they called them Puritans, and condemned for holding a gloomy theology.

Sirs, if there was iniquity in the land in that day, it was to be found with the theological party which preached up salvation by works. The gentlemen with their womanish locks and essenced hair, whose speech savored of profanity were the advocates of salvation by works, and all bedabbled with lust, they pleaded for human merit; but the men who believed in grace alone were of another style. They were not in the chambers of rioting and wantonness; where were they? They might be found on their knees crying to God for help in temptation; and in persecuting times, they might be found in prison, cheerfully suffering the loss of all things for the truth’s sake. The Puritans were the godliest men on the face of the earth. Are men so inconsistent as to nickname them for their purity, and yet say that their doctrines lead to sin?

How the Doctrines of Grace Promote Holiness

The doctrine of grace, the whole plan of salvation by grace, is most promotive of holiness. Wherever it comes it helps us to say, “God forbid,” to the question, “Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” This I would set out in the clear sunlight.

I. The Gospel of Grace Provides Deliverance from Sin

When we preach salvation to the vilest of men, some suppose we mean by that a mere deliverance from hell and an entrance into heaven. It includes all that, and results in that, but that is not what we mean. What we mean by salvation is this—deliverance from the love of sin, rescue from the habit of sin, setting free from the desire to sin. Now listen. If it be so, that that boon of deliverance from sin is the gift of divine grace, in what way will that gift, or the free distribution of it, produce sin? I fail to see any such danger. Tell them everywhere that God freely and of infinite grace is willing to renew men, and make them new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Can any evil consequences come of the freest proclamation of this news? The worse men are, the more gladly would we see them embracing this truth, for these are they who most need it. I say to every one of you, whatever your past condition, God can renew you according to the power of his grace; so that you who are to him like dead, dry bones, can be made to live by his Spirit. That renewal will be seen in holy thoughts, and pure words, and righteous acts to the glory of God. In great love, he is prepared to work all these things in all who believe. Why should any men be angry at such a statement? What possible harm can come of it? I defy the most cunning adversary to object, upon the ground of morals, to God’s giving men new hearts and right spirits even as he pleases.

II. The Gospel of Grace Releases the Power of Love

It is a notable fact as to men, that if they are forbidden to do a thing they straightway pine to do it, though they had never thought of doing it before. Law commands obedience, but does not promote it; it often creates disobedience, and an over-weighted penalty has been known to provoke an offense. Law fails, but love wins.

Love in any case makes sin infamous. If one should rob another, it would be sufficiently bad; but suppose a man robbed his friend, who had helped him often when he was in need, everyone would say that his crime was most disgraceful. Love brands sin on the forehead with a red-hot iron. If a man should kill an enemy, the offence would be grievous; but if he slew his father, or his mother, then all would cry out against the monster. In the light of love sin is seen to be exceeding sinful.

Love has a great constraining power towards the highest form of virtue. Deeds to which a man could not be compelled on the ground of law, men have cheerfully done because of love. Would our brave seamen man the lifeboat to obey an Act of Parliament? No, they would indignantly revolt against being forced to risk their lives; but they will do it freely to save their fellow men. Remember that text of the apostle, “Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure,” says he, “for a good man some would even dare to die.” Goodness wins the heart, and one is ready to die for the kind and generous.

Look how men have thrown away their lives for great leaders. That was an immortal saying of the wounded French soldier. When searching for the bullet the surgeon cut deeply, and the patient cried out, “A little lower and you will touch the Emperor,” meaning that the Emperor’s name was written on his heart. In several notable instances, men have thrown themselves into the jaws of death to save a leader whom they loved. Duty holds the fort, but love casts its body in the way of the deadly bullet. Who would think of sacrificing his life on the ground of law? Love alone counts not life so dear as the service of the beloved. Love to Jesus creates a heroism of which law knows nothing.

Kindness also, working by the law of love, has often changed the most unworthy, and therein proved that it is not a factor of evil. We have often heard the story of the soldier who had been degraded to the ranks, and flogged and imprisoned, and yet he would get drunk and misbehave himself. The commanding officer said one day, “I have tried almost everything with this man, and can do nothing with him.” When he was brought in, the officer addressed him, and said, “You seem incorrigible: we have tried everything with you; there seems to be no hope of a change in your wicked conduct. Though you deserve flogging and imprisonment, I shall freely forgive you.” The man was greatly moved by the unexpected and undeserved pardon, and became a good soldier. Do not such instances show that undeserved love has a great influence for good?

Hear another story: In the old persecuting times, there lived in Cheapside, one who feared God and attended the secret meetings of the saints. Near him there dwelt a poor cobbler, whose wants were often relieved by the merchant; but the poor man was a cross-grained being, and, most ungratefully, from hope of reward, laid an information against his kind friend on the score of religion. This accusation would have brought the merchant to death by burning if he had not found a means of escape. Returning to his house, the injured man did not change his generous behavior to the malignant cobbler, but, on the contrary, was more liberal than ever. The cobbler was, however, in an ill mood, and avoided the good man with all his might. One day he was obliged to meet him face to face and the Christian man asked him gently, “Why do you shun me? I am not your enemy. I know all that you did to injure me, but I never had an angry thought against you. I have helped you, and I am willing to do so as long as I live, only let us be friends.” Do you marvel that they clasped hands? Would you wonder if ere long the poor man was found at the Lollards’ meeting? All such anecdotes rest upon the assured fact that grace has a strange subduing power, and leads men to goodness, drawing them with cords of love, and bands of a man. The Lord knows that bad as men are the key of their hearts hangs on the nail of love.

III. The Gospel of Grace Creates a Hatred of Sin

When God begins to deal with a man with a view of blotting out his sins and making him his child, he usually causes him to see his evil ways in all their heinousness. He makes him look on sin with fixed eyes, till he cries with David, “My sin is ever before me.” In my own case, when under conviction of sin, no cheering object met my mental eye; my soul saw only darkness and a horrible tempest. It seemed as though a horrible spot were painted on my eyeballs. Guilt drew the curtains of my bed, so that I rested not, but in my slumbers anticipated the wrath to come. I felt that I had offended God, and that this was the most awful thing a human being could do. I was out of order with my Creator, out of order with the universe; I had damned myself forever, and I wondered that I did not immediately feel the gnawing of the undying worm. Even to this hour, a sight of sin causes the most dreadful emotions in my heart.

Any man or woman here who has passed through that experience, or anything like it, will henceforth feel a deep horror of sin. A burnt child dreads the fire. “No,” says the sinner to his tempter, “you once deceived me, and I so smarted in consequence, that I will not again be deluded. I have been delivered, like a brand from the burning, and I cannot go back to the fire.” By the operations of grace, we are made weary of sin; we loathe both it and its imaginary pleasures. We would utterly exterminate it from the soil of our nature. It is a thing accursed, even as Amalek was to Israel. If you, my friend, do not detest every sinful thing, I fear you are still in the gall of bitterness; for one of the sure fruits of the Spirit is a love of holiness, and a loathing of every false way. An endless enmity exists between the chosen seed and the serpent brood of evil: hence the fear that grace will be abused is abundantly safeguarded.

IV. The Gospel of Grace Provides Help from the Holy Spirit

God the Holy Ghost deigns to dwell in the bosom, of every man whom God has saved by his grace. Is not that a wonderful means of sanctifying? By what process can men be better kept from sin than by having the Holy Spirit himself to dwell as Vice-regent within their hearts? The Spirit leads believers to be much in prayer, and what a power for holiness is found in the child of grace speaking to the heavenly Father!

The divine Word also, with its precepts and promises, is a never-failing source of sanctification. Were it not that we every day bathe in the sacred fountain of eternal strength, we might soon be weak and irresolute; but fellowship with God renews us in our vigorous warfare with sin.

The renewed man is also by God’s Spirit frequently quickened in conscience; so that things which heretofore did not strike him as sinful are seen in a clearer light, and are consequently condemned. I know that certain matters are sinful to me today which did not appear so ten years ago: my judgment has, I trust, been more and more cleared of the blindness of sin. The natural conscience is callous and hard; but the gracious conscience grows more and more tender till at last it becomes as sensitive as a raw wound. He who has most grace is most conscious of his need of more grace. Have you not felt this holy fear, this sacred caution? It is by this means that the Holy Spirit prevents your ever turning your Christian liberty into licentiousness, or daring to make the grace of God an argument for folly.

V. The Gospel of Grace Elevates One’s Life and Hope

I venture to say that the man who believes the glorious doctrines of grace is usually a much higher style of man than the person who has no opinion upon the matter. What do most men think about? Bread-and-butter, house-rent and clothes. But the men who consider the doctrines of the gospel muse upon the everlasting covenant, predestination, immutable love, effectual calling, God in Christ Jesus, the work of the Spirit, justification, sanctification, adoption, and such like noble themes. Why, it is a refreshment merely to look over the catalogue of these grand truths! Others are as children playing with little sand-heaps on the seashore; but the believer in free grace walks among hills and mountains. The themes of thought around him tower upward, Alps on Alps; the man’s mental stature rises with his surroundings, and he becomes a thoughtful being, communing with sublimities.

The man who has been taught of God to think will not so readily sin as the being whose mind is buried beneath his flesh. The man has now obtained a different view of himself from that which led him to trifle away his time with the idea that there was nothing better for him than to be merry while he could. He says, “I am one of God’s chosen, ordained to be his son, his heir, joint-heir with Jesus Christ. I am set apart to be a king and priest unto God, and as such I cannot be godless, nor live for the common objects of life.” He rises in the object of his pursuit: he cannot henceforth live unto himself, for he is not his own, he is bought with a price. Now he dwells in the presence of God, and life to him is real, earnest, and sublime. He feels that he is born for divine purposes, and enquires “Lord, what would thou have me to do?” He feels that God has loved him that his love may flow forth to others.

New hopes come crowding on the man who is saved by grace. His immortal spirit enjoys glimpses of the endless. As God has loved him in time, he believes that the like love will bless him in eternity. Even while here below he begins to sing the songs of the angels, for his spirit spies from afar the dawn of the glory which is yet to be revealed. Thus with joyous heart and light footstep he goes forward to the unknown future as merrily as to a wedding-feast.

Is there a sinner here, a guilty sinner, one who has no merit, no claim to mercy whatever; is there one willing to be saved by God’s free grace through believing in Jesus Christ? Then let me tell thee, sinner, there is not a word in God’s book against thee, not a line or syllable, but everything is in thy favor. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” even the chief. Jesus came into the world to save thee. Only do thou trust him, and rest in him.

Come, O ye guilty ones, and receive your legacy. Put out the hand of faith and grasp your portion. Trust Jesus with your souls, and he will save you.

Excerpted and edited from Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 29.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Read Full Post »

“The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” — 2 Corinthians 4:4.

The practice of blinding men is a horrible process, too horrible for us to say another word about it. But there is also a spiritual blindness which comes upon some men. These are, to begin with, unbelievers. The god of this world does not blind believers; but he blinds the minds of them which believe not. It is, therefore, a very dangerous thing not to believe on the Son of God. The penalty of unbelief is death and condemnation; and that penalty begins to fall on men when, in consequence of their unbelief, their foolish heart is darkened, their intellect loses the power to perceive spiritual objects, and the god of this world blinds their mental vision. Ah, my hearers, how anxious Satan is to secure your destruction, since, rather than that you should see the saving light, he takes the trouble to blind your eyes! God grant that no man here may die under this dreadful deprivation of light, which is caused by Satanic influence upon the minds of men who have not believed in Jesus!

Remember that this blindness to spiritual things is quite consistent with much sharpness as to natural things. A man may be a very keen politician; he may be a first-rate man of business; he may be an eminent scientist, a profound thinker, and be blinded as to spiritual truths. How often is it true, “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes!” As an old writer says, “Poor, ignorant men often find the door to heaven, and enter in, while the learned are looking for the latch.” Yes, a man may have clear eyes for worldly things; he may be very keen as to his insight into the problems of life; and yet the god of this world may have blinded his eyes.

What is more remarkable still, a man may have much Scriptural knowledge; he may understand, in the letter, the things of the kingdom of God; he may be very orthodox in his beliefs, and may be able to give an answer to those who ask him what he believes, and why he believes; but still he may have no spiritual perception of the reality of these things. A person may know something of botany from books, and he may even understand the system of classifying plants; but he may never, after all, have seen the primrose by the river’s brim, nor have gathered a single flower out of the garden. He is a poor botanist, is he not? We have many round about us, who can talk of heaven and hell, and sin and salvation, and Christ and the Holy Spirit, who nevertheless have never had one true perception of the meaning of any of these words. They see, but perceive not; they hear, but do not understand; they are unbelievers, and the god of this world has blinded their minds.

Now, I am going to say to-night, first, that this blindness is very common; secondly, that it is wrought by the evil one upon men in different ways; and, thirdly, I shall speak upon the kind of treatment that this blindness requires.

I. First, then, THIS BLINDNESS IS VERY COMMON.

It is manifested in some by occupation with this world. Here is a man, who has lived in this world for a good many years; and all that while he has been thinking, working, proposing, projecting, but what about? Why, about this world! He has generally been concerned with a trinity of questions — “What shall I eat? What shall I drink? Wherewithal shall I be clothed?” This man believes that he is to live forever in another world, that this present life is only like the porch of a house, but that the state to come is the house itself. All these years, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy — may I say eighty years? — this man has never thought about the eternal world, but only about the temporary world; he has never thought about where he is to dwell for ever, but has spent all his power and strength upon the passage to it.

This is so unreasonable that I am sure he must be blind; I cannot account for his folly anyhow else. Surely, the soul is more important than the body. We think more of the body than we do of the garment it wears; but the body, after all, is only the garment of the soul; the true ego, the I, myself, is my soul. Am I never to think of that, but only to be thinking of my earthly house, my food, my garments, my daily work?

That is the kind of thing that a brute would think of; oxen and asses think of what they shall eat, and what they shall drink, and where they shall lie down, if they think at all; and is this all of which you and I think? Surely, that occupation of the mind upon what must be of secondary consideration is a proof that the god of this world hath blinded the mind.

I will give you another token, from a different quarter, and that is, the extreme easiness of conscience which we see in many men and women. They can commit a great sin, wash their hands, and then have done with it, as if the very washing of the hand or the wiping of the mouth was quite enough to put away all thought of the wrong. Many will sit here to-night, who have, through a long life, committed a hundred sins of which they would be ashamed to be reminded, and yet they are not ashamed of them.

They would only be ashamed to be found out; they are not ashamed of the sin itself. A man truly awakened by the Spirit of God feels the remembrance of his sin to sting him as with scorpions. He cannot bear it. But the great mass of people do a thousand wrong things, and yet they are not troubled, but feel quite at their ease. Some of you are probably within a very short time of death and judgment, and yet you can make sport of sin.

How often does it happen that people come to the place of worship, and go their way, having rejected solemn appeals: and they will never hear any more! They have bad their last warning. Oh, if they could but know that, during the week, they will fall down dead, or be laid aside by sickness, never to leave the bed again! Yet they trifle, on the brink of fate, on the very verge of everlasting woo. If you saw a man going straight on to the very brink of some dreadful precipice, and you saw him about to take another step, you would say, “That man is blind. I am sure that he is, or else he would not act like that.” People do not go into terrible danger with their eyes open; yet there are many of our fellow-men, perhaps many of ourselves, going right on, carelessly and heedlessly, to the very brink of the awful abyss without a thought of danger. They must be blind. This horrible peace of conscience, this quenching of the Spirit whenever conscience does stir itself, this playing and trifling with death and judgment, prove that they are blind.

To give you another specimen, there are many who have presumptuous hopes about the future; at any rate, they do not trouble themselves. I do not know why they are so easy; but there are different forms of presumption which enable them to look into the future without fear. One says, “Well, you see, I was christened when I was a child, and I was confirmed as a youth.” Another says, “I have always attended the meeting-house. I am never absent from any of the services. I am kind to everybody. I think that most people would give me a good name.” Their dependence is on that sort of thing; and they have never looked at what is really [lacking]. They will not stay to hear that word, “Ye must be born again.” They will not listen to Christ when he says, “He that believeth not shall be damned,” whatever his profession or moral character may be. No; but they go on dancing to destruction with a light and merry heart. Surely these people are blinded by Satan.

Then see another sort of people, and note their readiness to sin. They yield to the tempter, they yield at the first request; there is no need for Satan to importune them to evil. They seem always ready for it, especially if they think that they can escape from trouble by doing wrong. Why, are there not many persons who would tell a lie to save a sixpence? to save a penny? How many are selling their souls, not to gain the whole world, nay, not to gain a fourpenny piece!

Ah, sirs, such people must be blind! People who have had their eyes opened spiritually have been known to die sooner than do the least thing that was wrong. Men of God have cheerfully laid down their lives to defend oven a slight point of God’s eternal truth; but these men who think nothing of such holy heroism, and are willing to lose their souls for a paltry pleasure, why, they must be blind!

I need not stay to say more except this one thing. This blindness shows itself in trifling with eternal things. There is a person here who, not long ago, was very greatly aroused and awakened, even resolved to seek the Savior there and then; but when in the inquiry-room he put off the final decision. There was no reason why he should put it off, except the reluctance of his mind to accept Christ. That was not the first time that he had procrastinated, and postponed; yet he is still putting off his reception of Christ. He is not sure that he will live to go home tonight; he is not certain that, should he fall asleep to-night on his bed, he will wake up in this world in the morning; yet he leaves his soul in jeopardy, as if it were a matter of very small concern.

A person came here, not long ago, who had taken off a diamond ring when he washed his hands; and all the while he was sitting here, he kept wondering what would become of that ring, whether, when they emptied the water out of the basin, it would be thrown away. He was so anxious about his ring, that he hurried home as quickly as ever be could after the service; he did not wait a week to see about it; yet there are here men who have waited weeks, months, years, ah, many years, procrastinating, and procrastinating! They would not leave their worldly business like that; but they leave the eternal business of salvation or damnation as though it were but as a sere leaf that might be blown whichever way the wind might please. Such people must be blind.

I could heap up many proofs that this blindness is very common; but I have not the time to do so, for we must pass on to consider the next point.

II. Secondly, I want to prove to you, very earnestly and very pointedly, that THIS BLINDNESS IS WROUGHT BY THE EVIL ONE IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

In some, it comes by utter worldliness. There are some people who say, “We cannot attend to that matter; we have enough to do to earn our living.” Your house, your horse, your wife, your money, these, of course, are not trifles; these must come first. The world, the world, the world, this is in your heart, and occupies it all. Said the captain of a whaler, one day, to a man of God, who spoke to him about his soul, “Mr. Bertram, it is of no use for you to speak to me about my soul, or ask me to come to the service to-night. You see, I am out here after whales; and all the while that I was sitting, and you were talking, I should be thinking about whales; and when you gave out a hymn, I should just be thinking of whether there was a whale anywhere about. If I were to pray, I should be praying about whales. I have whales in my heart, Sir; and there is no room for anything else.” It is so with many, many people. They have their business, they have an invention, they have all the materials of a building inside their hearts; and there is no room for God. Their hearts are blinded by utter worldliness.

Some, again, are blinded by the devil in a very desperate way, by love of some favorite sin. I do not hesitate to say it is a general fact that, when men kick against true religion, and when they get offended by being spoken to about it, if you could track them home, you would find in their conduct some very good reason for their opposition.

There is a reason for men being wroth with the gospel, and turning away from it, when it strikes at some of their favorite sins. Such and such a man says that he does not believe in Jesus Christ. It is not likely that he should; I will not tell you why, but his wife knows. There is another man who keeps a shop. He says that he does not want to be converted. No; if he were, he could not keep that shop; or if he did, be would have to alter the line of business in which he is engaged. Ah, the god of this world blinds men’s eyes with sin! I cannot go into all the particulars; but if there is any man here who has a pet sin that he cherishes, do not let him wonder that he cannot see the beauties of Christ, or the glories of salvation; and let him not think that we would do anything to win his approbation while he remains in love with that sin.

Many are blinded as to the things of God by following a party. “Well,” you say, “I could not begin to study these matters of religion, because I am linked in with such a set. I know how they would treat me; they would laugh at me first, and they would give me the cold shoulder next. No, really, my dear sir, if you know how I am connected, you would not expect me ever to give any consideration to these doctrines that are preached, whether they be true or not.” It is a pity, it is a solemn pity, that a man should ruin his soul to keep in with his party. I rejoiced to read of the praise that was passed, in the House of Commons, the other night, upon John Bright, who deserved much more than was said, especially upon this one point, that, whenever his conscience came in conflict with his party, he followed his conscience, and let his party go where it might. Public approbation and applause were nothing to him so long as he could keep clear in the sight of God by doing what he believed to be right. Now, when he dies, every party has a word of honor for him. There is nothing lost, after all, by sticking to what you believe to be right; and if it be so in politics, how much more should it be so in the matter of religion! Cut your sinful connections, quit your evil companions. It would be better to do that than to go with them, applauded and approved, and find yourself wrong at last.

Oh, that men had but a grain of grit in them, so that they would never make the things of God, and heaven, and eternal realities, to hang, upon the breath of men’s nostrils, or the smiles or frowns of their fellowmen! But I am afraid that a great many will never come to know Christ, because they will continue to follow their party, or the prejudice of their early education still clings to them.

A fourth way in which Satan blinds a great many, and he does it very commonly, is by raising objections to the truth. There is nothing in this world to which you cannot object. I venture to say that there is no fact, however palpable to all the senses, but what you can, if you like, find reasons for not believing it to be a fact. To answer objections, is an endless task; it is like trying to empty a flowing fountain with bottomless buckets. Men do not object to the religion of Jesus Christ really and truly. It is not this to which they object; but they invent objections, they go abroad searching after objections that they may then have an excuse for rejecting Christ. In this way, many prove that they are blind; they have a difficulty they cannot get over, and do not mean to get over either; and so they see not Christ.

With others, blindness is wrought by wrong inferences. It is astonishing how many eyes are blinded by wrong inferences drawn from truth. We have known one to say, “Well, the mercy of God is very great; it is universal: therefore, I am sure that God will not cast us into hell.” This is a wicked lie derived from a great truth. Another says, “I read that God has an elect people.” That is most surely true; but not the inference that is drawn from it; “Therefore, if I am to be saved, I shall be saved; and if I am to be lost, I shall be lost; so that I need not trouble my head about the subject.” That is another false inference deduced from a great truth. When a man means to commit suicide, any rope will do; and when a sinner is resolved to perish, he can always find an argument, fetched even from the truth of God itself, as the means of his own destruction. I am not going to answer any of these lies; but only to say that, by these false inferences, many a man has been blinded to his own eternal ruin.

Then there is another way of being blinded, and a very common one, too; that is, by general conceit of knowledge. I know a man stone blind of it. When I met him last, he looked at me, condescended to ask how I was, and he as much as intimated that he was prepared for a little conversation with an inferior person occasionally, and therefore he did not mind speaking about religion with me, he himself being a very superior person indeed, knowing everything, and, if possible, a few things besides. This man called himself an agnostic; and when a man says that he is an agnostic, he is an ignoramus, that is, a person who knows nothing; yet such a man usually talks as if he knew everything, and the appendix at the end of that.

You have not talked long with him before you discover that the Lord Jesus Christ and he could never get on together, because the Savior has said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;” and this man will never become a little child, not he! If you want the antipodes of a little child, there you have the gentleman; and he wishes you “Good afternoon,” when you begin to quote Scripture. He is not at all the person to receive any instruction of that sort. The “superior” person will always be lost, take my word for it. The more superior he is, the more sure he is to be lost; I mean not that he is superior, but that he thinks himself so, superior to all teaching. He is not prepared to be a learner, he is ready to set up as a teacher, and a master of anything you like. He is a man of broad thought; and, of course, he goes the broad way. Narrow-minded people go in the narrow way; but then it leadeth unto life eternal, and therefore I commend it unto you.

“Broad is the road that leads to death,

We have another set of people who are blinded by some special conceit of false grace. Here is a man who has attended to many duties. Some, of course, he does not care about; but he compounds for duties he does not like by attending to others that are to his taste. He does not pray; but then he sings in the choir! Communion with God — he does not know anything about that; but he takes the sacrament! He is always doing some good thing or other, of a sort; but not of the sort that Scripture proscribes. As to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, by a living faith trusting him, that is beyond his range. As to seeking a new heart and a right spirit, and being converted, and turned from darkness to light, he does not know anything about that: but there has been, after all, a very great improvement in him. He has given up some very questionable practices; and, on the whole, he has done a good deal which ought to be spoken of with considerable commendation. This is the kind of gentleman who is blinded by the god of this world.

But it is idle for me to talk about people being blinded except to those who can see; for the blindest man is the man who says that he is not blind, who will not have it that he does not see everything aright, even though he has never had his eyes opened by the Lord. He says that he always could see; it is an insult to suppose that he is blind. He is like the Pharisees, who said to Jesus, “Are we blind also? To whom Jesus answered, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”

III. Now I come to the most practical point, that is, THE KIND OF TREATMENT THAT THIS BLINDNESS REQUIRES.

I should say, first, dear friends, beware lest this blindness be sent as a punishment. Although our blind friends have our loving sympathy, and God blesses them, yet it must be a great calamity to be without their eyesight.

Now, blindness of heart is not only a sin, but it is the punishment of sin; and it comes to many as the result of violating conscience, resisting the Holy Spirit, trifling with solemn things, and being desperately set on mischief. Oh, you who have a tender conscience, mind that you do not lose it! You who have the power to sit and hear a sermon, and to feel it, do not trifle with that holy sensitiveness. Once lost, so that you can read the Book of books, and hear the most earnest talk, and yet feel nothing, you have lost one of the greatest privileges that you ever had. May God help the man who is going on towards this fatal blindness, and stop him before he gets any further!

I would say, also, to you who are in any way blind, beware lest that blindness becomes the herald of your doom. Before Haman was hanged, the first thing that the servants did was to cover his face; and when a man is about to be lost for ever, the first thing that the devil does is to blind his eyes so that he cannot see. Beware of a blinded conscience; it is the prelude of eternal destruction. God save you from it!

Next, if you have even a little light, value it greatly. If any one of us should be gradual losing his eyesight, I know that he would greatly prize the little sight that he had. How often have I spoken to a friend who has said, “This eye is quite gone, Sir; there is just a little light left in this one, and the doctor says that I must wear a shade, and be very careful, or I may lose that.” Oh, take care of the little light you have! If you can feel a little, be very tender of that feeling. If you can see a little of the beauty of Christ, be very jealous over that sight.

[Next], if you are at all conscious of your blindness, but do not see the full evil of sin, do not see the glory of Christ, and do not perceive the way of salvation, confess your blindness. Go home to-night; and, in your chamber, alone, acknowledge that you do not see what you ought to see, and do not feel what you ought to feel. Show your sightless eyeballs to the Savior, who gives sight to the blind. Do not cloak your sin; confess it. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whose confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Say with David, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;” so shall you also be able to say with him, “and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”

When you have confessed your blindness, do one thing more, trust to the Lord Jesus to open your blind eyes. Put yourself consciously into the presence of the divine Savior, and say to him, “I believe that thou art able to work this miracle of mercy. I believe that thou canst make me see the truth, … and trust thyself. Here are my eyes. Lord, I would receive my sight! I believe that thou canst give it; give it to me now!” Salvation does not take hours; it is in one single instant that we pass from death unto life. The moment that we believe in Jesus, we are saved. The moment I at we look to him hanging on the cross, our iniquity is pardoned.

God grant us that blessed look of faith tonight, each one, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Read Full Post »

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” — Genesis 3:1.

Or course, we understand that this verse refers to “that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan.” That old deceiver, of whom our Lord Jesus said to the Jews. “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” was “more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” God has been pleased to give to many beasts subtlety … in order that they may be the more destructive to certain classes of animals whose numbers require to be kept under. To others, he has been pleased to give instincts of most marvelous wisdom, for self-preservation and the destruction of their prey, and for the procuring of their food. But all the wise instincts and all the subtlety of the beasts of the field are far excelled by the subtlety of Satan.

Satan has abundant craft, and is able to overcome us, for several reasons. [First], because he is malicious; for malice is of all things the most productive of cunning. When a man is determined on revenge, it is strange how cunning he is to find out opportunities to vent his spite. Let a man have enmity against another, and let that enmity thoroughly possess his soul, and pour venom, as it were, into his very blood, and he will become exceedingly crafty in the means he uses to annoy and injure his adversary. Now, nobody can be more full of malice against man than Satan is, as he proves every day; and that malice sharpens his inherent wisdom, so that he becomes exceedingly subtle.

Besides, Satan is an angel, though a fallen one. We doubt not, from certain hints in Scripture, that he occupied a very high place in the hierarchy of angels before he fell; and we know that those mighty beings are endowed with vast intellectual powers, far surpassing any that has ever been given to beings of human mould. Therefore, we must not expect that a man, unaided from above, should ever be a match for an angel.

Again, Satan may well be cunning now — I may truthfully say, more cunning than he was in the days of Adam — for he has had long dealings with the human race.

And now, brethren, I shall for a few minutes first occupy your time by noticing the craft and subtlety of Satan, and the modes in which he attacks our souls; and secondly, I shall give you a few words of admonition with regard to the wisdom that we must exercise against him, and the only means that we can use effectually to prevent his subtlety from being the instrument of our destruction.

I. Let us notice, in the first place, THE CRAFT AND SUBTLETY OF SATAN, as we have discovered it in our own experience.

And I may begin by observing, that Satan discovers his craft and subtlety by the modes of his attack. There is a man who is calm, and quiet, and at ease; Satan does not attack that man with unbelief or distrustfulness; he attacks him in a more vulnerable point, than that— self-love, self-confidence, worldliness—these will be the weapons which Satan will use against him. Another person is noted for lowness of spirits and want of mental vigor. It is not probable that Satan will puff him up with pride, but examining him, and discovering where his weak point is, he will tempt him to doubt his calling, and endeavor to drive him to despair.

There is another man of strong robust bodily health, having all his mental powers in full and vigorous exercise, enjoying the promises and delighting in the ways of God. Possibly Satan will not attack him with unbelief, because he feels that he has armor for that particular point, but he will attack him with pride, or with some temptation to lust. He will most thoroughly and carefully examine us, and if he shall find us to be, like Achilles, vulnerable nowhere else but in our heel then he will shoot his arrows at our heel.

I believe that Satan has not often attacked a man in a place where he saw him to be strong; but he generally looks well for the weak point, the besetting sin. “There,” says he, “there will I strike the blow;” and God help us in the hour of battle and in the time of conflict! We have need to say, “God help us!” for, indeed, unless the Lord should help us, this crafty foe might easily find enough joints in our armor, and soon might he send the deadly arrow into our souls, so that we should fall down wounded before him.

And yet I have noticed, strangely enough, that Satan does sometimes tempt men with the very thing which you might suppose would never come upon them. What do you imagine was John Knox’s last temptation upon his dying bed? Perhaps there never was a man who more fully understood the great doctrine that “by grace are ye saved,” than John Knox did. He thundered it out from the pulpit; and if you had questioned him upon the subject, he would have declared it to you boldly and bravely, denying with all his might the Popish doctrine of salvation through human merit. But, will you believe it, that old enemy of souls attacked John Knox with self-righteousness when he lay a-dying? He came to him, and said, “How bravely you have served your Master, John! You have never quailed before the face of man; you have faced kings and princes, and yet you have never trembled. Such a man as you are may walk into the kingdom of heaven on your own footing, and wear your own garment at the wedding of the Most High;” and sharp and terrible was the struggle which John Knox had with the enemy of souls over that temptation.

The modes of Satan’s attack, then, as you will speedily learn, if you have not already done so, betray his subtlety. Ah! sons of men, while you are putting on your helmets, he is seeking to thrust his fiery sword into your heart; or while you are looking well to your breastplate, he is lifting up his battle-axe to split your skull; and while you are seeing to both helmet and breastplate, he is seeking to trip up your foot. He is always watching to see where you are not looking; he is always on the alert when you are slumbering. Take heed to yourselves, therefore: “put on the whole armor of God;” “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith;” and God help you to prevail over him!

A second thing in which Satan betrays his cunning is, the weapons which he will often use against us. Sometimes he will attack the child of God with the remembrance of a ribald song, or a licentious speech which he may have heard in the days of his carnal state; but far more frequently he will attack him with texts of Scripture. It is strange that it should be so, but it often is the case that, when he shoots his arrow against a Christian, he wings it with God’s own Word. “Ah!” he will say, “here is a text that I love, taken from the Book that I prize, yet it is turned against me. A weapon out of God’s own armory is made to be the instrument of dearth against my soul.” Have you not found it so, dear Christian friends? Have you not proved that, as Satan attacked Christ with an “It is written,” so also has he attacked you? And have you not learned to be upon your guard against perversions of Sacred Scripture, and twistings of God’s Word, lest they should lead you to destruction?

At other times, Satan will use the weapon of our own experience. “Ah!” the devil will say, “on such-and-such a day, you sinned in such-and-such a way; how can you be a child of God?” At another time, he will say, “You are self-righteous, therefore you cannot be an heir of heaven.” Then, again, he will begin to rake up all the old stories that we have long forgotten of all our past unbeliefs, our past wanderings, and so forth, and throw these in our teeth. He will say, “What! you, YOU a Christian? A pretty Christian you must be!” Or, possibly he will begin to tempt you after some such sort as this: “The other day, you would not do such-and-such a thing in business: how much you lost by it! So-and-so is a Christian; he did it. Your neighbor, over the road, is he not a deacon of a church, and did not he do it? Why may not you do the same? You would get on a great deal better if you would do it. So-and-so does it, and he gets on, and is just as much respected as you are; then why should not you act in the same way?” Thus, the devil will attack you with weapons taken from your own experience, or from the church of which you are a member.

Ah! be careful, for Satan knows how to choose his weapons, He is not coming out against you, if you are great giants, with a sling and a stone; but he comes armed to the teeth to cut you down. If he knows that you are so guarded by a coat of mail that the edge of his sword shall be turned by your armor, then will he attack you with deadly poison; and if he knows that you cannot be destroyed by that means, seeing that you have an antidote at hand, then will he seek to take you in a trap; and if you be wary, so that you cannot be overtaken thus, then will he send fiery troubles upon you, or a crushing avalanche of woe, so that he may subdue you. The weapons of his warfare, always evil, and often spiritual and unseen, are mighty against such weak creatures as we.

Again, the craftiness of the devil is discovered in another thing, in the agents he employs. The devil does not do all his dirty work himself; he often employs others to do it for him. When Samson had to be overcome, and his Nazarite locks to be shorn away, Satan had a Delilah ready to tempt and lead him astray. He knew what was in Samson’s heart, and where was his weakest place, and therefore he tempted him by means of the woman whom he loved. An old divine says, “There’s many a man that has had his head broken by his own rib;” and certainly that is true. Satan has sometimes set a man’s own wife to cast him down, or he has used some dear friend as the instrument to work his ruin.

You remember how David lamented over this evil: “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” “Ah,” says the devil, “you did not think I was going to set an enemy to speak evil of you, did you? Why, that would not hurt you. I know better than that how to choose my agents; I shall choose a man who is a friend or an acquaintance; he will come close to you, and then stab you under the folds of your garments.”

The devil is always ready to take in his hand the net into which the fish is most likely to go, and to spread the snare which is the most likely to catch the bird. I do not suspect, if you are a professor of long standing, that you will be tempted by a drunken man; no, the devil will tempt you by a canting hypocrite. I do not imagine your enemy will come, and attack and slander you; it will be your friend. Satan knows how to use and to disguise all his agents. “Ah!” he says, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing will be better for me than a wolf that looks like a wolf; and one in the church will play my game better, and accomplish it more readily, than one out of it.” The choice of Satan’s agents proves his craft and cleverness.

And once again, Satan shows his cunning by the times in which he attacks us. I thought, when I lay sick, that if I could but get up from my bed again, and be made strong, I would give the devil a most terrible thrashing, because of the way he set upon me when I was sick. Coward! Why did he not wait till I was well? But I always find that if my spirits sink, and I am in a low condition of heart, Satan specially chooses that time to attack me with unbelief. He will therefore come upon us when there is a cloud between ourselves and our God; when the body is depressed, and the spirits are weak, then will he tempt us, and try to lead us to distrust God. It is the timing of his attacks, the right ordering of his assaults, that makes Satan ten times more terrible an enemy than he would otherwise be, and that proves the depth of his craftiness.

And yet once more, and I will have done with this point. Satan’s subtlety in another thing is very great, that is, in his withdrawings. When I first joined the Christian Church, I never could make out a saying which I heard from an old man, that there was no temptation so bad as not being tempted, nor did I understand then what Rutherford meant, when he said he liked a roaring devil a great deal better than a sleeping devil.

Now, dear friend, do you know anything about your own state of heart just now? If so, that is the answer to the enigma, that not being tempted is worse than being tempted. Really, there have been times, in the past experience of my own soul, when I would have been obliged to the devil if he had come and stirred me up; I should have felt that God had employed him, against his wish, to do me lasting good, to wake me up to conflict. If the devil would but go into the Enchanted Ground, and attack the pilgrims there, what a fine thing it would be for them! But, you will notice, John Bunyan did not put him there, for there was no business for him there. It was in the Valley of Humiliation that there was plenty of work cut out for Satan; but in the Enchanted Ground the pilgrims were all slumbering, like men asleep on the top of the mast … therefore the devil knew he was not needed there; he just left them to sleep on. But it was into the Valley of Humiliation that he went, and there he had his stern struggle with poor Christian. Brethren, if you are passing through with drowsiness, indifference, and slumber, you will understand the craftiness of the devil in sometimes keeping out of the way.

III. And now, in the second place, let us very briefly inquire, WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THIS ENEMY?

You and I feel that we must enter the kingdom of heaven, and we cannot enter it while we stand still. The City of Destruction is behind us, and Death is pursuing us; we must press towards heaven; but, in the way, there stands this “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” What shall we do?

Shall we attack him with wisdom? Alas! our wisdom is but folly. The only way to repel Satan’s subtlety is by acquiring true wisdom. Again I repeat it, man hath none of that in himself. What then? Herein is true wisdom. If thou wouldst successfully wrestle with Satan, make the Holy Scriptures thy daily resort. Out of this sacred magazine continually draw thine armor and thine ammunition. Lay hold upon the glorious doctrines of God’s Word; make them thy daily meat and drink. So shalt thou be strong to resist the devil, and thou shalt be joyful in discovering that he will flee from thee.

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way,” and how shall a Christian guard himself against the enemy? “By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.” Let us fight Satan always with an “It is written;” for no weapon will ever tell upon the arch-enemy so well as Holy Scripture will. Attempt to fight Satan with the wooden sword of reason, and he will easily overcome you; but use this Jerusalem blade of God’s Word, by which he has been wounded many a time, and you will speedily overcome him.

But, above all, if we would successfully resist Satan, we must look not merely to revealed wisdom, but to Incarnate Wisdom. O beloved, here must be the chief place of resort for every tempted soul! We must flee to him “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” We must keep close to him in communion. The sheep are never so safe from the wolf as when they are near the shepherd. We shall never be so secure from the arrows of Satan as when we have our head lying on the Savior’s bosom. Believer: walk according to his example; live daily in his fellowship; trust thou always in his blood; and in this way shalt thou be more than a conqueror even over the subtlety and craft of Satan himself.

What has the devil been doing these thousands of years? Has he not been the unwilling servant of God and of his Church? He has always been seeking to destroy the living tree; but when he has been trying to root it up, it has only been like a gardener digging with his spade, and loosening the earth to help the roots to spread themselves the more; and when he has been with his are seeking to lop the Lord’s trees, and to mar their beauty, what has he been, after all, but a pruning-knife in the hand of God, to take away the branches that do not bear any fruit, and to purge those that do bear some, that they may bring forth more fruit?

[At one time] the Church of Christ was like a little brook — just a tiny streamlet — and it was flowing along in a little narrow dell. Just a few saints were gathered together at Jerusalem, and the devil thought to himself; “Now I’ll get a great stone, and stop this brook from running.” So he goes and gets this great stone, and he dashes it down into the middle of the brook, thinking, of course, he should stop it from running any longer; but, instead of doing so, he scattered the drops all over the world, and each drop became the mother of a fresh fountain. You know what that stone was; it was persecution, and the saints were scattered by it; but then, “they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word,” and so the Church was multiplied, and the devil was defeated.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Read Full Post »

“It is written.” — Matthew 4:4.

THOUGHTFUL minds anxiously desire some fixed point of belief. The old philosopher wanted a fulcrum for his lever, and believed that if he could only obtain it he could move the world. It is uncomfortable to be always at sea; we would fain discover terra firma, and plant our foot upon a rock. We cannot rest till we have found out something which is certain, sure, settled, decided, and no longer to be questioned. Many a mind has peered into the hazy region of rationalism, and has seen clothing before it but perpetual mist and fog, and, shivering with the cold chill of those arctic regions of scepticism, it has yearned for a clearer light, a warmer guide, a more tangible belief. This yearning has driven men into strange beliefs. Satan, seeing their ravenous hunger, has made them accept a stone for bread.

Many have held, and still do hold, that it is possible to find your infallible foundation in the Pope of Rome. I do not wonder that they would rather have an infallible man than be altogether without a standard of truth, yet is it so monstrous that men should believe in papal infallibility, that did they not themselves avow it we should think it most insulting to accuse them of it. How any mind can by any possible contortion twist itself into a posture in which it will be capable of accepting such a belief is one of the mysteries of manhood. Why, the popes err in trifles, how much more in great matters? In Disraeli’s “Curiosities of Literature” is the following amusing incident, under the head of “Errata”: — “One of the most egregious of all literary blunders is that of the edition of the Vulgate, by Sixtus V. His Holiness carefully superintended every sheet as it passed through the press; and, to the amazement of all the world, the world remained without a rival — it swarmed with errata! A multitude of scraps were printed to sate the erroneous passages, in order to give the true text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with these patches; and the heretics exulted in this demonstration of papal infallibility! The copies were called in, and violent attempts made to suppress it; a few still remain for the raptures of biblical collectors; at a late sale the Bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty guineas — not too much for a mere book of blunders! The world was highly amused at the bull of the editorial pope prefixed to the first volume, which excommunicates all printers who in reprinting the work should make any alterations in the text! “The notion of infallibility residing in mortal man is worthy of a madhouse, and scarcely deserves to be seriously discussed. You can scarcely read a page of such history as even Catholics admit to be authentic without discovering that popes have been men, and not gods, and their bulls have been as blundering and erroneous as the decrees of worldly princes. So long as a clear understanding remains to a man he cannot repose in the imaginary infallibility of a priest.

Others, however, linger hopefully around the idea of an infallible church. They believe in the judgment of general councils, and hope there to find the rock of certainty. Apparently this is more easy, for in the multitude of counselors there is wisdom, but in reality it is quite as preposterous; for if you mass together a number of men, each one of whom is fallible, it is clear that you are no nearer infallibility. It is quite as easy to believe that one man is inspired as that five or six hundred are so. The fact is that churches have made mistakes as well as individual men, and have fallen into grievous errors both in practice and doctrine. Look at the churches of Galatia, Corinth, Laodicea, Hardis, and so on; nay, we find that the first disciples of our Lord, who made up the truly primitive and apostolic church, were not infallible, they made a great mistake about a simple saying of our Lord. He said concerning John, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” “Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” Even the apostles themselves could blunder, and did blunder. They were infallible in what they wrote when they were under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but at no other time. Yet, brethren, I marvel not that in the sore distress to which the mind is often brought, it is found better to believe in an infallible church than to be left to mere reason, to be tossed to and fro, a desolate waif, driven by ever changeful winds over the awful leagues of questionings which are found in the restless ocean of unbelief. Longing as I do for a sure foundation, and rejecting both popes and councils, where shall I look?

We have a more sure word of testimony, a rock of truth upon which we rest, for our infallible standard lies in, “It is written.” The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is our religion. It is said that it is hard to be understood, but it is not so to those who seek the guidance of the Spirit of God. There are in it great truths which are above our comprehension, placed there on purpose to let us see how shallow are our finite minds, but concerning vital and fundamental points the Bible is not hard to be understood, neither is there any excuse for the multitudes of errors which men pretend to have gathered from it. A babe in grace taught by the Spirit of God may know the mind of the Lord concerning salvation, and find its way to heaven by the guidance of the word alone. But be it profound or simple, that is not the question; it is the word of God, and is pure, unerring truth. Here is infallibility, and nowhere else.

I wish to speak this morning upon this grand, infallible book, which is our sole court of appeal. And I desire to speak especially to the young converts who during the last few days have found the Savior, for by them this book must be used as the sword of the Spirit in the spiritual conflicts which await them. I would zealously exhort them to take to themselves this part of the whole armor of God, that they may be able to resist the great enemy of their souls.

If “it is written,” I shall commend this unfailing weapon to the use of our young soldiers by noting that this is our Champion’s own weapon; secondly, I shall urge them to note to what uses he turned this weapon; and, thirdly, we shall watch him to see how he handled it.

I. I commend to every Christian here the constant use of the infallible word, because IT WAS OUR CHAMPION’S CHOSEN WEAPON when he was assailed by Satan in the wilderness.

He had a great choice of weapons with which to fight with Satan, but he took none but this sword of the spirit — “It is written.” Our Lord might have overcome Satan by angelic force. He had only to pray to his Father and he would presently have sent him twelve legions of angels, against whose mighty rush the arch-fiend could not have stood for a single moment. If our Lord had but exercised his godhead, a single word would have sent the tempter back to his infernal den. But instead of power angelic or divine he used, “It is written”; thus teaching his church that she is never to call in the aid of force, or use the carnal weapon; but must trust alone in the omnipotence which dwells in the sure word of testimony. This is our battle-axe and weapon of war. The patronages or the constraints of civil power are not for us; neither dare we use either bribes or threats to make men Christians: a spiritual kingdom must be set up and supported by spiritual means only.

Our Lord might have defeated the tempter by unveiling his own glory. The brightness of the divine majesty was hidden within the humility of his manhood, and if he had lifted the veil for a moment the fiend would have been as utterly confounded as bats and owls when the sun blazers in their faces. But Jesus deigned still to conceal his excellent majesty, and only to defend himself with “It is written.”

Our Master might also have assailed Satan with rhetoric and logic. Why did he not discuss the points with him as they arose? Here were three different propositions to be discussed, but our Lord confined himself to the one argument, “It is written.” Now, beloved, if our Lord and Master, with all the choice of weapons which he might have had nevertheless selected this true Jerusalem blade of the Word of God, let us not hesitate for a moment, but grasp and hold fast this one, only weapon of the saints in all times. Cast away the wooden sword of carnal reasoning; trust not in human eloquence, but arm yourselves with the solemn declarations of God, who cannot lie, and he need not fear Satan and all his hosts. Jesus, we may be sure, selected the best weapon. What was best for him is best for you.

This weapon, it is to be noted, our Lord used at the outset of his career. He had not yet come into the public ministry, but, if I may me the expression, while his young hand was yet untried in public warfare, he grasped at once the weapon ready forged for him, and boldly said “It is written.” You young Christians lately converted have probably already been tempted, or ere long you will be, for I remember that the very first week after I found the Savior I was subjected to a very furious spiritual temptation, and I should not wonder if the like happens to you. Now, I charge you do as Jesus did, and grasp firmly — “It is written.” It is the child’s weapon as truly as it is the defense of the strong man. If a believer were as tall as Goliath of Gath, he need have no better sword than this, and, if he be a mere pigmy in the things of God, this sword will equally befit his hand and be equally effectual for offense or defense. What a mercy it is for you, young Christian, that you have not to argue but to believe, not to invent but to accept. You have only to turn over your Bibles, find a text, and hurl that at Satan, like a stone from David’s sling, and you will win the battle. “It is written,” and what is written is infallible; here is your strength in argument. “It is written; “God has said it, that is enough. O blessed sword and shield which the little child can use to purpose, fit also for the illiterate and simple-hearted, giving might to the feeble-minded, and conquest to the weak.

Note next, that as Christ chose this weapon out of all others, and used it in his earliest conflict, so, too, he used it when no man was near. The value of Holy Scripture is not alone seen in public teaching or striving for the truth, its still small voice is equally powerful when the servant of the Lord is enduring personal trial in the lone wilderness. The severest struggles of a true Christian are usually unknown to any but himself. Not in the family do we meet the most subtle temptations, but in the closet; not in the shop so much as in the recesses of our own spirit do we wrestle with principalities and powers. For these dread duels, “It is written” is the best sword and shield. Scripture to convince another man is good; but Scripture is most required to console, defend, and sanctify our own soul. You must know how to use the Bible alone, and understand how to meet the subtlest of foes with it; for there is a real and personal devil, as most Christians know by experience, for they have stood foot to foot with him, and known his keen suggestions, horrible insinuations, blasphemous assertions, and fiendish accusations. We have been assailed by thoughts which came from a mind more vigorous, more experienced, and more subtle than our own, and for these there is but one defense — the infallible “It is written.”

Conflicts have taken place full many a time between God’s servants and Satan which are more notable in the unpublished annals of the sacred history which the Lord recordeth, than the bravest deeds of ancient heroes whom men praise in their national songs. He is not the only conqueror who is saluted with blast of trumpet, and whose statue stands in the public square; there are victors who have fought with angels and prevailed, whose prowess even Lucifer must grimly own. These all ascribe their victories to the grace which taught them how to use the infallible word of the Lord. Dear friend, you must have “It is written” ready by your side at all times.

Note, that our Lord used this weapon under the most trying circumstances, but he found it to be sufficient for his need. He was alone; no disciple was there to sympathize, but the word was the man of his right hand, the Scripture communed with him. He was hungry, for he had fasted forty days and nights, and hunger is a sharp pain, and oftentimes the spirits sink when the body is in want of food; yet “It is written” held the wolf of hunger at bay; the word fed the champion with such meat as not only removed all faintness, but made him mighty in spirit. He was placed by his adversary in a position of great danger, high on the pinnacle of the lofty house of the Lord, yet there he stood, and needed no surer foothold than that which the promises of the Lord supplied him. “It is written,” enabled him to look down from the dizzy height and baffle the tempter still. He was placed also where the kingdoms of the world were stretched beneath his feet, a matchless panorama which has full often dazzled great men’s eyes and driven them onward to destruction; but “It is written” swept aside the snares of ambition and laughed at the fascination of power. Or in the desert, or on the temple, or on an exceedingly high mountain, no change in his mode of warfare was required; the infallible “It is written” availed in every position in which he found himself, and so shall it be with us.

Earnestly do I commend the word of God to you who have lately enlisted beneath the banner of my Lord. As David said of Goliath’s sword, “there is none like it,” even so say I of the Holy Scriptures. Our Lord was tempted in all points like as we are, and therein he sympathizes with us, but he resisted the temptations, and therein he is our example; we must follow him fully if we would share his triumphs.

Observe that our Savior continued to use his one defense, although his adversary frequently shifted his point of attack. Error has many forms, truth is one. The devil tempted him to distrust, but that dart was caught upon the shield of “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live.” The enemy aimed a blow at him from the side of presumption, tempting him to cast himself down from the temple; but how terribly did that two-edged sword fall down upon the head of the fiend, “It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” The next impudent blow was leveled at our Lord with the intent of bringing him to his knee — “Fall down and worship me;” but it was met and returned with crushing force by — “It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” This smote leviathan to the heart. This weapon is good at all points; good for defense, and for attack, to guard our whole manhood or to strike through the joints and marrow of the foe. Like the seraph’s sword at Eden’s gate, it turns every way. You cannot be in a condition which the word of God has not provided for; it has as many faces and eyes as providence itself. You will find it unfailing in all periods of your life, in all circumstances, in all companies, in all trials, and under all difficulties. Were it fallible it would be useless in emergencies, but its unerring truth renders it precious beyond all price to the soldiers of the cross.

I commend to you, then, the hiding of God’s word in your heart, the pondering of it in your minds. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Be rooted and grounded, and established in its teaching, and saturated with its spirit. To me it is an intense joy to search diligently in my Father’s book of grace. It grows upon me daily. It was written by inspiration in old times, but I have found while feeding upon it, that not only was it inspired when written, but it is so still. It is not a mere historic document, it is a letter fresh from the pen of God to me. It is not a sermon once delivered and ended; it speaks still.

The Holy Spirit is in the word, and it is, therefore, living truth. O Christians, be ye sure of this, and because of it make you the word your chosen weapon of war.

II. Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us TO WHAT USES TO PUT THIS “IT IS WRITTEN.”

Notice first that he used it to defend his sonship. The fiend said, “If thou be the Son of God,” and Jesus replied, “It is written.” That was the only answer he deigned to give. He did not call to mind evidences to prove his Sonship; he did not even mention that voice out of the excellent glory which had said, “This is my beloved Son.” No, but “It is written.” Now, my dear young brother, converted but newly, I do not doubt but that you have been already subjected to that infernal “if.” Oh, how glibly it comes from Satan’s lip. It is his darling word, the favorite arrow of his quiver. He is the prince of skeptics, and they worship him while he laughs in his sleeve at them, for he believes and trembles. One of his greatest works of mischief is to make men doubt. “If” — with what a sneer he whispers this already in the ear of the newly-converted. “If,” says he, — “if.” “You say you are justified and pardoned, and accepted; but if! “May you not after all be deceived?”

Now, dear friends, I beseech you never let Satan get you away from the solid ground of the word of God. If he once gets you to think that the fact of Christ being the Savior of sinners can only be proved by what you can see within yourself he will very soon plunge you into despair. The reason why I am to believe in Jesus, lies in Jesus and not in me. I am not to say, “I believe in the Lord Jesus because I feel so happy,” for within half an hour I may feel miserable; but I believe in Christ for salvation, because it is written, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” I believe in the salvation provided by Jesus Christ, not because it comports with my reason or suits my frame of mind, but because it is written, “He that believeth in him is not condemned,” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in me hath everlasting life.”

Nothing can alter this truth, it stands, and must stand for ever. Believer, abide by it, come what may. Satan will tell you “You know there are many evidences; can you produce them? “Tell him to mind his own business. He will say to you, “You know how imperfectly you have behaved, even since your conversion.” Tell him that he is not so wonderfully perfect that he can afford to find fault with you. If he says, “Ah, but if you were really a changed character you would not have those thoughts and feelings”; argue not at all with him, but dwell upon the fact that it is written, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you believe in him, you cannot perish, but you have everlasting life, for so it is written. “It is written,” stand you there, and if the devil were fifty devils in one, he could not overcome you.

On the other hand, if you leave “It is written,” Satan knows more about reasoning than you do, he is far older, has studied mankind very thoroughly, and knows all our sore points, therefore the contest will be an unequal one. Do not argue with him, but wave in his face the banner “It is written.” Satan cannot endure the infallible truth, for it is death to the falsehood of which he is the father. So long as God’s word is true, the believer is safe; if that is overthrown our hope is lost, but, blessed be God, not till then. Flee ye to your stronghold, ye tempted ones.

Our Lord next used the Scripture to defeat temptation. He was tempted to distrust. There lay stones at his feet, for all the world like loaves; there was no bread, and he was hungry, and distrust said, “God has left you; you will starve; therefore leave off being a servant, become a master, and command that these stones be made bread.” Jesus, however, met the temptation distrustfully to provide for himself by saying, “It is written.” Now, young Christians or old Christians, you may be placed by providence where you think you will be in vacant, and then if you are afraid that God will not provide for you, the dark suggestion will arise, “I will deal after the way of the unjust, and so put myself in comfortable circumstances.” True, the action would be wrong, but many would do it, and therefore Satan whispers, “Necessity has no law; take the opportunity now before you.” In such an hour, foil the foe with “It is written, thou shalt not steal.” We are bidden never to go beyond or defraud our neighbor. It is written, “Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” It is written, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” In that way only can safely meet the temptation to distrust.

Then Satan tempted the Lord to presumption. “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down,” said he; but Christ had a Scripture ready to parry his thrust. Many are tempted to presume. “You are one of God’s elect, you cannot perish; you may therefore go into sin; you have no need to be so very careful, since you cannot fall finally and fatally,” — so Satan whispers, and it is not always that the uninstructed convert is ready to answer the base sophistry. If we are at any time tempted to yield to such specious special pleadings, let us remember it is written, “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” It is written, “Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” It is written, “Be ye holy, for I am holy. Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Begone, Satan, we dare not sin because of the mercy of God; that were indeed a diabolical return for his goodness; we abhor the idea of sinning that grace might abound.

Then will Satan attack us with the temptation to be traitors to our God and to worship other gods. “Worship me,” says he, “and if thou do this thy reward shall be great.” He sets before us some earthly object which he would have us idolize, some selfish aim which he would have us pursue. At that time our only defense is the sure word, “It is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength.” “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price.” “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” “Little children keep yourselves from idols.” Quoting such words as those with all our hearts, we shall not be suffered to fall. Beloved, we must keep from sin. If Christ has indeed saved us from sin, we cannot bear the thought of falling into it. If any of you can take delight in sin, you are not the children of God. If you are the children of God you hate it with a perfect hatred, and your very soul loathes it. To keep you from sin, arm yourselves with this most holy and pure word of God, which shall cleanse your way, and make your heart obedient to the voice of the thrice-holy God.

Next our Lord used the word as a direction to his way. This is a very important point. Too many direct their ways by what they call providences. They do wrong things and they say, “It seemed such a providence.” I wonder whether Jonah, when he went down to Joppa to flee to Tarshish, considered it a providence that a ship was about to sail. If so, he was like too many now-a-days, who seek to lay their guilt upon God by declaring that they felt bound to act as they did, for providence suggested it. Our Lord was not guided as to what he should do by the circumstances around him. Any one but our holy Lord would have obeyed the tempter, and then have said, “I was very hungry, and I was sitting down in the wilderness, and it seemed such a providence that a spirit should find me out and courteously suggest the very thing that I needed, viz., to turn the stones into bread.” It was a providence, but it was a testing providence. When you are tempted to do evil to relieve your necessities, say to yourself, “This providence is testing me, but by no means indicates to me what I ought to do; for my rule is, ‘It is written.'” If you make apparent providence your guide, you will make a thousand mistakes, but if you follow “It is written,” your steps will be wisely ordered.

Neither are we to make our special gifts and special privileges our guide. Christ is on the pinnacle of the temple, and it is possible, nay, it is certain, that if he had chosen to cast himself down he could have safely done so; but he did not make his special privileges a reason for presumption. It is true that the saints shall be kept: final perseverance I believe to be undoubtedly the teaching of God’s word: out I am not to presume upon a doctrine, I am to obey the precept. For a man to say “I am a child of God, I am safe, therefore I live as I list,” would be to prove that he is no child of God at all, for the children of God do not turn the grace of God into licentiousness. It was only according to the devil’s logic to say, “I am favored more than others, and therefore I may provoke the Lord more than they.” “It is written we love him because he first loved us, and by this we know that we love God, if we keep his commandments.”

Then Satan tried to make his own personal advantage our Lord’s guide. “All these things will I give thee,” said he, but Christ did not order his acts for his own personal advantage, but replied, “It is written.” How often have I heard people say, “I do not like to remain in a church with which I do not agree, but my usefulness would be quite gone if I were to leave it.” On this system, if our Lord had been a mere man he might have said, “If I fall down and perform this small act of ritualism, I shall have a noble sphere of usefulness. All the kingdoms of the earth will be mine! Sphere are all those poor oppressed slaves; I could set them free. The hungry and the thirsty, how would I supply their wants; and with me for a King earth would be happy. Indeed, that is the very thing I am about to die for, and if it is to be done so easily, and in a trice, by bowing the knee before this spirit, why not do it?” Far, far removed was our Lord from the wicked spirit of compromise. Alas, too many now say, “We must give and take in little points; it is of no use to stand out and to be so absurdly wedded to your own ideas; there is nothing like yielding a little to carry your point in greater things.” Thus many talk now-a-days, but not so spoke our Lord.

“It is written” was his guide; not his usefulness or personal advantage. My dear brother, it will sometimes happen that to do the right thing will appear to be most disastrous; it will shipwreck your fortune and bring you into trouble, but I charge you do the right thing at any cost. Instead of your being honored and respected, and accounted a leader in the Christian church, you will be regarded as eccentric, and bigoted, if you speak straight out; but speak straight out, and never mind what comes of it. You and I have nothing to do with what becomes of us, or our reputations, or with what becomes of the world, or becomes of heaven itself; our one business is to do our Father’s will. “It is written” is to be our role, and with dogged obstinacy, as men call it, but with resolute consecration as God esteems it, through the mire and through the slough, through flood and through the flame, follow Jesus and the word infallible. Follow the written word wholly, and never mar the perfection of your obedience to him on account of usefulness, or any other petty plea, which Satan would put in your way.

Note, further, that our Lord used “It is written” for maintaining his own Spirit. I love to think of the calmness of Christ. He is not one whit flurried. He is hungry, and he is told to create bread, and he answers, “It is written.” He is lifted to the temple’s summit, but he says, “It is written,” just as calmly as you or I might do sitting in an easy chair. There he is with the whole world beneath his feet, gazing on its splendor, but he is not dazzled. “It is written” is still his quiet answer. Nothing makes a man self-contained, cool, and equal to every emergency like always falling back upon the infallible Book and remembering the declaration of Jehovah, who cannot lie. I charge you, brethren, see to this.

The last thought on this point is that our Lord teaches us that the use of Scripture is to vanquish the enemy and chase him away. “Go,” said he to the fiend, “for it is written.” You too shall chase away temptation if you keep firmly to this, “God hath said it, God hath promised it; God that cannot lie, whose very word of grace is strong as that which built the skies.”

III. As our Lord chose the weapon, and taught us its uses, so HE SHOWED US HOW TO HANDLE IT.

How are we to handle this sword of “It is written?” First, with deepest reverence. Let every word that God has spoken be law and gospel to you. Never trifle with it; never try to evade its force or to change its meaning. God speaks to you in this book as much as if again he came to the top of Sinai and lifted up his voice in thunder. To trifle with Scripture is to deprive yourself of its aid. Reverence it, I beseech you, and look up to God with devout gratitude for having given it to you.

Next have it always ready. Our Lord Jesus Christ as soon as he was assailed had his answer prepared — “It is written.” A ready reckoner is an admirable person in a house of business; and a ready textuary is a most useful person in the house of God. Have the Scriptures at your fingers’ end; better still, have them in the center of your heart. It is a good thing to store the memory with many passages of the Word — the very words themselves. Brethren, study much the Word of God, and have it ready to hand. It is of no use treating the Bible as the fool did his anchor, which he had left at home when he came to be in a storm: have the infallible witness at your side when the father of lies approaches.

Endeavor also to understand its meaning, and so to understand it that you can discern between its meaning and its perversion. Half the mischief in the world, and perhaps more, is done, not by an ostensible lie, but by a perverted truth. The devil, knowing this, takes a text of Scripture, clips it, adds to it, and attacks Christ with it; but our Lord did not therefore despise Scripture because the devil himself might quote it, but he answered him with a flaming text right in his face. He did not say, “The other is not written, you have altered it;” but he gave him a taste of what “It is written” really was, and so confounded him. Do you the same. Search the Word, get the true taste of it in your mouth, and acquire discernment; so that when you say “It is written,” you may not be making a mistake; for there are some who think their creed scriptural, and yet it is not so. Texts of Scripture out of their connection, twisted and perverted, are not “It is written,” but the plain meaning of the word should be known and understood. Oh, read the word, and pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that you may know its meaning, for so will you contend against the foe.

Brethren, learn also to appropriate Scripture to yourselves. One of the texts our Lord quoted he slightly altered. “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” The original text is, “Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God.” But the singular lies in the plural, and it is always a blessed thing to be able to find it there. Learn so to use Scripture that you take home to yourself all its teaching, all its precepts, all its promises, all its doctrines; for bread on the table does not nourish; it is bread which you eat that will really sustain you.

When you have appropriated the texts to yourself, stand by them whatever they may cost you. If to give up the text would enable you to make stones into bread, do not give it up; if to reject the precept would enable you to fly through the air like a seraph, do not reject it. If to go against the word of God would make you emperor of the entire world, do not accept the bribes. To the law and to the testimony, stand ye there. Be a Bible man, go so far as the Bible, but not an inch beyond it. Though Calvin should beckon you, and you esteem him, or Wesley should beckon, and you esteem him, keep to the Scripture, to the Scripture only. If your minister should go astray, pray that he may be brought back again, but do not follow him. Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than this book teaches you, do not, I pray you, give any heed to us — no, not for a single moment. Here is the only infallibility; — the Holy Ghost’s witness in this book.

Remember, lastly, that your Lord at this time was filled with the Spirit. “Jesus, being filled with the Spirit,” went to be tempted. The word of God, apart from the Spirit of God, will be of no use to you. If you cannot understand a book, do you know the best way to reach its meaning? Write to the author and ask him what he meant. If you have a book to read, and you have got that author always accessible, you need not complain that you do not understand it. The Holy Spirit is come to abide with us forever.

Search the Scriptures, but cry for the Spirit’s light, and live under his influence. So Jesus fought the old dragon, “being filled with the Spirit.” He smote Leviathan through with this weapon, because the Spirit of God was upon him. Go you with the word of God like a two-edged sword in your land! But ere you enter the lists pray the Holy Ghost to baptize you into himself, so shall you overcome all your adversaries, and triumph even to the end. May God bless you, for Jesus’ sake.

Read Full Post »