SERMON III. THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE AND WORKS 2 PETER i. 10, "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." THERE have been no doctrines, more misunderstood, nay, I would say more perverted, and the misapplication of which, has given greater licence to unholy living, than those of grace and works. The error, I think, for the most part consists in not taking a sufficiently comprehensive view, of the whole scheme of redemption, as set forth in the word of God; and in not comparing the different parts of Scripture with each other, as the sacred volume undoubtedly ought to be read. But instead of this, too many are content to fix on single and isolated passages, and on them abstractedly, to ground their faith. By reasoning from particular portions of Scripture, without any reference to its general tenor, (by which alone" the truth as it is in Jesus" can be ascertained) they presume to interpret the word of the Almighty, according to their own narrow and preconceived notions; and so, being " unlearned and unstable, wrest" it from its evident meaning, and, it may be feared, to their own eventual destruction. By this fallacious mode of consulting the sacred depository of God's will to man, they are liable to fall into two opposite extremes; that is, they either ascribe that kind of importance to their own works, as almost to set aside the free grace of God, in effecting their redemption; or else they lay such an undue and unwarranted stress on the merits of the Saviour, as to flatter themselves with the vain and impious notion, that they shall inherit eternal life, to the total exclusion of their own personal endeavours after that 66 holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Either of these extremes is equally fraught with danger, against which, therefore, it behoves us most carefully to guard. May we, my Christian brethren, so "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the Holy Scriptures, that with the preventing and co-operating aid of the blessed Spirit, we may be enabled clearly to see the precious truths of revelation; and have strength and wisdom to pursue the gracious method therein declared to bring us to salvation. The apostle bids us, in the words which I have selected for our present reflections, to "give diligence to make our calling and election sure." In the preceding part of the chapter he tells the Corinthian converts, to whom this epistle is addressed, that although they had "obtained the like precious faith with himself, through the righteousness of God and our Lord Jesus Christ;" yet to this faith, it was necessary for them to add, those Christian graces and virtues, by which they were to "adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour," and which he thus enumerates: "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." The advice and instruction here given by the apostle, in conjunction with many other passages of Scripture of similar import, evidently leads us to conclude, that although, through God's mercy, we be called and elected to the privileges of the Christian covenant, yet such election is by no means absolute; that the salvation of the Gospel is not already made "sure" to us; but that something must be done on our parts, in order to obtain it; that we must not be idlers in the Lord's vineyard, but diligent and indefatigable labourers, continually working out our salvation" by those means, which are made known to us by Divine Revelation, and without an earnest and devout attention to which, the merits of the Redeemer will not be made available to us. 66 But let it not, I entreat you, be supposed that we, who are appointed to teach the way of salvation, would inculcate the necessity of the moral duties of the Gospel, as being in themselves of sufficient value, to gain for us an entrance into Christ's eternal kingdom; and that we would have you, for a single instant, lose sight of redemption, as the free and unmerited gift of God. But we feel ourselves called upon, and duly authorized by the word of God, to impress on our hearers, the absolute importance of exerting those energies, with which they have been gifted; and of employing those talents, which 66 have been committed to their trust, in such a faithful and uncompromising manner, as shall prove, that they are true believers in Divine Revelation; that they are Christians, not only in name and by profession, but also in practice; and that they really value the salvation that has been so dearly purchased for them, by obeying the injunctions of Christ's law;-in short, that they not only have a name to live, but are indeed "alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." We feel justified in telling you that " if you would enter into life, you must keep the commandments'." With those, however, who plead in the strongest terms the merits of the Saviour, most fully and unequivocally do we agree. Unspeakable indeed are the merits of that Saviour, and unlimited are the mercies which he has bestowed on a world of ungrateful, rebellious people, in redeeming them from the punishment that awaited them. It is only through Jesus Christ, the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity, that we can hope for salvation. This immense blessing can only be obtained, through the grace of God. But, that the sufficiency of Christ's mediation will 1 Matt. xix. 17. |