The Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead to Sin A Sermon

The Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead to Sin

A Sermon

(No. 1735)

Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, August 19th, 1883, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At Exeter-Hall.

"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 endeavoured 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
favour 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 favour, 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 favour 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. I question whether the devil himself would be found reasoning
thus–"God is merciful, therefore let us be more sinful." It is so
diabolical an inference, that I do not like to charge my fellow-men
with it, though our moralist opposers do not hesitate thus to degrade
them. Surely, no intelligent being can really persuade itself that the
goodness of God is a reason for offending him more than ever. Moral
insanity produces strange reasonings, but it is my solemn conviction
that very rarely do men practically consider the grace of God to be a
motive for sin. That which seems so probable at the first blush, is not
so when we come to consider it.

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 misbehaviour
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 favoured 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 overpoweringly 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 leadeth to
repentance. They scorn the beast-like argument–that the more loving
God is, the more rebellious we may be; and they feel that against a God
of goodness it is an evil thing to rebel.

By-the-way I cannot help observing that I have known persons object to
the evil influence of the doctrines of grace who were by no means
qualified by their own morality to be judges of the subject. Morals
must be in a poor way when immoral persons become their guardians. The
doctrine of justification by faith is frequently objected to as
injurious to morals. A newspaper some time ago quoted a verse from one
of our popular hymns–

"Weary, working, plodding one,

Why toil you so?

Cease your doing; all was done

Long, long ago.

"Till to Jesus' work you cling

By a simple faith,

'Doing' is a deadly thing,

'Doing' ends in death."

This is styled mischievous teaching. When I read the article I felt a
deep interest in this corrector of Luther and Paul, and I wondered how
much he had drunk in order to elevate his mind to such a pitch of
theological knowledge. I have found men pleading against the doctrines
of grace on the ground that they did not promote morality, to whom I
could have justly replied, "What has morality to do with you, or you
with it?" These sticklers for good works are not often the doers of
them. Let legalists look to their own hands and tongues, and leave the
gospel of grace and its advocates to answer for themselves.

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 invent a Book of Sports for Sabbath diversion? Did they
haunt ale-houses 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 that
they called them Puritans, and condemned them as 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 savoured 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?

Nor is this a solitary instance–this instance of Puritanism; all
history confirms the rule: and when it is said that these doctrines
will create sin, I appeal to facts, and leave the oracle to answer as
it may. If we are ever to see a pure and godly England we must have a
gospelized England: if we are to put down drunkenness and the social
evil it must be by the proclamation of the grace of God. Men must be
forgiven by grace, renewed by grace, transformed by grace, sanctified
by grace, preserved by grace; and when that comes to pass the golden
age will dawn; but while they are merely taught their duty, and left to
do it of themselves in their own strength, it is labour in vain. You
may flog a dead horse a long while before it will stir: you need to put
life into it, for else all your flogging will fail. To teach men to
walk who have no feet is poor work, and such is instruction in morals
before grace gives a heart to love holiness. The gospel alone supplies
men with motive and strength, and therefore it is to the gospel that we
must look as the real reformer of men.

I shall fight this morning with the objection before us as I shall find
strength. 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 wish to call your attention to some six or seven points.

I. First, you will see that the gospel of the grace of God promotes
real holiness in men by remembering that THE SALVATION WHICH IT BRINGS
IS SALVATION FROM THE POWER OF 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. On the contrary, I say to the man who proclaims a
gracious promise of victory over sin, "Make all speed: go up and down
throughout the world, and tell the vilest of mankind that God is
willing by his grace to set them free from the love of sin and to make
new creatures of them." Suppose the salvation we preach be this:–you
that have lived ungodly and wicked lives may enjoy your sins, and yet
escape the penalty–that would be mischievous indeed; but if it be
this,–you that live the most ungodly and wicked lives may yet by
believing in the Lord Jesus be enabled to change those lives, so that
you shall live unto God instead of serving sin and Satan,–what harm
can come to the most prudish morals? Why, I say spread such a gospel,
and let it circulate through every part of our vast empire, and let all
men hear it, whether they rule in the House of Lords or suffer in the
house of bondage. 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, whoever you may be, 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. Secondly, let it not be forgotten as a matter of fact that THE
PRINCIPLE OF LOVE HAS BEEN FOUND TO POSSESS VERY GREAT POWER OVER MEN.
In the infancy of history nations dream that crime can be put down by
severity, and they rely upon fierce punishments; but experience
corrects the error. Our forefathers dreaded forgery, which is a
troublesome fraud, and interferes with the confidence which should
exist between man and man. To put it down they made forgery a capital
offence. Alas for the murders committed by that law! Yet the constant
use of the gallows was never sufficient to stamp out the crime. Many
offences have been created and multiplied by the penalty which was
meant to suppress them. Some offences have almost ceased when the
penalty against them has been lightened.

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 offence. 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, to whom he owes his life, or his mother, on
whose breasts he was nursed in infancy, then all would cry out against
the monster. In the light of love sin is seen to be exceeding sinful.

Nor is this all. 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 life-boat 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 (or merely just) man will one
die: yet peradventure," says he, "for a good (benevolent) 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. All the history of the church of Christ,
when it has been true to its Lord, is a proof of this.

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 for all that 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. I will try one thing more." 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. I am determined to try if another plan will have any
effect. Though you deserve flogging and long imprisonment, I shall
freely forgive you." The man was greatly moved by the unexpected and
undeserved pardon, and became a good soldier. The story wears truth on
its brow: we all see that it would probably end so.

That anecdote is such good argument that I will give you another. A
drunkard woke up one morning from his drunken sleep, with his clothes
on him just as he had rolled down the night before. He saw his only
child, his daughter Millie, getting his breakfast. Coming to his senses
he said to her, "Millie, why do you stay with me?" She answered,
"Because you are my father, and because I love you." He looked at
himself, and saw what a sottish, ragged, good-for-nothing creature he
was, and he answered her, "Millie, do you really love me?" The child
cried, "Yes, father, I do, and I will never leave you, because when
mother died she said, Millie, stick to your father, and always pray for
him, and one of these days he will give up drink, and be a good father
to you'; so I will never leave you." Is it wonderful when I add that,
as the story has it, Millie's father cast away his drink, and became a
Christian man? It would have been more remarkable if he had not. Millie
was trying free grace, was she not? According to our moralists she
should have said, "Father, you are a horrible wretch! I have stuck to
you long enough: I must now leave you, or else I shall be encouraging
other fathers to get drunk." Under such proper dealing I fear Millie's
father would have continued a drunkard till he drank himself into
perdition. But the power of love made a better man of him. Do not these
instances prove 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; and 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 behaviour 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, running away at his
approach. 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.
He knows that his almighty goodness, though often baffled, will triumph
in the end. I believe my point is proved. To myself it is so. However,
we must pass on.

III. There is no fear that the doctrine of the grace of God will lead
men to sin, because ITS OPERATIONS ARE CONNECTED WITH A SPECIAL
REVELATION OF THE EVIL OF SIN. Iniquity is made to be exceeding bitter
before it is forgiven or when it is forgiven. 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, like a grim chamberlain, 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 for ever, 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. A deep inward
experience forbids the child of God to sin: he has known within himself
its judgment and its condemnation, and henceforth it is a thing
abhorrent to him. An enmity both fierce and endless exists between the
chosen seed and the serpent brood of evil: hence the fear that grace
will be abused is abundantly safeguarded.

IV. Remember also that not only is the forgiven man thus set against
sin by the process of conviction, but EVERY MAN WHO TASTES OF THE
SAVING GRACE OF GOD IS MADE A NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST JESUS. Now if the
doctrine of grace in the hands of an ordinary man might be dangerous,
yet it would cease to be so in the hands of one who is quickened by the
Spirit, and created anew in the image of God. The Holy Spirit comes
upon the chosen one, and transforms him: his ignorance is removed, his
affections are changed, his understanding is enlightened, his will is
subdued, his desires are refined, his life is changed–in fact, he is
as one new-born, to whom all things have become new. This change is
compared in Scripture to the resurrection from the dead, to a creation,
and to a new birth. This takes place in every man who becomes a
partaker of the free grace of God. "Ye must be born again," said Christ
to Nicodemus; and gracious men are born again. One said the other day,
"If I believed that I was eternally saved, I should live in sin."
Perhaps you would; but if you were renewed in heart you would not.
"But," says one, "if I believed God loved me from before the foundation
of the world, and that therefore I should be saved, I would take a full
swing of sin." Perhaps you and the devil would; but God's regenerate
children are not of so base a nature. To them the abounding grace of
the Father is a bond to righteousness which they never think of
breaking: they feel the sweet constraints of sacred gratitude, and
desire to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. All beings live
according to their nature, and the regenerated man works out the holy
instincts of his renewed mind: crying after holiness, warring against
sin, labouring to be pure in all things, the regenerate man puts forth
all his strength towards that which is pure and perfect. A new heart
makes all the difference. Given a new nature, and then all the
propensities run in a different way, and the blessings of almighty love
no longer involve peril, but suggest the loftiest aspirations.

V. One of the chief securities for the holiness of the pardoned is
found in the way of CLEANSING THROUGH ATONEMENT. The blood of Jesus
sanctifies as well as pardons. The sinner learns that his free pardon
cost the life of his best Friend; that in order to his salvation the
Son of God himself agonized even to a bloody sweat, and died forsaken
of his God. This causes a sacred mourning for sin, as he looks upon the
Lord whom he pierced. Love to Jesus burns within the pardoned sinner's
breast, for the Lord is his Redeemer; and therefore he feels a burning
indignation against the murderous evil of sin. To him all manner of
evil is detestable, since it is stained with the Saviour's heart's
blood. As the penitent sinner hears the cry of, "Eloi, sabachthani!" he
is horrified to think that one so pure and good should be forsaken of
heaven because of the sin which he bore in his people's stead. From the
death of Jesus the mind draws the conclusion that sin is exceedingly
sinful in the sight of the Lord; for if eternal justice would not spare
even the Well-beloved Jesus when imputed sin was upon him, how much
less will it spare guilty men? It must be a thing unutterably full of
poison which could make even the immaculate Jesus suffer so terribly.
Nothing can be imagined which can have greater power over gracious
minds than the vision of a crucified Saviour denouncing sin by all his
wounds, and by every falling drop of blood. What! live in the sin which
slew Jesus? Find pleasure in that which wrought his death? Trifle with
that which laid his glory in the dust? Impossible! Thus you see that
the gifts of free grace, when handed down by a pierced hand, are never
likely to suggest self-indulgence in sin, but the very reverse.

VI. Sixthly, a man who becomes a partaker of divine grace, and receives
the new nature, is ever afterwards A PARTAKER OF DAILY HELPS FROM GOD'S
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 Ever- blessed 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 tempted man flies to his chamber, unbosoms
his grief to God, looks to the flowing wounds of his Redeemer, and
comes down strong to resist temptation. 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. How is it possible that the
doctrines of grace should suggest sin to men who constantly draw near
to God? 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. The gracious are often afraid to
put one foot before another for fear of doing wrong. 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.

Then, in addition to this, the good Spirit leads us into high and
hallowed intercourse with God, and I defy a man to live upon the mount
with God, and then come down to transgress like men of the world. If
thou hast walked the palace floor of glory, and seen the King in his
beauty, till the light of his countenance has been thy heaven, thou
canst not be content with the gloom and murkiness of the tents of
wickedness. To lie, to deceive, to feign, as the men of the world do,
will no longer beseem thee. Thou art of another race, and thy
conversation is above them: "Thy speech betrayeth thee." If thou dost
indeed dwell with God, the perfume of the ivory palaces will be about
thee, and men will know that thou hast been in other haunts than
theirs. If the child of God goes wrong in any degree, he loses to some
extent the sweetness of his communion, and only as he walks carefully
with God does he enjoy full fellowship; so that this rising or falling
in communion becomes a sort of parental discipline in the house of the
Lord. We have no court with a judge, but we have home with its
fatherhood, its smile and its rod. We lack not for order in the family
of love, for our Father dealeth with us as with sons. Thus, in a
thousand ways, all danger of our presuming upon the grace of God is
effectually removed.

VII. THE ENTIRE ELEVATION OF THE MAN WHO IS MADE A PARTAKER OF THE
GRACE OF GOD is also a special preservative against sin. I venture to
say, though it may be controverted, 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. No small matter this, for a thing so apt to
grovel as the average human intellect. So far as deliverance from mean
vices and degrading lusts must in this way be promoted, I say, it is no
small thing. Thoughtlessness is the prolific mother of iniquity. It is
a hopeful sign when minds begin to roam among lofty truths. 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 cares not to scrape
together gold with the muck-rake of the covetous, for he is immortal,
and must needs seek eternal gains. He feels that he is born for divine
purposes, and enquires "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" He
feels that God has loved him that his love may flow forth to others.
God's choice of any one man has a bearing upon all the rest: he elects
a Joseph that a whole family, a whole nation, nay, the whole world, may
be preserved alive when famine had broken the staff of bread. We are
each one as a lamp kindled that we may shine in the dark, and light up
other lamps.

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. He knows that
his Redeemer lives, and that in the latter days he shall behold him;
and therefore he has no fears for the future. 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 favour. "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. I will tell thee what ought to
fetch thee to Christ at once, it is the thought of his amazing love. A
profligate son had been a great grief to his father; he had robbed him
and disgraced him, and at last he ended by bringing his grey hairs with
sorrow to the grave. He was a horrible wretch of a son: no one could
have been more graceless. However, he attended his father's funeral,
and he stayed to hear the will read: perhaps it was the chief reason
why he was there. He had fully made up his mind that his father would
cut him off with a shilling, and he meant to make it very unpleasant
for the rest of the family. To his great astonishment, as the will was
read it ran something like this: "As for my son Richard, though he has
fearfully wasted my substance, and though he has often grieved my
heart, I would have him know that I consider him still to be my own
dear child, and therefore, in token of my undying love, I leave him the
same share as the rest of his brothers." He left the room; he could not
stand it, the surprising love of his father had mastered him. He came
down to the executor the next morning, and said, "You surely did not
read correctly?" "Yes I did; there it stands." "Then," he said, "I feel
ready to curse myself that I ever grieved my dear old father. Oh, that
I could fetch him back again!" Love was born in that base heart by an
unexpected display of love. May not your case be similar? Our Lord
Jesus Christ is dead, but he has left it in his will that the chief of
sinners are objects of his choicest mercy. Dying he prayed, "Father,
forgive them." Risen he pleads for transgressors. Sinners are ever on
his mind: their salvation is his great object. His blood is for them,
his heart for them, his righteousness for them, his heaven for them.
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. God bless you. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Romans 6.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–136, 980 645.