Sermons on Galatians
Do Not Seek Righteousness by the Law
Sermon Three in a series of six on Galatians 2:21.
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain." Gal. 2:21.
When I first entered on
these words, I told you what the scope of the apostle was in this epistle: he
is here bringing forth arguments against that error that the Galatian churches
were plagued with; and arguments for that truth of the gospel that he had
planted amongst them, and taught them. The truth was this, That the
righteousness of a sinner for justification was only in Christ. The error of
the Galatians lay in this, That something of the righteousness of the law was
to be mixed therewith.
My text contains two arguments against this error,
drawn from a common natural head of arguing against error, by the absurdities
that necessarily flow from it. Now there are two grand absurdities that flow
from this doctrine of the law in point of justification,
1st, That it
frustrates the grace of God;
2dly, That it makes Christ's death to be in
vain: and two more abominable things cannot be well thought of; and people have
great need to fear, and to take heed of any doctrine that hath any tendency to
either of them. The first of these the apostle expresses in his own
person: "I do not frustrate the grace of God." And here he speaks as a
believer, and not as a minister nor an apostle; so he discourses from ver. 16,
speaking of himself and the rest of the godly, like ordinary believers, that
betook themselves to this way of relief by Christ's righteousness alone. I
propose four observations to speak to. 1st, That the grace of God shines
gloriously in the justifying of a sinner through the righteousness of Christ:
and this I have spoke to.
2dly, That frustrating the grace of God is a
great and horrible sin; for so it is expressed by the apostle, "I do not
frustrate the grace of God." As if he should have said, "B1essed be God, I am
not in that road; I am not one that frustrates the grace of God; I am saved by
it." How the grace of God is frustrated, and how great the sin is, I spoke to
the last day. The revelation of the grace of God, and the tender of it, and the
urging of it, may be frustrated, and is, by many: but the grace itself, in its
powerful conveyance by the Holy Ghost on the hearts of men, always reaches its
end. The grace of God is irresistible in its thorough powerful application:
this I also spoke to; and would only add a word or two further about the
greatness of this sin of seeking righteousness by the law, and thereby
frustrating the grace of God.
1. This is a sin that but few in the world
can commit. The greatest part of them that go to hell cannot commit this sin;
they never frustrated the grace of God. Indeed all that are finally guilty of
it go to hell; but all that go to hell are not guilty of this sin. The greatest
part of the world never frustrated the grace of God, for they never heard of
it; and, therefore, our Lord pronounces a woe against Capernaum, against
Chorazin and Bethsaida, and tells them that they were in a worse case than
Sodom and Gomorrah, than Tyre and Sidon, (Matt. 11:21), because the grace of
God was never offered them as it was to the others. Sirs, let me tell you, the
worst quarters in hell are for those persons that are nearest to Christ, and
yet not in him by faith: of all sinners such drop deepest into the pit.
2.
The devils are not guilty of this sin. There is not a devil in hell, nor out of
it, that is so guilty of this sin of frustrating the grace of God, as thousands
of professors in London are. The devils are haters of the grace of God; but the
grace of God was never tendered to them: they only hate the grace of God as it
is tendered to men, and envy it; but the grace of God was never offered to the
devils. The way of preserving the holy angels, and the way of justice to the
damned spirits, proclaim greatly the wonderful privilege that we have in the
gospel. The holy angels are kept, and they received grace, for the election of
grace fell on them: they are called the elect angels. When that great apostasy
was in the upper house, all the reprobate angels fell of their own accord, and
all the elect angels stood: and that election of grace towards angels ran
through Jesus Christ, who was to be their preserving head. There is something
that looks like this in the word of God. But recovering grace to angels was
never given; the angels that stood had preserving grace given them, to keep
them in their first station; but the angels that fell had no recovering grace
given them, "Christ took not on him," saith the apostle, "the nature of angels,
but was born of the seed of Abraham." And thence it came to pass, that the
devils themselves are not guilty of this sin of frustrating the grace of God.
Surely then people had need to take great heed that they be not guilty of a
worse sin than that which the devils can commit. There is no creature that hath
frustrated the grace of God, but that creature that hath the offer of the grace
of God.
3. Frustrating the grace of God is a sin that none that are in hell
are guilty of. All that are finally guilty of it on earth are sent to hell, but
none that are in hell are guilty of it; for when once that last sentence is
executed upon them, the door of grace and mercy is for ever shut upon them. So
that it is the gospel-sinner only who can frustrate the grace of God, who is
guilty of that sin; and that but a small part of the world are guilty of it;
that the devils in hell are not guilty of it, that all the damned in hell are
not guilty of it, though they rage, and roar, and blaspheme; and ail sorts of
wickedness we may well conclude to be in their miserable state: but frustrating
the grace of God is a sin not to be found in hell, because grace enters not
there. So much shall serve for this second point of doctrine, That it is a
horrible sin to frustrate the grace of God.
I come now to speak to the next
doctrine.
3dly, To seek righteousness by the works of the law, is to
frustrate the grace of God: for this is the scope of the apostle's argument. It
is to shew that there is no righteousness to be had by the law; and this is one
argument that he proves it by, "I do not," saith he, "frustrate the grace of
God." It is, as if he should have said, "If I sought righteousness by the works
of the law, I should frustrate the grace of God; but I do not seek
righteousness by the law, for I am dead to the law, and therefore I do not
frustrate the grace of God." There are two things under this doctrine that I
would speak to 1st, What is it to seek righteousness by the law?
2dly, How doth it appear that seeking righteousness by the works of the
law is frustrating the grace of God? For they that are guilty of this sin of
seeking righteousness by the works of the law, they are very loath to take in
this, that they frustrate the grace of God: they will say, that they give all
respect to the grace Of God; even the self-righteous Pharisee could claim to
have the grace of God, (Luke 18:11), "God, I thank thee that I am not as other
men;" "I thank God, that I am so good as I am;" when he was a poor, vain,
self-conceited man all the while. 1. What is it to seek righteousness by the
works of the law? By law here I mean the holy spotless law of God. The law of
man hath nothing to do in the point of righteousness before God. This seeking
of righteousness by the law is righteousness in God's sight; the apostle states
the matter so. No man is justified by the law in the sight of God. That a man
is justified by the law in the sight of men, nobody can deny. We should be very
careful to justify ourselves in the sight of men by the law, and our conformity
to it; but this righteousness here spoken of is righteousness in the sight of
God, and righteousness by the law of God; and it stands in three things.
1st, Righteousness by the law is that which obtains a man's acceptance with
God. That is righteousness by the law that procures a man's acceptance with
God; upon the account of which he stands before God as a righteous man, and is
dealt with accordingly. Now, he that seeks righteousness by the law in this
sense, is one who dreams, that by doing and obeying what the law requires, he
may work out that for which he may stand righteous and accepted in God's sight.
And that is one way this sin is committed.
2dly, In this righteousness
before God by the works of the law, there is an expectation of impunity for all
that is past in transgressing the law. And we find that this must necessarily
be the righteousness of a holy man, who stands in a state of acceptance with
God; but the righteousness of a man who hath been once a sinner must be by
having that which may bring him into a state of impunity and safety of all the
transgressions that he hath been guilty of before. Now, men are guilty of
seeking righteousness by the works of the law this second way, when they do, or
think to do, that for which God will forgive all their transgressions, and
forget all that they have done: and of this the Pharisee made no question:
though he was a sinner, yet he comes and prays, and expects acceptation in
God's sight, and the forgiveness of his sins, upon the account of the good that
he had done.
3dly, In this righteousness by the works of the law there is a
title to eternal life. He that, by what he doth, expects to have a right
conferred upon him to eternal life, is a man that seeks righteousness by the
law: "Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"
said the poor young legalist, (Matt. 19:16). I would gladly have eternal life,
and would gladly have a right to it: Master, tell me what good thing shall I do
to get it. These are the three ways by which men seek righteousness by the law:
To do that whereby a man may obtain acceptance before God: To do that for which
he may obtain pardon and impunity from God: To do that for which he may have a
right conferred on him to eternal life. But, you will say, this is so gross
Popery, that there is no Protestant guilty of it. Alas! alas! every natural man
is guilty of it; and it is only the almighty power of the Spirit of God that
can erase it out of their hearts.
I will offer you some plain proofs of
this. 1. How many are there, when their hearts are examined, must acknowledge
that their eyes are altogether on the precepts of the law, and not a thought on
the promises of the gospel? How many poor creatures are there that begin to be
thoughtful about their salvation, insomuch that they make people that are about
them, who are ignorant and charitable, think that they are hopeful Christians.
But try these people this way, and you will find that all the exercise of their
religion is about the precepts of the law, and they have no exercise at all
about the promises of the gospel, he that minds only the precepts, is only a
doer; and he that minds not the promise, he is no believer: for the precept is
the rule of practice; but it is the promise that is the foundation of faith.
Now, how can that man be reckoned a believer, that hath no heart-exercise about
the promises?
2. A great many people are mightily taken up about their own
works, and but very little about Christ's. Our righteousness doth not stand in
our own works; but stands in Christ's works, what Christ did, and suffered for
us in his life, and death, and resurrection; therein stands our righteousness.
Now, how many poor creatures are there that reckon it a great matter, and glory
mightily in their own doings: if they pray, and hear, and read, and can but
make any sort of reformation in their conversation, how big do these things
appear in their eyes! But Christ's life and death, and all his great
performances for our salvation, are mean and low, and of small esteem with
them. And do not these sort of people seek righteousness by the law? Aye
surely.
3. They look for eternal life, but they look for it as a reward of
works, and not as an inheritance given by gift and grace; and all servants and
slaves must do so, and all natural men are slaves, they are children of the
bondwoman, (Gal. 4:31); they work for fear of punishment, and in hopes of the
crown: they work for wages; the wages they love, and would have, but the work
they hate. Whereas the believer acts just the contrary; he loves the work, and
he expects the wages as the gift of grace from the blessed Father he serves.
The apostle makes a great distinction between these two; "Wherefore thou art no
more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ,
(Gal. 4:7). Every man that is for righteousness by the works of the law is a
servant; he looks upon God as his master, and the law as his master's will, and
he sets about obeying with all his might. Now, is not this a good servant? Yes.
But all such servants go to hell: you must be children, for none but children
are saved. And, indeed, there are none true servants to him, but they that are
children: they are but slaves, and are cast out, that do not serve with their
love, and expect the inheritance only as a gift of grace.
So much for that
first thing, What it is to seek righteousness by the works of the law.
2. I
am now to shew you, that seeking righteousness by the works of the law, is to
frustrate the grace of God: and I would shew it first in point of doctrine and
then in point of practice.
1st, As to point of doctrine. In the matter of
righteousness before God, the law and the gospel are perfectly opposite, and
they are only so in this point. The law and the gospel agree sweetly together
in all things else; but in this point of the righteousness of a man before God,
the law and the gospel are quite opposite one to another. The gospel comes to
bring in another salvation than the law thought of; and the law destroys the
salvation of the gospel. The law and gospel, in point of righteousness before
God, are exactly opposite; "And if by grace, then it is no more by works,
otherwise grace is no more grace; but if it be of works, then it is no more of
grace, for otherwise works were no more works," (Rom. 11:6). Grace and works,
in the point of righteousness before God, are perfectly opposite; "You are
saved by grace," saith the apostle, "not of works, lest any man should boast,"
(Eph. 2:8, 9).
2dly, Let us bring this matter into practice, and you will
find that all men express this in their attitude; both the self-righteous man,
and he that is not so. Not only is it asserted in point of doctrine, that works
and grace are thus inconsistent, but we always find it, even in the spirit and
temper, both of the one and of the other. 1. He that seeks righteousness by the
law, is a man that never saw his need of grace: and you may be well assured
that that man will frustrate the grace of God, who never saw his utter need of
it. He was never so far emptied, but he expects and imagines that he shall be
able to work out a righteousness for himself, and so is not brought under any
conviction of his utter need of the grace of God; whereas he that is for the
grace of God in Christ alone, is a man that hath a great need of the grace of
God, and sees himself undone without it.
2. This self-righteous man sees no
glory in the grace of God shining through the righteousness of Christ; there is
no excellency in it to him. Every natural man is in this mind; he sees a great
deal of glory in his own doings: in a beautiful conversation, in brave gifts,
and in a shining walk before men; he sees a great deal of beauty and glory
here. Every natural man thinks there is a great deal of glory in his own
performances. The self-righteous Pharisee came boasting in his own
performances; "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice a week, and I give
tithes of all that I possess," (Luke 18:11, 12). These were great things in the
man's esteem, and so they are in the eyes of every natural man. But for that
righteousness that is lodged in Christ, that is wrought out by a man without
him, by one that came down from heaven, and is gone up thither again; that hath
all this righteousness seated in him, and gives it forth to us by mere grace;
no natural man thinks any thing of this. But the believer is a man that hath an
high esteem of the righteousness of Christ. How doth the apostle Paul speak of
this? "I count all things but dung, that I may win Christ; and be found in him,
not having on mine own righteousness," (Phil. 3:8, 9).
3. Every natural man
is averse from the grace of God, and therefore he must needs frustrate the
grace of God. He is averse from it: but every believer is just of another mind.
Sirs, if all men's hearts were known to us, as they are to God, here is one
thing that would determine every man's state, What way do you best like to go
to heaven in? "I would gladly be very holy," saith the poor man, "that I may be
very happy when I die." Saith the believer, "I would gladly be clothed with
Christ's righteousness, and get eternal life as the gift of his grace; and I
know that by being in Christ I shall be sanctified." But no believer seeks
sanctification as his righteousness, and title to glory: it is a preparation
for glory, and the way that leads to glory, to all them that are saved
according to that blessed method, "Whom he justified, them he also glorified,"
(Rom. 8:30); and by glorification there, both sanctification and eternal life
are well understood by most. So much for the third doctrine, That seeking
righteousness by the works of the law frustrates the grace of God.
I would
now speak a few words to the fourth doctrine, and then make some application of
both together. Doctrine 4. No true believer in Jesus Christ can frustrate the
grace of God. The apostle is here speaking of it in the account that he is
giving of the grace of God working in him: "I through the law," saith he, "am
dead to the law, that I might live to God;" and "I live by Christ, and by faith
in him, and, therefore, I do not frustrate the grace of God." He is not
speaking of the great attainment that some few Christians arrive at; but he is
speaking of that which is common to the state of all Christians: "I do not
frustrate the grace of God." Before I come to the proof of this, I would lay
down a few cautions, to prevent mistakes. 1st, It must be allowed that a great
many who have been made Christians have been long enemies to the grace of God;
and there is not a greater instance of this than the good man that speaks in my
text, the apostle Paul. He was a great heart-enemy to Jesus Christ; and he was
an enemy to Christ, if I may so say, with a good conscience, according to the
real light that the poor man's blinded conscience had: "I verily thought with
myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of
Nazareth," (Acts 26:9). "I never heard a name that I hated so much as the name
of this Jesus of Nazareth; and I hated it from the heart, and my conscience
prompted me to it." When our Lord met him by the way, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me?" little did the poor man think Christ died for him, and
should be a blessed fountain of life to him. A believer may be a great enemy to
the grace of God, before the grace of God makes him a believer.
2dly, It
may not be denied but that a true believer may take in doctrines contrary to
the grace of Christ in their tendency, though he perceive it not. I should be
loath to think that all these Galatians, that are here so sharply reproved by
the apostle Paul, were rotten-hearted people; there might be many sincere
people amongst them, imposed upon by the cunning of them that lay in wait to
deceive. There may be, through darkness, perplexed heads in many honest hearts,
about several points concerning the grace of God, It is not for us to measure,
anybody's state according to the principles that they profess, unless they be
very bad. 3dly, It is not to be denied but that in a fit of temptation, even a
true believer may abuse the grace of God; he may turn it into wantonness, and
may grow light and vain, because of his mistaking the nature of the grace of
God. Several have done so, and God knows how to tame them that do so; and the
severest fatherly rebukes of the law are upon them that wax wanton because of
his kindness.
These things being premised, I would briefly shew how it is
that a good man cannot frustrate the grace of God.
1. Because good men are
all grace's captives. Every believer, as a believer, and when he is made a
believer, is made a captive of the grace of God. How are men saved, think you?
We cannot see which way they are saved; the word goeth forth, and people hear
it; but we do not know who gets good, and when they get good by it. I will tell
you when men are saved; when the grace of God comes and lays hold of them, and
claps hold of a poor sinner ?"This man shall be my captive, and I will save
him." All believers are captives to the grace of God, and, therefore, they
cannot frustrate the grace of God; they are all subdued by this grace, and made
"willing in the day of his power." (Psalm 110:3).
2. No believer can
frustrate the grace of God, because he is dead to the law, as the apostle's
word is in the context, (Gal. 2:19). And there are two things needful to make a
man dead to the law; ? to know the law; and to know himself: and whosoever
knows both these, is a man dead to the law. He that knows the purity, and the
spotlessness of the law of God, and he that knows his own heart, and its
vileness, this man will naturally draw this conclusion, "Surely this law can
never do me any good. I can never fulfil it, and it can never save me; if there
be not another way of salvation than by the law, I am gone for evermore." "I
through the law am dead to the law," saith the apostle; "I need no more, to
make me despair of life by the law, than to see the law: it commands what I
cannot do, it threatens what I cannot avoid nor bear; and therefore, I am dead
to the law, that I might live to God;" ? "my life must come in another way than
by the law." So much shall serve for the opening of these truths.
It would
now follow to make some Application; which I shall do in two things, respecting
all the doctrines that I have raised from this former part of the verse. By
these doctrines here delivered by the apostle, you are called to try the
spirits, to try the doctrines you hear, and you are called to try your own
state; for every doctrine that is contrary to the grace of God is a doctrine
that Christians should hate. And your eternal state is to be determined by
these things ? What are your heart-thoughts of the law of God? What are your
heart-thoughts of the righteousness of Christ? And what are your heart-thoughts
of the grace of God? And every one that knows truly what his inward sense of
these things is, may soon come to some conclusion concerning his spiritual
state: but I shall speak more fully to these things the next
opportunity.
Examine Yourselves in the Light
of Grace