3. Disobedient professors are inexcusable. The greater the honour
duties. Nothing requires such exactness in God's ways, nor bestows so much happiness upon the creature. Other religions may indulge some things to gain proselytes, and propose carnal rewards to entice them. But the commands of the gospel are holy, and the rewards are high. Other religions consist of negatives, while the gospel consists of positives. The gospel reveals more sin and demands more holiness. It gives us a reason to love, not to fear, as our motivation. It does not force us to obey, but persuades us with grace. Gospel obedience is not the result of bondage, but of love and friendship.
2. Obedience is not only our duty but also our privilege. It grants us the honour of being Christ's friend, and this indescribable comfort sweetens even the most difficult duty. Those who stand idle in the marketplace receive no such reward. It is a great honour to be a king's friend, but being a friend of Christ is beyond measure. "In keeping his commands there is great reward." This reward surpasses any earthly honour. Enoch was only the seventh from Adam, but his walking with God was his true honour. To be a friend of Christ in rags is a greater honour than being the king of the whole world in purple robes. Jerome said of a Roman senator that he was noble not because he was Consularis but because he was Christianus. The very act of holy obedience gives a sweeter reflection than all the pleasures of the world. Christ calls the gospel a yoke, but an easy one. He calls it a yoke as natural men think it, not as gracious men find it, for it is more of a privilege than a yoke. Christ reveals the glory of his love in the heart, as God revealed the glory of his presence in the temple.
3. Disobedient professors are inexcusable. The greater the honour offered as an invitation, the greater the sin in refusing the terms on which that honour can be enjoyed. It would be worth enduring the torments of thousands of years to attain the privilege of being
Christ's friend, but that is not required. We don't have to sacrifice