Though man cannot be justified by his obedience to the law, yet his obedience shall not be in vain
Though man cannot be justified by his obedience to the law,
yet his obedience shall not be in vain
Evan. No, neighbour Nomologista, it will not be in vain; for even though you cannot by your obedience to the Law, do anything towards procuring your own justification or eternal salvation — yes, and even if you were never to make use of it to be driven out of yourself to Jesus Christ for justification and eternal salvation, but were everlastingly condemned — yet let me tell you this: the more obedience you yield to the law, the easier your condemnation will be. For no man, however exactly and strictly he walks according to the law, will thereby either escape the torments of hell, or obtain the joys of heaven. Yet the more exactly and strictly any man walks according to the law, the easier his torments will be, Mat. 11.22. So though you cannot obtain the uneasiest place in heaven by your obedience to the law, you may obtain the easiest place in hell by it. And therefore your obedience will not be in vain. No, let me tell you more: although by your obedience to the law, you can neither escape that hell, nor enjoy that heaven that is in the world to come, yet you may thereby escape that hell, and enjoy that heaven which is to be had in this present world. For the Lord deals so equally and justly with all men, that every man will be sure to receive his due at his hands. Every man who is truly justified in the sight of God by faith in Christ’s blood, shall for that blood’s sake, be sure of the joys of heaven, even though his life may not be conformable to the law in many respects, even after believing. Yet the more unconformable his life is to it, the more crosses and afflictions he will be sure to meet with in this life, Psalm 89.30-32. Even so, no man who is not justified by faith in Christ’s blood will either escape the torments of hell, or attain the joys of heaven — however conformable his life may be to the law. Yet the more conformable his life is to it, the less he will have of miseries, and the more he will have of the blessings of this life. For it is not to unjustified men that the Lord speaks in Isa. 1.19 (though I suppose not only to them), saying, “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.”
Does not the Lord in the fifth commandment promise the blessing of long life to all inferiors that are obedient to their superiors? And may we not observe, and is it not found true by experience, that those children who are most careful to do their duties to their parents, are commonly more free both from their parents’ corrections, and the Lord’s corrections? And are they not likewise blessed with obedient children themselves, and also taste of their parents’ bounty, and the Lord’s bounty, as touching the blessings of this life, more than others who are disobedient? And may we not observe, and is it not found true by experience, that those servants who are most faithful and diligent in their positions are commonly more free either from the Lord’s or their masters’ corrections, and are likewise rewarded with such servants themselves, and with other temporal blessings both from their masters and from the Lord, than others who are not so? And may we not observe, and is it not found true by experience, that those wives who are obedient and subject to their husbands, are commonly more free from their frowns, checks, and rebukes — at least they are more blessed with peace of conscience and a good name — than others who are not so? And may we not observe that our more honest men, who for the most part live without committing any gross sin against the law, are commonly more exempted from the sword of the magistrate, and have many earthly blessings, more in abundance, than those who are gross sinners? And the Scribes and Pharisees, who were strict observers of the law in regard to the outward man, were not losers by it. “Truly,” says our Saviour, “I say to you, they have their reward,” Mat. 6.2. So that still, you see, your obedience to the law will not be in vain. Therefore, I ask you to do your best to keep the Ten Commandments as perfectly as you can. But above all, I beseech you, be careful to consider what has been said touching the special use of the law to you; so that through the powerful working of God’s Spirit, it may become an effectual means to drive you out of yourself, to Jesus Christ.
Oh, consider, in the first place, what a great number of duties are required and what a great number of sins are forbidden in every one of the Ten Commandments! And in the second place, consider how many of those duties you have omitted, and how many of those sins you have committed. And in the third place, consider that there has been much corruption mixed with every good duty which you have done, so that you have sinned in doing what in itself is good; and that you have had an inclination of heart and a disposition of will to every sin that you have not committed, and so you have been guilty even of all those sins which you have not done. And in the fourth place, consider that the law pronounces a curse on everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them. And then, in the fifth place, make application of the curse to yourself, by saying in your heart, if everyone is cursed who does not continue in all things, then surely I am cursed, who have continued in nothing. And then, in the sixth place, consider that before you can be delivered from the curse, the law and justice of God requires that there be a perfect satisfaction made both by paying the debt and the forfeiture to the very utmost farthing — perfect doing and perfect suffering are both required. And then, in the last place, consider that you are so far from being able to make a perfect satisfaction, that you can do nothing at all towards it, and therefore, of yourself, you are in a most miserable and helpless condition.
Nom. Well, sir, I now plainly see that I have been deceived, for I truly thought that the only reason why the Lord gave the law, and why you that are ministers show us what is required and forbidden in the law, had been that all men might thereby come to see what the mind and will of the Lord is, and be exhorted and persuaded to lead their lives accordingly. And I also truly thought that the more any man strived and endeavoured to reform his life accordingly, the more he procured the love and favour of God towards him, and the more God would bless him, and do him good, both in this world and in the world to come. Yes, and I also truly thought that it was in man’s power to come very near the perfect fulfilling of the law, for I never read or heard any minister show how impossible it is for any man to keep the law, nor make any mention of any such use of the law, as you have done this day.