Believers shall be rewarded for their obedience, and with what
Believers shall be rewarded for their obedience, and with what
Evan. Why, if there are degrees of glory in heaven, as some, both godly and learned, have conceived there is, then I tell you that the more obedient you are to the law, the more your glory will be in heaven. But because degrees of glory are disputable, I cannot assure you of that. However, you may assure yourself of this: that the more obedience you yield to the Ten Commandments; and the more you please your most gracious God and loving Father in Christ, 1Sam. 15.22; and the more your conscience witnesses that you please God; the quieter you will feel your conscience, and the more inward peace you will have. According to the Psalmist, “Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing shall make them stumble.”Psa 119.165 For though faith in the blood of Christ has made your peace with God as a Judge, yet obedience must keep your peace with him as a Father. Yes, the more your conscience witnesses that you do what pleases God, the more encouragement you will have, and the more confidently you will approach God in prayer. “Beloved,” says the loving apostle, “if our hearts do not condemn us, then we have boldness towards God in prayer,” 1John 3.21; for though faith in the blood of Christ takes away that guilt which subjects you to the legal curse, yet obedience must take away that guilt which subjects you to fatherly displeasure. Furthermore, you are to know that the more obedience you yield to the Ten Commandments, the more temporal blessings, outward prosperity, and comfort you will have in this life, in the ordinary course of God’s dealing. “Oh!” says the Lord, “that my people had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways! He would sooner have fed them with the finest of wheat, and I would have satisfied you with honey out of the rock.” Psa 81.13, 16 Besides, the more obedience you yield to the Ten Commandments, the more glory you will bring to God, according to what our Saviour said in John 15.8, “My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit.”
To conclude, the more obedience you yield to the Ten Commandments, the more good you will do to others, according to what the apostle said in Tit. 3.8, “This is a faithful saying, and I would have you affirm these things constantly, that those who have believed in Christ might be careful to maintain good works; these things are good and profitable for men.”
Neo. But, sir, what if I were not to purpose, desire, and endeavour to yield obedience to all the Ten Commandments, as you say the Lord requires; what then?
Evan. Why, then, although it is true that you have no cause to fear that God will proceed against you as a wrathful judge proceeds against a malefactor, yet you have cause to fear that he will proceed against you as a displeased father does against an offending child. That is to say, although you have no cause to fear that he will un-justify you, and un-son you, and deprive you of your heavenly inheritance, and inflict the penalty of the Law of Works on you, and thus condemn you — for the apostle says, “There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” Rom. 8.1 — yet you have cause to fear that he will hide his fatherly face, and withdraw the light of his countenance from you; and that your conscience will ever accuse and disquiet you. If it does, then you will draw back, and be afraid to ask anything of God in prayer. For even as a child, whose conscience tells him that he has angered and displeased his father, will be unwilling to come into his father’s presence, especially to ask him for anything that he wants, even so it will be with you. And besides this, you will be sure to be whipped and scourged with many bodily and temporal chastisements and corrections, according to what is said concerning Jesus Christ and his seed, even true believers and justified persons. Psalm 89.30-33, “If his children forsake my law, and do not walk in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and do not walk in my commandments, then I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Nevertheless, I will not utterly take my lovingkindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.”
Therefore, neighbour Neophytus, to apply these things to you a little more closely, and to conclude, let me exhort you that when you get home, call to mind and consider every commandment as you heard them expounded this day, and resolve to endeavour to do them accordingly. And always take notice how, and in what, you fall and come short of doing what is required, and of avoiding what is forbidden. And especially be careful to do this when you are called to humble yourself before the Lord in fasting and prayer, and upon going to receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. And so you will make a right use of the law.
Neo. And, sir, why would you have me more especially take notice of my sins when I am called to humble myself before the Lord in FASTING and PRAYER?