[4.] Christ merited regeneration, or the spirit of holiness, that all new creatures might voluntarily keep this law, though not in absolute perfeotion, yet in new sincere obedience : Titus iii. 5, 6, ' He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he hath shed on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' Christ came to bring us into the favour of God by pardon and adoption ; so into a capacity of loving, pleasing, and obeying God by regeneration. Now the new creature is fitted to obey the law : Eph. iv. 24, ' And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness ; ' Heb. viii. 10, ' I will put my laws into their mind, and write them upon their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people/ The great blessing of the gospel is grace to keep the law.
492 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SER. VJ.
[5. J The more we keep this law, the more pleasing we are to God, and the more communion we have with Christ. As renewing grace fits us to enter into the evangelical state, so the more entirely and readily we give up ourselves to do the will of God, our interest is more clear, and our participation of the hlessings of the gospel more full, and our comfort more strong : Ps. cxix. 165, ' Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them ; ' Horn. viii. 1, ' There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, which walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ; ' Ps. i. 1, 2, 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful ; but his delight is in the law of God, and in his law doth he meditate day and night ; ' Titus ii. 11-13, ' The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world ; look- ing for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; ' and 1 John i. 7, ' If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then have we fellowship one with another.' And it is said of our Lord Jesus, Luke ii. 52, that ' he increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.' If it be said of Christ, whose increase was only in the exercise, for at his first com- ing he had the Spirit without measure, much more of us, that, as we increase in holiness, we increase in the favour of God. Surely the more God loveth us, the more we obey his law ; for all religion is to love God, which is our work, and to be beloved of him, which is our reward and happiness.
[6.] That we cannot have full communion with God till we are per- fectly conformed to his law; for we are not introduced into the heavenly glory till we are perfect and complete in holiness : Eph. v. 27, ' That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy, and without blemish ; ' Col. i. 22, ' To present you holy and unblamable and unre- provable in his sight ; ' Jude 24, ' To present you faultless before the presence of his glory/ During life our obedience is but imperfectly begun, but when it is completed and finished, we do not stay out of heaven one jot or moment. In heaven and the state of perfect glory, the law as purely moral is always in force ; we are bound to love God and one another.
[7.] That the law is the rule of all God's judgments in the world, and his righteous process, whether against /nations or persons: Rom. i. 18, ' For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodli- ness, and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteous- ness ; ' Heb. ii. 2, ' For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward,' &c.
[8.] That he will not spare his own children when they transgress it by heinous and scandalous sins ; though they be the dearly beloved of his soul, and fall out but in rare instances and cases, yet they do not go away without remarks of God's displeasure: Prov. xi. 31, 'The righteous shall be recompensed on earth, much more the wicked and the sinner.' To instance in Eli, his sons are slain in battle, the ark
VER. 4.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 493
taken, Lis daughter-in-law dieth, and at length the old man dieth. Witness David, after he had fallen foully; Tamar is defiled, Amnon slain, Absalom, in rebellion against him, rifieth his palace royal; defileth his concubines ; he himself driven from his palace, fleeth for his life, and hath much ado to escape. All this is spoken to show that the law is still in force, that Christ came not to dissolve but to fulfil it.