+I. We must have knowledge of the main and principal promise touching
the blessing of God in Christ,+ and all other promises depending on
the principal; and we must know the scope and tenor of them that we
be not deceived.
+II. We must with Abraham believe the truth and power of God+ in the
accomplishment of the said promises, or in the working of our
vocation, justification, sanctification, glorification.
+III. We must by faith obey God+ in all things, shutting our eyes and
suffering ourselves to be led blindfold, as it were, by the Word of
God. Thus did Abraham in all things, even in actions against nature.
But this practice is rare among us. For there are three things which
prevail among us--the love of worldly honour, the love of pleasure,
and the love of riches; and where these bear sway there faith takes
no place.--_Perkins._
Vers. 8, 9. _All Nations blessed in Abraham._--1. The covenant of
grace with Abraham extended not only to his carnal seed, but to all
believers, even among the Gentiles. 2. The blessings promised to
Abraham were not only temporal, but heavenly and spiritual: the
temporal were often inculcated on the ancient Church, not as if they
were all or the main blessings of the covenant, but as they were
shadows of things heavenly. 3. The promise to Abraham contained the
sum of the Gospel--the glad tidings of all spiritual blessings, and
that the Gentiles should have access, in the days of the Gospel, to
these blessings. The Gospel is therefore no new doctrine, but the
same in substance with that taught to Abraham and to the Church under
the Old Testament. 4. Eminent privileges bestowed on particular
persons do not exempt them from walking to heaven in the common
pathway with others. Abraham, the father of believers, in whom all
nations were blessed, enjoyed the blessing, not because of his own
merit, but freely and by faith as well as others.--_Fergusson._
_The Abrahamic Gospel intended for All._
+I. The nation of the Jews shall be called and converted to the
participation of this blessing.+--When and how, God knows; but it
shall be done before the end of the world. If all nations be called,
then the Jews.
+II. That which was foretold to Abraham is verified in our
eyes.+--This nation and many other nations are at this day blessed in
the seed of Abraham. 1. Give to God thanks and praise that we are
born in these days. 2. We must amend and turn to God that we may now
be partakers of the promised blessing. 3. We must bless all, do good
to all, and hurt to none.
+III. All men who are of Abraham's faith shall be partakers of the
same blessing with him.+--God respects not the greatness of our faith
so much as the truth of it.--_Perkins._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 10-14.
_The Conflict between the Law and Faith._
+I. The law condemns the least violation of its enactments.+--"Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things . . . in the law to do
them" (ver. 10). The law is a unity; to violate a part is to violate
the whole. It is like a perfect bell, every stroke resounds through
every atom of the metal. If the bell is fractured in the least
degree, the dissonance is evident in every part. Law is so
all-pervasive and so perfect that to break one law is to be guilty of
all. It is intolerant of all imperfection and makes no provision to
prevent or repair imperfection except by a rigid obedience to every
statute. If obedience could be perfect from this moment onwards, the
past disobedience would not be condoned; we should be still liable to
its penalties, still be under the curse. To pledge ourselves to
unsinning obedience is to pledge ourselves to the impossible. All our
efforts to obey law--to conform our life to the law of righteousness,
the purity and beauty of which we perceive even while in a state of
lawless unnature--are futile. It is like running alongside a parallel
pathway into which we are perpetually trying to turn ourselves, but
all in vain. We cannot escape the condemnation of the disobedient.
+II. The law cannot justify man.+--"But that no man is justified by
the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live
by faith" (ver. 11). The law reveals our sin and our utter
helplessness to rid ourselves of its misery. The law forces out the
disease that is spreading under the skin. Such is its task. But
healing it does not bring. "The law," says Luther, "is that which
lays down what man is to do; the Gospel reveals whence man is to
obtain help. When I place myself in the hands of the physician, one
branch of art says where the disease lies, another what course to
take to get quit of it. So here. The law discovers our disease, the
Gospel supplies the remedy." We become aware in critical moments that
our evil desires are more powerful than the prohibition of law and
are in truth first stirred up thoroughly by the prohibition. And this
disposition of our heart is the decisive point for the question,
"Whether then the holy law, the holy, just and good commandment makes
us holy, just, and good men?" The answer to this is, and remains a
most decided, "No."
+III. The law ignores faith.+--"The law is not of faith: but, The man
that doeth them shall live in them" (ver. 12). Its dictum is _do,_
not _believe_; it takes no account of faith. To grant righteousness
to faith is to deny it to legal works. The two ways have different
starting-points, as they lead to opposite goals. From faith one
marches through God's righteousness to blessing; from works, through
self-righteousness, to the curse. In short, the legalist tries to
make God believe in him. Abraham and Paul are content to believe in
God. Paul puts the calm, grand image of Father Abraham before us for
our pattern, in contrast with the narrow, painful, bitter spirit of
Jewish legalism, inwardly self-condemned.
+IV. The law, the great barrier to man's justification, is done away
in Christ.+--"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law"
(ver. 13). Christ brought us out of the curse of the law by Himself
voluntarily undergoing its penalty and submitting to the utmost
indignity it imposed--hanging on a tree. It was this crowning scandal
that shocked the Jewish pride and made the cross an offence to them.
Once crucified, the name of Jesus would surely perish from the lips
of men; no Jew would hereafter dare to profess faith in Him. This was
God's method of rescue; and all the terrors and penalties of law
disappear, being absorbed in the cross of Christ. His redemption was
offered to the Jew first. But not to the Jew alone, nor as a Jew. The
time of release had come for all men. Abraham's blessing, long
withheld, was now to be imparted, as it had been promised, to all the
tribes of the earth. In the removal of the legal curse, God comes
near to men as in the ancient days. In Christ Jesus crucified, risen,
reigning, a new world comes into being, which restores and surpasses
the promise of the old.
+V. Faith ends the conflict of the law by imparting to man a superior
spiritual force.+--"That we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith" (ver. 14). Faith is a spiritual faculty, and its
exercise is made possible by the operation of the Holy Spirit. The
law of works is superseded by the higher law of the Spirit. It is in
the human soul that law has its widest sweep and accomplishes its
highest results. The soul can never rise higher in its experience and
efforts than the law by which it is governed. The law of sin has
debased and limited the soul, and only as it is united by faith to
Christ and responds to the lofty calls of His law will it break away
from the corruption and restraints of the law of sin and rise to the
highest perfection of holiness. "In every law," says F. W. Robertson,
"there is a spirit, in every maxim a principle; and the law and the
maxim are laid down for the sake of conserving the spirit and the
principle which they enshrine. Man is severed from submission to the
maxim because he has got allegiance to the principle. He is free from
the rule and the law because he has got the spirit written in his
heart."
+Lessons.+--1. _It is hopeless to attain righteousness by law._
2. _Faith in Christ is the only and universal way of obedience._
3. _The law is disarmed by obeying it._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._