SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 267, 18 December 1909, Page 3

SUNDAY READING.

THE LAW OF GOD. £ Sermon preached by the Kev. J. Guy fe \ at the Primitive Methodist Church, e New Plymouth. ™ j "i'or what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the llesh, ; God, sending his own son in the likeft in !.< dc.nued «iu in tlie flesh: that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled V>f in us who walk not after the flesh, but alter the spirit."—Romans viii., 3-4. There are two mistakes at least into «lush men have fallen in regard to the .' law of God. On the one hand, some t think that by keeping the commandf,v ments a man may put himself right if* with God, overlooking the direct statement of Holy Scripture that "by the deeds of the law there shall 110 flesh be justified in his sight"; whilst on the other hand some assert that by the coining of Christ the law has been set usifle altogether, and we have no further' concern with it, overlooking the i- ■ , plain teaching of our Lord himself that thfr/broad moralities laid down in the la* are not things to be trifled with, •y "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, lie shall be called ibe least in, the kingdom of heaven; b'ut whosoever shail do and teach them, the same shail be called great in the kingdom of heaven." The, commandments Set up ideals ■which must have a place in every life of peraonal righteousness. The comihg of Jesus hag not lowered those ideals, ' . but has) emphasised them afresh, and t has made them attainable, v, The law of God came to men in two f .- ways: it was interwoven with'our na- ■ ture, and it was afterwards spoken uorn iluunt Sinai. The apostle Paul' £ declares that the Gentiles who have not p . < the written law "shew the work of the f. law written in their hearts, their coni- s Mienc'es bearing' witness therewith, and : their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them." The Israelites received the commandments from God at Mount Sinai, first spoken in their hearing in tones of majesty, and then committed" fo writing that they might not forget. Now, Paul tells us that there was i something the law could not d 6,: it) s could not'secure the carrying out of i, its own requirements. It set up a stanconduct for mep, and it made jy knowpthe penalties which follow disobedience, as well as the' blessings ;; ' which..accompany obedience to its com-; . , man da. No one doubts for a moment? that if men were to leave out of their lives': all.tuat'ia forbidden by the law '* > of Upd> and wfere to cultivate the vir- < ' tnes which it inculcates, life on this \ earth would he a" vastly nobler thing, r The Jaw set-up its ideals, out the history of the IsraeUtish people in Old lev. Testament times is a tragic illustration * of its inability to secure their attainment. Bid God, therefore, abandon the ideals

of His own law as impracticable? By po means. God had not asked too . ( much. _ The law is holy, just, and good. FiSr beings such as we are it will never i, W wrong to acknowledge Him as oar ->• God/ to reverence His name, to hallow His d*jr. It .fili never Ire wrong to be «,** honwt ih otir dealings with our fellows, to be tFpthful in' speech,, to 1 be chaste (acred from violence, to honor our c) I parents,., to refrain: from covetous&ess. / , In the uature of the case there was no ;<■■■ «ason why God should abandon Bis v; ideals. What He did do was to make known the wily of their attainment. » Through Jeremiah the prophet God said i i (ohapterxxxi., v. 33: "After those days, sflth the Lord, I will put my tow in . r their inward parts, and write it in their ' hearts; and will be - their God, and they ahall be my people." Christianity took over that promise; and fulfilled it, as we J . maysee in Hie elghthchapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. la tilt! opening, verses of the eighth of Romans Paul emphasises two things as which hpve bean accomplished through fV" thfr graceofGodin Christ Jesus: first, ,f. a nivrwto takes Ohrirt into his life as his Saviour is made free-from, the law sins* and next, he the spirit, and thus> the requirements of the law pv - are fulfilled- in hun. He lias not been (■.i, relieved of £he responsibility of right livings but he has received through Christ the power of right living. Why waa the law of God unable to secure the realuation of its own ideals! Paul ,»mwera ' 'it 'was weak through the flesh." Tie: law waß right; it was -.-,* * ■ the men to'whom it was given who 'j,. > were at fault. Sin is the universal ■v" heritage of humanity, the one unvurytf' ing experience. Civilisations may come S.i into being, may pass through their youth t® their meridian splendor, and z. . then disappear, but sin remains. Kingdome may rise, altering the face of the ;; ' (inap of the world; they may pass away, *. but sin remains the same. Each generic i, atiQa has its own consciousness of sin, [f] and its' own struggle with it. Is 'As -we read the religious history of I', \i Mm two notes sound out—the one pathetic, the other harsh and discordant: -</ The one is the lament of men who fail rii, to do the right;.the other is the revolt , against authority. Perhaps there is v something of this, too, in each" (man's .* . life, an experience whenhe feels himBelf & captive in the grip of a power (that lie loathes; and again there are >t t x times when he resents the command f ' which crosses his desires. y' r Some one may say, God knew the material He had to deal, with; why, then, did He give a law which was nn- ■ able to realise its owij ideals?' Paul - f anticipates this question. In Galatians ui., 19, he asks, ''Wherefore then, served

, law!" aild he answers, "It was nddetf because of transgressions till the seed should eome to whom the promise wan made." Sin is a very ancient thing in human experience. The law of God makes men conscious of its strength and foulness; "by thei law is the know-! ledge of am." Paul .very frankly takes us into his confidence, and tells us how he became conacioua of his sin by the *.. law of' God. "I had not known sin, ex-cept-through the tew, for I had not

known coveting exejepb the law had said. Thou Shalt not. .covet; but sinj * finding occasion, wrought in me through . ** the commandment all manner of covet* ing. ;

**- Does any, one ask,. Why give a man this knowledge of sin? and the answer ' is, Because' of the deliverance which is so. near-at hand. The human race has hero from the beginning under the" grace i!. .. of God, revfealed in the promise to Adam ...hrat, and then renewed audi amplified to Abraham: "In thee shall all nations . be blessed." Here we see conning into light the ground of our deliverance from sin and our restoration to holiness. It does not lie in/the direction of the upward wrestle of a strong human will fighting down desire and climbing up by obedience to law to ultimate victory, but it consists in the coming of a gracious ftod into our. life to cleanse us and make us strong. The emphasis ; •., is laid upon God. "Create in me a cleaa j heart, O God, and renew a right spirit] »■'.■* . within me." * What has God done .for our deliveraucef 'He Jias condemned sin in the flesh. Hen sometimes excuse sin, God condeunis it; and' then are two ways P- in which God has condemned sin in the flesh. First, from Mount Sinai, when & He said, 'Thou shalt not do it; the .90ul that sinneth, it shall die. A>id surely that condemnation was stern enough. Men realised' the bitterness Mich sin introduced into life, and many E&' t . of them went to an am timely death. And still men sinned. . And some exfV" cused themselves by saying that they were butjinehi and what more could be * existed of men who lived in bodies with socft appetites and' passions -'s > theirs? And excused themselves

r' that they were tempted, and what could t&ey do? And others said they , had an evil example set tbem, and they ; were in the minority, and what could r) they do t \ ■ TlWre are-two ways in which the |< sohoolmaater may condemn the faulty t work of bia pupil: he ntay apeak strong C Words ind chide the lad for his careM lessness; lie, may ftog him, too; in order to maEe' Sim And all the other Scholars laoW. how he eondemns all slipshod Vork; or he mftj take the pen from bim, and' Mth siis own tand may work tout the problem and as "the pupil fol;|qws step by step 'until ihe lesson is isomplate he sees where he went, wrong, tlnd why, and the perfect :work of his master condemns his faulty work. The torors were not necessary;' the fault Seed not be. < '

has' condemned sin in the flesh parbugh His Son. There lias been one f'spotless life lived on earth. There lias been a manhood in wihoon sin had ; no place. There has been -fl." strenuous of God unmarred by one act of disobedience. And that life declares ijjjiore eloquently than the voice from ighai 'that sin ought not to be, "God, Hiding His own Son in ttfe likeness of

sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." If a man, then, will cease Po excuse his sin, if he will cease toj defend it, and "wiil submit to its conllenina.tion as a tiling that ought not] to be, and il' lie will trust himself to the grace of God revealed in Christ, he will be a forgiven man, and his attitude to the law of Uud will be altered. Ho will no longer feel it to be a requirement which ouly aggravates his own innihility to satisfy it, 'he will not misunderstand the law and think that by keeping its commands he will be justified in the sight of God, but he will find that the curse of. the broken law is gone, that a gracious God justifies him, that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

What is the moral quality of the life that follows faith in Christ! Christianity does not release a man from t'lie ooligation of obedience to God; it gives him the power to render il What God has done for us in sending His Son has its fruit and completion ini this: "that tilw requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us." Christianity secures the practice of the moralities laid down in the Bible. How? "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The essential quality of a Christian's life is spiritual. When a man is in Christ he is a spiritual man. "If any inlan have not the spirit of Christ ho is none of His." An unregenernte man may be a very amiable fellow, a good neighbor, and all the rest, but because he is unregeneratc he walks after the flesh. A Christian is a mau who is born of the spirit; his ideals are spiritual, his walk is spiritual. To him all the law is summed up in this: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all they strength," and "Tihou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." His life has come under the dominion of love, the greatest thing in the world. Jesus said, "A new commandment I give outo you, that you love -one another, as I have loved you"; and to show the all comprehensiveness of love He said, "Love your enemies."

It is God's love which awakens this supreme love within the soul. "Herein is love, not that we loved God but that Hie loved us, and sent His Sou to be the propitiation for our sins." "We love His because He first loved us." Npw, "love is the fulfilling of the law, for love worketh no ill to his lieigV bor." t There is a sory told of two West country fishermen, one ot whom had a grudge against his neighbor. One day ihere came to him an opportunity to show his spite. As lie walked along the beach he saw his neighbor's boat rocking in the waves, moored to the shore. Taking out his pocket-knife, he cut the Mope, and the boat drifted on to tne rocks near by, and was broken 'to pieces. The other man heard of it and said nothing. Not long after the injured man was walking along the beach and saw his neighbor's boat adrift and in danger of being wrecked. Pushing olf from the shore in another boat, he got hold of it and brought it safely in, and then went his way, and said nothing. Some days after the two fishermen met, and the one who had done the wrong said to Ills fellow: "Did you know that I cut your boat adrift and it got broken on the rocks!" And his fellow answered, "Yes, I knew." "Then," said the first, "why did you go out to save jmy boat!" And the Christian fisherjman answered, "Because I love you." I The Christian graces are three. Paul tells us, "Now abideth faith, hope, love, [■these three, but the greatest of these jfs lore," and "Love is of God," and ["Love is the fulfilling of the law." No need now to say "Thou shalt not st'eal,"

''Thou shalt not bear false witness." '■Love is the fulfilling of the law." By its power the requirements of the law are fulfilled in the man who walks after the Holy Spirit.

* And so God secures His end, but it costs Him Calvary to do it.