1 John 5:3

DISCOURSE: 2462
THE COMMANDMENTS NOT GRIEVOUS

1 John 5:3. His commandments are not grievous.

IT is a painful office which I have to discharge at this time. I must vindicate religion from an aspersion too generally cast upon it; and stand up in justification of Almighty God himself against the accusation of being a hard Master. The Apostle evidently supposed that there were in his day, and would from time to time arise, persons ready to calumniate their Maker, as having imposed upon them burthens which they were not able to bear, and as having exacted an obedience which it was unreasonable for him to require. Our own observation abundantly confirms and justifies the supposition: so that I need make no apology for proceeding to shew,

I. Whence it is that we are apt to account God’s commandments grievous—

That the great mass of mankind does account them grievous, is a fact too notorious to admit of doubt. And whence is it? Is it that they are indeed unreasonably severe? No; it springs,

1. From our inveterate love of sin—

[Man, in his fallen state, is altogether corrupt: his carnal mind is enmity against God, so that it neither is, nor can be, subject to the law of God, so as to render to it any willing obedience.

We are alienated from God himself. As Adam, after he had sinned, fled from God, so, at this time, the language of fallen man to God is, “Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” And, when the faithful servants of God endeavour to bring them to a better mind, they reply, “Prophesy not unto us right things; prophesy unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits: make the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”

To every particular command, not of the law only, but of the Gospel itself, the heart of man is averse. Repentance is too painful a work: faith in Christ is too humiliating: an unreserved surrender of the soul to Christ is too strict and rigorous. Man wishes to be a god unto himself. “Who is Lord over us?” is the reply of all, when urged to renounce their evil ways, and to turn unto their God. They will not endure restraint, but “will walk after the imagination of their own evil hearts.” Fire and water are not move opposed to each other, than they are to the commands of God; and hence they regard every injunction, whether of the Law or Gospel, as a yoke too grievous to be borne.]

2. From the real difficulty which there is in obeying them—

[To man in Paradise the commands of God were easy, because his whole soul was in unison with them: but to fallen man they are not easy, even after he is renewed by grace. St. Paul justly says, “The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Indeed, the metaphors by which the Christian life is set forth in the Holy Scriptures clearly shew, that it is not maintained without great difficulty. A race is not won without great exertion, nor a warfare gained without severe conflicts. Indeed, the terms in which our duty is set forth clearly shew, that obedience, in our present fallen state, is no easy task. We are called to “mortify our members upon earth,” and to “crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts.” We are enjoined to “pluck out the right eye, and to cut off the right hand or foot, that may offend us.” No wonder therefore that the unregenerate man accounts such commandments grievous: for it must be confessed, that they are altogether against the current of corrupt nature; and that, in order to obey them, we are constrained to urge our way continually against the stream.]
But, whilst I acknowledge the difficulty which even the best of men experience in obeying the commandments, I can by no means admit that they are, or ought to be, considered, “grievous.” Indeed, a little reflection will shew us,

II.

How far they are from deserving such a character—

1. They are all most reasonable in themselves—

[Can any thing be more reasonable than that we should improve for God the faculties we have received from him; and that we should serve Him, in whom we live, and move, and have our being? Is it unreasonable to require of us that we love the Saviour, who has so loved us as to give himself for us? or that, when “he has bought us with his own precious blood, we should glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his?”
If it be said, that we are required even to lay down our lives for Christ’s sake, I answer, True, we are: but has not he laid down his life for our sake? Has he not done this for us, too, when we were enemies? Is it not reasonable, then, that we should be ready to die for him who is our greatest Friend? If he endured all the curses of God’s broken law for us, yea, and for our sakes sustained all the wrath of Almighty God, should we think it a hard matter to encounter the wrath of feeble man, who, at most, “can only kill the body, and after that has no more that he can do?” Were there no recompence beyond the grave, we could not justly complain of this command: but what shall we say, when we reflect on the crowns and kingdoms which every victorious servant of the Lord shall have awarded to him? Does any man account it a hard matter to sustain a momentary pain or trouble, in order to procure a prolongation of his bodily life? How, then, can any thing be considered hard that ensures to us the possession of eternal happiness and glory?]

2. They are all, without exception, conducive to our happiness—

[Truly, if we would designate obedience to God’s commandments by its right name, we must call it rather privilege than duty. Was it not Adam’s privilege in Paradise to know, and love, and serve his Creator? and is it not a privilege to all the saints and angels in heaven to be incessantly occupied in singing praises to God and to the Lamb? Or if we look at the duties of repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall we not esteem them high privileges? Offer them to the unhappy souls that are shut up in the prison of hell under the wrath of Almighty God, and then tell me, whether they will not be regarded as privileges. But I will venture to ask of persons in this present life; Who amongst you ever spent a day or an hour in humiliation before God, and does not at this moment look back to it as the best season of his life? Who does not regret that such a season has passed away without a due improvement of it? and who would not be glad to have it renewed, protracted, perfected? In truth, holiness in all its branches is the very perfection of our nature, and the restoration of our pristine happiness: and if we were as holy as the glorified saints and angels are, we should be not one atom inferior to them in peacefulness and bliss. Say, then, whether the commandments of our God deserve to be accounted grievous? No, in truth: “they are all holy, and just, and good;” and “in keeping of them there is great reward.”]

Address—
1.

Those who entertain prejudices against religion as a hard service—

[Why will ye not believe our blessed Lord and Saviour, when he says to you, “My yoke is easy, and my burthen is light?” You will say, perhaps, This is contrary to experience; for every one finds how difficult it is to be truly religious. But what is it that makes it so? It is nothing but your own corruption that renders a conformity to God’s commandments difficult: and, if once you obtain a new heart, and have the law of God written on it by his Holy Spirit, I will pledge myself that you will find obedience to be as food to the hungry, health to the sick, and life to the dead. Nor was there ever a human being turned effectually from sin to holiness, but he found religion’s “ways to be ways of pleasantness and peace.”]

2. Those who profess to serve God according to his Gospel—

[Men will judge of religion, in a great measure, by what they see in you. If they behold you rendering service to God on as contracted a scale as you think will consist with your ultimate safety, they will be confirmed in their notions of religion as a painful yoke, to which no one submits but from necessity. And if they behold you going to the world for happiness, they will feel assured, that, whatever you may affirm to the contrary, religion of itself is not sufficient to make you happy. On the other hand, if they behold you devoting yourselves wholly and unreservedly to the Lord, and walking cheerfully in his holy ways, they will be constrained to acknowledge, that there is something in religion which they have never tasted, and of which they at present can form no just conception. Remember then, I pray you, how many eyes are upon you, and how great may be the influence of your conduct in the world. You may unhappily cast a stumbling-block before men, and involve them in ruin; or you may recommend the ways of God, and be the means of saving many souls alive. Get the love of God in your hearts, and then all will be comparatively easy. You will still, indeed, “find a law in your members warring against the law in your minds:” but, on the whole, you will “delight in the law of God after your inward man;” and be able so to walk, that all who shall behold your light shall be constrained to “acknowledge, that God is with you of a truth.”]