A Sermon
Delivered
On Sunday Morning, January 5, 1851
BY THE REV. C. G. FINNEY,
(Of the Oberlin Collegiate
Institute, America,)
“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10)
The
New Testament is the spirit of the Old Testament revealed. From the state of mankind, and, therefore,
from the necessity of the case, God began to deal with men in His first
revelation to them concerning their outward behavior, and gradually gave them a
more spiritual revelation when they were able to handle it. For example, the New Testament reveals the
spiritual meaning of both the moral and ceremonial law. It opens up the full meaning of the types
and figures that were designed, under the Old Testament dispensation, to teach
great truths concerning religion.
However, their real meaning and intention were lost sight of by much of
the Jewish nation, who only saw the letter of the law. Therefore, the New Testament was designed to
reveal the deep spirit and meaning of those Old Testament types and
figures.
When
Christ came, the veil was torn in two.
We no longer just have the letter but we also have the spirit of the
law. Jesus Christ and His apostles made
it their business to explain the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures. Christ often explained the law to show what
was the true spirit and meaning of the law, dividing the whole law into two
great branches: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind”, and
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:37,39) This sums
up our obligation to God and our obligation to man. Christ thus taught us that the motive, the state of the heart,
the intention with which everything is done, consists of either sin or
holiness.
You will find that while the New Testament writers, and Christ Himself especially, when speaking about the outward conduct of man, they trace it right back to the heart. They taught that any action that proceeds from the love of God and our neighbor was right and good; but if it didn’t, what was done was wicked, no matter what the outward form of it might be. Now, I say, Christ first, then His apostles and all the inspired teachers of Christianity that followed, made it a primary goal of their teaching to show what is the real spirit of the law at all times. They taught that love is the fulfillment of the law. They taught that all law, especially the law of the Old Testament, is fulfilled in one word: love. Therefore, whatever action is not motivated by love is sin. It is very important that we should keep our eyes on this fact, for we can’t properly understand either the Old or the New Testament, unless we understand the method of God’s dealings with men, that God adapted His instructions to their needs, training them from infancy to manhood, gradually developing His instructions as they were able to receive them. In the Old Testament, he gave men all the instruction in a particular form that was necessary for them at the time; and then in the New, the veil was taken away from the Old. Those who were pious under the Old Testament dispensation, were justified by faith, and saved just like those under the New, but the best of them knew comparatively little of spiritual religion. Jesus Christ himself said that John the Baptist was greater than all those who had come before him, but he also said, that the least in the kingdom of God was greater than he. That is to say, the least under the New Testament dispensation was greater than the greatest under the Old.
In
speaking from the words that I have read, I propose to pursue the following
outline:
I.
WHAT IS NOT INTENDED BY WHAT OUR SCRIPTURE STATES.
II.
WHAT IS INTENDED.
III.
I WILL SHOW THAT THIS IS CLEARLY THE DOCTRINE OF REASON AS WELL AS REVELATION.
I.
WHAT IS NOT INTENDED BY THE WORDS OF OUR SCRIPTURE.
Observe,
our passage says this, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble on
one point, he is guilty of all”. First,
James did not intend to say that any man might obey the spirit of one law and
at the same time disobey the spirit of another law. To interpret it this way would be to make the text mean the
opposite of what it says. The text does
not say that you can truly keep all the laws except one, for this is the very
thing that the Apostle makes an effort to deny. If we believe that’s what James means, then we believe that he is
stating a contradiction. James says
that if a man offends in one point he is guilty of breaking the whole law;
then, of course, he must be denying that a man can keep the law in some
particulars and break it in others at the same time.
II.
WHAT THEN, DOES JAMES MEAN?
What
he clearly means is in perfect agreement with the spirit of the whole New
Testament; that if the letter of every precept but one is obeyed, as long as
the spirit of that one is knowingly violated, the whole law is broken. If, in any one particular law, he knowingly
sins, he violates the whole law. I will
explain the reason for this later. I am
now explaining the meaning of this passage.
I say, then, that the violation of one law is the violation of all
law. That is, when the spirit of a law
is violated, there can be no real true obedience of any other law.
III.
IS THIS DOCTRINE SANCTIONED BY HUMAN INTELLIGENCE AS WELL AS REVELATION?
Observe,
this doctrine was very little understood under the Old Testament dispensation,
for reasons that I have already mentioned.
They were occupied with the letter of the law, and, therefore, they were
not disposed to trace back their actions to their hearts, and few understood
that all outward actions were the result of the state of their heart. Now the New Testament was designed to
correct this great and almost universal error.
In
showing you that this is the doctrine, and the only doctrine of human reason
that human beings can acknowledge, I must say, that the letter of the law
refers to outward acts. The letter of
the law says, “you shall do this and that”, and “you shall not do this and
that”. It requires certain things to be
done, and certain things to be avoided.
This is the letter of the law.
In the Ten Commandments, you have an illustration of what I mean. Now observe, the Jews, as a nation, did not
consider that these outward actions had no moral character, but they thought
that they had moral character because they proceeded from certain states of
mind. As a result, when they had fulfilled
the letter of the law, they thought that they had kept the law. If they did not physically commit adultery,
they thought they had kept the law. If
they did not kill, or bear false witness, they thought that they were free from
all the condemnation and penalties that were attached to the violation of these
commands. But Christ said that if a man
should so much as look on a woman to lust after her, he had already committed
adultery with her in his heart. In the
same way, Jesus took up every one of the moral laws, and every precept of
religion to be found in the Old Testament, and referred it all back to the
state of the heart from which everything was done. This, to be sure, was a most terrible blow to the hopes of the
self-righteous, to those who were proud of their own good works, but Jesus saw
that this was needed.
The
spirit of the law always considers the motive from which an action
springs. This is true in all criminal
courts in every country. The letter of
the law says, “you shall not do this or that”, and yet, in trying a criminal
case, the judge and jury always try to get at the motive that prompted the
action. Suppose, for example, they find
that an individual did something outwardly, but that he was insane when he did
it, they would say that his deed was not a crime. Certainly, courts of law must, in general, take the outward act
as an indication of a malicious intention; but if it can be proven that there
was no such malicious intention; that the reason was not to do any harm, but to
do good, the action would not be treated as a crime. Courts of Law always seek to determine the reason why something
was done, and if it can be determined, the doctrine of reason is always applied
to the case. The spirit of the law,
therefore, in all cases, considers the motive from which any action proceeds.
The
moral law, or the law of God, requires supreme love to God, and equal love to
man. The whole moral law is summed up
in these two requirements: love for God and love for man. And this love must not simply be a feeling
of love: the whole being must be devoted to the same end God is devoted
to. This devotion to God must be
willful or voluntary because of the end that God seeks. In other words, it is good will within; it
is the mind in a voluntary state yielding itself up, not to self-interest, but
to the glory of God and the good of all beings.
It
is easy to see, that the state of mind that will supremely devote itself to one
great end, can’t, at the same time, promote an opposite end. His mind cannot be devoted to one end and
all his outward actions take a directly opposite course; the very fact that he
is devoted to an end will regulate his behaior, and be the mainspring of all
his outward actions. If a man’s mind is
devoted to God, his outward actions will illustrate his thoughts. His heart is full of love for God, and he is
determined to achieve the same end that God aims for; and, therefore, all his
outward actions will be a succession of efforts to achieve that end. Selfishness is the end that sinners aim for;
and their outward life is nothing more than a perpetual succession of efforts
to gratify themselves. Hence, it is
easy to see that all their actions will have one great end in view; the
promotion of their own selfish interests.
This, I say, everybody knows, that knows anything about the mind and its
actions.
When
there is supreme love for God, and equal love for our fellow men, that is, when
we love them as we love ourselves, we can’t consent in any way to wrong God or
our neighbors. Now suppose, that a man
loves God more than anything else, is supremely devoted to His interests, it is
impossible that he will sin knowingly, and do something that is inconsistent
with God’s interests. His whole life
tries to secure what his heart is set on.
Suppose then that his heart is set on pleasing and
glorifying God, can he consent to sin in such a state of mind, and thus
dishonor, displease, and completely undermine the authority of God? To say that he can is an absurd
contradiction. This is the doctrine of
the law as well as the gospel, for nowhere does the gospel set aside the
law. The statement that the gospel has
set aside the law is false. The gospel
simply condenses the requirements of the law, and it contains the whole
substance and the very essence of the law doubly sanctioned and enforced. That is why the Bible says, “Anyone who has
rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses. Of how much worse
punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son
of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified
a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:28-29)
If
a man loves his neighbor as himself, it is impossible that he would consent to
deliberately wrong his neighbor, but on the other hand, he will seek his
neighbor’s interests equally with his own.
Obedience
to God implies a supreme regard for God’s authority. Now everyone can see that every known sin rejects God’s
authority. For example, suppose an
individual does something because he has a supreme regard for God’s authority,
he can’t act in a way that is inconsistent with that authority. Suppose he does something because of a
supreme regard for the authority and interests of God, he cannot, while he is
in that state of mind, willfully and deliberately do something that will reject
the authority of God and trample it down.
That is preposterous, as everyone can see. A man can’t act without regard for the authority of God in one
thing, and yet at the same time act from supreme authority to Him in another
thing.
It
is easy to see that a man can’t pick and choose among the commandments of God,
and obey some commandments and disobey others.
Supreme love for God is an exercise of the mind, and a man can’t have
this and yet act opposite to this; it is an obvious contradiction. A man who has a supreme love for God in his
heart, can’t willfully consent to violate any commandment of God.
The
true spirit and meaning of what the apostle says, is as obviously and strongly
stated by reason as it is by revelation.
What the apostle says is this: if a man should do any or all of the
things required in the ten commandments (the letter of the law) and yet
violates the true Spirit of one of those laws, that would prove that he did not
keep any of those laws because of a right motive; that he didn’t really obey
the law at all in its true spirit and meaning.
If I should keep those laws that did not cost me much self-denial, or
keep them in the letter, but violate them in the spirit, this would prove that
they weren’t kept from a right motive.
And so, if anyone indulges in the commission of any one sin, and yet appears
to be virtuous in everything else, you know that he does not have true religion
in his heart; that he only appears to be religious. From what the apostle says in this passage, it is plain, that if
we pretend to have faith, and pretend to have love, and yet don’t obey God, we
are deceiving ourselves, and are violating the spirit of God’s law. Thus you can see that if your heart is right
your conduct must be right, and if your heart is wrong, your conduct must be
wrong, no matter what it looks like outwardly.
Conduct is sinful when it does not proceed from the right intention. If the spirit of the law of God is not
obeyed, the law is disobeyed, no matter what your outward life looks like. If there is no reverence for the authority
of God, no supreme devotion to God, and no equal love for your neighbors, the
law is violated. If the spirit of the
law is violated, the spirit of the gospel is violated, because the spirit of
the law is the spirit of the gospel, and the spirit of the gospel is the spirit
of the law. Both are the spirit of
heaven; both are the spirit of God, and both are found in heaven; therefore,
anything that falls short of obeying the spirit of the law, also falls short of
obedience to the gospel.
Let me close this morning with a few remarks. First: when viewed in relation to God’s government of men there are no such things as little sins. A great many people have wondered, when they read the Old Testament, why certain sins were punished with death, which, these days, are hardly regarded as sins at all. The penalties for breaking the law under Moses were very different to what they are now in governments generally. The fact is, that under that dispensation, it was necessary to inflict a severe penalty against sin; and there were specific reasons why the law of the Sabbath should have been so rigidly enforced on the Jews. But if you think about it for a moment you will see that there are no little sins, because every sin is a rejection of God’s authority: every sin is a renunciation, for the time being, of allegiance to God’s government. Of course there can be no little sins, for every sin involves a breach of the whole law, in the spirit of it; every sin involves a refusing to love God with all our heart, and our neighbors as ourselves. Every sin involves placing our own interests above the interests of Jehovah. Therefore, there are no little sins under the government of God; for every sin involves rebellion against His authority. When we look at human society, and judge the actions of men based on the results we see of sin, we get various ideas of sin. However, when we look at sin as a violation of God’s law, then we can see that everyone who commits sin in any degree, as judged by human society, is an open enemy of God.
When
we truly understand this subject, we shall see that when consider God’s government,
those sins that people usually call little sins, are really the greatest
sins. Why? Because they involve the most guilt when viewed in their
relationship to God. When people
practice little forms of self-indulgence, little lies, little acts of unjust
dealing, of course the temptation is small, and the smaller the temptation, if
yielded to, the greater the sin.
Suppose, for example, an individual, because of very strong temptation,
commits some horrible crime against society, which is bad enough to be sure;
but suppose another man, under very little temptation agrees to throw away
God’s authority for something small or petty!
Now it is true that, in both cases, they consent to cast off God’s
authority, and their crimes consist in sinning against God’s authority; but the
second crime may not consist in sinning against any human law, or against society. Please notice that, in both instances, the
sin is against God. The first sin is
called a crime, but the second one is not usually considered a crime, and yet
both, as crimes against God, are equally wicked. Even though man may not consider the second crime as a sin
against human law, it may be the greatest sin against God, because it was
committed under very slight temptation.
You are walking down a street, and you see a woman with a basket of
oranges, her head is turned, you pop your hand into her basket, and slip an
orange into your pocket. “A very small
thing”, you say, “I only took an orange”.
See that man with a plate of buttons, two for a penny, or it may be
more, his back is turned, and a man puts his hand into the plate and slips a pennyworth
of buttons into his pocket. Now, what
has he done? Why, under very little
temptation he has consented, with the eye of God looking right at him, to
ignore God’s authority, and trample it down for a penny! Now, this proves that he has no love for
that man whom he robbed. He only loves
himself! His conduct says as plain as
possible, “God has commanded me to love my neighbor as myself, but I will love
myself, and not my neighbor. I don’t do
what God says; I will do as I please.”
Now sinner, you would be afraid to say that, but you would do it. You are too hypocritical and cowardly to say
it; but you would do it right in front of the face of Almighty God!!
The
least sins against society are often the greatest sins against God. Here’s an example. Look at that man; he has flown into an emotional rage. Someone has seduced his wife while he was
away from home; he returned and found out.
In his desperation and anger he meets the man who has so viciously
ruined him, and he takes his life. He
has committed a great crime against society and against God. Now take another example. Two men with two dogs pass along the
street. The dogs begin to fight. One of the dogs receives some cuts and
scratches, and the two owners begin to fight; and one owner kills the
other. Now in this second case there
was very little temptation to commit the sin of murdering a neighbor compared
with the former, and, therefore, this second sin is just as great as the first
sin, and, perhaps, it is even greater in the sight of God.
It
is easy to see, from what has been said, why millions today fail to see their
true spiritual condition. Millions of
people outwardly conform to the letter of God’s law, but are not truly Christians. It is very important to understand this, and
come to a thorough understanding that it is not by obedience to the letter of
the law that God accepts us. For
example, suppose, if you please, that one of Her Majesty’s ships of war becomes
a pirate ship. They fly the black flag
with the death’s head and cross bones, and set sail to make war on ships of all
nations. Now they understand very well
the importance of discipline, and it is strictly enforced because they are
fully aware that they cannot secure their own goals without it. They take a ship, and the booty is
distributed fairly to every man in proportion to his rank. Perhaps there isn’t a better-disciplined
ship in Her Majesty's navy; nor one in which there is more concern for the feelings
and comfort of the whole crew. Now
suppose that this ship needs provisions and ammunition, and should seek a
supply from the government because of their discipline and kind feelings that
exist among themselves? The government
would ask whether their purpose in what they do was to vindicate the honor of
their country and promote their nation’s interests. Now, since the opposite of this is true of them, isn’t it easy to
see that the British Government has every white to refuse their request? What good is the virtue of all their
discipline and kind feelings if they are employed in opposing the government
and the interests of the citizens?
Likewise, the moralist may boast of his morality, but if everything he
does stems from selfish motives and is for a selfish end, that’s what makes him
a sinner. Now suppose that a society in
some part of the world becomes perfect as far as their relationships with one
another are concerned. Their goal is to
secure some selfish end. In order to do
this, they must be faithful and kind to each other. They must do this to secure their selfish goal. Suppose they should have perfect discipline
among themselves, and even display great love for one another. But if all of this only relates to their own
selfish desires, and not to the glory of God and the good of His kingdom, they
are sinners, and sinners continually. A
person who is merely moral, someone who is not converted, who does not act from
love to God, does not have one particle of anything good within him. In everything he does, he tramples on the
authority of God’s law. He acts from a
selfish motive, and not because he loves God.
He has no reference to God in anything he does.
I fear that there
are great many professing Christians who think that they are truly religious, although
they know that there are some forms of sin that they have not given up; things
that the law and the gospel both condemn.
Yet, they expect Christ to justify them. They think they have some religion, but they don’t expect to be
very pious because they can’t be perfect.
And so, they indulge in little sins, and fall under the influence of
certain forms of selfishness, and, all the time, they are thinking that because
they keep most of the other commandments to the letter, that they will be saved
in the end. Thus, they don’t keep the
spirit of any of the commandments, as God requires them to be kept; and if a
man does not obey the spirit of the law, he does not obey the law at all.
It is very
important for all of you to understand this, for there can’t be a more dangerous
thought than the idea that men can serve God and mammon at the same time. Nothing is more deadly than thinking that we
can pick and choose among God’s commandments; keeping these laws to the letter,
breaking those, and yet still be religious!
This can’t be! Human reason, as
well as the Scriptures, states that we cannot pick and choose which
commandments to keep.
Now I must close,
but before I sit down let me ask you a question. Beloved, are you aware of indulging in any forms of sin? And if you are, do you still hold on to the
hope that you will be saved? Are you
indulging in some little things that you know are sins; so that if you were to
meet Jesus Christ on the street you would be afraid to ask: “is this thing a
sin”? You would be ashamed to ask such
a question because, in the deep recesses of your heart, you know it is
wrong. Let me say, that although some
people try to persuade themselves that certain things are not sins, yet if they
knew they were to die in ten minutes, they would immediately conclude and
acknowledge that they were. Now I don’t
mean that a Christian may not fall under the influence of a powerful
temptation, into sin, even a sin as bad as David did. David was a good man, but under the influence of a powerful
temptation, he fell. But I doubt if a
man could do what David did, in the present day of gospel light, and yet be a
Christian. But if a Christian falls
into sin, he will not continue to indulge in it. He will be very anxious to have all his sins searched out and
forgiven. A true Christian will act
from supreme love to God, and equal love for his neighbor. Now suppose someone should say, “in some things I keep the true spirit of
the law and the gospel. But, there are
some forms of sin I have never given up.
There are certain things in which I have always indulged myself; even
though I love God supremely, and supremely regard His authority. Some things I yield my will completely up to
God, but in other things, I disobey Him.”
Now what sort of talk would that be?
Why, it would just be the religion of most of the people today! They act this way; but if they were to put
it into words it would almost be blasphemy!
Another thing I would mention is this: if all sinners would simply admit the sins they indulge in, we would be shocked at the horrible condition of society. If people were to proclaim the utmost contempt for God’s authority, we would be shocked. But people, by their conduct; some by swearing and taking the name of God in vain, and others by cheating and taking advantage of their neighbors in every little thing, are really saying, “I don’t care what God says. I have a great contempt for His law. I don’t care whether I grieve Him or His Spirit; I will do whatever I want to do. If those who behave this way would speak out, the people would rise up and cast such blasphemy out of society. Suppose a child should be told to do a certain thing, and he says, “O.K.”. Then, he goes and disobeys you right before your eyes. You command him, but he treats you with contempt. He doesn’t say “I won’t obey”. But he gives you a smile and goes and disobeys you. What would you think of him. I will tell you what you would think, that the wickedness of his conduct could not be described in words.
O sinner! Sinner! This is what you do to God every day, everyone of you! But listen. I don’t bring this before you as a railing accusation. I have no personal quarrel with you; but I know you would despise me as a dishonest man if I should hesitate to tell you to your face, as God’s minister, how you treat Him! I have been a sinner myself, and have treated God as you are now treating Him; and I know how you feel. When I was an impenitent sinner, I never respected a man who did not tell me about my sins. I despised him. Now sinner, how long will you go on in this way rebelling against God and despising His authority? Will you make up your mind that this shall continue no longer? When you can reconcile yourself to such treatment from your children, then you may treat God that way, but not before. Will you turn unto God and live? Or will you continue to rebel and perish forever? What will you do?