Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1145
“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” Galatians 3:22.
IN every work which we undertake it is most important that we should act upon right principles, for if we are misled upon essential points, our efforts will be wasted since success cannot possibly be the result. A man may study the stars as long as he pleases, but he certainly will not come to right conclusions if he calculates their courses upon the theory that they daily revolve around the earth as a center. The alchemists were earnest even to enthusiasm, but the object of their pursuit was unattainable and the theories which guided their investigations were absurd, and, therefore, they exhibited a sorrowful spectacle of misapplied perseverance and labor thrown away.
In mechanics the most ingenious contriver must fail if he forgets the Law of gravitation. You must proceed upon right principles, or disappointment awaits you. If a man in London believed that he would reach the city of York by traveling rapidly to the south, he would certainly fail, even though he had a special express attached to his carriage. If another should be sincerely of the opinion that by drinking a strong poison he would restore himself to health, his friends and survivors would have to regret his infatuation. The earnestness of his belief will not alter the fact—the principles which make the deadly drug so murderous will not yield because the man is sincere—and he will certainly die for his obstinacy.
Now, the greatest matter of concern for any one of us is the eternal salvation of our soul. We need to be saved, and, according to the Scriptures, there is but one way of salvation—but that way does not happen to be in favor among the sons of men. The great popular principle, popular all over the world, no matter whether the people happen to be Protestant or Catholic, Parsee or Muslim, Brahminist or Buddhist, is self-salvation—they would reach eternal life by merit! There are differences about what is to be done, but the great universal principle of unregenerate man is that he is, somehow or other, to save himself. This is his principle, and the further he goes in it, the less likely is he to be saved.
My objective, this morning, is to bring before you the much despised principle which God has revealed as the only true one, namely, salvation by the Grace of God, through Jesus Christ, by simple faith in Him. We preach, at God’s command, the way of salvation by mercy, not by merit—by faith, not by works—by Grace, not by the efforts of men. May God help us so to set forth that principle that many may accept it! I do not care one snap of my finger about preaching so that the style shall please your ears! I long to reach your hearts. I want you to receive the only sure method of salvation, and I pray the Holy Spirit to baptize my words in His own mighty fire and make them to burn their way into your hearts and subdue you to the obedience of faith.
The text divides itself into two parts, but my sermon will not end there, for I shall try to enforce its great Truths of God. Upon two points we will speak at once. The first is a crowded prison—“The Scripture has confined all under sin.” And the second is a glorious jail delivery—“that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” After that we will try to show how excellent is that plan which God has marked out—the plan of deliverance from sin by the promise of faith in Christ Jesus.
I. Behold THE CROWDED PRISON—“The Scripture has confined all under sin.” The Jailer is the Scripture—a lawful Authority, for the Scripture is not the word of man, but of the Spirit of God. If any man reject the Scripture, I have little to say to him at this moment, for I am speaking mainly to those who accept the Bible as having been written by an Infallible pen. If the Scriptures, then, which you admit to be written by God, confine you in sin, you are shut up by a lawful Authority against which you cannot rebel! God has done it! God’s own voice has declared you to be a prisoner under sin.
No Authority is more powerful than that of Scripture, for it is not only true, but it has force to support it. Where the Word of the God is, there is power. The Scripture, when it comes home to the heart like a hammer, breaks in pieces, and like a fire burns its way. We need not be alarmed when judged of men, but the voice of the Lord is full of terrible majesty and awes the spirit which it condemns. But how does the Scripture confine all men under sin? I reply, first, it has been well observed by Martin Luther that the very promises of Scripture confine all mankind under sin.
To begin with the first—that morning star of promise which shone over this world when first our parents left the gates of blighted Eden—“The Seed of the women shall bruise the serpent’s head.” Since such a promise was needed, it is clear that the blessing could only come to men through the Redeemer, the Seed of the woman. And that in the case of all men the serpent’s head must be broken, or they would remain under his dominion. When a blessing is promised, there must have been a need for it. Where a Deliverer is predicted, there must have been a necessity for Him. If a blessing could come to men by the way of merit, or in the course of Nature, there would be no need of a promise—a promise implies a need and the very first promise of deliverance by the woman’s Seed from the power of the serpent implies that men were under that evil power.