December 2

We beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. - 2 Corinthians 6:1.

TWO inquiries here are very necessary. First, What are we to understand by the grace of God? According to the common acceptation of the word, it cannot be received in vain; it always brings glory to God, and we, says the Apostle, “are confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun the good work in you will perform it.” But here, by the grace of God is meant the gospel. This name is given to the gospel to remind us of its source. It originated in the grace of God only and entirely. Did we deserve it? Were we prepared to receive it? Did we even desire it? It has reached us from the mere goodness of God, and is free in every sense of the word. It is thus designated also to remind us of the subject of the gospel. Is it not a display of the grace of God in the free, full, and everlasting salvation of sinners? in the opening of the eyes of our understanding, the renewing of us in the Spirit of our mind, making us “new creatures in Christ Jesus?” And is it not thus always in Scripture called “grace,” because of its gracious influence or agency in us?

The gospel therefore springs from the grace of God, displays and produces this grace in the heart and life, and therefore very properly bears the name and is called “the grace of God.”

The second inquiry is, What is it to receive the grace of God “in vain?” This is a very important inquiry. The gospel is received in vain when it is received partially, if we receive it as a system of doctrine only, or as a system of duty only. The gospel reveals to a sinner the means of his justification and of his sanctification, and the absolute necessity of both. When these are not united, we always find either antinomian ignorance or pharisaical pride. They must therefore be blended together, as they are inseparable. Jesus came not by water nor by blood, but “by water and blood.” These were not severed in their effusion from the cross, and they are not to be severed in their application to the soul.

Man wants both equally in his misery and in his helpless condition. Unless his sins are subdued as well as pardoned, unless he is renewed as well as justified, it is impossible he can hold communion with God, or that God can receive any proper service from him. Where, therefore, persons separate privilege from duty, promise from precept, and the end from the use of the means, and “God’s working in us, to will and to do of his good pleasure,” from “our working out our own salvation with fear and trembling,” such receive the gospel in vain.

Secondly, when the gospel is received speculatively, and not experimentally and practically, it is not in accordance with the nature and design of it, and therefore it is received in vain. The gospel is not given to teach us to dispute, but to pray; not to exercise our ingenuity, but to change our hearts; not to amuse our curiosity, but to nourish us up unto eternal life. Our aim therefore in hearing or reading the gospel should be the same as God’s end in giving it. And why has he provided, why has he revealed a Saviour?

Not that we may behold, wonder, and perish; but that by believing we might have life, that we might flee unto this only refuge, this grand restorer, this almighty Saviour, able and willing to save unto the uttermost, who has declared “Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.”

Thirdly, The gospel is received in vain when it is received unperseveringly. Peter speaks of our “receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.” He only that “endureth to the end shall be saved.” Many have been informed, but not illuminated; they have been reformed, but not regenerated. And our Saviour says, “If ye continue in my words, then (alone) are ye my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”