Sermons Volume 2, Romans 8 · Sermon 15
SERMON XV.
ROM. VIII.12.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
IN the Words we have,
1. A note of Inference.
2. The truth inferred: In this latter we find,
1. A Compellation, Brethren.
2. An Assertion, That we ars debtors.
3. An instance or exemplification, to whom we are debtors. The negative is expressed, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; and the affirmative is implied, and must be supplied out of the Context, To the spirit, to live in obedience to the holy spirit.
1. The Inference, (therefore) he reasoneth from their priviledges; the priviledg is asserted v. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit: 'Tis applied to the Christian Romans, v. 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. These reasonings are pertinent and insinuative from the priviledg asserted; Exhortation must follow Doctrine, for then it pierceth deeper, and sticketh longer. On the other side, Doctrine becometh more lively, when there is an edg set upon it by Exhortation, from the priviledg implied; certainly priviledges infer duty, and therefore having comforted them with the remembrance of their condition, he doth also mind them of their obligation, Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit; therefore we are are not debtors to the flesh, to walk after the flesh; but to walk after the spirit.
2. The truth inferred; Where first observe the compellation, (Brethren) a word of love and equality; of love to sweeten the exhortation; for men are unwilling to displease the flesh; of equality, for he taketh the same obligation upon himself; this debt bindeth all, high and low, learned or unlearned, ministers or people; greatness doth not exempt from this bond, nor meanness exclude it.
2. The assertion, that we are debtors. Man would fain be sui juris, at his own dispose; affecteth a supremacy and dominion over his own actions, Psal. 12.4. Our tongues are our own, who is Lord over us? But this can never be; we were made by another, and for another, therefore we are debtors, foreign.
3. The exemplification, to whom: Negatively, not to the flesh; this is expresly denied for two reasons, because the flesh maketh a claim to us; it hath a double claim, one by usurpation; when God is laid aside, self interposeth as the next heir; and that which we count our self, is the flesh, which doth all in all with men; the other is in pretence, it seemeth to challenge a right by Gods allowance; something is due to the body, and no man yet ever hated his own flesh; but we must distinguish of flesh as 'tis taken for the body, and natural substance; so we are debtors to the body by necessity of nature, for we owe it Food, and Physick, and Raiment: As 'tis taken for corrupt nature, which inclineth us to seek the happiness of the body and bodily life, without God, and apart from God, so we owe nothing to the flesh, so as to obey its lusts, or frame our lives according to the desires of it; we owe it hatred, but not obedience; the motions of corrupt nature tend to feed the habits of sin, sensuality, pride, worldliness, thence come ignorance, unbelief. 2. Positively, we are debtors to the spirit; to be led by the spirit v. 14. The spirit mindeth us of our duty, externally, by the word; internally, by his sacred motions and inspirations, restraining us from sin, Rom. 8.13. If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body, ye shall live: quickning us to holiness, Gal. 5.25. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.
Doct. That believers are debtors, not to the flesh, but to the spirit.
I shall prove it by considering them in a double capacity.
1. With respect to the order of nature.
2. Or the condition of their spiritual being: Take them as Men or Christians; if you look upon them as Men, they are debtors to God for all they have, if you look upon them as Christians that have received the Faith of Christ, they are much more debtors not to the flesh, but to the spirit.
1. With respect to the order of nature; man is debtor, for he is a dependant creature; not an Owner, or a Lord, but a steward: I prove it by Two Arguments; We depend upon God for being and preservation, and therefore we are debtors to God for all that we have. Secondly, And depending upon God, we are accountable to him; or thus, God that is a Creator and Preserver, is therefore an Owner; and being an Owner, is therefore a Governor and Ruler, and by consequence a Judg; his being a Creator goeth before his being an Owner, and his being an Owner goeth before his being a Ruler, and is the foundation of it; for his absolute propriety in us giveth him a power and dominion over us; and there are two parts of his governing power, Legislation, and Execution or Judgment.
1. His being a Creator maketh him an Owner: We have nothing but what we have from God; nothing that we our selves can keep one moment without God; and therefore we have nothing but what is for God; for we hold it at his will and pleasure, Ezek. 18.4. All souls are mine; and Prov. 16.4. God hath made all things for himself; and Rom. 11.36. For of him, and to him, and through him are all things. Among men, whosoever maketh any thing by his own proper art and labour, and that of his own stuff, must needs have a full right to it, and a full power to dispose of it: No man ever made any thing but of matter preexisting; but God made all things out of nothing; and therefore if he that planteth a vineyard hath right to eat of the fruit thereof, certainly he that gave us life and being, and made us after his own image to serve and worship him, hath a full right in man, to dispose of man, and all the rest of his creatures, as being the work of his hands: He that gave them their being when they were not, and still supporteth them now they are, hath an undoubted just right to order them according to his own will and pleasure.
2. His being an Owner, qualifieth him for being a Ruler: For the dominion of Jurisdiction is founded in the dominion of Property; we are his own, therefore we are his subjects, Matth. 20.15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Surely be that possesseth all things, hath full right to govern all things; as Parents have an authority over their children, who are a means under God to give them life and education; the most barbarous nations have acknowledged the Authority of Parents; how much greater then is the Authority of God, who hath given us life and breath, being and well-being, and all things? He created us out of nothing, and being created, he preserveth us, and giveth us all the good things which we enjoy, and therefore we are obliged to him to be subject to him, and to obey all his holy laws, and to be accountable to him for the breach thereof: The supereminent excellency of his nature giveth him a sufficiency for the government of mankind; and Creation and Preservation gave him a full right to make what laws he pleaseth, and to call man to an account whether he hath kept them, yea or no: The right of God is greater than the right of Parents; for in natural generation they are but instruments of his Providence, acting only the power which God giveth them, and the Parents propagate to the children nothing but the master of the body, and such things as belong to the body, called therefore the fathers of our flesh, Heb. 12.9. Yea, in framing the body, God hath a greater hand than they, for they cannot tell whether the Child will be Male or Female, beautiful or deformed; know not the number and posture of the Bones, and Nerves, and Arteries, and Sinews; God formeth these things in the Womb, Zech. 12.1. And formed the spirit of man within him. All that they can do, cometh to nothing without Gods blessing; so that God is the governour of all creatures visible and invisible, from whose Empire and Jurisdiction they neither can nor ought to exempt themselves.
3. There are two parts of Government or Jurisdiction, Legislation and Judgment, as the Lord is called, Isa. 33.22. Our King, our Lawgiver, our Judg: First, as the Lawgiver: He by his Precepts sheweth what is due from man to God, Micah 6.8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord thy God requireth of thee. The way of pleasing God is clearly revealed: Many things the light of natural conscience calleth for, Rom. 2.14. But the light of the Holy Scripture much more, Psal. 147.19, 20. He hath shewed his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgments to Israel; he hath not dealt so with any nation: If we are contentious, and obey not the truth, and against the light of Scripture and reason gratifie our brutish lusts, we disclaim Gods Authority, and do not carry our selves as debtors to the spirit, but the flesh. Secondly, Judgment or Execution: Gods Laws are not a vain scare-crow, we are accountable for our obedience or disobedience to them: Two things come into the judgment, the Laws, the Benefits and advantages given us to keep them; first, the laws, 2 Thes. 1.8. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel; and Rom. 2.12. For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law. Secondly, Benefits and Abilities given us to keep them, Luke 19.23. Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required my own with usury? Every benefit we receive from God, increaseth the debt; we are accountable for all these gifts of Grace we have received from God; they are bona, things good in their own nature; they are dona, things freely given and delivered to us; and talenta, a trust for which we are to be accountable; not as money is given to a beggar, but as an estate put into the hands of a Factor; as bona, we must esteem them according to their just value; as dona, with thankfulness; as talenta, with faithfulness. Well then, since we have received our whole being from God, with all the appendant benefits, and since we have it for his use and service; we have all that we have upon these terms, to use it for his glory; it clearly followeth, that we are debtors not to the flesh, which inclineth us to please our selves; but to the spirit, which inclineth us to please God.
4. I shall add one propoposition more, that this debt and obligation cannot be dissolved; for as long as we depend upon God in being and operation, so long we are bound to God: Man hath principium & finem, a principle upon which he dependeth, and an end to which he is appointed; a superior to whom he is subject, and to whom he must give an account.
1. This power and right cannot be alienated by us, or vacated and made void by our sin; we indeed sold our selves for nought, but that was to our own loss, not to Gods, Isa. 52.3. He hath a full right to command us to keep the law: Whether we be faulty or innocent; a drunken servant is a servant, tho disabled to do his masters work; no mans right can be vacated without his consent, for the default of another doth not make void our right, especially if inferiors; as the rebellion of the subject doth not exempt him from the power of his Prince.
2. God doth not make it away, by bestowing his gifts on the creature; for he hath given us only dispensationem, the imployment of these things; not dominium, the soveraign power over them; man hath nothing that is his own, but as he hath it from God, so for God; as to life, man is not dominus vitae, but custos; this is true not only of life, but of time, wealth, strength, parts, yea, of all that we have and are; there is an higher Lord, to whom by the law of our creation we owe the debt of duty, love and obedience; and to whom we are accountable for the mercies of his daily Providence, and who hath an absolute and uncontroulable right in all that we have and are; all our owning, is but a stewardship, Luke 16.2. We have a right to prevent the incroachment of our fellow creatures, but not a right to exclude our accountableness and obligation to God; we have a right by way of charge and trust, as a steward in things committed to him, or a factor in the estate consigned to his hands, or a workman in his Tools and Instruments which the Master giveth him to do his work withal; but not an absolute independent right; they are not ours to use as we think meet: When God disposed his gifts, he did not dispossess himself; as the Husbandman did not intend to throw away his seed, when he scattereth it in the furrows of the earth, but soweth it to receive it again with increase.
3. This right in us is so inherent in God, and proper to him, that God himself cannot communicate it to another: For he hath told us that he will not give his glory to another; to make the creature independent, is to make it no creature: God is God still, and the creature is a creature still, obnoxions to the law of its Creator, or else to his punishment for the breach of it; it implieth a contradiction, that he should cut off the creature from dependance upon himself, and therefore from subjection to himself; while God is God, and we are creatures, there will be a debt due from us to him, because we depend upon him for our being and preservation; our petty interests may be alienated, as a Lord may make his vassal absolutely free, or a Prince his Subject▪ as Saul proclaimed, That whosoever encountered Goliah, he would make his house free in Israel, 1 Sam. 17.25. That is, free from Taxes, Imposts, services in War, but not free from being a subject; but no creature can be exempted from duty to God, or made free from this debt; for dependance upon God, and our subjection to him, are so twisted together, that the one cannot be without the other: We wholly depend upon him for being, and all things else, and therefore we must be wholly subject to him. Well then, consider man in the order of Creation, and he is a debtor to God, not to his own flesh; bound to refer his service, strength, time, care, life and love to him, from whom he received them; these are sound reasonings not to be reproved.
Secondly, By the condition of their spiritual being, so they are much more debtors to God: and therein consider,
1. The foundation on which this new estate is built, and that is our Redemption by Christ. This doth infer the debt mentioned in the Text, whether we respect the state from whence we were redeemed, the price paid for us, or the end why we were redeemed: The state from whence we were redeemed, was a state of woful eaptivity; from Gods debtors we became Satan's slaves: Now if a captive were ransomed by another mans money, his life, service and strength did belong to the buyer, for he is his money, Exod. 21.21. Christ hath bought us from a worse slavery, therefore all that we have, belongeth to him; we are debtors; so for the price that was paid for our ransom as from the worst slavery, so with the greatest price, 1 Pet. 1.18. We are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Now this maketh us debtors, and destroyeth all right and property in our selves, 1 Cor. 6.19, 20. Ye are not your own, ye are brought with a price, therefore glorifie God with your bodies and souls, which are Gods. Take in the end, and the Argument is the more conclusive; he hath redeemed us to God, Rev. 5.8. Rom. 14.4. For to this end Christ both died and arose again, and revived; that he might be Lord both of dead and living. Well then, we are not to live as we list, but to live unto God; not debtors to the flesh, to live after the flesh, but debtors to the spirit, to be led by the Spirit of God; ex ordine justici, justice requireth this, we are the Lords.
2. The benefit of this spiritual new being its self, or our regeneration inferreth it; For we are justified and sanctified, and by both obliged, and also inclined to live unto God; obliged, for these benefits of Christs Righteousness and Spirit given to us, are such excellent benefits, that for them we owe our whole selves to God; if Paul could tell Philemon, thou owest thy self to me, Phil. 1.9. because he had been an instrument in converting him to God; How much more is our obligation to Christ, who is the principal Author and proper efficient cause of this grace? surely we owe our whole selves, and strength, and time, and service to him, jure beneficiario, as Gods beneficiaries, we are in debt to him as our benefactor; and not only obliged but inclined by the gift of Christs Righteousness and Spirit; he hath formed us for this very thing, and fitted to perform the more easily what we owe to God: Every thing is fitted for its use, so we are prepared and fitted for the new life, and all the duties that belong thereunto, Eph. 2.10. We are his workmanship in Christ Jesus, created unto good works. The new creature is put by its proper use, if we live after the flesh; for all this cost and workmanship is bestowed upon us in vain, if it doth not fit us to live unto God.
3. Our own Vow and Covenant sworn, and entred into by Baptism. Baptism doth infer this debt, for there we renounced the flesh, and gave up our selves to God as our proper Lord; Baptism is a vowed death to sin, and a solemn obligation to live unto God; therefore every Christian must reckon himself dead to sin, Rom. 6.11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God; and Col. 3.3, 5. Ye are dead, therefore mortifie your members; and Rom. 6.2. How shall ye that are dead unto sin, live any longer therein? He argueth not ab impossibili, but ab incongruo; for a baptized person, or one that is entred into the Oath of God; and being made servants of God, we are bound to live in all new obedience. 1 Pet. 3.21. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us: not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God. The answer of a good conscience saveth.
4. In regard of the benefits we do hereafter expect from Christ, our resurrection, and glorious estate in heaven: That is mentioned ver. 11. as binding us to the spiritual life: Certainly where we have received good, and expect more good things, we are the more obliged to obedience. From the flesh we can look for nothing but shame and death; but from the Spirit, life and peace. Therefore in prudence we are bound to make the best choice for our selves, and to live not carnally, but spiritually. Sin never did us any good office; nor can you expect any thing from it for the future; it hath never done you good, and will do you eternal hurt; and are you so much in love with sin, as to displease your God, and lose your souls for it, which might otherwise be saved in a way of obedience to the Spirits sanctifying motions? This Argument is again repeated in the 13th ver. if ye live after the flesh, ye shall dye. That we might seriously consider it, Can the flesh give you a sufficient reward to recompence the pains you incur by satisfying it.
1. VSE is Information: It informeth us of divers Truths.
1. If your obedience be a debt, then there can be no merit in it: for what is debitum, is not meritorium: Luke 17.10. When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; We have done that which was our duty to do. We owe our selves, and all that we have, are, and possibly can do, to God, by whom we live and are; and therefore deserve no further benefit at his hands. Put case we should do all, yet in how many things are we come short? Therefore surely God is not bound to reward us by any right or justice arising from the merit of the action its self, but only he is inclined so to do by his own goodness, and bound so to do by his free promise. The creature oweth its self wholly to God, who made it; and God standeth in such a degree of eminency, so far above us, that we can lay no obligation upon him. Aristotle said well, That children could never merit of their parents; and all their kindness and duty they perform towards them, is but a just recompence to them from whom they received their being. If no merit between Children and Parents, surely not between God and men.
2. When a believer gratifieth the flesh, 'tis not of right, but tyrannous usurpation. For he is not a debtor to the flesh, he oweth it no obedience. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, Rom. 6.11, 14. Sin shall not reign; it may play the Tyrant: Chrysostome saith, That a Child of God may be overtaken through inadvertency, or overborn by the impetuous desires of the flesh, and do something which his heart alloweth not; his sins are sins of passion rather than design; and tho the reign of sin be disturbed, yet 'tis not cast off. Our lives should declare whose servants and debtors we are: for whom do you do most? Your lives must give sentence for you, whether you are debtors to the flesh, or to the spirit. If you spend your time in making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, Rom. 13.14. you are debtors to the flesh. If you check the flesh, and tame it, cut off its provisions, tho now and then it will break out, you are not debtors to the flesh, but the spirit. The flesh may rebel for a time, but the grace of the spirit reigneth. Some are wholly governed by their fancies and humours, or the passions, appetites, and desires of the flesh; are carried on headlong by their own carnal and corrupt inclinations to every sense pleasing object, are not masters of themselves in any thing, but serve divers lusts and pleasures, against the dictates of their own reason and conscience. Now 'tis easie to pronounce sentence concerning them. Others who are led by the Spirit of God to the earnest pursuit of heavenly things: Now these, tho so often fomented to self-pleasing and compliance with their lusts and corrupt inclinations, yet the heavenly mind hath the mastery, they complain of this tyranny, are grieved for it, troubled, and do by degrees overcome it.
3. It informeth us what answer we should make when we are tempted to please the flesh. Say, We are not debtors: When Satan tempteth, or sin inticeth, say, I owe thee nothing, I have all from God: if the flesh tempteth to neglect your callings, to mis-spend your time, say, This time is the Lords; as the Apostle, 1 Cor. 6.15. Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? Luther speaketh of a Virgin that would answer all temptations with this, Baptizata sum, I am baptized. So the faithful hath but this to answer to every tempter and temptation, I am dedicated to God; or, I am the Lords: This soul, this body, this time, this strength, is his; my business is not to please the flesh, but to please the Lord. Nothing will be such an help in defeating temptations, as to consider his full right and interest in us, and how justly he may expect fidelity from us, from whom we receive and expect all things.
2. USE is, To exhort us to pay the debt of obedience. Common honesty requireth that every man pay his debts: Now we are debtors unto God.
1. Consider how reasonable this debt is, that creatures should serve their Creator; that those that cannot live of themselves, should not live to themselves; and not do what they please, but what they ought. If God should put us to preserve our selves, or keep our selves but for one day, how soon should we disappear, and return into our original nothing! As God sendeth his people to their idols for deliverance, Judg. 10.14. Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of tribulation. This would make the case sensible, If you can keep your selves, please your selves. As protection draweth allegiance, so doth dependance enforce subjection. Since therefore in him we live, and move, and have our being, let us live to him, and for him.
2. Consider how unavoidable it is. You are the Lords whether you will or no. No creature is free from this debt; not the Angels, who have many immunities above us; yet Psal. 103.20, 21. Bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkning to the voice of his word: bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Not the humane nature of Christ, Gal. 4.4. The Devil and wicked men are, but 'tis against their wills: But his people are a voluntary people, Psal. 110.3. they own Gods right in them; his they are, and him they will serve, Acts 27.23.
3. How comfortable the debt is made by Gods new title of redemption. The former ceased not, but will continue whilst there is a relation between the creature and the Creator. But this is a power cumulative, not destructive, but superadded to the former; and is more comfortable and beneficial to us, that Christ would set us in joint again, and restore the creature to a capacity of serving and pleasing God. O what a blessed thing is it to take a law of duty out of the hand of a Mediator! a double advantage, both to assistance and acceptance; now God will help us, and will accept of it, as we can perform it; from the Mediator we have this spirit, and his righteousness; first, his spirit to help us, and give us grace to serve God acceptably, to break the bondage of sin, Rom. 8.2. To help us against it, all along, v. 13. and by his spirit of Grace we are inabled to love him, and serve him, whom I serve in the spirit; and the more we use this grace, the more 'tis increased up… us; and the more we pay this debt, the more we are inabled to pay, Prov. 10.29. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright. We grow the richer for paying, for we pay God out of his own Exchequer, 1 Chron. 29.14. Of thine own have we given thee. 1 Cor. 15.10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. The laborious diligent soul hath more abundance of his spirit. Secondly, As we have his Righteousness; God accepts of our imperfect endeavors, Eph. 1.6. He hath made us accepted in the beloved, Mal. 3.17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. This double comfort we have by the Mediator.
4. The debt is increased by every benefit which we receive from God, Luke 12.48. To whom much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him will they ask more. As our gifts increase, so doth our debt; as our debt, so doth our account; they that have received most, are bound to love him more, and serve him better, because they are more in debt than others.
5. How necessary it is for us to be debtors to God. If not debtors to God, we are debtors to the flesh; there is no medium; and if debtors to the flesh, servants to every base lust, Tit. 3.3. Serving divers lusts; quam multos habet dominos qui unum habere ne vult. We are slaves to every thing, if not debtors to God, and behave our selves as such. Every fancy and humor captivateth us.
6. By paying this debt, we receive more than we pay in present comfort and peace, but certainly in future glory and blessedness, Rom. 6.22. Ye have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life. The fruit of holiness for the present is peace, no greater comfort than in the discharge of our duty, Gal. 6.16. As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them.
7. If we pay not the debt of obedience, we incur the debt of punishment, Matt. 6.11. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and Rom 6.23. The wages of sin is death. A man by pleasing the flesh runneth himself further in debt than all the gain he gets by sin doth amount unto, be it never so pleasing and profitable; he runneth in debt to Gods Justice, which at length will take him by the Throat, and say, Pay what thou owest; it will cast you into the prison of Hell, and you shall not depart thence till you have paid the utmost mite, Luke 12.59. For the present it bringeth you trembling of conscience, and hereafter eternal vengeance; these things should be minded, because the Devil gets into our hearts by the back-door of sensual affections, he doth not bring the temptation to our reason. To consider it as a remedy,
1. Own the debt by directing your selves to God: Every one should have his own; give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are Gods, Mat. 22.21. Nothing more reasonable than that God should have his own, 2 Cor. 8.5. They first gave themselves to the Lord.
2. Keep a constant reckoning how you lay out your selves for God, Phil. 1.21. To me to live is Christ. Neh. 1.11. The Lord shew me favour in the sight of this man, for I have been the kings cupbearer.
3. Pray God to bless you, and ever keep in remembrance the former debt, 1 Cor. 6.15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.