June 4^th, 2017

10:00 am _____________________________________________________The Good Shepherd – John 10

The following is a continuation of the article by William Tyndale, who was killed for translating scripture into the English language. We owe a debt of gratitude to men such as he. Notice again, how sound this man was in the truth.

‘The law saith John, chap. 1, was given by Moses; but grace and verity (truth) by Jesus Christ. The law, whose minister is Moses, was given to bring us unto the knowledge of ourselves, that we might thereby feel and perceive what we are of nature. The law condemns us and all our deeds, and is called of Paul in 2 Cor. 3, the ministration of death. For it kills our consciences and drives us to desperation, inasmuch as it requires of us that which is impossible for our nature to do. It requires of us the deeds of a whole man. It requires perfect love from the deep bottom and ground of the heart, as well in all things which we suffer, as in the things which we do. But, saith John, in the same place, grace and verity is given to us in Christ. So that when the law hath passed upon us, and condemned us to death, which is its nature to do, then we have, in Christ’s grace, ---that is to say, favour, ---promises of life, of mercy, of pardon, freely by the merits of Christ; and in Christ have we verity and truth, in that God for His sake fulfils all His promises to them that believe. Therefore is the gospel the ministration of life. Paul calls it in the before rehearsed place of 2 Cor.3, the ministration of the Spirit and of righeousness. In the gospel, when we believe the promises, we receive the Spirit of life, and are justified in the blood of Christ from all things whereof the law condemned us. And we receive love unto the law, and power to fulfil it, and grow therein daily. Of Christ it is written in the before rehearsed John 1. ‘This is He of whose abundance or fulness all we have received, grace for grace, or favour for favour. That is to say, for the favour that God hath to his Son Christ, he gives unto us his favour and good will, and all gifts of his grace, as a Father to his sons. As Paul affirms, saying, Who loved us in his Beloved, before the creation of the world. So that Christ brings the love of God unto us, and not our own holy works. Christ is made Lord over all, and is called in scripture God’s mercy stool; whosoever therefore flees to Christ, can neither hear nor receive of God any other thing save mercy.

In the old testament are many promises, which are nothing else but the evangelion or gospel, to save those that believed them, from the vengeance of the law. And in the new testament is often made mention of the law to condemn them which believe not the promises. Moreover the law and the gospel may never be separate; for the gospel and promises serve but for troubled consciences, which are brought to desperation and feel the pains of hell and death under the law, and are in captivity and bondage under the law. In all my deeds I must have the law before me to condemn mine imperfectness. For all that I do, be I ever so perfect, is yet damnable sin, when it is compared to the law, which requires the ground and bottom of mine heart. I must therefore have always the law in my sight, that I may be meek in the spirit, and give God all the laud and praise, ascribing to Him all righteousness, and to myself all unrighteousness and sin. I must also have the promises before mine eyes, that I despair not; in which promises I see the mercy, favour, and good will of God upon me, in the blood of His Son Christ, which hath made satisfaction for mine unperfectness, and fulfilled for me that which I could not do.

Here may ye perceive that two manner of people are sorely deceived. First, they which justify themselves with outward deeds, in that they abstain outwardly from that which the law forbids, and do outwardly that which the law commands. They compare themselves to open sinners, and in respect of them justify themselves, condemning the open sinners. They set a vail on Moses’ face, and see not how the law requires love from the bottom of the heart, and that love only is the fulfilling of the law. If they did they would not condemn their neighbors. Love hideth the multitude of sins, saith St. Peter, in his first epistle. For whom I love from the deep bottom and ground of mine heart, him condemn I not, neither reckon his sins, but suffer his weakness and infirmity, as a mother the weakness of her son, until he grow up unto a perfect man.