John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. I. THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. This consisted of — 1. Matters of belief relating to His person and offices. These seemed such as not only brought a new religion into the world, but to require a new reason to embrace it. 2. Matters of practice, such as were enforced by the Sermon on the Mount — Self-denial, purity of heart, etc. These were what grated hardest on men. For their religion had degenerated into mere outward action, and when that failed, there was expiation ready. Amongst all their sacrifices they never sacrificed one lust. Bulls and goats bled apace, but neither the violence of the one, nor the wantonness of the other ever died a victim on their altars. No wonder, then, that a doctrine which arraigned the irregularities of the most inward affections raised such a disturbance. II. MEN'S UNBELIEF OF CHRIST'S DOCTRINE WAS FROM NO DEFECT IN CHRIST'S ARGUMENTS. 1. These arguments were in themselves convincing. (1) All the Divine predictions received their completion in Christ. In Him they met with such lustre as if the penmen of them were not prophets but evangelists. Could He have all the signs and not be the thing signified? Could all the shadows that were cast from Him belong to any ether body? (2) He performed miracles, and surely there cannot be a greater reason for belief than for a man to say, "This is the Word of God, and to prove it I will do what nothing can do but the Almighty power of that God who can neither deceive nor be deceived." And His enemies could not deny His miracles. 2. Their insufficiency, if there could be any, was not the cause of unbelief. (1) Because those who rejected Christ's doctrine and arguments believed other things on less evidence. They believed the miracles of Moses, but only by tradition, which, though sufficient, was not equal to that evidence of sense which supported Christ's. (2) They believed things which were neither evident nor certain but only probable; for they frequently ventured their fortunes upon a probable belief of the honesty of those they traded with. And interest in worldly matters, especially with a Jew, never proceeds but upon a supposal, at least, of a firm bottom. (3) They believed in things not so much as probable, but actually false, such as the absurd stories of their rabbins (John 5:43). III. THE TRUE CAUSE OF THIS UNBELIEF — the captivity of the will and affections to lusts directly opposite to the design and spirit of Christianity. To see this, notice — 1. That the understanding in its assent to any religion is very differently wrought upon in persons brought up in it, and in persons converted to it. In the first it finds the mind unprepossessed, and so easily gains upon the assent and incorporates into it. But in persons adult and already prepossessed with other notions the understanding cannot change these without labour and examination. 2. In this great work the understanding is chiefly at the disposal of the will. For though it is not in the power of the will directly to cause or hinder the assent of the understanding, yet it is antecedently in the power of the will to apply the understanding to or take it from consideration of objects to which without consideration it cannot assent. From these two we have the true reason of the Pharisees unbelief; for they could not relinquish Judaism and embrace Christianity without considering both religions. And this their understanding could not apply to if it were diverted by their will, and their will would be sure to divert it, being wholly possessed and governed by their covetousness and ambition which abhorred Christianity. See John 5:44; Luke 16:14 — in both of which there is an incurable blindness caused by a resolution not to see; and to all intents and purposes, he who will not open his eyes is as blind as he who cannot. IV. A PIOUS AND WELL-DISPOSED MIND, ATTENDED WITH A READINESS TO OBEY THE KNOWN WILL OF GOD, IS THE SUREST AND BEST MEANS TO ENLIGHTEN THE UNDERSTANDING TO A BELIEF OF CHRISTIANITY. That this is so will appear — 1. Upon the account of God's goodness and the method of His dealing with men; which is to reward every degree of sincere obedience to His will with a further discovery of it. The Psalmist (Psalm 119:10) got the start of the ancients in the point of obedience, and thereby outstripped them at length in point of knowledge. And who in the old time were the men of extraordinary revelation but the men of extraordinary piety? The Enochs, Abrahams, Daniels, etc., who walked with God; and surely he who walks with another is likelier to understand another than he who follows him at a distance. 2. Upon the account of natural efficiency, for as much as a will so disposed will engage the mind in a severe search into the truths of religion, and accompany the search with two dispositions principally productive of the discoveries of truth, viz., (1) Diligence. Steady, constant study naturally leads the soul into the knowledge of that which at first seemed locked up from it, and keeps the understanding in that long converse with a subject that brings acquaintance. But the will is the great spring of this diligence, for no man can heartily search after that which he is not very desirous to find. Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to the razor, but the will is the hand that must apply one to the other. This is true in science, and it is true also in religion. (2) Impartiality. It is scarcely possible for him to hit the mark whose eye is glancing upon something beside it. Partiality is the understanding's judgment according to the inclination of the will and the affections, and not according to the exact truth of things. Affection is a briber of the judgment; and it is hard for a man to admit a reason against the thing he loves, or to confess the force of an argument against an interest. But impartiality strips the mind of prejudice and passion, keeps it right, and even from the bias of interest and desire, and so presents it equally disposed to the reception of all truth. Where diligence opens the door of the understanding, and impartiality keeps it, truth is sure to find both an entrance and a welcome. Conclusion: 1. The true cause of scepticism is not from anything wanting in religion. Men question its truth because they hate its practice. Few practical errors are embraced on conviction, but inclination. It is impossible for one engaged in an evil way to have a clear understanding of it, and a quiet mind in it. If men would change their lives there would be no difficulty in changing their judgments. For, notwithstanding all their empty talk of reason, persuade but the covetous man not to deify his money, etc., and these objections would vanish. For a good man is three quarters his way to his being a Christian whatsoever he is called. 2. We learn the most effectual means for growth in the knowledge of religious truth. It is a knowledge that men are not so much to study as to live themselves into; a knowledge that passes into the head through the heart. And where a long course of piety and communion with God has purged the heart and rectified the will, and made all things ready for the reception of God's Spirit, knowledge will break in with such a victorious light that nothing shall be able to resist it. 3. If some should object that if these things are so the most pious are the most knowing which seems contrary to experience. So they are as to things necessary to salvation; as the meanest soldier that has fought knows more of war than he who has read or written volumes on it but has never seen a battle. Practical sciences are only learnt in the way of action. It is not the opinion, but the "path of the just," that shines more and more. The obedient are the "children of light," that shall outgrow all their doubts and ignorances until persuasion pass into knowledge, and knowledge into assurance, and all at length into the beatific vision. (R. South, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. |
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