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Use. They are reproved, who live in a wilful breach of God's commandments, in malice, uncleanness, intemperance; and walk contrary to the commandments. To live in a wilful breach of the commandment is:
(1) Against REASON. Are we able to stand out against God? "Do we provoke the Lord, are we stronger than he?" 1 Cor 10:22. Can we match arms with God? Can impotence stand against omnipotence? A sinner acts against reason.
(2) It is against EQUITY. We have our being from God; and is it not just that we should obey him who gives us our being? We have all our subsistence from him; and is it not fitting, that as he gives us our allowance, we should give him our allegiance? If a general gives his soldiers pay, he expects them to march at his command; so for us to live in violation of the divine commands, is manifestly unjust.
(3) It is against NATURE. Every creature in its kind, obeys God's law. [1] Animate creatures obey him. God spoke to the fish, and it set Jonah ashore. Jonah 2:10. [2] Inanimate creatures. The wind and the sea obey him. Mark 4:41, The very stones, if God gives them a commission, will cry out against the sins of men. None disobey God but wicked men and devils; and can we find no better companions?
(4) It is against KINDNESS. How many mercies have we, to allure us to obey! We have miracles of mercy; the apostle therefore joins these two together, disobedient and unthankful, which dyes sin with a crimson colour. 2 Tim 3:2. As the sin is great, for it is a contempt of God—a hanging out of the war flag of defiance against him, and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft—so the punishment will be great. Wilful disobedience cuts off from mercy. God's mercy is for those who keep his commandments—but there is no mercy for those who live in a wilful breach of them. All God's judgments set themselves in battle array against the disobedient: temporal judgments and eternal. Lev 26:15, 16. Christ comes in flames of fire, to take vengeance on those who obey not God. 2 Thess 1:8. God has iron chains of punishment to hold those who break the golden chain of his commands; chains of darkness by which the devils are held ever. Jude 6. God has time enough, as long as eternity—to reckon with all the wilful breakers of his commandments!
How shall we keep God's commandments?
Pray for the Spirit of God. We cannot do it in our strength. The Spirit must work in us both to will and to do. Phil 2:13. When the loadstone draws—the iron moves. Just so, when God's Spirit draws—we run in the way of his commandments.
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