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I. THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH is the doctrine of salvation through the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. No good disposition or qualification whatever, nothing, in short, that distinguishes one man from another, can be joined with the righteousness of Christ as the ground of our confidence towards God. Here there is no room for boasting. We must be saved either completely by grace, or completely by our own works.

II. TWO WAYS IN WHICH THE LAW MAY BE SAID TO BE DESTROYED, OR MADE VOID.

1. In principle; when any doctrine is taught which, in its just consequences, has a tendency to relax our obligations to obey the law of God.

2. In practice; when persons take encouragement from mistaken views of gospel truths to continue in sin, or to be less punctual in discharging the duties which they owe to God or their fellow creatures.

III. THE LAW OF GOD IS NOT MADE VOID, BUT ESTABLISHED THROUGH FAITH.

1. The sacred authority and perpetual obligation of the law of God are vindicated in the strongest manner by the doctrine of faith.

2. There are new obligations superadded by the gospel to enforce obedience.

(1) A conviction of its infinite evil must surely be allowed to be a powerful motive to depart from sin. But by what means can this conviction be produced to such a degree as by a firm belief of the doctrine of faith relating to the sufferings and death of Christ.

(2) Just apprehensions of the holiness of God have always been found to produce correspondent effects on the characters of the persons who entertain them. Now, the doctrine of faith gives us the highest display of this glorious attribute of the Divine nature.

(3) The motives which are chiefly insisted upon in the New Testament, and which the gospel in a peculiar manner inspires, are love and gratitude. Now, where can we find such objects to awaken our love and gratitude as in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

3. The law is established through faith, because obedience is one of the principal ends for which we are called to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

4. The law is established through faith, because the doctrine of faith furnishes the believer with the most powerful encouragements, in his endeavours to attain holiness.

(1) From what has been said, you may judge whether you are possessed of true faith in the gospel. Has it come to you, not in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost?

(2) From this subject let me exhort true believers to justify the sincerity of their profession by the holiness of their lives.

(D. Black.)

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KJV: Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

WEB: Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn't he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,