Acts 20:32 And now, brothers, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up… I. TO PURIFY YOUR AFFECTIONS. It is the usual pipe through which grace may be conveyed into the vessels of your hearts. The laws of men may reform your actions, but it is the gospel of God which can renew your affections. Some poets speak of musicians that by the force of their music can make stones leap into walls, and tame beasts, be they never so savage. The word of God's grace will do much more — it will change the heart of stone into a heart of flesh; it will tame lions, and turn them into lambs (Isaiah 11:4-6). II. TO BE THE RULE OF YOUR CONDUCT. 1. It containeth not only promises for your consolation, but also precepts for your conversations; therefore it is called a royal law (James 2:8). A law, because it is to be the canon of our lives. A royal law, because given us by God, sovereign and dominion over all, and therefore power to command what He pleaseth. The gospel is a law of liberty, but not a law of licentiousness (James 1:25). It freeth us from the curse, but not from the commands, of the law. Look therefore to this royal law; expound it in your lives. 2. Let it be your rule for faith. The gospel is the only creed; he that believeth this is a true believer. As the Word — Christ — is the personal foundation, so the word of Christ is the doctrinal foundation for every Christian to build on (Ephesians 2:19, 20). 3. Make it your rule for worship. To serve God according to your own inventions, or men's prescriptions, is rebellion. As the moth eats out the garment, and the rust the iron, so doth an apocryphal worship in time eat out an evangelical worship (Matthew 15:7). All worship of God, without warrant, is like private coining money, high treason against the King of heaven (1 Kings 12:33). Till man can be his own maker, he may not be his own lawgiver (Isaiah 8:20). 4. In all things live by the gospel, and look to the gospel; let that be a light to your feet, and a lantern to your paths; keep the Word, and it will keep you, in an hour of temptation, from Binning, and in an hour of dissolution from sinking. The lawyer, in his doubts, consults with his Lyttleton or Coke; the physician prescribes by Galen or Hippocrates; the philosopher takes advice of his Aristotle; but the godly man must always take counsel of the gospel (Proverbs 4:26, 27). III. TO BE YOUR BUCKLER AGAINST OPPOSITION. The gospel is a magazine, out of which Christians may be furnished with spiritual weapons in their holy war against the kingdom of darkness. 1. It is a shield against evil principles (Matthew 22:29). 2. It is a shield against evil practices (Psalm 119:9). 3. Doth Satan assault you? (Ephesians 6:17) Use the gospel for your defence. 4. Is the world to you a place of thorns and briars? (2 Corinthians 10:4.) Get your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and ye may walk comfortably through it. IV. TO BE YOUR CORDIAL IN ALL AFFLICTIONS. Seneca, going about to comfort his friend Polybius, persuades him to bear his affliction patiently, because he was Caesar's favourite. The word of grace affords you infinitely richer cordials, exceeding rich and precious promises, wherein ye are admitted to be the friends of God, the members of Christ, the temples of the Spirit, and the heirs of heaven. (G. Swinnock, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. |
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