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{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Of Good Works
Solution to the Objection}
This is a truth that may administer comfort to Christians in many cases: a willing mind is accepted by God when little is done. Yet, various people have much mistaken and abused this truth, and this mistake has probably proved fatal to many a soul. It has been used as an excuse for a lazy heart and a barren life. Therefore give me leave before I proceed any further to turn aside a little and take time to consider this matter. I will show you in what case the will may be accepted when the work is not done.
There is a question among scholars pertaining to when there is a will to sin, but the act does not follow: is the sin in this situation as a great a sin in the sight of God as the case where there is both the will and the act? Durandus182 determines it as follows: There are two reasons why the will to sin may not bring forth the act:
The will is not fully peremptorily resolved and set upon the sin; a person is close to doing it, but decides against it. In this case, the [partial] will without the act is not as great a sin as the [full] will and the act together.
The will is fully resolved upon the sin, but there is something external that hinders the execution of the sin[, frustrating the will], such as the lack of power or opportunity to commit it. In this case, even though the act is not done, the guilt is as great as if the sin had been actually committed.
There may be use of this in determining the present question. Where there is a will to perform a duty and yet it is not done, if the reason for the failing is not from an incompleteness of the will, but from some unavoidable hindrance, then the will is accepted as if the work had been done. When the will is so strongly set up that it would certainly have brought forth the performance had it not been for some invincible hindrance, it will not fail to be accepted. The reason is because when the defect is not in the will, God has the heart. And whenever God has the heart, there is certain acceptance by God. Consider the case of when the heart is engaged against any particular lust and is resolved against it: “This lust I must mortify, and through the help of God, I will seek its destruction.” Although the heart cannot yet overcome it, this resolution still shows that the heart is on God’s side. The heart does not side with lust against God, but sides with God against the lust.183 And so, in all other similar cases, “if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12). He who gives according to what he has and he who does according to what he has, and does it heartily, will be undoubtedly accepted. It may be your case sometimes that your will to do is all you have available toward a duty. For example, if you have a will to show mercy by giving alms, but you have nothing to give, your will is all you have. It is true: there may be mistakes, and we are too apt to make such mistakes, imputing our failings in duty to lack of ability when they are for lack of will.184 How commonly do men thus excuse the grossest neglects even when they give themselves over to a universal careless and idle life in which there is not the least care or pains taken to please or follow God? “Why, I do what I can. I can do no more than I can. I wish I could live a better life, but I cannot.” But it is only the will that is at fault. Although you can do no more than you are able, if you had a good will to it, you might do more than you do.
Helps for Self-Evaluation When Failing at Duties
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Of Good Works
Solution to the Objection
Helps for Self-Evaluation When Failing at Duties}
But still, the great question in the case of failings of performance will be, “How may I know whether my will is so fully set on my duty that there would be performance of it were it not hindered?” Or is the lack of performance not due to lack of power or opportunity?
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Of Good Works
Solution to the Objection
Helps for Self-Evaluation When Failing at Duties
Total Neglect of Godliness}
I first answer that there is no pleading about lack of ability that excuses a total neglect of godliness. If the pretense is of a lack of ability to live a godly life in general—“I am willing to live a godly life, but cannot”—there it is certain that the defect is in the will. The Spirit of sanctification is a Spirit of power. And once the will is savingly renewed by that mighty Spirit, there is certainly such a power transferred to the believer that will inevitably bring the soul to follow God in a course of godliness, and this despite whatever particular weaknesses and failings there may be. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). “For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it’” (Jeremiah 42:20 NKJV). Here was a fair promise; what more could be said? They said that they would do whatever the Lord commanded, and it is likely enough that they might have had some intention of doing it. But the prophet declares them to have been hypocrites all along. Why, how do we know this? Why, what does the next verse say? “And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which He has sent you by me” (Jeremiah 42:21 NKJV). If your heart had been right, there would have been something done, but you have done nothing. Beloved, you who say you desire to follow God, but cannot: you desire to live a godly life, but do nothing toward it. You would willingly leave off your worldly life, your fleshly life, or your idle life. You wish to leave off your drinking, gambling, and wantonness. You wish to commit yourselves to praying, repenting, denying yourselves, and minding your souls and the things of eternity. But you are not able. However, the real meaning is this: you are not willing. You cannot find it in your hearts to take up such a course. You have some slight inclinations and some wishes to do so, and you have some weak inclination to godliness, but no will to it. If there were a willing mind within, doubtless there would be some sign of it in your external course.
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Of Good Works
Solution to the Objection
Helps for Self-Evaluation When Failing at Duties
Of Particular Duties}
Concerning particular duties, when we are willing to do them but fall short in performance, we may know by two tests that the will would bring forth the acts were it not due to some great impediment.
The first test is when the non-performance of duty brings forth sorrow and trouble of heart, and when it is a grief of mind to us that we cannot do as we would like. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:18–24 NKJV). That which hindered Paul was a sore burden to him. He groans under it and passionately wishes for his redemption and deliverance from it. But some people are at peace concerning their failings and well enough contented. Much more, some are glad of an excuse. Too often it is observed in many that, when they are put to difficult or displeasing duties, they are glad that they have so much to say about how they are not able or lack opportunity. These kinds of things argue that little would have been done even if they had great ability to do them.
The second test is if when we cannot do the duty, we do what we can toward it. A man who is poor and cannot give alms to his brethren in distress can still pity them, pray for them, and make their case known to others who can relieve them. But, if he does not do what he can, and if he does not open his concern for them even though he cannot open his hand, then it is likely that his poor brother would have been little better off even if he had been rich. Consider the poor widow who threw her two mites, all she had, into the treasury (Mark 12:42–44). This was a sign she had a large heart, though she gave so small a gift. David had it in his heart to build a house for God, yet he did not do it because the Lord hindered him (1 Kings 8:17–19). How may it be known that David would indeed have built it had he not been hindered? Why, by this it was shown. Although he could not do it, yet he did what he could toward it. Although he could not build, he prepared materials for the building. It may be that you are just a babe in Christ, have been in Christ only a short time, and have yet only a little understanding and only a little strength. Compared to grown and experienced Christians, you cannot yet follow the Lord as exactly and have not attained to such a fruitful life. But while you are still a child, you do follow the Lord as a child according to the measure of your understanding and ability. You are still unskillful and perform your duties in a broken manner, yet you do perform them. You are as weak as a child, but you are as tractable as a child. You are willing to be led where you cannot go on your own. If this describes you, you need not be discouraged. The person who is only a child, but follows God as a child according to his ability shows that if he were a man, he would follow God as a man. It may be that you labor under some lust or violent passion, which perhaps flows from your natural personality or bodily constitution. Whenever it is moved and stirred you are not able to stand before it even though you know that it is your duty to mortify and crucify it. It is a matter of great grief to you and is a continual thorn in the flesh. It is the longing of your soul to have it destroyed, yet you can do little against it. In this case there are two things, which if true—especially if the second is true—will be indicators to you that you may take comfort that God knows and considers your frame and will accept you185 according to what you have, not according to what you do not have.
The first indicator is if your will to be rid of it brings forth a continual watching and praying against it. If you cannot overcome it, you still fight against it. If it will live in you, you will not let it live in peace.
The second (and more important) indicator is if your striving against it is not completely without success and brings forth some actual restraint of it, particularly in those outward acts by which the sin would express itself. For example, you cannot overcome passion, but you restrain, in some measure, your tongue from uttering angry words. Or if you cannot overcome your inward pride, you do refrain from self-exalting words, vain boastings, and so on by which that lust is outwardly expressed. If your heart is so set against a sin that you heart strives against the sin within and ordinarily restrains some of its outward actions, you may be sure that if you could have what you wish, that sin would not be allowed to lodge one more night within you. You may have a slothful heart and are, whether by nature or bodily infirmity, listless, sluggish, and inactive. Yet you still wish for a more active and lively spirit, but cannot attain it. Although your heart is sluggish and sleepy, you will not let it sleep in quiet, but are frequently jogging and awakening it by the most stirring and enlivening considerations. You endeavor to serve the Lord with the best you have; what you lack in quickness and sprightliness, you labor to make up in seriousness. You go on at a slow pace, yet you do go on. If these kinds of things describe you, then know that you have to do with a God who knows and considers your frame, and He will accept you according to what you do have, not according to what you do not have.
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Of Good Works
Solution to the Objection
Helps for Self-Evaluation When Failing at Duties
Faithfulness in Other Duties}
If there are some duties that you are unable to do, consider whether you are faithful in other duties that you can do. If you do not have money to give to one who is poor, can you give counsel to him, and thus show kindness to his soul? If you cannot very well compose your thoughts in meditation, being unavoidably perplexed with confusion and distractions, you can pray or you can spend more time in reading. Do you do that? If you cannot improve Christian society very profitably or to very much spiritual advantage, do you do more in private in your solitary and immediate conversations with God? If you lack courage or boldness to appear for God in exhorting or reproving others, especially those over you, you perhaps have families in which you can be bold. What do you do there for your children and servants? Do you instruct them, warn and reprove them, and so on? Though (as before) you cannot extend mercy to others in their needs for lack of resources, are you just, righteous, honest, and peaceable in your dealings with and behavior toward all? If you are just, and would be merciful if you had the resources; if you are profitable in conversing with your families, and would be profitable to others if you could exercise courage and boldness; if you are serious, spiritual and affectionate in private, and have a will to be so in society; such will be an argument that your will would bring forth performance there also if it was not hindered.
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Of Good Works
Solution to the Objection
Helps for Self-Evaluation When Failing at Duties
Doing When Possible}
If there are duties we cannot do now, do we do them at other times when the impediment is gone? Examples include sickness or times of spiritual despondency or temptation.186 Do we do them later if possible?
Now gather up all these together and then the question will be easily determined. A person who has a will to walk in all of the duties of godliness, ordinarily walks in the practice of those holy duties that he has power to do, does what he can toward those duties that he cannot fully reach to, and mourns and grieves in his heart under his failings—this person may have ground to conclude that his spirit is sincerely willing although his flesh is weak. The willing mind is accepted by God as though the person really did perform the duty.
But there are those who:
Pretend to have a good will to godliness, but yet in their general course of life are carnal and careless, and there is little or nothing of a godly life to be seen;
Do not do what they can;
Do not endeavor to do what they cannot;
Do not mourn under their failings, but are content with them and do not seek God’s help in them.
They satisfy themselves that their will is good and that God accepts their will for the deed. They only deceive themselves. They are not upright before God and are not accepted by Him.
182The author to which this refers is uncertain due to there being multiple possibilities.
183The editor most firmly disagrees with Alleine here. The example he gives here concerning lust is fundamentally different from the descriptions he gives above and immediately below. The previous discussion concerned cases where a person is prevented by external forces from performing a duty. An example, used by Alleine below is the case where one might wish to show mercy (give alms), but is himself destitute and has nothing to give (2 Corinthians 8:12). Another example might be when one desires to attend public worship on the Sabbath, but is prevented due to illness or impassable roads. On the other hand, lust is caused by a person’s own indwelling sin when he gives in to temptation. Lust and any other disobedience to God, whether disobedience in commission or omission, has an internal cause and is fully sin. Temptations may have external causes, but temptations are not, themselves, sin. Sin can only have an internal cause (however much external things or the devil tempt us), and sin can never be accepted or excused by God since sin is utterly and infinitely against His very holy essence and being. It must be held firmly in mind that all sin is offensive to God. Thus all sin must be repented of. Every son or daughter of Adam is conceived a very rebel against God. This rebelliousness is sin. From this rebellious nature proceed all actual sins of heart, mind, will, tongue, and body. This rebellious nature is often called original sin. Original sin is still sin indeed, and is offensive to God. Thus all original sin, rebelliousness of the heart, and inclinations to other, more outward sins are still sin and must be repented of. A heart that unrepentantly sides against God for sin shows itself to be an unredeemed heart bound for Hell. In believers, remnants of original sin will persist even in the most sanctified people on this side of glory. However, Alleine’s example is worthy of examination, particularly as he will address this idea further. When the heart sides with God against sin, it is our Lord Jesus Christ who enables the heart to do this by the Holy Spirit, and who transfers that sin to Himself, having paid its penalty on the Cross. Therefore, that heart is indeed acceptable to our Holy Heavenly Father because of Christ crucified. Here, there is, indeed, sin; sin forgiven at great cost to Christ, but still sin. All of this must not be taken to mean that there is not vastly enormous value in obeying God by struggling mightily to put sin to death. Sin taken lightly is more heinous sin. A refusal to war against sin is further disobedience and thus greater sin. Willful, or presumptuous, sins are even more heinous. And, it cannot be doubted that an infinitely and perfectly just Heavenly Father will take into account the circumstances surrounding each of our sinful failings, including the degree to which we detest our sins and battle against them. He will also surely take into account the resources that He has given us to aid us in this battle. We may expect this to be true both in terms of His temporal discipline of His adopted children, and in terms of our eternal inheritance, an inheritance earned by Christ alone. A similar analysis applies with respect to duties. When impediment to performance is due to external causes, there is no sin. It could even be argued that when God providentially makes a duty impossible, it is no longer a duty. But if sin in the heart is the impediment, there is sin. To conclude: the editor is unable to escape the conclusion that Alleine was confused in his mind concerning these two cases, both with respect to sin, and with respect to duties. In the first case, there is a will to obey, but the will is thwarted by external causes. In the second case, there is some will to obey, but the will is thwarted by indwelling sin. In the first case, there is no sin. In the second case, there is sin, but forgiven sin for the true believer. While the two cases have similarities, the reader will do well to keep these fundamental differences in mind as he reads on to his profit.
184Alleine will shortly give some helps at self-evaluation, but also the editor wishes to suggest to the reader a simple and useful test. Imagine yourself about to commit a particular sin that you believe yourself unable to avoid. Now imagine someone points a machine gun at your head and orders you to desist. Are you able to not do it? Alternatively, imagine that the threat is a widely downloaded video of the sin event with commentary by your worst enemy. Now imagine yourself confronted with a particular duty that you believe yourself unable to do without sinning. Now imagine someone points a machine gun at your head and orders you to do it. Are you still unable to do it without sinning? This second test has its limitations; for example, driving to worship in a blizzard is less hazardous than getting shot in the head by a machine gun, but in the absence of that threat, it could be a violation of Sixth Commandment by recklessly endangering human life.
185This acceptance is only due to Christ’s merits, not because it is not still sin. It is also not as great a sin as it would be if done willfully, presumptuously, due to lack of watchfulness, or due to not avoiding (where possible) occasions or temptations to sin.
186For example, suppose we are angry with a brother whom we have offended. It may well be wise and necessary to deal first with our sinful anger so as to be better able to go to the brother in humility and self-denial and seek reconciliation.
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