The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
by John Flavel
File 2
(... continued from file 1)
Sermon 1.
The general Nature of effectual Application stated
1 Cor. 1: 30
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
He that enquires what is the just value and worth of Christ,
asks a question which puts all the men on earth, and angels in
heaven, to an everlasting non-plus.
The highest attainment of our knowledge in this life, is to
know, that himself and his love do pass knowledge, Eph. 3: 19.
But how excellent soever Christ is in himself, what treasures
of righteousness soever lie in his blood, and whatever joy, peace,
and ravishing comforts, spring up to men out of his incarnation,
humiliation, and exaltation, they all give down their distinct
benefits and comforts to them, in the way of effectual application.
For never was any wound healed by a prepared, but unapplied
plaister. Never any body warmed by the most costly garment made, but
not put on: Never any heart refreshed and comforted by the richest
cordial compounded, but not received: Nor from the beginning of the
world was it ever known, that a poor deceived, condemned, polluted,
miserable sinner, was actually delivered out of that woeful state,
until of God, Christ was made unto him, wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption.
For look as the condemnation of the first Adam passeth not to
us, except (as by generation) we are his; so grace and remission
pass not from the second Adam to us, except (as by regeneration) we
are his. Adam's sin hurts none but those that are in him: and
Christ's blood profits none but those that are in him: How great a
weight therefore does there hang upon the effectual application of
Christ to the souls of men! And what is there in the whole world so
awfully solemn, so greatly important, as this is! Such is the strong
consolation resulting from it, that the apostle, in this context,
offers it to the believing Corinthians, as a superabundant
recompence for the despicable meanness, and baseness of their
outward condition in this world, of which he had just before spoken
in ver. 27, 28. telling them, though the world condemned them as
vile, foolish, and weak, yet "of God Christ is made unto them wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption."
In which words we have an enumeration of the chief privileges
of believers, and an account of the method whereby they come to be
invested with them.
First, Their privileges are enumerated, namely, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, mercies of
inestimable value in themselves, and such as respect a fourfold
misery lying upon sinful man, viz. ignorance, guilt, pollution, and
the whole train of miserable consequences and effects, let in upon
the nature of men, yea, the best and holiest of men, by sin.
Lapsed man is not only deep in misery, but grossly ignorant,
both that he is so, and how to recover himself from it: Sin has left
him at once senseless of his state, and at a perfect loss about the
true remedy.
To cure this, Christ is made to him wisdom, not only by
improvement of those treasures of wisdom that are in himself; for
the benefit of such souls as are united to him, as an head,
consulting the good of his own members; but also, by imparting his
wisdom to them by the Spirit of illumination, whereby they come to
discern both their sin and danger; as also the true way of their
recovery from both, through the application of Christ to their souls
by faith.
But alas! simple illumination does but increase our burden, and
exasperate our misery as long as sin in the guilt of it is either
imputed to our persons unto condemnation, or reflected by our
consciences in a way of accusation.
With design therefore to remedy and heal this sore evil, Christ
is made of God unto us righteousness, complete and perfect
righteousness, whereby our obligation to punishment is dissolved,
and thereby a solid foundation for a well-settled peace of
conscience firmly established.
Yea, but although the removing of guilt from our persons and
consciences be an inestimable mercy, yet alone it cannot make us
completely happy: For though a man should never be damned for sin,
yet what is it less than hell upon earth, to be under the dominion
and pollution of every base lust? It is misery enough to be daily
defiled by sin, though a man should never be damned for it.
To complete therefore the happiness of the redeemed; Christ is
not only made of God unto them wisdom and righteousness, the one
curing our ignorance, the other our guilt; but he is made
sanctification also, to relieve us against the dominion and
pollutions of our corruptions: "He comes both by water and by blood,
not by blood only, but by water also," 1 John 5: 6. purging as well
as pardoning: How complete and perfect a cure is Christ!
But yet something is required beyond all this to make our
happiness perfect and entire wanting nothing; and that is the
removal of those doleful effects and consequences of sin, which (not
withstanding all the fore-mentioned privileges and mercies) still
lie upon the souls and bodies of illuminated, justified, and
sanctified persons. For even with the best and holiest of men, what
swarms of vanity, loads of deadness, and fits of unbelief, do daily
appear in, and oppress their souls! to the embittering of all the
comforts of life to them? And how many diseases, deformities, and
pains oppress their bodies, which daily boulder away by them, till
they fall into the grave by death, even as the bodies of other men
do, who never received such privileges from Christ as they do? For
if "Christ be in us (as the apostle speaks, Rom. 8: 10.) the body is
dead, because of sin:" Sanctification exempts us not from mortality.
But from all these, and whatsoever else, the fruits and
consequences of sin, Christ is redemption to his people also: This
seals up the sum of mercies: This so completes the happiness of the
saints, that it leaves nothing to desire.
These four, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and
redemption, take in all that is necessary or desirable, to make a
soul truly and perfectly blessed.
Secondly, We have here the method and way, by which the elect
come to be invested with these excellent privileges: the account
whereof the apostle gives us in these words, "Who of God is made
unto us," in which expression, four things are remarkable.
First, That Christ and his benefits go inseparably and
undividedly together: it is Christ himself who is made all this unto
us: we can have no saving benefit separate and apart from the person
of Christ: many would willingly receive his privileges, who will not
receive his person; but it cannot be; if we will have one, we must
take the other too: Yea, we must accept his person first, and then
his benefits: as it is in the marriage covenant, so it is here.
Secondly, that Christ with his benefits must be personally and
particularly applied to us, before we can receive any actual, saving
privilege by him; he must be [made unto us] i.e. particularly ap
lied to us: as a sum of money becomes, or is made the ransom and
liberty of a captive, when it is not only promised, but paid down in
his name, and legally applied for that use and end. When Christ
died, the ransom was prepared, the sum laid down; but yet the elect
continue still in sin and misery, notwithstanding, till by effectual
calling it be actually applied to their persons, and then they are
made free, Rom. 5: 10-11. reconciled by Christ's death, by whom "we
have now received the atonement".
Thirdly, That this application of Christ is the work of God,
and not of man: "Of God he is made unto us:" The same hand that
prepared it, must also apply it, or else we perish, notwithstanding
all that the Father has done in contriving, and appointing, and all
that the Son has done in executing, and accomplishing the design
thus far. And this actual application is the work of the Spirit, by
a singular appropriation.
Fourthly and lastly, This expression imports the suitableness
of Christ, to the necessities of sinners; what they want, he is made
to them; and indeed, as money answers all things, and is convertible
into meat, drink, raiment, physic, or what else our bodily
necessities do require; so Christ is virtually, and eminently all
that the necessities of our souls require; bread to the hungry, and
clothing to the naked soul. In a word, God prepared and furnished
him on purpose to answer all our wants, which fully suits the
apostle's sense, when he saith, "Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption." The sum of all
is,
Doct. That the lord Jesus Christ, with all his precious
benefits, becomes ours, by God's special and effectual
application.
There is a twofold application of our redemption, one primary.
the other secondary: The former is the act of God the Father,
applying it to Christ our surety, and virtually to us in him: the
latter is the act of the Holy Spirit, personally and actually
applying it to us in the world of conversion: The former has the
respect and relation of an example, model, or pattern to this; and
this is produced and wrought by the virtue of that. What was done
upon the person of Christ, was not only virtually done upon us,
considered in him as a common public representative person, in which
sense, we are said to die with him, and live with him, to be
crucified with him, and buried with him, but it was also intended
for a platform, or idea, of what is to be done by the Spirit,
actually upon our souls and bodies, in our single persons. As he
died for sin, so the Spirit applying his death to us in the work of
mortification, causes us to die to sin, by the virtue of his death:
And as he was quickened by the Spirit, and raised unto life, so the
Spirit applying unto us the life of Christ, causeth us to live, by
spiritual vivification. Now this personal, secondary, and actual
application of redemption to us by the Spirit, in his sanctifying
work, is that which I am engaged here to discuss and open; which I
shall do in these following propositions.
Prop. 1. The application of Christ to us, is not only
comprehensive of our justification, but of all these works of the
Spirit which are known to us in scripture by the names of
regeneration, vocation, sanctification, and conversion.
Though all these terms have some small respective differences
among themselves, yet they are all included in this general, the
applying and putting on of Christ, Rom. 13: 14. "Put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ."
Regeneration expresses those supernatural, divine, new
qualities, infused by the Spirit into the soul, which are the
principles of all holy actions.
Vocation expresses the terms from which, and to which, the soul
moves, when the Spirit works savingly upon it, under the gospel
call.
Sanctification notes an holy dedication of heart and life to
God: our becoming the temples of the living, God, separate from all
profane sinful practices, to the Lord's only use and service.
Conversions denotes the great change itself, which the Spirit
causeth upon the soul, turning it by a sweet irresistible efficacy
from the power of sin and Satan, to God in Christ.
Now all these are imported in, and done by the application of
Christ to our souls: for when once the efficacy of Christ's death,
and the virtue of his resurrection, come to take place upon the
heart of any man, he cannot but turn from sin to God, and become a
new creature, living and acting by new principles and rules. So the
apostle observes, 1 Thess. 1: 5, 6. speaking of the effect of this
work of the Spirit upon that people, "Our gospel (saith he) came not
to you in word only, but in power; and in the Holy Ghost:" There was
the effectual application of Christ to them. "And you became
followers of us, and of the Lord," ver. 6. there was their effectual
call. "And ye turned from dumb idols to serve the living and true
God, ver. 9. there was their conversion. "So that ye were ensamples
to all that believe," ver. 9. there was their life of sanctification
or dedication to God. So that all these are comprehended in
effectual application.
Prop. 2. The application of Christ to the souls of men is that
great project and design of God in this world, for the
accomplishment whereof all the ordinances and all the officers of
the gospel are appointed and continued in the world.
this the gospel expressly declared to be its direct end, and
the great business of all its officers, Eph. 4: 11, 12. "And he gave
some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some
pastors and teachers; till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and the knowledge of the Son of God; to a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," i.e. the great aim
and scope at all Christ's ordinances and officers, are to bring men
into union with Christ, and so build them up to perfection in him;
or to unite them to, and confirm them in Christ: and when it shall
have finished this design, then shall the whole frame of
gospel-ordinances be taken down, and all its officers disbanded.
"The kingdom (i.e. this present oeconomy, manner, and form of
government) shall be delivered up," 1 Cor. 15: 24. What are
ministers, but the bridegroom's friends, ambassadors for God, to
beseech men to be reconciled? When therefore all the elect are
brought home in a reconciled state in Christ, when the marriage of
the Lamb is come, our work and office expire together.
Prop. 3. Such is the importance and great concernment of the
personal application of Christ to us by the Spirit, that whatsoever
the Father has done in the contrivance, or the Son has done in the
accomplishment of our redemption, is all unavailable and ineffectual
to our salvation without this.
It is confessedly true, that God's good pleasure appointing us
from eternity to salvation, is, in its kind, a most full and
sufficient impulsive cause of our salvation, and every way able (for
so much as it is concerned) to produce its effect. And Christ's
humiliation and sufferings are a most complete and sufficient
meritorious cause of our salvation, to which nothing can be addled
to make it more apt, and able to procure our salvation, than it
already is: yet neither the one nor the other can actually save any
soul, without the Spirit's application of Christ to it; for where
there are divers social causes, or concauses, necessary to produce
one effect, there the effect cannot be produced until the last cause
has wrought. Thus it is here, the Father has elected, and the Son
has redeemed; but until the Spirit (who is the last cause) has
wrought his part also, we cannot be saved. For he comes in the
Father's and n the Son's name and authority, to put the last hand to
the work of our salvation, by bringing all the fruits of election
and redemption home to our souls in this work at effectual vocation.
Hence the apostle, 1 Pet. 1: 2. noting the order of causes in their
operations, for the bringing about of our salvation, thus states it,
"elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ." Here you find God's election and Christ's
blood, the two great causes of salvation, and yet neither of these
alone, nor both together can save us: there must be added the
sanctification of the Spirit, by which God's decree is executed; and
the sprinkling (i. e. the personal application of Christ's blood) as
well as the shedding of it, before we can have the saving benefit of
either of the former causes.
Prop. 4. The application of Christ, with his saving benefits,
is exactly of the same extent and latitude with the Father's
election, and the Son's intention in dying, and cannot possibly be
extended to one soul farther.
"Whom he did predestinate, them he also called," Rom. 8: 30.
and Acts 13: 48. "As many as were ordained to eternal life,
believed;" 2 Tim. 1: 9. "Who has saved and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ, before the
foundation of the world."
The Father, Son, and Spirit, (betwixt whom was the council of
peace) work out their design in a perfect harmony and consent: as
there was no jar in their council, so there can be none in the
execution of it: those whom the Father, before all time, did chose;
they, and they only, are the persons, whom the Son, when the fulness
of time for the execution of that decree was come, died for, John
17: 6. "I have manifested thy name unto the men, which thou gavest
me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me;" and
ver. 19. "For their sakes I sanctify myself;" i.e. consecrate,
devote, or set myself apart for a sacrifice for them. And those for
whom Christ died, are the persons to whom the Spirit effectually
applies the benefits and purchases of his blood: he comes in the
name of the Father and Son. "But the world cannot receive him, for
it neither sees, nor knows him," John 14: 17. "They that are not of
Christ's sheep, believe not," John 10: 26.
Christ has indeed a fulness of saving power, but the
dispensation thereof is limited by the Father's will; therefore he
tells us, Mat. 20: 23. " It is not mine to give, but it shall be
given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." In which words
he no ways denies his authority, to give glory as well as grace; he
only shows that in the dispensation proper to him, as Mediator, he
was limited by his Father's will and counsel.
And thus also are the dispensations of grace by the Spirit, in
like manner, limited, both by the counsel and will of the Father and
Son. For as he proceeds from them, so he acts in the administration
proper to him, by commission from both. John 14: 26. "The Holy Ghost
whom the Father will send in my name:" and as he comes forth into
the world by this joint commission, so his dispensations are limited
in his commission; for it is said, Johns 16: 13. "He shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak?" i.e.
He shall in all things act according to his commission, which the
Father and I have given him.
The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father
do, John 5: 19. And the Spirit can do nothing of himself; but what
he hears from the Father and Son; and it is impossible it should be
otherwise, considering not only the unity of their nature, but also
of their will and design. So that you see the application of Christ,
and benefits by the Spirit, are commensurable with the Father's
secret counsel, and the Son's design in dying, which are the rule,
model, and pattern of the Spirit's working.
Prop. 5. The application of Christ to souls, by the
regenerating work of the Spirit, is that which makes the first
internal difference and distinction among men.
It is very true, that in respect of God's fore-knowledge and
purpose, there was a distinction betwixt one man and another, before
any man had a being, one was taken, another left: and with respect
to the death of Christ, there is a great difference betwixt one and
another; he laid down his life for the sheep, he prayed for them,
and not for the world; but all this while, as to any relative change
of state, or real change of temper, they are upon a level with the
rest of the miserable world. The elect themselves are "by nature the
children of wrath, even as others," Eph. 2: 3. And to the same
purpose the apostle tells the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 6: 11. (when he
had given in that black bill, describing the most lewd, profligate,
abominable wretches in the world, men whose practices did stink in
the very nostrils of nature, and were able to make the more sober
Heathens blush; after this he tells the Corinthians) "And such were
some of you, but ye are washed," &c. q. d. look, these were your
companions once: as they are, you lately were.
The work of the Spirit does not only evidence and manifest that
difference which God's election has made between man and man, as the
apostle speaks, 1 Thes. 1: 4, 5. But it also makes a twofold
difference itself; namely in state and temper? whereby they visibly
differ, not only from other men, but also from themselves; after
this work, though a man be the "who", yet not the "what" he was.
This work of the spirit makes us new creatures, namely; for quality
and temper, 2 Cor. 5: 17. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature; old things are past away, behold, all things are become
new."
Prop. 6. The application of Christ, by the work of
regeneration, is that which yield unto men all the sensible
sweetness and refreshing comforts that they have in Christ, and in
all that he has done, suffered, or purchased for sinners.
An unsanctified person may relish the natural sweetness of the
creature, as well as he that is sanctified; he may also seem to
relish and taste some sweetness in the delicious promises and
discoveries of the gospel, by a misapplication of them to himself.
But this is like the joy of a beggar, dreaming he is a king; but he
awakes and finds himself a beggar still: but for the rational,
solid, and genuine delights and comforts of religion, no man tastes
them, till this work of the Spirit has first passed upon his soul:
it is an enclosed pleasure, a stranger intermeddles not with it.
"The white stone, and the new name," (denoting the pleasant results
and fruits of justification and adoption) "no man knows but he that
receives it," Rev. 2: 7. There are all those things wanton, in the
unsanctified (though elect) soul, that should capacitate and enable
it to relish the sweetness of Christ and religion, namely,
propriety, evidence, and suitableness of spirit.
Propriety is the sweetest part of any excellency; therefore
Luther was wont to say, that the sweetness of the gospel lay mostly
in pronouns, as me, any, thy, &c. who loved [me] and gave himself
for me, Gal. 2: 20. Christ Jesus [my] Lord, Phil. 3: 18. So Matt. 9:
2. Son, be of good cheer, [thy] sins are forgiven. Take away
propriety, and you deflower the very gospel of its beauty and
deliciousness: and as propriety, so
Evidence is requisite to joy and comfort; yea, so necessary,
that even interest and propriety afford no sensible sweetness
without it. For as to comfort, it is all one not to appear, and not
to be. If I am registered in the book of life, and know it not, what
comfort can my name there afford me? Besides, to capacitate a soul
for the sweetness and comfort of Christ there is also an agreeable
temper of spirit required; for how can Christ be sweet to that man's
soul, whose thoughts reluctate, decline, or nauseate so holy and
pure an object? Now, all these requisites being the proper effects
and fruits of the Spirit's sanctifying operations upon us, it is
beyond controversy, that the consolations of Christ cannot be
tasted, until the application of Christ be first made.
Prop. 7. The application of Christ to the soul effectually,
though it be so far wrought in the first saving work of the Spirit,
as truly to unite the soul to Christ, and save it from the danger of
perishing; yet it is a work gradually advancing in the believer's
soul, whilst it abides on this side heaven and glory.
It is true, indeed, that Christ is perfectly and completely
applied to the soul in the first act for righteousness.
"Justification being a relative change, properly admits no degrees,
but is perfected together, and at once, in one only act; though as
to its manifestation, sense, and effects, it has various degrees."
But the application of Christ to us, for wisdom and sanctification,
is not perfected in one single act, but rises by many, and slow
degrees to its just perfection.
And thought we are truly said to be come to Christ when we
first believe, John 6: 35. yet the soul after that is still coming
to him by farther acts of faith, 1 Pet. 2: 4. "To whom [coming] as
unto a living stone;" the participle notes a continued motion, by
which the soul gains ground, and still gets nearer and nearer to
Christ; growing still more inwardly acquainted with him. The
knowledge of Christ grows upon the soul as the morning light, from
its first spring to the perfect day, Prov. 4: 18. Every grace of the
Spirit grows, if not sensibly, yet really: for it is in discerning
the growth of sanctification, as it is in discerning the growth of
plants, which we perceive rather crevisse, quam crescere; to have
grown, rather than grow. And as it thrives in the soul, by deeper
radications of the habits, and more promptitude and spirituality in
the acting; so Christ, and the soul proportionally, close more and
more inwardly and efficaciously, till at last it is wholly swallowed
up in Christ's full and perfect enjoyment.
Prop. 8. Lastly, Although the several privileges and benefits
before mentioned are all true and really bestowed with Christ upon
believers, yet they are not communicated to them in one and the same
day and manner; but differently and divers, as their respective
natures do require.
These four illustrious benefits are conveyed from Christ to us
in three different ways and methods; his righteousness is made ours
by imputation: his wisdom and sanctification by renovation: his
redemption by our glorification.
I know the communication of Christ's righteousness to us by
imputations is not only denied, but scoffed at by Papists; who own
no righteousness, but what is (at least) confounded with that which
is inherent in us; and for imputative (blasphemously stiled by them
putative righteousness, they flatly deny it, and look upon it as a
most absurd doctrine, every where endeavouring to load it with these
and such like absurdities, That if God imputes Christ's
righteousness to the believer, and accepts what Christ has performed
for him, as if he had performed it himself; then we may be accounted
as righteous as Christ. Then we may be the redeemers of the world.
False and groundless consequences; as if a man should say, my debt
is paid by my surety, therefore I am as rich as he. "When we say the
righteousness of Christ is made ours by imputation, we think not
that it is made ours according in its universal value, but according
to our particular necessity: not to make others righteous, but to
make us so: not that we have the formal intrinsical righteousness of
Christ in us, as it is in him, but a relative righteousness, which
makes us righteous, even as he is righteous; not as to the quantity,
but as to the truth of it: nor is it imputed to us, as though Christ
designed to make us the causes of salvation to others, but the
subjects of salvation, ourselves," it is inhesively in him,
communicatively it becomes ours, by imputation, the sin of the first
Adam becomes ours, and the same way the righteousness of the second
Adam becomes ours, Rom. 5: 17. This way the Redeemer became sin for
us, and this way we are made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor.
5: 21. This way Abraham the father of believers was justified,
therefore this way all believers, the children of Abraham, must be
justified also, Rom. 4: 22, 23. And thus is Christ's righteousness
made ours.
But in conveying, and communicating his wisdom and
sanctification, he takes another method, for this is not imputed,
but really imparted to us by the illuminating and regenerating work
of the Spirit: these are graces really inherent in us: our
righteousness comes from Christ as a surety but our holiness comes
from him as a quickening head, sending vital influences unto all his
members.
Now these gracious habits being subjected and seated in the
souls of poor imperfect creatures, whose corruptions abide and work
in the very same faculties where grace has its residence; it cannot
be, that our sanctification should be so perfect and complete, as
our justification is, which inheres only in Christ. See Gal. 5: 17.
Thus are righteousness and sanctification communicated and made
ours: but then,
For redemption, that is to say, absolute and plenary
deliverance from all the sad remains, effects, and consequences of
sin, both upon soul and body; this is made ours, (or, to keep to the
terms) Christ is made redemption to us by glorification; then, and
not before, are these miserable effects removed; we put off these
together with the body. So that look, as justification cures the
guilt of sin, and sanctification the dominion of sin, so
glorification removes, together with its existence and being, all
those miseries which it let in (as at a flood-gate) upon our whole
man, Eph. 5: 26, 27.
And thus of God, Christ is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness, sanctification and redemption; namely, by imputation,
regeneration, and glorification.
I shall next improve the point in some useful inferences.
Inference 1. Learn from hence, what a naked, destitute, and
empty thing, a poor sinner is, in his natural unregenerate state.
He is one that naturally and inherently has neither wisdom, nor
righteousness, sanctification nor redemption; all these must come
from without himself, even from Christ, who is made all this to a
sinner, or else he must eternally perish.
As no creature (in respect of external abilities) comes under
more natural weakness into the world than man, naked, empty, and
more shiftless and helpless than any other creature; so it is with
his soul, yea, much more than so: all our excellencies are borrowed
excellencies, no reason therefore to be proud of any of them, 1 Cor.
4: 7. "What hast thou that thou hast not received? Now, if thou
didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received
it?" q. d. that intolerable insolence and vanity would it be for a
man that wears the rich and costly robe of Christ's righteousness,
in which there is not one thread of his own spinning, but all made
by free-grace, and not by free-will, to jet proudly up and down the
world in it, as if himself had made it, and he were beholden to none
for it? O man! thine excellencies, whatever they are, are borrowed
from Christ, they oblige thee to him, but he can be no more obliged
to thee, who wearest them, than the sun is obliged to him that
borrows its light, or the fountain to him that draws its water for
his use and benefit.
And it has ever been the care of holy men, when they have
viewed their own gracious principles, or best performances, still to
disclaim themselves, and own free-grace as the sole author of all.
Thus holy Paul, viewing the principles of divine life in himself,
(the richest gift bestowed upon man in this world by Jesus Christ)
how does he renounce himself, and deny the least part of the praise
and glory as belonging to him, Gal. 2: 20. "Now I live, yet not I;
but Christ liveth in me": and so for the best duties that ever he
performed for God: (and what mere man ever did more for God?) Yet
when, in a just and necessary defence, he was constrained to mention
them, 1 Cor. 15: 10. how carefully is the like [Yet not I] presently
added? "I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me."
Well then, let the sense of your own emptiness by nature humble
and oblige you the more to Christ, from whom you receive all you
have.
Infer. 2. Hence we are informed, that none can claim benefit by
imputed righteousness, but those only that live in the power of
inherent holiness; to whomsoever Christ was made righteousness, to
him he also was made sanctification.
The gospel has not the least favour for licentiousness. It is
every way as careful to press men to their duties as to instruct
them in their privileges, Tit. 3: 8. "This is a faithful saying; and
these things I will that ye affirm constantly; that they which have
believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works." It is a
loose principle, divulged by libertines, to the reproach of Christ
and his gospel, that sanctification is not the evidence of our
justification. And Christ is as much wronged by them who separate
holiness from righteousness (as if a sensual vile life were
consistent with a justified state) as he is in the contrary extreme,
by those who confound Christ's righteousness with man's holiness, in
the point of justification; or that own no other righteousness, but
what is inherent in themselves. The former opinion makes him a cloak
for sin, the latter a needless sacrifice for sin.
It is true, our sanctification cannot justify us before God;
but what then, can it not evidence our justification before men? Is
there no necessity, or use for holiness, because it has no hand in
our justification? Is the preparation of the soul for heaven, by
altering its frame and temper, nothing? Is the glorifying of our
Redeemer, by the exercises of grace in the world, nothing? Does the
work of Christ render the work of the Spirit needless? God forbid:
"He came not by blood only, but by water also," 1 John 5: 6. And
when the apostle saith, in Rom. 4: 5. "But unto him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness", the scope of it is neither to
characterise and describe the justified person, as one that is lazy
and slothful, and has no mind to work, nor the rebellious and
refractory, refusing obedience to the commands of God; but to
represent him as an humbled sinner, who is convinced of his
inability to work out his own righteousness by the law, and sees all
his endeavours to obey the law fall short of righteousness, and
therefore is said, in a law-sense, not to work, because he does not
work so as to answer the purpose and end of the law, which accepts
of nothing beneath perfect obedience.
And when (in the same text) the ungodly are said to be
justified, that character describes not the temper and frame of
their hearts and lives, after their justification, but what it was
before; not as it leaves, but as it found them.
Infer. 3. How unreasonable, and worse than brutish, is the sin
of infidelity, by which the sinner rejects Christ, and with him all
those mercies, and benefits, which alone can relieve and cure his
misery!
He is by nature blind and ignorant, and yet refuses Christ, who
comes to him with heavenly light and wisdom, he is condemned by the
terrible sentence of the law to eternal wrath, and yet rejects
Christ, who renders to him complete and perfect righteousness: he is
wholly polluted and plunged into original and actual pollution of
nature and practice, yet will have none of Christ, who would become
sanctification to him. He is oppressed in soul and body, with the
deplorable effects and miseries sin has brought upon him, and yet is
so in love with his bondage, that he will neither accept Christ, nor
the redemption he brings with him to sinners.
O! what monsters, what beasts has sin turned its subjects into!
"You will not come to me that ye may have life," John 5: 40. Sin has
stabbed the sinner to the heart, the wounds are all mortal, eternal
death is in his face; Christ has prepared the only plaister that can
cure his wounds, but he will not suffer him to apply it. He acts
like one in love with death, and that judges it sweet to perish. So
Christ tells us, Prov. 8: 36 "All they that hate me, love death:"
not in itself but in its causes, with which it is inseparably
connected. They are loth to burn, yet willing to sin; though sin
kindle those everlasting flames. So that in two things the
unbeliever shows himself worse than brutish, he cannot think of
damnation, the effect of sin, without horror; and cannot yet think
of sin, the cause of damnation, without pleasure; he is loth to
perish to all eternity without a remedy, and yet refuses and
declines Christ as if he were an enemy, who only can and would
deliver him from that eternal perdition.
How do men act therefore, as if they were in love with their
own ruin! Many poor wretches now in the way to hell, what an hard
shift do they make to cast themselves away! Christ meets them many
times in the ordinances, where they studiously shun him: many times
checks them in their way by convictions, which they make an hard
shift to overcome and conquer. Oh how willing are they to accept a
cure, a benefit, a remedy, for any thing but their souls! You see
then that sinners cannot, (should they study all their days to do
themselves a mischief), take a readier course to undo themselves,
than by rejecting Christ in his gracious offers.
Surely the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is less shall this sin.
Mercy itself is exasperated by it, and the damnation of such as
reject Christ, (so prepared for them, with whatever they need, and
so seriously and frequently offered to them upon the knee of gospel
entreaty), is just, inevitable, and will be more intolerable the to
any in the world beside them. It is just, for the sinner has but his
own option, or choice: he is but come to the end which he was often
told his way would bring him to. It is inevitable, for there is no
other way to salvation, but that which is rejected. And it will be
more intolerable than the damnation of others, because neither
heathens nor devils ever aggravated their sins by such an horrid
circumstance, as the wilful refusing of such an apt, offered, and
only remedy.
Infer. 4. What a tremendous symptom of wrath, and sad character
of death, appears upon that mans' soul, to which no effectual
application of Christ can be made by the gospel.
Christ, with his benefits, is frequently tendered to them in
the gospel; they have been beseeched once and again, upon the knee
of importunity, to accept him; those entreaties and persuasions have
been urged by the greatest arguments, the command of God, the love
of Christ, the inconceivable happiness or misery which unavoidably
follow the accepting or rejecting of those offers, and yet nothing
will affect them: all their pleas for infidelity have been over and
over confuted, their reasons and consciences have stood convinced,
they have been speechless, as well as Christless: not one sound
argument is found with them to defend their infidelity: they confess
in general, that such courses as theirs are, lead to destruction.
They will yield them to be happy souls that are in Christ; and yet,
when it comes to the point, their own closing with him, nothing will
do; all arguments, all entreaties, return to us without success.
Lord! what is the reason of this unaccountable obstinacy? In
other things it is not so: If they be sick, they are so far from
rejecting a physician that offers himself, that they will send, and
pray, and pay him too. If they be arrested for debt, and anyone will
be a surety, and pay their debts for them, words can hardly express
the sense they have of such a kindness: but though Christ would be
both a physician and surety, and whatever else their needs require,
they will rather perish to eternity, than accept him. What may we
fear to be the reason of this, but because they are not of Christ's
sheep, John 10: 26. The Lord open the eyes of poor sinners, to
apprehend not only how great a sin, but how dreadful a sign this is.
Infer. 5 If Christ, with all his benefits, be made ours, by
God's special application, what a day of mercies then is the day of
conversion! What multitudes of choice blessings visit the converted
soul in that day!
"This day (saith Christ to Zaccheus, Luke 19: 9) is salvation
come to this house." In this day, Christ comes into the soul, and he
comes not empty, but brings with him all his treasures of wisdom and
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Troops of mercies,
yea, of the best of mercies, come with him. It is a day of singular
gladness and joy to the heart of Christ, when he is espoused to, and
received by the believing soul: it is a coronation day to a king. So
you read, Cant. 3: 11. "Go forth, O ye daughters of Sion, and behold
king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the
day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart."
Where, under the type of Solomon in his greatest magnificence
and glory, when the royal diadem was set upon his head, and the
people shouted for joy, so that the earth did ring again, is
shadowed out the joy of Christ's heart, when poor souls, by their
high estimation of him, and consent to his government, do, as it
were, crown him with glory and honour, and make his heart glad.
Now, if the day of our espousals to Christ be the day of the
gladness of his heart, and he reckons himself thus honoured and
glorified by us, what a day of joy and gladness should it be to our
hearts, and how should we be transported with joy, to see a King
from heaven, with all his treasures of grace and glory, bestowing
himself freely, and everlastingly upon us, as our portion! No wonder
Zaccheus came down joyfully, Luke 19: 6; that the eunuch went home
rejoicing, Acts 8: 39. that the gaoler rejoiced, believing in God
with all his household, Acts 16: 34. that they that were converted,
did eat their meat with gladness, praising God, Acts 2: 41, 46. that
there was great joy among them at Samaria, when Christ came among
them in the preaching of the gospel, Acts 8: 5, 8. I say, it is no
wonder we read of such joy accompanying Christ into the soul, when
we consider, that in one day, so many blessings meet together in it,
the least of which is not to be exchanged for all the kingdoms of
this world, and the glory of them. Eternity itself will but suffice
to bless God for the mercies of this one day.
Infer. 6. If Christ be made all this to every soul, unto whom
he is effectually applied, what cause then have those souls, that
are under the preparatory work of the Spirit, and are come nigh to
Christ and all his benefits, to stretch out their hands, with
vehement desire to Christ, and give him the most important
invitation into their souls!
The whole world is distinguishable into three classes, or sorts
of persons; such as are far from Christ; such as are not far from
Christ; and such as are in Christ. They that are in Christ have
heartily received him. Such as are far from Christ, will not open to
him; their hearts are fast barred by ignorance, prejudice, and
unbelief against him: But those that are come under the preparatory
workings of the Spirit, nigh to Christ, who see their own
indispensable necessity of him, and his suitableness to their
necessities, in whom also encouraging hopes begins to dawn, and
their souls are waiting at the foot of God for power to receive him,
for an heart to close sincerely and universally with him; O what
vehement desires! what strong pleas! what moving arguments should
such persons urge, and plead to win Christ, and get possession of
him! they are in sight of their only remedy; Christ and salvation
are come to their very doors; there wants but a few things to make
them blessed for ever. This is the day in which their souls are
exercised between hopes and fears: Now they are much alone, and deep
in thoughtfulness, they weep and make supplication for a heart to
believe, and that against the great discouragements with which they
encounter.
Reader, if this be the case of thy soul, it will not be the
least piece of service I can do for thee, to suggest such pleas as
in this case are proper to be urged for the attainment of thy
desires, and the closing of the match between Christ and thee.
First, Plead the absolute necessity which now drives thee to
Christ: Tell him thy hope is utterly perished in all other refuges.
Thou art come like a starving beggar to the last door of hope. Tell
him thou now beginnest to see the absolute necessity of Christ. Thy
body has not so much need of bread, water, or air, as thy soul has
of Christ, and that wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and
redemption, that are in him.
Secondly, Plead the Father's gracious design in furnishing and
sending him into the world, and his own design in accepting the
Father's call. Lord Jesus, was thou not "anointed to preach good
tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, and to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound?" Isa. 61: 1, 3. Behold an object suitable to thine
office: whilst I was ignorant of my condition, I have a proud
rebellious heart, but conviction and self-acquaintance have now
melted it: my heart was harder than the nether millstone, and it was
as easy to dissolve the obdurate rocks, as to thaw and melt my heart
for sin; but now God has made my heart soft, I sensibly feel the
misery of my condition. I once thought myself at perfect liberty,
but now I see what I conceited to be perfect liberty, is perfect
bondage; and never did a poor prisoner sigh for deliverance more
than I. Since then thou hast given me a soul thus qualified, though
still unworthy, for the exercise of thine office, and execution of
thy commission; Lord Jesus, be, according to thy name, a Jesus unto
me.
Thirdly, Plead the unlimited and general invitation made to
such souls as you are, to come to Christ freely. Lord, thou hast
made open proclamations; "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to
the waters, Is. 55: 1. And Rev. 22: 17. "Him that is a-thirst come".
In obedience to thy call, lo, I come; had I not been invited, my
coming to thee, dear Lord Jesus, had been an act of presumption, but
this makes it an act of duty and obedience.
Fourthly, Plea the unprofitableness of thy blood to God; Lord,
there is no profit in my blood, it will turn to no more advantage to
thee to destroy, than it will to save me: if thou send me to hell,
(as the merit of my sin calls upon thy justice ot do,) I shall be
there dishonouring thee to all eternity, and the debt I owe thee
never paid. But, if thou apply thy Christ to me for righteousness,
satisfaction for all that I have done will be laid down in one full,
complete sum; indeed, if the honour of thy justice lay as a bar to
my pardon, it would stop my mouth: but when thy justice, as well as
thy mercy, shall both rejoice together, and be glorified and pleased
in the same act, what hinders but that Christ be applied to my soul,
since, in so doing, God can be no loser by it?
Fifthly, and lastly, Plead thy compliance with the terms of the
gospel: tell him, Lord, my will complies fully and heartily to all
thy gracious terms, I can now subscribe a blank: let God offer his
Christ on what terms he will, my heart is ready to comply; I have no
exception against any article of the gospel. And now, Lord, I wholly
refer myself to thy pleasure; do with me what seems good in thine
eyes, only give me an interest in Jesus Christ; as to all other
concerns I lie at thy feet, in full resignation of all to thy
pleasure. Never did any perish in that posture and frame; and I hope
I shall not be made the first instance and example.
Inf. 7. Lastly, If Christ, with all his benefits, be made ours,
by a special application; how contented, thankful, comfortable, and
hopeful, should believers be, in every condition which God casts
them into in this world!
After such a mercy as this, let them never open their mouths
any more to repine and grudge at the outward inconveniences of their
condition in this world. What are the things you want, compared with
the things you enjoy? What is a little money, health, or liberty, to
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? All the
crowns and sceptres in the world, sold to their full value, are no
price for the least of these mercies. But I will not insist here,
your duty lies much higher than contentment.
Be thankful, as well as content, in every state. "Blessed be
God, (saith the apostle) the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all [spiritual blessings] in heavenly places in
Christ:" O think what are men to angels, that Christ should pass by
them to become a Saviour to men? And what art thou among men, that
thou shouldst be taken, and others left! And among all the mercies
of God, what mercies are comparable to these conferred upon thee? O
bless God in the lowest ebb of outward comforts, for such privileges
as these.
And yet you will not come up to your duty in all this, except
you be joyful in the Lord, and rejoice evermore after the receipt of
such mercies as these, Phil. 4: 4. "Rejoice in the Lord ye
righteous, and again I say rejoice." For has not the poor captive
reason to rejoice, when he has recovered his liberty? The debtor to
rejoice when all scores are cleared, and he owes nothing? The weary
traveller to rejoice, though he be not owner of a shilling, when he
is come almost home, where all his wants shall be supplied? Why this
is our case, when Christ once becomes yours: you are the Lord's
freemen, your debts to justice are all satisfied by Christ; and you
are within a little of complete redemption from all the troubles and
inconveniences of your present state.
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.
The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
(continued in file 3...)
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