The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
by John Flavel
File 33
(... continued from file 32)
Sermon 31.
Of the State of Spiritual Death, and the Misery thereof.
Eph. 5: 14.
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
This scripture represents unto us the miserable and lamentable state
of the unregenerate, as being under the power of spiritual death,
which is the cause and inlet of all other miseries. From hence,
therefore, I shall make the first discovery of the woful and
wretched state of them that apply not Jesus Christ to their own
souls.
The scope of the apostle in this context, is to press believers
to a circumspect and holy life; to "walk as children of light." This
exhortation is laid down in ver. 8. and pressed by divers arguments
in the following verses.
First, From the tendency of holy principles, unto holy fruits
and practice, ver. 9, 10.
Secondly, From the convincing efficacy of practical godliness,
upon the consciences of the wicked, ver. 11, 12, 13. It awes and
convinces their consciences.
Thirdly, From the co-incidence of such a conversation with the
great design and drift of the scriptures, which is to awaken men by
regeneration, out of that spiritual sleep, or rather death, which
sin has cast them into; and this is the argument of the text,
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, &c. There is some
difficulty in the reference of these words. Some think it is to Isa
26: 19. "Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust." Others to Isa.
60: 1: "Arise, shine, for thy light is come," &c. But most probably,
the words neither refer to this or that particularly, but to the
drift and scope of the whole scriptures, which were inspired and
written upon this great design, to awaken and quicken souls out of
the state of spiritual death. And in them we are to consider these
three things more distinctly and particularly.
1. The miserable state of the unregenerate; they are asleep and
dead.
2. Their duty; which is to "awake, and stand up from the dead.
3. The power enabling them thereunto; "Christ shall give thee
light".
First, The miserable state of the unregenerate, represented
under the motions of sleep and death: both expressions intending one
and the same thing, though with some variety of notion. The
Christless and unregenerate world is in a deep sleep; a spirit of
slumber, senselessness and security is fallen upon them, though they
lie exposed immediately to eternal wrath and misery, ready to drop
into hell every moment. Just as a man that is fast asleep in a house
on fire, and whilst the consuming flames are round about him, his
fancy is sporting itself in some pleasant dream; this is a very
lively resemblance of the unregenerate soul. But yet he that sleeps
has the principle of life entire in him, though his senses be bound,
and the actions of life suspended by sleep. Lest therefore we should
think it is only so with the unregenerate, the expression is
designedly varied, and those that were said to be asleep, are
positively affirmed to be dead; on purpose to inform us that it is
not a simple suspension of the acts and exercise, but a total
privation of the principle of spiritual life, which is the misery of
the unregenerate.
Secondly, We have here the duty of the unregenerate, which is
to "awake out of sleep, and arise from the dead." This is their
great concernment; no duty in the world is of greater necessity and
importance to them. "Strive (saith Christ) to enter in at the strait
gate," Luke 13: 24. And the order of these duties is very natural.
First awake, then arise. Startling and rousing convictions make way
for spiritual life; till God awake us by convictions of our misery,
we will never be persuaded to arise and move towards Christ for
remedy and safety.
Thirdly, But you will say, if unregenerate men be dead men, to
what purpose is it to persuade them to arise and stand up: The very
exhortation supposes some powers or ability in the unregenerate;
else in vain are they commanded to arise. This difficulty is solved
in this very text, though the duty is ours, yet the power is God's.
God commands that in his word, which only his grace can perform.
"Christ shall give thee light." Popish commentators would build the
tower of free will upon this scripture, by a very weak argument,
drawn from the order wherein these things are here expressed; which
is but a very weak foundation to build upon, for it is very usual in
scripture to put the effect before, and the cause after, as it is
here, so in Isa. 26: 19. "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the
dust." But I will not here intangle my discourse with that
controversy; that which I aim at is plain in the words, viz.
Doct. That all Christless souls are under the power of
spiritual death; they are in the state of the dead.
Multitudes of testimonies are given in scripture to this truth;
Eph. 2: 1, 5. "You has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins." Col. 2: 13. "And you being dead in your sins, and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him;"
with many other places of the same importance. But the method in
which I shall discourse this point will be this;
First, I will shew you in what sense Christless and
unregenerated men are said to be dead.
Secondly, What the state of spiritual death is.
Thirdly, How it appears that all unregenerate men are in this
sad state. And then apply it.
First, In what sense are Christless and unregenerate men said
to be dead men.
To open this, we must know there is a three-fold death, viz.
1. Natural.
2. Spiritual.
3. Eternal.
Natural death is nothing else but the privation of the
principle of natural life, or the separation of the soul from the
body, James 2: 26. "The body without the spirit is dead." Spiritual
death is the privation of the principle of spiritual life, or the
want and absence of the quickening Spirit of God in the soul; the
soul is the life of the body, and Christ is the life of the soul,
the absence of the soul is death to the body, and the absence or
want of Christ is death to the soul. Eternal death is the separation
both of body and soul from God, which is the misery of the damned.
Now christless and unregenerate men are not dead in the first sense;
they are naturally alive though they are dead while they live, nor
are they yet dead in the last sense, eternally separated from God by
an irrevocable sentence as the damned are; but they are dead in the
second sense; they are spiritually dead, whilst they are naturally
alive; and this spiritual death is the fore-runner of eternal death.
Now spiritual death is put in scripture in opposition to a two-fold
spiritual life, viz.
1. The life of justification.
2. The life of sanctification.
Spiritual death in opposition to the life of justification, is
nothing else but the guilt of sin bringing us under the sentence of
death. Spiritual death, in opposition to the life of sanctification,
is the pollution or dominion of sin. In both these senses,
unregenerate men are dead men; but it is the last which I am
properly concerned to speak to in this place, and therefore,
Secondly, Let us briefly consider what this spiritual death is,
which, as before was hinted, is the absence of the quickening Spirit
of Christ from the soul of any man. That soul is a dead soul, into
which the Spirit of Christ is not infused in the work of
regeneration; and all its works are dead works, as they are called,
Heb. 9: 14. For, look how it is with the damned, they live, they
have sense and motion, and an immortality in all these; yet because
they are eternally separated from God, the life which they live,
deserves not the name of life, but it is everywhere in scripture
stiled death: so the unregenerate, they are naturally alive; they
eat and drink, they buy and sell, they talk and laugh, they rejoice
in the creatures; and many of them spend their days in pleasures,
and then go down to the grave. This is the life they live, but yet
the scripture rather calls it death than life; because though they
live, yet it is without God in the world, Eph. 2: 12. though they
live, yet it is a life alienated from the life of God, Eph. 4: 18.
And therefore while they remain naturally alive, they are in
scripture said "to remain in death, 1 John 3: 14. and to be "dead
while they live," 1 Tim. 5: 6. And there is great reason why a
christless, an unregenerate state, should be represented in
scripture, under the notion of death; for there is nothing in nature
which more aptly represents that miserable state of the soul, than
natural death does. The dead see and discern nothing, and the
natural man perceiveth not the things that are of God. The dead have
no beauty or desirableness in them; "Bury my dead (saith Abraham)
out of my sight;" neither is there any spiritual loveliness in the
unregenerate. True it is, some of them have sweet natural qualities
and moral excellencies, which are engaging things, but these are so
many flowers, decking and adorning a dead corpse. The dead are
objects of pity and great lamentation: men used to mourn for the
dead, Eccl. 12: 5. "Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go
about the streets." But unregenerate, and christless souls, are much
more the objects of pity and lamentation. How are all the people of
God (especially those that are naturally related to them) concerned
to mourn over them and for them, as Abraham did for Ishmael, Gen.
17: 18. "O that Ishmael might live before thee." Upon these, and
many other accounts, the state of unregeneracy is represented to us
in the notion of death.
Thirdly, And that this is the state of all Christless and
unsanctified persons, will, undeniably, appear two ways.
1. The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them.
2. The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear in
them, and therefore they are in the state, and under the power of
spiritual death.
First, The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them.
There are two causes of spiritual life,
1. Principal, and internal.
2. Subordinate and external.
The principal internal cause of spiritual life is the
regenerating Spirit of Christ, Rom. 8: 2. "The law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death." It is the Spirit, as a regenerating Spirit, that unites us
with Christ, in whom all spiritual life originally is, John 5: 25,
26. "Verily I say unto you, that the hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that
hear shall live: For as the Father has life in himself, so has he
given to the Son to have life in himself." As all the members of the
natural body receive animation, sense, and motion, by their union
with their natural head; so all believers, the members of Christ,
receive spiritual life and animation by their union with their
natural head; so all believers, the members of Christ, receive
spiritual life and animation by their union with Christ their
mystical head, Eph. 4: 15, 16. Except we come to him, and be united
with him in the way of faith, we can have no life in us, John 5: 40.
"Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life." Now the Spirit of
God has yet exerted no regenerating, quickening influences, nor
begotten any special saving faith in natural, unsanctified men;
whatever he has done for them in the way of natural, or spiritual
common gifts, yet he has not quickened them with the life of Christ.
And as for the subordinate external means of life, viz. the
preaching of the gospel, which is the instrument of the Spirit in
this glorious work, and is therefore called, The word of life, Phil
2: 16. This word has not yet been made a regenerating, quickening
word to their souls. Possibly it has enlightened them, and convinced
them: it has wrought upon their minds in the way of common
illumination, and upon their consciences in the way of conviction,
but not upon their hearts and wills, by way of effectual conversion.
To this day the Lord has not given them an heart opening itself, in
the way of faith, to receive Jesus Christ.
Secondly, The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear
in them: For,
First, They have no feeling, or sense of misery and danger. I
mean no such sense as thoroughly awakens them to apply Christ their
remedy. That spiritual judgement lies upon them, Isa. 6: 9, 10. "And
he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed but perceive not; make the heart of this
people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes."
Secondly, They have no spiritual motions towards Christ, or
after things that are spiritual; all the arguments in the world
cannot persuade their wills to move one step towards Christ in the
way of faith, John 5: 30. Ye will not come unto me: Were there a
principle of spiritual life in their souls, they would move Christ-
ward and heaven-ward, John 4: 14. It would be in them a well of
water springing up into eternal life. The natural tendency of the
spiritual life is upward.
Thirdly, The unregenerate have no appetite unto spiritual food;
they savour not things that are spiritual; they can go from week to
week, and from year to year, all their life-time, without any
communion betwixt God and their souls, and feel no need of it, nor
any hungerings or thirstings after it; which could never be, if a
principle of spiritual life were in them; for then they would
"esteem the words of Gods mouth more than their necessary food," Job
30: 12.
Fourthly, They have no heat or spiritual warmth in their
affections to God, and things above; their hearts are as cold as a
stone to spiritual objects. They are heated, indeed, by their lusts
and affections to the world, and the things of the world: but O how
cold and dead are they towards Jesus Christ, and spiritual
excellencies.
Fifthly, They breathe not spiritually, therefore they live not
spiritually: were there a spiritual principle of life in them, their
souls would breathe after God in spiritual prayer, Acts 9: 11.
"Behold he prayeth." The lips of the unregenerate may move in
prayer, but their hearts and desires do not breathe and pant after
God.
Sixthly, They have no cares or fears for self-preservation,
which is always the effect of life; the poorest fly, or silliest
worm will shun danger. The wrath of God hangs over them in the
threatenings, but they tremble not at it: hell is but a little
before them; they are upon the very precipice of eternal ruin, yet
will use no means to avoid it. How plain, therefore, is this sad
case which I have undertaken here to demonstrate, viz. that
christless and unregenerate souls are dead souls? The uses follow.
Inf. 1. If all Christless and unregenerate souls be dead souls,
then how little pleasure can Christians take in the society of the
unregenerate?
Certainly, it is, no pleasure for the living to converse among
the dead. It was a cruel torment invented by Mezentius the tyrant,
to tie a dead and living man together. The pleasure of society
arises from the harmony of spirits, and the hopes of mutual
enjoyment in the world to come; neither of which can sweeten the
society of the godly with the wicked in this world. It is true,
there is a necessary civil converse which we must have with the
ungodly here; or else (as the apostle speaks) we must go out of the
world. There are also duties of relation which must be faithfully
and tenderly paid, even to the unregenerate: but certainly, where we
have our free election, we shall be much wanting both to our duty
and comfort, if we make not the people of God our chosen companions.
Excellently to this purpose speaks a modern author, "Art thou a
godly master? when thou takest a servant into thine house, chose for
God as well as thyself. - A godly servant is a greater blessing than
we think on: he can work, and set God on work also for his master's
good, Gen. 24: 12. O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee send
me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master. And surely
he did his master as much service by his prayer, as by his prudence
in that journey. Holy David observed, while he was at Saul's court,
the mischief of having wicked and ungodly servants, (for with such
was that unhappy king so compassed, that David compares his court to
the profane and barbarous Heathens, among whom there was scarce more
wickedness to be found, Psal. 120: 6. "Wo is me, that I sojourn in
Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar; i.e. among those who
were as prodigiously wicked as any there); and no doubt, but this
made this gracious man, in his banishment, before he came to the
crown, (having seen the evil of a disordered house) to resolve what
he would do when God should make him the head of such a royal
family, Psal. 101 : 7. "He that worketh deceit, shall not dwell
within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
Art thou godly? shew thyself so in the choice of husband or
wife. I am sure, if some, (and those godly ones) could bring no
other testimonials for their godliness than the care they have taken
in this particular, it might justly be called into question both by
themselves and others. There is no one thing that gracious persons,
(even those recorded in scripture as well as others, have sheen
their weakness, yea, given offence and scandal more in, than in this
particular, The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair,
Gen. 6: 2. One would have thought that the sons of God should have
looked for grace in the heart, rather than beauty in the face; but
we see, even they sometimes turn in at the fairest sign, without
much enquiring what grace is to be found dwelling within." Look to
the rule, O Christian, if thou wilt keep the power of holiness, that
is clear as the sun-beam written in the scripture, "Be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers," 2 Cor. 6: 14.
Inf. 2. How great and wholly supernatural, marvellous, and
wonderful is that change which regeneration makes upon the soul of
men! It is a change from death to life, Luke 15: 24. "This my son
was dead and is alive again." Regeneration is life from the dead;
the most excellent life from the most terrible death: it is the life
of God re-inspired into a soul alienated from it by the power of
sin, Eph. 4: 11. There are two stupendous changes made upon the
souls of men, which justly challenge the highest admiration, viz.
1. That from sin to grace.
2. From grace to glory.
The change from grace to glory is acknowledged by all, and that
justly, to be a wonderful change for God to take a poor creature out
of the society of sinful men; yea, from under the burden of many
sinful infirmities, which made him groan from day to day in this
world; and in a moment to make him a complete and perfect soul,
shining in the beauties of holiness, and filling him as a vessel of
glory, with the unspeakable and inconceivable joys of his presence;
to turn his groanings into triumphs, his fightings into songs of
praise; this, I say, is marvellous, and yet the former change from
sin to grace is no way inferior to it, nay, in some respect, beyond
it; for the change which glory makes upon the regenerate is but a
gradual change, but the change which regeneration makes upon the
ungodly is a specifical change. Great and admirable is this work of
God; and let it for ever be marvellous in our eyes.
Inf. 3. If unregenerate souls be dead souls, what a fatal
stroke does death give to the bodies of all unregenerate men? A soul
dead in sin, and a body dead by virtue of the curse for sin, and
both soul and body remaining for ever under the power of eternal
death, is so full and perfect a misery, as that nothing can be added
to make it more miserable: It is the comfort of a Christian that he
can say when death comes, Non omnis moriar, I shall not wholly die;
there is a life I live which death cannot touch, Rom. 8: 18. "The
body is dead, because of sin; but the spirit is life because of
righteousness." Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death has no power. As death takes
the believer from amidst many sorrows and troubles, and brings him
to the vision of God, to the general assembly of all the perfected
saints, to a state of complete freedom and full satisfaction; so it
drags the unregenerate from all his sensitive delights, and
comforts, to the place of torment: it buries the dead soul out of
the presence of God for ever: it is the king of terrors, a serpent
with a deadly sting to every man that is out of Christ.
Inf. 4. If every unregenerate soul be a dead soul, how sad is
the case of hypocrites and temporary believers, who are twice dead?
These are those cursed trees, of which the apostle Jude speaks, Jude
ver: 12. "Trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead,
plucked up by the roots." The apostle alludes unto dying trees,
trees that are dying the first time in the spring, then they fade,
decay, and cast off their leaves, when other trees are fragrant and
flourishing: but from this first death they are sometimes recovered,
by pruning, dressing, or watering the roots; but if in autumn, they
decay again, which is the critical and climacterical times of trees,
to discover whether their disease be mortal or not; if then they
wither and decay the second time, the fault is ab intra, the root is
rotten, there is no hope of it; the husbandmen bestows no more
labour about it, except it be to root it up for fuel to the fire.
Just thus stands the case with false and hypocritical professors,
who though they were still under the power of spiritual death, yet
in the beginning of their profession, they seemed to be alive; they
showed the world the fragrant leaves of a fair profession, many
hopeful buddings of affection towards spiritual things were seen in
them, but wanting a root of regeneration, they quickly began to
wither and cast their untimely fruit. However, by the help of
ordinances, or some rousing and awakening providences, they seem to
recover themselves again; but all will not do, the fault is ab
intra, from the want of a good root, and therefore, at last, they
who were always once dead, for want of a principle of regeneration,
are now become twice dead, by the withering and decay of their vain
profession. Such trees are prepared for the severest flames in hell,
Matth. 24: 51. their portion is the saddest portion allotted for any
of the sons of death. Therefore the apostle Peter tells us, 2 Pet.
2: 20, 21. "For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the
world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled therein, and overcome; the latter end is
worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have
known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."
Double measures of wrath seem to be prepared for them that die this
double death.
Inf. 5. If this be so, then unregenerate persons deserve the
greatest lamentations. And were this truth heartily believed, we
could not but mourn over them, with the most tender compassion and
hearty sorrow. If our husbands, wives, or children are dying a
natural death, how are our hearts rent in pieces with pity and
sorrow for them? What cries, tears, and wringing of hands, discover
the deep sense we have of their misery! O Christians, is all the
love you have for your relations spent upon their bodies? Are their
souls of no value in your eyes? Is spiritual death no misery? Does
it not deserve a tear? The Lord open your eyes, and duly affect your
hearts with spiritual death and soul miseries.
Consider, my friends, and let it move your bowels, (if there be
bowels of affection in you,) whilst they remain spiritually dead,
they are useless and wholly unserviceable unto God in the world, as
to any special and acceptable service unto him, 2 Tim. 2: 21. they
are incapable of all spiritual comforts from God; they cannot taste
the least sweetness in Christ, in duties, or in promises, Rom. 8: 6.
they have no beauty in their souls, how comely soever their bodies
are; it is grace, and nothing but grace that beautifies the inner
man, Ezek. 16: 6, 7. The dead have neither comfort nor beauty in
them: they have no hope to be with God in glory; for the life of
glory is begun in grace, Phil. 1: 6. their graves must be shortly
made, to be buried out of the sight of God for ever in the lowest
hell, the pit digged by justice for all that are spiritually dead:
the dead must be buried. Can such considerations as these draw no
pity from your souls, nor excite your endeavours for their
regeneration? then it is to be feared your souls are dead as well as
theirs. O pity them, pity them, and pray for them; in this case
only, prayers for the dead are our duty: who knows but at the last,
God may hear your cries, and you may say with comfort, as he did,
"This my son was dead, but is alive; was lost, but is found; and
they began to be merry," Luke 15: 24.
The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
(continued in file 34...)
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