"This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day." John 6:39.
The Father therefore, in giving them to him to save them, must needs
declare unto us the following things:
1. That he is ABLE to answer this design of God to save them to the
uttermost sin, the uttermost temptation. Hence he is said to "lay
help on one that is mighty," mighty to save. Sin is strong, Satan is
also strong, death and the grave are strong, and so is the curse of
the law; therefore it follows, that this Jesus must needs be by God
the Father accounted almighty, in that he hath given his elect to
him to save them from these, and that in despite of all their force
and power. And he gave us testimony of this his might, when he was
employed in that part of our deliverance that called for a
declaration of it. He abolished death; he destroyed him that had the
power of death; he was the destruction of the grave; he hath
finished sin, and made an end of it; he hath vanquished the curse of
the law, nailed it to his cross, triumphed over them upon his cross,
and made a show of these things openly. Yea, and even now, as a sign
of his triumph and conquest, he is alive from the dead, and hath the
keys of death and hell in his own keeping.
2. The Father's giving them to him to save them, declares unto us
that he is and will be FAITHFUL in his office of Mediator, and that
therefore they shall be secured from the fruit and wages of their
sins, which is eternal damnation. And of this the Son hath already
given a proof; for when the time was come that his blood was by
divine justice required for their redemption, washing, and
cleansing, he as freely poured it out of his heart as if it had been
water out of a vessel; not sticking to part with his own life, that
the life which was laid up for his people in heaven might not fail
to be bestowed upon them.
3. The Father's giving of them to him to save them, declares that he
is and will be GENTLE AND PATIENT towards them under all their
provocations and miscarriages. It is not to be imagined, the trials
and provocations that the Son of God hath all along had with these
people that have been given to him to save. Indeed, he is said to be
A TRIED STONE; for he has been tried not only by the devil, guilt of
sin, death, and the curse of the law, but also by his people's
ignorance, unruliness, falls into sin, and declining to errors in
life and doctrine. Were we but capable of seeing how this Lord Jesus
has been tried, even by his people, ever since there was one of them
in the world, we should be amazed at his patience and gentle
carriages to them. It is said indeed, "The Lord is very pitiful,
slow to anger, and of great mercy." And indeed, if he had not been
so, he could never have endured their manners as he has done, from
Adam hitherto. Therefore are his pity and bowels towards his church
preferred above the pity and bowels of a mother towards her child.
"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I
not forget thee, saith the Lord."
God did once give Moses, as Christ's servant, a handful of his
people to carry them in his bosom, but no further than from Egypt to
Canaan; and this Moses, as is said of him by the Holy Ghost, was the
meekest man that was then to be found upon the earth. God gave them
to Moses that he might carry them in his bosom, that he might show
gentleness and patience towards them, under all the provocations
wherewith they would provoke him from that time till he had brought
them to their land. But he failed in the work; he could not exercise
it, because he had not that sufficiency of patience towards them.
But now it is said of the person speaking in the text, that "he
shall gather his lambs with his arm, shall carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead them that are with young."
4. The Father's giving them to him to save them, declares that he
hath a SUFFICIENCY OF WISDOM to wage with all those difficulties
that would attend him in his bringing his sons and daughters unto
glory. He hath made him to us to be wisdom; yea, he is called Wisdom
itself. And God saith, moreover, that he "shall deal prudently." And
indeed, he that shall take upon him to be the Saviour of the people,
had need be wise, because their adversaries are subtle above any.
Here they are to encounter the serpent, who for his subtlety
outwitted our father and mother when their wisdom was at highest.
But if we talk of wisdom, our Jesus is wise, wiser than Solomon,
wiser than all men, wiser than all angels; he is even "the wisdom of
God." And hence it is that he turneth sins, temptations,
persecutions, falls, and all things, for good unto his people.
I do not doubt but there is virtue enough in the blood of Christ,
would God Almighty so apply it, to save the souls of the whole
world. But it is the blood of Christ, his own blood, and he may do
what he will with his own. It is also the blood of God, and he also
may restrain its merits, or apply it as he sees good. But the coming
soul, he shall find and feel the virtue thereof, even the soul that
comes to God by Christ, for he is the man concerned in its worth.
There is sufficiency of merit in Christ to save a thousand times as
many more as are like to be saved by him.
No man needs at all to go about to come at life and peace and rest:
let him come directly from sin to grace, from Satan to Jesus Christ.
The cross, it stands and hath stood from the beginning as a way-mark
to the kingdom of heaven. Art thou inquiring the way to heaven? Why,
I tell thee Christ is the way; into him thou must get, into his
righteousness to be justified; and if thou art in him, thou wilt
presently see the cross: thou must go close by it, thou must touch
it, nay, thou must take it up, or else thou wilt quickly go out of
the way that leads to heaven, and turn up some of those crooked
lanes that lead down to the chambers of death.
Many there be that begin with grace and end with works, and think
that is the only way. Indeed, works will save from temporal
punishments, when their imperfections are purged from them by the
intercession of Christ; but to be saved and brought to glory, to be
carried through this dangerous world from my first moving after
Christ until I set foot within the gates of paradise, this is the
work of my Mediator, of my High-priest and Intercessor. It is he
that fetches us again when we are run away; it is he that lifts us
up when the devil and sin have thrown us down; it is he that
quickens us when we grow cold; it is he that comforts us when we
despair; it is he that obtains fresh pardon when we have contracted
sin, and that purges our consciences when they are laden with guilt.
I know that rewards do wait for them in heaven, that believe in
Christ, and shall do well on earth; but this is not a reward of
merit, but of grace. We are saved by Christ, brought to glory by
Christ, and all our works are no other ways made acceptable to God
but by the person and personal excellencies and works of Christ;
therefore, whatever the jewels are, and the bracelets and the
pearls, that thou shalt be adorned with as a reward of service done
for God in the world, for them thou must thank Christ, and before
all confess that he was the meritorious cause thereof.
Christ must be helpful to thee every way, or he will be helpful to
thee no way; thou must enter in by every whit of Christ, or thou
shalt enter in by never a whit of him. Wherefore look not to have
him thy Saviour, if thou take him not for King and Prophet; nay,
thou shalt not have him in any one, if thou dost not take him in
every one of these.
Christ shall bear the glory of our salvation from sin, preservation
in the midst of all temptations, and of our going to glory; also he
shall bear the glory of our labor in the gospel, of our gifts and
abilities, of making our work and labor effectual to the saving of
sinners, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
If you have indeed laid Christ, God-man, for your foundation, then
you do lay the hope of your felicity and joy on this, that the Son
of Mary is now absent from his children in his person and humanity,
making intercession for them and for thee in the presence of his
Father. 2 Cor. 5:6.
And the reason that thou canst rejoice hereat is, because thou hast
not only heard of it with thine ear, but dost enjoy the sweet hope
and faith of it in thy heart; which hope and faith are begotten by
the Spirit of Christ, which Spirit dwelleth in thee if thou be a
believer, and showeth those things to thee to be the only things.
And God having shown thee these things thus within thee, by the
Spirit that dwells in thee, thou hast mighty encouragement to hope
for the glory that shall be revealed at the coming again of the man
Christ Jesus; of which glory thou hast also greater ground to hope
for a share, because that Spirit which alone is able to discover to
thee the truth of these things, is given to thee of God as the first
fruits of that glory which is hereafter to be revealed---being
obtained for thee by the man Christ Jesus' death on Calvary, and by
his blood that was shed there, together with his resurrection from
the dead out of the grave where they had laid him.
Also, thou believest that he is gone away from thee in the same body
which was hanged on the cross, to take possession of that glory
which thou, through his obedience, shalt at his the very same man's
return from heaven the second time, have bestowed upon thee, he
having all this while prepared and preserved it for thee; as he
saith himself, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Again, if thou hast laid Christ, God-man, for thy foundation, though
thou hast the Spirit of this man Christ within thee, yet thou dost
not look that justification should be wrought out for thee by that
Spirit of Christ that dwells within thee; for thou knowest that
salvation is already obtained for thee by the man Christ Jesus
without thee, and is witnessed to thee by his Spirit which dwells
within thee. And thus much doth this man Christ Jesus testify unto
us, where he says, "He shall glorify me," saith the Son of Mary. But
how? Why, "he shall take of mine"---what I have done and am doing
in the presence of the Father--"and shall show it unto you." John
16:14.