his promise, or that he ever deceived the soul that ventured itself upon
him? He often calls upon sinners to trust him, though they walk in
darkness, and have no light; Isa. 1. 10.
They have his promise and oath for their salvation, that flee for refuge
to the hope set before them; Heb. vi. 17, 18.
Despair! when we have a God of mercy, and a redeeming Christ alive! For
shame, forbear: let them despair that dwell where there is no God, and
that are confined to those chambers of death which can be reached by no
redemption.
A living man despair when he is chid for murmuring and complaining! Lam.
iii. 39. Oh! so long as we are where promises swarm, where mercy is
proclaimed, where grace reigns, and where Jerusalem sinners are
privileged with the first offer of mercy, it is a base thing to despair.
Despair undervalues the promise, undervalues the invitation, undervalues
the proffer of grace. Despair undervalues the ability of God the Father,
and the redeeming blood of Christ his Son. Oh unreasonable despair!
Despair makes man God’s judge; it is a controller of the promise, a
contradicter of Christ in his large offers of mercy: and one that
undertakes to make unbelief the great manager of our reason and judgment,
in determining about what God can and will do for sinners.
Despair! It is the devil’s fellow, the devil’s master; yea, the chains
with which he is captivated and held under darkness for ever: and to give
way thereto in a land, in a state and time that flows with milk and
honey, is an uncomely thing.
I would say to my soul, O my soul! this is not the place of despair; this
is not the time to despair in: as long as mine eyes can find a promise in
the Bible, as long as there is the least mention of grace, as long as
there is a moment left me of breath or life in this world; so long will I
wait or look for mercy, so long will I fight against unbelief and
despair.
This is the way to honour God and Christ; this is the way to set the
crown on the promise; this is the way to welcome the invitation and
inviter; and this is the way to thrust thyself under the shelter and
protection of the word of grace. Never despair so long as our text is
alive, for that doth sound it out,—that mercy by Christ is offered, in
the first place, to the biggest sinner.
Despair is an unprofitable thing; it will make a man weary of waiting
upon God; 2 Kings vi. 33; it will make a man forsake God, and seek his
heaven in the good things of this world; Gen. iv. 13–18. It will make a
man his own tormentor, and flounce and fling like a wild bull in a net;
Isa. ii. 20.
Despair! it drives a man to the study of his own ruin, and brings him at
last to be his own executioner; 2 Sam. xvii. 23; Matt. xxvii. 3–5.
Besides, I am persuaded also, that despair is the cause that there are so
many that would fain be Atheists in the world: For because they have
entertained a conceit that God will never be merciful to them; therefore
they labour to persuade themselves that there is no God at all, as if
their misbelief would kill God, or cause him to cease to be. A poor
shift for an immortal soul, for a soul who liketh not to retain God in
its knowledge! If this be the best that despair can do, let it go, man,
and betake thyself to faith, to prayer, to wait for God, and to hope, in
despite of ten thousand doubts. And for thy encouragement, take yet (as
an addition to what has already been said) the following scripture; “The
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his
mercy;” Psal. cxlvii. 11.
Whence note, They fear not God, that hope not in his mercy: also God is
angry with them that hope not in his mercy: for he only taketh pleasure
in them that hope. He that believeth, or hath received his testimony,
“hath set to his seal that God is true,” John iii. 33; but he that
receiveth it not hath made him a liar, and that is a very unworthy thing;
1 John v. 10, 11. “Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy
on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly multiply pardons.”
Perhaps thou art weary of thy ways, but art not weary of thy thoughts, of
thy unbelieving and despairing thoughts; now, God also would have thee
cast away these thoughts, as such which he deserveth not at thy hands;
for he will have mercy upon thee, and he will abundantly pardon.
“O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken!” Luke xxiv. 25. Mark you here, slowness to believe is a piece of
folly. Ay! but sayst thou, I do believe some, and I believe what can
make against me. Ay, but sinner, Christ Jesus here calls thee fool for
not believing all. Believe all, and despair if thou canst. He that
believes all, believes that text that saith, Christ would have mercy
preached first to the Jerusalem sinners. He that believeth all,
believeth all the promises and consolations of the word; and the promises
and consolations of the word weigh heavier than do all the curses and
threatenings of the law; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Wherefore
believe all, and mercy will to thy conscience weigh judgment down, and so
minister comfort to thy soul. The Lord take the yoke from off thy jaws,
since he has set meat before thee; Hos. xi. 4; and help thee to remember
that he is pleased in the first place to offer mercy to the biggest
sinners.
_Sixthly_, Since Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place
to the biggest sinners, let souls see that they lay right hold thereof,
lest they, notwithstanding, indeed come short thereof. Faith only knows
how to deal with mercy; wherefore put not in the place thereof
presumption. I have observed, that as there are herbs and flowers in our
gardens, so there are their counterfeits in the field; only they are
distinguished from the other by the name of wild ones. Why, there is
faith, and wild faith; and wild faith is this presumption. I call it
wild faith, because God never placed it in his garden, his church; it is
only to be found in the field, the world. I also call it wild faith,
because it only grows up and is nourished where other wild notions
abound. Wherefore take heed of this, and all may be well; for this
presumuptuousness is a very heinous thing in the eyes of God: “The soul,”
saith he, “that doeth ought presumptuously (whether he be born in the
land, or a stranger), the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall
be cut off from among his people;” Numb. xv. 30.
The thoughts of this made David tremble, and pray that God would hold him
back from presumptuous sins, and not suffer them to have dominion over
him; Psal. xix. 13.
Now this presumption, then, puts itself in the place of faith, when it
tampereth with the promise for life, while the soul is a stranger to
repentance. Wherefore you have in the text, to prevent doing thus, both
repentance and remission of sins to be offered to Jerusalem; not
remission without repentance: for all that repent not shall perish, let
them presume on grace and the promise while they will; Luke xiii. 1–3.
Presumption, then, is that which severeth faith and repentance,
concluding, that the soul shall be saved by grace, though the man was
never made sorry for his sins, nor the love of the heart turned
therefrom. This is to be self-willed, as Peter has it; and this is a
despising the word of the Lord, for that has put repentance and faith
together; Mark i. 15. And “because he hath despised the word of the
Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut
off: his iniquity shall be upon him.” Numb. xv. 31.
Let such therefore look to it, who yet are, and abide in their sins; for
such, if they hope, as they are, to be saved, presume upon the grace of
God. Wherefore presumption and not hearkening to God’s word are put
together; Deut. xvii. 12.
Again, Then men presume when they are resolved to abide in their sins,
and yet expect to be saved by God’s grace through Christ. This is as
much as to say, God liketh sin as well as I do, and careth not how men
live, if so be they lean upon his Son. Of this sort are they that build
up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity; that judge for reward,
and teach for hire, and divine for money, and lean upon the Lord; Mic.
iii. 10, 11. This is doing things with an high hand against the Lord our
God, and a taking him, as it were, at the catch. This is, as we say
among men, to seek to put a trick upon God, as if he had not sufficiently
fortified his proposals of grace by his holy word, against all such kind
of fools as these. But look to it.
Such will be found at the day of God, not among that great company of
Jerusalem sinners that shall be saved by grace, but among those that have
been the great abusers of the grace of God in the world. Those that say,
Let us sin that grace may abound, and let us do evil that good may come,
their damnation is just. And if so, they are a great way off of that
salvation that is by Jesus Christ presented to the Jerusalem sinners.
I have therefore these things to propound to that Jerusalem sinner that
would know, if he may be so bold as to venture himself upon this grace.
_First_, Dost thou see thy sins?
_Secondly_, Art thou weary of them?
_Thirdly_, Wouldst thou with all thy heart be saved by Jesus Christ? I
dare say no less, I dare say no more. But if it be truly thus with thee,
how great soever thy sins have been, how bad soever thou feelest thy
heart, how far soever thou art from thinking that God has mercy for
these: thou art the man, the Jerusalem sinner, that the Word of God has
conquered, and to whom it offereth free remission of sins, by the
redemption that is in Jesus Christ.
When the jailor cried out, “Sirs, What must I do to be saved?” The
answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
He that sees his sins aright, is brought to his wit’s end by them; and he
that is so, is willing to part from them, and to be saved by the grace of
God.
If this be thy case, fear not, give no way to despair; thou presumest
not, if thou believest to life everlasting in Jesus Christ: yea, Christ
is prepared for such as thou art.
Therefore take good courage and believe. The design of Satan is to tell
the presumptuous, that their presuming on mercy is good; but to persuade
the believer, that his believing is impudent bold dealing with God. I
never heard a presumptuous man in my life say that he was afraid that he
presumed; but I have heard many an honest humble soul say, that they have
been afraid that their faith has been presumption. Why should Satan
molest those whose ways he knows will bring them to him? And who can
think that he should be quiet when men take the right course to escape
his hellish snares? This, therefore, is the reason why the truly humbled
is opposed, while the presumptuous goes on by wind and tide. The truly
humble Satan hates, but he laughs to see the foolery of the other.
Does thy hand and heart tremble? Upon thee the promise smiles. “To this
man will I look,” says God, “even to him that is poor, and of a contrite
spirit, and trembles at my word;” Isa. lxvi. 2.
What, therefore, I have said of presumption concerns not the humble in
spirit at all. I therefore am for gathering up the stones, and for
taking the stumblingblocks out of the way of God’s people: and
forewarning of them that lay the stumblingblock of their iniquity before
their faces, and that are for presuming upon God’s mercy; and let them
look to themselves; Ezek. xiv. 6–8.
Also our text stands firm as ever it did, and our observation is still of
force, that Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place to
the biggest sinners. So then let none despair, let none presume; let
none despair that are sorry for their sins, and would be saved by Jesus
Christ; let none presume that abide in the liking of their sins, though
they seem to know the exceeding grace of Christ; for though the door
stands wide open for the reception of the penitent, yet it is fast enough
barred and bolted against the presumptuous sinner. Be not deceived, God
is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that he shall reap. It cannot be
that God should be wheedled out of his mercy, or prevailed upon by lips
of dissimulation; he knows them that trust in him, and that sincerely
come to him by Christ for mercy; Nahum i. 7.
It is then not the abundance of sins committed, but the not coming
heartily to God by Christ for mercy, that shuts men out of doors. And
though their not coming heartily may be said to be but a sin, yet it is
such a sin as causeth that all thy other sins abide upon thee unforgiven.
God complains of this. “They have not cried unto me with their heart;
they turned, but not to the most High. They turned feignedly;” Jer. iii.
10; Hos. vii. 14, 16.
Thus doing, his soul hates; but the penitent, humble, brokenhearted
sinner, be his transgressions red as scarlet, red like crimson, in number
as the sand; though his transgressions cry to heaven against him for
vengeance, and seem there to cry louder than do his prayers, or tears, or
groans for mercy, yet he is safe. To this man God will look; Isa. i. 18;
chap lxvi. 2.
_Seventhly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to
the biggest sinners? Then here is ground for those that, as to practice,
have not been such, to come to him for mercy.
Although there is no sin little of itself; because it is a contradiction
of the nature and majesty of God; yet we must admit of divers numbers,
and also of aggravations. Two sins are not so many as three; nor are
three that are done in ignorance so big as one that is done against
light, against knowledge and conscience. Also there is the child in sin,
and a man in sin that has his hairs gray, and his skin wrinkled for very
age. And we must put a difference betwixt these sinners also. For can
it be that a child of seven, or ten, or sixteen years old, should be such
a sinner—a sinner so vile in the eye of the law as he is who has walked
according to the course of this world, forty, fifty, sixty, or seventy
years? Now the youth, this stripling, though he is a sinner, is but a
little sinner, when compared with such.
Now, I say, if there be room for the first sort, for those of the biggest
size, certainly there is room for the lesser size? If there be a door
wide enough for a giant to go in at, there is certainly room for a dwarf.
If Christ Jesus has grace enough to save great sinners, he has surely
grace enough to save little ones. If he can forgive five hundred pence,
for certain he can forgive fifty; Luke vii. 41, 42.
But you said before, that the little sinners must stand by until the
great ones have received their grace, and that is discouraging!
I answer, there are two sorts of little sinners, such as are so, and such
as feign themselves so. They are those that feign themselves so, that I
intended there, and not those that are indeed comparatively so. Such as
feign themselves so may wait long enough before they obtain forgiveness.
But again, a sinner may be comparatively a little sinner, and sensibly a
great one. There are then two sorts of greatness in sin; greatness by
reason of number; greatness by reason of thoroughness of conviction of
the horrible nature of sin. In this last sense, he that has but one sin,
if such a one could be found, may in his own eyes find himself the
biggest sinner in the world. Let this man or this child therefore put
himself among the great sinners, and plead with God as great sinners do,
and expect to be saved with the great sinners, and as soon and as
heartily as they.
Yea, a little sinner, that comparatively is truly so, if he shall
graciously give way to conviction, and shall in God’s light diligently
weigh the horrible nature of his own sins, may yet sooner obtain
forgiveness for them at the hands of the heavenly Father, than he that
has ten times his sins, and so cause to cry ten times harder to God for
mercy.
For the grievousness of the cry is a great thing with God; for if he will
hear the widow, if she cries at all, how much more if she cries most
grievously? Exod. xxii. 22, 23.
It is not the number, but the true sense of the abominable nature of sin,
that makes the cry for pardon lamentable. He, as I said, that has many
sins, may not cry so loud in the ears of God as he that has far fewer;
he, in our present sense, that is in his own eyes the biggest sinner, is
he that soonest findeth mercy.
The offer then is to the biggest sinner; to the biggest sinner first, and
the mercy is first obtained by him that first confesseth himself to be
such an one.
There are men that strive at the throne of grace for mercy, by pleading
the greatness of their necessity. Now their plea, as to the prevalency
of it, lieth not in the counting up of the number, but in the sense of
the greatness of their sins, and in the vehemency of their cry for
pardon. And it is observable, that though the birthright was Ruben’s,
and, for his foolishness, given to the sons of Joseph, yet Judah
prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the Messias; 1 Chron. v. 1,
2.
There is a heavenly subtilty to be managed in this matter. “Thy brother
came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.” The blessing
belonged to Esau, but Jacob by his diligence made it his own; Gen. xxvii.
33. The offer is to the biggest sinner, to the biggest sinner first; but
if he forbear to cry, the sinner that is a sinner less by far than he,
both as to number and the nature of transgression, may get the blessing
first, if he shall have grace to bestir himself well; for the loudest cry
is heard furthest, and the most lamentable pierces soonest.
I therefore urge this head, not because I would have little sinners go
and tell God that they are little sinners, thereby to think to obtain
mercy; for, verily, so they are never like to have it: for such words
declare, that such a one hath no true sense at all of the nature of his
sins.
Sin, as I said, in the nature of it, is horrible, though it be but one
single sin as to act; yea, though it be but a sinful thought; and so
worthily calls for the damnation of the soul.
The comparison, then, of little and great sinners, is to go for good
sense among men. But to plead the fewness of thy sins, or the
comparative harmlessness of their quantity before God, argueth no sound
knowledge of the nature of thy sin, and so no true sense of the nature or
need of mercy.
Little sinner, when therefore thou goest to God, though thou knowest in
thy conscience that thou, as to acts, art no thief, no murderer, no
whore, no liar, no false swearer, or the like, and in reason must needs
understand that thus thou art not so profanely vile as others; yet when
thou goest to God for mercy, know no man’s sins but thine own, make
mention of no man’s sins but thine own. Also labour not to lessen thy
own, but magnify and greaten them by all just circumstances, and be as if
there was never a sinner in the world but thyself. Also cry out, as if
thou wast the only undone man; and that is the way to obtain God’s mercy.
It is one of the comeliest sights in the world to see a little sinner
commenting upon the greatness of his sins, multiplying and multiplying
them to himself, till he makes them in his own eyes bigger and higher
than he seeth any other man’s sins to be in the world; and as base a
thing it is to see a man do otherwise, and as basely will come on it;
Luke xviii. 10–14.
As, therefore, I said to the great sinner before, let him take heed lest
he presume; I say now to the little sinner, let him take heed that he do
not dissemble: for there is as great an aptness in the little sinner to
dissemble, as there is in the great one. “He that hideth his sins shall
not prosper,” be he a sinner little or great; Prov. xxviii. 13.
_Eighthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered, in the first place, to
the biggest sinners? Then this shews the true cause why Satan makes such
head as he doth against him.
The Father and the Holy Spirit are well spoken of by all deluders and
deceived persons; Christ only is the rock of offence. “Behold I lay in
Zion a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence;” Rom. ix. 33. Not that
Satan careth for the Father or the Spirit more than he careth for the
Son, but he can let men alone with their notions of the Father and the
Spirit, for he knows they shall never enjoy the Father nor the Spirit, if
indeed they receive not the merits of the Son. “He that hath the Son,
hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life,” however they
may boast themselves of the Father and the Spirit; 1 John v. 12. Again,
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath
not God: he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, hath both the Father
and the Son;” 2 John i. 9.
Christ, and Christ only, is he that can make us capable to enjoy God with
life and joy to all eternity. Hence he calls himself the way to the
Father, the true and living way; John xiv. 6; Heb. x. 19, 20; for we
cannot come to the Father but by him. Satan knows this, therefore he
hates him. Deluded persons are ignorant of this, and, therefore, they
are so led up and down by Satan by the nose as they are.
There are many things by which Satan has taken occasion to greaten his
rage against Jesus Christ.
As, first, his love to man, and then the many expressions of that love.
He hath taken man’s nature upon him; he hath in that nature fulfilled the
law to bring in righteousness for man; and hath spilt his blood for the
reconciling of men to God; he hath broke the neck of death, put away sin,
destroyed the works of the devil, and got into his own hands the keys of
death: and all these are heinous things to Satan. He cannot abide Christ
for this. Besides, he hath eternal life in himself; and that to bestow
upon us; and we in all likelihood are to possess the very places from
which the Satans by transgression fell, if not places more glorious.
Wherefore he must needs be angry. And is it not a vexatious thing to
him, that we should be admitted to the throne of grace by Christ, while
he stands bound over in chains of darkness, to answer for his rebellions
against God and his Son, at the terrible day of judgment. Yea, we poor
dust and ashes must become his judges, and triumph over him for ever: and
all this long of Jesus Christ; for he is the meritorious cause of all
this.
Now though Satan seeks to be revenged for this, yet he knows it is in
vain to attack the person of Christ; he has overcome him: therefore he
tampers with a company of silly men, that he may vilify him by them. And
they, bold fools as they are, will not spare to spit in his face. They
will rail at his person, and deny the very being of it; they will rail at
his blood, and deny the merit and worth of it. They will deny the very
end why he accomplished the law, and by jiggs, and tricks, and quirks,
which he helpeth them to, they set up fond names and images in his place,
and give the glory of a Saviour to them. Thus Satan worketh under the
name of Christ; and his ministers under the name of the ministers of
righteousness.
And by his wiles and stratagems he undoes a world of men; but there is a
seed, and they shall serve him, and it shall be counted to the Lord for a
generation. These shall see their sins, and that Christ is the way to
happiness. These shall venture themselves, both body and soul, upon his
worthiness.
All this Satan knows, and therefore his rage is kindled the more.
Wherefore, according to his ability and allowance, he assaulteth,
tempteth, abuseth, and stirs up what he can to be hurtful to these poor
people, that he may, while his time shall last, make it as hard and
difficult for them to go to eternal glory as he can. Oftentimes he
abuses them with wrong apprehensions of God, and with wrong apprehensions
of Christ. He also casts them into the mire, to the reproach of
religion, the shame of their brethren, the derision of the world, and
dishonour of God.
He holds our hands while the world buffets us; he puts bear-skins upon
us, and then sets the dogs at us. He bedaubeth us with his own foam, and
then tempts us to believe that that bedaubing comes from ourselves.
Oh! the rage and the roaring of this lion, and the hatred that he
manifests against the Lord Jesus, and against them that are purchased
with his blood! But yet, in the midst of all this, the Lord Jesus sends
forth his herald to proclaim in the nations his love to the world, and to
invite them to come in to him for life. Yea, his invitation is so large,
that it offereth his mercy in the first place to the biggest sinners of
every age, which augments the devil’s rage the more.