and presumption, attempt, when we have offended, by ourselves to
approach the presence of God, God would not accept us. He told Eliphaz
so. What Eliphaz thought, or was about to do, I know not; but God said
unto him, ‘My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two
friends; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my
servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven
rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves [that is,
by him] a burnt-offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you; for
him will I accept; lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye
have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.’
See here, an offence is a bar and an obstruction to acceptance with
God, but by a mediator, but by an intercessor. He that comes to God by
himself, God will answer him by himself—that is, without an
intercessor; and I will tell you, such are not like to get any pleasant
or comfortable answer-I will answer him that so cometh according to the
multitude of his idols. ‘And I will set my face against that man, and
will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the
midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’ (Eze 14:7,8)
He that intercedes for another with a holy and just God had need be
clean himself, lest he with whom he so busieth himself say to him,
First clear thyself, and then come and speak for thy friend. Wherefore,
this is the very description and qualification of this our High Priest
and blessed Intercessor, ‘For such an high priest became us, who is
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than
the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifice, first for his own sins,’ &c. (Heb 7:26,27) Had we not had
such an Intercessor, we had been but in a very poor case; but we have
one that becomes us; one that fits us to the purpose; one against whom
our God hath nothing, can object nothing; one in whose mouth no guile
could be found.3
4. Since Christ is an Intercessor, I infer that he has wherewithal in
readiness to answer to any demands that may be propounded by him that
hath been by us offended, in order to a renewing of peace and letting
out of that grace to us that we have sinned away, and yet have need of.
Ofttimes the offended saith to the intercessor, Well, thou comest to me
about this man; what interest he has in thee is one thing, what offence
he has committed against me is another. I speak now after the manner of
men. Now, what can an intercessor do, if he is not able to answer this
question? But now, if he be able to answer this question—that is,
according to law and justice, no question but he may prevail with the
offended, for him for whom he makes intercession.
Why, this is our case; to be sure, thus far it is, we have offended a
just and a holy God, and Jesus Christ is become Intercessor. He also
knows full well, that for our parts, if it would save us from hell, we
cannot produce towards a peace with God so much as poor two farthings;
that is, not anything that can by law and justice be esteemed worth a
halfpenny; yet he makes intercession. It follows, therefore, that he
has wherewith of his own, if that question afore is propounded, to
answer to every reasonable demand. Hence, it is said, that he has gifts
as well as sacrifice for sin. ‘Every high priest is ordained to offer
gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have
somewhat also to offer.’ (Heb 8:3) And, observe it, the apostle speaks
here of Christ as in heaven, there ministering in the second part of
his office; ‘For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest.’
(verse 4) These gifts, therefore, and this sacrifice, he now offereth
in heaven by way of intercession, urging and pleading as an
Intercessor, the valuableness of his gifts for the pacifying of that
wrath that our Father hath conceived against us for the disobediences
that we are guilty of. ‘A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a reward
in the bosom strong wrath.’ (Prov 21:14)
What gifts these are the Scripture everywhere testifies. He gave
himself, he gave his life, he gave his all for us. (John 6, Gal 1:4, 1
Tim 2:6, Matt 20:28) These gifts, as he offered them up at the demand
of justice on Mount Calvary for us, so now he is in heaven he
presenteth them continually before God, as gifts and sacrifice valuable
for the sins, for all the sins that we, through infirmity, do commit,
from the day of our conversion to the day of our death. And these gifts
are so satisfactory, so prevalent with God, that they always prevail
for a continual remission of our sins with him. Yea, they prevail with
him for more than for the remission of sins; we have, through their
procurement, our graces often renewed, the devil often rebuked, the
snare often broken, guilt often taken away from the conscience, and
many a blessed smile from God, and love-look from his life-creating
countenance. (Eph 3:12)
5. Since Christ is an Intercessor, I infer that believers should not
rest at the cross for comfort; justification they should look for
there; but, being justified by his blood, they should ascend up after
him to the throne. At the cross you will see him in his sorrows and
humiliations, in his tears and blood; but follow him to where he is
now, and then you shall see him in his robes, in his priestly robes,
and with his golden girdle about his paps. Then you shall see him
wearing the breastplate of judgment, and with all your names written
upon his heart. Then you shall perceive that the whole family in heaven
and earth is named by him, and how he prevaileth with God the Father of
mercies, for you. Stand still awhile and listen; yea, enter with
boldness into the holiest, and see your Jesus as he now appears in the
presence of God for you; what work he makes against the devil and sin,
and death and hell, for you. (Heb 10:9) Ah! it is brave following of
Jesus Christ to the holiest, the veil is rent, you may see with open
face as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. This, then, is our High
Priest, this his intercession, these the benefits of it! It lieth on
our part to improve it; and wisdom to do that also comes from the
mercy-seat, or throne of grace, where he, even our High Priest, ever
liveth to make intercession for us; to whom be glory for ever and ever.
[II. OF THE BENEFITS OF CHRIST’S INTERCESSION.]
[SECOND.] And thus have I spoken to the first thing—to wit, of the
intercession of Christ; and now I come more particularly to speak to
the second, THE BENEFITS OF HIS INTERCESSION; namely, that we are saved
thereby. Wherefore he is able also to save them, seeing he maketh
intercession for them. ‘He is able to save them to the uttermost.’
In my handling of this head, I must show you, First, What the apostle
means here by ‘save’—‘Wherefore he is able to save.’ Second, What he
means here by saving to the ‘uttermost’—‘He is able to save to the
uttermost.’ Third, And then, thirdly, we shall do as we did in the
foregoing—to wit, gather some inferences from the whole, and speak to
them.
First, What doth the apostle mean here by ‘save’—‘He is able to save
them.’
To ‘save’ may be taken two ways. In the general, I know it may be taken
many ways, for there are many salvations that we enjoy; yea, that we
never knew of, nor can know, until we come thither, where all secret
things shall be seen, and where that which has been done in darkness
shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. But I say there are two ways
that this word may be taken—1. To save in a way of justification. 2. Or
to save in a way of preservation. Now, Christ saves both these ways.
But which of these, or whether both of them are intended in this place,
of that I shall tell you my thoughts anon; meanwhile, I will show you,
1. What it is to be saved in the first sense, [namely, in a way of
justification,] and also how that is brought to pass.
To be saved is to be delivered from guilt of sin that is by the law, as
it is the ministration of death and condemnation; or, to be set free
therefrom before God. This is to be saved; for he that is not set free
therefrom, whatever he may think of himself, or whatever others may
think concerning him, he is a condemned man. It saith not, he shall be,
but, he is condemned already. (John 3:18) The reason is, for that he
has deserved the sentence of the ministration of condemnation, which is
the law. Yea, that law has already arraigned, accused, and condemned
him before God, for that it hath found him guilty of sin. Now he that
is set free from this, or, as the phrase is, ‘being made free from
sin,’ (Rom 6:22); that is, from the imputation of guilt, there can, to
him, be no condemnation, no condemnation to hell fire; but the person
thus made free may properly be said to be saved. Wherefore, as
sometimes it saith, we shall be saved, respecting saving in the second
sense, or the utmost completing of salvation; so sometimes it saith, we
are saved, as respecting our being already secured from guilt, and so
from condemnation to hell for sin, and so set safe, and quit from the
second death before God. (1 Cor 1:18, Eph 2:5)
Now, saving thus comes to us by what Christ did for us in this world,
by what Christ did for us as suffering for us. I say, it comes to us
thus; that is, it comes to us by grace through the redemption that is
in Christ. And thus to be saved is called justification, justification
to life, because one thus saved is, as I said, acquitted from guilt,
and that everlasting damnation to which for sin he had made himself
obnoxious by the law. (1 Cor 15:1-4, Rom 5:8-10)
Hence we are said to be saved by his death, justified by his blood, and
reconciled to God by the death of his Son; all which must respect his
offering of himself on the day he died, and not his improving of his so
dying in a way of intercession, because in the same place the apostle
reserveth a second, or an additional salvation, and applieth that to
his intercession, ‘Much more then, being now,’ or already, ‘justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him’; that is,
through what he will further do for us. ‘For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, being
reconciled,’ that is, by his death, ‘we shall be saved by his life,’
his intercession, which he ever liveth to complete. (verse 9,10)
See here, we are said to be justified, reconciled already, and
therefore we shall be saved, justified by his blood and death, and
saved through him by his life.
2. Now the saving intended in the text is saving in this second sense;
that is, a saving of us by preserving us, by delivering of us from all
those hazards that we run betwixt our state of justification and our
state of glorification. Yea, such a saving of us as we that are
justified need to bring us into glory. Therefore,
When he saith he is able to save, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession, he addeth saving to saving; saving by his life to saving
by his death; saving by his improving of his blood to saving by his
spilling of his blood. He gave himself a ransom for us, and now
improves that gift in the presence of God by way of intercession. For,
as I have hinted already, the high priests under the law took the blood
of the sacrifices that were offered for sin, and brought it within the
veil, and there sprinkled it before and upon the mercy-seat, and by it
made intercession for the people to an additional way of saving them;
the sum of which Paul thus applies to Christ when he saith, ‘He can
save, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession.’
That also in the Romans is clear to this purpose, ‘Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died.’ (Rom 8:31-39) That is, who is he
that shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect to condemnation to
hell, since Christ has taken away the curse by his death from before
God? Then he adds, that there is nothing that shall yet happen to us,
shall destroy us, since Christ also liveth to make intercession for us.
‘Who shall condemn? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us.’
Christ, then, by his death saveth us as we are sinners, enemies, and in
a state of condemnation by sin; and Christ by his life saveth us as
considered justified, and reconciled to God by his blood. So, then, we
have salvation from that condemnation that sin had brought us unto, and
salvation from those ruins that all the enemies of our souls would yet
bring us unto, but cannot; for the intercession of Christ preventeth. 4
(Rom 6:7-10)
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Whatever the law can
take hold of to curse us for, that Christ has redeemed us from, by
being made a curse for us. But this curse that Christ was made for us,
must be confined to his sufferings, not to his exaltation, and,
consequently, not to his intercession, for Christ is made no curse but
when he suffered; not in his intercession: so then, as he died he took
away the curse, and sin that was the cause thereof, by the sacrifice of
himself, (Gal 3:13), and by his life, his intercession, he saveth us
from all those things that attempt to bring us into that condemnation
again.
The salvation, then, that we have by the intercession of Christ, as was
said—I speak now of them that are capable of receiving comfort and
relief by this doctrine—is salvation that follows upon, or that comes
after, justification. We that are saved as to justification of life,
need yet to be saved with that that preserveth to glory; for though by
the death of Christ we are saved from the curse of the law, yet
attempts are made by many that we may be kept from the glory that
justified persons are designed for; and from these we are saved by his
intercession.
A man, then, that must be eternally saved is to be considered, (a.) As
an heir of wrath. (b.) As an heir of God. An heir of wrath he is in
himself by sin; an heir of God he is by grace through Christ. (Eph 2:3,
Gal 4:7) Now, as an heir of wrath he is redeemed, and as an heir of God
he is preserved; as an heir of wrath he is redeemed by blood, and as an
heir of God he is preserved by this intercession. Christ by his death,
then, puts me, I being reconciled to God thereby, into a justified
state, and God accepts me to grace and favour through him. But this
doth not hinder but that, all this notwithstanding, there are, that
would frustrate me of the end to which I am designed by this
reconciliation to God, by redemption through grace; and from the
accomplishing of this design I am saved by the blessed intercession of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Object. 1. Perhaps some may say, we are not saved from all punishment
of sin by the death of Christ; and if so, so not from all danger of
damnation by the intercession of Christ.
Answ. We are saved from all punishment in hell fire by the death of
Christ. Jesus has ‘delivered us from the wrath to come.’ (1 Thess 1:10)
So that as to this great punishment, God for his sake has forgiven us
all trespasses. (Col 2:13) But we being translated from being slaves to
Satan to be sons of God, God reserveth yet this liberty in his hand to
chastise us if we offend, as a father chastiseth his son. (Deut 8:5)
But this chastisement is not in legal wrath, but in fatherly affection;
not to destroy us, but that still we might be made to get advantage
thereby, even be made partakers of his holiness. This is, that we might
‘not be condemned with the world.’ (Heb 12:5-11, 1 Cor 11:32) As to the
second part of the objection; there do, as we say, many things happen
betwixt or between the cup and the lip; many things attempt to
overthrow the work of God, and to cause that we should perish through
our weakness, notwithstanding the price that hath by Christ been paid
for us. But what saith the Scripture? ‘Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy
sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.’ (Rom 8:35-39)
Thus the apostle reckoneth up all the disadvantages that a justified
person is incident to in this life, and by way of challenge declares,
that not any one of them, nor all together, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, that is towards us by Christ, his death, and
his intercession.
Object. 2. It may be further objected, that the apostle doth here leave
out sin, unto which we know the saints are subject, after
justification. And sin of itself, we need no other enemies, is of that
nature as to destroy the whole world.
Answ. Sin is sin, in the nature of sin, wherever it is found. But sin
as to the damning effects thereof is taken away from them unto whom
righteousness is imputed for justification. Nor shall any or all the
things aforementioned, though there is a tendency in every one of them
to drive us unto sin, drown us, through it, in perdition and
destruction. I am persuaded, says Paul, they shall never be able to do
that. The apostle, therefore, doth implicitly, though not expressly,
challenge sin, yea, sin by all its advantages; and then glorieth in the
love of God in Christ Jesus, from which he concludeth it shall never
separate the justified. Besides, it would now have been needless to
have expressly here put in sin by itself, seeing before, he had argued
that those he speaks of were freely justified therefrom.
One word more before I go to the second head. The Father, as I told
you, has reserved to himself a liberty to chastise his sons, to wit,
with temporal chastisements, if they offend. This still abideth to us,
notwithstanding God’s grace, Christ’s death, or blessed intercession.
And this punishment is so surely entailed to the transgressions that we
who believe shall commit, that it is impossible that we should be
utterly freed therefrom; insomuch that the apostle positively
concludeth them to be bastards, what pretences to sonship soever they
have, that are not, for sin, partakers of fatherly chastisements.
For the reversing of this punishment it is that we should pray, if
perhaps God will remit it, when we are taught to say, ‘Our Father,
forgive us our trespasses.’ And he that admits of any other sense as to
this petition, derogates from the death of Christ, or faith, or both.
For either he concludes that for some of his sins Christ did not die,
or that he is bound to believe that God, though he did, has not yet,
nor will forgive them, till from the petitioner some legal work be
done; forgive us, as we forgive them that trespass against us. (Matt
6:14,15) But now, apply this to temporal punishments, and then it is
true that God has reserved a liberty in his hand to punish even the
sins of his people upon them; yea, and will not pardon their sin, as to
the remitting of such punishment, unless some good work by them be
done; ‘If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.’ (Matt 6:15, 18:28-35)
And this is the cause why some that belong to God are yet so under the
afflicting hand of God; they have sinned, and God, who is their Father,
punisheth; yea, and this is the reason why some who are dear to God
have this kind of punishment never forgiven, but it abides with them to
their lives’ end, goes with them to the day of their death, yea, is the
very cause of their death. By this punishment they are cut off out of
the land of the living. But all this is that they might ‘not be
condemned with the world.’ (1 Cor 11:32)
Christ died not to save from this punishment; Christ intercedes not to
save from this punishment. Nothing but a good life will save from this
punishment; nor always that either.
The hidings of God’s face, the harshness of his providences, the severe
and sharp chastisements that ofttimes overtake the very spirits of his
people, plainly show that Christ died not to save from temporal
punishments, prays not to save from temporal punishments—that is,
absolutely. God has reserved a power to punish, with temporal
punishments, the best and dearest of his people, if need be.5 And
sometimes he remits them, sometimes not, even as it pleases him. I come
now to the second thing.
[Christ saves to the uttermost.]
Second, I shall now show you something of what it is for Christ, by his
intercession, to save to the ‘uttermost.’ ‘He is able to save them to
the uttermost.’
This is a great expression, and carrrieth with it much. ‘Uttermost’
signifieth to the outside, to the end, to the last, to the furthest
part. And it hath respect both to persons and things. (Gen 49:26, Deut
30:4, Matt 5:26, Mark 13:27, Luke 15)
1. To persons. Some persons are in their own apprehensions even further
from Christ than anybody else; afar off, a great way off, yet a-coming,
as the prodigal was. Now, these many times are exceedingly afraid; the
sight of that distance that they think is betwixt Christ and them makes
them afraid. As it is said in another case, ‘They that dwell in the
uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens.’ (Psa 65:8) So these are
afraid they shall not speed, not obtain that for which they come to
God. But the text says, He is able to save to the uttermost, to the
very hindermost, them that come to God by him.
Two sorts of men seem to be far, very far from God. (1.) The town
sinner. (2.) The great backslider. (Neh 1:9) But both these, if they
come, he is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save them from
all those dangers that they fear will prevent their obtaining of that
grace and mercy they would have to help them in time of need. The
publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of heaven.
2. As this text respecteth persons, so it respecteth things. There are
some things with which some are attended that are coming to God, by
Christ, that make their coming hard and very difficult.
(1.) There is a more than ordinary breaking up of the corruptions of
their nature. It seems as if all their lusts and vile passions of the
flesh were become masters, and might now do what they will with the
soul. Yea, they take this man and toss and tumble him like a ball in a
large place. This man is not master of himself, of his thoughts, nor of
his passions—‘His iniquities, like the wind, do carry him away.’ (Isa
64:6) He thinks to go forward, but this wind blows him backward; he
laboureth against this wind, but cannot find that he getteth ground; he
takes what advantage opportunity doth minister to him, but all he gets
is to be beat out of heart, out of breath, out of courage. He stands
still, and pants, and gapeth as for life. ‘I opened my mouth, and
panted,’ said David, ‘for I longed for thy commandments.’ (Psa 119:131)
He sets forward again, but has nothing but labour and sorrow.
(2.) Nay, to help forward his calamity, Satan [and his] angels will not
be wanting, both to trouble his head with the fumes of their stinking
breath, nor to throw up his heels in their dirty places—‘And as he was
yet a-coming, the devil threw him down and tare him.’ (Luke 9:42) How
many strange, hideous, and amazing blasphemies have those, some of
those, that are coming to Christ, had injected and fixed upon their
spirits against him. Nothing so common to such, as to have some hellish
wish or other against God they are coming to, and against Christ, by
whom they would come to him. These blasphemies are like those frogs
that I have heard of, that will leap up, and catch hold of, and hang by
their claws. Now help, Lord; now, Lord Jesus, what shall I do? Now, Son
of David, have mercy upon me! I say, to say these words is hard work
for such an one. But he is able to save to the uttermost this comer to
God by him.
(3.) There are also the oppositions of sense and reason hard at work
for the devil, against the soul; the men of his own house are risen up
against him. One’s sense and reason, one would think, should not fall
in with the devil against ourselves, and yet nothing more common,
nothing more natural, than for our own sense and reason to turn the
unnatural, and are both against our God and us. And now it is hard
coming to God. Better can a man hear and deal with any objections
against himself, than with those that himself doth make against
himself. They lie close, stick fast, speak aloud, and will be heard;
yea, will haunt and hunt him, as the devil doth some, in every hole and
corner. But come, man, come; for he is able to save to the uttermost!