otherwise abide obscure and utterly unknown, because this doctrine is
accompanied with the Holy Ghost, that revealer of secrets, and searcher
of the deep things of God (1 Peter 1:2; Eph 1:17; 1 Cor 2). The Holy
Ghost comes down with this doctrine as that in which it alone
delighteth; therefore is it called ‘the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge’ of Jesus Christ. He giveth also ‘the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor 4:6).
Little of God is known in the world where the gospel is rejected; the
religious Jew and the wise Gentile may see more of God in a crucified
Christ than in heaven and earth besides; for in him ‘are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge,’ not only in his person as God, but
also in his undertakings as Mediator (Col 2:3). Hence Paul telleth us,
that he ‘determined not to know anything among’ the Corinthians but
‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Cor 2:2). I say, more of God is
revealed to us in this doctrine than we can see of him in heaven and
earth without it.
First. Here is more of his WISDOM seen than in his making and upholding
all the creatures. His wisdom, I say, in devising means to reconcile
sinners to a holy and infinite Majesty; to be a just God, and YET a
Saviour; to be just to his law, just to his threatening, just to
himself, and yet save sinners, can no way be understood till thou
understandest why Jesus Christ did hang on the tree; for here only is
the riddle unfolded, ‘Christ died for our sins,’ and therefore can God
in justice save us (Isa 45:21). And hence is Christ called the Wisdom
of God, not only because he is so essentially, but because by him is
the greatest revelation of his wisdom towards man. In redemption,
therefore, by the blood of Christ, God is said to abound towards us in
all wisdom (Eph 1:7,8). Here we see the highest contradictions
reconciled, here justice kisseth the sinner, here a man stands just in
the sight of God while confounded at his own pollutions, and here he
that hath done no good hath yet a sufficient righteousness, even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ.
Second. The JUSTICE of God is here more seen than in punishing all the
damned. ‘He spared not his own Son,’ is a sentence which more revealeth
the nature of the justice of God than if it had said, He spared not all
the world. True, he cast angels from heaven, and drowned the old world;
he turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, with many more of like nature;
but what were all these to the cursing of his Son? Yea, what were ten
thousand such manifestations of his ireful indignation against sin, to
that of striking, afflicting, chastising, and making the darling of his
bosom the object of his wrath and judgment? Here it is seen he
respecteth not persons, but judgeth sin, and condemneth him on whom it
is found; yea, although on Jesus Christ his well-beloved (Rom 8:32; Gal
3:13).
Third. The mystery of God’s WILL is here more seen than in hanging the
earth upon nothing, while he condemneth Christ, though righteous, and
justifieth us, though sinners, while he maketh him to be sin for us,
and us the righteousness of God in him (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Cor 5:20).
Fourth. The POWER of God is here more seen than in making of heaven and
earth; for one to bear, and get the victory over sin, when charged by
the justice of an infinite majesty, in so doing he showeth the height
of the highest power; for where sin by the law is charged, and that by
God immediately, there an infinite majesty opposeth, and that with the
whole of his justice, holiness, and power; so then, he that is thus
charged and engaged for the sin of the world, must not only be equal
with God, but show it by overcoming that curse and judgment that by
infinite justice is charged upon him for sin.
When angels and men had sinned, how did they fall and crumble before
the anger of God! they had not power to withstand the terror, nor could
there be worth found in their persons or doings to appease displeased
justice. But behold here stands the Son of God before him in the sin of
the world; his Father, finding him there, curseth and condemns him to
death; but he, by the power of his Godhead, and the worthiness of his
person and doings, vanquisheth sin, satisfieth God’s justice, and so
becomes the Saviour of the world. Here, then, is power seen: sin is a
mighty thing, it crusheth all in pieces save him whose Spirit is
eternal (Heb 9:14). Set Christ and his sufferings aside, and you
neither see the evil of sin nor the displeasure of God against it; you
see them not in their utmost. Hadst thou a view of all the legions that
are now in the pains of hell, yea, couldst thou hear their shrieks and
groans together at once, and feel the whole of all their burden, much
of the evil of sin and of the justice of God against it would be yet
unknown by thee, for thou wouldest want power to feel and bear the
utmost. A giant shows not his power by killing of a little child, nor
yet is his might seen by the resistance that such a little one makes,
but then he showeth his power when he dealeth with one like himself;
yea, and the power also of the other is then made manifest in saving
himself from being swallowed up with his wrath. Jesus Christ also made
manifest his eternal power and Godhead, more by bearing and overcoming
our sins, than in making or upholding the whole world; hence Christ
crucified is called ‘the power of God’ (1 Cor 1:23,24).
Fifth. The LOVE and MERCY of God are more seen in and by this doctrine
than any other way. Mercy and love are seen, in that God gives us rain
and fruitful seasons, and in that he filleth our hearts with food and
gladness; from that bounty which he bestoweth upon us as men, as his
creatures. O! but herein is love made manifest, in that ‘Christ laid
down his life for us.’ ‘And God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’ (1 John 3:16; Rom 5:8).
Never love like this, nor did God ever give such discovery of his love
from the beginning to this day. ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins’ (1 John 4:10).
Here is love, that God sent his Son, his darling, his Son that never
offended, his Son that was always his delight! Herein is love, that he
sent him to save sinners, to save them by bearing their sins, by
bearing their curse, by dying their death, and by carrying their
sorrows! Here is love, in that while we were yet enemies, Christ died
for us; yea, here is love, in that while ‘we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly’ (Rom 5:6).
THE SECOND USE.
[SECOND.] But as this doctrine giveth us the best discovery of God, so
also it giveth us the best discovery of ourselves and our own things.
First. It giveth us the best discovery of ourselves. Wouldst thou know,
sinner, what thou art? look up to the cross, and behold a weeping,
bleeding, dying Jesus: nothing could do but that, nothing could save
thee but his blood; angels could not, saints could not, God could not,
because he could not lie, because he could not deny himself. What a
thing is sin, that it should sink all that bear its burden! yea, it
sunk the Son of God himself into death and the grave, and had also sunk
him into hell-fire for ever had he not been the Son of God, had he not
been able to take it on his back, and bear it away! O this Lamb of God!
Sinners were going to hell, Christ was the delight of his Father, and
had a whole heaven to himself; but that did not content him, heaven
could not hold him; he must come into the world to save sinners (1 Tim
1:15). Aye, and had he not come, thy sins had sunk thee, thy sins had
provoked the wrath of God against thee, to thy perdition and
destruction for ever. There is no man but is a sinner, there is no sin
but would damn an angel, should God lay it to his charge. Sinner, the
doctrine of Christ crucified crieth therefore aloud unto thee, that sin
hath made thy condition dreadful. See yourselves, your sin, and
consequently the condition that your souls are in, by the death and
blood of Christ; Christ’s death giveth us the most clear discovery of
the dreadful nature of our sins. I say again, if sin be so dreadful a
thing as to break the heart of the Son of God, for so he said it did,
how shall a poor, wretched, impenitent, damned sinner wrestle with the
wrath of God? Awake, sinners; you are lost, you are undone, you are
damned, hell-fire is your portion for ever, if you abide in your sins,
and be found without a Saviour in the dreadful day of judgment.
Second. For your good deeds cannot help you; the blood of Christ tells
you so. For by this doctrine, ‘Christ died for our sins,’ God damneth
to death and hell the righteousness of the world. Christ must die, or
man be damned. Where is now any room for the righteousness of men?
room, I say, for man’s righteousness, as to his acceptance and
justification? Bring, then, thy righteousness to the cross of Jesus
Christ, and in his blood behold the demands of justice; behold them, I
say, in the cries and tears, in the blood and death of Jesus Christ.
Look again, and behold the person dying; such an one as never sinned
nor offended at any time, yet he dies. Could a holy life, an innocent,
harmless conversation, have saved one from death, Jesus had not died.
But he must die; sin was charged, therefore Christ must die.
Men, therefore, need to go no further to prove the worth of their own
righteousness than to the death of Christ; they need not be waiting to
seek in that matter till they stand before the judgment-seat.
Quest. But how should I prove [or try] the goodness of mine own
righteousness by the death and blood of Christ?
Answ. Thus: if Christ must die for sin, then all thy righteousness
cannot save thee. ‘If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is
dead in vain’ (Gal 2:21). By this text it is manifest that either
Christ died in vain, or thy righteousness is vain. If thy righteousness
can save thee, then Christ died in vain; if nothing below or besides
the death of Christ could save thee, then thy righteousness is in vain;
one of the two must be cast away, either Christ’s or thine. Christ
crucified to save the world, discovereth two great evils in man’s own
righteousness; I mean, when brought for justification and life. 1. It
opposeth the righteousness of Christ. 2. It condemneth God of
foolishness.
1. It opposeth the righteousness of Christ, in that it seeketh itself
to stand where should the righteousness of Christ—to wit, in God’s
affection for the justification of thy person; and this is one of the
highest affronts to Christ that poor man is capable to give him: right
worthily, therefore, doth the doctrine of the gospel damn the
righteousness of men, and promiseth the kingdom of God to publicans and
harlots rather.
2. It condemneth God of foolishness; for if works of righteousness
which we can do can justify from the curse of the law in the sight of
God, then are not all the treasures of wisdom found in the heart of God
and Christ; for this dolt-headed sinner hath now found out a way of his
own, unawares to God, to secure his soul from wrath and vengeance; I
say, unawares to God, for he never imagined that such a thing could be;
for had he, he would never have purposed before the world began to send
his Son to die for sinners. Christ is the wisdom of God, as you have
heard, and that as he is our justifying righteousness. God was manifest
in the flesh to save us, is the great mystery of godliness. But wherein
lieth the depth of this wisdom of God in our salvation, if man’s
righteousness can save him? (Job 40:10-14).
Yea, wherefore hath God also given it out that there is none other name
given to men under heaven whereby we must be saved? I say again, why is
it affirmed ‘without shedding of blood is no remission,’ if man’s good
deeds can save him?
This doctrine, therefore, of the righteousness of Christ being rightly
preached, and truly believed, arraigneth and condemneth man’s
righteousness to hell; it casteth it out as Abraham cast out Ishmael.
Blood, blood, the sound of blood, abaseth all the glory of it! When men
have said all, and showed us what they can, they have no blood to
present God’s justice with; yet it is blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul, and nothing but blood can wash away from us our sins (Lev
17:11; Rev 1:5; Heb 9).
Justice calls for blood, sins call for blood, the righteous law calls
for blood, yea, the devil himself must be overcome by blood. Sinner,
where is now thy righteousness? Bring it before a consuming fire, for
our God is a consuming fire; bring it before the justice of the law;
yea, try if aught but the blood of Christ can save thee from thy sins,
and devils; try it, I say, by this doctrine; go not one step further
before thou hast tried it.
Third. By this doctrine we are made to see the worth of souls. It
cannot be but that the soul is of wonderful price, when the Son of God
will not stick to spill his blood for it. O sinners, you that will
venture your souls for a little pleasure, surely you know not the worth
of your souls. Now, if you would know what your souls are worth, and
the price which God sets them at, read that price by the blood of
Christ. The blood of Christ was spilt to save souls. ‘For ye are bought
with a price,’ and that price none other than the blood of Christ;
‘therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s
(1 Cor 6:20). Sinners, you have souls, can you behold a crucified
Christ, and not bleed, and not mourn, and not fall in love with him?
THE THIRD USE.
[THIRD.] By this doctrine sinners, as sinners, are encouraged to come
to God for mercy, for the curse due to sin is taken out of the way. I
speak now to sinners that are awake, and see themselves sinners.
There are two things in special when men begin to be awakened, that
kill their thoughts of being saved. 1. A sense of sin. 2. The wages due
thereto. These kill the heart; for who can bear up under the guilt of
sin? ‘If our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we
then live?’ (Eze 33:10). How indeed! it is impossible. So neither can
man grapple with the justice of God. ‘Can thine heart endure, or can
thine hands be strong?’ They cannot (Eze 22:14). ‘A wounded spirit who
can bear?’ (Prov 18:14). Men cannot, angels cannot. Wherefore, if now
Christ be hid, and the blessing of faith in his blood denied, woe be to
them; such go after Saul and Judas, one to the sword, and the other to
the halter, and so miserably end their days; for come to God they dare
not; the thoughts of that eternal Majesty strike them through.
But now, present such poor dejected sinners with a crucified Christ,
and persuade them that the sins under which they shake and tremble were
long ago laid upon the back of Christ, and the noise and sense and fear
of damning begins to cease, depart, and fly away; dolors and terrors
fade and vanish, and that soul conceiveth hopes of life; for thus the
soul argueth, Is this indeed the truth of God, that Christ was made to
be sin for me? was made the curse of God for me? Hath he indeed borne
all my sins, and spilt his blood for my redemption! O Blessed tidings!
O welcome grace! ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.’ Now is peace come; now the face of heaven is
altered; ‘Behold, all things are become new.’ Now the sinner can abide
God’s presence, yea, sees unutterable glory and beauty in him; for here
he sees justice smite. While Jacob was afraid of Esau, how heavily did
he drive even towards the promised land? but when killing thoughts were
turned into kissing, and the fears of the sword’s point turned into
brother embraces, what says he?—‘I have seen thy face as though it had
been the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me’ (Gen 33:10).
So and far better is it with a poor distressed sinner at the revelation
of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. ‘God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them.’ O what work will such a word make upon a wounded conscience,
especially when the next words follow—‘For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him!’
Now, the soul sees qualifications able to set him quit in the sight of
God; qualifications prepared already. Prepared, I say, already; and
that by God through Christ; even such as can perfectly answer the law.
What doth the law require? If obedience, here it is; if bloody
sacrifice, here it is; if infinite righteousness, here it is! Now,
then, the law condemns him that believes before God no more; for all
its demands are answered, all its curses are swallowed up in the death
and curse Christ underwent.
Object. But reason saith, since personal sin brought the death, surely
personal obedience must bring us life and glory.
Answ. True reason saith so, and so doth the law itself (Rom 10:5); but
God, we know, is above them both, and he in the covenant of grace saith
otherwise; to wit, that ‘if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved’ (Rom 10:9).
Let reason, then, hold its tongue, yea, let the law with all its wisdom
subject itself to him that made it; let it look for sin where God hath
laid it; let it approve the righteousness which God approveth; yea,
though it be not that of the law, but that by faith of Jesus Christ.
God hath made him our righteousness, God hath made him our sin, God
hath made him our curse, God hath made him our blessing; methinks this
word, ‘God hath made it so,’ should silence all the world.
THE FOURTH USE.
[FOURTH.] By this doctrine, sufficiency of argument is ministered to
the tempted to withstand hereby the assaults of the devil.
When souls begin to seek after the Lord Jesus, then Satan begins to
afflict and distress, as the Canaanites did the Gibeonites, for making
peace with Joshua (Josh 10:1,6).
There are three things that do usually afflict the soul that is
earnestly looking after Jesus Christ. First. Dreadful accusations from
Satan. Second. Grievous defiling and infectious thoughts. Third. A
strange readiness in our nature to fall in with both.
First. By the first of these, the heart is made continually to tremble.
Hence his temptations are compared to the roaring of a lion, for as the
lion by roaring killeth the heart of his prey, so doth Satan kill the
spirit of these that hearken to him (1 Peter 5:8); for when he
tempteth, especially by way of accusation, he doth to us as Rabshakeh
did to the Jews; he speaks to us in our own language; he speaks our sin
at every word, our guilty conscience knows it; he speaks our death at
every word, our doubting conscience feels it.
Second. Besides this, there doth now arise, even in the heart, such
defiling and foul infectious thoughts that putteth the tempted to their
wits’ end; for now it seems to the soul that the very flood-gates of
the flesh are opened, and that to sin there is no stop at all; now the
air seems to be covered with darkness, and the man is as if he was
changed into the nature of a devil; now if ignorance and unbelief
prevail, he concludeth that he is a reprobate, made to be taken and
destroyed.
Third. Now also he feeleth in him a readiness to fall in with every
temptation; a readiness, I say, continually present (Rom 7:21). This
throws all down. Now despair begins to swallow him up; now he can
neither pray, nor read, nor hear, nor meditate on God, but fire and
smoke continually bursteth forth of the heart against him. Now sin and
great confusion puts forth itself in all; yea, the more the sinner
desireth to do a duty sincerely, the further off it always find itself;
for by how much the soul struggleth under these distresses, by so much
the more doth Satan put forth himself to resist, still infusing more
poison, that if possible it might never struggle more, for strugglings
are also as poison to Satan. The fly in the spider’s web is an emblem
of the soul in such a condition—the fly is entangled in the web; at
this the spider shows himself; if the fly stir again, down comes the
spider to her, and claps a foot upon her; if yet the fly makes a noise,
then with poisoned mouth the spider lays hold upon her; if the fly
struggle still, then he poisons her more and more. What shall the fly
do now? Why, she dies, if somebody does not quickly release her. This
is the case of the tempted; they are entangled in the web, their feet
and wings are entangled; now Satan shows himself; if the soul now
struggleth, Satan laboureth to hold it down; if it now shall make a
noise, then he bites with blasphemous mouth, more poisonous than the
gall of a serpent; if it struggle again, then he poisoneth more and
more, insomuch that it needs, at last, must die in the net, if the man,
the lord Jesus, help not out.[6]
The afflicted conscience understands my words.
Further, though the fly in the web is altogether incapable of looking
for relief, yet this awakened, tempted Christian is not. What must he
do therefore? How should he contain hopes of life? If he look to his
heart, there is blasphemy; if he look to his duties, there is sin; if
he strive to mourn and lament, perhaps he cannot; unbelief and hardness
hinder. Shall this man lie down and despair? No. Shall he trust to his
duties? No. Shall he stay from Christ till his heart is better? No.
What then? Let him NOW look to Jesus Christ crucified, then shall he
see his sins answered for, then shall he see death a-dying, then shall
he see guilt borne by another, and there shall he see the devil
overcome. This sight destroys the power of the first temptation,
purifies the heart, and inclines the mind to all good things.
And to encourage thee, tempted creature, to this most gospel duty,
consider that when Jesus Christ read his commission upon the entering
into his ministry, he proclaimed, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord’ (Luke
4:18,19).
These things therefore should the tempted believe; but believing is now
sweating work; for Satan will hold as long as possible, and only
steadfast faith can make him fly. But O, the toil of a truly gracious
heart in this combat! If faith be weak, he can scarce get higher than
his knees; Lord, help! Lord, save! and then down again, till an arm
from heaven takes him up, until Jesus Christ be evidently set forth
crucified for him, and cursed for his sin; for then, and not till then,
the temptation rightly ceaseth, at leastwise for a season. Now the soul
can tend to look about it, and thus consider with itself: if Christ
hath borne my sin and curse, then it is taken away from me; and seeing
thus to take away sin was the contrivance of the God of heaven, I will
bless his name, hope in his mercy, and look upon death and hell with
comfort. ‘Thine heart shall meditate terror,’ thou shalt see the land
that is very far off (Isa 33:16-18).
THE FIFTH USE.
[FIFTH.] this doctrine makes Christ precious to the believers—‘Unto you
therefore which believe, he is precious’ (1 Peter 2:7).
This head might be greatly enlarged upon, and branched out into a
thousand particulars, and each one full of weight and glory. 1. By
considering what sin is. 2. By considering what hell is. 3. By
considering what wrath is. 4. By considering what eternity is. 5. By
considering what the loss of a soul is. 6. What the loss of God is. 7.
What the loss of heaven is. 8. And what it is to be in utter darkness
with devils and damned souls for ever and ever. And after all to
conclude, from all the miseries the Lord Jesus delivered me.
Further, this makes Christ precious, if I consider, in the next place,
1. How he did deliver me; it was with his life, his blood; it cost him
tears, groans, agony, separation from God; to do it he endured his
Father’s wrath, bore his Father’s curse, and died thousands of deaths
at once.
2. He did this while I was his enemy, without my desires, without my
knowledge, without my deserts; he did it unawares to me.