perfected; there the spirits of the righteous are as full as they can
hold (Heb 12:23). A sight of Jesus in the Word, some know how it will
change them from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18), but how then shall we be
changed and filled, when we shall see him as he is? ‘When he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is’ (1 John
3:2). Moses and Elias appeared to Peter, and James, and John, at the
transfiguration of Christ, in glory. How so? Why, they had been in the
heavens, and came thence with some of the glories of heaven upon them.
Gild a bit of wood, yea, gild it seven times over, and it must not
compare in difference to wood not gilt, to the soul that but a little
while has been dipped in glory! Glory is a strange thing to men that
are on this side of the heavens; it is that which eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man to conceive of; only
the Christian has a Word and Spirit that at times doth give a little of
the glimmering thereof unto him. But O! when he is in the Spirit, and
sees in the Spirit, do you think his tongue can tell? But, I say, if
the sight of heaven, at so vast a distance, is so excellent a prospect,
what will it look like when one is in it? No marvel, then, if the
desires of the righteous are to be with Christ.
Object. But if this be the character of a righteous man, to desire to
depart and to be with Christ, I am none of them, for I never had such a
desire in my heart; no, my fears of perishing will not suffer me either
to desire to die to be with Christ, nor that Christ should come to
judge the world.
Answ. Though thine is a case that must be excepted, for that thy
desires may not as yet be grown so high; yet if thou art a righteous
man, thy heart has in it the very seeds thereof. There are therefore
desires, and desires to desire; as one child can reach so high, and the
other can but desire to do so. Thou, if thou art a righteous man, hast
desires, these desires ready to put forth into act, when they are grown
a little stronger, or when their impediment is removed. Many times it
is with our desires as it is with saffron,[14] it will bloom and
blossom, and be ripe, and all in a night. Tell me, dost thou not desire
to desire? Yea, dost thou not vehemently desire to desire to depart and
to be with Christ? I know, if thou art a righteous man, thou dost.
There is a man sows his field with wheat, but as he sows, soon it is
covered with great clods; now, that grows as well as the rest, though
it runs not upright as yet; it grows, and yet is kept down, so do thy
desires; and when one shall remove the clod, the blade will soon point
upwards.
I know thy mind; that which keeps thee that thou canst not yet arrive
to this—to desire to depart and to be with Christ, is because some
strong doubt or clod of unbelief, as to thy eternal welfare, lies hard
upon thy desiring spirit. Now let but Jesus Christ remove this clod,
and thy desires will quickly start up to be gone. I say, let but Jesus
Christ give thee one kiss, and with his lips, as he kisses thee,
whisper to thee the forgiveness of thy sins, and thou wilt quickly
break out, and say, Nay then, Lord, let me die in peace, since my soul
is persuaded of thy salvation!
There is a man upon the bed of languishing; but O! he dares not die,
for all is not as he would have it betwixt God and his poor soul; and
many a night he lies thus in great horror of mind; but do you think
that he doth not desire to depart? Yes, yes, he also waits and cries to
God to set his desires at liberty. At last the visitor comes and sets
his soul at ease, by persuading of him that he belongs to God: and what
then? ‘O! now let me die, welcome death!’ Now he is like the man in
Essex, who, when his neighbour at his bedside prayed for him that God
would restore him to health, started up in his bed, and pulled him by
the arm, and cried out, No, no, pray that God will take me away, for to
me it is best to go to Christ.
The desires of some good Christians are pinioned, and cannot stir,
especially these sort of desires; but Christ can and will cut the cord
some time or other: and then thou that wouldst shalt be able to say, ‘I
have a desire to depart, and to be with Jesus Christ.’ Meantime, be
thou earnest to desire to know thy interest in the grace of God; for
there is nothing short of the knowledge of that can make thee desire to
depart, that thou mayest be with Christ. This is that that Paul laid as
the ground of his desires to be gone: ‘We know,’ says he, ‘that if our
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this
we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which
is from heaven’ (2 Cor 5:1,2). And know, that if thy desires be right
they will grow as other graces do, from strength to strength; only in
this they can grow no faster than faith grows as to justification, and
then hope grows as to glory. But we will leave this and come to the
second thing.
2. [They desire to be in that country where their Lord personally is.]
As the righteous men desire to be present with Jesus Christ, so they
desire to be with him in that country where he is: ‘But now they desire
a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to
be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city’ (Heb
11:14-16). ‘But now they desire a better country.’ Here is a
comparison. There was another country, to wit, their native country,
the country from whence they came out, that in which they left their
friends and their pleasures for the sake of another world, which,
indeed, is a better country, as is manifest from its character. ‘It is
an heavenly.’ As high as heaven is above the earth, so much better is
that country which is a heavenly, than is this in which now we are.
A heavenly country, where there is a heavenly Father (Matt 6:14-16,
15:13, 18:35), a heavenly host (Luke 2:13), heavenly things (John
3:12), heavenly visions (Acts 26:19), heavenly places (Eph 1:3,20), a
heavenly kingdom (2 Tim 4:18), and the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22),
for them that are partakers of the heavenly calling (Heb 3:1), and that
are the heavenly things themselves (Heb 9:23). This is a country to be
desired, and therefore no marvel if any, except those that have lost
their wits and senses, refuse to choose themselves an habitation here.
Here is the ‘Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and an innumerable company of angels: here is the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, and God the Judge of all, and
Jesus, and the spirits of just men made perfect’ (Heb 12:22-24). Who
would not be here? This is the country that the righteous desire for a
habitation: ‘but now they desire a better country, that is, an
heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
hath prepared for them a city’ (Heb 11:16).
Mark, they desire a country, and God prepareth for them a city; he goes
beyond their desires, beyond their apprehensions, beyond what their
hearts could conceive to ask for. There is none that are weary of this
world from a gracious disposition that they have to an heavenly, but
God will take notice of them, will own them, and not be ashamed to own
them; yea, such shall not lose their longing. They desire a handful,
God gives them a seaful; they desire a country, God prepares for them a
city; a city that is an heavenly; a city that has foundation, a city
whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:10; Rev 3:12). And all this is,
that the promise to them might be fulfilled,, ‘The desire of the
righteous shall be granted.’ And this is the last thing propounded to
be spoken to from the text. Therefore,
[WHAT IS MEANT BY GRANTING THESE DESIRES.]
THIRD. We then, in conclusion, come to inquire into WHAT IS MEANT, or
to be understood, BY THE GRANTING OF THE RIGHTEOUS THEIR DESIRES; ‘The
desire of the righteous shall be granted.’
FIRST. To grant is to yield to what is desired, to consent that it
shall be even so as is requested: ‘The Lord hear thee in the day of
trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from
the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion, remember all
thy—sacrifices: grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfil all
thy counsel’ (Psa 20:1-4). SECOND. To grant is to accomplish what is
promised; thus God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life,
namely, for that he had promised it by the prophets from the days of
old (Acts 11:18; Rom 15:9-12). THIRD. To grant, therefore, is an act of
grace and condescending favour; for if God is said to humble himself
when he beholds things in heaven, what condescension is it for him to
hearken to a sinful wretch on earth, and to tell him, Have the thing
which thou desireth. A wretch, I call him, if compared to him that
hears him, though he is a righteous man, when considered as the new
creation of God. FOURTH. To grant, then, is not to part with the thing
desired, as if a desire merited, purchased, earned, or deserved it, but
of bounty and goodwill, to bestow the thing desired upon the humble.
Hence God’s grants are said to be gracious ones (Psa 119:29). FIFTH. I
will add, that to grant is sometimes taken for giving one authority or
power to do, or possess, or enjoy such and such privileges; and so it
may be taken here: for the righteous has a right to a power, to enjoy
the things bestowed on them by their God. So, then, to grant is to
give, to accomplish, even of free grace, the desire of the righteous.
This is acknowledged by David, where he saith to God, ‘Thou hast given
him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his
lips’ (Psa 21:2). And this is promised unto all that delight themselves
in God, ‘Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the
desires of thy heart’ (Psa 37:4). And again, ‘He will fulfil the desire
of them that fear him, he also will hear their cry, and will save them’
(Psa 145:19). By all these places it is plain, that the promise of
granting desires is entailed to the righteous, and also that the grant
to them is an act of grace and mercy. But it also follows, that though
the desires of the righteous are not meritorious, yet they are pleasing
in his sight; and this is manifest several ways, besides the promise of
a grant of them.
First. In that the desires of God, and the desires of the righteous,
jump or agree in one, they are of one mind in their desires: God’s
desire is to the work of his hands, and the righteous are for
surrendering that up to him. 1. In giving up the heart unto him; ‘My
son,’ says God, ‘give me thy heart’ (Prov 23:26). ‘I lift my soul to
thee,’ says the righteous man (Psa 25:1, 86:4; Lam 3:41). Here,
therefore, there is an agreement between God and the righteous; it is,
I say, agreed on both sides that God should have the heart: God desires
it, the righteous man desires it, yea, he desires it with a groan,
saying, ‘Incline my heart unto thy testimony’ (Psa 119:36). ‘Let my
heart be sound in thy statutes’ (Psa 119:80). 2. They are also agreed
about the disposing of the whole man: God is for body, and soul, and
spirit; and the righteous desires that God should have it all. Hence
they are said to give themselves to the Lord (2 Cor 8:5), and to addict
themselves to his service (1 Cor 15:16). 3. God desireth truth in the
inward parts, that is, that truth may be at the bottom of all (Psa
51:6,16), and this is the desire of the righteous man likewise: ‘Thy
word have I hid in my heart,’ said David, ‘that I might not sin against
thee’ (Psa 119:11). 4. They agree in the way of justification, in the
way of sanctification, in the way of preservation, and in the way of
glorification, to wit, which way to come at and enjoy all: wherefore,
who should hinder the righteous man, or keep him back from enjoying the
desire of his heart? 5. They also agree about the sanctifying of God’s
name in the world, saying, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.’ There is a great agreement between God and the righteous; ‘he
that is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ (1 Cor 6:17). No marvel,
then, if their desires in the general, so far as the righteous man doth
know the mind of his God, are one, consequently their desires must be
granted, or God must deny himself.
Second. The desires of the righteous are the life of all their prayers;
and it is said, ‘The prayer of the upright is God’s delight.’
Jesus Christ put a difference betwixt the form and spirit that is in
prayer, and intimates the soul of prayer is in the desires of a man;
‘Therefore,’ saith he, ‘I say unto you, What things soever ye desire
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them’
(Mark 11:24). If a man prays never so long, and has never so many brave
expressions in prayer, yet God counts it prayer no further than there
are warm and fervent desires in it, after those things the mouth maketh
mention of. David saith, ‘Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my
groaning is not hid from thee’ (Psa 38:9). Can you say you desire, when
you pray? or that your prayers come from the braying, panting, and
longing of your hearts? If not, they shall not be granted: for God
looks, when men are at prayer, to see if their heart and spirit is in
their prayers; for he counts all other but vain speaking. Ye shall seek
me, and find me, says he, when you shall search for me with all your
heart (Rom 8:26,27; Matt 6:7; Jer 29:12). The people that you read of
in 2 Chronicles 15 are there said to do what they did ‘with all their
heart, and with all their soul.’ ‘For they sought God with their whole
desire’ (2 Chron 15:11-15). When a man’s desires put him upon prayer,
run along with him in his prayer, break out of his heart and ascend up
to heaven with his prayers, it is a good sign that he is a righteous
man, and that his desire shall be granted.
Third. By desire a righteous man shows more of his mind for God, than
he can by any manner of way besides; hence it is said, ‘The desire of
man is his kindness, and a poor man,’ that is sincere in his desires,
‘is better than’ he that with his mouth shows much love, if he be ‘a
liar’ (Prov 19:22).
Desires, desires, are copious things; you read that a man may ‘enlarge
his desire as hell’ (Habb 2:5), that is, if they be wicked; yea, and a
righteous man may enlarge his desires as heaven (Psa 73:25). No grace
is so extensive as desires. Desires out-go all. Who believes as he
desires to believe? and loves as he desires to love? and fears as he
desires to fear God’s name? (Neh 1:11). Might it be as a righteous man
doth sometimes desire it should be, both with God’s church, and also
with his own soul, stranger things would be than there are; faith, and
love, and holiness, would flourish more than it does! O! what does a
righteous man desire? What do you think the prophet desired, when he
said, ‘O that thou wouldest rend the heavens and—come down?’ (Isa
54:1). And Paul, when he said, he could wish that himself were accursed
from Christ, for the vehement desire that he had that the Jews might be
saved? (Rom 9:1-3, 10:1). Yea, what do you think John desired, when he
cried out to Christ to come quickly?
Love to God, as I said, is more seen in desires than in any Christian
act. Do you think that the woman with her two mites cast in all that
she desired to cast into the treasury of God? Or do you think, when
David said that he had prepared for the house of God with all his
might, that his desires stinted when his ability was at its utmost? (1
Chron 29). No, no; desires go beyond all actions; therefore I said it
is the desires of a man that are reckoned for his kindness. Kindness is
that which God will not forget; I mean the kindness which his people
show to him, especially in their desires to serve him in the world.
When Israel was come out of Egypt, you know how many stumbles they had
before they got to Canaan. But forasmuch as they were willing or
desirous to follow God, he passes by all their failures, saying, ‘I
remember thee,’ and that almost a thousand years after,[15] ‘the
kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest
after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown’ (Jer 2:2).
Israel was holiness to the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase.
There is nothing that God likes of ours better than he likes our true
desires. For indeed true desires, they are the smoke of our incense,
the flower of our graces, and the very vital part of our new man. They
are our desires that ascend, and they that are the sweet of all the
sacrifices that we offer to God. The man of desires is the man of
kindness.
Fourth. Desires, true and right desires, they are they by which a man
is taken up from the ground, and brought away to God, in spite of all
opposers. A desire will take a man upon its back, and carry him away to
God, if ten thousand men stand by and oppose it. Hence it is said, that
‘through desire a man having separated himself,’ to wit, from what is
contrary to the mind of God, and so ‘seeketh and intermeddleth with all
wisdom’ (Prov 18:1).
All convictions, conversions, illuminations, favours, tastes,
revelations, knowledge, and mercies, will do nothing if the soul abides
without desires. All, I say, is but like rain upon stones, or favours
bestowed upon a dead dog. O! but a poor man with desires, a man that
sees but little, that knows but little, that finds in himself but
little, if he has but strong desires, they will supply all. His desires
take him up from his sins, from his companions, from his pleasures, and
carry him away to God. Suppose thou wast a minister, and wast sent from
God with a whip, whose cords were made of the flames of hell, thou
mightest lash long enough before thou couldest so much as drive one man
that abides without desires to God, or to his kingdom, by that thy so
sore a whip. Suppose again that thou wast a minister, and wast sent
from God to sinners with a crown of glory in thy hand, to offer to him
that first comes to thee for it; yet none can come without desires: but
desire takes the man upon its back, and so brings him to thee.[16] What
is the reason that men will with mouth commend God, and commend Christ,
and commend and praise both heaven and glory, and yet all the while fly
from him, and from his mercy, as from the worst of enemies? Why, they
want good desires; their desires being mischievous, carry them another
way. Thou entreatest thy wife, thy husband, and the son of thy womb, to
fall in with thy Lord and thy Christ, but they will not. Ask them the
reason why they will not, and they know none, only they have no
desires. ‘When we shall see him, there is no beauty in him that we
should desire him’ (Isa 53:1-3). And I am sure if they do not desire
him, they can by no means be made to come to him.
But now, desires, desires that are right, will carry a man quite away
to God, and to do his will, let the work be never so hard. Take an
instance or two for this.
You may see it in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The text says plainly,
they were not mindful of that country from whence they came out,
through their desires of a better (Heb 11:8-16). God gave them
intimation of a better country, and their minds did cleave to it with
desires of it; and what then? Why, they went forth, and desired to go,
though they did not know whither they went. Yea, they all sojourned in
the land of promise, because it was but a shadow of what was designed
for them by God, and looked to by their faith, as in a strange country;
wherefore they also cast that behind their back, looking for that city
that had foundations, of which mention was made before. Had not now
these men desires that were mighty? They were their desires that thus
separated them from their dearest and choice relations and enjoyments.
Their desires were pitched upon the heavenly country, and so they broke
through all difficulties for that.
You may see it in Moses, who had a kingdom at his foot, and was the
alone visible heir thereof; but desire of a better inheritance made him
refuse it, and choose rather to take part with the people of God in
their afflicted condition, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season. You may say, the Scripture attributes this to his faith. I
answer, so it attributes to Abraham’s faith his leaving of his country.
But his faith begat in him these desires after the country that is
above. So indeed Moses saw these things by faith; and therefore his
faith begat in him these desires. For it was because of his desires
that he did refuse, and did choose as you read. And here we may
opportunely take an opportunity to touch upon the vanity of that faith
that is not breeding, and that knows not how to bring forth strong
desires of enjoying what is pretended to be believed; all such faith is
false. Abraham’s, Isaac’s, Jacob’s, and Moses’ faith, bred in them
desires, strong desires; yea, desires so strong as to take them up, and
to carry them after what, by their faith, was made known unto them.
Yea, their desires were so mightily set upon the things made known to
them by their faith, that neither difficulties nor dangers, nor yet
frowns nor flatteries, could stop them from the use of all lawful
attempts of enjoying what they believed was to be had, and what they
desired to be possessed of.
The women also that you read of, and others that would not, upon
unworthy terms, accept of deliverance from torments and sundry trials,
that they might,, or because they had a desire to, be made partakers of
a better resurrection. ‘And others,’ saith he, ‘had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings; yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments.
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with
the sword; they wandered about in sheep skins, and goat skins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and caves of the earth’ (Heb
11:35-38).
But we will come to the Lord Jesus himself. Whither did his desires
bring him? Whither did they carry him? and to what did they make him
stoop? For they were his desires after us, and after our good, that
made him humble himself to do as he did (Cant 7:10). What was it, think
you, that made him cry out, ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with, and
how am I straitened till it be accomplished’! (Luke 12:50). What was
that baptism but his death? and why did he so long for it, but of
desire to do us good? Yea, the passover being to be eaten on the even
of his sufferings, with what desires did he desire to eat it with his
disciples? (Luke 22:15). Yea, his desires to suffer for his people made
him go with more strength to lay down his life for them than they, for
want of them, had to go to see him suffer. And they were in their way
going up to Jerusalem, he to suffer, and they to look on, ‘And Jesus
went before them, and they were amazed, and as they followed, they were
afraid’ (Mark 10:32; Matt 20:17).
I tell you, desires are strange things, if they be right; they jump
with God’s mind; they are the life of prayer; they are a man’s kindness
to God, and they which will take him up from the ground, and carry him
away after God to do his will, let the work be never so hard. Is it any
marvel, then, if the desires of the righteous are so pleasing to God as
they are, and that God has so graciously promised that the desires of
the righteous shall be granted? But we come now to
[THE USE AND APPLICATION.]
THE FIRST USE SHALL BE A USE OF INFORMATION. You have heard what hath
been said of desires, and what pleasing things right desires are unto
God. But you must know that they are the desires of his people, of the
righteous, that are so. No wicked man’s desires are regarded (Psa
112:10). This men must be informed of, lest their desires become a
snare to their souls. You read of a man whose ‘desire killeth him’
(Prov 21:25). And why? but because he rests in desiring, without
considering what he is, whether such a one unto whom the promise of
granting desires is made; he coveteth greedily all the day long, but to
little purpose. The grant of desires, of the fulfilling of desires, is
entailed to the righteous man. There are four sorts of people that
desire, that desire the kingdom of heaven; consequently, desires have a
fourfold root from whence they flow.