So, then, those men that are at ease in a sinful course, or that come not to G.o.d by Christ, they are such as have no faith, and must therefore perish with the vile and unbelievers. (Rev 21:8)
The whole world is divided into two sorts of men--believers and unbelievers. The G.o.dly are called believers; and why believers, but because they are they that have given credit to the great things of the gospel of G.o.d? These believers are here in the text called also comers, or they that come to G.o.d by Christ, because whoso believes will come; for coming is a fruit of faith in the habit, or, if you will, it is faith in exercise; yet faith must have a being in the soul before the soul can put it into act.
This therefore further evidences that they that come not, have no faith, are not believers, belong not to the household of faith, and must perish--"For he that believes not, shall be d.a.m.ned."
Nor will it be to any boot14 to say, I believe there is a G.o.d and a Christ, for still thy sitting still doth demonstrate that either thou liest in what thou sayest, or that thou believest with a worse than a false faith. But the object of my faith is true. I answer, so is the object of the faith of devils; for they believe that there is one G.o.d and one Christ, yet their faith, as to the root and exercise of it, is notwithstanding no such faith as is that faith that saves, or that is intended in the text, and that by which men come to G.o.d through Christ. Wherefore still, oh, thou slothful one, thou deceivest thyself! Thy not coming to G.o.d by Christ declareth to thy face that thy faith is not good, consequently, that thou feedest on ashes, and thy deceived heart has turned thee aside, that thou canst not deliver thy soul, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" (Isa 44:20)
Third. Is there a man that comes to G.o.d by Christ? Thence I infer that the world to come is better than this; yea, so much better as to quit cost and bear charges of coming to G.o.d, from this, by Christ, to that. Though there is a world to come, yet if it were no better than this, one had as good stay here as seek that, or if it were better than this, and would bear charges if a man left this for that, and that was all, still the one would be as good as the other. But the man that comes to G.o.d by Christ, has chosen the world that is infinitely good; a world, betwixt which and this there can be no comparison. This must be granted, because he that comes to G.o.d by Christ is said to have made the best choice, even chose a city that has foundations. (Heb 11:10) There are several things that make it manifest enough that he that comes to G.o.d by Christ has made the best market, or chose the best world.
1. That is the world which G.o.d commendeth, but this that that he slighteth and contemneth. (2 Thess 1:5,6) Hence that is called the kingdom of G.o.d, but this an "evil world." (Gal 1:4) Now let us conclude, that since G.o.d made both, he is able to judge which of the two are best; yea, best able so to judge thereof. I choose the rather to refer you to the judgment of G.o.d in this matter, for should I put you upon asking of him as to this, that is, coming to G.o.d by Christ, perhaps you would say, he is as little able to give an account of this matter as yourselves. But I hope you think G.o.d knows, and therefore I refer you to the judgment of G.o.d, which you have in the Scriptures of truth--"Heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool." I hope you will say here is some difference.
The Lord is the G.o.d of that, the devil the G.o.d and prince of this.
Thus also it appears there is some difference between them.
2. That world, and those that are counted worthy of it, shall all be everlasting; but so shall not this, nor the inhabiters of it.
The earth with the works thereof shall be burned up, and the men that are of it shall die in like manner. (2 Peter 3) "But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end." (Isa 45:17) This world, with the lovers of it, will end in a burning h.e.l.l; but the world to come fadeth not away. (1 Peter 1:3,4)
3. The world that we are now in, has its best comforts mixed either with crosses or curses; but that to come with neither. There shall be no more curse: and as for crosses, all tears shall be wiped from the eyes of them that dwell there. There will be nothing but ravishing pleasures, and holy; there will be no cessation of joys, nor any speck of pollution. "In thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psa 16:11)
4. There men shall be made like angels, "neither can they die any more." (Luke 20:35,36) There shall they behold the face of G.o.d and his Son, and swim in the enjoyment of them for ever.
5. There men shall see themselves beyond all misery, and shall know that it will be utterly impossible that either anything like sorrow, or grief, or sickness, or discontent, should touch them more.
6. There men shall be rewarded of G.o.d for what they have done and suffered according to his will for his sake; there they shall eat and drink their comforts, and wear them to their everlasting consolation.
7. They are all kings that go to that world, and so shall be proclaimed there. They shall also be crowned with crowns, and they shall wear crowns of life and glory, crowns of everlasting joy, crowns of lovingkindness; yea, "In that day the Lord of hosts himself shall be for a crown of glory to those that are his people." (Heb 2:7, Isa 28:5, 35:10, Psa 103:4) Now, if this world, though no more could be said of it that is said in these few lines, is not infinitely far better than what the present world is, I have missed it in my thoughts. But the coming man, the man that comes to G.o.d by Christ, is satisfied, knows what he does; and if his way, all his way thither, were strewed with burning coals, he would choose, G.o.d helping him, to tread that path rather than to have his portion with them that perish.
Fourth, If there be a world to come, and such a way to it so safe and good, and if G.o.d is there to be enjoyed by them that come to him by Christ; then this shows the great madness of the most of men, madness, I say, of the highest degree, for that they come not to G.o.d by Christ that they may be inheritors of the world to come.
It is a right character which Solomon gives of them, "The heart,"
saith he, "of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead."
(Eccl 9:3) A madman is intent upon his toys, upon anything but that about which he should be intent; and so are they that come not to G.o.d by Jesus Christ. A madman has neither ears to hear, nor a heart to do, what they that are in their right wits advise him for the best, no more have they that come not to G.o.d by Christ. A madman sets more by the straws and c.o.c.k"s feathers by which he decks himself, than he does by all the pearls and jewels in the world. And they that come not to G.o.d by Christ set more by the vanishing bubbles of this life than they do by that glory that the wise man shall inherit; "The wise shall inherit glory, but shame," says Solomon, "shall be the promotion of fools." What a shame it is to see G.o.d"s jewels lie unregarded of them that yet think none are wiser than themselves.
I know the wise men of this world will scorn one should think of them that they are mad; but verily it is so, the more wise for this world, the more fool in G.o.d"s matters; and the more obstinately they stand in their way, the more mad. When Solomon gave himself to backsliding, he saith he gave himself to folly and madness. (Eccl 1:17, 2:12) And when he went about to search out what man is since the fall, he went about to search out foolishness and madness.
(Eccl 7:25-29) And is it not said, that when the Jews were angry with Jesus for that he did good on the Sabbath, that that anger did flow from their being filled with madness? Doth not Paul also, while he opposed himself against Christ, the gospel, and professors thereof, plainly tell us that he did it even from the highest pitch of madness? "And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." (Acts 26:11) Now if it is exceeding madness to do thus, how many at this day must be counted exceeding mad, who yet count themselves the only sober men? They oppose themselves, they stand in their own light, they are against their own happiness, they cherish and nourish c.o.c.katrices in their own bosoms; they choose to themselves those paths which have written upon them in large characters, These are the ways of death and d.a.m.nation. They are offended with them that endeavour to pull them out of their ditch, and choose rather to lie and die there than to go to G.o.d by Christ that they may be saved from wrath through him; yea, so mad are they, that they count the most sober, the most G.o.dly, the most holy man, the mad one; the more earnest for life, the more mad; the more in the Spirit, the more mad; the more desirous to promote the salvation of others, the more mad. But is not this a sign of madness, of madness unto perfection? And yet thus mad are many, and mad are all they that while it is called to-day, while their door is open, and while the golden sceptre of the golden grace of the blessed G.o.d is held forth, stand in their own light, and come not to G.o.d by Christ. (John 10:20, Acts 26:24) That is the fourth inference.
Fifth, A fifth inference that I gather from this text is, that the end that G.o.d will make with men will be according as they come or come not to G.o.d by Christ. They that come to G.o.d by Christ have taken shelter and have hid themselves; but they that come not to G.o.d by Christ lay themselves open to the windy storm and tempest that will be in that day. And the wind then will be high, and the tempest strong, that will blow upon them that shall be found in themselves; "Our G.o.d shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people." (Psa 50:3,4) And now, what will be found in that day to be the portion of them that in this day do not come to G.o.d by Christ? None knows but G.o.d, with whom the reward of unbelievers is.
But writing and preaching is in vain as to such; let men say what they will, what they can, to persuade to come, to dissuade from neglecting to come, they are resolved not to stir. They will try if G.o.d will be so faithful to himself and to his Word, as to dare to condemn them to h.e.l.l fire that have refused to hear and comply with the voice of him that speaketh from heaven.
But this is but a desperate venture. Several things declare that He is determined to be at a point in this matter--
1. The gallows are built--h.e.l.l is prepared for the wicked. 2. There are those already in chains, and stand bound over to the judgment of that day, that are, as to creation, higher and greater than men, to wit, the angels that sinned. (2 Peter 2:4) Let sinners, then, look to themselves. 3. The Judge is prepared and appointed, and it hath fallen out to be HE that thou hast refused to come to G.o.d by; and that predicts no good to thee; for then will he say of all such, "Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." (Luke 19:27)
But what a surprise will it be to them that now have come to G.o.d by Christ to see themselves in heaven indeed, saved indeed, and possessed of everlasting life indeed. For alas! what is faith to possession? Faith that is mixed with many fears, that is opposed with many a.s.saults, and that seems sometimes to be quite extinguished; I say, what is that to a seeing of myself in heaven? Hence it is said, that he shall then come to be admired in them that now believe, because they did here believe the testimony; then they shall admire that it was their lot to believe when they were in the world. (2 Thess 1:10) They shall also admire to think, to see, and behold, what believing has brought them to, while the rest, for refusing to come to G.o.d by Christ, drink their tears mixed with burning brimstone.
Repentance will not be found in heaven among them that come to G.o.d by Christ; no, h.e.l.l is the place of untimely repentance; it is there where the tears will be mixed with gnashing of teeth, while they consider how mad, and worse, they were in not coming to G.o.d by Jesus Christ.
Then will their hearts and mouths be full of, "Lord, Lord, open unto us." But the answer will be, Ye shut me out of doors; "I was a stranger, and ye took me not in"; besides, you refused to come to my Father by me, wherefore now you must go from my Father by me. (Matt 25)
They that will not be saved by Christ, must be d.a.m.ned by Christ; no man can escape one of the two. Refuse the first they may, but shun the second they cannot. And now they that would not come unto G.o.d by Christ will have leisure and time enough, if I may call it time, to consider what they have done in refusing to come to G.o.d by Christ. Now they will meditate warmly on this thing, now their thoughts will be burning hot about it, and it is too late, will be, in each thought, such a sting, that, like a bow of steel, it will continually strike him through.
Now they will bless those whom formerly they have despised, and commend those they once contemned. Now would the rich man willingly change places with poor Lazarus, though he preferred his own condition before his in the world. The day of judgment will bring the worst to rights in their opinions; they will not be capable of misapprehending any more. They will never after that day put bitter for sweet, or darkness for light, or evil for good any more.
Their madness will now be gone. h.e.l.l will be the unbeliever"s bedlam house, and there G.o.d will tame them as to all those bedlam tricks and pranks which they played in this world, but not at all to their profit nor advantage; the gulf that G.o.d has placed and fixed betwixt heaven and h.e.l.l will spoil all as to that. (Luke 16:23-26)
But what a joy will it be to the truly G.o.dly to think now that they are come to G.o.d by Christ! It was their mercy to begin to come, it was their happiness that they continued coming; but it is their glory that they are come, that they are come to G.o.d by Christ.
To G.o.d! why, he is all! all that is good, essentially good, and eternally good. To G.o.d! the infinite ocean of good. To G.o.d, in friendly-wise, by the means of reconciliation; for the other now will be come to him to receive his anger, because they come not to him by Jesus Christ. Oh! that I could imagine; oh! that I could think, that I might write more effectually to thee of the happy estate of them that come to G.o.d by Christ.
But thus have I pa.s.sed through the three former things, namely, 1. That of the intercession of Christ. 2. That of the benefit of intercession. 3. That of the persons that are interested in this intercession.
[IV. EVERY SINCERE COMER CERTAIN OF SALVATION.]
Wherefore now I come to the fourth and last head, and that is, TO SHOW YOU THE CERTAINTY OF THEIR REAPING THE BENEFIT OF HIS INTERCESSION.
"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
[Christ ever living is the safety of comers.]
The certainty of their reaping the benefit of being saved that come unto G.o.d by Christ is thus expressed: "Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." The intercession of Christ, and the lastingness of it, is a sure token of the salvation of them that come unto G.o.d by him.
Of his intercession, what it is, and for whom, we have spoken already; of the success and prevalency of it, we have also spoken before; but the reason of its successfulness of that we are to speak now. And that reason, as the apostle suggesteth, lies in the continuance of it, "Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession." The apostle also makes very much of the continuation of the priesthood of Christ in other places of this epistle: he abides a priest continually, "Thou art a priest for ever." He "hath an unchangeable priesthood." (Heb 7:3,17,21,24) And here he "ever liveth to make intercession."
Now, by the text is showed the reason why he so continually harpeth upon the durableness of it, namely, for that by the unchangeableness of this priesthood we are saved; nay, saved demonstratively, apparently; it is evident we are. "He is also able to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." For,
First, The durableness of his intercession proves that the covenant in which those who come to G.o.d by him are concerned and wrapt up is not shaken, broken, or made invalid by all their weaknesses and infirmities.
Christ is a priest according to covenant, and in all his acts of mediation he has regard to that covenant; so long as that covenant abides in its strength, so long Christ"s intercession is of worth.
Hence, when G.o.d cast the old high priest out of doors, he renders this reason for his so doing: "Because they continued not in my covenant"; that is, neither priests nor people. Therefore were they cast out of the priesthood, and the people pulled down as to a church state. (Heb 7:6-9) Now, the covenant by which Christ acteth, as a priest, so far as we are concerned therein, he also himself acteth our part, being, indeed, the Head and Mediator of the body; wherefore, G.o.d doth not count that the covenant is broken, though we sin, if Christ Jesus our Lord is found to do by it what by law is required of us. Therefore he saith, "If his children break my law, and keep not my commandments, I will visit their sins with a rod," &c. But their sins shall not shake my covenant with my Beloved, nor cause that I for ever should reject them. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
His seed will I make to endure for ever, his seed shall endure for ever." (Psa 89:30-36) Hence, it is clear that the covenant stands good to us as long as Christ stands good to G.o.d, or before his face; for he is not only our Mediator by covenant, but he himself is our conditions to G.o.d-ward; therefore he is said to be "a covenant of the people," or that which the holy G.o.d, by law, required of us. (Isa 42:6) Hence, again, he is said to be our justice or righteousness; to wit, which answereth to what is required of us by the law. He is made unto us of G.o.d so, and in our room and in our stead presenteth himself to G.o.d. So, then, if any ask me by what Christ"s priesthood is continued, I answer, by covenant; for that the covenant by which he is made priest abideth of full force. If any ask whether the church is concerned in that covenant, I answer, yea; yet so as that all points and parts thereof, that concern life and death everlasting, is laid upon his shoulders, and he alone is the doer of it. He is the Lord our righteousness, and he is the Saviour of the body, so that my sins break not the covenant; but them15 notwithstanding, G.o.d"s covenant stands fast with him, with him for evermore. And good reason, if no fault can be found with Christ, who is the person that did strike hands with his Father upon our account and for us; to wit, to do what was meet should be found upon us when we came to appear before G.o.d by him.
And that G.o.d himself doth so understand this matter is evident; because he also, by his own act, giveth and imputeth to us that good that we never did, that righteousness which we never wrought out; yea, and for the sake of that transmitteth our sins unto Christ, as to one that had not only well satisfied for them, but could carry them so far, both from us and from G.o.d, that they should never again come to be charged on the committers, to death and d.a.m.nation.
(Rom 4:1-5) The Scriptures are so plentiful for this, that he must be a Turk, or a Jew, or an atheist that denies it. Besides, G.o.d"s commanding that men should believe in his Son unto righteousness well enough proveth this thing, and the reason of this command doth prove it with an over and above; to wit, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of G.o.d in him." (2 Cor 5:19-21) Hence comes out that proclamation from G.o.d, at the rising again of Christ from the dead: "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:38,39)
If this be so, as indeed it is, then here lieth a great deal of this conclusion, "he ever liveth to make intercession," and of the demonstration of the certain salvation of him that cometh to G.o.d by him, "seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." For if Christ Jesus is a priest by covenant, and so abides as the covenant abides, and if, since the covenant is everlasting, his priesthood is unchangeable, then the man that cometh to G.o.d by him must needs be certainly saved; for if the covenant, the covenant of salvation, is not broken, none can show a reason why he that comes to Christ should be d.a.m.ned, or why the priesthood of Jesus Christ should cease. Hence, after the apostle had spoken of the excellency of his person and priesthood, he then shows that the benefit of the covenant of G.o.d remaineth with us, namely, that grace should be communicated unto us for his priesthood"s sake, and that our sins and iniquities G.o.d would remember no more. (Heb 8:10-12; 10:16-22) Now, as I also have already hinted, if this covenant, of which the Lord Jesus is Mediator and High Priest, has in the bowels of it, not only grace and remission of sins, but a promise that we shall be partakers thereof, through the blood of his priesthood, for so it comes to us; then, why should not we have boldness, not only to come to G.o.d by him, but to enter also "into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by that new and living way," &c.
Second, But, further, this priesthood, as to the unchangeableness of it, is confirmed unto him "with an oath, by him that said unto him, the Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever." This oath seems to me to be for the confirmation of the covenant, as it is worded before by Paul to the Galatians, (Gal 3:15-17), when he speaks of it with respect to that establishment that it also had on Christ"s part by the sacrifice which he offered to G.o.d for us; yea, he then speaks of the mutual confirmation of it both by the Father and the Son. Now, I say, since, by this covenant he stands and abides a Priest, and since "the Lord sware, and will not repent, saying, Thou art a priest for ever," we are still further confirmed in the certain salvation of him that cometh to G.o.d by Christ.
The Lord, by swearing, confirmeth to Christ, and so to us in him, the immutability of his counsel, (Heb 6:16-18), and that he is utterly unchangeable in his resolutions "to save them to the uttermost that come to G.o.d by Christ." And this also shows that this covenant, and so the promise of remission of sins, is steadfast and unmovable.
And it is worth your noting the manner and nature of this oath, "The Lord sware, and will not repent." It is as much as to say, What I have now sworn I bind me for ever to stand to, or, I determine never to revoke; and that is, "That thou art a priest for ever."
Now, as was said before, since his priesthood stands by covenant, and this covenant of his priesthood is confirmed by this oath, it cannot be but that he that comes by him to G.o.d must be accepted of him; for should such a one be rejected, it must be either for the greatness of his sins, or for want of merit in the sacrifice he presented and urged, as to the merit of it, before the mercy-seat.
But let the reason specified be what it will, the consequence falls harder upon the sacrifice of Christ than it can do anywhere else, and so also upon the covenant, and at last upon G.o.d himself, who has sworn, and will not repent, that he is a Priest for ever. I thus discourse, to show you what dangerous conclusions follow from a conceit that some that come to G.o.d by Christ shall not be saved, though "he ever liveth to make intercession for them." And this I have further to say, that the Lord"s swearing, since the manner of the oath is such as it is, and that it also tended to establish to Christ his priesthood to be unchangeable, it declareth that, as to the excellency of his sacrifice, he is eternally satisfied in the goodness and merit of it; and that he will never deny him anything that he shall ask for at his hands for his sufferings" sake. For this oath doth not only show G.o.d"s firm resolution to keep his part of the covenant, in giving to Christ that which was covenanted for by him, but it declareth that, in the judgment of G.o.d, Christ"s blood is able to save any sinner, and that he will never put stop nor check to his intercession, how great soever the sinners be that at any time he shall intercede for; so that the demonstration is clearer and clearer, "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Third, This unchangeableness of the priesthood of Christ dependeth also upon his own life: "This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." (Heb 7:24) Now although, perhaps, at first much may not appear in this text, yet the words that we are upon take their ground from them. "This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood: wherefore he is able also"--that is, by his unchangeable priesthood--"to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
The life of Christ, then, is a ground of the lastingness of his priesthood, and so a ground of the salvation of them that come unto G.o.d by him: "We shall be saved by his life." (Rom 5:10) Wherefore, in another place, this his life is spoken of with great emphasis--the power of an endless life. "He is made [a priest], not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life."
(Heb 7:16) An endless life is, then, a powerful thing; and indeed two things are very considerable in it--1. That it is above death, and so above him that hath the power of death, the devil. 2. In that it capacitates him to be the last in his own cause, and so to have the casting voice.
1. We will speak to the first, and for the better setting of it forth we will show what life it is of which the apostle here speaks; and then how, as to life, it comes to be so advantageous, both with respect to his office of priesthood and us.
What life is it that is thus the ground of his priesthood? It is a life taken, his own life rescued from the power of the grave; a life that we had forfeited, he being our surety; and a life that he recovered again, he being the Captain of our salvation: I lay down my life that I may take it again: "this commandment have I received of my Father." (John 10:18) It is a life, then, that was once laid down as the price of man"s redemption, and a life won, gained, taken, or recovered again, as the token or true effect of the completing, by so dying, that redemption; wherefore it is said again, "In that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto G.o.d." (Rom 6:10) He liveth as having pleased G.o.d by dying for our sins, as having merited his life by dying for our sins. Now if this life of his is a life merited and won by virtue of the death that he died, as Acts 2:24 doth clearly manifest; and if this life is the ground of the unchangeableness of this part of his priesthood, as we see it is, then it follows that this second part of his priesthood, which is called here intercession, is grounded upon the demonstrations of the virtue of his sacrifice, which is his life taken to live again; so, then, he holds this part of his priesthood, not by virtue of a carnal commandment, but by the power of an endless life; but by the power of a life rescued from death, and eternally exalted above all that any ways would yet a.s.sault it; for "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." (Rom 6:9) Hence Christ brings in his life, the life that he won to himself by his death, to comfort John withal when he fainted under the view of that overcoming glory that he saw upon Christ in is visions of him at Patmos: "And he laid his right hand upon me,"
said he, "saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen." (Rev 1:17,18) Why should Christ bring in his life to comfort John, if it was not a life advantageous to him? But the advantageousness of it doth lie not merely in the being of life, but in that it was a life laid down for his sins, and a life taken up again for his justification; a life lost to ransom him, and a life won to save him; as also the text affirmeth, saying, "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto G.o.d by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."