However strange
it may appear, it is a solemn fact, that the heart of man, unless prepared by a
sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, rejects Christ as a complete Saviour.
The pride of human nature will not suffer it to fall, as helpless and utterly
undone, into the arms of Divine mercy. Man prefers a partial Saviour; one who
had done so much, that, with the sinner’s aid, the work might be completed. No
such were the opinions of John Bunyan; the furnace of sharp conviction had burnt
up this proud dross; he believed the testimony of Scripture, that from the crown
of the head to the soles of the feet all nature is corrupted; so that out of the
unsanctified heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, and the sad catalogue
of crimes which our Lord enumerates, and which defile our best efforts after
purity of heart and life. No sinner will ever totally rely upon the Saviour
until he is sensible of his own perishing state; hanging by the brittle thread
of life over the yawning gulf of perdition; sinking in that sin which will
swallow him up in those awful torments which await the transgressor; feeling
that sin has fitted him as stubble for the fire; then it is that the cry
proceeds from his heart, Lord, save, I perish; and then, and not till then, are
we made willing to receive ‘Christ as a complete Saviour’ to the uttermost,
not of his ability, but of our necessity. This was the subject of all Mr. Bunyan’s
writings, and, doubtless, of all his preaching. It was to direct sinners to the
Lamb of God, who alone can take away sin. This little treatise was one of those
ten ‘excellent manuscripts’ which, at Bunyan’s decease, were found
prepared for the press. It was first published in 1692, by his friends E.
Chandler, J. Wilson, and C. Doe.
It
is limited to a subject which is too often lost sight of, because it is within
the veil—the intercession of Christ as the finishing work of a sinner’s
salvation. Many persons limit the ‘looking unto Jesus’ to beholding him upon
the cross, a common popish error; but this is not enough; we must, in our minds,
follow him to the unseen world, and thus ascend to a risen Saviour, at the right
hand of the Father, making intercession for our daily sins. And he is our ONLY
Intercessor, and it is a rejection of him, for us to seek the aid of another.
Who ever was mad enough to ask Moses to intercede for him, and surely he is as
able as Mary or any other saint? To atone for sin calls for the amazing price of
the blood of Christ, who was ‘God manifest in the flesh.’ He undertook the
work by covenant; and all the ‘saved’ form part of his mystical body; thus
perfectly obeying the law in him. He poured out his life to open a fountain for
sin and uncleanness; and as they are liable to pollution in their passage
through the world, he only is able, and he ever liveth, to make intercession for
their transgressions. Thus he becomes a complete Saviour, and will crown, with
an eternal weight of glory, all those that put their trust in him. Beautiful,
and soul-softening, and heart- warming thoughts abound in this little work,
which cannot fail to make a lasting impression upon the reader. Bunyan disclaims
‘the beggarly art of complimenting’ in things of such solemnity. He
describes the heart as unweldable, a remarkable expression, drawn from his
father’s trade of a blacksmith; nothing but grace can so heat it as to enable
the hammer of conviction to weld it to Christ; and when thus welded, it becomes
one with him. There is hope for a returning backslider in a complete Saviour; he
combines the evidence of two men, the coming and the returning sinner; he has
been, like Jonah, in the belly of hell; his sins, like talking devils, have
driven him back to the Saviour. Sin brings its own punishment, from which we
escape by keeping in the narrow path. Good works save us from temporal miseries,
which ever follow an indulgence in sin; but if we fall, we have an Advocate and
Intercessor to lift us up; still, if thou lovest thy soul, slight not the
knowledge of hell, for that, with the law, are the spurs which Christ useth to
prick souls forward to himself. O gather up thy heels and mend thy pace, or
those spurs will be in thy sides. Take heed, O persecutor; like Saul, thou art
exceeding mad, and hell is thy bedlam. Take heed of a false faith; none is true
but that which is acquired by a kneeling, searching, seeking for truth as for
hid treasure. Death is God’s bailiff, he will seize thee without warning; but
with the saints, the grave’s mouth is the final parting place between grace
and sin. Forget not that a good improvement will make your little grace to
thrive. Reader, may Divine grace indelibly fix these wholesome truths upon our
minds.
The
apostle, in this chapter, presenteth us with two things; that is, with the
greatness of the person and of the priesthood of our Lord Jesus.
First,
He presenteth us with the greatness of his person, in that he preferreth him
before Abraham, who is the father of us all; yea, in that he preferreth him
before Melchisedec, who was above Abraham, and blessed him who had the promises.
Second,
As to his priesthood, he showeth the greatness of that, in that he was made a
priest, not by the law of a carnal commandment, but by the power of an endless
life. Not without, but with an oath, by him that said, ‘The Lord sware, and
will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec’;
wherefore, ‘this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood.’ Now my text is drawn from this conclusion, namely, that Christ
abideth a priest continually. ‘Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them.’
In
the words, I take notice of four things: FIRST, Of the intercession of Christ—He
maketh intercession. SECOND, Of the benefit of his intercession—’Wherefore
he is able to save to the uttermost,’ &c. THIRD, We have also here set
before us the persons interested in this intercession of Christ—And they are
those ‘that come unto God by him.’ FOURTH, We have also here the certainty
of their reaping this benefit by him; to wit, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them—’Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them.’ 1
FIRST,
We will begin with HIS INTERCESSION, and will show you, First, What that is;
Second, For what he intercedes; and, Third, What is also to be inferred from
Christ’s making intercession for us.
First,
I begin, then, with the first; that is, to show you what intercession is.
Intercession is prayer; but all prayer is not intercession. Intercession, then,
is that prayer that is made by a third person about the concerns that are
between two. And it may be made either to set them at further difference, or to
make them friends; for intercession may be made against, as well as for, a
person or people. ‘Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh
intercession to God against Israel.’ (Rom 11:2) But the intercession that we
are now to speak of is not an intercession of this kind, not an intercession
against, but an intercession for a people. ‘He ever liveth to make
intercession for them.’ The high priest is ordained for, but not to be against
the people. ‘Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in
things pertaining to God,’ to make reconciliation for the sins of the people;
or ‘that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.’ (Heb 5:1) This,
then, is intercession; and the intercession of Christ is to be between two,
between God and man, for man’s good. And it extendeth itself unto these: 1. To
pray that the elect may be brought all home to him; that is, to God. 2. To pray
that their sins committed after conversion may be forgiven them. 3. To pray that
their graces which they receive at conversion may be maintained and supplied. 4.
To pray that their persons may be preserved unto his heavenly kingdom.
Second,
This is the intercession of Christ, or that for which he doth make intercession.
1.
He prays for all the elect, that they may be brought home to God, and so into
the unity of the faith, &c. this is clear, for that he saith, ‘Neither
pray I for these alone’; that is, for those only that are converted; ‘but
for them also which shall believe on me through their word’; for all them that
shall, that are appointed to believe; or, as you have it a little above, ‘for
them which thou hast given me.’ (John 17:9,20, Isa 53:12) And the reason is,
for that he hath paid a ransom for them. Christ, therefore, when he maketh
intercession for the ungodly, and all the unconverted elect are such, doth but
petitionarily ask for his own, his purchased ones, those for whom he died
before, that they might be saved by his blood.
2.
When any of them are brought home to God, he yet prays for them; namely, that
the sins which through infirmity they, after conversion, may commit, may also be
forgiven them.
This
is showed us by the intercession of the high priest under the law, that was to
bear away the iniquities of the holy things of the children of Israel; yea, and
also by his atonement for them that sinned; for that it saith, ‘And the priest
shall make an atonement for him, for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall
be forgiven him.’ (Lev 5:10) This also is intimated even where our Lord doth
make intercession, saying, ‘I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of
the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.’ (John 17:15) That
Christ prayed that the converted should be kept from all manner of commission of
sin, must not be supposed, for that is the way to make his intercession, at
least in some things, invalid, and to contradict himself; for, saith he, ‘I
know that thou hearest me always.’ (John 11:42) But the meaning is, I pray
that thou wouldest keep them from soul-damning delusions, such as are
unavoidably such; also that thou wouldest keep them from the soul-destroying
evil of every sin, of ever temptation. Now this he doth by his prevailing and by
his pardoning grace.
3.
In his intercession he prayeth also that those graces which we receive at
conversion may be maintained and supplied. This is clear where he saith, ‘Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat;
but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.’ (Luke 22:31,32) Ay, may
some say, he is said to pray here for the support and supply of faith, but doth
it therefore follow that he prayed for the maintaining and supply of all our
graces? Yes, in that he prayed for the preservation of our faith, he prayed for
the preservation of all our graces; for faith is the mother grace, the root
grace, the grace that hath all others in the bowels of it, and that from the
which all others flow; yea, it is that which gives being to all our other
graces, and that by which all the rest do live. Let, then, faith be preserved,
and all graces continue and live—that is, according to the present state,
health, and degree of faith. So, then, Christ prayed for the preservation of
every grace when he prayed for the preservation of faith. That text also is of
the same tendency where he saith, ‘Keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given men.’ (John 17:11) Keep them in thy fear, in the faith, in the true
religion, in the way of life by thy grace, by thy power, by thy wisdom, &c.
This must be much of the meaning of this place, and he that excludes this sense
will make but poor work of another exposition.
4.
He also in his intercession prayeth that our persons be preserved, and brought
safe unto his heavenly kingdom. And this he doth, (1.) By pleading interest in
them. (2.) By pleading that he had given, by promise, glory to them. (3.) By
pleading his own resolution to have it so. (4.) By pleading the reason why it
must be so.
(1.)
He prays that their persons may come to glory, for that they are his, and that
by the best of titles: ‘Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.’ (John
17:6) Father, I will have them; Father, I will have them, for they are mine: ‘Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me.’ What is mine, my wife, or my child, or my
jewel, or my joy, sure I may have it with me. Thus, therefore, he pleads or
cries in his intercession, that our persons might be preserved to glory: They
are mine, ‘and thou gavest them me.’2
(2.)
He also pleads that he had given—given already, that is, in the promise—glory
to them, and therefore they must not go without it. ‘And the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them.’ (John 17:22) Righteous men, when they give a
good thing by promise, they design the performance of that promise; nay, they
more than design it, they purpose, they determine it. As the mad prophet also
saith of God, in another case, ‘Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath
he spoken, and shall he not make it good?’ (Num 23:19) Hath Christ given us
glory, and shall we not have it? Yea, hath the truth itself bestowed it upon us,
and shall those to whom it is given, even given by Scripture of truth, be yet
deprived thereof?
(3.)
He pleads in his interceding that they might have glory; his own resolution to
have it so. ‘Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me where I am.’ (John 17:24) Behold ye here, he is resolved to have it so. It
must be so. It shall be so. I will have it so. We read of Adonijah, that his
father never denied him in anything. He never said to him, ‘Why hast thou done
so?’ (1 Kings 1:6) Indeed, he denied him the kingdom; for his brother was heir
of that from the Lord. How much more will our Father let our Lord Jesus have his
mind and will in this, since he also is as willing to have it so as is the Son
himself. ‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to
give you the kingdom.’ (Luke 12:32) Resolution will drive things far,
especially resolution to do that which none but they that cannot hinder shall
oppose. Why this is the case, the resolution of our Intercessor is, that we be
preserved to glory; yea, and this resolution he pleads in his intercession: ‘Father,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am,’
&c. (John 17:24) Must it not, therefore, now be so?
(4.)
He also, in the last place, in this his intercession, urges a reason why he will
have it so, namely, ‘That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me;
for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.’ (verse 24) And this
is a reason to the purpose; it is as if he had said, Father, these have
continued with me in my temptations; these have seen me under all my
disadvantages; these have seen me in my poor, low, contemptible condition; these
have seen what scorn, reproach, slanders, and disgrace I have borne for thy sake
in the world; and now I will have them also be where they shall see me in my
glory. I have told them that I am thy Son, and they have believed that; I have
told them that thou lovest me, and they have believed that; I have also told
them that thou wouldest take me again to glory, and they have believed that; but
they have not seen my glory, nor can they but be like the Queen of Sheba, they
will but believe by the halves unless their own eyes do behold it. Besides,
Father, these are they that love me, and it will be an increase of their joy if
they may but see me in glory; it will be as a heaven to their hearts to see
their Saviour in glory. I will, therefore, that those which ‘thou hast given
me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.’ This, therefore, is
a reason why Christ Jesus our Lord intercedes to have his people with him in
glory.
Third,
I come now to the third thing, namely, to show you what is to be inferred from
Christ’s making intercession for us.
1.
This is to be inferred from hence, that saints—for I will here say nothing of
those of the elect uncalled—do ofttimes give occasion of offence to God, even
they that have received grace; for intercession is made to continue one in the
favour of another, and to make up those breaches that, at any time, shall happen
to be made by one to the alienating of the affections of the other. And thus he
makes reconciliation for iniquity; for reconciliation may be made for iniquity
two ways: first, by paying of a price; secondly, by insisting upon the price
paid for the offender by way of intercession. Therefore you read that as the
goat was to be killed, so his blood was, by the priest, to be brought within the
veil, and, in a way of intercession, to be sprinkled before and upon the
mercy-seat: ‘Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is, for the
people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did
with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before
the mercy-seat; and he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of
the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions
in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation
that remaineth among them, in the midst of their uncleanness.’ (Lev 16:15,16)
This was to be done, as you see, that the tabernacle, which was the place of God’s
presence and graces, might yet remain among the children of Israel,
notwithstanding their uncleannesses and transgressions. This, also, is the
effect of Christ’s intercession; it is that the signs of God’s presence and
his grace might remain among his people, notwithstanding they have, by their
transgressions, so often provoked God to depart from them.
2.
By Christ’s intercession I gather, that awakened men and women, such as the
godly are, dare not, after offence given, come in their own names to make unto
God an application for mercy. God, in himself, is a consuming fire, and sin has
made the best of us as stubble is to fire; wherefore, they may not, they cannot,
they dare not approach God’s presence for help but by and through a mediator
and intercessor. When Israel saw the fire, the blackness and darkness, and heard
the thunder, and lightning, and the terrible sound of the trumpet, ‘they said
unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us,
lest we die.’ (Exo 20:19, Deut 18:16) Guilt, and sense of the disparity that
is betwixt God and us, will make us look out for a man that may lay his hand
upon us both, and that may set us right in the eyes of our Father again. This, I
say, I infer from the intercession of Christ; for, if there had been a
possibility of our ability to have approached God with advantage without, what
need had there been of the intercession of Christ?
Absalom
durst not approach—no, not the presence of his father—by himself, without a
mediator and intercessor; wherefore, he sends to Joab to go to the king and make
intercession for him. (2 Sam 13, 14:32,33) Also, Joab durst not go upon that
errand himself, but by the mediation of another. Sin is a fearful thing, it will
quash and quail the courage of a man, and make him afraid to approach the
presence of him whom he has offended, though the offended is but a man. How much
more, then, shall it discourage a man, when once loaden with guilt and shame,
from attempting to approach the presence of a holy and a sin-avenging God,
unless he can come to him through, and in the name of, an intercessor? But here
now is the help and comfort of the people of God—there is to help them under
all their infirmities an intercessor prepared, and at work. ‘He ever liveth to
make intercession.’
3.
I also infer from hence, that should we, out of an ignorant boldness 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.
[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 re, 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 to
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.
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!
(4.)
Now guilt is the consequence and fruit of all this; and what so intolerable a
burden as guilt! They talk of the stones, and of the sands of the sea; but it is
guilt that breaks the heart with its burden. And Satan has the art of making the
uttermost of every sin; he can blow it up, make it swell, make every hair of its
head as big as a cedar. He can tell how to make it a heinous offence, and
unpardonable offence, an offence of that continuance, and committed against so
much light, that, says he, it is impossible it should ever be forgiven. But,
soul, Christ is able to save to the uttermost, he can ‘do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think.’ (Eph 3:20)
(5.)
Join to all this the rage and terror of men, which thing of itself is sufficient
to quash and break to pieces all desires to come to God by Christ; yea, and it
doth do so to thousands that are not willing to go to hell. Yet thou art kept,
and made to go panting on; a whole world of men, and devils, and sin, are not
able to keep thee from coming. But how comes it to pass that thou art so hearty,
that thou settest thy face against so much wind and weather? I dare say it
arises not from thyself, nor from any of thine enemies. This comes from God,
though thou art not aware thereof; and is obtained for thee by the intercession
of the blessed Son of God, who is also able to save thee to the uttermost, that
comest to God by him.
(6.)
And for a conclusion as to this, I will add, that there is much of the honour of
the Lord Jesus engaged as to the saving of the coming man to the uttermost: ‘I
am glorified in them,’ saith he. (John 17:10) He is exalted to be a Saviour.
(Acts 5:31) And if the blessed One doth count it an exaltation to be a Saviour,
surely it is an exaltation to be a Saviour, and a great one. ‘They shall cry
unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Saviour, and a
great one, and he shall deliver them.’ (Isa 19:20) If it is a glory to be a
Saviour, a great Saviour, then it is a glory for a Saviour, a great one, to
save, and save, and save to the uttermost—to the uttermost man, to the
uttermost sin, to the uttermost temptation. And hence it is that he saith again,
speaking of the transgressions, sins, and iniquities that he would pardon, that
it should turn to him for ‘a name of joy, a praise, and an honour before all
nations.’ (Jer 33:9) He therefore counts it an honour to be a great Saviour,
to save men to the uttermost.
When
Moses said, ‘I beseech thee, show me thy glory,’ the answer was, ‘I will
make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before thee.’ (Exo 33:18,19) And when he came indeed to make proclamation,
then he proclaimed, ‘The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty.’ (Exo 34:6,7) That will by no means clear them that will not come
to me that they may be saved.
See
here, if it is not by himself accounted his glory to make his goodness, all his
goodness, pass before us. And how can that be, if he saveth not to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him? For goodness is by us noways seen but by those
acts by which it expresseth itself to be so. And, I am sure, to save, to save to
the uttermost, is one of the most eminent expressions by which we understand it
is great goodness. I know goodness has many ways to express itself to be what it
is to the world; but then it expresseth its greatness when it pardons and saves,
when it pardons and saves to the uttermost. My goodness, says Christ, extends
not itself to my Father, but to my saints. (Psa 16:2,3) My Father has no need of
my goodness, but my saints have, and therefore it shall reach forth itself for
their help, in whom is all my delight. And, ‘Oh how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for
them that trust in thee before the sons of men’! (Psa 31:19) It is therefore
that which tendeth to get Christ a name, a fame, and glory, to be able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by him.
But
some may say, What is the meaning of this word able? ‘Wherefore he is able to
save.’ He is able to save the uttermost. How comes it to pass that his power
to save is rather put in than his willingness; for willingness, saith the soul,
would better have pleased me. I will speak two or three words to this question.
And,
First,
By this word able is suggested to us the sufficiency of his merit, the great
worthiness of his merit; for, as Intercessor, he sticks fast by his merit; all
his petitions, prayers, or supplications are grounded upon the worthiness of his
person as Mediator, and on the validity of his offering as priest. This is the
more clear, if you consider the reason why those priests and sacrifices under
the law could not make the worshippers perfect. It was, I say, because there
wanted in them worthiness and merit in their sacrifices. But this man, when he
came and offered his sacrifice, he did by that one act ‘perfect for ever them
that are sanctified,’ or set apart for glory. ‘But this man, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God.’
(Heb 10:1-12)
When
Moses prayed for the people of Israel, thus he said, ‘And now, I beseech thee,
let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken.’ But what
had he spoken? ‘The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty - Pardon, I
beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy
mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.’ (Num
14:17-19)
Second,
Has he but power, we know he is willing, else he would not have promised; it is
also his glory to pardon and save. So, then, in his ability lies our safety.
What if he were never so willing, if he were not of ability sufficient, what
would his willingness do? But he has showed, as I said, his willingness by
promising: ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ (John 6:37)
So that now our comfort lies in his power, in that he is able to make good his
word. (Rom 4:20,21) And this also will then be seen, when he hath saved them
that come to God by him, when he hath saved them to the uttermost; not to the
uttermost of his ability, but to the uttermost of our necessity; for to the
uttermost of his ability I believe he will never be put to it to save his
church; not for that he is loath so to save, but because there is no need so to
save; he shall not need to put out all his power, and to press the utmost of his
merit for the saving of his church. Alas! there is sufficiency of merit in him
to save a thousand times as many more as are like to be saved by him; ‘he is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.’
Measure
not, therefore, what he can do by what he has, doth, or will do; neither do thou
interpret this word, to the uttermost, as if it related to the uttermost of his
ability, but rather as it relateth, for so it doth indeed, to the greatness of
thy necessity. For as he is able to save thee, though thy condition be, as it
may be supposed to be, the worst that ever man was in that was saved, so he is
able to save thee, though thy condition were ten times worse than it is.
What!
shall not the worthiness of the Son of God be sufficient to save from the sin of
man? or shall the sin of the world be of that weight to destroy, that it shall
put Christ Jesus to the uttermost of the worth of his person and merit to save
therefrom? I believe it is blasphemy to think so. We can easily imagine that he
can save all the world—that is, that he is of ability to do it; but we cannot
imagine that he can do no more than we can think he can. But our imagination and
thoughts set no bound to his ability. ‘He is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think.’ But what that is, I say, no man can think, no
man can imagine. So, then, Jesus Christ can do more than ever any man thought he
could do as to saving; he can do we know not what. This, therefore, should
encourage comers to come to him; and them that come, to hope. This, I say,
should encourage them to let out, to lengthen, and heighten their thoughts by
the word, to the uttermost, seeing he can ‘save to the uttermost them that
come to God by him.’6
Third.
And now I come to the third thing that I told you I should speak to, and that
is, to those inferences that may be gathered from these words.
1.
Are they that are justified by Christ’s blood such as have need yet to be
saved by his intercession? Then from hence it follows that justification will
stand with imperfection. It doth not therefore follow that a justified man is
without infirmity; for he that is without infirmity—that is, perfect with
absolute perfection, has no need to be yet saved by an act yet to be performed
by a mediator and his mediation.
When
I say, justification will stand with imperfection, I do not mean that it will
allow, countenance, or approve thereof; but I mean there is no necessity of our
perfection, of our personal perfection, as to our justification, and that we are
justified without it; yea, that that, in justified persons, remains. Again; when
I say that justification will stand with imperfection, I do not mean that in our
justification we are imperfect; for in that we are complete; ‘we are complete
in him’ who is our justice. (Col 2:10) If otherwise, the imperfection is in
the matter that justifieth us, which is the righteousness of Christ. Yea, and to
say so would conclude that wrong judgment proceedeth from him that imputeth that
righteousness to us to justification, since an imperfect thing is imputed to us
for justification. But far be it from any that believe that God is true to
imagine such a thing; all his works are perfect, there is nothing wanting in
them as to the present design.
[Quest.]
But what then do we mean when we say, justification will stand with a state of
imperfection?
Answ.
Why, I mean that justified men are yet sinners in themselves, are yet full of
imperfections; yea, sinful imperfections. Justified Paul said, ‘I know that in
me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.’ (Rom 7:18) While we are yet
sinners, we are justified by the blood of Christ. Hence, again, it is said, ‘he
justifieth the ungodly.’ (Rom 4:5, 5:8,9) Justification, then, only covereth
our sin from the sight of God; it maketh us not perfect with inherent
perfection. But God, for the sake of that righteousness which by his grace is
imputed to us, declareth us quit and discharged from the curse, and sees sin in
us no more to condemnation.
And
this is the reason, or one reason, why they that are justified have need of an
intercessor—to wit, to save us from the evil of the sin that remains in our
flesh after we are justified by grace through Christ, and set free from the law
as to condemnation. Therefore, as it is said, we are saved; so it is said, ‘He
is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them.’ The godly, for now we will call
them the godly, though there is yet abundance of sin in them, feel in themselves
many things even after justification by which they are convinced they are still
attended with personal, sinful imperfections.
[Imperfect
in their feelings and inclinations.]—(1.) They feel unbelief, fear, mistrust,
doubting, despondings, murmurings, blasphemies, pride, lightness, foolishness,
avarice, fleshly lusts, heartlessness to good, wicked desires, low thoughts of
Christ, too good thoughts of sin, and, at times, too great an itching after the
worst of immoralities.
(2.)
They feel in themselves an aptness to incline to errors, as to lean to the works
of the law for justification; to question the truth of the resurrection and
judgment to come; to dissemble and play the hypocrite in profession and in
performance of duties; to do religious duties rather to please man than God, who
trieth the heart.
(3.)
They feel an inclination in them, in times of trial, to faint under the cross,
to seek too much to save themselves, to dissemble the known truth for the
obtaining a little favour with men, and to speak things that they ought not,
that they may sleep in a whole skin.
(4.)
They feel wearisomeness in religious duties, but a natural propensity to things
of the flesh. They feel a desire to go beyond bounds both at board, and bed, and
bodily exercise, and in all lawful recreation.
(5.)
They feel in themselves an aptness to take the advantage of using of things that
are lawful, as food, raiment, sleep, talk, estates, relations, beauty, wit,
parts, and graces, to unlawful ends. These things, with many more of the like
kind, the justified man finds and feels in himself, to his humbling and often
casting down; and to save him from the destroying evil of these, Christ ever
liveth to make intercession for him.
[Imperfect
in their graces.]—Again; the justified man is imperfect in his graces, and
therefore needeth to be saved by the intercession of Christ from the bad fruit
that that imperfection yields.
Justifying
righteousness is accompanied with graces—the graces of the Spirit. Though
these graces are not that matter by and through which we are justified, nor any
part thereof, that being only the obedience of Christ imputed to us of mere
pleasure and good will; but, I say, they come when justification comes. (Rom 9)
And though they are not so easily discerned at the first, they show forth
themselves afterwards. But I say, how many soever they are, and how fast soever
they grow, their utmost arrivement here is but a state short of perfection. None
of the graces of God’s Spirit in our hearts can do their work in us without
shortness, and that because of their own imperfections, and also because of the
oppositions that they meet with from our flesh.
(1.)
Faith, which is the root-grace, the grand grace, its shortness is sufficiently
manifest by its shortness of apprehension of things pertaining to the person,
offices, relations, and works of Christ, now in the heavenly place for us. It is
also very defective in its fetching of comfort from the Word to us, and in
continuing of it with us, when at any time we attain unto it; in its receiving
of strength to subdue sin, and in its purifyings of the heart, though indeed it
doth what it doth in reality, yet how short is it of doing of it thoroughly?
Oftentimes, were it not for supplies by virtue of the intercession of Christ,
faith would fail of performing its office in any measure. (Luke 22:31,32)
(2.)
There is hope, another grace of the Spirit bestowed upon us; and how often is
that also, as to the excellency of working, made to flag? ‘I shall perish,’
saith David; ‘I am cut off from before thine eyes,’ said he. (Psa 31:22) And
now where was his hope, in the right gospel discovery of it? Also all our fear
of men, and fears of death, and fears of judgment, they arise from the
imperfections of hope. But from all those faults Christ saves us by his
intercessions.
(3.)
There is love, that should be in us as hot as fire. It is compared to fire, to
fire of the hottest sort; yea, it is said to be hotter than the coals of
juniper. (Cant 8:6,7) But who finds this heat in love so much as for one poor
quarter of an hour together? Some little flashes, perhaps, some at some times
may feel, but where is that constant burning of affection that the Word, the
love of God, and the love of Christ call for? yea, and that the necessities of
the poor and afflicted members of Christ call for also. Ah! love is cold in
these frozen days, and short when it is at the highest.
(4.)
The grace of humility, when is it? who has a thimbleful thereof? Where is he
that is ‘clothed with humility,’ and that does what he is commanded ‘with
all humility of mind’? (1 Peter 5:5, Acts 20:19)
(5.)
For zeal, where is that also? Zeal for God against sin, profaneness,
superstition, and idolatry. I speak now to the godly, who have this zeal in the
root and habit; but oh, how little of it puts forth itself into actions in such
a day as this is!
(6.)
There is reverence, fear, and standing in awe of God’s Word and judgments,
where are the excellent workings thereof to be found? And where it is most, how
far short of perfect acts is it?
(7.)
Simplicity and godly sincerity also, with how much dirt is it mixed in the best;
especially among those of the saints that are rich, who have got the poor and
beggarly art of complimenting? For the more compliment, the less sincerity. Many
words will not fill a bushel. But ‘in the multitude of words there wanteth not
sin.’ (Prov 10:19) Plain men are thin come up in this day; to find a mouth
without fraud and deceit now is a rare thing. Thus might one count up all the
graces of the Spirit, and show wherein every one of them are scanty and wanting
of perfection. Now look, what they want of perfection is supplied with sin and
vanity; for there is a fullness of sin and flesh at hand to make up all the
vacant places in our souls. There is no place in the souls of the godly but it
is filled up with darkness when the light is wanting, and with sin so far forth
as grace is wanting. Satan, also, diligently waiteth to come in at the door, if
Careless has left it a little achare.7 But, oh! the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who ever liveth to make intercession for us, and that, by so doing,
saves us from all the imperfect acts and workings of our graces, and from all
the advantages that flesh, and sin, and Satan getteth upon us thereby.
[Imperfect
in their Duties.]—Further, as Christ Jesus our Lord doth save us, by his
intercession, from that hurt that would unavoidably come upon us by these, so
also, by that we are saved from the evil that is at any time found in any or all
our holy duties and performances that is our duty daily to be found in. That our
duties are imperfect, follows upon what was discoursed before; for if our graces
be imperfect, how can our duties but be so too?
(1.)
Our prayers, how imperfect are they! With how much unbelief are they mixed! How
apt is our tongue to run, in prayer, before our hearts! With how much
earnestness do our lips move, while our hearts lie within as cold as a clod!
Yea, and ofttimes, it is to be feared, we ask for that with out mouth that we
care not whether we have or no. Where is the man that pursues with all his might
what but now he seemed to ask for with all his heart? Prayer is become a shell,
a piece of formality, a very empty thing, as to the spirit and life of prayer at
this day. I speak now of the prayers of the godly. I once met with a poor woman
that, in the greatest of her distresses, told me she did use to rise in the
night, in cold weather, and pray to God, while she sweat with fears of the loss
of her prayers and desires that her soul might be saved. I have heard of many
that have played, but of few that have prayed, till they have sweat, by reason
of their wrestling with God for mercy in that duty.
(2.)
There is the duty of almsgiving, another gospel performance; but how poorly is
it done in our days! We have so many foolish ways to lay out money, in toys and
fools’ baubles for our children, that we can spare none, or very little, for
the relief of the poor. Also, do not many give that to their dogs, yea, let it
lie in their houses until it stinks so vilely that neither dog nor cat will eat
it; which, had it been bestowed well in time, might have been a succour and
nourishment to some poor member of Christ?
(3.)
There is hearing of the Word; but, alas! the place of hearing is the place of
sleeping with many a fine professor. I have often observed that those that keep
shops can briskly attend upon a twopenny customer; but when they come themselves
to God’s market, they spend their time too much in letting their thoughts to
wander from God’s commandments, or in a nasty drowsy way. The heads, also, and
hearts of most hearers are to the Word as the sieve is to water; they can hold
no sermons, remember no texts, bring home no proofs, produce none of the sermon
to the edification and profit of others. And do not the best take up too much in
hearing, and mind too little what, by the Word, God calls for at their hands, to
perform it with a good conscience?
(4.)
There is faithfulness in callings, faithfulness to brethren, faithfulness to the
world, faithfulness to children, to servants, to all, according to our place and
capacity. Oh! how little of it is there found in the mouths and lives, to speak
nothing of the hearts, of professors.
I
will proceed no further in this kind of repetition of things; only thus much
give me leave to say over again, even many of the truly godly are very faulty
here. But what would they do if there were not one always at the right hand of
God, by intercession, taking away these kind of iniquities?
2.
Are those that are justified by the blood of Christ such, after that, as have
need also of saving by Christ’s intercession? From hence, then, we may infer,
that as sin, so Satan will not give over from assaulting the best of the saints.
It
is not justification that can secure us from being assaulted by Satan: ‘Simon,
Simon, Satan has desired to have you.’ (Luke 22:31,32) There are two things
that do encourage the devil to set upon the people of God:—
(1.)
He knows not who are elect; for all that profess are not, and, therefore, he
will make trial, if he can get them into his sieve, whether he can cause them to
perish. And great success he hath had this way. Many a brave professor has he
overcome; he has cast some of the stars from heaven to earth; he picked one out
from among the apostles, and one, as it is thought, from among the seven
deacons,8 and many from among Christ’s disciples; but how many, think you,
nowadays, doth he utterly destroy with his net?
(2.)
If it so happeneth that he cannot destroy, because Christ, by his intercession,
prevaileth, yet will he set upon the church to defile and afflict it. For (a),
If he can but get us to fall, with Peter, then he has obtained that dishonour be
brought to God, the weak to be stumbled, the world offended, and the gospel
vilified and reproached. Or (b), If he cannot throw up our heels, yet, by
buffeting of us, he can grieve us, afflict us, put us to pain, fright us, drive
us to many doubts, and make our life very uncomfortable unto us, and make us go
groaning to our Father’s house. But blessed be God for his Christ, and for
that ‘he ever liveth to make intercession for us.’
3.
Are those that are justified by the blood of Christ such as, after that, have
need to be saved by Christ’s intercession? Then, hence I infer that it is
dangerous going about anything in our own name and strength. If we would have
helps from the intercession of Christ, let us have a care that we do what we do
according to the word of Christ. Do what he bids us as well as we can, as he
bids us, and then we need not doubt to have help and salvation in those duties
by the intercession of Christ. ‘Do all,’ says the apostle, ‘in the name of
the Lord Jesus.’ (Col 3:17) Oh, but then the devil and the world will be most
of all offended! Well, well, but if you do nothing but as in his fear, by his
Word, in his name, you may be sure of what help his intercession can afford you,
and that can afford you much help, not only to begin, but to go through with
your work in some good measure, as you should; and by that also you shall be
secured from those dangers, if not temptations to dangers, that those that go
out about business in their own names and strength shall be sure to meet withal.
4.
Are those that are justified by the blood of Christ such as, after that, have
need of being saved by Christ’s intercession? Then, hence I infer again, that
God has a great dislike of the sins of his own people, and would fall upon them
in judgment and anger much more severely than he doth, were it not for Christ’s
intercession. The gospel is not, as some think, a loose and licentious doctrine,
nor God’s discipline of his church a negligent and careless discipline; for,
though those that believe already have also an intercessor, yet God, to show his
detestation against sin, doth often make them feel to purpose the weight of his
fingers. The sincere, that fain would walk oft with God, have felt what I say,
and that to the breaking of their bones full oft. The loose ones, and those that
God loves not, may be utter strangers as to this; but those that are his own
indeed do know it is otherwise.9
‘You
only have I known’ above all others, says God, ‘therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.’ (Amos 3:2) God keeps a very strict house among his
children. David found it so, Haman found it so, Job found it so, and the church
of God found it so; and I know not that his mind is ever the less against sin,
notwithstanding we have an Intercessor. True, our Intercessor saves us from
damning evils, from damning judgments; but he neither doth nor will secure us
from temporal punishment, from spiritual punishment, unless we watch, deny
ourselves, and walk in his fear. I would to God that those who are otherwise
minded did but feel, for three or four months, something of what I have felt for
several years together for base sinful thoughts! I wish it, I say, if it might
be for their good, and for the better regulating of their understandings. But
whether they obtain my wish or no, sure I am that God is no countenancer of sin;
no, not in his own people; nay, he will bear it least of all in them. And as for
others, however he may for a while have patience towards them, if, perhaps, his
goodness may lead them to repentance; yet the day is coming when he will pay the
carnal and hypocrites’ home with devouring fire for their offences.
But
if our holy God will not let us go altogether unpunished, though we have so able
and blessed an Intercessor, that has always to present God with, on our behalf,
so valuable a price of his own blood, now before the throne of grace, what
should we have done if there had been no day’s-man, none to plead for us, or
to make intercession on our behalf? Read that text, ‘For I am with thee, saith
the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have
scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee
in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.’ (Jer 30:11) If it
be so, I say, what had become of us, if we had had no Intercessor? And what will
become of them concerning whom the Lord has said already, ‘I will not take up
their names into my lips’? (Psa 16:4) ‘I pray not for the world.’ (John
17:9)
5.
Are those that are already justified by the blood of Christ yet such as have
need of being saved by his intercession? Then, hence, I infer that Christ is not
only the beginner, but the completer of our salvation; or, as the Holy Ghost
calls him, ‘the author and finisher of our faith,’ (Heb 12:2); or, as it
calls him again, ‘the author of eternal salvation.’ (Heb 5:9) Of salvation
throughout, from the beginning to the end, from first to last. His hands have
laid the foundation of it in his own blood, and his hands shall finish it by his
intercession. (Zech 4:9) As he has laid the beginning fastly, so he shall bring
forth the headstones with shoutings, and we shall cry, Grace, grace, at the
last, salvation only belongeth to the Lord. (Zech 4:7, Psa 3:8, Isa 43:11)
Many
there be that begin with grace, and end with works, and think THAT is the only
way. Indeed works will save from temporal punishments, when their imperfections
are purged from them by the intercession of Christ; but to be saved and brought
to glory, to be carried through this dangerous world, from my first moving after
Christ till I set my foot within the gates of paradise, this is the work of my
Mediator, of my high priest and intercessor; it is he that fetches us again when
we are run away; it is he that lifteth us up when the devil and sin has thrown
us down; it is he that quickeneth us when we grow cold; it is he that comforteth
us when we despair; it is he that obtains fresh pardon when we have contracted
sin; and he that purges our consciences when they are loaden with guilt. (Eze
34:16, Psa 145:14)
I
know also, that rewards do wait for them in heaven that do believe in Christ,
and shall do well on earth; but this is not a reward of merit, but of grace. We
are saved by Christ; brought to glory by Christ; and all our works are no
otherwise made acceptable to God but by the person and personal excellencies and
works of Christ; therefore, whatever the jewels are, and the bracelets, and the
pearls, that thou shalt be adorned with as a reward of service done to God in
the world, for them thou must thank Christ, and, before all, confess that he was
the meritorious cause thereof. (1 Peter 2:5, Heb 13:15) He saves us, and saves
our services too. (Rev 5:9-14) They would be all cast back as dung in our faces,
were they not rinsed and washed in the blood, were they not sweetened and
perfumed in the incense, and conveyed to God himself through the white hand of
Jesus Christ; for that is his golden-censer; from thence ascends the smoke that
is in the nostrils of God of such a sweet savour. (Rev 7:12-14, 8:3,4)
6.
Are those that are already justified by the blood of Christ, such as do still
stand in need of being saved by his intercession? Then hence I infer again, that
we that have been saved hitherto, and preserved from the dangers that we have
met with since our first conversion to this moment, should ascribe the glory to
Jesus Christ, to God by Jesus Christ. ‘I have prayed that thy faith fail not:
I pray that thou wouldest keep them from the evil,’ is the true cause of our
standing, and of our continuing in the faith and holy profession of the gospel
to this very day. Wherefore we must give the glory of all to God by Christ: ‘I
will not trust in my bow,’ said David, ‘neither shall my sword save me. But
thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah’! ‘He
always causeth us to triumph in Christ.’ ‘We rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh.’ (Psa 44:6-8, 2 Cor 2:14, Phil 3:3) Thus you
see that, both in the Old and New Testament, all the glory is given to the Lord,
as well for preservation to heaven as for justification of life. And he that is
well acquainted with himself will do this readily; though light heads, and such
as are not acquainted with the desperate evil that is in their natures, will
sacrifice to their own net. But such will so sacrifice but a while. Sir Death is
coming, and he will put them into the view of what they see not now, and will
feed sweetly upon them, because they made not the Lord their trust. And
therefore, ascribe thou the glory of the preservation of thy soul in the faith
hitherto, to that salvation which Christ Jesus our Lord obtaineth for thee by
his intercession.
7.
Are those that are already justified by the blood of Christ such as do still
stand in need of being saved by his intercession? Then is this also to be
inferred from hence, that saints should look to him for that saving that they
shall yet have need of betwixt this and the day of their dissolution; yea, from
henceforward, even to the day of judgment. I say, they should still look to him
for the remaining part of their salvation, or for that of their salvation which
is yet behind; and let them look for it with confidence, for that it is in a
faithful hand; and for thy encouragement to look and hope for the completing of
thy salvation in glory, let me present thee with a few things—
(1.)
The hardest or worst part of the work of thy Saviour is over; his bloody work,
his bearing of thy sin and curse, his loss of the light of his Father’s face
for a time; his dying upon the cursed tree, that was the worst, the sorest, the
hardest, and most difficult part of the work of redemption; and yet this he did
willingly, cheerfully, and without thy desires; yea, this he did, as considering
those for whom he did it in a state of rebellion and enmity to him.
(2.)
Consider, also, that he has made a beginning with thy soul to reconcile thee to
God, and to that end has bestowed his justice upon thee, put his Spirit within
thee, and began to make the unweldable mountain and rock,10 thy heart, to turn
towards him, and desire after him; to believe in him, and rejoice in him.
(3.)
Consider, also, that some comfortable pledges of his love thou hast already
received, namely, as to feel the sweetness of his love, as to see the light of
his countenance, as to be made to know his power in raising of thee when thou
wast down, and how he has made thee stand, while hell has been pushing at thee,
utterly to overthrow thee.
(4.)
Thou mayest consider, also, that what remains behind of the work of thy
salvation in his hands, as it is the most easy part, so the most comfortable,
and that part which will more immediately issue in his glory, and therefore he
will mind it.
(5.)
That which is behind is also more safe in his hand than if it were in thine own;
he is wise, he is powerful, he is faithful, and therefore will manage that part
that is lacking to our salvation well, until he has completed it. It is his love
to thee that has made him that ‘he putteth no trust in thee’; he knows that
he can himself bring thee to his kingdom most surely; and therefore has not left
that work to thee, no, not any part thereof. (Job 5:18, 15:15)
Live
in hope, then, in a lively hope, that since Christ is risen from the dead, he
lives to make intercession for thee, and that thou shalt reap the blessed
benefit of this twofold salvation that is wrought, and that is working out for
thee, by Jesus Christ our Lord. And thus have we treated of the benefit of his
intercession, in that he is able to save to the uttermost. And this leads me to
the third particular.
THIRD,
The third particular is to show WHO ARE THE PERSONS INTERESTED IN THIS
INTERCESSION OF CHRIST; and they are those that come to God by him. The words
are very concise, and distinctly laid down; they are they that come, that come
to God, that come to God by him. ‘Wherefore he is able also to save them, to
save to the uttermost them that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them.’
[Of
coming to God by Christ.]—A little, first, to comment upon the order of the
words, ‘that come unto God by him.’
There
are that come unto God, but not ‘by him’; and these are not included in this
text, have not a share in this privilege. Thus the Jews came to God, the
unbelieving Jews, ‘who had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.’
(Rom 9:30-34, 10:1-4) These submitted not to Christ, the righteousness of God,
but thought to come to him by works of their own, or at least, as it were, by
them, and so came short of salvation by grace, for that reigns to salvation only
in Christ. To these Christ’s person and undertaking were a stumbling stone;
for at him they stumbled, and did split themselves to pieces, though they indeed
were such as came to God for life.
As
there are that come to God, but not by Christ, so there are that come to Christ,
but not to God by him:11 of this sort are they, who hearing that Christ is
Saviour, therefore come to him for pardon, but cannot abide to come to God by
him, for that he is holy, and so will snub their lusts, and will change their
hearts and natures. Mind me what I say. There are a great many that would be
saved by Christ, but love not to be sanctified by God through him. These make a
stop at Christ, and will go no further. Might such have pardon, they care not
whether ever they went to heaven or no. Of this kind of coming to Christ I think
it is, of which he warneth his disciples when he saith, ‘In that day ye shall
ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the
Father in my name, he will give it you.’ (John 16:23) As who should say, when
you ask for anything, make not a stop at me, but come to my Father by me; for
they that come to me, and not to my Father, through me, will have nothing of
what they come for. Righteousness shall be imputed to us, ‘if we believe on
him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.’ (Rom 4:24,25) To come to
Christ for a benefit, and stop there, and not come to God by him, prevaileth
nothing. Here the mother of Zebedee’s children erred; and about this it was
that the Lord Jesus cautioned her. Lord, saith she, ‘Grant that these my two
sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy
kingdom.’ But what is the answer of Christ? ‘To sit on my right hand and on
my left, is not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared of my Father.’ (Matt
20:21-23) As who should say, Woman, of myself I do nothing, my Father worketh
with me. Go therefore to him by me, for I am the way to him; what thou canst
obtain of him by me thou shalt have; that is to say, what of the things that
pertain to eternal life, whether pardon or glory.
It
is true, the Son has power to give pardon and glory, but he gives it not by
himself, but by and according to the will of his Father. (Matt 9:6, John 17:22)
They, therefore, that come to him for an eternal good, and look not to the
Father by him, come short thereof; I mean, now, pardon and glory. And hence,
though it be said the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins—to wit,
to show the certainty of his Godhead, and of the excellency of his mediation;
yet forgiveness of sin is said to lie more particularly in the hand of the
Father, and that God for Christ’s sake forgiveth us. (Eph 4:32)
The
Father, as we see, will not forgive unless we come to him by the Son. Why, then,
should we conceit that the Son will forgive these that come not to the Father by
him?
So
then, justifying righteousness is in the Son, and with him also is intercession;
but forgiveness is with the Father; yea, the gift of the Holy Ghost, yea, and
the power of imputing of the righteousness of Christ is yet in the hand of the
Father. Hence Christ prays to the Father to forgive, prays to the Father to send
the Spirit, and it is God that imputeth righteousness to justification to us.
(Luke 23:34, John 14:16, Rom 4:6) The Father, then, doth nothing but for the
sake of and through the Son; the Son also doth nothing derogating from the glory
of the Father. But it would be a derogation to the glory of the Father if the
Son should grant to save them that come not to the Father by him; wherefore you
that cry Christ, Christ, delighting yourselves in the thoughts of forgiveness,
but care not to come by Christ to the Father for it, you are not at all
concerned in this blessed text, for he only saves by his intercession them that
come to God by him.
There
are three sorts of people that may be said to come to Christ, but not to God by
him.
1.
They whose utmost design in coming is only that guilt and fear of damning may be
removed from them. And there are three signs of such an one—(1.) He that takes
up in a belief of pardon, and so goes on in his course of carnality as he did
before. (2.) He whose comfort in the belief of pardon standeth alone, without
other fruits of the Holy Ghost. (3.) He that, having been washed, can be content
to tumble in the mire, as the sow again, or as the dog that did spue to lick up
his vomit again.
2.
They may be said to come to Christ, but not to God by him, who do pick and
choose doctrines, itching only after that which sounds of grace,12 but secretly
abhorring of that which presseth to moral goodness. These did never see God,
what notions soever they may have of the Lord Jesus, and of forgiveness from
him. (Matt 5:8)
3.
They surely did never come to God by Christ, however they may boast of the grace
of Christ, that will from the freeness of gospel grace plead an indulgence for
sin.
[Manner
of coming to God.]—And now to speak a few words of coming to God, or coming as
the text intends. And in speaking to this, I must touch upon two things—1.
Concerning God. 2. Concerning the frame of the heart of him that comes to him.
1.
Of God. God is the chief good. Good so as nothing is but himself. He is in
himself most happy; yea, all good; and all true happiness is only to be found in
God, as that which is essential to his nature; nor is there any good or any
happiness in or with any creature or thing but what is communicated to it by
God. God is the only desirable good, nothing without him is worthy of our
hearts. Right thoughts of God are able to ravish the heart; how much more happy
is the man that has interest in God. God alone is able by himself to put the
soul into a more blessed, comfortable, and happy condition than can the whole
world; yea, and more than if all the created happiness of all the angels of
heaven did dwell in one man’s bosom. God is the upholder of all creatures, and
whatever they have that is a suitable good to their kind, it is from God; by God
all things have their subsistence, and all the good that they enjoy. I cannot
tell what to say; I am drowned! The life, the glory, the blessedness, the
soul-satisfying goodness that is in God is beyond all expression.
2.
Now there must be in us something of a suitableness of spirit to this God before
we can be willing to come to him.
Before, therefore, God has been with a man, and has left some impression of his glory upon him, that man cannot be willing to come to him aright. Hence it is said concerning Abraham, that, in order to his coming to God, and following of him aright, the Lord hi