Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering: (for he is faithful that promised)....Heb. x. 23.

POOR christian! thy profession is envied by the malice of devils; it is the scorn and ridicule of natural men; and is contrary to thy carnal reason. Hence thou hast the combined force of a threefold alliance in arms against thee; if that by any means they may rob thee of thy hope. Happy christian! who like thy blessed master, in the face of every adversary, hast "witnessed a good profession," .... 1 Tim. vi. 15. What an animating exhortation backed with a most precious assertion is this! Thou must expect to be assaulted by the rage of devils, treated with scorn and contempt from wicked men; and often put to a stand by the carnal reasonings of thy flesh. Here is thy duty: "hold fast" in spite of all opposition: hold fast the truths of God. "It is written," is sufficient to silence every carnal argument, to support thy soul against every attack from the wisdom of this world. With this weapon thy blessed master put satan to flight. Thus defend thyself with the sword of the Spirit against every foe. Thus encourage thy soul daily to "hold fast its profession." God's revealed truths are faith's objects, faith's confidence, faith's security; for God's foundation standeth sure. "He is faithful that promised." Why then should thy mind at any time waver, agitate, or be tossed to and fro? The foundation of God standeth sure. To confide in the word, promises, and oath of a faithful, covenant-keeping, promise-fulfilling God, is the glory of thy soul and glorifies thy Lord. Is Jesus thy profession? is all thy hope in him? all thy expectation from him? Is he thy all for pardon, for righteousness, for sanctification, for wisdom, and eternal redemption? dost thou profess him thy alpha and omega? Then be careful for nothing but to please him....fear thou nothing but what may offend him. Whilst thou lookest to him only, thou wilt be of good courage. Remember thy foes are his conquered enemies. When they oppose, attack, assault, it is to try thy faith, that thou mayest glorify him the more. What hast thou already? Hast thou not thy Lord's faithful word; his precious promises; his solemn oath, all pledged for thy safety and salvation? Hast thou not found peace of conscience, comfort of heart, joy of soul in Jesus? Then cleave close to him: hold fast by him. Ever plead (not thy own) but his faithfulness. Attend his sweet call from heaven above to all his conflicting members below: "That which ye have already, hold fast till I come."....Rev. ii. 25.

The fearful soul, that tires and faints,
And walks the ways of God no more,
Is but esteem'd almost a saint,
And makes his own destruction sure.

Lord, let not all my hopes be vain,
Create my heart entirely new,
Which hypocrites could ne'er attain,
Which base apostates never knew.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.... Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

WHAT absolute declarations are here! all display the sovereign will and almighty favor of a covenant God. As God's heart of love is towards his people in Christ, so his spirit of power works in them according to the counsel of his will. Hence they know, love and serve him. By the blood of Jesus their sins are pardoned and their consciences cleansed from guilt. By the Spirit of Jesus they are inwardly sanctified from their filthiness and idols: a new heart and a new spirit is put within them; and they are enabled to walk in his statutes, and keep his judgments. Thus "all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ,"....2 Cor. v. 17, 18. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are past way; behold, all things are become new.".

A christian,' as Luther says, 'is a new creature in a new world. He has a new heart; he is under a new government; serves a new master, obeys new laws, is actuated by new fears, influenced by new love, animated with new delights and new joys. Ah,' says a disciple, 'this is sweet in theory and true in doctrine; but in experience I find and feel to my grief an old nature of sin and unbelief; and groan under a body of death.' This is also very true: yea it is perfectly consistent with a state of regeneration. Saints of God in all ages found it so. The Lord in this very text, accounts for it: "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Naturally thy heart is as hard as a stone. Thou couldst neither feel sin, mourn for sin, nor be humbled under a sense of sin, but through the blood of Jesus applied by the Spirit in believing the truth: thou hast a soft, tender, yielding heart, a heart of flesh, susceptible of impressions, looking to Jesus by faith, melted by love, and mourning for sin. Though the king's daughter, the lamb's wife is all-glorious within, though her clothing is of wrought gold; yet she is unhappily állied to a base, wretched, churlish Nabal. Hence, though "thou hast no confidence in the flesh, and in it dwells no good thing;" yet thou dost delight in the law of God after the inward man; and hast continual cause of rejoicing in Christ Jesus.....Phil. iii. 3.

Our heart, that flinty stubborn thing,
That terrors cannot move, [wrath,
That fears no threat'nings of God's
Shall be dissolv❜d by love.
There shall his sacred Spirit dwell,
And deep engrave his law,

And ev'ry motion of our souls

To swift obedience draw.
Thus will he pour salvation down,
And we shall render praise;
We the dear people of his love,
And he our God of grace.

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me....John x. 27.

ALL our mercies in time and eternity flow from Jesus' knowing us as his sheep. To all such salvation is certain; both as to present grace and future glory. As a shepherd knoweth every sheep com mitted to his care; so doth our good shepherd. All his sheep were everlastingly beloved of the Father, "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world," and given to Jesus in the eternal counsel. He became surety for them, he redeemed them to God by his own blood. Hence he calls themi "MY SHEEP,"....mine by gift....mine by redemption. Thus he hath a distinct knowledge of them, and special property in them. For "died Jesus as a fool dieth?" spilt he his precious blood at uncertainty? paid he the dreadful debt of law and justice at a peradventure, whether any soul would receive the eternal benefit or not? Surely no: for his undertaking was in infinite wisdom and counsel, as well as wonderful in grace and love. Jesus well knew the nature-state of his sheep. They were all gone astray and turned every one to his own way. They would all count their shepherd an enemy and fly from him as a destroyer, if left to themselves. But Jesus saith, I am the good shepherd. He inclines their ears to hear, and their hearts to believe in him; to come to him as such; and to follow him. They have the properties of his own sheep; they give evidence of it. They live upon his word and feed upon his love. O alas! what deplorable circumstances were we all in when this sweet voice first reached our ears! when this powerful voice affected our hearts! It was a sound of glad tidings, love, and salvation to lost sheep indeed. It proved effectual to recall our souls from the dangerous and destructive paths in which we had lost ourselves. Truly we also may say of Jesus, "never man spake like this man.” The power of his voice begets obedience; and, like the blind man restored to sight, we follow Jesus as the shepherd and bishop of our souls. We know he hath the words of eternal life. To whom then should we go but to him? and it is the delight of our souls to see the footsteps of our shepherd, that we may tread therein. Though, O soul, thou canst not see whether thy name is wrote in the Lamb's book of life; yet in the light of the Spirit thou mayest read thy name in the book of grace, if thou hast heard the voice of Jesus, and art following him. Thou mayest safely conclude, "the Lord is MY shepherd, I shall not want."....Psalm xxiii. 1.

The Lord my shepherd is,
I shall be well supply'd;
Since he is mine, and I am his,
What can I want beside ?+

He leads me to the place

Where heav'nly pasture grows, Where living waters gently pass, And full salvation flows.

VOL. I.

A a

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.... 1 John i. 9.

a

DOUBTLESS there are many confessions of sin made by the lips of men which are vain and fruitless. Yea, a man may be under sense of legal terror and wrath in his conscience; and, like Judas, in the anguish of his spirit confess that he has sinned, and yet never obtain forgiveness from God. But every believer in Jesus is made a priest unto God, to offer spiritual sacrifices by Jesus Christ. And as the high-priest under the law laid both his hands upon the scapegoat and made confession of sins......Levit, xvi. 21....so the christian, every anointed one, lays both his hands of faith and hope on Jesus Christ, confessing the evil of sin, the desert of sin, the sin of his nature, and the sin of his life, and pleads for forgiveness. The sacrifice of Jesus is the alone object of his faith. And the blood of the Lamb is his only hope for pardon. This will be the daily exercise of believing souls; for we have daily need both of pardon and cleansing.

Such souls, thus confessing sin, are not left in doubtful suspense. Do not argue, God is merciful and perhaps he may forgive sin; but through the perfection of the one atonement of Jesus, by the word of truth they are fully assured, God the Father absolutely will pardon; not merely as an act of mercy, but because he is faithful and just. FAITHFUL to his own word, his oath, his counsel and his covenant-promises. JUST to fulfil the engagements entered into with Jesus, and to bestow what the precious blood of his Son hath procured for poor sinners. The blood of Christ was the stipulated price for ALL our sins. This, Christ as our surety hath paid to God. To demand payment for that debt of the debtor, which his surety has paid, is not just. But God is just, he doth not this. And thus through the faith of his heart the sinner is brought to make confession of sin with his mouth, with godly sorrow and holy shame for sin; and sincere abhorrence and detestation of sin. And lest such a soul should be "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow," God the Spirit is just, he will assuredly "cleanse him from all unrighteousness"....sprinkle his heart from a guilty conscience....cleanse his mind from every guilty fear, through the application of the blood of Jesus. So that the soul shall have, "the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,"....Isa. lxi. 3.

And now the scales have left mine eyes, When justice seiz'd God's only Son,
Now I begin to see;

O the curs'd deeds my sins have done:
What murd'rous things they be !
What, is't for crimes that I had done,
My dearest Lord was slain,

And put his soul to pain?
Forgive my guilt, O prince of peace,
Nor let me wound thee more;
Hence from my heart, ye sins, be gone,
For Jesus 1 adore.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold tempta

tions....1 Pet. i. 6.

THOUGH a christian be not always in a joyful frame, yet he has abundant cause to " rejoice always." Though many things may rob him of his frame, yet nothing can deprive him of the foundation of his comfort. Happy for us, this is permanent and abiding for ever: for it is founded in the love and truth of an unchangeable God. These disciples to whom the apostles wrote, " rejoiced greatly." Why? was it because they were perfectly delivered from a body of sin and death? that they were not like thee and me, O disciple, sinners? No; but the matter of their joy, the cause of their rejoicing was, their "election according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.... sanctification by the Spirit....sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, 'being begotten to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus;"....and the assurance of being "kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation." Wherein, "in these soul-comforting truths ye greatly rejoice," saith Peter.

Thus, believer, thou seest the streams that make glad the citizens of heaven, flow from the ocean of God's everlasting love. The more thou drinkest of this water, it will allay the thirst of pride and self-righteousness, and make thy soul glory and rejoice in Christ Jesus alone. But here is a full conviction, that these joyful souls were imprisoned in a body of sinful flesh: they had their heavy seasons; were assaulted with manifold temptations; there was a season for them, and a need be also. So there is now. Wilt thou not be content to go the same path? canst thou expect freedom from such exercises? Deceive not thyself. It is all the children's lot; and the Father sees it as needful as our food: yea, he makes it profitable also. Whilst thou art in the flesh sin dwelleth in thee, temptation will assault thee, heaviness and affliction will bow theé 'down. Soul-exercises are faith's trials. In the issue they are made world-conquering, creature-humbling, Jesus-endearing, heavenlylonging blessings. "I am oppressed," said Hezekiah: What then? doth he sink under it? No; it called forth the exercise of his faith and prayer to the Saviour: "Do thou undertake for me." So the Psalmist....Ps. cxvi. S...." I found trouble and sorrow." What was the blessing of it? Self-depair. He saw no help elsewhere: "Then called I on the name of the Lord." Verily thy faith must be tried, thy patience exercised, prayer excited, as well as rejoicing of soul. Thy Saviour loves to have it so. The government is upon his shoulders. Here is thy mercy, while the wicked, like Saul, seek to the sorcery and witchcraft of the world; Jesus, "the eternal God is our refuge."....Deut. xxxiii. 27.

« ElőzőTovább »