08.15.10
J.A. Matteson
“...I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Philippians 3:12
διώκω δὲ εἰ καὶ καταλάβω, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ κατελήμφθην ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ [Ἰησοῦ].
With certainty the pilgrim advances in sanctification, eagerly anticipating the promise fully realized. During the intervening times and seasons of wanderings on the earth the saint is ever mindful of the occasion when by grace the Lord revealed Himself, quickening the living dead to life, forever altering the focus of personal ambitions and affections, “And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5).
How newness of life from the Lord arrives is in itself glorious, but of greater magnificence and wonder is that it comes at all when a sober accounting of fallen humanities dreadful standing before a holy God is considered, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Gen. 6:5-6).
Misplaced religious zeal—all that is opposed to Christ—is evil before the eyes of the Lord and an abomination to Him. That which is anti-Christ denies that the Son of God has come in the flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist....” (1 Jn. 4:1-3). And to man made religious systems which suppress and distort the truth as to the person and work of the Son of God the wrath of God is revealed (Rom. 1:18).
Therefore, evil in the eyes of the Lord is Islam, Mormonism, Judaism, Christian Science, Buddhism, Hinduism, Pantheism, Atheism, Secular Humanism, Baha'i Faith, Confucianism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Native American Spirituality, Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Age, Animism, Witchcraft, Voodoo, Horoscopes, Divination, Wicca, and every other form of misplaced worship that depraved human minds manufacture. The zeal of adherents to these various false religions has been and can be intense. The spiritual war between the children of light and darkness knows no cessation, and only the grace of God can release the captives, opening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, indeed, quickening the dead.
Agents of Satan are slaves to unrighteousness, hell bent on opposing the Seed of righteousness. Once quickened to life the pilgrim's response of devotion is to forget what lies behind and to press forward, “...to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” As a new born babe instinctively cries in order to be fed its mothers milk, the new born child of God craves the pure milk of the Word. It is the child's zeal to know Him whose Person is beyond the capacity of flesh and blood to be fully known. And yet the child is undaunted and in reckless abandon pursues Him without regret, forsaking all things and all others in order that he might be found in Him on that Day.
The Apostle states his aim, that “I might seize” (καταλάβω) or take hold of Christ. The aorist tense verb indicts a simple occurrence yet to be fully realized, and it is in the subjunctive mood to denote a certain outcome; viz., the fulfillment of the promise of salvation revealed in him. The Greek construction of the verb expresses his hope as an absolute certainty yet to be realized, and not merely wishful thinking. This outcome of salvation finds its origin and governance in Christ who is the author and finisher of faith, for earlier in this letter the Apostle stated, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13). And to what is the Apostle referring when he makes this claim?, is he not clear in this text, “for which Christ took hold of me.” At one time he was at enmity Christ, a persecutor of the Way, hating its leader and labeling Him as a blasphemer, glutton, and drunkard, one who shares His company with vile sinners and tax collectors.
Once regenerated the Spirit of God continues to perform His work in the child of God, new affections come, passions for righteousness are aroused, and as it is the nature of a moth to be drawn toward light in the evening darkness, so too the regenerated man has been given a new nature, one instinctively drawn toward the Light of the Son of God in a dark and perverse world, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The new disposition of the Apostle of love toward Christ, his earnest desire to pursue Christ, is the outward evidence of the miracle of regeneration, for where a passion and love for Christ is absent regeneration has not occurred, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, " Abba! Father!" (Gal. 4:6).
The transformation within some, as with the Apostle, comes as a thunderclap in a moment. For others it takes the form of a slower dawning or awakening to the truth of Christ through the ministry of the Word. However it comes it does so with a certainty and inward calling difficult to articulate to the living dead. For they neither understand the things of the Spirit of God, nor indeed can they, for all such talk is foolishness to them, “Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God'" (Jn 3:3). As a dog can only view the world in black and white it cannot comprehend the brilliance of a red rose, deep green grass, or the beauty of a sunset at the beach. Similarly, the natural man cannot fathom the realities of things unseen, those only known through revelation by the Holy Spirit, his world is in black and white, while the saints is in glorious color.
The Apostle next states the basis for his new found insight and love for the Savior, declaring that his affections are the end result of God's predicate action upon him, “...Christ Jesus took hold of me”, no doubt recalling his Damascus road encounter with the risen Savior. The aorist verb “took hold of me” (κατελήμφθην) means God seized him forcefully at a specific time in the past; it is in the passive tense and indicative mood as a statement of fact. The sense is that the Apostle was the passive recipient of divine initiative resulting in regeneration. It is for this reason that John states, “We love, because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19), and that Jesus said, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain....” (Jn. 15:16).
With regard to this choosing and effectual calling toward the elect the Lord declared, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:44). Often Armenians cite this verse in the hopes of proving mans “free will”, whereby they claim the Spirit “woos” sinners, but does not compel them to respond to the Gospel. To the Armenian fallen sinners have the innate ability in themselves to come to Christ. Needless to say that premise does not find biblical support as even the Lord Himself stated.
Curious is the translation of the Greek word “elkusē” (ἑλκύσῃ) as “draw.” While certainly that is one rendering of the word, it is also translated quite differently in other New Testament passages. The same word is given a decidedly forceful compulsion in Acts 16:19 and 21:30. In 16:19 we read of the arrest of Paul and Silas in Philippi, “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged (εἵλκυσαν) them into the market place before the authorities.” In this passage “dragged” comes from the same word as “draw” in John 6:44. In Acts 21:30 the disruption regarding Paul in Ephesus is described, “The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged (εἷλκον) him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.” Again, the same Greek word used by Jesus in John 6:44 is used in these texts as a forceful compulsion. The Greek rendering by the translators in John 6:44 is curious.
The question, then, is this: which rendering best harmonizes with the whole council of God in regards to the divine initiative in salvation relative to the inability of fallen sinners to come to Christ in their own stead? Therefore, returning to the Apostles statement, “..I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” informs the pilgrim that his ability and passion to lay hold of Christ is the direct result of Christ first laying hold (ἑλκύσῃ) of him, regenerating him, and irresistibly compelling him to desire Christ and come to Him. Soli Deo gloria!
Copyright (c) Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Divine Initiative
08.07.10
J.A. Matteson
“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Philippians 1:29
οτι υμιν εχαρισθη το υπερ χριστου ου μονον το εις αυτον πιστευειν αλλα και το υπερ αυτου πασχειν
The excellencies of grace being immeasurable and inexhaustible towards the saints, is counter intuitive to fallen sensibilities, even if regenerated, yet simultaneously delightful. Regarding the former, Providence lovingly ensures that the object of grace be conformed to the image of the Son of God, Who incarnate suffered at the hands of evil men, by nature preferring darkness to Light. As an object of grace the Apostle's highest aim was to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). Enduring hardship is the divine means through which conforming transpires.
Suffering for the name of Christ is an immense privilege, one given to the saints and an evidence of their election and subsequent sanctification as children of Light. That the elect suffer evil in a fallen world is the testimony of Scripture and history, being guaranteed by the Savior, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). Reminding his young protege of the suffering to be anticipated as a follower of the Way the Apostle stated, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Why is it then that so often saints groan under the load of suffering grace has allowed them to shoulder? Suffering is inherently unplesant, nevertheless those who know their God can rejoice in the midst of it, and this response to suffering is observed in not only the Apostle Paul, but in Christ and the faithful saints in Scripture and of church history. To wrangle under suffering can be an indication of a lack of understanding by the saint of His God; specifically, that His ways are not like those of men.
Grace ensures providential sufferings for those foreknown to the Father, and this out of love for them. The sons of perdition suffer in the world as well with the difference being that for the children of Abraham, those who by faith are justified, it is unto their sanctification and glorification, whereas those destined for destruction it is confirmation of divine wrath and coming judgment. The same heat from the sun which bakes earthen clay hard as stone is able to melt as wax, making it pliable for the Masters hand and purpose. So too the sufferings of Providence hardens vessels prepared for destruction while softening those predestined for salvation (Rom. 9:21-24). Not only is suffering granted to the saint but so too is his faith, that by which he is justified, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake...to believe in Him.” The “you” (υμιν) is not a vague reference to a universal atonement granted to sinners who manage to generate faith within themselves apart from the hand of the Lord (for such a proposition runs contrary to Scripture; 1 Cor. 1:18, 2:14, 4:3; Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13, etc.) ; rather, faith expressed by them as saints (v.1) or “holy ones” is due to divine initiative. That is, they believe because they were predestined to become saints first by the eternal decree of God, foreknown to the Father, to be conformed to the image of His Son, not based on anything within themselves or any foreseen act, not that they in themselves believed and were then made saints (works), “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:13). And who are they who receive the Gospel, who embrace the things of the Spirit of God, are they not those who in the likeness of Lydia are passive recipients of the Spirits work upon their hearts?, “A woman named Lydia...was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). The Spirit of God took the Word of God and effectually applied it to His elect child (calling), foreknown to Him before the foundation of the world, in the fulness of time bringing her to faith in the Savior. She was born again, regenerated, prior to her expressing faith, not of her own doing (not of the will of the flesh), nor was it the will of Paul or her family and friends along the river bank (not of the will of man), but of the will of God, who takes the initiative to bring many sons and daughter to faith.
In this passage Paul's language removes ambiguity in this regard, for he emphatically states, “to you it has been granted” and this “granting” is not extended to all as proponents of a universal atonement suggest, Christ Himself making this plain, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (Jn. 10:26), and “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (Jn. 6:37). The atonement of Christ is, therefore, according to the testimony of Scripture a particular atonement specifically designed to redeem those whom the Father has given to His Son as a Bride.
Several observation may be noted regarding Paul's choice of words in this passage. First, the Greek root of "granted" is "charis" (or grace), and grace is rightly understood as God's unmerited favor, His gift. Second, the grammatical and syntactical use of “granted” (εχαρισθη) in the passage is in the aorist tense (completed past event) and passive voice (the work upon the heart leading to faith was of divine initiative, not human). As expected Paul's statement is in perfect harmony with Christ, Luke (Acts 16:14), and all of Scripture. Confessing his faith in Christ Peter exclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven'” (Matt. 16:16-16). If, as the universalists insist, faith finds its origin within sinners this would have been the perfect place for Christ to make it plain, He may have said to those listening to Peter, “Good job Peter, you figured it out. Listen up, boys, Peter is on to something here!” But what does the Lord say?, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” That is, “You, Peter, did not reason out who I am (flesh and blood), but My Father revealed to your mind and heart My true identity. Therefore, you are blessed because He does not do this for everyone!”
As with Lydia, Peter was passive in God's regenerating work, an elect object of grace foreknown to the Father, predestined, and in the fullness of time, effectually called and sanctified (saint). Where, then, is boasting of a man being in Christ? It is in the Lord. By the grace of God a man of faith is who he is, for “it has been granted to him not only to believe but to suffer for His sake.” Soli Deo Gloria!
Copyright (c) 2010 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
J.A. Matteson
“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Philippians 1:29
οτι υμιν εχαρισθη το υπερ χριστου ου μονον το εις αυτον πιστευειν αλλα και το υπερ αυτου πασχειν
The excellencies of grace being immeasurable and inexhaustible towards the saints, is counter intuitive to fallen sensibilities, even if regenerated, yet simultaneously delightful. Regarding the former, Providence lovingly ensures that the object of grace be conformed to the image of the Son of God, Who incarnate suffered at the hands of evil men, by nature preferring darkness to Light. As an object of grace the Apostle's highest aim was to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). Enduring hardship is the divine means through which conforming transpires.
Suffering for the name of Christ is an immense privilege, one given to the saints and an evidence of their election and subsequent sanctification as children of Light. That the elect suffer evil in a fallen world is the testimony of Scripture and history, being guaranteed by the Savior, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). Reminding his young protege of the suffering to be anticipated as a follower of the Way the Apostle stated, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Why is it then that so often saints groan under the load of suffering grace has allowed them to shoulder? Suffering is inherently unplesant, nevertheless those who know their God can rejoice in the midst of it, and this response to suffering is observed in not only the Apostle Paul, but in Christ and the faithful saints in Scripture and of church history. To wrangle under suffering can be an indication of a lack of understanding by the saint of His God; specifically, that His ways are not like those of men.
Grace ensures providential sufferings for those foreknown to the Father, and this out of love for them. The sons of perdition suffer in the world as well with the difference being that for the children of Abraham, those who by faith are justified, it is unto their sanctification and glorification, whereas those destined for destruction it is confirmation of divine wrath and coming judgment. The same heat from the sun which bakes earthen clay hard as stone is able to melt as wax, making it pliable for the Masters hand and purpose. So too the sufferings of Providence hardens vessels prepared for destruction while softening those predestined for salvation (Rom. 9:21-24). Not only is suffering granted to the saint but so too is his faith, that by which he is justified, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake...to believe in Him.” The “you” (υμιν) is not a vague reference to a universal atonement granted to sinners who manage to generate faith within themselves apart from the hand of the Lord (for such a proposition runs contrary to Scripture; 1 Cor. 1:18, 2:14, 4:3; Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13, etc.) ; rather, faith expressed by them as saints (v.1) or “holy ones” is due to divine initiative. That is, they believe because they were predestined to become saints first by the eternal decree of God, foreknown to the Father, to be conformed to the image of His Son, not based on anything within themselves or any foreseen act, not that they in themselves believed and were then made saints (works), “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:13). And who are they who receive the Gospel, who embrace the things of the Spirit of God, are they not those who in the likeness of Lydia are passive recipients of the Spirits work upon their hearts?, “A woman named Lydia...was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). The Spirit of God took the Word of God and effectually applied it to His elect child (calling), foreknown to Him before the foundation of the world, in the fulness of time bringing her to faith in the Savior. She was born again, regenerated, prior to her expressing faith, not of her own doing (not of the will of the flesh), nor was it the will of Paul or her family and friends along the river bank (not of the will of man), but of the will of God, who takes the initiative to bring many sons and daughter to faith.
In this passage Paul's language removes ambiguity in this regard, for he emphatically states, “to you it has been granted” and this “granting” is not extended to all as proponents of a universal atonement suggest, Christ Himself making this plain, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (Jn. 10:26), and “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (Jn. 6:37). The atonement of Christ is, therefore, according to the testimony of Scripture a particular atonement specifically designed to redeem those whom the Father has given to His Son as a Bride.
Several observation may be noted regarding Paul's choice of words in this passage. First, the Greek root of "granted" is "charis" (or grace), and grace is rightly understood as God's unmerited favor, His gift. Second, the grammatical and syntactical use of “granted” (εχαρισθη) in the passage is in the aorist tense (completed past event) and passive voice (the work upon the heart leading to faith was of divine initiative, not human). As expected Paul's statement is in perfect harmony with Christ, Luke (Acts 16:14), and all of Scripture. Confessing his faith in Christ Peter exclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven'” (Matt. 16:16-16). If, as the universalists insist, faith finds its origin within sinners this would have been the perfect place for Christ to make it plain, He may have said to those listening to Peter, “Good job Peter, you figured it out. Listen up, boys, Peter is on to something here!” But what does the Lord say?, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” That is, “You, Peter, did not reason out who I am (flesh and blood), but My Father revealed to your mind and heart My true identity. Therefore, you are blessed because He does not do this for everyone!”
As with Lydia, Peter was passive in God's regenerating work, an elect object of grace foreknown to the Father, predestined, and in the fullness of time, effectually called and sanctified (saint). Where, then, is boasting of a man being in Christ? It is in the Lord. By the grace of God a man of faith is who he is, for “it has been granted to him not only to believe but to suffer for His sake.” Soli Deo Gloria!
Copyright (c) 2010 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Preservation of the Saints from Evil
[To follow is Chapter Six from Flavel's work The Mystery of Providence. While witnessing to the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers of his day the Apostle Paul noted that in Christ we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Once commonly understood and confessed among the saints Providence has been assailed by post-modernism to the extent that many naming Christ live as practical atheists, being ignorant of God's wonderful protections. Trumpeting Providence "luck" has taken center stage within the Church. And what can be said of this development? The concept of "luck" has has atheism at its root and deserves no place in the thinking of saints. Recall when the Lord delivered you from a great travail, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually. How do you account for your deliverance? Was it "luck" as pagans recon it, or do you rightly give thanks to the Guardian of your soul? Think not your circumstances strange, beloved, nor take for granted His mercies of health, relationships, and comforts, to say nothing of the sweet abiding presence of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Should Providence grant to you the ability to open your eyes in the morning, thank Him. And as you start about the day He has given you remember your purpose as a minister of reconciliation. Every circumstance is divinely appointed and engineered with Calvary as its backdrop. Be mindful, therefore, of the operations of the Spirit within and around you, for this is the day that the Lord has made, rejoice in the good, be vigilant in evil, recalling that the Lord is the Master of both and that nothing touches your life which He has not directly caused or permitted for your good and His glory. Therefore, delete "luck" from your vocabulary as it is a demonstration of your ignorance of God and an insult to His mercy toward you.--J.A. Matteson]
Preservation of the Saints from Evil
by John Flavel (1627-1691)
A further great advantage and mercy the saints receive from the hand of Providence is in their preservation from the snares and temptations of sin, by its preventing care over them. That Providence wards off many a deadly stroke of temptation and many a mortal thrust which Satan makes at our souls is a truth as manifest as the light that shines. This is included in that promise: God ‘will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it’ (1 Cor. 10. 13). Providence gives an outlet for the soul’s escape when it is shut up in the dangerous straits of temptation. There are two eminent ways by which the force and efficacy of temptation is broken in believers. One is by the operation of internal grace. ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would’ (Gal. 5. 17), i.e., sanctification gives sin a miscarrying womb after it has conceived in the soul. The other way is by the external working of Providence; and of this I intend to speak here.
The Providence of God is the great barrier and hindrance to a world of sin, which otherwise would break forth like an overflowing flood from our corrupt natures. It prevents abundance of sin, which otherwise wicked men would commit (Gen. 19. 11). The Sodomites were greedily pursuing their lusts; God providentially hinders it by smiting them blind. Jeroboam intends to smite the prophet; Providence interposed and withered his arm (1 Kings 13. 4). Thus you see, when wicked men have contrived and are ready to execute their wickedness, Providence claps on its manacles ‘so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise’ (Job 5. 12).
And so much corruption there remains in good men that they would certainly plunge themselves under much more guilt than they do if Providence did not take greater care of them than they do of themselves. For though they make conscience of keeping themselves, and daily watch their hearts and ways, yet such is the deceitfulness of sin that if Providence did not lay blocks in their way, it would, more frequently than it does, entangle and defile them. And this it does in several ways.
Sometimes by stirring up others to interpose with seasonable counsels, which effectually dissuade them from prosecuting an evil design. Thus Abigail meets David in the nick of time, and dissuades him from his evil purpose (1 Sam. 25. 34).
And I find it recorded, as on another account was noted before, of that holy man Mr Dod, that being late at night in his study, he was strongly moved, though at an unseasonable hour, to visit a gentleman of his acquaintance. Not knowing what might be the design of Providence in this, he obeyed and went. When he came to the house, after a few knocks on the door, the gentleman himself came to him and asked him whether he had any business with him. Mr Dod answered, No; but that he could not be quiet till he had seen him. O, Sir, replied the gentleman, you are sent of God at this hour, for just now (and with that takes the halter out of his pocket) I was going to destroy myself. And thus was the mischief prevented.
Sometimes by hindering the means and instruments, whereby the evil itself is prevented. Thus, when good Jehoshaphat had joined himself with that wicked King Ahaziah to build ships at Ezion-gaber to go to Tarshish, God prevents the design by breaking the ships with a storm (2 Chron. 20. 35-37).
We find also in the life of Mr Bolton, written by Mr Bagshaw, that while he was in Oxford he had familiar acquaintance with Mr Anderton, a good scholar, but a strong papist, who knowing Mr Bolton’s natural gifts, and perceiving that he was in some outward need, took this advantage and used many arguments to persuade him to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, and to go over with him to the English seminary, assuring him he should be furnished with all necessities and have gold enough. Mr Bolton being at that time poor in mind and purse, accepted the invitation, and a day and place was appointed in Lancashire, where they should meet and take shipping and be gone. But Mr Anderton did not come, and so he escaped the snare.
Sometimes by laying some strong affliction upon the body, to prevent a worse evil. And this is the meaning of: ‘I will hedge up thy way with thorns’ (Hos. 2. 6). Thus Basil was a long time exercised with a violent headache which he observed was used by Providence to prevent lust. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him; and this affliction, whatever it was, was ordained to prevent pride in him (2 Cor. 12. 7).
Sometimes sin is prevented in the saints by the better information of their minds at the sacred oracles of God. Thus, when sinful motions began to rise in Asaph’s mind, from the prosperity of the wicked and his own afflicted state, and grew to such a height that he began to think all he had done in the way of religion was little better than lost labour, he is set right again, and the temptation dissolved, by going into the sanctuary, where God showed him how to take new measures of persons and things, to judge them by their ends and issues, not their present appearances (Ps. 73. 12, 13, 17).
And sometimes the Providence of God prevents the sins of His people by removing them out of the way of temptations by death. In this sense we may understand that text: ‘The righteous is taken away from the evil to come’ (Isa. 57. 1), the evil of sin as well as sufferings. When the Lord sees His people low-spirited and not able to grapple with strong trials and temptations which are drawing on, it is for them a merciful Providence to be released by death and set out of harm’s way.
Now consider and admire the Providence of God, O ye saints, who has had more care of your souls than ever you had of them. Had not the Providence of God thus wrought for you in a way of prevention, it may be you had this day been so many Magor Missabibs. How was the heart of David melted under that preventing providence aforementioned (1 Sam. 25. 32-34). He blesses the Lord, the instrument and that counsel by which his soul was preserved from sin. Do but seriously think of a few particulars about this case.
Think how your corrupt natures have often impetuously hurried you on towards sin, so that all the inherent grace you had could not withstand its force, if Providence had not prevented it in some such way as you have heard. ‘But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed’ (James 1. 14). You found yourselves but feathers in the wind of temptation.
How near you have been brought to the brink of sin, and yet saved by a merciful hand of Providence. May you not say with one: ‘I was almost in all evil’ (Prov. 5. 14), and ‘My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped’ (Ps. 73. 2). O merciful Providence that stepped in so opportunely to your relief!
How many have been allowed to fall by the hand of temptations, to the reproach of religion and wounding of their own consciences, so far that they have never recovered their former peace again, but lived in the world devoid of comfort to their dying day!
How woeful your case had been if the Lord had not mercifully saved you from many thousand temptations that have assaulted you! I tell you, you cannot estimate the mercies you possess by means of such providences. Are your names sweet, and your consciences peaceful, two mercies as dear to you as your two eyes? Why surely you owe them, if not wholly yet in great measure, to the aids and assistances Providence has given you all along the way you have passed through the dangerous tempting world to this day.
Walk therefore suitably to this obligation of Providence also. And see that you thankfully own it. Do not impute your escapes from sin to accidents, or to your own watchfulness or wisdom.
See also that you do not tempt Providence on the other hand, by an irregular reliance upon its care over you, without taking all due care of yourselves. ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God’ (Jude 21); ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence’ (Prov. 4. 23). Though Providence keep you, yet it is in the way of your duty.
Thus you see what care Providence has had over your souls in preventing the spiritual dangers and miseries that otherwise would have befallen you in the way of temptations.
In the next place I will show you that it has been no less concerned about your bodies, and with great tenderness it has carried them in its arms through innumerable hazards and dangers also. ‘He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep’ (Ps. 121. 4); ‘He is the preserver of men’ (Job 7. 20). To display the glory of this Providence before you, let us take into consideration the perils into which the best of men sometimes fall, and the ways and means by which Providence preserves them in those dangers.
There are many hazards into which we are often cast in this world. The Apostle Paul gives us a general account of his dangers (2 Cor. 11. 26), and how great a wonder is it that our life has not been extinguished in some of those dangers we have been in!
Have not some of us fallen, and that often, into very dangerous sicknesses and diseases, in which we have approached to the very brink of the grave (Job 33. 18, 21, 28), and have or might have said with Hezekiah: ‘I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my hears’ (Isa. 38. 10)? Have we not often had the sentence of death in ourselves? and our bodies at that time been like a leaky ship in a storm, as one aptly resembles it, that has taken in water on every side, till it was ready to sink? Yet has God preserved, repaired and launched us out again as well as ever. O what a wonder is it that such a crazy body should be preserved so many years, and survive so many dangers! Surely it is not more wonderful to see a Venice-glass pass from hand to hand in continual use for forty or fifty years, and still to remain whole, notwithstanding the many knocks and falls it has had. If you enjoy health, or recover from sicknesses, it is because he puts ‘none of these diseases upon thee,’ or because he is ‘the Lord that healeth thee’ (Exod. 15. 16).
How many deadly dangers has His hand rescued some of you from in those years of confusion and public calamity when the sword was bathed in blood and made horrid slaughter, when, it may be, your lives were often given you for a prey! This David put a special remark upon: ‘O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation: thou hast covered my head in the day of battle’ (Ps. 140. 7).
Beza, being in France in the first Civil War and there tossed up and down for two and twenty months, recorded six hundred deliverances from danger in that space, for which he solemnly gave God thanks in his last testament. If the sword did not destroy you, it was because God did not give it a commission to do so.
Many of you have seen wonders of salvation upon the deeps, where the hand of God has been signally stretched forth for your rescue and deliverance. This is elegantly expressed in Psalm 107:23-27, concerning which you may say in a proper sense what the Psalmist says metaphorically: ‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul’ (Ps. 124. 1, 4). To see men that have spent so many years upon the seas, where your lives have continually hung in suspense before you, attain to your hears, when you could neither be reckoned among the living or the dead, as seamen are not, O what cause have you to adore your great Preserver! Many thousands of your companions are gone down, and you are yet here to praise the Lord among the living. You have bordered nearer to eternity all your days than others, and often been in eminent perils upon the seas. Surely these and so many salvations call aloud to you for most thankful acknowledgments.
What innumerable hazards and accidents, the least of which have cut off others, has God carried us all through! I think I may safely say your privative and positive mercies of this kind are more in number than the hairs of your heads. Many thousands of these dangers we never saw, nor were made particularly aware of, but though we did not see them, our God did, and brought us out of danger before He brought us into fear. Some have been evident to us, and those so remarkable that we cannot think or speak of them to this day, but our souls are freshly affected with those mercies.
It is recorded of our famous Jewel, that about the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, the inquisition taking hold of him in Oxford, he fled to London by night; but providentially losing the road, he escaped the inquisitors who pursued him. However, he fell that night into another imminent hazard of life, for wandering up and down in the snow, he fainted and lay starving in the way, panting and labouring for life, at which time Latimer’s servant found and saved him.
It would be easy to multiply examples of this kind; histories about with them. But I think there are few of us but are furnished out of our own experience abundantly; so that I shall rather choose to press home the sense of these providences upon you, in order that you may make a suitable return to the God of your mercies for them, than add more instances of this kind. To this purpose I desire you seriously to weigh the following particulars.
Consider what you owe to Providence for your protection, by which your life has been protracted unto this day, with the usefulness and comfort thereof. Look around in the world, and you may daily see some in every place who are objects of pity, bereaved by sad accidents of all the comforts of life, while in the meantime Providence has tenderly preserved you. ‘He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken’ (Ps. 34. 20). Is the elegant and comely structure of your body unspoiled, your members not deformed, or made so many seats of torment, neither the usefulness of any part deprived? Why, this is because Providence never left its hold of you since you came out of the womb, but with a watchful eye and tender hand has guarded you in every place, and kept you as its charge.
Consider how every member which has been so tenderly kept, has nevertheless been an instrument of sin against the Lord; and that not only in the days of your unregeneracy, when you yielded ‘your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin’ (Rom. 6. 13), but even since you gave them up in covenant unto the Lord as dedicated instruments to His service; and yet how tender has Providence been over them! You have often provoked Him to afflict you in every part, and lay penal evil upon every member that has been instrumental in moral evil. But O, how great have His compassions been towards you, and His patience how wonderful!
Consider what is the aim of Providence in all the tender care it has manifested for you. Why does it protect you so assiduously, and suffer no evil to befall you? Is it not that you should employ your bodies for God, and cheerfully apply yourselves to that service He has called you to? Doubtless this is the end and goal of these mercies; or else to what purpose are they afforded you? Your bodies are a part of Christ’s purchase, as well as your souls (1 Cor. 6. 19). They are committed to the charge and tutelage of angels (Heb. 1. 14), who have performed many services for them. They are dedicated by yourselves to the Lord, and that upon the highest account (Rom. 12. 1). They have already been the subjects of many mercies in this world (Ps. 35. 10), and shall partake of singular glory and happiness in the world to come (Phil. 3. 21). And shall they not then be employed, yea, cheerfully worn out, in His service? How reasonable it is they should be so! Why are they so tenderly preserved by God, if they must not be used for God?
Preservation of the Saints from Evil
by John Flavel (1627-1691)
A further great advantage and mercy the saints receive from the hand of Providence is in their preservation from the snares and temptations of sin, by its preventing care over them. That Providence wards off many a deadly stroke of temptation and many a mortal thrust which Satan makes at our souls is a truth as manifest as the light that shines. This is included in that promise: God ‘will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it’ (1 Cor. 10. 13). Providence gives an outlet for the soul’s escape when it is shut up in the dangerous straits of temptation. There are two eminent ways by which the force and efficacy of temptation is broken in believers. One is by the operation of internal grace. ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would’ (Gal. 5. 17), i.e., sanctification gives sin a miscarrying womb after it has conceived in the soul. The other way is by the external working of Providence; and of this I intend to speak here.
The Providence of God is the great barrier and hindrance to a world of sin, which otherwise would break forth like an overflowing flood from our corrupt natures. It prevents abundance of sin, which otherwise wicked men would commit (Gen. 19. 11). The Sodomites were greedily pursuing their lusts; God providentially hinders it by smiting them blind. Jeroboam intends to smite the prophet; Providence interposed and withered his arm (1 Kings 13. 4). Thus you see, when wicked men have contrived and are ready to execute their wickedness, Providence claps on its manacles ‘so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise’ (Job 5. 12).
And so much corruption there remains in good men that they would certainly plunge themselves under much more guilt than they do if Providence did not take greater care of them than they do of themselves. For though they make conscience of keeping themselves, and daily watch their hearts and ways, yet such is the deceitfulness of sin that if Providence did not lay blocks in their way, it would, more frequently than it does, entangle and defile them. And this it does in several ways.
Sometimes by stirring up others to interpose with seasonable counsels, which effectually dissuade them from prosecuting an evil design. Thus Abigail meets David in the nick of time, and dissuades him from his evil purpose (1 Sam. 25. 34).
And I find it recorded, as on another account was noted before, of that holy man Mr Dod, that being late at night in his study, he was strongly moved, though at an unseasonable hour, to visit a gentleman of his acquaintance. Not knowing what might be the design of Providence in this, he obeyed and went. When he came to the house, after a few knocks on the door, the gentleman himself came to him and asked him whether he had any business with him. Mr Dod answered, No; but that he could not be quiet till he had seen him. O, Sir, replied the gentleman, you are sent of God at this hour, for just now (and with that takes the halter out of his pocket) I was going to destroy myself. And thus was the mischief prevented.
Sometimes by hindering the means and instruments, whereby the evil itself is prevented. Thus, when good Jehoshaphat had joined himself with that wicked King Ahaziah to build ships at Ezion-gaber to go to Tarshish, God prevents the design by breaking the ships with a storm (2 Chron. 20. 35-37).
We find also in the life of Mr Bolton, written by Mr Bagshaw, that while he was in Oxford he had familiar acquaintance with Mr Anderton, a good scholar, but a strong papist, who knowing Mr Bolton’s natural gifts, and perceiving that he was in some outward need, took this advantage and used many arguments to persuade him to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, and to go over with him to the English seminary, assuring him he should be furnished with all necessities and have gold enough. Mr Bolton being at that time poor in mind and purse, accepted the invitation, and a day and place was appointed in Lancashire, where they should meet and take shipping and be gone. But Mr Anderton did not come, and so he escaped the snare.
Sometimes by laying some strong affliction upon the body, to prevent a worse evil. And this is the meaning of: ‘I will hedge up thy way with thorns’ (Hos. 2. 6). Thus Basil was a long time exercised with a violent headache which he observed was used by Providence to prevent lust. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him; and this affliction, whatever it was, was ordained to prevent pride in him (2 Cor. 12. 7).
Sometimes sin is prevented in the saints by the better information of their minds at the sacred oracles of God. Thus, when sinful motions began to rise in Asaph’s mind, from the prosperity of the wicked and his own afflicted state, and grew to such a height that he began to think all he had done in the way of religion was little better than lost labour, he is set right again, and the temptation dissolved, by going into the sanctuary, where God showed him how to take new measures of persons and things, to judge them by their ends and issues, not their present appearances (Ps. 73. 12, 13, 17).
And sometimes the Providence of God prevents the sins of His people by removing them out of the way of temptations by death. In this sense we may understand that text: ‘The righteous is taken away from the evil to come’ (Isa. 57. 1), the evil of sin as well as sufferings. When the Lord sees His people low-spirited and not able to grapple with strong trials and temptations which are drawing on, it is for them a merciful Providence to be released by death and set out of harm’s way.
Now consider and admire the Providence of God, O ye saints, who has had more care of your souls than ever you had of them. Had not the Providence of God thus wrought for you in a way of prevention, it may be you had this day been so many Magor Missabibs. How was the heart of David melted under that preventing providence aforementioned (1 Sam. 25. 32-34). He blesses the Lord, the instrument and that counsel by which his soul was preserved from sin. Do but seriously think of a few particulars about this case.
Think how your corrupt natures have often impetuously hurried you on towards sin, so that all the inherent grace you had could not withstand its force, if Providence had not prevented it in some such way as you have heard. ‘But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed’ (James 1. 14). You found yourselves but feathers in the wind of temptation.
How near you have been brought to the brink of sin, and yet saved by a merciful hand of Providence. May you not say with one: ‘I was almost in all evil’ (Prov. 5. 14), and ‘My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped’ (Ps. 73. 2). O merciful Providence that stepped in so opportunely to your relief!
How many have been allowed to fall by the hand of temptations, to the reproach of religion and wounding of their own consciences, so far that they have never recovered their former peace again, but lived in the world devoid of comfort to their dying day!
How woeful your case had been if the Lord had not mercifully saved you from many thousand temptations that have assaulted you! I tell you, you cannot estimate the mercies you possess by means of such providences. Are your names sweet, and your consciences peaceful, two mercies as dear to you as your two eyes? Why surely you owe them, if not wholly yet in great measure, to the aids and assistances Providence has given you all along the way you have passed through the dangerous tempting world to this day.
Walk therefore suitably to this obligation of Providence also. And see that you thankfully own it. Do not impute your escapes from sin to accidents, or to your own watchfulness or wisdom.
See also that you do not tempt Providence on the other hand, by an irregular reliance upon its care over you, without taking all due care of yourselves. ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God’ (Jude 21); ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence’ (Prov. 4. 23). Though Providence keep you, yet it is in the way of your duty.
Thus you see what care Providence has had over your souls in preventing the spiritual dangers and miseries that otherwise would have befallen you in the way of temptations.
In the next place I will show you that it has been no less concerned about your bodies, and with great tenderness it has carried them in its arms through innumerable hazards and dangers also. ‘He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep’ (Ps. 121. 4); ‘He is the preserver of men’ (Job 7. 20). To display the glory of this Providence before you, let us take into consideration the perils into which the best of men sometimes fall, and the ways and means by which Providence preserves them in those dangers.
There are many hazards into which we are often cast in this world. The Apostle Paul gives us a general account of his dangers (2 Cor. 11. 26), and how great a wonder is it that our life has not been extinguished in some of those dangers we have been in!
Have not some of us fallen, and that often, into very dangerous sicknesses and diseases, in which we have approached to the very brink of the grave (Job 33. 18, 21, 28), and have or might have said with Hezekiah: ‘I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my hears’ (Isa. 38. 10)? Have we not often had the sentence of death in ourselves? and our bodies at that time been like a leaky ship in a storm, as one aptly resembles it, that has taken in water on every side, till it was ready to sink? Yet has God preserved, repaired and launched us out again as well as ever. O what a wonder is it that such a crazy body should be preserved so many years, and survive so many dangers! Surely it is not more wonderful to see a Venice-glass pass from hand to hand in continual use for forty or fifty years, and still to remain whole, notwithstanding the many knocks and falls it has had. If you enjoy health, or recover from sicknesses, it is because he puts ‘none of these diseases upon thee,’ or because he is ‘the Lord that healeth thee’ (Exod. 15. 16).
How many deadly dangers has His hand rescued some of you from in those years of confusion and public calamity when the sword was bathed in blood and made horrid slaughter, when, it may be, your lives were often given you for a prey! This David put a special remark upon: ‘O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation: thou hast covered my head in the day of battle’ (Ps. 140. 7).
Beza, being in France in the first Civil War and there tossed up and down for two and twenty months, recorded six hundred deliverances from danger in that space, for which he solemnly gave God thanks in his last testament. If the sword did not destroy you, it was because God did not give it a commission to do so.
Many of you have seen wonders of salvation upon the deeps, where the hand of God has been signally stretched forth for your rescue and deliverance. This is elegantly expressed in Psalm 107:23-27, concerning which you may say in a proper sense what the Psalmist says metaphorically: ‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul’ (Ps. 124. 1, 4). To see men that have spent so many years upon the seas, where your lives have continually hung in suspense before you, attain to your hears, when you could neither be reckoned among the living or the dead, as seamen are not, O what cause have you to adore your great Preserver! Many thousands of your companions are gone down, and you are yet here to praise the Lord among the living. You have bordered nearer to eternity all your days than others, and often been in eminent perils upon the seas. Surely these and so many salvations call aloud to you for most thankful acknowledgments.
What innumerable hazards and accidents, the least of which have cut off others, has God carried us all through! I think I may safely say your privative and positive mercies of this kind are more in number than the hairs of your heads. Many thousands of these dangers we never saw, nor were made particularly aware of, but though we did not see them, our God did, and brought us out of danger before He brought us into fear. Some have been evident to us, and those so remarkable that we cannot think or speak of them to this day, but our souls are freshly affected with those mercies.
It is recorded of our famous Jewel, that about the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, the inquisition taking hold of him in Oxford, he fled to London by night; but providentially losing the road, he escaped the inquisitors who pursued him. However, he fell that night into another imminent hazard of life, for wandering up and down in the snow, he fainted and lay starving in the way, panting and labouring for life, at which time Latimer’s servant found and saved him.
It would be easy to multiply examples of this kind; histories about with them. But I think there are few of us but are furnished out of our own experience abundantly; so that I shall rather choose to press home the sense of these providences upon you, in order that you may make a suitable return to the God of your mercies for them, than add more instances of this kind. To this purpose I desire you seriously to weigh the following particulars.
Consider what you owe to Providence for your protection, by which your life has been protracted unto this day, with the usefulness and comfort thereof. Look around in the world, and you may daily see some in every place who are objects of pity, bereaved by sad accidents of all the comforts of life, while in the meantime Providence has tenderly preserved you. ‘He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken’ (Ps. 34. 20). Is the elegant and comely structure of your body unspoiled, your members not deformed, or made so many seats of torment, neither the usefulness of any part deprived? Why, this is because Providence never left its hold of you since you came out of the womb, but with a watchful eye and tender hand has guarded you in every place, and kept you as its charge.
Consider how every member which has been so tenderly kept, has nevertheless been an instrument of sin against the Lord; and that not only in the days of your unregeneracy, when you yielded ‘your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin’ (Rom. 6. 13), but even since you gave them up in covenant unto the Lord as dedicated instruments to His service; and yet how tender has Providence been over them! You have often provoked Him to afflict you in every part, and lay penal evil upon every member that has been instrumental in moral evil. But O, how great have His compassions been towards you, and His patience how wonderful!
Consider what is the aim of Providence in all the tender care it has manifested for you. Why does it protect you so assiduously, and suffer no evil to befall you? Is it not that you should employ your bodies for God, and cheerfully apply yourselves to that service He has called you to? Doubtless this is the end and goal of these mercies; or else to what purpose are they afforded you? Your bodies are a part of Christ’s purchase, as well as your souls (1 Cor. 6. 19). They are committed to the charge and tutelage of angels (Heb. 1. 14), who have performed many services for them. They are dedicated by yourselves to the Lord, and that upon the highest account (Rom. 12. 1). They have already been the subjects of many mercies in this world (Ps. 35. 10), and shall partake of singular glory and happiness in the world to come (Phil. 3. 21). And shall they not then be employed, yea, cheerfully worn out, in His service? How reasonable it is they should be so! Why are they so tenderly preserved by God, if they must not be used for God?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sermon 9--Sermons Upon Romans VIII--Thomas Manton
[A fools errant it is to search the scriptures in hope of validating the heresy of Palagius. Evidence of the depraved state of man is a believers denial of electing and redeeming grace apart from human merit and participation. As sand in an open wound or a sliver under the nail divine sovereignty in salvation is an irritant which fallen sinners will likely continue to postulate until the Lord returns. And yet, as Manton demonstrates, such an enterprise is vain and dishonoring to God. Only by contorting sacred scripture through sloppy exposition is there, even momentarily, the faintest appearance of legitimacy. Upon closer examination the illegitimate thesis is exposed for what it truly is: the antithesis of grace, such that cheapens the atonement, presenting the Savior to all but effectually saving none, allowing the Prince of Glory to suffer the travail of His soul for naught, undermining the eternal promise of His Father of a Bride. In this exposition of the eighth chapter of Romans Thomas Manton theologically and rhetorically annihilates his adversaries who hold to the despicable teachings of Palagius.--J.A. Matteson]
Because the carnal mind is enmity to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. - Rom. viii. 7.
IN the words a reason is given, why the carnal minding will be deadly to us, because it is enmity to God. God surely will be avenged on all his enemies: those that are enemies to God will shortly be dealt with as enemies.
Therefore to be carnally minded is death, because the carnal mind is enmity to God, &c.
In the words here is -
1. A proposition.
2. A reason; First. From the contumacy of the carnal mind; Secondly. From its impotency to overcome it: it is a weak wilfulness, or a wilful weakness.
First. The proposition. And there is to be considered the subject, the carnal mind. The predicate is enmity to God.
1. The subject, or thing spoken of, fronèma sarkos, the carnal mind, or the minding of the flesh, or the wisdom of the flesh. But that hath in a great measure been shown before; therefore -
[1.] By the carnal mind is meant the rational powers, corrupted by our sensitive appetite, and disposed to obey it; or a mind deceived by the flesh, and enslaved by it; called elsewhere 'a fleshly mind,' Col. ii. 18.
[2.] It is here considered in its prevalency and reign, as it depresseth the mind from rising up to divine and spiritual things, and wholly bindeth it, and causeth it to adhere to things terrene and earthly, such as gratify sense, and conduce to please the flesh. The wisdom of the flesh is described: James iii. 15, 'The wisdom that descendeth not from above is earthly, sensual, devilish:' and 1 John ii. 16; 'All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.'
2. The predicate. It is not only echthron, but echthra, enmity to God. It is more emphatical; an enemy may be reconciled, but enmity cannot. That which is black may be made white, but blackness cannot. This emphatical expression is to set forth the perfect contrariety that is in our desires, affections, inclinations, and actions, to the will of God. We love what he hateth, and hate what he loveth. It is not only an enemy, but enmity.
Doct. That the wisdom of the flesh is downright opposition and enmity to God.
To evidence this, take these considerations:-
1. It is possible that human nature may be so far forsaken as that among men there should be found haters of God and enemies to him. We bless ourselves from so great an evil; and men scarce believe that there are such profligate and forlorn wretches in the world as to profess themselves to be enemies to God, who is so good and the fountain of all goodness; and, for our own part, are ready to defy those that charge it upon us. But the matter is clear. The Scriptures show expressly, that there are 'haters of God,' theostugeis, Rom. i. 30; and Ps. cxxxix. 21, 'Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?' and Ps. xiii. 2, 'They that hate thee, are risen up against us without a cause.' And we need not go among the pagans and infidels to seek or find out them that are haters of God; there is an opposite party to God nearer at hand; and they are all those that walk contrary to him: Col. i. 21, 'Enemies in your minds, by evil works;' and Ps. lxviii. 21, 'He will wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses.' Now many such live within the verge of the church, and are not to be sought among Turks and infidels only.
2. That hatred and enmity to God may be determined by three things: (1.) If we love not God at all; (2.) If we love him not as much as we ought to do; (3.) If we rebel against him and disobey his laws.
(1.) If we love not God at all; for not to love, is to hate, in things worthy to be beloved. Surely, in divine matters, there is no medium: he that is not with God, is against him: Mat xii. 30; and he that loveth him not, hateth him. To be a neuter, is to be a rebel, because God doth so much deserve our love, and we are so much obliged to him, and depend upon him. So it is said, Prov. viii. 36, 'All that hate me, love death: he that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul.' They that do not seek after wisdom, hate it; they care not for God, whether he be pleased or displeased. You speak all manner of misery to that man of whom you may say, that he loveth not God. So Christ brandeth his enemies: 'I know that you have not the love of God in you,' John v. 42. Men are in a woeful case, if void of the love of God. Love being the fountain of desiring all communion with him, and the root of all obedience to him; therefore, if men, blinded by the delusions of the flesh, or diverted by the world, love not God, being so deeply engaged to God, and God so deserving their love, they are enemies to him: 1 John ii. 15, 'If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him:' 1 Cor. xvi. 22, 'If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.' It is danger enough not to love him, though we break not out in open opposition against his ways. (2.) If we love him not so much as we ought to do, or not so much as we love some other thing. For, in the sacred dialect, a lesser love is hatred; as, for instance, in the notion of the law of the hated wife: Deut xxi. 15,16, 'If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated,' etc. Not that she was not loved at all, or absolutely hated; but she that was not loved as much as the other, is called the hated wife. So in that proverb, Prov. xiv. 20, 'The poor is even hated of his own neighbour; but the rich hath many friends.' There, hatred is taken for slighting, or a lesser degree of love. So in this case between us and God: Mat. x. 37, 'He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.' But in Luke xiv. 26, it is, 'If any man hate not father and mother, and brothers and sisters; yea, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple.' There, the lower and lesser love is called hatred. For Christ's religion teacheth us, not to be unnatural; but in comparison of Christ, we should hate them, trample upon the comforts and (benefits which result from such relations, if they be snares to us: so Mat vi. 24, 'No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' God is of that excellent nature, that to esteem any thing above him, or equal with him, is to hate him.
Now, because men love the world, and the things of the world over much, yea, more than God, they hate him - are enemies to him. All carnal men are guilty of this, as they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. This over-love of sensual satisfactions, or terrene and earthly things, is the highest contempt and affront that can be put upon God, in comparison of our love to him. All the pleasures and contentments of the world should be hated rather than loved. So far as our hearts are set upon those things, which the flesh savoureth and delighteth in, so far are they estranged from God; and then you will neglect him, or easily part with him for the world's sake. If a father should come to his child, and say, 'If you love such vain and enticing company, I shall take you for mine enemy, you must either hate me or them,' would not an ingenuous child refrain his haunts, rather than forfeit his father's love? This is the case between us and God: 'Love not the world,' saith he, 'nor the things of the world; if you love the world, you do not love me.' Therefore for us only to savour and relish these things is flat enmity to God.
(3 ) We are said to hate God, and be enemies to him, if we rebel against him and disobey his laws. God's love to us is a love of bounty, and our love to him is a love of duty, shown rather by obedience than a fellow-like familiarity. Here in the text, our respects to God are interpreted and judged of by our respects to his law. By this, God measureth our love and hatred to himself. It is enmity to God, 'because it is not subject to the law of God.' So, elsewhere, love is determined by obedience: 1 John v. 3, 'For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments;' and John xiv. 21, 'He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.' On the other side, hatred is expressed by disobedience: Deut. v. 9, 'On them that hate me, and keep not my commandments.' All sin is a hatred of God; actual sin is odium Dei actuale, and habitual sin is odium Dei habituale. It is finis operis, if not operantis. We think not so, but the Scripture judgeth so; and it appears from reason. We apprehend God standeth in the way of our desires; and because we cannot enjoy our lusts with that freedom and security, as we might otherwise were it not for his law, therefore we hate God. He commandeth that which we cannot, and will not do, being enticed and inveigled by the flesh.
3. There is a twofold hatred: odium abominationis and odium inimicitia - the hatred of abomination, and dislike, and the hatred of enmity. The one is opposite to the love of good will, the other to the love of complacency: Prov. xxix. 27, 'The wicked are an abomination to the righteous.' Surely a righteous man hateth not his neighbour with the hatred of enmity, to seek his destruction; but with the hatred of offence, so as not to delight in him while he is wicked, in opposition to the love of complacency. We may hate our sinful neighbour, as we must first hate ourselves, and loathe ourselves, because of our sins: but in opposition to the love of benevolence we must neither hate our neighbour, nor our enemy, nor ourselves.
[1.] Apply this distinction to the case between God and us, it will be hard to excuse any carnal man from either hatred; certainly not from the hatred of offence or abomination, there being such an unsuitableness and dissimilitude between God and them in pure nature. We were created after his image, and then we delighted in him; but when we lost our first nature, we left our first love; for love is grounded upon likeness, or willing and nilling the same things. But, alas! now we love what he hateth, and hate what he loveth; and therefore, because of this dissimilitude, there is a hatred. How can we delight in a holy God, and a God of pure eyes delight in such sensual polluted creatures? What can carnal men see lovely in God, or God in them? See Zech. xi. 8, 'My soul loatheth them, and their soul abhorreth me.' Therefore from this hatred of loathing, offence, and abomination, none can excuse themselves; till they come to hate what God hateth, and to love what God loveth, there is, and will be, the hatred of offence: Prov. viii. 13, 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.'
[2.] For the other branch. The hatred of enmity, is that which implieth all endeavours of mischief, and seeketh the destruction of the thing hated. We cannot excuse the carnal man from this either; for there is a secret positive enmity in them against the being of God; and this is the effect of slavish fear. We hate God under a double notion, as a lawgiver, thwarting our lusts by his precepts; and as an avenger, punishing our disorders. This latter we are upon. Slavish fear apprehendeth God as an avenger of sin, or as a condemning God. Men hate those whom they fear. The Roman historian observeth it: proprium est humani ingenii odisse quos laeserit. Why? Because we fear their revenge. We have wronged God exceedingly, and know that he will call us to an account; and, therefore, being sensible of the righteousness of his vindictive justice, we hate him. All that are afraid of God, with such a fear as hath torment in it, aut extinctum Deum cupiunt aut exanimatum, it is a pleasing thought to them if there were no God: Ps. xiv. 1, 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.' As the devils tremble at their own thoughts of God so do wicked men. It were welcome news to them to hear there were no God.
4. God's enemies carry on a double war against him, offensive and defensive. The offensive war is when men break his laws; employ all their faculties, mercies, comforts, as weapons of unrighteousness against God: Rom. vi. 13, 'Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, hoopla adikias; but yield yourselves to God. Our faculties, talents, and interests are employed either as armour of light for God, or as weapons of unrighteousness against God. The defensive war is when we slight his word, despise his grace, resist the motions of his Spirit: Acts vii. 51, 'Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.' When God bringeth his spiritual artillery to batter down all that which lifteth up itself against the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. When he besiegeth our hearts, and battereth them daily by the rebukes and motions of his Spirit, yet men will not yield the fortress, but stand it out to the last; take delight to go on in the obedience of their natural corruptions; will not have Christ to reign over them; and so they increase their enmity, and double their misery, by a resistance of grace, and are rebels, not only against the law, but the gospel, stand out against their own mercies. They are enemies to an earthly prince, that not only infest his country with continual inroads and incursions, but those also that keep his towns and strongholds against him. And in this sense an impenitent person, and an enemy to God, are equivalent expressions in scripture. Though you do not break out into open acts of hostility against God, yet if you will not come out of your bondage, and come out of the misery and folly of your carnal estate, you are enemies to him.
5. That herein the enemies of our salvation agree, that they all make us rebels to God. The devil, world and flesh, are equal in this. The devil's servants and subjects are opposite to Christ's kingdom: Eph. vi. 12, 'Rulers of the darkness of this world;' and Col. i 13, 'Who hath translated us out of the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of his dear Son.' While we remain in the one kingdom we are enemies to the other: Luke xix. 27, 'But for those, mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither, and slay them before me.' The world: James iv. 4, 'Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend to the world, is an enemy to God.' They whose hearts are set upon the pleasures, profits, and honours of the world, they are withdrawn from God, as their proper Lord, and chief happiness, and will neither be ruled by his will, nor seek his love and favour. First, They will not be ruled by His will; for God and the world command contrary things. The world saith, slack no opportunity of gain; to stand nicely upon conscience is to draw trouble upon ourselves; that to give is wasteful profuseness; and to forgive, folly and weakness. God, on the contrary, biddeth us deny ourselves - take up our cross; telleth us, that giving is receiving, and the glory of a man is to pass by an offence, or to forgive the wrongs done to him. So the flesh: as the world tempts us to rebellion against God, so the flesh swalloweth the temptation; it carrieth us to do what we list, and disposeth us to a flat rebellion against God, and a contempt of his authority: 2 Sam. xii. 9, 'Wherefore hast thou sinned, and despised the commandments of God?' The flesh will have it so: Ps. ii. 3, 'Let us break his bands, and cast away his cords from us.' Affectation of carnal liberty is the very effect of sense-pleasing and flesh-pleasing; so that the carnal mind implieth a downright opposition to the law of God: all our ways are enmity to it, and a direct repugnancy against it. Secondly, Nor do we seek his love and favour as our happiness. The world propoundeth objects that are pleasant to our senses, necessary in part for our uses, in subordination to other things; and so enticeth us from God. But it could not entice us, were it not for the flesh, which greedily swalloweth the bait: 2 Tim. iv. 10, 'Demas hath forsaken us, and embraced the present world;' and 2 Tim. iii. 4, 'Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;' and John v. 44, 'How can you believe that receive honour one of another?' And so we are detained from God by the creature, which should be a step and stair that should lead us up to him. The world is full of allurements to the flesh; and those mercies which would raise the mind to God are made the fuel of sensuality, and the greatest means to keep it from him. None neglect him so much as those that have most of the world: Jer. ii. 31, 'O generation! see ye the word of the Lord; have I been a wilderness to Israel - a land of darkness? wherefore say my people we are lords, we will come no more at thee?' So Mark x. 24, 'How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God:' they are most apt to live an ungodly sensual life, as having less occasion than others to drive them to God.
6. This enmity arising from the flesh, is the more strengthened and increased the more it gaineth the mind and corrupts the mind; for two reasons: [1.] Then the leading part of the soul, which should guide and command the rest, is corrupted also. There is in the upper part of the soul a directive and imperial power to fit him to obey God. Now it is blinded as to the directive power, and weakened as to its imperial and commanding power; all must needs fall into disorder, and man will live a rebel to the law of his creation, and so be an enemy to God.
(1.) As to the leading and directing part of the soul, that is the understanding, there is a great blindness come upon us by the lust of the flesh, so that we have neither a due sense of our happiness, nor our duty. Not of our happiness, for till the eyes of our minds are opened by the Spirit, we have no real persuasion of the world to come: Eph. i 18, 'The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints in light:' and 2 Pet. i. 9, 'He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off.' Nor of our duty; for though some moralities be evident to corrupt nature: Rom. ii. 14, yet for a full resignation, obedience, and love to God, nature owneth little of it, and depraved reason is blind, or sleepy, so that we may have no clear, deep sense of our duty impressed upon our hearts, so as that conscience (which is applicative reason]) should warn us of sin, or mind us of our duty upon all necessary occasions.
(2.) The commanding power is weakened. For our senses are so masterly, inordinate, and eagerly set upon the objects, that we yield ourselves to the conduct of them, how unreasonable soever the acts are: Tit iii. 3, 'For we ourselves were sometimes foolish and disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.' We give way to that which is evil, and oppose that which is good, even against the urgings of conscience: 'The law of our members warreth against the law of our minds:' Rom. vi. 22; and it is a trouble to the flesh to be restrained from what it desireth, as an headstrong horse is loath to be curbed.
[2.] Because, as the leading part of the soul cannot hinder sin, so it doth promote it. And the more wit and wisdom we have, if it be carnal, the more is our enmity against God, as appeareth by those men in a carnal estate who have most of natural acquisitions; the devil's cause is varnished by them, and they prostitute all their sufficiencies to the interest of the flesh, and to cast off the government of God. How many wit themselves into hell? But it is common to all, as appeareth by the two principal effects of the carnal minding, arguing and contriving, by these two the malignity of the flesh doth most betray itself.
(1.) By the arguings of the flesh. What carnal reasons have men for every sin, and against every duty? Which showeth the corruption of nature hath not only taken hold of the appetite and senses, but hath over-spread the mind and reason. Let any temptation come to inordinate pleasure, they will palliate it and honest it with some excuse, that the bait is soon swallowed; or to unlawful gain, by it they pretend they shall be enabled to do good to the church of God; if to honour and applause, they will say religion shall have the advantage of it; so if the temptation be against duty, they will say that they will recompense it another time.
(2.) By contriving: Rom. xiii. 14, and 'make no more provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.' Wherein do men usually spend their time, but in studying to please the flesh, or to fulfil their fleshly desires? All their wit is wholly employed to this end.
Use 1 is Caution, not to stroke the carnal minding with a gentle censure, as if it were no great matter; it is enmity to God; and if you indulge it, you live in a state of rebellion against him. It is an evil; first, as a wrong done to God, whose we are, and whom we should serve; because it is an usurping of the government of ourselves against God's right, as if we were at our own disposal, as if we might do with ourselves and faculties as we list, without giving an account to an higher Lord. Now to rob God of his authority over his creature, is no small evil: Ps. xii. 4, 'Who have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us?' To challenge anything as our own, is to affect to be as God. Secondly, It is a wrong to ourselves, for so we set up our senses and appetite above our reason, and make the beast ride the man; for the lower faculties rule, when the mind is debauched to serve the flesh, and to cater for it, and contrive about it, when it should govern our senses in order to our true happiness and felicity: Jude 10, 'In what they know naturally, in those things as brute beasts, they corrupt themselves;' that is, against the light of nature they engulph themselves in all manner of sensuality. Thirdly, It is a contempt of that glorious happiness which God hath provided for us, Heb. iii. 2. When soul, and heaven, and God, and all things are despised for our carnal ends, how can we look upon it as a light sin? Is it nothing to cast off God and Christ, and despise our own souls, and all the happiness of the world to come, which God hath encouraged us to expect, as if a little worldly transitory pleasure of sin were much better. Fourthly, It is the worse because it is natural. Your very natures being destitute of original righteousness, incline you to please the flesh before God; so that this opposition against God being natural, it is first, the more lasting, for natural antipathies are not easily broken and cured, as that between the wolf and the lamb, the raven and the dove; and the spirit that dwelleth in us, lusteth to envy: Jam. iv. 5: and, Gen. vi. 5, 'Every imagination of the thought of his heart is only evil continually.' We find it early, we find it to be constant; after grace received, the understanding is not so clear and watchful as it should be, but a dark, imperfect guide to us, our will not so powerful as it ought to be; the wisdom of the flesh is kneaded into our natures that we cannot get rid of it, and there is too great a rebellion in the appetite and senses, and in the best a great averseness to their duty; our reason still too often stoopeth to our sensuality. Fifthly, Accidental evil is matter of compassion; but natural, of indignation; we pity a dog poisoned, but hate a toad that is poisonous. If it were only a slip of our natures, or a frailty, it were another thing; but it is the rooted disposition of our hearts. We can better dispense with a fit of anger, than with cankered malice; a blow and away may be forgiven, but an abiding enmity provoketh us to take revenge. Thus it is necessary to know the evil, that we may seek after and admire the cure.
Use 2 is to press us to come out of this estate of carnality: will you live in enmity against God?
1. Can you make good your part against him? 1 Cor. x. 22, 'Will you provoke the Lord to jealousy? are you stronger than he?' Secondly, He hath potestatem vitae et necis: Jam. iv. 12, 'There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.' Thirdly, God is an enemy to those that are enemies to him: Ps. v. 5, 'He hateth all workers of iniquity;' and Ps. vii. 11,12, 'He is angry with the wicked every day: if he turn not, he will whet his sword, he will bend his bow, and will make it ready.' God's justice, if it doth for a while spare the wicked, yet it doth not lie idle; he can deal with us, comminus and eminus - at a distance, and near at hand. He is whetting his sword, and bending his bow; if he fall upon us, what shall we do? If a spark of his wrath light upon the conscience, how soon is man made a burden to himself? Ps. ii. 12, much more when he stirreth up all his wrath against us. What shall we do? First, Accept of the conditions of peace God hath provided: 2 Cor. v. 19, 20, 'to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.' We read of princes that, Luke xiv. 31, while their enemy is yet a great way off, they send an embassy, and desire conditions of peace. God sendeth the embassy to us, let us accept of the offer; we are no match for God. Secondly, Get corrupt nature healed, and the heart renewed by the Spirit: for there is no peace as long as the old heart remaineth. When renewed, we are reconciled; we receive the atonement, if God sanctifieth; he is a God of peace. Be once after the spirit, and then you will be spiritually minded; and to one that is spiritually minded, there is life and peace.
Secondly. The next thing is our impotency to recover ourselves out of this estate; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Hence observe:
Doct. That while we remain carnally minded, there is no breaking off this enmity between God and us. The reasons of this repugnancy, or why the carnal mind standeth in such direct opposition to the law, are -
1. 'The law is spiritual, and we are carnal, sold under sin,' Rom. vii. 14. Men in an habitual state of carnality, cannot obey a spiritual law.
2. The law is pure and holy: Ps. cxix. 140, 'Thy law is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.' But it is otherwise with fleshly creatures, impuritas est mixtura vilioris.
3. The law is directly contrary to the fleshly mind, and therefore the fleshly mind is directly contrary to it. The law of God forbiddeth many things that are pleasing to carnal nature, as all excess of bodily pleasures, inordinate seeking after the profits and honours of the world; commandeth many things tedious to flesh and blood, as the loving God with all our hearts, serving him with all our might and strength, loving enemies, doing good to all, seeking others' welfare as our own. Secondly, Besides its repugnancy, there is an utter incapacity. But may it not be brought to obedience by the law demanding its right and due in the name of God? (1.) Not by a bare prohibition, for that exasperateth the evil: Rom. vii. 5, 'For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in my members to bring forth fruit unto death.' (2.) Not by persuasions or instructions; for spiritual arguments work little with a carnal heart; persuasion alone prevaileth not against inclination: 1 Cor. ii 14, 'For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.'(3.) Nor will resolutions, vows, and covenants, make us subject, for these are but the dictates of conscience, till the will be renewed. It is our judgment we should, but the bent of our hearts lieth as a weight against it: Rom. ii. 18, 'Thou approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law.'
Use 3 is information. Since the unregenerate are altogether flesh, and the regenerate in part flesh, the one can do nothing good, the other nothing perfect.
1. It giveth us a true account of man's natural incapacity to what is good. First, there is a natural propensity or inclination to the body before the soul, and earth before heaven, the creature before God: John iii 6, 'That which is born of flesh is flesh.'
2. This is increased in us by being accustomed to a sinful life: Jer. xiii. 13, 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.'
3. This custom is more confirmed and rooted by the general practice of all about us: Is. vi. 5, 'Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.'
4. It is not only practised, but countenanced generally in the world: 1 Pet iv. 4, 'Wherein they think it strange, that you run not with them into the same excess of riot.'
5. The encouragements of another course, lie wholly in a world to come: Mat v. 12, 'Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,'
6. The precepts to renounce this sensuality, are given by an invisible God; who, though he hath given sufficient demonstration of the truth of his being, is little cared for: Ps. x. 4, 'The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.'
Because the carnal mind is enmity to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. - Rom. viii. 7.
IN the words a reason is given, why the carnal minding will be deadly to us, because it is enmity to God. God surely will be avenged on all his enemies: those that are enemies to God will shortly be dealt with as enemies.
Therefore to be carnally minded is death, because the carnal mind is enmity to God, &c.
In the words here is -
1. A proposition.
2. A reason; First. From the contumacy of the carnal mind; Secondly. From its impotency to overcome it: it is a weak wilfulness, or a wilful weakness.
First. The proposition. And there is to be considered the subject, the carnal mind. The predicate is enmity to God.
1. The subject, or thing spoken of, fronèma sarkos, the carnal mind, or the minding of the flesh, or the wisdom of the flesh. But that hath in a great measure been shown before; therefore -
[1.] By the carnal mind is meant the rational powers, corrupted by our sensitive appetite, and disposed to obey it; or a mind deceived by the flesh, and enslaved by it; called elsewhere 'a fleshly mind,' Col. ii. 18.
[2.] It is here considered in its prevalency and reign, as it depresseth the mind from rising up to divine and spiritual things, and wholly bindeth it, and causeth it to adhere to things terrene and earthly, such as gratify sense, and conduce to please the flesh. The wisdom of the flesh is described: James iii. 15, 'The wisdom that descendeth not from above is earthly, sensual, devilish:' and 1 John ii. 16; 'All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.'
2. The predicate. It is not only echthron, but echthra, enmity to God. It is more emphatical; an enemy may be reconciled, but enmity cannot. That which is black may be made white, but blackness cannot. This emphatical expression is to set forth the perfect contrariety that is in our desires, affections, inclinations, and actions, to the will of God. We love what he hateth, and hate what he loveth. It is not only an enemy, but enmity.
Doct. That the wisdom of the flesh is downright opposition and enmity to God.
To evidence this, take these considerations:-
1. It is possible that human nature may be so far forsaken as that among men there should be found haters of God and enemies to him. We bless ourselves from so great an evil; and men scarce believe that there are such profligate and forlorn wretches in the world as to profess themselves to be enemies to God, who is so good and the fountain of all goodness; and, for our own part, are ready to defy those that charge it upon us. But the matter is clear. The Scriptures show expressly, that there are 'haters of God,' theostugeis, Rom. i. 30; and Ps. cxxxix. 21, 'Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?' and Ps. xiii. 2, 'They that hate thee, are risen up against us without a cause.' And we need not go among the pagans and infidels to seek or find out them that are haters of God; there is an opposite party to God nearer at hand; and they are all those that walk contrary to him: Col. i. 21, 'Enemies in your minds, by evil works;' and Ps. lxviii. 21, 'He will wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses.' Now many such live within the verge of the church, and are not to be sought among Turks and infidels only.
2. That hatred and enmity to God may be determined by three things: (1.) If we love not God at all; (2.) If we love him not as much as we ought to do; (3.) If we rebel against him and disobey his laws.
(1.) If we love not God at all; for not to love, is to hate, in things worthy to be beloved. Surely, in divine matters, there is no medium: he that is not with God, is against him: Mat xii. 30; and he that loveth him not, hateth him. To be a neuter, is to be a rebel, because God doth so much deserve our love, and we are so much obliged to him, and depend upon him. So it is said, Prov. viii. 36, 'All that hate me, love death: he that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul.' They that do not seek after wisdom, hate it; they care not for God, whether he be pleased or displeased. You speak all manner of misery to that man of whom you may say, that he loveth not God. So Christ brandeth his enemies: 'I know that you have not the love of God in you,' John v. 42. Men are in a woeful case, if void of the love of God. Love being the fountain of desiring all communion with him, and the root of all obedience to him; therefore, if men, blinded by the delusions of the flesh, or diverted by the world, love not God, being so deeply engaged to God, and God so deserving their love, they are enemies to him: 1 John ii. 15, 'If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him:' 1 Cor. xvi. 22, 'If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.' It is danger enough not to love him, though we break not out in open opposition against his ways. (2.) If we love him not so much as we ought to do, or not so much as we love some other thing. For, in the sacred dialect, a lesser love is hatred; as, for instance, in the notion of the law of the hated wife: Deut xxi. 15,16, 'If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated,' etc. Not that she was not loved at all, or absolutely hated; but she that was not loved as much as the other, is called the hated wife. So in that proverb, Prov. xiv. 20, 'The poor is even hated of his own neighbour; but the rich hath many friends.' There, hatred is taken for slighting, or a lesser degree of love. So in this case between us and God: Mat. x. 37, 'He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.' But in Luke xiv. 26, it is, 'If any man hate not father and mother, and brothers and sisters; yea, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple.' There, the lower and lesser love is called hatred. For Christ's religion teacheth us, not to be unnatural; but in comparison of Christ, we should hate them, trample upon the comforts and (benefits which result from such relations, if they be snares to us: so Mat vi. 24, 'No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' God is of that excellent nature, that to esteem any thing above him, or equal with him, is to hate him.
Now, because men love the world, and the things of the world over much, yea, more than God, they hate him - are enemies to him. All carnal men are guilty of this, as they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. This over-love of sensual satisfactions, or terrene and earthly things, is the highest contempt and affront that can be put upon God, in comparison of our love to him. All the pleasures and contentments of the world should be hated rather than loved. So far as our hearts are set upon those things, which the flesh savoureth and delighteth in, so far are they estranged from God; and then you will neglect him, or easily part with him for the world's sake. If a father should come to his child, and say, 'If you love such vain and enticing company, I shall take you for mine enemy, you must either hate me or them,' would not an ingenuous child refrain his haunts, rather than forfeit his father's love? This is the case between us and God: 'Love not the world,' saith he, 'nor the things of the world; if you love the world, you do not love me.' Therefore for us only to savour and relish these things is flat enmity to God.
(3 ) We are said to hate God, and be enemies to him, if we rebel against him and disobey his laws. God's love to us is a love of bounty, and our love to him is a love of duty, shown rather by obedience than a fellow-like familiarity. Here in the text, our respects to God are interpreted and judged of by our respects to his law. By this, God measureth our love and hatred to himself. It is enmity to God, 'because it is not subject to the law of God.' So, elsewhere, love is determined by obedience: 1 John v. 3, 'For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments;' and John xiv. 21, 'He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.' On the other side, hatred is expressed by disobedience: Deut. v. 9, 'On them that hate me, and keep not my commandments.' All sin is a hatred of God; actual sin is odium Dei actuale, and habitual sin is odium Dei habituale. It is finis operis, if not operantis. We think not so, but the Scripture judgeth so; and it appears from reason. We apprehend God standeth in the way of our desires; and because we cannot enjoy our lusts with that freedom and security, as we might otherwise were it not for his law, therefore we hate God. He commandeth that which we cannot, and will not do, being enticed and inveigled by the flesh.
3. There is a twofold hatred: odium abominationis and odium inimicitia - the hatred of abomination, and dislike, and the hatred of enmity. The one is opposite to the love of good will, the other to the love of complacency: Prov. xxix. 27, 'The wicked are an abomination to the righteous.' Surely a righteous man hateth not his neighbour with the hatred of enmity, to seek his destruction; but with the hatred of offence, so as not to delight in him while he is wicked, in opposition to the love of complacency. We may hate our sinful neighbour, as we must first hate ourselves, and loathe ourselves, because of our sins: but in opposition to the love of benevolence we must neither hate our neighbour, nor our enemy, nor ourselves.
[1.] Apply this distinction to the case between God and us, it will be hard to excuse any carnal man from either hatred; certainly not from the hatred of offence or abomination, there being such an unsuitableness and dissimilitude between God and them in pure nature. We were created after his image, and then we delighted in him; but when we lost our first nature, we left our first love; for love is grounded upon likeness, or willing and nilling the same things. But, alas! now we love what he hateth, and hate what he loveth; and therefore, because of this dissimilitude, there is a hatred. How can we delight in a holy God, and a God of pure eyes delight in such sensual polluted creatures? What can carnal men see lovely in God, or God in them? See Zech. xi. 8, 'My soul loatheth them, and their soul abhorreth me.' Therefore from this hatred of loathing, offence, and abomination, none can excuse themselves; till they come to hate what God hateth, and to love what God loveth, there is, and will be, the hatred of offence: Prov. viii. 13, 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.'
[2.] For the other branch. The hatred of enmity, is that which implieth all endeavours of mischief, and seeketh the destruction of the thing hated. We cannot excuse the carnal man from this either; for there is a secret positive enmity in them against the being of God; and this is the effect of slavish fear. We hate God under a double notion, as a lawgiver, thwarting our lusts by his precepts; and as an avenger, punishing our disorders. This latter we are upon. Slavish fear apprehendeth God as an avenger of sin, or as a condemning God. Men hate those whom they fear. The Roman historian observeth it: proprium est humani ingenii odisse quos laeserit. Why? Because we fear their revenge. We have wronged God exceedingly, and know that he will call us to an account; and, therefore, being sensible of the righteousness of his vindictive justice, we hate him. All that are afraid of God, with such a fear as hath torment in it, aut extinctum Deum cupiunt aut exanimatum, it is a pleasing thought to them if there were no God: Ps. xiv. 1, 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.' As the devils tremble at their own thoughts of God so do wicked men. It were welcome news to them to hear there were no God.
4. God's enemies carry on a double war against him, offensive and defensive. The offensive war is when men break his laws; employ all their faculties, mercies, comforts, as weapons of unrighteousness against God: Rom. vi. 13, 'Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, hoopla adikias; but yield yourselves to God. Our faculties, talents, and interests are employed either as armour of light for God, or as weapons of unrighteousness against God. The defensive war is when we slight his word, despise his grace, resist the motions of his Spirit: Acts vii. 51, 'Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.' When God bringeth his spiritual artillery to batter down all that which lifteth up itself against the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. When he besiegeth our hearts, and battereth them daily by the rebukes and motions of his Spirit, yet men will not yield the fortress, but stand it out to the last; take delight to go on in the obedience of their natural corruptions; will not have Christ to reign over them; and so they increase their enmity, and double their misery, by a resistance of grace, and are rebels, not only against the law, but the gospel, stand out against their own mercies. They are enemies to an earthly prince, that not only infest his country with continual inroads and incursions, but those also that keep his towns and strongholds against him. And in this sense an impenitent person, and an enemy to God, are equivalent expressions in scripture. Though you do not break out into open acts of hostility against God, yet if you will not come out of your bondage, and come out of the misery and folly of your carnal estate, you are enemies to him.
5. That herein the enemies of our salvation agree, that they all make us rebels to God. The devil, world and flesh, are equal in this. The devil's servants and subjects are opposite to Christ's kingdom: Eph. vi. 12, 'Rulers of the darkness of this world;' and Col. i 13, 'Who hath translated us out of the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of his dear Son.' While we remain in the one kingdom we are enemies to the other: Luke xix. 27, 'But for those, mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither, and slay them before me.' The world: James iv. 4, 'Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend to the world, is an enemy to God.' They whose hearts are set upon the pleasures, profits, and honours of the world, they are withdrawn from God, as their proper Lord, and chief happiness, and will neither be ruled by his will, nor seek his love and favour. First, They will not be ruled by His will; for God and the world command contrary things. The world saith, slack no opportunity of gain; to stand nicely upon conscience is to draw trouble upon ourselves; that to give is wasteful profuseness; and to forgive, folly and weakness. God, on the contrary, biddeth us deny ourselves - take up our cross; telleth us, that giving is receiving, and the glory of a man is to pass by an offence, or to forgive the wrongs done to him. So the flesh: as the world tempts us to rebellion against God, so the flesh swalloweth the temptation; it carrieth us to do what we list, and disposeth us to a flat rebellion against God, and a contempt of his authority: 2 Sam. xii. 9, 'Wherefore hast thou sinned, and despised the commandments of God?' The flesh will have it so: Ps. ii. 3, 'Let us break his bands, and cast away his cords from us.' Affectation of carnal liberty is the very effect of sense-pleasing and flesh-pleasing; so that the carnal mind implieth a downright opposition to the law of God: all our ways are enmity to it, and a direct repugnancy against it. Secondly, Nor do we seek his love and favour as our happiness. The world propoundeth objects that are pleasant to our senses, necessary in part for our uses, in subordination to other things; and so enticeth us from God. But it could not entice us, were it not for the flesh, which greedily swalloweth the bait: 2 Tim. iv. 10, 'Demas hath forsaken us, and embraced the present world;' and 2 Tim. iii. 4, 'Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;' and John v. 44, 'How can you believe that receive honour one of another?' And so we are detained from God by the creature, which should be a step and stair that should lead us up to him. The world is full of allurements to the flesh; and those mercies which would raise the mind to God are made the fuel of sensuality, and the greatest means to keep it from him. None neglect him so much as those that have most of the world: Jer. ii. 31, 'O generation! see ye the word of the Lord; have I been a wilderness to Israel - a land of darkness? wherefore say my people we are lords, we will come no more at thee?' So Mark x. 24, 'How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God:' they are most apt to live an ungodly sensual life, as having less occasion than others to drive them to God.
6. This enmity arising from the flesh, is the more strengthened and increased the more it gaineth the mind and corrupts the mind; for two reasons: [1.] Then the leading part of the soul, which should guide and command the rest, is corrupted also. There is in the upper part of the soul a directive and imperial power to fit him to obey God. Now it is blinded as to the directive power, and weakened as to its imperial and commanding power; all must needs fall into disorder, and man will live a rebel to the law of his creation, and so be an enemy to God.
(1.) As to the leading and directing part of the soul, that is the understanding, there is a great blindness come upon us by the lust of the flesh, so that we have neither a due sense of our happiness, nor our duty. Not of our happiness, for till the eyes of our minds are opened by the Spirit, we have no real persuasion of the world to come: Eph. i 18, 'The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints in light:' and 2 Pet. i. 9, 'He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off.' Nor of our duty; for though some moralities be evident to corrupt nature: Rom. ii. 14, yet for a full resignation, obedience, and love to God, nature owneth little of it, and depraved reason is blind, or sleepy, so that we may have no clear, deep sense of our duty impressed upon our hearts, so as that conscience (which is applicative reason]) should warn us of sin, or mind us of our duty upon all necessary occasions.
(2.) The commanding power is weakened. For our senses are so masterly, inordinate, and eagerly set upon the objects, that we yield ourselves to the conduct of them, how unreasonable soever the acts are: Tit iii. 3, 'For we ourselves were sometimes foolish and disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.' We give way to that which is evil, and oppose that which is good, even against the urgings of conscience: 'The law of our members warreth against the law of our minds:' Rom. vi. 22; and it is a trouble to the flesh to be restrained from what it desireth, as an headstrong horse is loath to be curbed.
[2.] Because, as the leading part of the soul cannot hinder sin, so it doth promote it. And the more wit and wisdom we have, if it be carnal, the more is our enmity against God, as appeareth by those men in a carnal estate who have most of natural acquisitions; the devil's cause is varnished by them, and they prostitute all their sufficiencies to the interest of the flesh, and to cast off the government of God. How many wit themselves into hell? But it is common to all, as appeareth by the two principal effects of the carnal minding, arguing and contriving, by these two the malignity of the flesh doth most betray itself.
(1.) By the arguings of the flesh. What carnal reasons have men for every sin, and against every duty? Which showeth the corruption of nature hath not only taken hold of the appetite and senses, but hath over-spread the mind and reason. Let any temptation come to inordinate pleasure, they will palliate it and honest it with some excuse, that the bait is soon swallowed; or to unlawful gain, by it they pretend they shall be enabled to do good to the church of God; if to honour and applause, they will say religion shall have the advantage of it; so if the temptation be against duty, they will say that they will recompense it another time.
(2.) By contriving: Rom. xiii. 14, and 'make no more provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.' Wherein do men usually spend their time, but in studying to please the flesh, or to fulfil their fleshly desires? All their wit is wholly employed to this end.
Use 1 is Caution, not to stroke the carnal minding with a gentle censure, as if it were no great matter; it is enmity to God; and if you indulge it, you live in a state of rebellion against him. It is an evil; first, as a wrong done to God, whose we are, and whom we should serve; because it is an usurping of the government of ourselves against God's right, as if we were at our own disposal, as if we might do with ourselves and faculties as we list, without giving an account to an higher Lord. Now to rob God of his authority over his creature, is no small evil: Ps. xii. 4, 'Who have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us?' To challenge anything as our own, is to affect to be as God. Secondly, It is a wrong to ourselves, for so we set up our senses and appetite above our reason, and make the beast ride the man; for the lower faculties rule, when the mind is debauched to serve the flesh, and to cater for it, and contrive about it, when it should govern our senses in order to our true happiness and felicity: Jude 10, 'In what they know naturally, in those things as brute beasts, they corrupt themselves;' that is, against the light of nature they engulph themselves in all manner of sensuality. Thirdly, It is a contempt of that glorious happiness which God hath provided for us, Heb. iii. 2. When soul, and heaven, and God, and all things are despised for our carnal ends, how can we look upon it as a light sin? Is it nothing to cast off God and Christ, and despise our own souls, and all the happiness of the world to come, which God hath encouraged us to expect, as if a little worldly transitory pleasure of sin were much better. Fourthly, It is the worse because it is natural. Your very natures being destitute of original righteousness, incline you to please the flesh before God; so that this opposition against God being natural, it is first, the more lasting, for natural antipathies are not easily broken and cured, as that between the wolf and the lamb, the raven and the dove; and the spirit that dwelleth in us, lusteth to envy: Jam. iv. 5: and, Gen. vi. 5, 'Every imagination of the thought of his heart is only evil continually.' We find it early, we find it to be constant; after grace received, the understanding is not so clear and watchful as it should be, but a dark, imperfect guide to us, our will not so powerful as it ought to be; the wisdom of the flesh is kneaded into our natures that we cannot get rid of it, and there is too great a rebellion in the appetite and senses, and in the best a great averseness to their duty; our reason still too often stoopeth to our sensuality. Fifthly, Accidental evil is matter of compassion; but natural, of indignation; we pity a dog poisoned, but hate a toad that is poisonous. If it were only a slip of our natures, or a frailty, it were another thing; but it is the rooted disposition of our hearts. We can better dispense with a fit of anger, than with cankered malice; a blow and away may be forgiven, but an abiding enmity provoketh us to take revenge. Thus it is necessary to know the evil, that we may seek after and admire the cure.
Use 2 is to press us to come out of this estate of carnality: will you live in enmity against God?
1. Can you make good your part against him? 1 Cor. x. 22, 'Will you provoke the Lord to jealousy? are you stronger than he?' Secondly, He hath potestatem vitae et necis: Jam. iv. 12, 'There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.' Thirdly, God is an enemy to those that are enemies to him: Ps. v. 5, 'He hateth all workers of iniquity;' and Ps. vii. 11,12, 'He is angry with the wicked every day: if he turn not, he will whet his sword, he will bend his bow, and will make it ready.' God's justice, if it doth for a while spare the wicked, yet it doth not lie idle; he can deal with us, comminus and eminus - at a distance, and near at hand. He is whetting his sword, and bending his bow; if he fall upon us, what shall we do? If a spark of his wrath light upon the conscience, how soon is man made a burden to himself? Ps. ii. 12, much more when he stirreth up all his wrath against us. What shall we do? First, Accept of the conditions of peace God hath provided: 2 Cor. v. 19, 20, 'to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.' We read of princes that, Luke xiv. 31, while their enemy is yet a great way off, they send an embassy, and desire conditions of peace. God sendeth the embassy to us, let us accept of the offer; we are no match for God. Secondly, Get corrupt nature healed, and the heart renewed by the Spirit: for there is no peace as long as the old heart remaineth. When renewed, we are reconciled; we receive the atonement, if God sanctifieth; he is a God of peace. Be once after the spirit, and then you will be spiritually minded; and to one that is spiritually minded, there is life and peace.
Secondly. The next thing is our impotency to recover ourselves out of this estate; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Hence observe:
Doct. That while we remain carnally minded, there is no breaking off this enmity between God and us. The reasons of this repugnancy, or why the carnal mind standeth in such direct opposition to the law, are -
1. 'The law is spiritual, and we are carnal, sold under sin,' Rom. vii. 14. Men in an habitual state of carnality, cannot obey a spiritual law.
2. The law is pure and holy: Ps. cxix. 140, 'Thy law is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.' But it is otherwise with fleshly creatures, impuritas est mixtura vilioris.
3. The law is directly contrary to the fleshly mind, and therefore the fleshly mind is directly contrary to it. The law of God forbiddeth many things that are pleasing to carnal nature, as all excess of bodily pleasures, inordinate seeking after the profits and honours of the world; commandeth many things tedious to flesh and blood, as the loving God with all our hearts, serving him with all our might and strength, loving enemies, doing good to all, seeking others' welfare as our own. Secondly, Besides its repugnancy, there is an utter incapacity. But may it not be brought to obedience by the law demanding its right and due in the name of God? (1.) Not by a bare prohibition, for that exasperateth the evil: Rom. vii. 5, 'For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in my members to bring forth fruit unto death.' (2.) Not by persuasions or instructions; for spiritual arguments work little with a carnal heart; persuasion alone prevaileth not against inclination: 1 Cor. ii 14, 'For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.'(3.) Nor will resolutions, vows, and covenants, make us subject, for these are but the dictates of conscience, till the will be renewed. It is our judgment we should, but the bent of our hearts lieth as a weight against it: Rom. ii. 18, 'Thou approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law.'
Use 3 is information. Since the unregenerate are altogether flesh, and the regenerate in part flesh, the one can do nothing good, the other nothing perfect.
1. It giveth us a true account of man's natural incapacity to what is good. First, there is a natural propensity or inclination to the body before the soul, and earth before heaven, the creature before God: John iii 6, 'That which is born of flesh is flesh.'
2. This is increased in us by being accustomed to a sinful life: Jer. xiii. 13, 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.'
3. This custom is more confirmed and rooted by the general practice of all about us: Is. vi. 5, 'Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.'
4. It is not only practised, but countenanced generally in the world: 1 Pet iv. 4, 'Wherein they think it strange, that you run not with them into the same excess of riot.'
5. The encouragements of another course, lie wholly in a world to come: Mat v. 12, 'Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,'
6. The precepts to renounce this sensuality, are given by an invisible God; who, though he hath given sufficient demonstration of the truth of his being, is little cared for: Ps. x. 4, 'The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.'
Friday, July 23, 2010
Preaching Christ Crucified
[The Prince of Preachers lays forth his thesis powerfully because it is biblical. And in so doing he contrasts himself against popular men, then and now, who have prostituted themselves by departing from the narrow way which leads to life. Too many in our congregations today are fond in pronouncing a "good word" to nearly all forms of senseless babble from the feeble lips of men who take to a stage, many without a Bible in hand. These messengers are misguided at best and utterly diluted at worst. In our day many congregations put forth before their congregations "speakers", not preachers, men who deliver a "talk", not a sermon, whose highest aim is to appease the "felt needs" of sinners so as not to offend them by the truth, men who do not exhaust themselves on behalf of their hearers by exercising the discipline to rightly divide the Word of Truth, men who delight in exchanging the truth of genuine biblical translations and exposition for deplorable paraphrases and entertainment, often scarcely mentioning a single biblical text over the course of their pithy twenty minute talk for fear of insulting their hearers, and thereby delivering nothing of spiritual substance pertaining to the issues of the Person and Work of Christ and the terrifying state of the sinners soul. There is only one Gospel that saves, and that which saves is ordained by God to save completely. The Prince of Preacher's text which follows would greatly edify the mind and soul of every would-be preacher enrolled in seminary. While the nations become increasingly pagan and pulpits lay barren for want of a clear Word from the Lord, the words of Spurgeon burns like a hot iron. Let the man called of God to preach the Gospel invest himself in proclaiming "Christ and Him crucified." For therein the power of God unto salvation is proclaimed and released, and there is not now, nor shall there ever be, a substitute--J.A. Matteson]
by C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
“We preach Christ crucified.” — 1 Corinthians 1:23
In the verse preceding our text, Paul writes, “Jews demand miraculous signs.” They said, “Moses performed miracles; let us see miracles performed, and then we will believe,” forgetting that all the miracles that Moses did were completely eclipsed by those which Jesus did while he was on the earth as the God-man. Then there were certain Judaizing teachers who, in order to win the Jews, preached circumcision, exalted the Passover, and endeavored to prove that Judaism might still exist side by side with Christianity, and that the old rites might still be practiced by the followers of Christ. So Paul, who was “all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save some,” put his foot down, and said, in effect, “Whatever others may do, we preach Christ crucified; we dare not, we cannot, and we will not alter the great subject matter of our preaching, Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Then he added, “and Greeks look for wisdom.” Corinth was the very eye of Greece, and the Corinthian Greeks sought after what they regarded as wisdom; that is to say, the wisdom of this world, not the wisdom of God, which Paul preached. The Greeks also treasured the memory of the eloquence of Demosthenes and other famous public speakers, and they seemed to: think that true wisdom must be proclaimed with the graces of skillful elocution; but Paul writes to these Corinthian Greeks, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith would not be based in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Now, today, there are some who would be glad, if we would preach anything except Christ crucified. Perhaps the most dangerous among them are those who are continually crying out for intellectual preaching, by which they mean preaching which neither the heavens nor the preachers themselves can comprehend, the kind of preaching which has little or nothing to do with the scriptures, and which requires a dictionary rather than a Bible to explain it. These are the people who are continually running around, and asking, “Have you heard our minister? He gave us a wonderful sermon last Sunday morning; he quoted Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin, and he gave us some charming pieces of poetry, in fact, it was overall an intellectual treat.” Yes, and I have usually found that such intellectual treats lead to the ruination of souls; that is not the kind of preaching that God generally blesses to the salvation of souls, and therefore, even though others may preach the philosophy of Plato or adopt the arguments of Aristotle, we preach Christ crucified,” the Christ who died for sinners, the people’s Christ, and “we preach Christ crucified” in simple language, in plain speech such which the common people can understand.
I am going to try to put our text into practice by telling you, first, what we preach; secondly, to whom we preach it; and, thirdly, how we are to preach it.
I. First of all, WHAT WE PREACH. Paul is the model for all preachers, and he says, “We preach Christ crucified.”
In order to preach the gospel fully, there must be a very clear description of the person of Christ, and we preach Christ as God.
Yes, we preach Christ as God — not a man made into God, nor God degraded to the level of a man, nor something in between a man and God; but “the Absolute God of Heaven and Earth—The Triune God Himself,” one with his Father in every attribute, eternal, without beginning of days or end of life; omnipresent, everywhere at once; omnipotent, having all power in heaven and on earth; omniscient, knowing all things from eternity; the great Creator, Preserver, and Judge of all, in all things the equal and the exact image of the invisible God. If we error concerning the Deity of Christ, then we error everywhere. The gospel that does not preach a Divine Savior is no gospel at all; it is like a ship without a rudder, the first opposing wind that blows will drive it to destruction, and woe are the souls that are trusting to it! Only the shoulders of the almighty God can ever carry the enormous weight of human guilt and human need. We preach to you Christ the Son of Mary, once sleeping in his mother’s arms, yet the Infinite even while he was an infant; Christ the reputed Son of Joseph, working in the carpenter’s shop, yet all the while being the God who made the heavens and the earth; Christ, who had no place to lay his head, the despised and rejected of men, who is, nevertheless the Eternal God of the Universe; Christ nailed to the cross, bleeding from every pore, and dying on the cross, yet, living forever; Christ, suffering indescribable agonies, yet at the same time being the God at whose right hand there are eternal pleasures. If Christ had not been man, he could not have sympathized with you and me, nor could he have suffered in our place. How could he have been the covenant Head of the sons and daughters of Adam if he had not been made like them in every way, except that he was without sin? With that one exception, he was just, as we are, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, yet he was as truly God as he was man, the One of whom, Isaiah was inspired to prophesy, “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” So, in preaching Christ crucified, we preach the glory of heaven combined with the beauty of earth, the perfection of humanity united with the glory and dignity of Deity.
Then, next, we must very clearly preach Christ as the Messiah, the One sent from God.
It had long been foretold that a great Deliverer would come who would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles,” and to be the glory of his people Israel, and Jesus of Nazareth was that promised Deliverer, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote about. He was sent from God to be the Savior of sinners. He did not take this responsibility on himself without authority, but he could truly say, “Here I am, I have come - it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God.” He became the Substitute for sinners, but this did not happen accidentally, but by divine decree, for we read, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” An unordained priest, a prophet not sent from God, a king without divine authority would have only been a mockery; but our great High Priest was divinely anointed, our matchless Prophet was sent from God, and our king is King of kings and Lord of lords, rightly ruling as the eternal Son of the eternal Father.
Sinner, this truth should bring you hope and comfort, the Christ whom we preach is God’s Anointed; and what he does, he does by God’s appointment. When he says to you, “"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” he speaks for his Father as well as for himself, for he has the authorization of the Eternal to support his declaration. Therefore, come confidently to him, and put your trust in him.
After the preacher has laid a firm foundation by preaching the person of Christ and the Messiahship of Christ, he must then preach the work of Christ.
I can only give a brief summary of what would take all eternity to expound. We must preach to show how, in the everlasting covenant, Christ stood as the Security and Representative of his people; and how, in the fullness of time, he came down from his heavenly throne dressed in flesh; and how he first produced an active righteousness by the perfect obedience of his daily life, and in the end provided a passive righteousness by his sufferings and death on the cross. Beginning at the incarnation, going on to the great work of redemption telling of Christ’s burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession before his Father’s throne, and glorious second coming, we have a theme that angels might well covet, a theme that may arouse hope in the sinner’s heart. But it is especially Christ crucified whom we are to preach. His wounds and bruises remind us that we must tell you that “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” It is at Calvary that salvation is to be found; where Jesus bowed his head, and gave up his spirit, he overcame the powers of darkness, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
There is one word that every true servant of Christ must be able to speak very distinctly; and that word is substitution. I believe that substitution is the keyword to all true theology; — Christ standing in the place of sinners, and numbered with the transgressors because of their transgressions, not his own — Christ paying our debts, and discharging all our liabilities. This truth involves, of course, our taking Christ’s place as he took ours, so that all believers are beloved, accepted, made heirs of God, and in due time will be glorified with Christ forever.
My fellow ministers, whatever you fail to preach, be sure to make your listeners always clearly understand that there is a divine and all-sufficient Substitute for sinners, and that everyone who puts their trust in him will be eternally saved.
When we preach Christ, we must also preach his offices. We must preach him as the one great High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us. We must preach him as the Prophet whose words are divine, and therefore comes to us with an authority that, cannot be set aside.
And we must remember that we must always preach him as King, putting the crown of praise on his royal head, and claiming from his people the unfaltering allegiance and loyalty of their hearts, and the undivided service of their lives.
We must also preach the qualifications of Christ for his offices.
Is he a Husband? We must tell how loving and how tender he is. Is he a Shepherd? We must proclaim his patience, his power, his perseverance, and we must especially tell of his self-sacrificing love in laying down his life for his sheep. Is he a Savior? We must show how he is able to save completely those who come to God through him. We must talk a great deal about the gentleness that will not break the bruised reed, nor snuff out the smoldering wick. We must delight to speak of Christ as bending over the broken in heart, and wrapping up their wounds, and having his ear always ready to hear the cry of a contrite spirit. It is the character of Christ that is the magnet that attracts sinners to himself, and on this blessed theme one might go on speaking forever. When Rutherford was talking off the beauties of the Christ whom he loved so dearly, one of his listeners was forced to cry out, “Now, sir, you are on the right string, keep to that,” and, indeed, this is a theme that might stir the person with a speech defect to speak with power, and make those who are mute to be eloquent for Christ. Oh, how glorious is our blessed Lord! We must say, “Yes, he is altogether lovely.” We cannot exaggerate his excellence and charms, and it must be our constant aim to paint such a portrait of him that sinners may fall in love with him, and trust him to save them with his great salvation.
We must be careful that we always preach Christ as the sinner’s only hope.
In the olden days, there were certain fools who sought after a universal remedy for all diseases, but their search was in vain. All the advertisements of quack medicines that ever deceived silly people will never convince sensible persons that a universal remedy for all the diseases to which flesh is subject to has never been nor ever will be discovered. Yet there is a remedy for the diseases of the soul, and that remedy is Christ. Whatever your disease may be — the raging fever of lust, the shivering fever of doubts and fears, or the cruel infection of despair — Jesus Christ can heal you. Whatever form sin may take — whether it is the blind eye, or the deaf ear, or the hard, stony heart, or the dull, seared conscience — there is a medicine in the veins of Jesus that we may well call the divine cure-all. No case that was ever submitted to Christ has baffled his skill, and he is still “mighty to save.” We must be very clear in telling the sinner that there is no hope for him anywhere else but in Christ. Nine out of ten of the arrows in a minister’s quiver ought to be shot at the sinner’s good works, for these are his worst enemies. That “deadly doing” that needs to be cast “down at Jesus’ feet,” — that trying to be or to feel something in order that they may save themselves — this is the curse of many. O sinner, if, from the crown, of your head to the soles of your feet, there is no sound part in you, but you are full of wounds; and bruises, and putrefying sores, yet, if you will only believe in Jesus, he will make you completely whole, and you will go on your way as a sinner saved by grace.
We must also preach Christ as the Christian’s only joy.
We wanted Christ as a life preserver when we were sinking in the waves of sin, but we want him to be our food and our drink now that he has brought us safely to land. When we were sick because of sin, we wanted Christ as medicine; but now that he has restored our soul, we want him as our continual nourishment. There is no need that a Christian ever has which Christ cannot fully supply, and there is nothing in Christ, which is not completely useful to a Christian. You know that some things that we have are good, but they are not completely of service to us. For instance, fruit is good, but there is the skin to be peeled off, and the seed to be thrown away; but when Christ gives himself to us, we may take all of him, and enjoy him to our heart’s content. Everything Christ is, and everything Christ has, is ours. Therefore, Christian, make a covenant with your hand that you will hold on to Christ’s cross as your only confidence, make a covenant with your eyes that you will look nowhere for light but to the Sun of righteousness; make a covenant with your whole being that it will be crucified with Christ, and then be taken up to heaven to live and reign with him forever.
II. Now, secondly, TO WHOM ARE WE TO PREACH THIS?
Possibly, one brother says, “You ought to preach Christ to the elect.” But how are we to know which ones are the elect? I read a sermon, some time ago, in which the minister said, “I have been preaching to the living in Zion; the rest of you are dead, and I have nothing to say to you. The elect has been given eternal life, and the rest of you are blinded.” Preachers of that sort have life to preach to the living, and medicine to prescribe for those who are healthy, but what is the good of that? Imagine Peter standing up with the eleven on the day of Pentecost, and saying to the crowd gathered around them, “I don’t know how many of you who are here are elect but I have to say to you that the election have received eternal life, and the rest are blinded.” How many would have been converted and added to the church through such a message as that? Now Peter was at that time filled with the Spirit, and it was by divine inspiration that he preached Christ crucified; to everyone of that mixed multitude, and then, when they were cut to the heart, and cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?” he was equally inspired when he answered, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
I intend to do as Peter did, for I regard Christ’s commission to his disciples as binding upon us today: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” I cannot tell whether every creature in all creation to whom I preach is elect or not, but it is my business to preach the gospel to everyone I can reach, resting assured that all of them whom God has chosen to eternal life will certainly accept it. When a certain minister asked the Duke of Wellington, “Do you think it is of any use preaching the gospel to the Hindus?” he simply replied, “What are your marching orders?” As a soldier, the duke believed in obeying orders; and when the minister answered that, the orders were to, “Preach the good news to all creation,” the duke said, “Then your duty is quite clear; obey your Master’s orders, and don’t trouble yourself about anybody else’s opinions.”
The main business of a true minister is to preach the gospel to sinners and he is never so happy as when he is preaching to those who know themselves to be sinners.
When he is preaching to those who are self-righteous; he is in great trouble about the effect of his message, for he fears that it may prove to be the smell of death to them; but when he meets with those who sorrowfully confess that they are guilty, lost, and wretched, then he rejoices in hope of blessed results from his preaching. He feels that he is now among fish that will soon take the bait, so he drops his line into the river, and soon has the joy of bringing many to land. He knows that bread is always sweetest to hungry men, and that even bitter medicine will be eagerly swallowed by the main who its very ill and who longs to be cured. He understands that it is the naked that want to be clothed, and the penniless that clamor for charity. O sinners, if you realize that you are wicked and vile, full of all kinds of evil, with nothing of your own that is worthy to be called good, and if you are longing to be delivered from every kind of evil, and to be made holy as God is holy, I am glad that my Master has given me in his Word such a message as this for you, “If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness.”
Still, a true minister of Christ will not confine his preaching to sinners who are aware of their guilt, but he will preach the gospel to sinners of all ages.
To the young, whose lives have not yet been defiled by the vices of age, he preaches Christ crucified as the children’s Savior, and he is indeed glad when the boys and the girls trust in Jesus, and are saved. To you who have reached middle age, he preaches Christ crucified as the ointment for every wound, the comfort for every care, and he is thankful when you also are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. To the aged and the elderly, to the feeble, to those on the very verge of the grave, he still preaches Christ crucified, if he could find a sinner who had reached the age of Methuselah, he would have the same gospel to preach to him for he knows that there is no Savior but the crucified Christ of Calvary, and he also knows that, old or young, or in-between, all who trust Christ are immediately saved, and saved forever.
And just as he preaches Christ to sinners of every age, he also preaches Christ to sinners of every rank.
He has nothing better than Christ to preach to kings, queens, princes, presidents, and other nobles and he has nothing less than Christ to preach to peasants, laborers, or paupers; Christ crucified for the highly educated, and Christ crucified equally for the ignorant and illiterate.
He also preaches Christ to every kind of sinner, even to the atheist, the man who says there is no God, and he calls him to believe and live.
He preaches Christ to the openly profane; when they pause for a while in their swearing, he tells them of that great promise which God has declared, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” We preach Christ to the prostitutes on the street, and oh, how joyfully have many of them received Christ and how gladly have they found cleansing from their foul stains in Jesus’ precious blood! We preach, Christ to the drunkard, for we believe that nothing but the grace of God can rescue him from his degradation and sin, and we have seen many such sinners saved and made new creations by the gospel. The preaching of Christ crucified, the lifting up of the dying Son of God “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,” has enough power to turn the whole world upside down, and to change innumerable sinners into saints, so we plan to keep on preaching Christ to every kind of sinner.
We do not intend to leave out one sinner, not even you, my friend, who think you are left out, or ought to be left out. We know that there is a book of life in heaven, and that no more names can be written in it; they were all recorded before the creation of the world when the Father gave to Christ those who are to be eternally his. We cannot fly up to heaven to read the names that are written there, but we believe the list contains millions upon millions of names of those who have not yet trusted in Christ, so we plan to keep on preaching Christ to sinners of every age, of every rank, of every kind, of every degree of wickedness and depravity, and we believe that there is “still is room in heaven,” for there is mercy for the wretched, there is forgiveness for the guilty who will come and trust in Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
III. Now, lastly, HOW ARE WE TO PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED?
I think, first, we ought to preach Christ very boldly.
I remember a young man going into a pulpit, to address a small congregation, and he began by saying that he hoped they would pardon his youth, and forgive his impertinence in coming to speak to them. Some foolish old gentleman said, “What a humble person that young man is to talk like that!” but another, who was wiser though he was younger, said, “What a dishonor to his Lord and Master! If God sent him with a message to those people, what does it matter whether he is young or old! Such artificial modesty as that is out of place in the pulpit.” I think that second man was right, and the first one wrong. A true minister of the gospel is an ambassador for Christ, and do our ambassadors go to foreign courts with apologies for carrying messages from their ruler? It would be a gross insult to the governments of these countries if they showed such humility as that in their official capacity. Let ministers of the gospel keep their modesty for other occasions when it should be manifested, but don’t let them dishonor their Master and discredit his message as that silly young man did. When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any reason to be ashamed. If a minister is not sure about his message, let him keep quiet until he is sure about it; but we believe, and therefore we speak with conviction. If I have not proved the power of the gospel in my own heart and life, then I am a vile impostor to be standing in this pulpit to preach that gospel to others, but since I know most assuredly that I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and since I feel certain that I have been divinely called to preach his gospel — Will I, then, because of the fear of feeble man restrain the Spirit’s course? Or undaunted in my life and word be a true witness for my Lord?
But while we preach Christ boldly, we must also preach him with love.
There must be great love in our proclamation of the truth. We must not hesitate to point out to sinners the state of ruin to which sin has brought them, and we must clearly set before them the divinely-appointed remedy; but we must mingle a mother’s tenderness with a father’s sternness. Paul was like both, mother and father in a spiritual sense, in his ministry. He wrote to the Galatians, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you;” and to the Corinthians he wrote, “In Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel,” and every true minister of Christ can sympathize with him in both those experiences.
Yes, sinners, we do indeed love you; often, our heart is almost broken with the longing we have to see you saved. We wish we could preach to you with Baxter’s tearful eye; no, rather, with the Savior’s melting heart and all-consuming zeal.
Then, next, we must preach Christ only.
With Paul, every true minister must be able to say to his listeners, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” The preacher must never mix up anything else with the gospel. Every time he preaches, he must still have the same old theme, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Christ is the Alpha of the gospel, and he is the Omega too; the first letter of the gospel alphabet, and the last letter, and all the letters in between. It must be Christ, Christ, CHRIST from beginning to end. There must be no “doing works” or anything else, mixed up with Christ. There must be no shoddy materials used as we build on Christ, the one foundation that, is laid once for all.
The preacher must also be sure that he preaches Christ very simply.
He must break up his big words and long sentences, and pray against the temptation to use them. It is usually the short, dagger-like sentence that does the work best. A true servant of Christ must never try to let the people see how well he can preach; he must never go out of his way to drag a pretty piece of poetry in his sermon, nor to introduce some fine quotations from the classics. He must employ a simple, homely style, or such a style as God has given him and he must preach Christ so plainly that his listeners cannot only understand him, but that they cannot misunderstand him even if they try to do so.
Now as the time has gone, I must close, by saying that we must try to preach Christ savingly.
O sinners, I pray that you would trust Christ this very moment! Do you realize how great your danger is? Unconverted soul, you are standing as it were, over the mouth of hell, on a single plank, and that plank is rotten! Man, woman, you may be in thy grave, before another Sunday dawns and then, if unsaved you will be in hell! Beware lest you are taken out of this earth without salvation in Christ, for, if that happens to you, then know that will be no ransom that can prevent your soul from going down to the pit. Oh sinner, see your need of Christ, and grab hold of him, by faith. No one but Christ can save you. Christ is the Way; you may go about all your days trying to find another entrance to heaven, but you will not find it for this is the only one. Why will you not come to God by Christ? Why are you so ungrateful as to despise the patient mercy of God? Won’t you let the goodness of God lead you to repent? Will Christ die for sinners, and yet will you, O sinner, turn away from him who alone can give you life? If you will only trust him, he will save you; your sins, which are many, will all be forgiven; you will be adopted into the family of God, and in due time you will find yourself in heaven and be there for all eternity. If you want to be happy, if you want to enjoy the peace that is beyond all understanding if you want to have two heavens — a heaven below and a heaven above — then trust in Jesus, trust in Jesus this very moment. Do not leave this building unsaved. One believing look will bring you salvation, for —
“There is life for a look at the Crucified One;
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner — look to Jesus, and be saved, —
To him who was nailed to the tree.”.
Look to Jesus, look to him now; may the Holy Spirit enable you to look and live, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.
by C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
“We preach Christ crucified.” — 1 Corinthians 1:23
In the verse preceding our text, Paul writes, “Jews demand miraculous signs.” They said, “Moses performed miracles; let us see miracles performed, and then we will believe,” forgetting that all the miracles that Moses did were completely eclipsed by those which Jesus did while he was on the earth as the God-man. Then there were certain Judaizing teachers who, in order to win the Jews, preached circumcision, exalted the Passover, and endeavored to prove that Judaism might still exist side by side with Christianity, and that the old rites might still be practiced by the followers of Christ. So Paul, who was “all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save some,” put his foot down, and said, in effect, “Whatever others may do, we preach Christ crucified; we dare not, we cannot, and we will not alter the great subject matter of our preaching, Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Then he added, “and Greeks look for wisdom.” Corinth was the very eye of Greece, and the Corinthian Greeks sought after what they regarded as wisdom; that is to say, the wisdom of this world, not the wisdom of God, which Paul preached. The Greeks also treasured the memory of the eloquence of Demosthenes and other famous public speakers, and they seemed to: think that true wisdom must be proclaimed with the graces of skillful elocution; but Paul writes to these Corinthian Greeks, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith would not be based in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Now, today, there are some who would be glad, if we would preach anything except Christ crucified. Perhaps the most dangerous among them are those who are continually crying out for intellectual preaching, by which they mean preaching which neither the heavens nor the preachers themselves can comprehend, the kind of preaching which has little or nothing to do with the scriptures, and which requires a dictionary rather than a Bible to explain it. These are the people who are continually running around, and asking, “Have you heard our minister? He gave us a wonderful sermon last Sunday morning; he quoted Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin, and he gave us some charming pieces of poetry, in fact, it was overall an intellectual treat.” Yes, and I have usually found that such intellectual treats lead to the ruination of souls; that is not the kind of preaching that God generally blesses to the salvation of souls, and therefore, even though others may preach the philosophy of Plato or adopt the arguments of Aristotle, we preach Christ crucified,” the Christ who died for sinners, the people’s Christ, and “we preach Christ crucified” in simple language, in plain speech such which the common people can understand.
I am going to try to put our text into practice by telling you, first, what we preach; secondly, to whom we preach it; and, thirdly, how we are to preach it.
I. First of all, WHAT WE PREACH. Paul is the model for all preachers, and he says, “We preach Christ crucified.”
In order to preach the gospel fully, there must be a very clear description of the person of Christ, and we preach Christ as God.
Yes, we preach Christ as God — not a man made into God, nor God degraded to the level of a man, nor something in between a man and God; but “the Absolute God of Heaven and Earth—The Triune God Himself,” one with his Father in every attribute, eternal, without beginning of days or end of life; omnipresent, everywhere at once; omnipotent, having all power in heaven and on earth; omniscient, knowing all things from eternity; the great Creator, Preserver, and Judge of all, in all things the equal and the exact image of the invisible God. If we error concerning the Deity of Christ, then we error everywhere. The gospel that does not preach a Divine Savior is no gospel at all; it is like a ship without a rudder, the first opposing wind that blows will drive it to destruction, and woe are the souls that are trusting to it! Only the shoulders of the almighty God can ever carry the enormous weight of human guilt and human need. We preach to you Christ the Son of Mary, once sleeping in his mother’s arms, yet the Infinite even while he was an infant; Christ the reputed Son of Joseph, working in the carpenter’s shop, yet all the while being the God who made the heavens and the earth; Christ, who had no place to lay his head, the despised and rejected of men, who is, nevertheless the Eternal God of the Universe; Christ nailed to the cross, bleeding from every pore, and dying on the cross, yet, living forever; Christ, suffering indescribable agonies, yet at the same time being the God at whose right hand there are eternal pleasures. If Christ had not been man, he could not have sympathized with you and me, nor could he have suffered in our place. How could he have been the covenant Head of the sons and daughters of Adam if he had not been made like them in every way, except that he was without sin? With that one exception, he was just, as we are, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, yet he was as truly God as he was man, the One of whom, Isaiah was inspired to prophesy, “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” So, in preaching Christ crucified, we preach the glory of heaven combined with the beauty of earth, the perfection of humanity united with the glory and dignity of Deity.
Then, next, we must very clearly preach Christ as the Messiah, the One sent from God.
It had long been foretold that a great Deliverer would come who would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles,” and to be the glory of his people Israel, and Jesus of Nazareth was that promised Deliverer, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote about. He was sent from God to be the Savior of sinners. He did not take this responsibility on himself without authority, but he could truly say, “Here I am, I have come - it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God.” He became the Substitute for sinners, but this did not happen accidentally, but by divine decree, for we read, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” An unordained priest, a prophet not sent from God, a king without divine authority would have only been a mockery; but our great High Priest was divinely anointed, our matchless Prophet was sent from God, and our king is King of kings and Lord of lords, rightly ruling as the eternal Son of the eternal Father.
Sinner, this truth should bring you hope and comfort, the Christ whom we preach is God’s Anointed; and what he does, he does by God’s appointment. When he says to you, “"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” he speaks for his Father as well as for himself, for he has the authorization of the Eternal to support his declaration. Therefore, come confidently to him, and put your trust in him.
After the preacher has laid a firm foundation by preaching the person of Christ and the Messiahship of Christ, he must then preach the work of Christ.
I can only give a brief summary of what would take all eternity to expound. We must preach to show how, in the everlasting covenant, Christ stood as the Security and Representative of his people; and how, in the fullness of time, he came down from his heavenly throne dressed in flesh; and how he first produced an active righteousness by the perfect obedience of his daily life, and in the end provided a passive righteousness by his sufferings and death on the cross. Beginning at the incarnation, going on to the great work of redemption telling of Christ’s burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession before his Father’s throne, and glorious second coming, we have a theme that angels might well covet, a theme that may arouse hope in the sinner’s heart. But it is especially Christ crucified whom we are to preach. His wounds and bruises remind us that we must tell you that “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” It is at Calvary that salvation is to be found; where Jesus bowed his head, and gave up his spirit, he overcame the powers of darkness, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
There is one word that every true servant of Christ must be able to speak very distinctly; and that word is substitution. I believe that substitution is the keyword to all true theology; — Christ standing in the place of sinners, and numbered with the transgressors because of their transgressions, not his own — Christ paying our debts, and discharging all our liabilities. This truth involves, of course, our taking Christ’s place as he took ours, so that all believers are beloved, accepted, made heirs of God, and in due time will be glorified with Christ forever.
My fellow ministers, whatever you fail to preach, be sure to make your listeners always clearly understand that there is a divine and all-sufficient Substitute for sinners, and that everyone who puts their trust in him will be eternally saved.
When we preach Christ, we must also preach his offices. We must preach him as the one great High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us. We must preach him as the Prophet whose words are divine, and therefore comes to us with an authority that, cannot be set aside.
And we must remember that we must always preach him as King, putting the crown of praise on his royal head, and claiming from his people the unfaltering allegiance and loyalty of their hearts, and the undivided service of their lives.
We must also preach the qualifications of Christ for his offices.
Is he a Husband? We must tell how loving and how tender he is. Is he a Shepherd? We must proclaim his patience, his power, his perseverance, and we must especially tell of his self-sacrificing love in laying down his life for his sheep. Is he a Savior? We must show how he is able to save completely those who come to God through him. We must talk a great deal about the gentleness that will not break the bruised reed, nor snuff out the smoldering wick. We must delight to speak of Christ as bending over the broken in heart, and wrapping up their wounds, and having his ear always ready to hear the cry of a contrite spirit. It is the character of Christ that is the magnet that attracts sinners to himself, and on this blessed theme one might go on speaking forever. When Rutherford was talking off the beauties of the Christ whom he loved so dearly, one of his listeners was forced to cry out, “Now, sir, you are on the right string, keep to that,” and, indeed, this is a theme that might stir the person with a speech defect to speak with power, and make those who are mute to be eloquent for Christ. Oh, how glorious is our blessed Lord! We must say, “Yes, he is altogether lovely.” We cannot exaggerate his excellence and charms, and it must be our constant aim to paint such a portrait of him that sinners may fall in love with him, and trust him to save them with his great salvation.
We must be careful that we always preach Christ as the sinner’s only hope.
In the olden days, there were certain fools who sought after a universal remedy for all diseases, but their search was in vain. All the advertisements of quack medicines that ever deceived silly people will never convince sensible persons that a universal remedy for all the diseases to which flesh is subject to has never been nor ever will be discovered. Yet there is a remedy for the diseases of the soul, and that remedy is Christ. Whatever your disease may be — the raging fever of lust, the shivering fever of doubts and fears, or the cruel infection of despair — Jesus Christ can heal you. Whatever form sin may take — whether it is the blind eye, or the deaf ear, or the hard, stony heart, or the dull, seared conscience — there is a medicine in the veins of Jesus that we may well call the divine cure-all. No case that was ever submitted to Christ has baffled his skill, and he is still “mighty to save.” We must be very clear in telling the sinner that there is no hope for him anywhere else but in Christ. Nine out of ten of the arrows in a minister’s quiver ought to be shot at the sinner’s good works, for these are his worst enemies. That “deadly doing” that needs to be cast “down at Jesus’ feet,” — that trying to be or to feel something in order that they may save themselves — this is the curse of many. O sinner, if, from the crown, of your head to the soles of your feet, there is no sound part in you, but you are full of wounds; and bruises, and putrefying sores, yet, if you will only believe in Jesus, he will make you completely whole, and you will go on your way as a sinner saved by grace.
We must also preach Christ as the Christian’s only joy.
We wanted Christ as a life preserver when we were sinking in the waves of sin, but we want him to be our food and our drink now that he has brought us safely to land. When we were sick because of sin, we wanted Christ as medicine; but now that he has restored our soul, we want him as our continual nourishment. There is no need that a Christian ever has which Christ cannot fully supply, and there is nothing in Christ, which is not completely useful to a Christian. You know that some things that we have are good, but they are not completely of service to us. For instance, fruit is good, but there is the skin to be peeled off, and the seed to be thrown away; but when Christ gives himself to us, we may take all of him, and enjoy him to our heart’s content. Everything Christ is, and everything Christ has, is ours. Therefore, Christian, make a covenant with your hand that you will hold on to Christ’s cross as your only confidence, make a covenant with your eyes that you will look nowhere for light but to the Sun of righteousness; make a covenant with your whole being that it will be crucified with Christ, and then be taken up to heaven to live and reign with him forever.
II. Now, secondly, TO WHOM ARE WE TO PREACH THIS?
Possibly, one brother says, “You ought to preach Christ to the elect.” But how are we to know which ones are the elect? I read a sermon, some time ago, in which the minister said, “I have been preaching to the living in Zion; the rest of you are dead, and I have nothing to say to you. The elect has been given eternal life, and the rest of you are blinded.” Preachers of that sort have life to preach to the living, and medicine to prescribe for those who are healthy, but what is the good of that? Imagine Peter standing up with the eleven on the day of Pentecost, and saying to the crowd gathered around them, “I don’t know how many of you who are here are elect but I have to say to you that the election have received eternal life, and the rest are blinded.” How many would have been converted and added to the church through such a message as that? Now Peter was at that time filled with the Spirit, and it was by divine inspiration that he preached Christ crucified; to everyone of that mixed multitude, and then, when they were cut to the heart, and cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?” he was equally inspired when he answered, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
I intend to do as Peter did, for I regard Christ’s commission to his disciples as binding upon us today: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” I cannot tell whether every creature in all creation to whom I preach is elect or not, but it is my business to preach the gospel to everyone I can reach, resting assured that all of them whom God has chosen to eternal life will certainly accept it. When a certain minister asked the Duke of Wellington, “Do you think it is of any use preaching the gospel to the Hindus?” he simply replied, “What are your marching orders?” As a soldier, the duke believed in obeying orders; and when the minister answered that, the orders were to, “Preach the good news to all creation,” the duke said, “Then your duty is quite clear; obey your Master’s orders, and don’t trouble yourself about anybody else’s opinions.”
The main business of a true minister is to preach the gospel to sinners and he is never so happy as when he is preaching to those who know themselves to be sinners.
When he is preaching to those who are self-righteous; he is in great trouble about the effect of his message, for he fears that it may prove to be the smell of death to them; but when he meets with those who sorrowfully confess that they are guilty, lost, and wretched, then he rejoices in hope of blessed results from his preaching. He feels that he is now among fish that will soon take the bait, so he drops his line into the river, and soon has the joy of bringing many to land. He knows that bread is always sweetest to hungry men, and that even bitter medicine will be eagerly swallowed by the main who its very ill and who longs to be cured. He understands that it is the naked that want to be clothed, and the penniless that clamor for charity. O sinners, if you realize that you are wicked and vile, full of all kinds of evil, with nothing of your own that is worthy to be called good, and if you are longing to be delivered from every kind of evil, and to be made holy as God is holy, I am glad that my Master has given me in his Word such a message as this for you, “If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness.”
Still, a true minister of Christ will not confine his preaching to sinners who are aware of their guilt, but he will preach the gospel to sinners of all ages.
To the young, whose lives have not yet been defiled by the vices of age, he preaches Christ crucified as the children’s Savior, and he is indeed glad when the boys and the girls trust in Jesus, and are saved. To you who have reached middle age, he preaches Christ crucified as the ointment for every wound, the comfort for every care, and he is thankful when you also are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. To the aged and the elderly, to the feeble, to those on the very verge of the grave, he still preaches Christ crucified, if he could find a sinner who had reached the age of Methuselah, he would have the same gospel to preach to him for he knows that there is no Savior but the crucified Christ of Calvary, and he also knows that, old or young, or in-between, all who trust Christ are immediately saved, and saved forever.
And just as he preaches Christ to sinners of every age, he also preaches Christ to sinners of every rank.
He has nothing better than Christ to preach to kings, queens, princes, presidents, and other nobles and he has nothing less than Christ to preach to peasants, laborers, or paupers; Christ crucified for the highly educated, and Christ crucified equally for the ignorant and illiterate.
He also preaches Christ to every kind of sinner, even to the atheist, the man who says there is no God, and he calls him to believe and live.
He preaches Christ to the openly profane; when they pause for a while in their swearing, he tells them of that great promise which God has declared, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” We preach Christ to the prostitutes on the street, and oh, how joyfully have many of them received Christ and how gladly have they found cleansing from their foul stains in Jesus’ precious blood! We preach, Christ to the drunkard, for we believe that nothing but the grace of God can rescue him from his degradation and sin, and we have seen many such sinners saved and made new creations by the gospel. The preaching of Christ crucified, the lifting up of the dying Son of God “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,” has enough power to turn the whole world upside down, and to change innumerable sinners into saints, so we plan to keep on preaching Christ to every kind of sinner.
We do not intend to leave out one sinner, not even you, my friend, who think you are left out, or ought to be left out. We know that there is a book of life in heaven, and that no more names can be written in it; they were all recorded before the creation of the world when the Father gave to Christ those who are to be eternally his. We cannot fly up to heaven to read the names that are written there, but we believe the list contains millions upon millions of names of those who have not yet trusted in Christ, so we plan to keep on preaching Christ to sinners of every age, of every rank, of every kind, of every degree of wickedness and depravity, and we believe that there is “still is room in heaven,” for there is mercy for the wretched, there is forgiveness for the guilty who will come and trust in Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
III. Now, lastly, HOW ARE WE TO PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED?
I think, first, we ought to preach Christ very boldly.
I remember a young man going into a pulpit, to address a small congregation, and he began by saying that he hoped they would pardon his youth, and forgive his impertinence in coming to speak to them. Some foolish old gentleman said, “What a humble person that young man is to talk like that!” but another, who was wiser though he was younger, said, “What a dishonor to his Lord and Master! If God sent him with a message to those people, what does it matter whether he is young or old! Such artificial modesty as that is out of place in the pulpit.” I think that second man was right, and the first one wrong. A true minister of the gospel is an ambassador for Christ, and do our ambassadors go to foreign courts with apologies for carrying messages from their ruler? It would be a gross insult to the governments of these countries if they showed such humility as that in their official capacity. Let ministers of the gospel keep their modesty for other occasions when it should be manifested, but don’t let them dishonor their Master and discredit his message as that silly young man did. When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any reason to be ashamed. If a minister is not sure about his message, let him keep quiet until he is sure about it; but we believe, and therefore we speak with conviction. If I have not proved the power of the gospel in my own heart and life, then I am a vile impostor to be standing in this pulpit to preach that gospel to others, but since I know most assuredly that I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and since I feel certain that I have been divinely called to preach his gospel — Will I, then, because of the fear of feeble man restrain the Spirit’s course? Or undaunted in my life and word be a true witness for my Lord?
But while we preach Christ boldly, we must also preach him with love.
There must be great love in our proclamation of the truth. We must not hesitate to point out to sinners the state of ruin to which sin has brought them, and we must clearly set before them the divinely-appointed remedy; but we must mingle a mother’s tenderness with a father’s sternness. Paul was like both, mother and father in a spiritual sense, in his ministry. He wrote to the Galatians, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you;” and to the Corinthians he wrote, “In Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel,” and every true minister of Christ can sympathize with him in both those experiences.
Yes, sinners, we do indeed love you; often, our heart is almost broken with the longing we have to see you saved. We wish we could preach to you with Baxter’s tearful eye; no, rather, with the Savior’s melting heart and all-consuming zeal.
Then, next, we must preach Christ only.
With Paul, every true minister must be able to say to his listeners, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” The preacher must never mix up anything else with the gospel. Every time he preaches, he must still have the same old theme, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Christ is the Alpha of the gospel, and he is the Omega too; the first letter of the gospel alphabet, and the last letter, and all the letters in between. It must be Christ, Christ, CHRIST from beginning to end. There must be no “doing works” or anything else, mixed up with Christ. There must be no shoddy materials used as we build on Christ, the one foundation that, is laid once for all.
The preacher must also be sure that he preaches Christ very simply.
He must break up his big words and long sentences, and pray against the temptation to use them. It is usually the short, dagger-like sentence that does the work best. A true servant of Christ must never try to let the people see how well he can preach; he must never go out of his way to drag a pretty piece of poetry in his sermon, nor to introduce some fine quotations from the classics. He must employ a simple, homely style, or such a style as God has given him and he must preach Christ so plainly that his listeners cannot only understand him, but that they cannot misunderstand him even if they try to do so.
Now as the time has gone, I must close, by saying that we must try to preach Christ savingly.
O sinners, I pray that you would trust Christ this very moment! Do you realize how great your danger is? Unconverted soul, you are standing as it were, over the mouth of hell, on a single plank, and that plank is rotten! Man, woman, you may be in thy grave, before another Sunday dawns and then, if unsaved you will be in hell! Beware lest you are taken out of this earth without salvation in Christ, for, if that happens to you, then know that will be no ransom that can prevent your soul from going down to the pit. Oh sinner, see your need of Christ, and grab hold of him, by faith. No one but Christ can save you. Christ is the Way; you may go about all your days trying to find another entrance to heaven, but you will not find it for this is the only one. Why will you not come to God by Christ? Why are you so ungrateful as to despise the patient mercy of God? Won’t you let the goodness of God lead you to repent? Will Christ die for sinners, and yet will you, O sinner, turn away from him who alone can give you life? If you will only trust him, he will save you; your sins, which are many, will all be forgiven; you will be adopted into the family of God, and in due time you will find yourself in heaven and be there for all eternity. If you want to be happy, if you want to enjoy the peace that is beyond all understanding if you want to have two heavens — a heaven below and a heaven above — then trust in Jesus, trust in Jesus this very moment. Do not leave this building unsaved. One believing look will bring you salvation, for —
“There is life for a look at the Crucified One;
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner — look to Jesus, and be saved, —
To him who was nailed to the tree.”.
Look to Jesus, look to him now; may the Holy Spirit enable you to look and live, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Christ Jesus, the Source and Object of Faith
07.21.10
J.A. Matteson
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”
Ephesians 3:12 KJV
Delightful is the access saints enjoy into the blessed presence of God Almighty. Conceived in sin as a consequence of the Fall man makes his debut onto the world stage of history as a child of wrath, at enmity with his Creator, proud, disobedient to and detesting the oracles of God, vainly searching for a balm to quell the ache of his heart which longs for eternity, all the while observing the slow and distressing steady decay of his person as the twilight of his brief tenancy on earth draws nigh.
Access into the very presence of the Ancient of Days is the entrance point to eternal bliss, that which the sons of Adam intuitively desire during their momentary stay upon the earth, yet unable to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ in answering his disciples' question regarding His public speaking in parables quoted Isaiah 6:9, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN" (Mk. 4:11-12). And to those who do not believe the Gospel the Apostle John reflected on the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?" For this reason they could not believe....” (Jn. 12:37-39a).
The merciful arm of the Lord is sovereignly revealed to those whom “it has been given” and the rest are hardened, for the Apostle Paul quotes the Lord's disclosure in this matter to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION" (Rom. 9:15). Salvation is of the Lord. The fruit of the arm of the Lord extended to an individual is known by lips that confess Jesus as the Christ and a heart of faith in His redeeming work on their behalf (Rom. 10:9), for none can confess Christ as Lord except by the Spirit of God (1 Jn. 4:2).
Into this marvelous grace of faith leading to access Paul speaks in the passage under consideration. The KJV is more accurate than other translations in expressing the Greek construction used by Paul and the last four words in the sentence are remarkable in their implication, “by the faith of him” (διὰ τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ). Διὰ is a Greek preposition meaning by or through. Τῆς is the definite article meaning the and as such denotes a specific or particular faith; viz., that saving faith supplied by Christ. Πίστεως can be used in context as either a noun or verb and means faith. Αὐτοῦ is a preposition in the genitive, singular, masculine case meaning of him. It is Paul's use of αὐτοῦ that is striking. For had he intended to convey that access into the throne of grace was by a faith that finds its origin within the sinner he would likely have chosen a different construction of words, such as, διὰ πίστις ἐν αὐτω, meaning by faith in Him. Remarkably, this is the rendering offered by some commentators and Bible translators and apart from the possible intent of guarding or advancing a particular theological viewpoint in soteriology (i.e., the Arminian view that saving faith originates within man) it is difficult to account for it. On the other hand if the Apostle's words are taken at face value then they harmonize perfectly with the rest of Scripture that declares faith is a grace gift of God and that Christ is both the author (originator) and finisher (perfecter) of that gift (faith). What Paul appears to be stating is that the Lord Jesus Christ is both the source of saving faith and the object of saving faith granting access, “by the faith of him.” It is the faith that He gives through regeneration that enables (or activates within) the sinner to demonstrate faith in Him, so that by Him, and through Him, and to Him is due all the honor and praise to the glory of God the Father.
So it is Christ Jesus who, as the Giver of the gift, brings full circle to Himself the consummation of the Father's eternal decree (“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”), through the saving agency of the Spirit (Jn. 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me” ), as the object of the believers affections and faith (1 Pet. 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.). Pilgrim, we love Him because He first loved us. May we His sheep, by His grace, and by the faith of Him grow to love Him completely to the praise of His wonderful Name.
Copyright (c) 2010 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
J.A. Matteson
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”
Ephesians 3:12 KJV
Delightful is the access saints enjoy into the blessed presence of God Almighty. Conceived in sin as a consequence of the Fall man makes his debut onto the world stage of history as a child of wrath, at enmity with his Creator, proud, disobedient to and detesting the oracles of God, vainly searching for a balm to quell the ache of his heart which longs for eternity, all the while observing the slow and distressing steady decay of his person as the twilight of his brief tenancy on earth draws nigh.
Access into the very presence of the Ancient of Days is the entrance point to eternal bliss, that which the sons of Adam intuitively desire during their momentary stay upon the earth, yet unable to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ in answering his disciples' question regarding His public speaking in parables quoted Isaiah 6:9, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN" (Mk. 4:11-12). And to those who do not believe the Gospel the Apostle John reflected on the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?" For this reason they could not believe....” (Jn. 12:37-39a).
The merciful arm of the Lord is sovereignly revealed to those whom “it has been given” and the rest are hardened, for the Apostle Paul quotes the Lord's disclosure in this matter to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION" (Rom. 9:15). Salvation is of the Lord. The fruit of the arm of the Lord extended to an individual is known by lips that confess Jesus as the Christ and a heart of faith in His redeeming work on their behalf (Rom. 10:9), for none can confess Christ as Lord except by the Spirit of God (1 Jn. 4:2).
Into this marvelous grace of faith leading to access Paul speaks in the passage under consideration. The KJV is more accurate than other translations in expressing the Greek construction used by Paul and the last four words in the sentence are remarkable in their implication, “by the faith of him” (διὰ τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ). Διὰ is a Greek preposition meaning by or through. Τῆς is the definite article meaning the and as such denotes a specific or particular faith; viz., that saving faith supplied by Christ. Πίστεως can be used in context as either a noun or verb and means faith. Αὐτοῦ is a preposition in the genitive, singular, masculine case meaning of him. It is Paul's use of αὐτοῦ that is striking. For had he intended to convey that access into the throne of grace was by a faith that finds its origin within the sinner he would likely have chosen a different construction of words, such as, διὰ πίστις ἐν αὐτω, meaning by faith in Him. Remarkably, this is the rendering offered by some commentators and Bible translators and apart from the possible intent of guarding or advancing a particular theological viewpoint in soteriology (i.e., the Arminian view that saving faith originates within man) it is difficult to account for it. On the other hand if the Apostle's words are taken at face value then they harmonize perfectly with the rest of Scripture that declares faith is a grace gift of God and that Christ is both the author (originator) and finisher (perfecter) of that gift (faith). What Paul appears to be stating is that the Lord Jesus Christ is both the source of saving faith and the object of saving faith granting access, “by the faith of him.” It is the faith that He gives through regeneration that enables (or activates within) the sinner to demonstrate faith in Him, so that by Him, and through Him, and to Him is due all the honor and praise to the glory of God the Father.
So it is Christ Jesus who, as the Giver of the gift, brings full circle to Himself the consummation of the Father's eternal decree (“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”), through the saving agency of the Spirit (Jn. 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me” ), as the object of the believers affections and faith (1 Pet. 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.). Pilgrim, we love Him because He first loved us. May we His sheep, by His grace, and by the faith of Him grow to love Him completely to the praise of His wonderful Name.
Copyright (c) 2010 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
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