brings us to This is the Hope and Faith of the Gospel But I do but touch upon these things by the by Now saith the Apostle he is able to save to the uttermost He carries it through Now to do a thing to the uttermost is to do all that can or ought to be added to that thing For there is nothing to be added to that work which is wrought to the uttermost So our Lord Jesus Christ in this Salvation work he carries it thorow to the uttermost to the uttermost There is nothing to be added to our Salvation And therefore our Protestant Divines stand much upon this Scripture against all Popish Adorations If Jesus Christ be able to save to the uttermost then there is no need of Merit Meritorious works no need of Priests Oblations Popish Pardons and Indulgences And if our Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost then away with all Merits and all Priests for Oblations and all things that the ignorant Souls of men rest in He is able saith the Apostle to save to the uttermost Able to save that is a word of great emphasis Christ is able to carry through the great work of Salvation That is the point we are to insist upon The work of Salvation is a great work 'T is a greater work than the work of Creation For mind it the works of the great God some are greater than others and this work of Salvation is the greatest of all his works The work of Creation is a great work and Gods Wisdom his Omnipotence and his Goodness is much to be adored in the works of Creation For the work in two respects 1. As it is a work that all the three persons in the Sacred Trinity in the Godhead did co-operate and work together in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost created the World For though we say God the Father is Maker God the Father hath that work Attributed to him not that he did it without his Son and without the Holy Ghost Heb. 1. 2. It is said by Jesus Christ God made the World The Son wrought with the Father And you read in Genesis That the Holy Ghost also moved upon the face of the Deep So that the work of Creation is the work of the Godhead Father Son and Holy Spirit A great work Then again 2. If you consider the work it self The work of Creation is a great and wonderful work For mind it The Great God to make all things out of nothing This is a work that none but God could do For God to make Heaven and Earth Angels and Men and all living Creatures and all out of nothing it is a work of an Infinite God For mind it The wisest and the strongest man in the World cannot make a House or a poor Cottage out of nothing He must have matter to work upon Man can make nothing out of nothing And therefore the Philosopher took up this Maxim Nothing produceth nothing You cannot make a thing out of nothing Man cannot make one drop of Water to drink out of nothing he must go somewhere for that Water But for the Great God to raise Heaven and Earth out of nothing is to be adored And therefore saith the Psalmist When I consider the Heavens the work of thy hands the Sun Moon and Stars I said What is man Lord that thou shouldst be so mindful of him The work of Creation is a great and glorious work beyond all the power of Men and Angels But still the work of Salvation is greater than that For God is pleased to magnifie that work and to be at more cost about that work than he was about the work of Creation And in two respects the work of Salvation is greater than the work of Creation First Because in the work of Creation there was nothing to resist God in that work there were no Devils then in Being to Rebel against that work of God There was no wicked reprobate Person to resist God in the work of Creation But in the work of Salvation Men and Devils oppose the Wisdom of God and the Power of God and the Grace of God But he carries it through all opposition Secondly Though the work of Creation was a great work of God Yet there was no need that the Son of God should be made manifest in the Flesh for that work The work of Creation could be carried on without the Incarnation of the Son of God God did but say Let there be Light and there was Light Gods word did all there By Faith we understand the World was made by the Word of God Heb. 11. 3. But when God comes to work Salvation for mankind there is a great train of Work The Son of God must be made Man and suffer Death for poor Man and he must rise again So that the work of Salvation is greater than the work of Creation But how is Christ said to be able to save and to carry on this work First As he is God the Almighty God so nothing can stand before him to hinder the accomplishment of that which he hath undertaken to save a Soul from Death Where Christ undertakes for that all the powers of Hell cannot hinder it If he had been but a meer Man he had been stopped in this work Men and Devils would have hindred him in this work I say Reprobate Men and Devils would have hindred him in this work But being God he Triumphs over Principalities and Powers as you have it in Col. 2. 15. He spoiled Principalities and Powers These Principalities and Powers are the Devils which Reign in their Kingdom as Princes and Potentates do here on Earth But the Devils themselves dread our Lord Jesus Christ as you may see Mat. 8. 29. they cryed out What have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son of God Art thou come to Torment us before the time They knew him to be the Son of God and they begg'd leave of him to go into the Herd of Swine Thus you see our Lord Jesus Christ as he is God hath power to overcome all the Devils in Hell Therefore he is able to save them for the Devils dreaded Christ and said Art thou come to torment us before the time They knew Christ would come to Judge them one day and they were unwilling to come to Judgment before their time Now as he is the mighty God and as all the Powers of Hell are under him so he is able to save to the uttermost none can stand before him to hinder his accomplishing the work of Salvation Secondly He is able to save as he is our great High-priest over the house of God That the Apostle would have us to keep our eye upon as he is the Priest of God All the Priests before him were not able to save them that came to God by them tho' they did good service and were useful in offering Gifts and Sacrifices for the People yet they could not save them
Oath The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck These words are taken out of Psal 110. 4. Now for an Oath we must consider there are two sorts of Oaths vain and prophane Oaths and sacred Oaths As for vain and prophane Oaths which men use in their common talk are especially forbidden in the third Commandment Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain To swear lightly and vainly by the name of God or by their Faith and Troth these are great provocations to the Lord. As you may see in Jer. 23. 10. For the Land is full of Adulterers for because of swearing the Land mourneth the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up Prophane swearing and false swearing which is a common thing among your bad people causeth the Land to mourn But then as there is a prophane and vain and common swearing which brings a Curse along with it so there is a sacred swearing and that is when men are lawfully called thereto to confirm a testimony An Oath for confirmation is the end of all strife saith the Apostle Now this holy and sacred swearing is here attributed to God the Father concerning the Priesthood of his Son Jesus Christ And you may observe in Scripture that God is said to swear two ways 1. Sometimes he swears in his wrath to confirm his threatnings and often in his mercy to confirm his promise 1. Sometimes God is said to swear in his wrath to confirm his threatnings As you may see Heb. 3. 11. In v. 10. saith he I was grieved with that generation they do always err in their hearts So I sware in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest Mind it The people were now in the wilderness and they were going into the Land of Canaan the Land of Rest the Land of Promise but they grew so bad and so provoking to God whilst they lived upon his mercy in the wilderness that at last God sware they should not enter into his Rest the Land of Canaan God confirmed by an Oath why by an Oath to drive them to the more terrour to take them off from their presumption God threatned they should not enter into his Rest and he confirms it by an Oath that they may have no hopes of entring into his Rest But 2. Often in Scripture God is said to swear in mercy for the confirming of his promise that his people might have stronger consolation Not but that Gods promise of it self is sure But he condescends to our weakness that we might have stronger consolation See Heb. 6. 17 18. Wherein God more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation You see here the Apostle declares the end of Gods adding an Oath to his Promise That Believers might have more comfort that their hearts might be strengthned and their patience might be strengthned till the promise was accomplished He sware by himself because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself Mind that When men swear to confirm a thing they swear by the Great God who knows their ways and thoughts And so they are said to swear by a greater But because God could not swear by a greater saith the Apostle he sware by himself For this was one of the titles of God the Great God When the poor Heathens that had not the Scriptures they by the light of Nature sware by God who made Heaven and Earth Under the title of Optimus Maximus that was the term they gave the great God the best of the great Gods Now because God could not swear by a greater he sware by himself that he would bless Abraham and all the faithful And here in the Text when he is setting up his Son the Lord Jesus Christ as our great High-priest that we might have greater consolation it 's said The Lord sware and will not repent We know God cannot repent both words are true for the Lord is not as man that he should repent Why doth David and the Apostle after him take up these words The Lord hath sworn and will not repent I answer there is a special Emphasis in it First of all God speaks thus of himself after the manner of men that we might be put out of all doubt of his truth and faithfulness For though he is most unchangeable in his words in his promises and in his purposes as the Apostle James hath it James 1. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning God is immutable But he speaks thus after the manner of men that we might be put out of all doubt that he will not repent Secondly There is still a higher intendment of the Holy Ghost in these words The Lord hath sworn and he will not repent i. e. He will never abrogate or disannul the Priestly Office of Christ as he did that of Aaron For so you read in the words before which were spoken to the last day God did abrogate and did make void the Covenant concerning the Levitical Priesthood But now he will never revoke this or disannul this He hath sworn and will never repent Though God be unchangeable yet we find in Scripture that he sometimes revokes his threatnings and calls them back again As for example God threatned by Jonah that Nineveh should be destroyed in forty days But God revoked it because there was a tacit condition in the threatning therefore he revoked it So when God sent Hezekiah the Message concerning his death he sent his Prophet to him to bid him set his house in order For saith he in the name of the Lord thou shalt die and not live Yet upon Hezekiahs humbling himself by prayer the Lord called back that word again and added to Hezekiahs life fifteen years In this sense the Prophet Joel is to be understood You find in chap. 2. in the last part of it that the Lord threatens dreadful Judgments to the people Now in verse 12 13. saith the Prophet Wherefore also now thus saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your hearts with fasting and with weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Who knows if he will repent and return and leave a blessing behind As if he should say The threatning is gone forth for your destruction but if ye will return unto God who knows but that he will repent and leave a blessing behind That is he may call in his Threatnings and alter his Dispensation So that
High-priest who hath undertaken to fulfil all Righteousness for us and undertakes as a Surety for us SERMON VIII Hebrews 7. 23 24. And they truly were many Priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death But this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood BEing in our course of going through this Chapter the last day in the Morning Exercise we concluded with v. 22. where Jesus is said to be made a Surety of a better Covenant The scope of the Apostle in all this Chapter is to magnifie the Priesthood of Christ above the Levitical Priesthood His Argument that we insisted upon the last day was taken from his solemn Institution in his Office He was made a Priest with an Oath and by vertue of that he became a Surety of a better Testament These things have been opened Now these two verses which I have read for our consideration and instruction this morning contain another Argument that the Apostle useth to prove that the Priesthood of Jesus Christ doth far excel all the Priesthoods under the Law And the Argument is drawn from the mortality of the Levitical Priests and the immortality of Jesus Christ the Son of God That Priesthood that was mortal was never so excellent as that which was immortal The Priests of Levi were mortal but the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is immortal and unchangeable and therefore a more excellent Priesthood We begin with v. 23. For they truly were many Priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death They truly were many Priests These words are two ways to be expounded First They were many together And then they were many successively 1. They were many together For though there was but one High Priest to the Jewish Church yet there were many Priests to offer Sacrifices under him For he was not able one man was not able to offer Sacrifices for all therefore there were many Priests But Jesus our High Priest had the assistance of no creature he is alone There is but one God and one Mediator the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is but one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus no other And this is brought in ordinarily to confute that Errour of the Papists who offer up Expiatory Sacrifices They have their Priestly Office to offer up Expiatory Sacrifices for the living and the dead And as our Protestant Divines say If they had no other Errour it would justifie our separation from them because they derogate from the Office of Jesus Christ and set up a Priestly Office in Gospel-days to offer an Expiatory Sacrifice But we have but one High Priest and one Saviour which is sufficient for the Salvation of our Souls But then This word many Priests is also to be expounded many successively That is there were many Priests saith the Apostle because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death There were many Priests under the Law but they could not continue by reason of death therefore their Office passed from one to another One takes up the Priestly Office and then dies and then another succeeds him But Jesus Christ he hath an Office that doth not pass from one to another There is none can succeed our Lord Jesus Christ in his Priestly Office There is none can finish that work which he begun But the two general points that lie before us in this Text to be considered of this morning are 1. The Mortality of the Levitical Priesthood which concerns us all And then 2. The Immortality of our High-priest the Son of God He is our Priest for ever 1. The Mortality of the Priests of old saith the Apostle in the Text They were not suffered to continue by reason of death That word death concerns all Mankind How many of the Children of Adam Sons and Daughters of Adam since the beginning of the World They are all dead But this present Generation and a little time will bury all of us That Doom which God denounced against Adam in Gen. 3. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death that reaches all that come out of the Loins of Adam We bring sin into the World with us and sin brings death as you have it in Rom. 5. That death came in by sin By one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men Every one that is born into the World is born in sin Every one that is born into the World by ordinary generation and so cannot continue long in the World by reason of death Indeed there are and ever have been many of the Children of Men that have had great priviledges and dignities above others But none ever were exempted from death except some few as Enoch and Elijah Some have been Kings and great men of the Earth some have been made honourable Prophets some Apostles some Ministers have in their days been burning and shining Lights But all are dead they were not suffered to continue any of them by reason of death All are gone The Prophets do they live for ever and your Fathers where are they Kings Lords and Potentates of the Earth and mighty men death hath Lorded it over them all they were not suffered to continue by reason of death Therefore it should teach us while we live to spend our days well to do what good we can to honour God what we can and to say to our own Souls Let me not lose my time for I cannot continue long by reason of death Solomon tells us in Eccl. 9. 10. which every one should well observe Whatever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might because there is no work in the grave whither thou art going But while men are on Earth God hath appointed every one to do something for his honour and glory For mind it the Levitical Priests tho' they were not suffered to continue because of death because they were mortal yet this did not exempt them from the service of God tho' they were chosen from among men and so subject to death yet they were to attend the service of God while they lived There is a sort of people and I mention it for their sakes There are a sort of people I say that because life is short therefore they will give up themselves to ease sloth and pleasure and make as much as they can of a short life These were the people in Isa 22. 13 14. And behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die And this thing was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Thus says many a poor creature that hath no conscience of duty to God or Man He will take all the pleasure he
can in this short life But a life of ease sloth and pleasure is a bad preparation for death 'T is true God doth allow Rest to the Aged where the body is abated in strength where the mind is grown dull and heavy through infirmity of Age God allows that But where people are in their full strength full of life and vigour for these to give themselves up to sloth and idleness and not doing the work of their day this is an iniquity that shall not go unpunished saith the Lord of Hosts And this is further to be observed for encouragement That as God appoints every one their work for their day so if they be faithful he will spirit them for the work of the day If they give not themselves up to a life of ease sloth and pleasure he will spirit them to what he calls them to in that day As you read of Saul when God called him to be King it is said God gave him another heart a publick heart So you also read in Numbers that when God appointed seventy Elders to bear part of the Government with Moses it is said Numb 11. v. 25. The Lord came down in a Cloud and gave of the spirit of Moses unto the seventy Elders and it rested upon them and they prophesied God called them to service he gave them of Moses his spirit So when he laid aside the Ministration of Moses and sent forth Apostles for the Ministration of his Spirit Read what the Apostle saith in 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient of our selves All our sufficiency is of God Who hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament So that God was never wanting in affording his holy Spirit to mortal men for that which he called them to which is great encouragement to be doing the work of God in our day Moses and Aaron were two great blessings to the people in their day tho' they could not continue long by reason of death And if we would have Magistrates and Ministers to be blessings we are to pray for them that God would spirit them for the work he hath called them to But then there is another thing to be observed in the Priesthoods Mortality and that is their succession They could not continue by reason of death yet they had their succession one after another And we ought to pray that there may never want a succession of men to carry on the work of God And this ought to be our care also as far as in us lies that there may be a Generation brought up for the service of God when another goes away When Abraham died his Son Isaac succeeded him When Aaron died Eleazar succeeded his Father and took up the work of God that his Father had laid down So it would be the happiness of Families and a happiness to Children that Children would take up the work that their Fathers have laid down by reason of death We live in an Age wherein there is a great decay of godly Ministers The old Generation wearing off and many gone to the dust and but few come in that have the same Spirit the same Grace and shine with the same Light as their Fathers did who are dead and gone We ought all of us to pray as our Saviour saith that as the Harvest is great the Lord would send forth Labourers into his Harvest A good succession speaks a great favour of God to Families Churches and Nations See how careful Moses was in that When God had told him that he must die in Numb 27. 16. Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over the Congregation These were the words of Moses when God told him that he must die and be gathered to his Fathers And truly so should all godly Parents and godly Ministers say Let the God of the spirits of all flesh bring in some to my Family that may go out and in before my Family And let the God of the spirits of all flesh bring in some to his Church to guide them and to teach them But now God he answered Moses's prayer as you may see in the following words And the Lord said unto Moses Take thee Joshua the Son of Nun a man on whom is the Spirit Lay thine hand upon him And thus much for the Mortality of the Levitical Priesthood Come we now to the second Point and general Observation And that is The Immortality of our great High priest our Lord Jesus Christ Here our chief comfort lies that though all Mankind die and are not suffered to continue by reason of death But this man because he ever liveth hath an unchangeable Priesthood Now what is spoken of our Lord Jesus Christ of his abiding for ever it must be understood and applied to him as Man as he is Man God-Man and Mediator between God and Man as he is taken from among men to stand for Man in things pertaining to God And so he is the same yesterday to day and for ever He continues for ever And saith our Lord Jesus Christ The Son abideth in the house for ever John 8. 37. The Servant abideth not in the house but the Son abideth for ever The house of God hath the Son of God always there as their High-priest he is set over them The very Adversaries of Christ acknowledge this Joh. 12. 35. The people answered him We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever It was a stumbling to them And therefore here lies the Objection How is it said that Christ abideth for ever and liveth for ever when it is certain that he died We read in Matth. 2. 50. that he gave up the Ghost He died and gave up the Ghost How is it then said that he abideth for ever and liveth for ever as our High-priest I answer To that we must consider four things to clear that Obiection First of all Tho' Christ did die for a time yet his death was not such a forced death as man's is but a voluntary death He laid it down and took it up again of himself So you have it in John 10 17 18. Therefore doth the Father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Here you see our Lord Jesus Christ did not die as we die by a forced death he laid it down and he took it up again when he pleased 2. Tho' our Lord Jesus Christ as to his Humanity was in the state of death yet it was impossible that he should be holden of death or the grave Acts 2. 24. Why not possible You see that men are holden of death thousands of years and they are not risen to this day Why not possible that he should be holden of death Why because the Divine Nature was Hypostatically United to the Humane Nature God
are put upon his work of Salvation and therefore we should live to his Glory Our dear Lord may say to us I live for ever I know all things Why then do you slight my Work and slight my Ordinances and slight my People Why do you not live more to my Glory And then Lastly This should be a strong motive for Men to come to Christ Ye trust in dying Friends dying comforts dying Relations and fix your hope upon things that crumble away to dust When Peter made his confession of Christ Joh. 6. 68. To whom should we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life Go from Christ and you go to death and Damnation Go to him and you come to Life and to Everlasting Salvation For he ever liveth an High-priest to make Intercession for us Now the Inference follows in the next words SERMON IX Hebrews 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THese words of the Apostle contain the Inference which he makes of all that he had said before of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ He comes to this conclusion Wherefore Christ is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him This Illative or word wherefore hath a reference to what was spoken before And also to what follows after For the Apostle having said before that Jesus Christ the Son of God is made a Priest after the order of Melchisedeck that he was not made a Priest by the Law of a Carnal Command but by the power of an endless Life That Christ was made a Priest by a solemn Oath The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck That Jesus Christ is made a surety of a better Testament That he endures and hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore saith he he is able to save to the uttermost The Argument may be thus framed He that is the Eternal Son of God He that is a Priest for ever and made a Priest by the Oath of God He that hath an unchangeable Priesthood He that is the surety of a better Covenant He is able to save to the uttermost But all this is Jesus Christ Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto him But then The words have also a reference to what follows in the last clause of this Verse Seeing he ever liveth to maketh Intercession for them Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them And the Argument may also be framed He that ever liveth to make Intercession for them He is able to save all that come unto God by him So that both these conclusions are proved That Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him We begin with the first branch of this Text He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him These are the words I shall open and apply this Morning if God permit To save a Soul is a great work a great and glorious work All the powers of Heaven and Earth short of God cannot save a Soul The Devil can destroy Souls by the Righteous and Just Judgment of God And therefore hath that name given him which is opposite to Christ He is called Abaddon and Apollyon which signifies to destroy in Rev. 9. 11. The Devil I say can destroy Souls but he cannot save any he cannot save himself 'T is a great and glorious work to save a poor Soul This is only Christ's work And therefore he is called the Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him the Author of Eternal Salvation There have been Temporal Saviours Men that God hath raised up in several Ages and Generations to deliver his People from the power of their Enemies when his People were in distress God did raise them up Saviours And it was accounted a very great Mercy to have a Temporal Saviour To have a Man of Faith and Courage as Sampson and Gideon and Barack and others that would appear for the Church in times of streights There is a Prophecy in Mic. 5. 5. speaking of Christ And this Man shall be the Peace when the Assyrian shall come into the Land and when he shall tread in our Palaces then shall we raise against him seven Shepherds and eight Principal Men that are worthy Instruments that shall rise up to oppose the Assyrians power The Assyrians power is made a Type of the Antichristian power God hath his principal Men and his principal Instruments to save his People These are under Christ But he only is the Author of Eternal Salvation And this Salvation this Eternal Salvation that Jesus Christ brings is an unspeakable mercy The very thoughts of it gives abundance of comfort If we do but consider what he saves us from and what he saves us to First What he saves us from He saves a poor sinner from his sin and from all the misery that comes along with it His name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins saith the Angel in Matth. 1. 24. He shall save his people from their sins i. e. from all those miseries that their sins bring upon them or would bring upon them For sin is the cause of all misery And to be saved from sin is to be saved from all misery What would the Devils in Hell give to be saved from their misery that their sin hath brought upon them What would the Rich Glutton in the Gospel give to be saved from his misery We are not aware what he saves us from Then if we consider what he saves us to or brings us to by this Salvation Christ brings us into his favour and grace brings us into that blessed state in Heaven where there is all safety and security and blessing where the Devil nor his Instruments can never break in upon us to intercept our peace Rev. 21. 9. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain To be brought into Communion with God with the holy Angels and with the glorified Saints and with Jesus Christ the Head of the Church An Everlasting Communion Oh the Salvation that our Lord Jesus Christ brings us to There is no solitude in Heaven Here we complain of a solitude and a solitary life We want company we want converse in the World But there will be an everlasting converse with the great God so far as our Natures are capable of coming near to him An everlasting converse with our Redeemer with the holy Angels and with the glorified Saints Who is able to express the Salvation our Lord Jesus Christ
was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the People and how the Chief-priests and Rulers delivered him to be condemned to Death and have Crucified him and we trusted it had been he that should have Redeemed Israel and besides all this to day is the Third day since these things were done When Christ was in the state of Death their hopes were dead but saith the Apostle Peter in 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead As if he should say we were as dead men in our hopes but when we saw his Resurrection our hopes began to revive again and therefore he saith Blessed be God who hath begotten us to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead The Resurrection of Christ declares him to be a sufficient Saviour and therefore in Rom. 8. When the Apostle Paul fell a triumphing in that Salvation we have by Christ and what doth he lay as a ground for it in ver 34. saith he Who shall condemn us It is Christ that died yea rather rose again and is set at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us yea rather is risen again Why doth he make more of the Resurrection of Christ than of the Death of Christ Because if Christ had Died and not Risen again and Ascended to the Father we had not had such ground for our hope But rather is Risen again For alas if our hopes of Salvation did hang upon a Dead Man it would have been a dead hope but our hope is upon a living Saviour For this end saith the Apostle Rom. 14. 9. For this end Christ both died and rose again that he might be the Lord both of the dead and the living If he had not revived again and risen again he could not have been the Lord of the dead and the living The Apostle hath a remarkable passage to this purpose further in 1 Cor. 15. 17 18. If Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished If Christ be still in the state of Death and the Grave then they that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished Those Believers that did die in the Faith of Jesus Christ they are perished if he be not still alive and at the right hand of God they are perished and ye are yet in your sins So that you see what a great stress the Scriptures put upon Christs Rising again Therefore saith John in the Revelation I am he that liveth and I live for evermore Amen Why Amen He puts Amen to it that our Faith may be fixed on him as able to save those that come unto God by him Secondly Our Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him and that because he ever liveth to make intercession Because there can be no Accusation or Condemnation take place against any Soul where there is such an intercessor If Christ were out of Heaven where all Mens hearts and ways are seen and known all the sins of our Life and Conversation would rise up against us and Condemn us and Accuse us But saith the Apostle who shall Condemn Who shall lay any thing to our charge It is Christ that hath Died yea rather that is Risen again and sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us No Accusation from Satan and our Sins can stand before the intercession of Christ for though our sins be such as deserve everlasting Damnation yet there is more worth and vertue and preciousness in the Death and Resurrection and Intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ than there is vileness in all our sins for his Intercession is the presenting of his suffering for us and of all the satisfaction he hath made for Sin and the manifesting his Will that those that come unto God by him may have the benefit of his Sufferings Thirdly He is the great Favorite Our Lord Jesus Christ he is one that brings us into favour with God He came and made peace on Earth and hath purchased peace in Heaven If a Man should undertake to interceed for a poor Rebel that had been a Rebel himself they would never regard him or give any regard to his Intercession but if a Man will interceed for a poor Rebel at Court that was always a Favourite of the King that never Rebelled or provoked him you will say this Man will carry it Now saith the Scripture We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous not Jesus Christ the Unrighteous but Jesus Christ the Righteous who is our Advocate that kept himself always in the Favour of God and in his Fathers Love Such an High-priest doth become us who is Holy Harmless Separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens We need one that is Jesus Christ the Righteous and therefore he ever liveth and is able to save those that come unto God by him He ever liveth to make Intercession that was always in the favour of the Father This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased shewing that he was well pleased with his Suffering and Intercession and sets on his Right hand on high Upon all these accounts it is that Christ ever liveth to make Intercession for us And upon these reasons he is able to save all that come unto God by him I shall wind up all with a word or two of Application First then here we see That our Salvation is out of our selves and that it rests solely and alone in our Lord Jesus Christ For the best works that ever any of the Children of God did are not able to save them because no mans works are perfect before God The best works that we can do are not able to save us in any measure But our Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost We are very apt to rest in our own doings and duties especially if any thing be done by us in a right manner We are very apt to take up our Rest too much therein We are apt to draw too much comfort for our selves for what we do rather than from what Christ hath done for us But 't is for want of lively Faith in Christ But if you will be safe and have true comfort you must come from works See how the Apostle sets Works and Grace in opposition in the matter of Election and so it holds as to Justification Rom. 11. 6. And if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise works is no more works What is the meaning of this The meaning is this That if we rest upon our works for our Salvation and Acceptation with God