Sinners doors Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man will hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me So Cant. 5.2 By the sleepy Bride it is said It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh and Psal 24. last four Verses it 's cryed Lift up your heads ye gates and be lift up ye everlasting doors that the king of glory may come in which is an â—arnest invitation to make way for Christ Jesus wanting nothing but an entry into the heart whereby we may see how near Christ comes in the Gospel and is laid to folks hand 3. We may confirm it from the nature of Faith and of the obedience that is required to be given to the command of Believing Wherever this Gospel comes it tyeth and obligeth all the Hearers to believe on Christ that is to receive and welcome Him and there could be no receiving of Him if He were not making an offer of Himself thus it 's said Joh. 1.11.12 He came unto his own but his own received him not but to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God He came to both these who received Him and to these who received Him not but He gave to Believers only this priviledge of Son-ship If we look to all the names of Faith as coming to Christ eating and drinking of Him receiving of Him resting on Him c. They all suppose that Christ is near to be catched hold of and within speaking and trysting terms to People that hear the Gospel 4. It may be confirmed from the many sad complaints that the Lord hath for not receiving Him and not believing His Word and from the dreadful designations by which He holds out the sin of Unbelief all which will make out this that God lays Christ at Sinners door in His Word Hence Joh. 5.40 our Lord says Ye will not come unto me that ye may get life and Matth. 23. at the close O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee and ye would not This was it that did aggravate their sin that He would and they would not So Psal 81. My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me and Luke 7. it 's said the Scribes and the Pharisees rejected the counsel of God against themselves and Acts 13.45 when the Jews rejected Christ it 's said they judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life and therefore the Apostles say that they will leave them and turn to the Gentiles 5. We may confirm it from this That in respect of the Gospel and Offer made in it Christ comes alike neâ—r to all that hear it for if He be near to some then He is near to all I mean in regard of an objective nearness there is the same warrand to speak and make the offer to all before there be some discovery made for qualifying the Doctrine to some Iâ—'s true there is a difference in respect of the power that accompanieth the Gospel but as it layeth out the offer of Christ and Life through Him it comes alike near to â—ll the Hearers of it the Invitation comes to all and in the same terms to them that refuse as well as to them that receive Him the same Gospel is preached to both A 6th Confirmation is from the nature of God's administration of His external Covenant which is sealed in Baptism to both not one Covenant to one and another Covenant to another but the same Covenant on condition of believing to both Behold then in the preaching of this Gospel that Christ comes near you even to your door in respect of the mediate Ordinances as near as He did to Abraham and David Although God had His extraordinary ways of manifesting Himself to them not common to others yea this day the Gospel is more clear objectively to you then it was to Abraham who rejoyced to see Christ's day afar off when it was vailed yea the Gospel is as clearly preached to you as those who are now before the Throne of God had it preached to them as to the matter of it though we will make no equality as to the manner of it Use 1. Advert to this when ye come to hear the Gospel preached and think how ye are living in trysting terms with God and how near Christ comes unto you the word of Faith lays Him so near that ye have no more to do but to receive the offer of Him to believe and close with Him and step in upon Him as it were to come as living Stones to be built upon Him as a sure Foundation But it will be asked How comes this Gospel so near How does it bring Christ so near to Sinners Answ In these five steps 1. As it makes the Report of Christ and brings the Tydings of such things as that He is Born and that He hath Suffered and for such an End and that we may partake of the Benefite of them on such terms It makes the Proclamation narratively and tells what He did what Good may be gotten of Him and how we may come by it 2. As it brings an offer of these good things on the terms on which they are to be gotten so that it never tells that Christ is come but it says also here is Life to be gotten in Him by you if ye will take the way proposed to come by it therefore when the Proclamation comes forth that all things are ready the next word is Come to the Wedding And when in the one word He says I stand at the door and knock at the next He says If any man will open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me and when Isa 28. it 's said He is a precious corner-stone a tryed foundation-stone laid in Zion the next word is He that believes on him shall not make haste or as the Apostle hath it shall not be ashamed or confounded this makes the Gospel glad Tydings because it comes alwayes with an offer of Christ and of Life in Him 3. When the Offer is made and the precious Wares are exposed to sale in this cryed Fair of Grace a command comes out choose Life come buy the Wares believe receive the Offer as is clear in all the places we named before It leaves not Folks indifferent to receive or nor but chargeth them as they would be obedient to a Command to receive Him 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his commandment that ye should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ This is the great Gospel-command and Ministers have not only the telling of these News and warrand to make the Offer but a Commission to command to receive it and therefore the sitting and slighting of the Offer is a Sin opposite to the Command 4. It not only makes the Offer and backs the Offer with a Command to embrace it but it sweetens the
essential properties of a Creature As if now when exalted he were wholly or only God or as if the properties of the Humane Nature were swallowed up in the God-head That were inconsistent with his being true Man and would marr and obstruct our consolation exceedingly But his Exaltation consisteth 1. In the manifestation and decâ—aration of the person that was humbled and brought low to be God Omnipotent Omnipresent Alsufficient infinitly Wise Powerful Just c. For though these properties agree not to the Humane Nature yet they agree to his person and they are manifested to be in him without question 2. In the Exaltation of the Humane Nature of Christ-man to an inconceivable hight of glory such as the Humane Nature united to the Divine Nature is capable of by very many degrees beyond any thing that the Elect whether Angels or Men are capable of The personal union making him capable of far more glory and his excellent Offices calling for it 3. This Exaltation consists in his absolute Dominion and Kingly Power which is more observably directly and plainly manifested in the dayes of the Gospel-administration then it was under the Law So that now he is clearly known in respect of his Kingly Office to be God in our nature cloathed with our flesh and to be Immanuel Goâ—â—â—th us and that this Immanuel hath aâ—â—â—â—â—er in Heaven and Earth committed to him He hath the keys of Hell and of death and is King of kings and Lord of lords is exalted far above all principalities and powers and is given to be head over all things to the Church In which respect that is most properly to be understood when it is said that he is set on the right hand of God So that now Jesus Christ God and Man in one Person is in highest Glory and in absolutest Dominion nearest unto God far above that which Angels or Saints are capable of As Kings use to set their greatest Courtiers and Minions whom they would honour most on their right hand and as Solomon set his Mother on his right hand so is our Lord set on the right hand of God in highest glory It is true that as God he hath an absolutely Soveraign and independent Kingdom yet as Mediâ—tor God-man he hath a dispensatory Kingdom next unto the Father in glory 4. This Exaltation consists in Christs being furnished with qualifications suitable to that glorious condition wherein he is invested And though these qualifications of the Man Christ be not simply infinit yet they are far above what we can conceive And the qualifications of the Person God-man are infinite in which respect he is Omnipotent All-seeing and infinitly wise to provide every thing that may be for the good of his Church and People and to prevent what may tend to their hurt Omnipresent c. The Uses are three 1. This would waken and rouze our Spirits to a high holy and reverend esteem of Christ he is God above all gods Kiâ—g above all kings he hath gotten a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow not superstitiously when he is named but holily and reverently to think of him and to worship and serve him We conceive among many faults and evils in Believers this is a root-evil even low thoughts of glorious Christ so that because he hath become low to lift us up we are ready to think the less of him but O! that we could behold the glorious condition he is exalted unto and could look upon 〈◊〉 as ere long coming in the clouds with 〈◊〉 and great glory in the glory of his Father and all the holy angels with him it would furnish reverend thoughts of him though not to hurt faith and confidence yet to breed holy awe and reverence in us to him-wards The 2d Use serves to shew what a formidable party they engage to top with them who slight our Lord Jesus Christ what loss they are at who loss him and what a great aggravation their sin hath who sin against him ye that slight refuse and oppose him do ye know whom ye refuse and whose dominion ye spurn against and how hard it will be for you to kick against the pricks do ye know your loss who loss him and how it will aggrege your guilt who despise him the more glorious Christ be the greater will the sin of the Unbeliever be therefore be aware what ye are doing ye have a mighty great and strong party to deal with and when the great day of his wrath comes and when he shall appear in his glory how will you be able to abide the least touch of it it will aggrege your sin and highten your misery that he whom the Father exalted was undervalued by you that ye scorned to take a direction from him or to submit to a censure drawen forth in his name and said at least by your practice Let us break his bands asunder and cast away his cords from us but he hath set his king on his holy hill of Zion for all that and he that sits in heaven will laugh the Lord will have you in derision think on it seriously and know that he is no mean person whom ye slight and despise and though this may now seem less than other sins yet it will one day ly heavy on your score and Conscience above many yea above all other sins The 3d. Use serves to be a motive and encouragemt to them that hear this Gospel to receive Christ and for the consolation of Believers who have received him 1. It serves to encourage you all to receive him He is no mean person that wooes you but King of kings and Lord of lords and if ye think it a happiness to be for ever with him then let it move you to close with him if ye do so ye shall be made glorious as he is glorious a due proportion betwixt the Head and the Members being kept ye shall sit on the same throne with him and behold his glory as he prayeth John 17. I will that these whom thou hast given me may be with me to behold my glory this is certainly a great Bargain if Christ be glorious he calleth you to share with him in the same glory 2. It serves for the consolation of Believers who have received him ye have an excellent Mediator a most glorious Head and Husband and a most excellent Dowry and ye shall know it to your superabundant satisfaction and joy in that day when as it is Psal 45. Ye shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needle work and shall enter into the kings palace and share of his glory and see him face to face and sit with him on his throne even as he hath overcome and is set down with his Father on his throne labour to be stayed in the faith and hope of this good glorious and desireable day that is coming when we shall not only see but partake of and be fully and
removing a main obstruction that hinders your Faith and that is the undervaluing of him For if undervaluing of him be the great cause of unbelief and that which mainly obstructs Faith then the esteeming of him from a due impression of his worth must be a great mean of and help to Faith and the more he be esteemed of the more will he be believed on It hath an attractive vertue to draw sinners to love him a screwing vertue to screw up the affections towards him and withal a fixing and establishing vertue to settle and stay the Soul upon him by believing the soul that from the right impression of his worth esteems of him knows that it may lippen to him for he is holy and true And hence it is that the great thing that believers take to ground their prayers upon is some excellency in God some one or other of his Titles and Attributes upon which they fix to bear them up under and against any difficulty that presseth hard upon them This fixes also their hope and expectation of attaining of any good thing that they want through him And therefore upon the one side we would commend to you the study of Christ's worth and upon the other an high estimation of him as that which will fix your Faith and Love and Hope on him This we see to be in a high degree in Paul Philip. 3. I account all things saith he to be but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of him and his transcendent worth ye would not think it lost labour to read and study these places of Scripture that shew what our Lord Jesus is in his Person Nature and Offices that ye may have the Faith of his God-head fixed and may be clear as to the excelling fulness that is in him as namely that of Isai 9.6 To us a Child is born to us a Son is given the government shall be upon his shoulders and his Name shall be called Wonderful Counsellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of whose Kingdom and Government there shall be no end And to study his excellent Properties his Eternity Omnipotency Faithfulness Mercy c. common to him with the Father and Holy Ghost and the excellent qualifications that as Mediator he is replenished with being full of grace and truth and in all things having the preheminency See Col. 1. John 1.14 and Heb. 1.2 3. c. The reason why we press you to this is not only that ye may have more clear Theory and Contemplation But also and mainly that your affections may be delighted in him and that your Faith may without hink or hesitation come to give him credit Ignorance of Christ breeds disestimation and disestimation makes you not to give him credit and thus ye are kept at a distance from him There is no study more pleasant more precious and more profitable There is here then a task for you that ask what ye shall do even to read and study the excellency of Jesus Christ and to labour to have it well fixed in the imagination of the thoughts of your hearts It will give you notable direction what to do even that which is well-pleasing to God and may be very profitable to you through his blessing Use 5. See here the great necessity and conveniency of studying the disestimation of Christ that is in us as well as of studying the worth that is in him and what he hath out of love suffered for us These two are put together in the Text it being needful for us to be as well acquainted with the one as with the other We shall give you this use in two short Doctrines The 1. whereof is That it is a necessary duty for the hearers of the Gospel to study throughly and to be convinced of and clear in their disestimation of Christ as well as of his worth and excellency because it maketh up repentance and maketh it flow and thorowly humbleth the sinner when he findeth this desperat wickedness and perversness to be in himself and maketh him kindly to loath and abhor himself and unless this desperat wickedness be seen and felt that great and bitter mourning spoken of Zech. 12.10 will never flow forth The 2. is That where folk have any just estimation of Christ and of his worth and are sensible of the evil of unbelief there will also be some sense of the sin of undervaluing of him and the more sense they have of the evil of unbelief they will be the more sensible of their undervaluing of him And will with the Prophet here cry out He was despised and we esteemed him not And from both these ye may see the necessity of studying to find out this corruption the search and discovery whereof will in-sight you in the evil and perversness of your nature and so deeply humble you and also serve highly to commend Christ and his Grace to you and without the discovery of this corruption it 's impossible ever to be humble thorowly or to have right thoughts of Christ and of his Grace Use 6. It serves to let us see the necessity of believing in Christ and of the imploying of him because there is no other way to be free of the challenges of misprising and not esteeming of him but by receiving of him and believing on him A 7th Use may be added and it 's this That the moe there be that despise Christ and the greater difficulty there be in believing on him the more reason have they to be thankful that he graciously works any suitable estimation of himself in and brings them to believe on him These who have gotten any glimpse of his Glory which hath lifted him high in their estimation to the drawing forth of their faith and love after him would praise him for it It 's he and only he that opened your eyes to see him and gave you that estimation of him and circumcised your hearts to love him let him therefore have all the praise and glory of it This is the Word of God and himself bless it to you through Jesus Christ SERMON XIX ISAIAH LIII IV V. Vers 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted Vers 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed THis is a most wonderful Subject that the Prophet is here discoursing of even that which concerneth the sufferings of our blessed Lord Jesus by way of prediction several hundreds of years before his Incarnation It was much that he was to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief But this was more that he was despised and we esteemed him not There is wonderful grace upon the one side that our Lord became so very low and wonderful contempt and enmity on the other side that we despised him and
sayes the Apostle of our warefare are not carnal but spiritual and mighty through God to the bringing down of holds and leading every thought and imagination lifted up against God captive unto the obedience of Christ There is Christs Victory and Triumph What are the strong holds that He batters storms and takes in He makes some proud hearts to stoop and yeeld to Him and carries some that were Rebells to Him captive to His obedience O! happy Captivity It is not meant in respect of Thraldom and Bondage but in respect of Voluntary Subjection to Him This is a most noble notable and lovely Victory and Triumph and a Glorious Day indeed which is ours as well as His it being the redeeming of poor Captive-sinners and bringing in of many followers to the Lamb and therefore v. 11. It 's called Satisfaction for the travel of his soul and the justifying of many That 's the Spoil and the Prey verse 10. It 's called the pleasure of the Lord and in this v. His portion and spoil What doth our blessed Lord Jesus take to Himself what doth this David claim or take to Him as His Spoil who is alone the the Monarch of this great Universe It 's a number of poor Sinners Come to me says he ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you He hath no more He seeks no more but so many Souls as He minded to do good to When the Lord divided the Nations as it is Psal He choise Jacob for his portion If we consider a little more particularly we will find the Justification and Salvation of Sinners to be our Lord Jesus His Victory Triumph and Spoil because herein He is Victorious and Triumphs and gets the glory of His Obedience Faithfulnesse Grace Power and Love The Glory of the Mediator shines manifestly and conspicuously in all these here 1. The Glory of His Obedience when He hath it to say as it is John 18.9 Of all that thou hast given me I have lost none He gets so many Souls committed to Him of the Father to redeem and when He hath done and performed the Work and brought them in He hath the Glory of His Obedience to His Father who saith to Him Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 2. The glory of His Faithfulnesse according as He did ingage and undertake to Jehovah He hath keeped His Word and there is a necessity lying on Him that it should be so that of all committed to Him He should losse none but present them without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Therefore He is called the Faithful shepherd because He losses none of the Sheep that are given Him 3. The glory of Grace and infinit love the moe that are saved the more Grace and Love shins forth in paying their Debt and Ransome and in bringing them in to be partakers of His Love Therefore John 17. He sayes That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them He would have the love communicated by the Father to Him to be in them that it may be known that He hath loved them as the Father hath loved Him There cannot be such a proof and demonstration of Love as this It is evidenced in His exaltation as their head and in their being brought where He is 4. The Glory of Power shines forth here that trampled upon and triumphs over all difficulties that are in the way of saving Elect Sinners And O! what difficulties there are in the way of saving Sinners He having the Devil and the World without and a deceitful heart and a tickle humour within themselves to encounter with So many Sins to mortifie and Snares to lead through yet none plucks His Sheep out of His hand Therefore 1 Pet. 1. They are said to be keeped by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation In a Word as it was the manner of old for Conquerors to ride in Triumph and all their Prisoners led after or before them at their back So our Lord for manifesting the Glory of His Grace Faithfulnesse and Power brings so manny Sinners through to Glory and hath so a greater train then ever any Conqueror had and He counts it His Glory and Triumph to get many lost Souls saved John 17. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and I am glorified in them How is that I have given them thy word and they have received it He counts himself glorified in Sinners submitting to Him in their believing on Him and in their taking pardon from Him Now let me say that if we were wailling and making choise of a Doctrine to warn the heart of a sensible Sinner to shame unbelief out of the World and to give impregnable ground to hazard on Christ here it is That our Lord Jesus placeth His Victory Glory and Triumph and Spoil in this even in doing good to Sinners and in having Sinners getting good of Him It 's His Portion when to say so the World is dealt that He gets a number of lost Sinners to save as His share And though He be the Heir of all things and the first born yet He loves that better then a thousand Kingdoms When He hath His Spoil and Prey at the taking this is it and He choiseth no other O! Sinners do ye think this little Or do ye think little of this Had He placed His Glory in crushing under foot all the prisoners of the Earth or in bringing the World to nothing who could have said what doest thou But when He placeth His Glory and Triumph in this to overcome the Devil to cast him out of Souls to relieve poor Sinners and to bring them in to acknowledge Him as the Author of eternal salvation and as the author and finisher of their faith If ye would have something to wonder at is it not here He will burn the World into ashes and leave it and will cast many Kings and great Men into Hell and yet He gathers poor Elect Sinners out of that burnt heap as it were as the thing He hath designed for His Spoil He hath no more and He seeks no more as I said and yet He gets no gaâ—n of these poor Sinners for all this And therefore as the 1. Use of it wonder at this will it not be a glorious day when Christ is Crowned and hath all redeemed Sinners at His back with harps in their hands Singing Salvation Glory and Power to the Lamb O! wonder that there is not only a Saviour and Life and Salvation to be had through Him but that it 's such a Salvation as is wonderful in this respect that He counts it His Glory and Triumph to have many Sinners saved when He might have glorified Himself in sending us all to hell May we not wonder at this and yet we ought to believe it and the little Faith of it makes it be so little wondered at Ah! Sinners for most part believes not that Christ thinks