have thereby As namely that Jesus of Nazareth was God manifest in the Flesh the Son of God as well as the Son of man that he is that Saviour that was foretold and promised should come into the World to save lost man that he dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification and ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God tomake intercession for us that God hath made him both Lord and Christ and exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour c. Now then we recieve his Testimony when we believe the truth of those things which are revealed in the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ Joh. 3.33 He that hath received his Testimony hath set to his Seal that he is true Thus we receive Christ when we believe the Doctrine of the Gospel and continue therein And this is necessary to our enjoying an Interest in Christ 2 Joh. 9. He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son 2. We recieve Jesus Christ by the consent of our Wills When our Wills consent to take this Jesus for our Lord and Saviour as he is offered to us in the Gospel and we are willing to be ruled by him and to be saved by him in his own way Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely The great work is to porswade and bring over the will to Christ to make a man willing to have Christ for his Lord and Saviour and to be willing to to be saved by him in Life and Death in his own way The averseness of the will to accept of Christ for our Lord and Saviour we may see from such Scriptures as these Ps 81.11 Israel would none of me Luk. 19.14 We will not have this man reign over us Joh. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life It is the work of God yea the power of God that is required to make a man willing to have Christ for his Lord and Saviour Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Ps 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power When our wills consent to take Christ as he offers himself to us he becomes ours As the consenting to the enticeing of Sinners makes us one with them and makes us partakers of their evil deeds Ps 51.18 2 John ver 11. And therefore Solomon adviseth Pro. 1.10 My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not So by our consenting to receive Christ when he offers himself to us and wooeth and intreateth us to accept him we become one with and are made partakers of his benefits As 't is in Marriage it is not wooing and waiting but consenting that makes up the Match So it is in the mystical Marriage it is not inviting and calling and waiting but consenting makes up the Match 3. We receive Christ for our Saviour when we rely upon him and trust in him for Salvation and all things requisite unto Salvation When we look upon him as the only Saviour and as an all-sufficient Saviour and do trust in him for our eternal Salvation Eph. 1.13 In whom ye trusted after ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your Salvation Ps 86.2 O thou my God save thy Servant that trusteth in thee The Lord was displeased with the Israelites when they did not trust in his Salvation Psal 78.21 22. The Lord was wroth because they believed not in God nor trusted in his Salvation In these three things consisteth this duty of receiving Christ 1. In the assent of the mind to the truth of those things that are revealed concerning Christ in the Gospel 2. In the consent of the will to take this Jesus for our Lord and Saviour 3. In the relyance or trust of the heart on Christ for Salvation 4. Christ becometh ours by our entring into Covenant with God When upon the call of the Gospel we come to Christ and believe in Christ then we enter into Covenant with God then God makes an everlasting Covenant with us Isa 55.3 Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your souls shall live and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you even the sure Mercies of David And when the Lord takes us into his Covenant then Jesus Christ becometh ours and all his saving benefits become ours For one main branch of the covenant is to give us Christ and all his saving benefits Isa 42.6 I will give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes and to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison The great promise of the new covenant is I will be your God Ezek. 36.28 And when the Lord promiseth to be our God in that promise God the Father engageth himself to be our Father and God the Son engageth to be our Saviour and our Redeemer and God the Holy Ghost engageth to be our comforter How do we become Christs I. By the donation of the Father God the Father chose out of the children of men whom he saw good and gave them to Jesus Christ to be his peculiar people to be redeemed and saved by him Joh. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a chosen generation a peculiar people All that God chose to eternal life he gave to Christ to redeem them So that all that are Christs are the Fathers and all that are the Fathers by election are the Sons by redemption Joh. 17.10 All mine are thine and thine are mine II. VVe are Christs by Redemption He bought us with a price he purchased us with his own blood he bought us Body and Soul for himself with a great price 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your Spirits which are Gods The price that Christ gave for this purchase was his own blood Act. 20.28 To feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood III. We become Christs by the Spirits causing and enabling us to give our selves to Christ We become Christs by a voluntary resignation of our own selves unto him 2 Cor. 8.5 First gave their own selves unto the Lord. Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lord and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord. that is shall surely and firmly engage himself to be the Lords Servant Psal 116.16 O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant IIII. VVe become Christs by vertue of the covenant He enters into covenant with us that he will graciously accept us to be his Ezek. 16.8 I entered into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine It is part of Gods Covenant that he will accept of us for his people Heb. 8.10 Ye shall be to me a people And as the Lord makes a covenant with us to accept us for his so
Apostle Paul had such confidence of the Philippians welfare because he had them in his heart what confidence may we have in all our troubles from Christs having us in his heart and bearing us upon his heart continually and ever living to make intercession for us 2 Our Lord Jesus Christ in his intercession represents to his Father our troubles and dangers that we are exposed to while we are in the World and our shiftless condition and the hatred we meet with from the World and prays his Father to keep us by his divine power he prays not that we should be taken out of the World while we have service to do in the World but that we may be kept from the evils we are liable to in the World Joh. 17.9.11 14 15. Where observe 1. The Persons for whom Christ interceedeth and they are all that are his ver 9.10 I pray for them I pray not for the World but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine and all mine are thine and thine are mine 2. He represents to his Father the dangers they are in by being in the World where they are hated and want his presence with them ver 11.14 And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them 3. He commits them to his Fathers care and prays him to keep them by his divine power ver 11. Holy Father keep through thine own Name those whom thou hast given me That which he mainly prayed for was not that they should be taken out of the world but kept from the evil ver 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the World but keep them from the evil 4. The Arguments he useth in Prayer they are all mine and all thine and they glorifie me ver 10. All mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them 5. This Prayer of Christ for his wherein he hath prayed to his Father to keep them in his name whilst they are in this world was recorded on purpose to comfort our hearts under our troubles ver 13. These things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves And this Prayer of Christ was made not only for his Disciples that were then living but for all that should afterward believe on him to the end of the World ver 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word And what Christ prayed for God will assuredly grant Joh. 11.42 I know that thou hearest me always Obj. But how is the intercession of Christ a ground of comfort against the troubles of the world when notwithstanding the Prayer of Christ that they that are his may be kept from the evil they fall into as many and as great troubles as other men A. 1. Many troubles and afflictions are kept off at the intercession of Christ from those that are his For such is the malice of Satan and wicked men against the Saints that they would do them an hundred fold more mischief than they do if God should not restrain them Ps 124.2.3 4 5. Laban would have done Jacob much hurt but God would not suffer him to hurt him Gen. 31.7 Your Father hath deceived me and changed my wages ten times but God suffered him not to hurt me The Israelites when few in number when they went up and down from one place and one Kingdom to another were liable to many injuries but God prevented the malice of their adversaries Psal 105.14 He suffered no man to do them wrong 2. When God doth not keep off troubles and afflictions from the Members of Christ which is not absolutely prayed for God at the intercession of Christ keeps off the evil of trouble from the members of Christ The evil of trouble is when troubles make us sin against God and forsake the ways of God Mat. 13.21 VVhen Tribulation or Persecution ariseth because of thy word by and by he is offended that is falleth away as another Evangelist expresseth it 2 King 6.33 Behold this evil is of the Lord why should I wait for the Lord any longer The evil of troubles is when men fret and curse and blaspheme the name of God because of their troubles as Isa 8.21 Rev. 16.10.11 Now the Members of Christ are kept from these evils under their troubles 3. At the intercession of Christ the nature of troubles and afflictions are changed they are not evils but good things to the People of God Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted 4. At the intercession of Christ they that are Christs are upheld under their troubles and kept from fainting Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me Though we be not kept from trouble yet Christs Prayer is answered if we be kept by the power of God in our troubles kept from falling kept from fainting Now God for Christs sake keeps his people from falling and fainting under their troubles Psal 94.18 VVhen I said my Foot slippeth thy Mercy O Lord held me up Psal 116.8 Thou hast delivered my feet from falling Psal 118.13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me 3. The intercession of Christ is a ground of comfort under all our troubles because he interceedeth with his Father that the Spirit the comforter may be sent down into our hearts to abide with us for ever Joh. 14.1.16 17. Let not your heart be troubled I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth The Lord Jesus foreseeing that his Disciples would meet with many Tribulations that their hearts might not be troubled proposeth many grounds of comfort to them among others this is a principal one that he would interceed with his Father to give them his holy Spirit to be their Comforter to make his abode with them for ever But some may say though the Spirit the Comforter be sent down into our hearts to abide with us for ever yet many of the Servants of Christ that have the comforter want the comforts of the Spirit in their troubles Q. What shall we do that we may get the comforts of the Spirit in our afflictions A. 1. Walk in the fear of God both before trouble comes and when you walk in the midst of trouble for such as walk in the fear of God enjoy the comforts of the holy Ghost Act. 9.31 VValking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost 2. Give your selves to prayer in the day of trouble Joh. 16.24 Ask and ye shall recieve that your joy may be full Christ told his Disciples ver 20. That they should weep and lament and be sorrowful but their forrow should be turned into joy and here he directs them the way to get comfort under their
it can do us no harm 2. VVhen our sins are pardoned we may be assured our Souls shall be saved for God glorifieth all whom he justifieth Rom. 8.30 Whom he justified them he also glorified Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace we should be made Heirs according to the hope of eternal life 3. Jesus Christ by his death and sufferings hath obtained for all that are his freedom from eternal condemnation and this is a ground of strong consolation under all the troubles of this life and against the fears and terrours of Death There is not any one person that belongeth to Christ that hath an interest in Christ that shall come into condemnation Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus That our Lord Jesus Christ hath redeemed all that are his from eternal condemnation is evident several wayes 1. Because Christ dyed for us Rom. 8.34 Who shall condemn It is Christ that dyed The Death of Christ is our security from Eternal Death He laid down his life on purpose to ransome us from Eternal condemnation Math. 20.28 The Son of man came to give his life a ransome for many out of respect to and for the sake of this ransome God will deliver all that are Christs from going down into the bottomless pit Job 33.24 Deliver him from going down into the pit for I have found a ransom 2. The ground and cause of our Condemnation is taken away by the Death of Christ which is sin For God condemneth no man but for sin and therefore Christ having by his Death taken away our sins hath taken away condemnation from us 3. God out of respect to the death and sufferings of Christ hath promised that none that believe in Christ shall come into condemnation Joh. 3.16 18. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but should have everlasting life He that believeth on him is not condemned Job 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life 4. The Keys of Hell are in the hands of Jesus Christ he hath power to cast into Hell and to keep out of Hell whom he pleaseth Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the Keys of Hell and of Death And if the Keys of Hell be in the hands of Christ then all they that are Christs are upon sure grounds that they shall not come into condemnation for he will not in any wife cast any of his Members into eternal torments Joh. 6.37 Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out And seeing all they that are Christs are redeemed from eternal condemnation this may comfort them under all the troubles of this world and against the fears and terrors of Death It may scatter and dispel all our sorrows and fill our hearts with joy and gladness when we understand and believe that we are ransomed and delivered from eternal torments Isa 35.10 The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with Songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away This hath relation to the deliverance of the Jews out of the Babylonian Captivity which was a type of our deliverance from eternal misery when God brought them out of their captivity they were filled with joy and singing Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Now if there were such joy and singing by the ransomed of the Lord that were delivered from Babylon what joy and gladness may arise to the ransomed of the Lord from their deliverance from Hell torments Hell is a worse place than Babylon the captivity of Babylon was but for 70 years but Hell torments are for Eternity David speaks of his deliverance from Hell as an unexpressible Mercy and that he would praise God with all his heart and glorifie him for evermore for such a great mercy Psal 86.12 13. I will praise thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy name for evermore for great is thy mercy toward me and thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell And this his deliverance from the lowest Hell was a comfort to him when the proud rose up against him and the assemblies of violent men sought after his Soul ver 14.17 When we know and believe that we are freed from condemnation by the death of Christ this may cause us to triumph over death when we are killed all the day long and counted as Sheep for the slaughter Rom. 8.34 36 37. Who shall condemn It is Christ that dyed For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as Sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerors through him that loved us When we are freed from condemnation we may triumph over Death though we walk in danger of Death all the day long more than Conquerours triumph over their conquered enemies IV. They that are Christs have a sure and undoubted right to eternal life and that sure hope which they have of eternal life is a ground of strong consolation under all the troubles of this life and against the fears and terrours of Death They that are Christs have a sure and undoubted right to Eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life It is not said he shall have Life but he hath Life that is he may be as sure of it as if he had it already He hath an undoubted right an unquestionable Title to eternal life He hath it in the purpose and decree of God he hath it in the promise of God And that by life here is meant eternal life is evident from the following words they that have Christ dwelling in their hearts by Faith have a sure ground and foundation for their hope of eternal glory Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of Glory That all that are Christs have an undoubted right to and sure grounds to hope for eternal Life may be demonstrated several wayes 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ dyed on purpose that he might purchase and procure eternal life for all that should believe on him Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses listed up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life By the lifting up of the Son of man is meant his suffering death upon the Cross Joh. 12.32 33. And this death he suffered that he might purchase eternal life for all that should believe on him 1 Thes 5.9 10. God hath not appointed us unto wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ