10. Chapter 5. Other consequential affections II. The love of Christ consists in Valuation.
Chapter 5. Other consequential affections II. The love of Christ consists in Valuation.
Christ values his saints; he values believers. Having taken them into communion with himself, he shows this second conjugal affection towards them.
I will not need to demonstrate this at length; heaven and earth are full of its evidences. A few considerations will give life to the assertion. If you consider them absolutely, and in comparison to others, then you will see what valuation he puts on them:
1. Absolutely - All that he ever did or does, all that he ever underwent or suffered as mediator, was for the sake of believers. These things were so great and grievous that, if he not valued them beyond expression, he would never have undertaken their performance. Take a few instances:
(1.) For their sakes he was “made flesh,” John 1:14, or “manifested in the flesh”
1 Timothy 3:16. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,” Hebrews 2:14. The apostle aggravates the height of this valuation in verse 16. “Verily he did not take on the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” He had no such esteem of angels. You may take “epilamtanestai,” [NT:1949] to mean “take,” or “take hold of,” as our translators did. They supplied the word
“nature,” and referred the whole to Christ’s incarnation. He took our nature on him, and not the nature of angels. Or you may take it as “analamtanestai,” to “help.” He did not help or succor fallen angels, but he did help and succor the seed of Abraham. And so consider this as the fruit of Christ’s incarnation.
It is all the same as it applies to our present business. He prefers the seed of Abraham before that of angels. It plainly expresses his valuing saints above angels. Observe that he came to help the seed of Abraham, that is, believers. His esteem and valuation is for them only.
(2.) For their sakes he was made flesh in such a way that there was an emptying, an exinanition of himself, and an eclipsing of his glory. He became poor for them, 2 Corinthians 8:9, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor.” Being rich in eternal glory with his Father, John 17:5, he became poor for believers. The same person that was rich was also poor. By contrasting it to the poverty he undertook as a man, it is evident that the riches meant here can only be those of the Deity. This is more fully expressed in Php 2:6-7. “Who being in the form of God, counted it no robbery to be equal to God, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the fashion of a man, and found in form as a man.” The “form of God” here is the essence of the Deity. A number of things inevitably evince themselves from this, such as, [1.] In that form, he was equal to God, that is, his Father. Now, nothing but God is equal to God, not even Christ as mediator in his greatest glory.
Nothing but what is infinite is equal to what is infinite. [2.] The form of God is opposed to the form of a servant. The form of a servant is called the “fashion of a man” in verse 8. That fashion is the one in which he was found when he gave himself to death, in which as a man he poured out his blood and died. “Morfen doulou laton,” (he “took the form of a servant”), is expounded in the next words, “en homoiomati antropon genomenos,” an expression used to represent his incarnation, Romans 8:3. God sent him “en homoiomati sarkos hamartias.” In taking on true flesh, he was in the “likeness of sinful flesh.” Now, in thus doing, it is said “heautou ekenose,” “he humbled himself, emptied himself, made himself of no reputation.” In the very taking on of flesh there was a condescension, a debasing of the person of the Son of God. It could not be any other way. If God humbled himself to “behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth,” Psalms 113:6, then certainly it was an inconceivable condescension and abasement, not only to behold, but to take upon himself our nature in personal union. Though nothing could possibly diminish the essential glory of the Deity, yet by this person appearing in the fashion of a man, and in the form of a servant, the manifestation of the glory of the Deity was eclipsed. He appeared as quite another thing than what indeed he was, and had been from eternity. Hence, he prays that his Father would
“glorify him with the glory he had with him before the world was,” John 17:5, to manifest that glory. And so, though the divine nature was not abased, the person was.
(3.) For the sakes of the believers, he so humbled and emptied himself by taking on flesh as to become a servant. In the eyes of the world he was of no esteem or account, but he was a true and real servant to the Father. For their sakes, he humbled himself and became obedient. All that he did and suffered in his life comes under this consideration and may be divided into these three areas: [1.] Fulfilling all righteousness. [2.] Enduring all manner of persecutions and hardships. [3.] Doing all manner of good to the point of exhaustion. For their sakes, he took on a life and course that is pointed to in Hebrews 5:7-8. It was a life of prayers, tears, fears, obedience, and suffering; and all of this was done with cheerfulness and delight. He called his employment his “meat and drink,” and still professed that the law of this obedience was in his heart, that he was content to do this will of God. The one who will sorely revenge the least opposition to him by others, was content to undergo anything, all things, for believers.
(4.) He does not limit himself to this, but for their sakes he becomes obedient to death, the death of the cross. So he professes to his Father in John 17:19,
“For their sakes I sanctify myself.” He is saying, “I dedicate myself as an offering, as a sacrifice, to be killed and slain.” This was his aim in all the former obedience: that he might die. He was born, and lived, so that he might die. He valued believers above his life. If we pause to consider a little what was in this death that he underwent for them, we would perceive what a price indeed he put upon them. The curse of the law was in it. The wrath of God was in it. The loss of God’s presence was in it. It was a fearful cup that he tasted and drank of, that they might never taste it. A man would not for ten thousand worlds be willing to undergo what Christ underwent for us in that one event of desertion from God, even if it were no more distressing than what a mere creature might possibly endure. What our thoughts should be about this, Christ himself tells us in John 15:13. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” It is impossible to have any greater demonstration or evidence of love than this. What more can anyone do? And yet he tells us in Romans 5:8 that this act of love is even further heightened. “God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” When he did this for us we were sinners, and enemies, whom he might justly have destroyed. What more can be done? To die for us when we were sinners! Such a death, in such a manner, attended with such wrath and curses, a death accompanied by the worst that God ever threatened sinners with, argues as high a valuation of us as the heart of Christ himself was capable of. For one to part with his glory, his riches, his ease, his life, his love from God, to undergo loss, shame, wrath, curse, and death for another, is evidence of a dear valuation. And it was all on our account, we are informed, Hebrews 12:2. Certainly Christ had such a dear esteem of believers that rather than let them perish, and not be his, and not partake of his glory, he would part with all he had for their sakes, Ephesians 5:25-26.
There will be no end if I go through all the instances of Christ’s valuation of believers, what he has done, what he does in his intercession, what he delivers them from, and what he procures for them. They all point out one thing: believers are the apple of his eye, his jewel, his diadem, his crown.
2. In comparison to others. All the world is nothing to Christ in comparison to the saints. They are his garden while the rest of the world is a wilderness. Cant.
4:12, “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” They are his inheritance while the rest are his enemies, and of no regard with him. So it says in Isaiah 43:3-4. “I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior: I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you.
Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you, therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.” The reason Christ deals with his church this way, in parting with all others for her, is because he loves her. She is precious and honorable in his sight; thus he puts this great esteem upon her. Indeed, he disposes of all nations and their interests according to the good of believers. Amos 9:9 says that in sifting the nations, the eye of God is upon the house of Israel; not a grain of them will perish. Look to heaven; angels are appointed to minister for them, Hebrews 1:14. Look to the world; the nations in general are either blessed for the sake of believers, or destroyed on their account. They are preserved to test them, or rejected for their cruelty towards believers. The nations will receive from Christ their final doom according to their deportment towards these despised ones of his. For the sake of believers, the pillars of the earth are borne up, and patience is exercised towards the perishing world. In a word, there is not the meanest, weakest, poorest believer on earth, that Christ does not prize more than all the world. If our hearts were filled with thoughts of this, it would go far toward consoling us. In response to this, believers also value Jesus Christ. They esteem him above all the world, and all things in the world. You have been acquainted with this before, in the account that was given of their delight in him and their inquiry after him. In their hearts, they continually say of him, as David did, “Whom do I have in heaven but you? And I desire none upon earth beside you.” Psalms 73:25.
Neither heaven nor earth will provide them an object to delight in that compares with him.
1. They value him above all other things and persons. Said one, “Christ and a dungeon, Christ and a cross, is infinitely sweeter to their souls than a crown or a scepter without him.” So it was with Moses, Hebrews 11:26, “He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” The reproach of Christ is the worst consequence that the wickedness of the world or the malice of Satan can bring upon his followers. In those days, the treasures of Egypt were the greatest in the world. Moses despised the very best of the world, for the worst of the cross of Christ. Indeed, Christ has told believers that if they love anything better than him, father or mother, they are not worthy of him (Matthew 10:37). Despising all things for Christ is the very first lesson of the gospel.
“Give away all, take up the cross and follow me,” was the way by which he tried his disciples of old. If there is not the same mind and heart in us, we are none of his.
2. They value him above their lives. Acts 20:24, “My life is not dear, that I may perfect my course with joy, and the ministry I have received of the Lord Jesus.”
Paul says in effect, “Let life and all go, so that I may serve him, and when all is done, enjoy him, and be made like him.” It is known what is reported of Ignatius when he was led to martyrdom: “Let what will come upon me, only so I may obtain Jesus Christ.” Hence, those of old rejoiced when whipped, scourged, and put to shame for his sake, Acts 5:41; Hebrews 11. All is welcome that comes from him, or for him. The life they have to live, and the death they have to die, is little, is light, upon thinking of the one who is the stay of their life and the purpose of their death. Were it not for the refreshment they receive daily by thoughts of him, they could not live. Their lives would be a burden to them. Their thoughts of enjoying Christ made them cry with Paul, “Oh that we were dissolved!” (2 Corinthians 5:1). A number of things have rendered this truth clear to men and angels. There are the stories of the martyrs both old and recent, the sufferers witnessing to him under the dragon and under the false prophet, the neglect of life in women and children on his account, and their contempt of torments while his name sweetened all.
3. They value him above all spiritual excellence, and all other righteousness.
Php 3:7-8, “Those things which were advantage to me, I esteemed loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whose sake I have lost all things, and do esteem them common, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him.” Paul recounted his excellence, and the spiritual privileges he enjoyed in his Judaism, participation in which made the rest of his countrymen despise the world and look upon themselves as God’s only acceptable people. They rested on these things for their righteousness. The apostle tells us of his esteem for these things compared to the Lord Jesus. They are “loss and dung.” For many years he had been a zealot of the law, seeking righteousness by works, Romans 9:32. He instantly served God day and night to obtain the promise, Acts 26:7, He lived in all good conscience from his youth, Acts 23. All the while, he was very zealous for God and his institutions. But now he willingly casts away all these things, and looks upon them as loss and dung. He was not only content to be without them, but for the purpose for which he sought them, he abhorred them all. When men are strongly convinced of their duty, they will labor many years to keep a good conscience. They will pray, and hear, and do good, and deny themselves, and be zealous for God. They will labor with all their might to please him, and so at length come to enjoy him. Men would rather part with all the world, life and all, than with what they have wrought in this way. You know how unwilling we are to part with anything we have labored and beaten our heads about? How much more is this true when the things are so excellent, such as our duty to God, blamelessness in our life, hope of heaven and the like, which we have beaten our hearts about. But now, when Christ appears to the soul, and when he is known in his excellence, all these things that may have been gained without him have their paint washed off. Their beauty fades. Their desirability vanishes. The soul is not only content to part with them all, but it puts them away as a defiled thing. It cries, “In the Lord Jesus only is my righteousness and glory.” Among innumerable testimonies to this is Proverbs 3:13-15. “Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain of it than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies. All the things that you can desire are not to be compared to her.” The Holy Spirit is speaking of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the eternal Wisdom of the Father; this is evident from the description that is given in Proverbs 8. He and his ways are better than silver and gold, rubies, and all desirable things. As in the gospel, he likens himself to the “pearl in the field” that, when the merchantman finds it, he sells all that he has to purchase it. All goes for Christ; all righteousness without him, all ways of religion; all goes for that one pearl. The glory of his Deity, the excellence of his person, his all-conquering desirability, ineffable love, wonderful undertaking, unspeakable condescensions, effectual mediation, complete righteousness, all of these lie in their eyes, ravish their hearts, fill their affections, and possess their souls.
This, then, is the second mutual conjugal affection between Christ and believers. On the part of Christ, it may be separated into two categories:
1. All that he parted with, all that he did, all that he suffered, and all that he does as mediator is because of his love for and his esteem of believers. He parted with the greatest glory, underwent the greatest misery, and does the greatest works that ever were, because he loves his spouse, because he values believers. What more can be said? How little we fathom the depth of what has been said! How unable we are to look into its mysterious recesses! He so loves and so values his saints that, having from eternity undertaken to bring them to God, he rejoices his soul in the thoughts of it. He pursues his design through heaven and hell, life and death, by suffering and doing, in mercy and with power; and does not cease until he brings it to perfection.
2. He so values them that he will not lose any of them to eternity, though all the world should combine to take them out of his hand. When in the days of his flesh he foresaw what opposition, what danger, what rocks they would meet with, he cried out, “Holy Father, keep them,” John 17:11. “Do not let one of them be lost;” and he tells us plainly in John 10:28, that no man will take his sheep out of his hand. Because he was then in the form of a servant, it could be supposed that he might not be able to hold them. And so he tells them true, as to his present condition of carrying on the work of mediation, his “Father was greater than he.” Therefore he committed them to him, and none could take them out of his Father’s hand, John 10:29. Although the world with its afflictions and persecutions may be conquered, these are from without. There remains the issue of security against sin from within. By the assistance of Satan, it may prevail against them to their ruin. And so Christ has taken care that sin itself will not destroy them. He has provided against Satan in his promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against them. In this, the depth of his love is to be contemplated.
Despite the fact that his holy soul hates every sin (it is a burden, an abomination, and a new wound to him), his poor spouse is sinful. Believers are full of sins, failings, and infirmities. Christ hides them all, covers them all, bears with them all, rather than lose any of the believers. His power to preserve them from such sins is a remedy not provided for in the covenant of grace. Oh, the world of sinful follies that our dear Lord Jesus bears with on this account! Are not our own souls astonished with the thought of it? Infinite patience, infinite forbearance, infinite love, infinite grace, infinite mercy, are all set in motion to this end, to respond to his valuation of us. On our part, this conjugal affection may also be divided into two categories: 1. That upon discovering Christ, we rejoice to part with all things that we have delighted in or rested our confidence upon. We exchange them for him and for his sake so that we may enjoy him. Sin and lust, pleasure and profit, righteousness and duty will all go, so that we may have Christ.
2. That when we do enjoy him, we are willing to part with all things rather than part with him. To think of parting with peace, health, liberty, relations, wives, and children is offensive. It is heavy, and it grieves the best of the saints. But our souls cannot bear the thought of parting with Jesus Christ; such a thought is as cruel as the grave. The worst fear we have of sin and hell is that we will not enjoy Jesus Christ. We can part with all things freely and cheerfully, no matter how beautiful, so that we may enjoy him here, and hereafter be like him, be ever with him, and stand in his presence.
III. The love of Christ consists in Pity or Compassion. This is the third conjugal affection on the part of Christ. As a man “nourishes and cherishes his own flesh, so does the Lord his church,” Ephesians 5:29. Christ has a fellow feeling with his saints in all their troubles, just as a man has with his own flesh. This act of conjugal love on the part of Christ relates to the many trials and pressures of afflictions that his saints meet with here below. He does not deal with believers as the Samaritans dealt with the Jews. They fawned on them in their prosperity, but despised them in their trouble. He is like a tender father who, though perhaps loving all his children alike, will take the most pains with and give most of his presence to the ones that are sick and weak. He does so even though such children may be the most froward and, it would seem, the hardest to bear with. He himself suffers with them, and takes a share in all their troubles.
All the sufferings of the saints in this world, in which their head and husband exercises pity, tenderness, care, and compassion towards them, are of two sorts: 1. Temptations. 2. Afflictions.
1. Temptations (which includes their tendency to sin), whether from their own infirmities within, or their adversaries without. The frame of Christ’s heart, and his attitude towards them in this condition, is given in Hebrews 4:15. “We do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” We do not have one who cannot. The two negations vehemently affirm that we have such a high priest who can and is touched. The word “touched” comes far short of expressing the original word. It is “sumpatesai,” [NT:4834] to “suffer together.” “We have,” says the apostle, “such a high priest as can, and consequently does, suffer with us and endure our infirmities.” In what respect he suffers with us in regard to our infirmities, or has a fellow feeling with us in them, is declared in the next words. “He was tempted as we are,” verse 15. It is in respect to our infirmities, our temptations, our spiritual weakness. He has a compassionate sympathy and fellow feeling with us particularly in that.
Whatever our infirmities may be so far as temptations go, he suffers with us under them, and he treats us with compassion. Hence, at the last day he says, “I was hungry...” (Matthew 25:35). There are two ways of expressing a fellow feeling and suffering with another: (1.) Per benevolam condolentiam, a “friendly grieving.” (2.) Per gratiosam opitulationem, a “gracious supply.” Both of these are eminent in Christ:
(1.) He grieves and labors with us. Zechariah 1:12, “The angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem?” He speaks as one intimately affected by the state and condition of poor Jerusalem. Therefore, he bid all the world to take notice that what is done to them is done to him, chap. 2:8, 9; “the apple of his eye.”
(2.) He abounds in the second. Isaiah 40:11, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his heart, and gently lead those who are with young.” Here, we have both together: tender compassion and assistance. The whole frame in which he is described here is a frame of the greatest tenderness, compassion, and condescension that can be imagined. His people are burdened with many infirmities. Some are lambs, some pregnant with young, some very tender, and some burdened with temptations. Nothing in any of them is completely strong or attractive. Christ is a shepherd to them all. He feeds his own sheep and drives them out to pleasant pasture. If he sees a poor weak lamb, he does not shove him on, but takes him into his heart, where he both eases and refreshes him. He leads him gently and tenderly. As Jacob did for those who were burdened with young, so does our dear Lord Jesus with his flock, in the various ways and paths in which he leads them. When he sees a poor soul who is weak, tender, halting, and ready to sink and perish, he takes him into his arms. By some gracious promise administered to him, he carries him and bears him up when he is not able to go one step forward. This is the cause of his great quarrel with those shepherds in Ezekiel 34:4, “Woe to you shepherds! You have not strengthened the diseased, nor healed what was sick, nor bound up what was broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost.” This is what our careful, tender husband would have done.
Mention is made of his compassion and fellow suffering with us in Hebrews 4:15. In verse 16, it is added that he administers “charin eis eukairon boeteian,” seasonable grace, grace for help in a time of need. This is evidence of compassion when, like the Samaritan, we afford seasonable help. To lament our troubles or miseries without affording help serves no purpose. Now, Christ does this; he gives “eukairon boeteian,” seasonable help. Help that meets a need is always excellent, but coming in season puts a crown on it. A pardon to a malefactor when he is ready to be executed is sweet and welcome.
Such is the assistance given by Christ. All his saints may take this as a sure rule in both their temptations and their afflictions: when they want these, they will not want relief; and when they can bear them no longer, they will be relieved, 1 Corinthians 10:13.
It is said emphatically of Christ in Hebrews 2:18 that, “Because he has suffered being tempted himself, he is able to succor those who are tempted.” It is true. But there is something more in all our temptations than there was in the temptation of Christ. There is something in us that takes part in every temptation. And there is enough in us to tempt us, even if nothing else appeared against us. With Christ it was not so, John 14:30. But this does not limit his compassion towards us. By all accounts, it increases it. For if he will succor us because we are tempted, the sorer our temptations are, the more ready he will be to succor us. Take some examples of Christ’s giving “eukairon boeteian,” seasonable help, when we are tempted to sin. He does this in several ways:
[1.] By keeping the person who is liable to a particular temptation, and exposed to it, in a strong habitual bent against that sin. So it was in the case of Joseph: Christ knew that Joseph’s great trial would be found in his mistress tempting him to lewdness. If he had been conquered in this sin, he would have been undone. And so Christ kept his heart in a steady frame against that sin, as his undeliberated answer argues, Genesis 39:9. In other things, in which he was not so deeply concerned, Joseph’s heart was not so fortified by habitual grace. This would appear to be the case when he swore by the life of Pharaoh. This is one way by which Christ gives suitable help to his own, in tenderness and compassion. The saints, in the course of their lives, by the company, society, and business they find themselves in, are exposed to and become liable to temptations both great and violent, some of one kind, some of another. Christ is exceedingly kind and tender to them in fortifying their hearts with an abundance of grace regarding those temptations to sin to which they are most exposed. Perhaps in other things they are very weak, and often surprised.
[2.] By some strong impulse of actual grace, Christ sometimes recovers the soul from the very borders of sin. So it was in the case of David, 1 Samuel 24:4-6. “He was almost gone,” as he says himself; “his feet had nearly slipped.” The temptation was at the point of prevailing, when a mighty impulse of grace recovered him. To show his saints what they are, their own weakness and infirmity, Christ sometimes allows them to go to the very edge of the hill. And then he causes them to hear a word behind them, saying with power and efficacy, “This is the right way, walk in it,” and so he recovers them to himself.
[3.] By taking away the temptation itself when it grows so strong and violent that the poor soul does not know what to do. This is called “delivering the godly out of temptation,” 2 Peter 2:9. A man is plucked out of the snare, and the snare is left behind to hold another. I have known this to be the case for many in a number of perplexing temptations. They have been quite weary, and tried all means of help and assistance, and yet they have been unable to come to a comfortable resolution. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the Lord Christ, in his tenderness and compassion, rebukes Satan so that they do not hear one word more from him about their temptation. Christ comes in the storm, and says, “Peace, be still.”
[4.] By giving fresh supplies of grace as temptations grow or increase. So it was in the case of Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:9. “My grace is sufficient for you.” The temptation, whatever it was, grew high. Paul was earnest for its removal.
Despite the growth of the temptation, he receives only this answer that the grace of God is sufficient for his support.
[5.] By giving them wisdom to make a right, holy, and spiritual improvement to all temptations. James bids us “count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations,” James 1:2. This could not be done if there were not a holy and spiritual use to be made of them, which he indicates in the words that follow.
There are various uses of temptations that experienced Christians, with suitable assistance from Christ, may make of them. Not the least is that by them we are brought to know ourselves. Hezekiah was left to be tried to know what was in him (2 Kings 20). By temptation, some heart-hidden corruption is often discovered that the soul knew nothing of before. As it was with Hazael in respect to enormous crimes (2 Kings 8:13-15), so it is in lesser things with the saints. They would never have believed such lusts and corruptions were in them until they discovered them upon their temptations. Many having been tempted to one sin, have discovered another that they did not think of. Some, being tempted to pride, worldliness, or looseness of life, have been startled by it. This led to a discovery of their neglect of their many duties and communion with God, which they did not think of before. This is from the tender care of Jesus Christ in giving them suitable help, without which no man can possibly make use of or improve a temptation. And this is suitable help indeed. A temptation might otherwise be a deadly wound, but instead it only lances a festered sore. It lets out the corruption that might otherwise have endangered life itself. So we read in 1 Peter 1:6, “If need be, you are in heaviness through various temptations.”
[6.] When a believer is being overcome by temptations, Christ in his tenderness relieves him with mercy and pardon, so that he will not completely sink under the burden, 1 John 2:1-2. By one or all of these ways, the Lord Jesus manifests his conjugal tenderness and compassion towards the saints in and under their temptations.
2. Christ is compassionate towards them in their afflictions: “In all their affliction he is afflicted,” Isaiah 63:9. It seems that all our afflictions (at least in persecutions) are his in the first place, and ours only by participation. We “fill up the measure of the afflictions of Christ,” Colossians 1:24. Two things evidently manifest this compassion in Christ:
(1.) His interceding with his Father for their relief, Zechariah 1:12. Christ intercedes on our behalf, not only in respect to our sins, but also our sufferings. When the work of our afflictions is accomplished, we will have the relief he intercedes for. The Father always hears him. We do not have relief from trouble, recovery of health, ease of pain, or freedom from any evil without the intercession of Jesus Christ. If believers look at their mercies as the dispensing of common providence, then they are unacquainted with their own condition. This may, indeed, be the reason we do not esteem them more, we are not more thankful for them, nor more fruitful in the enjoyment of them. We do not see how, by what means, or on what account, they are dispensed to us. The people of God in the world today are alive and undevoured only because of the intercession of the Lord Jesus. His compassion has been the fountain of their deliverance. Hence, he often rebukes their sufferings and afflictions so their effect on believers is limited while they are under them. He is with them when they pass through fire and water, Isaiah 43:2-3.
(2.) In resolving the matter, he sorely revenges the complaint of their sufferings upon their enemies. He avenges his elect who cry to him, and he does it speedily. The cause of Zion will lead on the day of his vengeance, Isa.
34:8. He looks upon them sometimes in distress, and considers the state of the world in reference to them. “We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest,” say his messengers to him (Zechariah 1:11). He sends them to consider the world and its condition during the affliction of his people. This is the common condition of the world in such seasons: “They are at rest and quiet, their hearts are satiated; they drink wine from bowls, and send gifts to one another,” Revelation 11:10. Then Christ looks to see who will come to succor them, Isaiah 59:16-17. Finding none, he engages himself for their relief by destroying their adversaries. Now, he accomplishes this vengeance two ways:
[1.] Temporally, upon persons, kingdoms, nations, and countries as he did upon the old Roman world, Revelation 6:15-16. You have a type of this in Isa.
63:1-6. And this he also does two ways:
1st. By raising up an eminent opposer, and making him an example to the world. So he dealt with Pharaoh: “For this cause have I raised you up,” Exodus 9:16. So he does to this day. He lays his hand upon eminent adversaries, fills one with fury, another with folly, blasts a third, and makes another wither; or he destroys them utterly and terribly. Like a provoked lion, he does not lie down without his prey.
2dly. In general, in the vials of his wrath that in these latter days he will pour out upon the anti-Christian world, and upon all that join them in their thoughts of vengeance and persecution. He will miserably destroy them, and make such work of them in the course of it, that whoever hears of it will have both ears tingle.
[2.] Eternally; in eternal vengeance he will answer the adversaries of his beloved, Matthew 25:41-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:6; Jude 1:15. It is evident from this that Christ abounds in pity and compassion towards his beloved. More examples might be given, but these things are obvious, and occur to everyone. In response to this pity and compassion, I place in the saints, chastity to Christ in every state and condition. The apostle endeavored that this might be the state of the church of Corinth, 2 Corinthians 11:2-3. “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” And so it is said of the followers of the Lamb on mount Zion in Revelation 14:4. “These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.” What defilement they were free from will be declared later.
Now, there are three things in which this chastity consists: 1. Not taking anything into their affections and esteem for those ends and purposes for which they have received Jesus Christ. Here the Galatians failed in their conjugal affection to Christ. They did not preserve themselves chaste to him. They received Christ for life and justification, and him only. But after a while they were overcome with charms, or bewitched. They put the righteousness of the law in the same place as him. How Paul deals with them in this matter is known. How sorely, how pathetically he admonishes them, how severely he reproves them, and how clearly he convinces them of their madness and folly! This, then, is the first chaste affection believers must bear in their heart to Christ. Having received him for their righteousness and salvation before God, for the fountain, spring, and well-head of all their supplies, they must not receive anything else into his room and in his stead. For one particular example: We receive Christ for our acceptance by God. All that can compete with him for our affections is our own striving for a righteousness to commend us to God. Now, this must be either before we receive him, or after. As for all the duties and endeavors we do to please God before receiving Christ, you know the apostle’s attitude from Php 3:8-10. He rejects all endeavors, all advantages, and all privileges with indignation. He sees them with abomination, as loss, and as dung. He wraps up all his aims and desires in Christ alone and his righteousness for that purpose. But the works that we do after we have received Christ are another consideration. Indeed, they are acceptable to God; it pleases him that we walk in them. But as to the purpose for which we receive Christ, they have no more value than our prior works, Ephesians 2:8-10. Even the works we do after believing, those we are created to do in Christ Jesus, those that God has ordained believers “should walk in,” are excluded from our justification and acceptance by God (i.e. salvation). One day it will appear that Christ abhors the wranglings of men about the place of their own works and obedience in the business of their acceptance by God. The saints will not find any peace in adulterous thoughts of that kind. The chastity we owe to Christ requires another attitude. The necessity, usefulness, and excellence of gospel obedience will be declared later. I marvel to see how hard it is to keep some professors of Christ faithful in this thing. How many disputes have been contrived, distinctions invented, and evasions studied, just so they may dally with that? Those who truly love him have their minds on other things. Of all things, then, the saints endeavor to keep their affections chaste and loyal to Jesus Christ in this area of trusting in his obedience alone. He is made
“righteousness” to them by God (1 Corinthians 1:30), and they will accept nothing else for that purpose. In fact, sometimes they do not know whether they have any interest in him or not because he withdraws himself. And yet, they still continue in solitude, in a state of widowhood, refusing to be comforted, even though many things offer to replace him in his absence. When Christ is absent from our soul at any time, when we cannot see that we have any interest in him, many lovers will offer themselves to us. Many will woo our affections to get us to rest on this or that thing for relief and succor. But even though our soul mourns ever so long, it will lean upon nothing but Christ. Whenever the soul is in the wilderness, in the saddest condition, it will stay there until Christ comes to gather it up, until it can be brought forth from the wilderness leaning upon him, Song of Solomon 8:5. The one who has communion with Christ watches diligently over his own heart so that nothing creeps into its affections, and nothing gives it any peace or security before God, except Christ alone. Whenever he asks himself, “With what shall I come before the LORD, and appear before the high God?” he does not think, “I will do this or that;” or, “I will watch here and there, and amend my ways.” Instead, he instantly cries, “I have righteousness in the Lord Jesus. My only desire is to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own,”
(Php 3:9).
2. The second thing this chastity consists of is cherishing the Spirit, that holy Comforter whom Christ sends to abide with us in his room and in his stead. He tells us that he sends him for that purpose in John 16:7. He gives him to us,
“vicariam navare operam,” “a substitute to render energetic assistance,” says Tertullian. He gives him to abide with us forever, for all those ends and purposes which he has to fulfill toward and upon us. He gives him to dwell in us, to keep us, and to preserve us blameless for him. Christ’s name is in him, and with him.
Whatever is done to any who belong to Christ is done to Christ, because it is done to those in whom he dwells by his Spirit. This is why the saints preserve their conjugal affections entirely for Christ. They labor by all means not to grieve his Holy Spirit whom he has sent in his stead to abide with them. The apostle puts them in mind of this in Ephesians 4:30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.”
There are two main purposes for which Christ sends his Spirit to believers: (1.) For their sanctification;
(2.) For their consolation.
All the particular acts of purging, teaching, anointing, and the rest that are ascribed to him, come under these two headings. So there are two ways by which we may grieve him:
[1.] In respect to sanctification;
[2.] In respect to consolation:
(1.) In respect to sanctification. He is the Spirit of holiness, holy in himself, and the author of holiness in us. He works holiness in us, Titus 3:5, and he persuades us to be holy by those impulses of his that are not to be quenched.
He is carrying on a work in and for us that is so infinitely to our advantage; without it we cannot see God. What primarily grieves the Spirit is when we run at cross-purposes to him, in ways of unholiness, pollution, and defilement. So the words “Grieve not the Holy Spirit” are connected to the obedience of Ephesians 4:28-31. Thus Paul bases his powerful and most effectual argument to be holy on the abiding and indwelling of this Holy Spirit, 1 Cor.
3:16-17. Indeed, what can grieve a loving and tender friend more than to oppose him and slight him when he is most intent on our good, and a good of the greatest consequence to us. In this, then, believers make it their business to keep their hearts loyal and their affections chaste to Jesus Christ. They instantly labor not to grieve the Holy Spirit by loose and foolish behavior, by careless and negligent walking. Therefore anger, wrath, malice, and envy will no longer dwell in their hearts, because they are contrary to the holy, meek Spirit of Christ, whom he has given to dwell with them. They attend to his impulses, make use of his assistance, and improve his gifts. Nothing lies more upon their spirits than to be worthy of the presence of this holy substitute of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2.) As to consolation. This is the second great end for which Christ gives and sends his Spirit to us, and for which he is eminently called “The Comforter.” To this end he seals us, anoints us, establishes us, and gives us peace and joy.
I will speak at large of all this later. For now, there are two ways by which he may be grieved in this end of his mission, and by which we may violate our chastity to Jesus Christ:
[1.] By placing our comforts and joys in other things, and not being filled with joy in the Holy Spirit. When we make creatures or creature comforts our joy and our delight, when we do so with anything other than what we receive by the Spirit of Christ, we are being false with Christ. So it was with Demas who loved the present world (2 Timothy 4:10). When the ways of the Spirit of God grieve and burden us, when we say, “When will the Sabbath be past so that we may do our work?” when our delight and refreshment lies in earthly things, that is when we are unsuitable to Christ. May not his Spirit say, “Why do I still abide with these poor souls? I provide them joys unspeakable and glorious, but they exchange them for perishing things. I provide them spiritual, eternal, abiding consolations, and it is all rejected for nothing.” Christ cannot bear this. Therefore, believers are exceeding careful not to place their joy and consolation in anything but what is administered by the Spirit. Their daily work is to get their hearts crucified to the world and its things. So that they may not have living affections for dying things, they fabricate looking at the world as a crucified, dead thing that has neither form nor beauty. If at any time they become enamored of creatures and inferior contentments, and lose their better joys, they cry out to Christ, “O restore to us the joys of your Spirit!”
[2.] The Spirit is grieved when, through darkness and unbelief, we will not receive those consolations that he tenders to us, and which he deeply wants us to receive. But I will speak of this later in handling our communion with the Holy Spirit.
3. The third thing this chastity consists of is the matter and manner of his worship. Christ has married his church to himself, taking us into a marriage relationship. He expresses that, in the main, the church’s chaste and choice affections toward him lie in keeping his institutions and his worship according to his appointment. When we breach this fidelity, he calls it “adultery” and
“whoredom.” He is a “jealous God,” and he gives himself that title only in respect to his institutions. The whole apostasy of the Christian church to false worship is called “fornication”; and the church that leads others to false worship is called the “mother of harlots.” On this account, those believers who really attend to communion with Jesus Christ, labor to keep their hearts chaste to him in his ordinances, institutions, and worship; and that is done in two ways: (1.) They will receive nothing, practice nothing, and accept nothing in his worship that is not appointed by him. They know that from the foundation of the world he never allowed the will of the creatures to be the measure of his honor or the principle of his worship, either as to matter or manner. The second commandment forbids the use of images and likenesses. What is so severely forbidden is inventing or finding ways of worship, or ways of honoring God, which are not appointed by him. Believers know how God reacts to all will-worship: “Who has required these things at your hand?”
(Isaiah 1:12), and, “You worship me in vain, teaching the traditions of men as doctrines,” (Matthew 15:9; Isaiah 29:13).
I will take leave to say that, when the church believes it has the power to institute anything in the worship of God that goes beyond the orderly circumstances attending the ordinances that Christ himself instituted, it becomes the basis for all the horrible superstition and idolatry, all the confusion, blood, persecution, and wars, that have for so long spread themselves over the face of the Christian world. I do not doubt that the great controversy which God has had with this nation for so many years, and which he has pursued with so much anger and indignation, was upon this account.
Contrary to the glorious light of the gospel that shone among us, the wills and fancies of men concerning the ways and worship of God were imposed on men in the name of order, decency, and the authority of the church. All the pretence of glory, beauty, attractiveness, and conformity that was pleaded then, was nothing more than what God describes in the church of Israel as harlotry, Ezekiel 16:25. This was how the Spirit of God in prayer was derided, the powerful preaching of the gospel was despised, the Sabbath was decried, and holiness stigmatized and persecuted. And to what end?
• To depose Jesus Christ from the sole privilege and power of law-making in his church;
• To shove aside the true husband, and embrace the adulterers of his spouse;
• To appoint taskmasters that he never authorized over his house, Eph.
4:11;
• To introduce a ceremonious, pompous, outward show of worship, drawn from Pagan, Judaical, and Anti-Christian observations, of which there is not one little word or iota in the whole book of God.
Those who hold communion with Christ are therefore careful to admit nothing and practice nothing in the worship of God, whether private or public, unless they have his warrant for it. Unless it comes in his name, with “Thus says the Lord Jesus,” they will not hear an “angel from heaven.”
(Galatians 1:8). They know that the apostles themselves were to teach the saints only what Christ commanded them, Matthew 28:20. Not long ago, many thousands in this very nation left their native soil and went to a vast and howling wilderness in the farthest reaches of the world [America]. They did so to keep their souls undefiled and chaste to their dear Lord Jesus in this matter of his worship and institutions.
(2.) Positively, to keep their hearts chaste to him in his ordinances, institutions, and worship, they readily embrace, receive, and practice everything that the Lord Christ does appoint. They diligently inquire into his mind and will so that they may know what those things are. They go to him for directions, and beg him to lead them in the way that they have not known (John 14:5). The 119th Psalm may be a pattern for this. How the good, holy soul breathes after instruction in the ways and ordinances, the statutes and judgments, of God! They are sensitive to whatever is of Christ. They willingly submit to it, accept it, and give themselves up to its constant practice. They refuse whatever comes from anything else.
IV. Finally, the love of Christ consists in Bounty.
Christ manifests and evidences his love to his saints through bounty, the rich and plentiful provision that he makes for them. It has “pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell,” Colossians 1:19. That is done for this purpose, that “we might all receive of his fullness, and grace for grace,” John 1:16. I will not go into the particulars of the provision that Christ makes for his saints, and all those influences of the Spirit, of life and grace, that they receive from him daily, the bread and refreshment they have from him to the full. I will only observe that the Scripture affirms that he does all things for them abundantly, richly, and bountifully. Whatever he gives us, his grace to assist us, his presence to comfort us, he does it abundantly. You have the general assertion of it in Romans 5:20,
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” If grace abounds much more in comparison to sin, it is abundant grace indeed. This will easily be granted by anyone who considers how flirting with sin abounds in every soul.
Hence, he is able to do for us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” Ephesians 3:20, and we are bid to expect that. Is it pardoning mercy that we receive from him? Well, he does “abundantly pardon,” Isaiah 55:7; He will multiply or add to pardon. He will add pardon to pardon. Grace and mercy will abound above all our sins and iniquities. Is it the Spirit that he gives us? He sheds him upon us richly or “abundantly,” Tit.
3:6. He not only bids us to drink of the water of life freely, but he also bestows him in such a plentiful measure that rivers of water flow from those who receive him, John 7:38-39. They will never thirst any more when they have drunk of him. Is it grace that we receive of him? He gives that in bounty also. We receive
“abundance of grace,” Romans 5:17. He “abounds toward us in all wisdom and prudence,” Ephesians 1:8. Hence we find that invitation in Song of Solomon 5:1, “Eat, O friends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones!” If we are restricted in anything, it is in ourselves. Christ deals bountifully with us. Indeed, the great sin of believers is that we do not make use of Christ’s bounty as we ought to do. We do not take mercy from him in abundance every day. The oil never ceases till the vessels cease. Supplies from Christ fail only when our faith fails in receiving them.
Then our response to Christ is a duty. To this end, two things are required: 1. That we pursue and practice holiness in all its power, because it is obedience to Jesus Christ. Under this formal duty, gospel obedience means, “Whatever Christ commands us,” Matthew 28:20. He says in John 15:14, “You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.” We are required to live to the one who died for us, 2 Corinthians 5:15. We live to him in all holy obedience. We live to him as our Lord and King. I am not suggesting that there are specific precepts and laws from Jesus Christ that justify us by observing them, as the Socinians fancy. The gospel requires no more of us than “to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and all our souls,” which the law also required. The Lord Jesus brought us into acceptance by God. In that condition, our obedience is well-pleasing to him. And we bring honor to Christ as we honor the Father. So, we have a unique regard to him in all our obedience. He has purchased us for himself, Titus 2:14. And thus, in their obedience, believers consider Jesus Christ, (1.) As the author of their faith and obedience. It is for his sake that it is
“given to them to believe,” Php 1:29. It is Christ who works that obedience in them by his Spirit. So the apostle says in Hebrews 12:1-2. In the course of our obedience, we still look to Jesus, “the author of our faith.” Faith is here both the grace of faith, and the fruit of faith in obedience.
(2.) As the one in whom, for whom, and by whom we have acceptance by God in our obedience. Believers know that all their duties are weak, imperfect, and unable to abide the presence of God. Therefore, they look to Christ as the one who bears any iniquity in their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, pulls out all the weeds from their duties, and makes them acceptable to God.
(3.) As the one who renewed the commands of God to them, with mighty obligations to obedience. And so the apostle says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “The love of Christ constrains us.”
(4.) And they consider him as God, equal with his Father, to whom all honor and obedience is due. So it says in Revelation 5:13. But I have opened these things in another treatise, not long ago, dealing with the worship of Christ as mediator. In all their obedience, then, the saints have a special regard for their dear Lord Jesus. For these reasons and many others, he is continually in their thoughts. His love for them, his life for them, his death for them, all his kindness and mercy, constrains them to live for him.
2. Our response to Christ requires laboring to abound in fruits of holiness. Just as he deals with us bountifully and abundantly, so he requires that we abound in all grateful, obedient returns to him. We are exhorted to “always abound in the work of the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 15:58. This is what I mean: the saints are never satisfied with the measure they have attained; instead, they continue to press so that they may be more dutiful and more fruitful to Christ. This is a little glimpse of some of that communion which we enjoy with Christ.
It is only a little from someone who has the least experience of it of all the saints of God. And yet I have found in this communion what is better than ten thousand worlds. I desire to spend the residue of the few and evil days of my pilgrimage in pursuit of it, in the contemplation of the excellence, desirability, love, and grace of our dear Lord Jesus, and in returning obedience according to his will. This is the great relief to my soul, that in the midst of the perplexities of this wretched world, and cursed rebellions of my own heart, “He that will come will come, and will not tarry,” (Hebrews 10:37). “The Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that reads say, Come. Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” (Revelation 22:17; Revelation 22:20).