07. No benefit by Christ without union

No benefit by Christ without union He sets us at liberty when be sanctifieth us. And he sets us then at liberty fully in glorification.

First of all, the Spirit of God is a Spirit of liberty, when we are first called powerfully and effectually. For living in the church sets us not at liberty, unless the Spirit stir us up to answer a divine call. ’For many are called but few are chosen,’ Matthew 20:16. In the church there is Hagar and Ishmael as well as Isaac. There are hypocrites as well as sound Christians. There is outward baptism as well as inward. There is outward circumcision of the flesh as well as inward of the spirit. A man may have all these outward privileges, and yet notwithstanding be a slave in the bosom of the church; for Ishmael was a bond-slave though he were in the house of Abraham. Therefore the first beginning of spiritual liberty is, (1.) When the Spirit of God in the ordinances, in the means of salvation, stirs up the heart to answer God’s call as it were. When we are exhorted to believe and repent, the Spirit gives power to echo to God, ’Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief,’ Mark 9:24. Lord, I repent, and desire to repent more and more. When the Spirit of God in the ordinance saith, ’Seek my face, Thy face, Lord, will I seek,’ Psalms 27:8. Be thou mine, Lord, and I will be thine. This spiritual echo and answer of the soul comes from the Spirit of God in calling, and it is the first degree of liberty.

(2.) Now this answer of the soul, by the power of the Spirit, overpowering our corruptions, is together with the obedience of the inward man to go out. For man answereth the call, not only by the speech of the heart, Lord, I do it; but he doth it indeed. Therefore when by the power of the Spirit we come out of the world and out of our corruptions, and walk more freely in the ways of God, then we are set at spiritual liberty. Now the Spirit doth all this. For if it were not the Spirit that persuaded the soul, when the minister speaks, alas! all ministerial persuasions are to no purpose. If the Spirit do not stir up the soul to answer, all speech is to no purpose from men. But this the Spirit doth. In the first place he openeth the eyes with spiritual eye-salve to see our natural bondage; he openeth our eyes to see, I must come out of this condition if I will be saved, of necessity, or else I am miserable for ever. And it is enough for the soul of a miserable man if he be convinced to see his misery and bondage, what he is by nature; for let us be convinced of that once, and all the rest of the links of the golden chain of salvation will follow. Let a man be convinced that he is as the Scripture saith he is, and as hereafter he shall find to his cost, you shall not need to bid him come out of his conversation and condition, and worldly course that he is in. All this will follow where there is conviction of spirit. Therefore the first work of the Spirit in spiritual liberty is to convince us of sin and misery; and then to work, as I said, an answer of the soul, and an obedience of the whole man. This I will not be long in, being a clear point.

Second, ’Where the Spirit is, there is liberty.’ Again, in matter of justification there is a liberty and freedom of conscience from sin and the curse of sin, and all the danger that follows upon sin, by the Spirit.

Obj. But you will say, the liberty of justification is wrought by Christ; we are justified by the obedience of Christ; and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us.

Ans. It is true Christ is our righteousness. But what is that to us except we have something to put it on? Except we be united to Christ, what good have we by Christ if Christ be not ours? If there be not a spiritual marriage, what benefit have we by him if we have not him to pay our debt? For his riches to be ours, and our debt to be his, there must be a union first. Now this union is wrought by the Spirit. It is begun in effectual calling. From this union there comes to be a change; his righteousness is mine, as if I had obeyed and done it by myself; and my debts and sins are his. This is by the Spirit, because the union between Christ and me is by the Spirit. For whatsoever Christ hath done, it is nothing to me till there be a union. And then freedom is by the Spirit likewise, because the Spirit of God works faith in me, not only to unite and knit me to Christ, but faith to persuade me that Christ is mine, and that all his is mine, and that my debts are his. This supernatural hand of faith the Spirit works to lay hold upon Christ, and then to persuade me. For the Spirit is a lightsome thing, and together with the graces it tells me the graces it works. As reason, besides reason, it tells me that I use reason when I do. It hath a reflex act. So the Spirit of Christ it hath a reflex act upon itself; for, being above reason, it doth not only lay hold upon Christ, it doth not only do the work, but it tells me that I do so when I do. Therefore it not only tells me that Christ is mine when I believe, but it assures me that I do believe. It carries a light of its own. I know the light by the light, and reason by reason, and faith by faith, together with the reflex act joining with it. So that the reflex act joining with it, the Spirit is the cause of liberty in justification in that respect, as it is a means of union, whereupon there is a passage of all that is Christ’s to be mine, and mine to be Christ’s. And likewise it assures me that I do believe, when I do believe without error. For the Spirit is given me to know the things that I have by Christ, not only to know the privileges by Christ, but the graces of Christ.

And, beloved, unless the Spirit should do it, it would never be done; for the soul of man is so full of terrors and fears and jealousies, that except the Spirit of God witness to my spirit, that God is reconciled in Christ, and that Christ’s righteousness is mine, I could never be persuaded of it. For the soul it alway thinks God is holiness itself, and I am a mass of sin. What reason have I to think that God will be so favourable to such a wretch, to such a lump of sin as I am, were it not that God the Son hath satisfied God the Father? God hath satisfied God; and the Spirit certifies my conscience. So the Spirit, that searcheth the deep things of God, that knows what love is in the breast of God, and therefore he searcheth the heart, he searcheth the heart of God, and he searcheth my spirit. Except the Spirit should tell me that God the Son hath satisfied (and God the Father will accept of the satisfaction of God the Son), I should never believe it. Therefore God must stablish the heart in a gracious liberty of justification, as well as that God the Son hath wrought it.

It is no wonder that men of great parts without grace are full of terrors and despair; for the more parts and wit a man hath without the Spirit of God, the more he disputes against himself, and entangles himself with desperate thoughts. But when the Spirit is brought to speak peace to the soul in Christ, and makes the soul to cast itself on him for salvation, then God’s Spirit is above the conscience. Though conscience be above all things else, yet God is above conscience, and can still the conscience; and the Spirit tells us that God the Father is reconciled by the death of God the Son. And when God witnesseth what God hath wrought, then conscience is at peace. Thus we see how the Spirit sets us at liberty in the great matter of justification.