02.02. Of the Duties we Owe to God the Father
Chapter 2 - Of the Duties we Owe to God the Father NO man hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. The glory of the Father shines forth in the doctrine, in the person, in the work of Christ. When He gives us the light of His glory, it is in the face of Jesus Christ. If we have not seen the glory of the Father in the Son, the Gospel is hid from us, and we are still in darkness. But if we have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ, our hearts will be filled with wonder and love; and we will ascribe salvation unto our God, who sitteth upon the throne, as well as to the Lamb.
Although we know that we can make no adequate requital for His love, we will be desirous of showing forth our gratitude by all the methods prescribed in His Holy Word. When we ascribe glory to God the Father for our redemption by His Son, and our sanctification by His Spirit, we are far from excluding any of the Divine Persons from an equal share in our gratitude. The Father, in the counsels of grace, sustained the majesty of that Godhead which belongs equally to each of the Divine Persons. On this account the name of God is sometimes appropriated to the First Person, although we are sure that by an equal right it belongs to the Son and the Holy Ghost. As the Godhead which belongs to each Person in the Trinity was glorified in our redemption by Christ, so in the purpose and contrivance of our redemption by the Father, the Son and Spirit appear equally glorious with Himself.
If we do not honour the Son even as we honour the Father, and if we do not honour the Spirit even as we honour the Father and the Son, we forget the essential unity of the Godhead, the equality of the Divine Persons, their reciprocal relations, their inseparable conjunction, their common right to the homage and service of all who are baptised in their name. The Scripture tells us that all spiritual blessings originate in an eternal purpose which was formed by God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and that all that has been, or shall be, done by our Saviour in securing the blessings of salvation is the result of that merciful appointment (Ephesians 1:3-4;. Ephesians 3:9-11; Romans 8:28-31). The question now to be considered is, What shall we render to the Lord for His eternal thoughts of mercy towards guilty men; and for His gracious agency, through His Son and Spirit, in accomplishing His intentions? That we may render unto God our grateful homage for what He has purposed, and for what He has accomplished, we might to know and believe the love of God towards us.
I. - KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF OF HIS LOVE
"We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."- 1 John 4:16.
What was the grand design of God in contriving the plan of human redemption, and raising up for us a horn of salvation? His purpose, saith Paul, was "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."
Nothing can be more groundless than the notion which some have entertained, that we have more reason to confide in the love of Christ than in the love of the Father, as if the Father’s love to us depended on the mediation of our Redeemer. It is, indeed, certain that all the blessed effects of God’s love come to us through Christ, but it is no less certain that Jesus did not pray for the Father’s love, nor purchase it by His sufferings. On the contrary, Christ became our Surety and the High Priest of our profession, because God, who loved us, called Him to undertake and execute on our behalf all that was necessary to our eternal peace. In every part of our salvation the glory of the Father’s love is displayed to the admiring eyes of the believer. When human pride can discern nothing that is amiable, but much that is repulsive, the humble faith of the Christian beholds a "love that passeth knowledge." In His predestination of some sinners to life, whilst others are passed by, the Almighty is represented by men of corrupt minds as a capricious tyrant, dooming multitudes to perdition whom He might with as good reason have appointed to salvation. But this very circumstance is, to humble believers, a clear and unequivocal demonstration of the freeness and sovereignty of the love of God. They know and are assured that there is no unrighteousness with Him, and that He can visit none with His wrath but such as well deserve it. When at the same time they are assured that many are chosen to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, they infer on sure grounds that nothing but the sovereignty of grace could make the distinction, and that all the praise of salvation is due to God Himself, for it is He only that makes one man to differ from another. What can be plainer than this, that God cannot treat sinners worse than they deserve. It is therefore no less plain, if the doctrine of election be true, that He treats many of them infinitely better than they deserve, and that the reasons of that goodwill by which they are distinguished are to be found entirely within Himself.
Those who will not believe the doctrine of personal unconditional election deny to God the glory of the absolute freeness of His grace. Something in the creatures chosen to life appears to them to have been the cause of God’s special love. But when we know and believe that Divine mercy made the distinction, we ascribe all that praise to God which others would share betwixt Him and His creatures. "Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory!" are words which in their full sense cannot be used but by those who believe that the happy partakers of His salvation were "predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." If God made a distinction between one man and another, because He foresaw that the one would improve His grace better than the other, we might indeed ascribe to Him the glory of exact righteousness, and of a high degree of goodness; but if He determined to communicate saving grace to some rather than others, simply because it pleased Him to make that distinction, then all who partake of His love have reason to say with adoring gratitude, "He hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
Since sovereign grace appears illustrious in the free bestowal of eternal life upon multitudes who are not by nature more worthy of it than those who perish in their sins, so also the whole purpose and contrivance of the scheme of mercy must be attributed to the same glorious cause. God could be under no obligation to save one of the human race more than all the children of Adam, for they were all in the same lost and ruined condition. Neither could He be under any obligation to save fallen men rather than the angels who kept not their first estate, and are doomed to hopeless perdition for a single sin. What, then, but sovereign love could form an eternal purpose of salvation for sinners of the human family? What but infinite grace could foreordain the incarnation of the Son of God, and His obedience and death in room of the guilty? He had no need of the love or service of His fallen creatures. He foresaw what enmity against His unspotted purity and His Divine authority would possess their hearts. Yet in His love and pity His wisdom planned their salvation, and He entered into covenant with His beloved Son to accomplish it. Sacrifice and offering God did not desire, but it was His eternal will that we should be sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The delight of the Father, no less than that of the Son, was from eternity with the sons of men; and therefore when Adam sinned, God said, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom." Salvation was revealed and communicated to the guilty progenitors of our race; and the Son of God executed His Father’s pleasure in the recovery of myriads from their fallen condition, long before He actually came into the world to make His soul an offering for sin. The fulness of the time being come, "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons." He "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Was it possible that He who is Himself love could give a more amazing proof of His mercy? He not only gave His Son to suffer for our sins, but His own hand inflicted those awful sufferings which none but an incarnate God could endure. He was not merely delivered up to be insulted, smitten, and crucified by wicked men, "it pleased the Lord also to bruise him, and put him to grief." Such was God’s love to His guilty creatures that for a season He even hid His face from His own beloved and holy Son. No wonder that the sun was covered with thick darkness when the Creator of the universe shrouded the Son of His love with so dark a cloud in the day of His anger.
Christ compares His love to His people to the Father’s love to Himself. The comparison is so wonderful that we find it difficult to recognise its propriety. Still it is fully justified by this most amazing of all transactions. To stand in doubt of the love of God when He Himself declares it, is inexcusable; but to call it in question when attested by the blood of His own Son, is beyond measure criminal. The love of God appears not only in the incarnation, sufferings, and death, but also in the resurrection and glory of our Redeemer. As He died for our offences, He was raised again for our justification, and received up into glory, that our faith and hope might be in God. If God’s love to Israel was the reason why Solomon was made king, that He might execute judgment and justice among that highly-favoured people, how much more ought we to magnify that love which advanced our Lord to the throne of His glory, that He might sway a sceptre of mercy over the human race, and fully accomplish the salvation of His people! Nor is the love of the Father less evident in the office and operation of the Holy Spirit. God knew that no human being, without the effectual working of the Spirit, would be led to avail himself of the redemption devised by the Father and accomplished by the Son. Such is our natural blindness that we cannot understand the necessity or value of Christ’s salvation. Such is our pride and stubbornness of spirit that we will rather perish than come to Christ for life, unless our eyes are opened, and our hearts of stone softened and made hearts of flesh. But God in His great mercy sends His good Spirit to enlighten our dark minds, and subdue our rebellious wills to a hearty compliance with His plan of mercy. If we admire that love which sent the Son of God in the likeness of sinful flesh that He might be made a curse for us, we have no less reason to be astonished at the display of love seen in the gift of the Holy Ghost, that He may dwell in hearts defiled by that abominable thing which God hates, and by sanctifying them wholly, make men meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. In the persons and work of Christ and of the Holy Spirit we behold the love of the Father in its freeness and sovereignty, eternity, immutability, and incomprehensible excellency!
Nothing can be more unscriptural than to entertain ideas derogatory to the love of the Father, through our grateful admiration of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That we are not indebted to Christ for the love of the Father is manifest from the fact that we have the brightest proof of that love in the accomplishment of the Father’s purpose, in the incarnation and death of His Son. God does not love us because Christ died for us, but Christ died for us because God is love. He is not merely a God of love, but He is love itself; and hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us.
God would have been eternally and immutably worthy of the supreme love of all rational creatures though He had never purposed to save a single sinner or pardon any sin; but He could not, in that case, be the object of delight to those who could expect nothing from Him but fiery indignation.
Some will, perhaps, say that if they were assured of their own election they would believe in the love of God, and join with the apostle in blessing Him who had already "blessed them with all spiritual blessings in Christ, according as He hath chosen them in Him before the foundation of the world."
But, as matters stand, they profess to be unable to take any comfortable view of the Divine nature, since, for aught they know, God may be to them a "consuming fire."
Let us beware of perplexing ourselves about matters which, being too high for us, lie beyond our comprehension. Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong unto us, that we may observe to do according to all the words of God’s law.
It is true we are deeply interested in the question, whether we belong to the happy number of God’s elect or not, and it is a point on which we may obtain complete satisfaction to our minds if we only take God’s way of obtaining it. The revelation of God in His Word is the rule and foundation of our faith. Let us receive Christ as our own Saviour by believing in His name, and through faith we shall assure ourselves of God’s special love. When we believingly commit the salvation of our souls into the hands of Christ, we can have no reason to doubt our election by God; because faith in Christ is always the fruit of electing and unalterable love. Of certain among the Gentiles it is said, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).
If we felt the love of God in our bosoms, say some, we would believe the love of God towards us. But how can we hope to feel our hearts inflamed with love towards God before we believe His love to us? "We love him because he first loved us." His love to us must go before our love to Him; it must he known and believed in, that we may feel constrained to love Him in return. We must first plant the tree before we gather its precious fruits. Realising the great love wherewith He hath loved us, we shall be led to love Him with all our hearts. Such love is the fulfilling of the law, and it always brings with it peace and joy, and the other comforts of religion.
Let us, then, banish all unworthy jealousies of that grace which so wonderfully solicits our hearts by unfolding all its matchless beauties in the face of our Redeemer. Can anything be more trying than to find that our friendship is suspected by those to whom we have given the most expressive and engaging proofs of its sincerity? Can anything be more displeasing to God than to have His love called in question by those who know that He has sealed His testimony to it in the blood of His Son? The first complaint He makes against Israel in the last book of the Old Testament is, that they ungratefully called His love in question. "I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?" (Malachi 1:2). May not this complaint be made with greater reason against Christians who refuse the witness of His own Son, who lay in His bosom from eternity, and came from heaven to. earth, and expired on the cross, to demonstrate the love of His Father, and procure for us all its delightful effects?
"What iniquity have your fathers found in me?" said God to His ancient people. "Have I been to Israel a barren wilderness or a land of darkness?" He was greatly displeased when His people behaved towards Him as if He had shown them no favour. Will He be less displeased now with those who give no heed to the word of reconciliation, which in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son? We may meet with hard providences in this evil world, but let us not measure God’s love or hatred by His present dispensations. Shall we imagine that God is displeased with us because He does not satisfy all the inordinate cravings of our hearts? "He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things."
If He does not give us everything that the heart desires, it is just because He knows we are better without it. Unless you know of something more precious than His own Son, you can mention nothing which God would refuse if He saw it to be really beneficial for you. After all that He has done, after all that His Son has suffered, after all that His Spirit has undertaken to accomplish, do you still require the gifts of health or wealth to clear your minds from doubts of the truth of what God says when He assures you that "He is Love?"
II. - CONFIDENCE IN GOD.
"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is."- Jeremiah 17:7.
Assurance of the love of God the Father manifested in Christ Jesus, ought to be attended with a firm confidence in God under all those gracious characters which He has been pleased to assume. The sum of the Gospel is this: that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. We ought, therefore, to regard God as a God of peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and depend on His kindness and goodwill to us.
Whilst we were in a state of enmity we had good reason to be afraid of Him, but being reconciled by the death of His Son, we may rejoicingly say, "Lord, we will praise thee, for though thou wast angry with us, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst us. The Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song, and he also is become our salvation." The house of Heber the Kenite was at peace with Jabin the oppressor of Israel, and stood in no fear of that cruel tyrant while the rest of the Israelites were groaning beneath his thraldom. Believers in Christ are at peace with God, and have therefore no cause to tremble under apprehensions of that vengeance which hangs over the ungodly.
Contrariwise, they ought to bless the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, and thereby gave full assurance that the work of reconciliation was fully effected. In view of the completeness of that work, they may rest assured that the very God of peace will sanctify them wholly, and that their souls, bodies, and spirits shall be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glory to God in the highest heavens, because there is peace and goodwill towards men! What may we not expect from Him who is pacified towards us for all that we have done?
Surely we need not distress ourselves with anxious thoughts, even about those objects in which we are most deeply interested. God is at peace with us, and no enemy shall be able to do us hurt. Let us implicitly confide in Him, and commit all our concerns into His hand, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The designs of His grace shall be fully accomplished, and believers shall at last be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. The Lord is the God that justifieth the ungodly. This is His name for ever, and by this name it is His will to be trusted and glorified. It was known to Abraham and to the believers who lived before Abraham, but the full glory of it is now published to the world by the word of the Gospel, in which the righteousness of God by faith is revealed to faith (Romans 3:23-26). When we believe in Christ we believe in the grace and faithfulness of the Father, who raised up Jesus from the dead, and hath set Him forth to be the propitiation for sins, through faith in His blood. By our faith we do not give greater glory to the Son than to the Father. It is the will of the Father that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father who hath sent Him, and it is no less the will of the Son that all men should honour the love of the Father in our justification, even as they honour His own grace in laying down His life for us (Romans 8:30-32; John 6:44).
God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, by that everlasting covenant which was made between the Father and the Son. This covenant is "all our salvation," and it is no less glorious to the Father and the Son than salutary to us (Ps. lxxxix.) By our instalment in this covenant, He who is the God and Father of Christ becomes our God and Father in Christ, and authorises us to claim all the blessings of the covenant in the name of Him who is the head of it, and who perfectly fulfilled its conditions (Psalms 89:49).
We ought, therefore, to trust in God as our God by an inviolable covenant, which has been already confirmed in Christ. If He were our God in the same way in which He was related to Adam in innocency, He might soon cease to be our God, and become a dreaded enemy. But in Christ He is our God by a relation that cannot possibly be dissolved; and with full assurance of faith we may say, "This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death." His righteousness shall be an immutable security against the loss of His favour. He must prove unfaithful to His blessed Son and to Himself before anything can separate us from His love, or deprive us of the glorious blessings of His covenant (Isaiah 54:7-10; Jeremiah 31:31-34).
God is our Father, because He is Christ’s Father. We are not only His children, but our adoption is founded on His relationship to our Head and Husband. If we are betrothed to Christ, His Father is our Father, and the love wherewith He loves His Son is cherished towards us. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Behold what encouragement we have to confide in God, and what sure grounds we have for expecting from Him blessings as superior to those bestowed by earthly parents upon their children as God is greater and more gracious than men.
"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." As a father will not give a stone to his son asking bread, far less a scorpion when he asks from him a fish, so the Lord will give nothing that is bad, but everything that is good, to His children, and they may safely, at all times, confide in His love. Doubtless they shall meet with many trials in life, but these are just the corrections of a wise Father, who values the happiness of His children above their ease. They are all proofs of paternal love, for "what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" Since God is our Father in virtue of our relationship to Christ, we may confidently expect from Him all the blessings connected with the present life which are really needful for us (Matthew 6:26-32; Matthew 7:7-11). A very small heritage of worldly good things coming from the love of our Heavenly Father is better than all the riches that can be possessed by those who have their portion only in this present world. We may be assured, too, that we shall not be suffered to want those spiritual blessings purchased by Christ,-we shall be fed with the children’s bread, and satisfied with the fatness of our Father’s house. Still all we enjoy here is as nothing in comparison with what we are taught to expect in another world. "If we are sons, then we are heirs, -heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." Being justified by the grace of God, we are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, and nothing can deprive us of our title, or exclude us from the possession. How wonderful that God should put such sinners as we are amongst His children, and give us a sure right to His pleasant land!
Since it has pleased Him to give us a name and a place in His holy family, surely it is base ingratitude to stand in doubt of our enjoying the promised inheritance. We are indeed quite unfit to enter the region of spotless purity, but we are bound daily to give thanks unto the Father, who through the Spirit of holiness makes us meet for the joys and exercises of heaven, and who takes effectual care that nothing shall defeat His kind intentions towards us (1 Peter 1:3-5).
III. - LOVE TO GOD.
"Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."- Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
We are bound to love Him supremely who hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.
If we know and believe in God’s love to us, we shall find it impossible to withhold from Him our hearts. He would be entitled to our supreme affection even though Christ had never been sent to die for us. The law binds us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts; and that law, which is just and holy, cannot demand from us a love exceeding Jehovah’s righteous claims. Angels loved Him to the utmost extent of their capacity before they were informed of His gracious designs towards the human family, and our apostacy did not render Him less worthy of love. But how infinitely amiable does He now appear when we see Him in Christ not only a God of love, but Love itself. If we do not give Him all our hearts, even fallen angels might upbraid our ingratitude, for such love was never manifested towards their nobler race! His love to us was absolutely undeserved, we had done nothing to merit His favour, we possessed no qualities fitted to attract His regard; on the contrary, we were covered over with those pollutions which have rendered multitudes of creatures the objects of His eternal displeasure. What would have been our condition if we had been left like devils to sink into irretrievable perdition! How can we ever pay that debt of gratitude we have incurred to Him who withheld not from us His Son, His only Son, whom He loved! Our love can be no recompense for His love. God needs it not. It cannot make Him more blessed than He was before He had called our world into existence. Yet He sets a high value upon our affection. After all that He has done for us, this is the sum of what He requires in return, -that we love Him with all our hearts, and our neighbours as ourselves. Let us enthrone Him in our hearts, and love Him better than ourselves, and above every other object. In a spirit of true devotedness, let it be the business of our lives to testify our thankfulness to Him who has sought by such amazing methods to gain possession of our hearts. Shall we grudge anything to Him who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us? Shall any waters be allowed to quench the affection kindled by redeeming love? Were our hearts ten thousand times larger than the heart of Solomon, they could not contain all the love which is due to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nor is love due to God merely because He has loved us. We must love Him because in His own nature He is perfectly holy and righteous. When we were strangers to Christ we could not love infinite holiness, for however lovely in itself, it is always a source of terror to guilty creatures. But now the holiness that formerly seemed to frown, smiles upon us with a lustre not less pleasant than splendid. Though God is still of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, yet He looks upon sinners with a merciful eye; and because He is the holy, holy Jehovah, He will perfect our sanctification, that we may be fitted for intimate communion with Him in the world of bliss.
God’s justice, too, is very terrible to the workers of iniquity; even saints must stand in awe of this "holy, righteous Lord God." But fear must not lessen our love. We are to serve the Lord with fear, and at the same time "rejoice with trembling." Though we derived no personal benefits from God, He would still be worthy of the whole love of our hearts. He deserves it on His own account, independently of all that we have received, or can receive, at His gracious hands. But apart from the intrinsic beauty of all the Divine perfections, we .find that each of them is engaged, through Christ Jesus, to promote our best interests.
Because God is infinitely holy, He will perform all the promises made to His dear Son on our behalf. He hath sworn by His holiness that He will not lie unto David. Because He is infinitely just, He will punish all His enemies, and will bestow on His people all the blessings purchased for them by the precious blood of His Son. He will not be unrighteous to forget any of the works of faith or labours of love we may do in His name, far less will He forget any of the work accomplished by the Lord Jesus, or any of the sufferings endured by Him for our salvation (Isa. x51:6-8). That we may abound in love to God, let us daily meditate on His glorious attributes, and His great love towards us in Christ Jesus our Lord. The more we think on these things the more shall we be led to lament the coldness of our own hearts, and to pray for a richer communication of spiritual blessings to our souls, and that we may prove less ungrateful to Him whom we have such infinite reason to prefer above our chief joy (Psalms 40:5-6; 1 John 4:17-19).
IV. - FEAR OF GOD.
"Who shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy."- Revelation 15:4. The fear of God must be joined with love. Perfect love casteth out that fear which hath torment in it. But there is a very different kind of fear which sweetly harmoniseth with love, and is powerfully enforced by every view which the Gospel gives of the agency of the Father, as well as of the Son and Spirit, in our redemption.
What can be more certain than the irreconcilable aversion of the Most High God to sin in all its different forms. The whole plan of salvation is such as to convince every thoughtful mind that He is indeed of purer eyes than to behold evil or look upon iniquity; that He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all; that He is greatly to be feared in the assembly of His saints, and had in reverence of all them that are round about Him. "Fear him," saith our Saviour, "who hath power to kill both soul and body, and cast them into hell fire." If God is to be feared because He can inflict such awful punishment upon creatures, how much greater fear will seem to be due unto Him when we consider how He bruised His own Son, and put Him to grief!
"If ye call on the Father who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." Remember the words of our Lord when He was led forth to crucifixion: "If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" If the holy and beloved Son of God was not spared when He undertook to be the Surety of the guilty, what unpardoned sinner can escape the damnation of hell? The justice of God is inflexible. His righteousness is like the great mountains. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but no transgression or disobedience shall go unpunished (1 Peter 1:24,
If after all that God has done to show forth the awful glories of His holiness in the person and work of Christ, we do not fear that glorious and fearful name, "the Lord our God," it is painfully apparent that we neither know God, nor Christ, nor ourselves; that we have no part nor lot in His salvation; and that we are blind to the brightest discoveries which have been, or can be, made of that terrible majesty with which the Almighty clothes Himself as with a garment (1 Peter 1:17-18).
V. - PRAYER TO GOD.
"Ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."- Jeremiah 29:12-13.
We ought to draw near to God, with holy boldness, through the help of the Spirit, and in the name of our Redeemer, to solicit all those blessings which, as sinful dying creatures, we need.
Under the law, none but priests were allowed to offer sacrifices unto God. Ordinary worshippers, desiring to offer sacrifices of righteousness, could only present them by the hands of the ministers of the sanctuary. We have no priest but Christ; He is not only the great, but the only High Priest of our profession. We ourselves are a spiritual priesthood, but our sacrifices can be accepted of God only through Jesus Christ. However unworthy we and our best services may be, still we are sure that our approaches to God, in the name of His dear Son, are well pleasing to Him, and that every request presented in faith through this Mediator will be granted. Seeing, then, that we have "a great High Priest which is passed into the heavens (or through the heavens), Jesus, the Son of God, let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Under the Levitical dispensation none but the high priest was allowed to approach the mercy-seat, and that only on one day each year. Neither David nor Samuel were permitted to set their feet within the holy place. But the way to the Holiest of all is now made manifest by the blood of Jesus; and if we do not improve our privilege, we despise our own mercies. And why should we be afraid? He who sits upon the throne is our Father, and we dare not call in question His love. Christ tells us that He had no need to pray for the Father’s love to His disciples, because the Father of Himself loved them. He directs us, in our addresses to the Hearer of prayer, to say, "Our Father which art in heaven;" and some of His instructions to petitioners at the court of heaven are founded on the principle that there is infinitely more of love and pity in the heart of our Heavenly Father than in that of any parent upon earth (Matthew 7:7, Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:1-13).
We are indeed very guilty, and have good reason to confess that our iniquities have separated between us and God, and that our sins have hid His face from us; still, we have free access to the Father, through Christ our "Daysman." The blood of "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin;" and He who died for us is our Intercessor before the throne. "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
Worthless and vile as we are, Jesus deserves the richest blessings, and when we believingly present our supplications in His name, we have the strongest assurance that we shall not meet with a refusal (John 14:13-14).
It is true we know not what to pray for as we ought; and our hearts are too cold and indifferent about spiritual things to suffer us to pour forth our requests to God with that fervour of spirit which becomes men pleading for the life of their souls. But through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. We are also directed to pray in the Holy Ghost. His help is promised. By His gracious influence we shall be taught and enabled to pray in an acceptable manner for things agreeable to the will of God. "He who searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." "He is the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father." "And like as a father pitieth his children," crying to him for bread or protection, "so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."
What rich encouragement is thus given us to come to God in prayer in the name of Christ, through the Spirit. How inexcusable the unbelief that rejects the testimony of each Person of the blessed Trinity. All these Divine Persons are pledged by their respective offices in the plan of grace to secure the success of our devotions. We have not only a merciful Father, disposed to hear and answer our prayers, but an Intercessor to plead for us, and another Divine Being who enables us to present our requests aright. What shall we say to these things? "0 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come."
We will come to Him in the name of His own Son, who hath opened up the way by His precious blood, and now liveth to make intercession for us. We will come under the influence of His own Spirit, who is sent into our hearts to fill us with that holy boldness, that fervour of desire, that spirituality of disposition, which God requires in His petitioners.
We are fools if we suffer any day to pass over our heads without improving our precious privilege of free access to God. Every day we need new supplies of Divine mercy. Were we left to ourselves for a single hour, we should fall into such sins as would embitter the whole future of our lives. David in one unhappy moment brought such miseries upon himself and family and people as occasioned grief and pain until the day of his death. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, and cleave with full purpose of heart to Him "who alone is able to keep us from falling, and present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." But there are special seasons when we stand in peculiar and pressing need of rich supplies of grace. In the hour of sickness or temptation or distress of conscience,-when persecuted for righteousness’ sake, or suffering from the loss of friends, or the reproach and ill-usage of our fellow-men,-at the approach of death, or in the presence of some overwhelming perplexity,-at such times we are in danger of fainting, even of sinking into utter despondency; but "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Trust in the Lord at all times. Ye people, pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. In six troubles he shall deliver us, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch us."
Christ must have lost His interest at the Father’s throne if those petitions which are presented in His name be disregarded (Php 4:6-7; Hebrews 7:25).
VI. - DEVOTEDNESS TO GOD.
"One shall say, I am the Lord’s l and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel."- ISA. x54:5.
We ought to devote ourselves to the Lord, as a God reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. As God hath chosen us to salvation in Christ Jesus, we ought to be to Him for "a name and a praise;" "Thine they were," saith our Lord, "and thou gavest them me." But when He gave them to Christ, He did not give them away from Himself. "All mine," says Christ, "are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." When God chose Israel to Himself for His peculiar treasure, to impress them with a sense of the value of the distinction, He reminds them that all the earth belonged to Him. As universal Lord, He might have chosen any other nation He pleased; and being equally the Lord of all worlds, He might have selected angels instead of men, to be the monuments of His sovereign mercy. But having chosen us, and that when we deserved to be rejected for ever, how can we refuse to yield ourselves entirely to Him, that we may be to the praise of His glory? "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." A wonderful price indeed at which we were valued! Let us not, therefore, account ourselves our own, but glorify God with our bodies and with our spirits, which are His. With this view Christ died, that we might be redeemed and sanctified to God. "For their sakes," said He, "I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth." "Thou wast slain," say the ransomed of the Lord, "and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." Do we not frustrate the grace of God and His Son when we live to ourselves rather than to Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us? God sends forth the Spirit into our hearts to take possession of us as His temples,-shall we alienate our souls or· bodies from Him? God forbid. This would be to repeat the profanity of ancient times, when idols were introduced into the sanctuary, and received that worship which was due only to the Lord of heaven and earth.
If God has chosen and redeemed us, and promised His Spirit to purify us to Himself, surely we ought not to shrink from giving ourselves to the Lord, and coming under the most sacred engagements to be His servants. It is true we have good reason to be afraid of that innate spirit of selfishness which is continually tempting us to prefer our own gratification to the glory and service of God. We cannot by our own strength subdue this corrupt spirit, but the electing, redeeming, sanctifying mercy of God secures to us those communications of grace which will preserve us from that which, insinuating itself under the pretence of self-love, is the worst of all plagues. They love themselves best and most truly who love God better than themselves, for we never can be happy until we cease to be the slaves of self, and become the Lord’s freedmen. When He inclines our hearts unto His testimonies and not to covetousness, we shall find it very easy and pleasant to deny ourselves, and submit unreservedly to His will. Happy they who, released from the fetters that kept them in bondage to themselves, are now enjoying the sweets of that service which is perfect freedom. Having presented our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service, let us beware of ever recalling the gift. We are not at liberty to act towards the Most High as if He were a fellow-creature. When we have bestowed a gift upon a friend, it is deemed ungenerous to ask it back. God is infinitely greater than men, and the greater, therefore, the insult in claiming for ourselves what we had freely devoted to His service. Can a man rob God and prosper? No part of our possessions is more precious in His eyes than ourselves. Our hearts are infinitely more valuable than thousands of gold and silver.
Having consecrated ourselves to the Lord, we must cleave to Him, and serve Him while we have any being. Our thoughts, our affections, the members of our bodies, our time, all that we have, and all that we are, must be His, and His only. We must willingly spend and be spent for His glory. We must live like persons devoted to His fear. Our chief happiness must consist in furthering the interests of His kingdom. If it be His will that we suffer for His sake or from His hand, we must not think that we are treated with severity. He would not through sickness or other causes keep us in a state of inactivity did He not know that He would be glorified thereby. "They also serve who only stand and wait" (Psalms 16:2; Psalms 116:16-17).
VII. - JOY IN GOD.
"Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King,"- Psalms 149:2.
We ought to rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the reconciliation.
"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."
.What joy can equal that of those who find in these words the record of their own experience? Why may not all believers in Christ confidently make use of such language? They are justified by faith, and have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the objects of a love that knows no limits. The Lord rejoices over them with joy. He rests in his love; he joys over them with singing. And why should not they also rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel?
Let them recall their former condition that, in the contrast between the past and present, they may feel the joy of that blessed change. By nature they were the children of wrath, even as others. They were exposed to the fierceness of that displeasure already displayed towards fallen angels. But now they have passed from death unto life. Instead of being angry, God takes pleasure in them. Coming to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, they have come to God, the Judge of all, and the sentence pronounced on them is of peace, not of evil. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? "Who is he that will harm them when God is on their side? "If God be for them, who can be against them?" They would still be poor indeed, though put in possession of heaven and earth, without an interest in God. But all things are theirs, and He who made and preserves all things is theirs also. The God whose glory is above earth and sky is the portion of their inheritance, and of their cup He maintaineth their lot. This God is their God for ever and ever; He will be their guide even unto death.
Joy is the duty and privilege of the saints. Who would not rejoice if he were exalted to the throne of a mighty empire? A man might be thought to have better grounds of joy had he the certain assurance of living a thousand years twice told in the possession of everything held dear on earth. And yet, what would all this avail to one whose soul is so constituted that nothing earthly can give it solid happiness. A "perpetuity of bliss" is bliss indeed to an immortal soul, and a perpetuity of bliss is the portion of him, and of him alone, who can say that the Lord is his God. "I will rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." "I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy." These were some of the sweet songs of ancient believers. They are recorded in Holy Scripture, that they may be sung by believers in Christ whilst the world stands. By such songs, in the house of their pilgrimage night is turned into day, and the spirit cheered amid the valleys of humiliation and death. Blessed is the man whose heart is tuned to such music; yea, blessed are all they whose God is the Lord. They are blessed beyond their own comprehension, they are blessed beyond the comprehension of angels. They ought to feel and acknowledge their blessedness, that they may glorify Him who is its author, its object, its eternal fountain (1 Chronicles 16:35-36).
If we had all the riches and pleasures of Croesus, or Nebuchadnezzar, the very thought of the precarious tenure by which we held them would damp our joy, and perhaps turn it into misery. We know not how soon we shall lose everything but the memory of a past happiness. But the man whose hope the Lord is, can look calmly into the future, and say, My heart and my flesh shall fail me, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Time, which is everyday stealing away some part of the happiness of other men, is every hour bringing nearer and nearer the perfection of his felicity. The period is rapidly approaching when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father. The meaning of this passage may be disputed by divines, but every Christian knows that its import must be full of glory to God and to His Son Jesus Christ, and of abiding consolation to all the redeemed of the Lord. A state of blessedness in the immediate enjoyment of God is before them. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor thought conceived what it is. This much we know, that nothing on earth can give half the pleasure in possession, which the glory to be revealed gives in hope and foretaste. The electing love of God, the redeeming love of Jesus, the sanctifying grace of the Spirit will in the future state have their full and complete influence upon the redeemed. Who can imagine the glory of that kingdom which was prepared for its inhabitants before the foundation of the world, by the everlasting love of God! Who can understand the riches of the glory of Christ’s inheritance in the saints, the fulness of the joy of the Lord on which all His people enter! What nobler exercise can now engage our heart or tongue than thanksgiving and praises to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Amid all the trials of earth we have reason greatly to rejoice in such a blessed hope; and we cannot but rejoice if our faith is firm, for "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The glory redounding to God through our salvation is a consideration that increases our joy. If not utterly selfish, we must be filled with gladness at the thought that thousands and millions of our fellow-beings will share with us the joys that are at God’s right hand. Most of all shall we rejoice when, in their felicity and our own, we see God glorified through the complete accomplishment of His plans of redeeming mercy. The Lord shall rejoice in all His works, but chiefly in His works of grace. The glory of the Lord shall continue for ever. Eternity itself will not exhaust the praise of any of His works, least of all of that glorious work to which we are indebted for our redemption from the worst of evils, and our enjoyment of the best of blessings. "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; again we say, Rejoice." "Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." "Bless the Lord at all times; shew forth His salvation from day to day; Glory ye in his holy name." "Let the heart of every one rejoice that seeks the Lord."