01.02b1 2. The MISERY of man's natural state con
(4.) Turn your eyes, O prisoners of hope, towards the Lord Jesus Christ; and embrace him, as he offers himself in the gospel. "There is no salvation in any other," Acts 4:12. God is a consuming fire; you are children of wrath—if the Mediator does not interpose between him and you—you are undone forever! If you would be safe, come under his shadow—one drop of that wrath cannot fall there, for he "delivers us from the wrath to come," 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Accept of him in this covenant, wherein he offers himself to you; so you shall, as the captive woman, redeem your life, by marrying the conqueror. His blood will quench that fire of wrath which burns against you—in the white raiment of his righteousness you will be safe; for no storm of wrath can pierce it.
2. I shall drop a few words to the SAINTS.
"Remember that at that time you were without Christ . . . having no hope and without God in the world." Ephesians 2:12
(1.) "REMEMBER—that at that time," namely, when you were in your natural state, "you were without Christ - having no hope, and without God in the world." Call to mind the state you were in formerly; and review the misery of it. There are five memorials which I may thence give in to the whole assembly of the saints, who are no longer children of wrath—but "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," though as yet in their minority.
[1.] Remember—that in the day our Lord first took you by the hand, you were in no better a condition than others. O, what moved Him to take you—when He passed by your neighbors? He found you children of wrath, even as others—but He did not leave you so. He came into the common prison, where you lay in fetters, even as others. From among the multitude of condemned malefactors, He picked you out, commanded your fetters to be taken off, put a pardon in your hand, and brought you into the glorious liberty of the children of God—while He left others in the devil’s fetters!
[2.] Remember—there was nothing in you to engage Him to love you, in the day he appeared for your deliverance. You were children of wrath, even as others; fit for hell, and altogether unfit for heaven! Yet the King brought you into the palace; the King’s Son made love to you, a condemned criminal, and espoused you to Himself, on the day in which you might have been led forth to execution! "Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Your sight!" Matthew 11:26.
[3.] Remember—you were fitter to be loathed, than loved, in that day. Be amazed and wonder! that when He saw you in your blood, that He did not look upon you with abhorrence, and pass you by. Wonder, that ever such a time could be a time of love, Ezekiel 16:8.
[4.] Remember—you are decked with borrowed garments. It is His loveliness which is upon you, Ezekiel 16:14. It was He who took off your prison garments, and clothed you with robes of righteousness, garments of salvation; garments with which you are arrayed as the lilies, which toil not, neither do they spin. He took the chains from off your arms, the rope from about your neck; put you in such a dress, as you might be fit for the court of heaven, even to eat at the King’s table!
[5.] Remember your faults this day, as Pharaoh’s butler, who had forgotten Joseph. Mind how you have forgotten, and how unkindly you have treated Him who remembered you in your dreadful estate. Is this your kindness to your friend? In the day of your deliverance, did you think you could have thus requited Him, your Lord?
(2.) PITY the children of wrath—the world which lies in wickedness. Can you be unconcerned for them, you who were once in the same condition? You have got ashore, indeed—but your companions are yet in hazard of perishing; and will not you afford them all possible help for their deliverance? What they are—you formerly were. This may draw pity from you, and engage you to use all means for their recovery. See Titus 3:1-3.
(3.) Admire that matchless love which brought you out of the state of wrath. Christ’s love was active love; He brought your soul from the pit of corruption! It was no easy work to purchase the life of the condemned sinner; but He gave His life for your life. He gave His precious blood to quench the flame of wrath, which otherwise would have consumed you! Men get the best view of the stars from the bottom of a deep pit; from this pit of misery, into which you were cast by the fall of the first Adam, you may get the best view of the Sun of Righteousness, in all his dimensions. He is the second Adam, who took you out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay. How broad was that love, which covered such a multitude of sins! Behold the length of it, reaching from everlasting to everlasting, Psalms 103:17. The depth of it, going so low as to deliver you from the lowest hell, Psalms 86:13. The height of it, raising you up to sit in heavenly places, Ephesians 2:6.
(4.) Be HUMBLE, carry low sails, walk softly all your years. Be not proud of your gifts, graces, privileges, or attainments; but remember you were children of wrath, even as others. The peacock walks slowly, hangs down his lovely feathers, while he looks to his black feet. "Look to the hole of the pit whence you are dug;" and walk humbly, as it becomes free grace’s debtors.
(5.) Be wholly for your Lord. Every wife is obliged to be dutiful to her husband; but double ties lie upon her who was taken from a prison, or an ash-heap. If your Lord has delivered you from wrath, you ought, on that very account, to be wholly his; to act for him, to suffer tor him, and to do whatever he calls you to. The saints have no reason to complain of their lot in the world, whatever it is. Well may they bear the cross for Him—by whom the curse was borne away from them. Well may they bear the wrath of men in his cause—who has freed them from the wrath of God; and cheerfully go to a fire for him, by whom hell-fire is quenched as to them.
Soul and body, and all you had in the world, were formerly under wrath—he has removed that wrath; shall not all these be at his service? That your soul is not overwhelmed with the wrath of God, is owing purely to Jesus Christ; and shall it not be a temple for his Spirit? That your heart is not filled with horror and despair is owing to Him only; to whom then should it be devoted—but to him alone? That your eyes are not blinded with the smoke of the pit; your hands not fettered with chains of darkness; your tongue is not broiling in the fire of hell; and your feet are not standing in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone—is owing purely to Jesus Christ! and shall not these eyes be employed for him, these hands act for him, this tongue speak for him, and these feet speedily run his errands? To him who believes that he was a child of wrath, even as others—but is now delivered by the blessed Jesus, nothing will appear too much, to do or suffer for his Deliverer, when he has a fair call to it.