Inf. 5. To conclude : If this be so, as ever you expect pardon and mercy from God, come to Christ in the way of faith ; receive and embrace him noxv in the tenders of the gospel.
To drive home this great exhortation, I beseech you, as in the bowels of Christ Jesus, and by all the regard and value you have for your souls, let these following considerations sink down in your hearts.
First, That all christless persons are actually under the condem- nation of God, John iii. 18. " He that believeth not is condemned " already :" and it must needs be so, for every soul is concluded under the curse of the law, till Christ make him free, John viii. 36. Till we are in Christ, wre are dead by law ; and when we believe unto justification, then we pass from death to life. A blind mis- taken conscience may possibly acquit you, but assure yourselves God condemns you.
Secondly, Consider what a terrible thing it is to lie under the con-
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damnation of God ; the most terrible things in nature cannot sha- dow forth the misery of such a state; put all sicknesses, all poverty, all reproaches, the torments invented by all tyrants into one scale, and the condemnation of God into the other, and they will be all found lighter than a feather. Condemnation is the sentence of God, the great and terrible God ; it is a sentence shutting you up to everlasting wrath : it is a sentence never to be reversed, but by the application of Christ in the season thereof. O souls ! you can- not bear the wrath of God ; you do not understand it, if you think it tolerable : One drop of it upon your consciences now, is enough to distract you in the midst of all the pleasures and com- forts of this world : yet ail that are out of Christ, are sentenced to the fulness of God's wrath for ever.
Thirdly, There is yet a possibility of escaping the wrath to come; a door of hope opened to the worst of sinners ; a day of grace is offered to the children of men, Heb. hi. 15. God declares himself unwilling that any should perish, 2 Pet. iii. 9- O what a mercy is this ! Who, that is on this side heaven or hell, fully understands the worth of it ?
Fourthly, The door of mercy will be shortly shut, Luke xii. 25. God hath many ways to shut it : he sometimes shuts it by withdrawing the means of grace, and removing the candlesticks ; a judgment at this time to be greatly feared. Sometimes he shuts it by withdrawing the Spirit and blessing from the means, whereby all ordinances lose their efficacy, 1 Cor. iii. 7. But if he shut it not by removing the means of grace from you, certain it is, it will be shortly shut by your removal from all the means and oppor- tunities of salvation by death.
Fifthly, When once the door of mercy is shut, you are gone be- yond all the possibilities of pardon and salvation for evermore. The night is then come, in which no man can wrork, John ix. 4. All the golden seasons you now enjoy, will be irrecoverably gone out of your reach.
Sixthly, Pardons are now daily granted to others : some (and they once as far from mercy as you now are,) are at this day read- ing their pardons with tears of joy dropping from them. The world is full of the examples and instances of the riches of pardon- ing grace. And whatever is needful for you to do in the way of repentance and faith to obtain your pardon, how easily shall it be done, if once the day of God's power come upon you ? Psal. ex. %. O therefore, lift up your cries to heaven, give the Lord no rest, take no denial till he open the blind eye, break the stony heart, open and bow the stubborn will, effectually draw thy soul to Christ, and deliver thy pardon signed in his blood.
THE METHOD OF GRACE. SEAM. XVII.
Opening the eighth Motive to come to Chkist, drawn from the sixth Benefit purchased by Christ for Believers.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made lis accepted in the Beloved.
J-Nour last discourse we opened to you the blessed privilege of re- mission of sin, from the following verse ; in this verse lies another glorious privilege, viz. the acceptation that believers have with God through Jesus Christ; both which comprise (as fhe two main branches) our justification before God. In the words read, (to omit many things that might be profitably observed from the method and dependence of the apostle's discourse) three things are observa- ble, viz.
1. The privilege itself,
2. The meritorious cause,
S. The ultimate end thereof.
First, The privilege itself, which is exceeding rich and sweet in its own nature; "he hath made us accepted ;'' the word is tyjzoirortiv wag, he hath ingratiated us, or brought us into the grace, favour and acceptance of God the Father ; endeared us to him, so that we find grace in his sight.
Secondly, The meritorious cause, purchasing and procuring this benefit for us, noted in the words, ev ru Yiyaxri/Mvu, in the Beloved ; which words are a periphrasis of Christ, who is here emphatically stiled the Beloved, the great favourite of heaven, the delight of God's soul, the prime object of his love : it is he that obtaineth this benefit for believers : he is accepted for his own sake, and we for his.
Thirdly, The ultimate end and aim of conferring this benefit upon believers ; " To the praise of the glory of his grace ;" or, to the end that his grace might be made glorious in praises : there are riches of grace in this act of God ; and the work and business of believers, both in this world and in that to come, is to search and admire, acknowledge and magnify God for his abundant grace herein. Hence the note is,
Doct. That Jesus Christ hath purchased and procured special fa- vour and acceptation with God for all that are in him.
This point lies plain in scripture, Eph. ii. 13. "But now in
SERM. XVir. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 261
" Jesus Christ, ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by " the blood of Christ," iy/uj eyswj^jjre, made nigh, a term of en- dearedness : nothing is taken into the very bosom and embraces but what is very dear, precious and acceptable ; and in Rev. ii. 5, 6. believers are said to be made by Jesus Christ " kings and priests " unto God, and his Father," i. e. dignified favourites, upon whom the special marks of honour are set by God.
In opening of this point three things must be doctrinally discussed and opened, viz.
1. What the acceptation of our persons with God is?
2. How it appears that believers are so accepted with God ?
3. How Christ the Beloved procures this benefit for believers ? Firsts What the acceptation of our persons with God is ? To
open which, it may be proper to remember, that there is a two- fold acceptance of persons mentioned in scripture.
1. One is the sinful act of corrupt man.
2. The other the gracious act of a merciful God.