[2.] For the future : Deut. xviii. 19, ' Whosoever will not hearken to the words which that prophet shall speak in my name, I will require it of him ■' that is, he must look to answer it another day. Peter ren- dereth it : Acts iii. 23, ' Whosoever will not hearken to that prophet shall be destroyed among the people.' It is not a bodily punishment, but eternal torment : John iii. 36, ' The wrath of God abideth on
400 Christ's transfiguration. [Ser. VI.
him ; ' Mark xvi. 16, ' He that believeth not shall be damned.' Thus you see how dangerous it is to refuse this prophet.
Use 1. Of conviction to the carnal Christian for not submitting to Christ's authority. All Christians do it in pretence, but few that do it in reality. Doth his word come to you not only in word but in power ?
[1.] Do you seriously come to him that you may have pardon and life. When Christ had proved that he was the Son of God, the great prophet of the church, by the testimony of John, the testimony of hie works, the testimony of his Father, and the testimony of the scrip- tures : John V. 40, ' And ye will not come unto me that ye may have life; ' — though John, his works, the Father, the scriptures, will prove him to be what he was, the Messias, the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, yet they would not come to him, nor believe, but wilfully re- jected him, and their own blessedness. What the Jews did wilfully, carnal Christians do lazily ; they prize his name and slight his office, do not come to him to be taught, sanctified, and drawn to God.
[2,] Do you respect the word of the gospel, entertain it with reve- rence and delight, as the voice of the great prophet ? Do you medi- tate on it, digest it as the seed of the new life, as the rule of your actions, as the charter of your hopes ? A good man is described to be one that ' delighteth in the law of the Lord, and meditateth therein day and night,' Ps. i. 2 ; and, again, Ps. cxix. 97, ' Oh, how I love thy law ! it is my meditation all the day long.' But, alas ! few are of this temper : Hosea viii. 12, ' I have written to them the great things of thy law, but they were counted as a strange thing, they con- temned the word of God,' as if its directions were of little import- ance, or did not concern them. Most men live like strangers to the word of God, little conversant in it, as there were no great hazard in breaking it.
[3.] Do you mingle it with faith in the hearing, that it may profit you, Heb. iv. 2, and feel the power of it for your good ? But rather you shun it — run from it: John iii. 20, ' They that do evil hate the light, and will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved.' The word is a torment rather than a comfort to you ; you are afraid it will be found too true.
[4.] Do you receive it as the word of God ? 1 Thes. ii. 13. It may be you do not contradict the divine authority in the scriptures, but do you soundly believe them, and know the certainty of those things wherein you are instructed ? Luke i. 4. Have you done anything to prove the supreme truth that Jesus is a teacher sent from God ? Most men's faith is so weak and slight, because it is taken hand-over-head, there is no deepness of earth, Mark xiii. 6. You have some light sense of religion, but slight impressions are soon defaced, and truths easily taken up are as soon quitted ; the more we search into the grounds of things the more we believe, Acts xvii. 11. The Bereans ' searched the scriptures whether those things were so or no.'
[5.] Doth it come to you as the Mediator's word ? — ' not in word only but in power,' 1 Thes. i. 5. There is a convincing power in the word : Acts ii. 37, ' When they heard these things, they were pricked in the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and
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brethren, what shall we do ? ' Many have not felt this power, but they fear it: John iii. 20, ' Every one that cloeth evil hateth the light, neither Cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.' A converting power when it becometh the seed of a new life : 1 Pet. i. 23, ' Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of Grod, wliich liveth and abideth for ever.' A comforting power, giving the heirs of promise strong consolation, Heb. vi. 18. Do you find anything of this in your hearts ? is it engrafted in your souls ? James i. 21, ' Keceive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.'
[6.] Do you hear him universally ? It is said of the great prophet, Acts iii. 22, ' Him shall ye hear in all things that he shall say unto you.^ Many will hear him in the offers of pardon, but not in the pre- cepts of duty : you must take his whole covenant, the promises for your happiness, the duty for your work.