Use 2. Is of examination. See whether any of this power hath passed upon your hearts. Have you ever felt the power of the Spirit in the ordinances, that will convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment ?
1. Hath it powerfully humbled you for sin? There is the power of the word seen to bring men upon their faces, and to make them lay their mouths in the dust, 1 Cor. xiv. 25. The first work is to humble the heart and to subdue the pride of it.
2. Is it powerful to comfort and refresh the soul ? Every man hath not comfort, but every man that huth it can tell which way it Cometh : Ps. xciv. 19, ' In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.' What is the refreshment of your hearts ? Is it not the power of God's Spirit ? When a man is in distress, it is known what he maketh his trust in : then we shall see what our heart fetcheth comfort from. Do you look upon gospel comforts as powerful ? John xvi. 33, ' In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have rest ; be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.'
3. Is it powerful to enable to holiness ? You will then be able to gain upon your lu.sts more, they will not be so pleasing to you : Ps. ex. 3, ' Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power.' You will be made ready to duty, and be more cheerful in God's service, when the power of the word hath passed upon you.
I now ])roceed to the last point observable in this verse, which is: —
III. That none believe the report that is made of Jesus Christ, but those to wliom it is revealed by the Spirit.
It is meant of an inward revelation ; though it were outwardly pro- claimed in their ears, yet the power of the report was not secretly conveyed into their hearts. The arm of the Lord was not revealed to them. Or thus : —
The cause wliy so few are won to believe in Jesus Christ is because they have not the Spirit's revelation.
This I shall [)rove to you by these reasons: —
1. Because without the Spirit's revelation all the outward tenders and reports of Jesus Christ will be to no purjiose. The efficacy of the word lieth in the Spirit's assistance. I told you in the former point how powerful the word of God is, but withal I told you it was when the Spirit sets it home upon the heart. God may knock at the door and yet no man open to him ; and, therefore, he speaketh by way of
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supposition, if he doth but barely knock : Kev. iii. 20, ' Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me.' It is put upon an if: it is a great peradventure whether any man will open the door or no, when it is but a bare knock of the word. The spouse plead- eth excuses when Christ stood and knocked, saying, ' Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled,' Cant. v. 2 ; but in the 4tli verse it is said, ' My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him ; ' — that signifieth the working of his Spirit, and then she opened. Men would fain take one nap more in sin when they are roused by the ministry ; but when Grod puts his fingers upon the handles of the lock, Christ hath an admittance and the door then flieth open : Acts xi. 19-21, ' The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.' God's hand was upon the lock. If the word be anywhere spoken of as powerful, it is in reference to the Spirit, as 1 Thes. i. 5, ' Our word came unto you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost ; ' therefore in power, because in the Holy Ghost.
2. Because the Spirit's revelation is the token of God's special love ; and that is not given to every one : God has appointed his special love but for a few. The outward revelation is to leave men without excuse ; it is but a token of God's common love : 2 Cor. iv. 3, ' If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost ' — hidden from their hearts, though it be revealed to their ears. Those that are lost have not the inward discoveries— that is, the effectual discovery and special effect of God's peculiar love : Acts xiii. 48, ' As many as were ordained to eternal life believed ;' such have God's special love. Those that have least have many times an outward revelation : Acts xiv. 17, * God left not himself without a witness, in that he did good ; ' yet, ver. 16, ' he suffered them to walk in their own ways.' They had a revelation, but they had not an efficacious revelation. And in this sense it is said, that ' many are called but few are chosen, — many are invited and few wrought upon. They have the doctrine of life propounded to them, but they have not the Spirit of life setting it home upon their hearts ; few taste of God's special love.