2. The next effect is deep affection or rejoicing in Christ, and all the work of redemption done in his day. Certainly a sight of Christ by faith doth bring true joy and peace into the soul.
Here I shall show —
[1.] That no other affection will become Christ, and the salvation offered by him and received by faith, but great joy. This is evident by the whole drift and current of the scriptures. The angels told the shepherds at Christ's birth, Lukeii. 10, 'And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.' Sm'ely tidings of Christ, the Eedeemer of the Avorld, are tidings of great joy, because then there was a w,ay found out for our reconciliation with God, and the taking up that dreadful contro- versy between us and him, that heaven and earth may kiss each other, and meet again in a covenant of love and peace and grace, purchased by Christ, whereby we might overcome the devil, the world, and the flesh. The great enemies of our salvation are defeated, and a propor- tionable happiness found out for man, without which he would have been as Leviathan in a little pool. So when this grace was offered to any, as to Zaccheus, by Christ's coming into his house and bringing salvation with him : Luke xix. 6, ' He made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully;' or published in the word: Acts xiii. 48, ' When the gentiles heard these things, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.' Now we are concerned as well as they. The gospel should never be as stale news to sinners, or as a jest often told. Our necessities are the same with theirs, and the benefits are offered to us as well as them. The Virgin Mary was thus affected : Luke i. 47, ' My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour ; ' that Christ was to be born of her, and was formed in her. The eunuch, when Philip had preached to him Jesus, and he was baptized into this fiiith. Acts viii. 39, ' He went on his way rejoicing;' as men do that have met with a good bargain, and have sealed it and made it sure. So the jailer : Acts xvi. 34, ' He rejoiced, believing in God with all his house ; ' he was but newly converted, and recovered out of the suburbs of hell, ready to kill himself just before, so that a man would have thought you might as easily fetch water out of a flint or a spark of fire out of the bottom of the sea, yet he rejoiced when he was acquainted with Christ. So that you see none reflect seriously on the gospel but they find cause of
174 SERMON UPON JOHN VIII. 26.
joy. We cannot consider and believe tlie great things which Christ hath done and purchased for us, with some hope of the enjoyment of them, without joy.
[2.] The reasons of this joy. These must be considered with respect to the object, the subject, the causes.
(1.) The excellency of the object, which is Jesus Christ, and the incomparable treasure of his grace.
{1st.) He is excellent in himself, as being the eternal Son of God. Now, when he will come down, not only to visit, but redeem a sinful world, this should be matter of joy to us. He came down, was not thrust down ; he came as the pledge and instance of the Father's love : John iii. 16, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son.' To make divine nature more amiable, that we might not fly from him as a condemning God, but return to him as a pardoning God, and willing to be reconciled to sinful man : 2 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.' And in our nature died for us : Eev. i. 5, * Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.' Christ would show us a love that passeth knowledge, and would surprise men and angels with a heap of wonders in the whole business of our deliverance from sia and misery. And surely we bring down the price of these wonders of love if we entertain them with cold thoughts, and without some con- siderable acts of joy and thankfulness.
(2c?.) He is also necessary for us; Kom. iii. 19, 'And all the world may become guilty before God,' vttolkos ©ew ; subject to the judg- ment of God, or obnoxious to his wrath and vengeance. What could we have done without his passion and intercession ? If he had not died for sinners, what had we to answer to the terrors of the law or accusations of conscience, or to appease the fears of hell and approach- ing damnation ? How could you look God in the face, or think a comfortable thought of him, or call upon his name, or pray to him in your necessities ? In good sadness what could you do ? Would you bewail sins past ; but what recompense or ransom for your souls was there ? If you had wept your eyes out, it would not have been accepted without a redeemer or some satisfaction to divine justice : Micah vi. 6, 7, ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with calves of a year old? will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand of rivers of oil ? shall I give my first-born for my trans- gression ? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' Would you commit sin no more, or serve God for the future exactly ? If that had been possible with a sinning nature, yet payment of new debts doth not quit old scores ; or paying what we owe doth not make amends for what is stolen ; you might have lain in your blood. We could not find out a ransom which God would accept : Ps. xlix. 7, 8, ' None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever.' No ; it is the Lord's mercy to find out a ransom for us : Job xxxiii. 24, ' Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit ; I have found a ransom.'