Use 2. Hath Christ taken upon him to carry away sin ; then here is instruction —
1. To the careless. Certainly he that seeketh after benefit by Christ must be one that is not a stranger to himself, one that knoweth and is acquainted with the case of his own heart and life, one that is sensible of his sins and corrupt inclinations, and the guilt and burden that lieth upon him, one that mourneth under the fears of God's displeasure. Will Christ ease a man of a burden that he feeleth not ? A senseless sleepy soul hath not work for Christ to do. He inviteth those that see
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tL need of mercy : Mat. xi. 28, ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'
2. To those who are afflicted in conscience for sin. Eemember, you must be not only sensible of the guilt of sin, but the stain of it, and look after not only peace, but heahng : Isa. liii. 5, ' With his stripes we are healed.' It is not a sound cure that aimeth only at the assuaging of the grief, but the distemper must be removed. Mountebanks only stop the pain, but let alone the cause ; such a cure would they have who are more earnest for ease and comfort than for grace. Sin in some sense is worse than damnation. Eemember, then, this is the under- taking of our blessed Kedeemer ; will he come in vain, and miss of his end ? Consider the merit of his humiliation, what a price he hath paid for sanctifying grace : 1 Peter i. 18, 19, ' Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.' This price was not given only to heighten our esteem of the privilege, but to increase our confidence. And consider the power of his exaltation : Acts iii. 26, ' God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turaing away every one of you from his iniquities.' Having paid our ransom, he is gone into heaven fully furnished and empowered to free from sin all that consent to receive this benefit.
But what shall we do that we may have the actual benefit ?
[1.] Seek the pardon of sin in the way of repentance, confessing your sins with brokenness of heart : 1 John i. 9, ' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' Sue out his grace, and turn to the Lord. Kepent- ance lieth not in a feigned wish only that sin had not been done, but in a change of mind, heart, and life ; in a hatred to sin repented of, and a love to God and holiness. Man's fall was specially in point of love, and his recovery must be a recovery of love to God again. Your love to sin must be turned into an hatred of sin ; the soul must be not only turned from sin, but against it. Repentance is most seen in our love and hatred.
[2.] Seek the subduing of sin in a diligent use of means. There is a spirit purchased by Christ to begin the life of grace and to carry it on with success, to heal and renew our natures, and to strengthen them, being healed and renewed. Now we must not by our careless- ness, negligence, or other sin, provoke the Lord to withdraw from us and suspend his grace, but humbly implore his favour, wait for his approaches, and attend and obey his sanctifying motions. God is willing to give the Spirit to them that ask him, as a father is to give an hungry child bread: Luke xi. 13, 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your lieavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? ' We make ourselves incapable of this help by grieving the Spirit : Eph. iv. 30, * And grieve not the Holy Sjjirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.' When we are so easy to the requests of sin, and so deaf to his motions, he ceaseth to give us warning. There are
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certain ordinances whereby this grace is conveyed to us, and Christ died to sanctify them to us : Eph. v. 25, 26, ' Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.' These ordinances are the word and sacraments, by the use of which sin receiveth a new wound. The word is for cleansing the soul : John xv. 3, * Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.' Baptism must be improved for the washing away of sin: Acts xxii. 16, 'Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.' A man forgetteth his baptism, that is, neglect- eth it, if he be not purged from sin : 2 Peter i. 9, ' He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins ; ' that is, he hath made no use and received no benefit by his baptism. In the Lord's supper we re- member the death of Christ as the price given for the life of our souls, as a spectacle that may affect us with the odiousness of sin, as an occasion of renewing our covenant with God, and binding ourselves afresh to his service, and as a means to stir up our love to God, and so by consequence our hatred of sin : Ps. xcvii. 10, * Ye that love the Lord hate evil ; ' and to awaken our hopes, and so of purifying the soul : 1 John iii. 3, * And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.' Here is delivered to the believing soul a sealed pardon of all sin : Mat. xxvi. 28, * This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins ; ' and we wait for the application of his mortifying and renewing grace.