SERMON UPON JOHN XIX. 30. 39
^iven him not only a dischar£:e, but a reward. Christ imdertahins^ for us is somewhat like that of Keuben for Benjamin : Gen. xliii. 9, ' I will be surety for him ; of my hand shalt thou require him : if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever.' ' Let me see thy face no more.' Christ undertook to carry it through, and failed not in the enterprise.
III. What comfort is this to poor sinners, since, though there be a full satisfaction, conditions are required which we are not able to per- form, ere we can have benefit ; and we find sin remaining in us, so that it is finished, and unfinished as to us ?
I answer — There is great comfort in God's general grace, before it be particularly applied and exhibited to us in the effects and sense thereof. A sufScient sacrifice and ransom given for you is the founda- tion of all solid peace, for it is the foundation of the gospel, or of the covenant of grace. I shall prove it by these reasons —
1. Because this answereth the grand scruple which haunteth the creature, and is at the bottom of all our fears ; namely, how God's justice shall be appeased : Micah vi. 6, 7, ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high -God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a j'ear old ? will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' The way of appeasing God's anger hath been an old controversy, that hath troubled all nations ; and till it be answered and fully determined, man is not ' perfect as appertaining to the conscience,' Heb. ix. 9. Though God be infinitely merciful, yet he is infinitely just ; and we can expect no more from his mercy than we may fear from his justice. Guilty nature still presageth evil to us, till there be something penal endured, and something of price and value given to appease justice.
2. That God now looketh for no satisfaction at your hand ; it is all done perfectly by Christ ; all is finished. He satisfied for us that we might not be obliged to satisfy in our own persons : Heb. i. 3, ' When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high ; ' Isa. liii. 5, ' By his stripes we are healed.' It was at his cost that our recovery was brought about.
. 3. In this provision we see the will of God putting forth itself for our help in the most astonishing way that could be imagined : 1 Tim. iii. 16, ' Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh ; ' 1 John iv. 10, ' Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but God loved us, and sent his Son to be the proj^itia- tion for our sins.* This is such an unusual expression of love, such an engaging instance, so much surpassing our thoughts, that we cannot sufficiently admire it. When God laid such a broad foundation, surely he intended some notable grace to us.
4. Here is a full answer to those usual objections which are raised by broken hearts, as the number, and greatness, and heinousness of our sins ; for as such they shall not be your ruin. As great as they are, God can with honour pardon them ; for barely to plead the number of sins or greatness of sins, is to lessen the price. The Messiah came, Dan. ix. 24, ' To finish transgression, and to make an end of sin, and to
40 SERMON UPON JOHN XIX. 30.
bring in everlasting righteousness/ There is no sin so great hut the Eedeemer's meritcancountervailit. And no man shall perish for the want of the payment of his ransom, or an expiatory sacrifice for his sins. He may perish for his impenitency and unbelief, but not merely for the greatness of his sin ; for what sin is so great tliat it is not or cannot be expiated by the blood of Christ ? Christ's satisfaction maketh the salvation of the worst possible; you may have peace with God if you will.
5. It bindeth our duty the closer upon us. No man shall perish but for want of a willing heart to accept of the Redeemer, who hath paid our ransom, and of the grace which he hath brought to us, by which we may be interested and instated in the benefits of this ransom. All things are ready if we are ready : Luke xiv. 17, ' Come, for all things are now ready.' God's fatlings are killed, his wines are mingled ; if we will not come to the feast, we perish through our own default. We need confer nothing ; all is but to receive the benefits propounded and offered ; victory over death, hell, sin, Satan, is ready ; yea, heaven is ready, and all spiritual blessings are ready, if we are ready ; for the merit and satisfaction of Christ is the great cause of all that blessedness which is offered to the creature. God hath opened the way to all ; if they will not enter into it, they perish by their own default. He hath sent preachers into all the world : Mark xvi. 15, 16, ' And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that belie veth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned ; ' Titus ii. 11, ' For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men.' Let us not refuse our cure, though we must take a bitter potion, though we must enter in by the strait gate of faith and repentance, and walk in the narrow way of self-denial, and all holy conversation, and godliness ; yet because it is to life, and the legal exclusion is taken off, let us enter and walk in it. Indeed, if the door were shut against us by the sentence of the law, and there was no way to remove the bars and bolts, our excuse were more just, be- cause then our condition would be hopeless. But now all is finished, salvation rendered possible ; now God hath taken away the bars and bolts by wliich his law shut us out from all hope ; let us not set up bars and bolts by our own unbelief and by our own cowardly fears. If man were not man, but a beast, a fool, or a madman, it might more excus- ably be allowed to them to be led by sense and appetite, and then it were an intolerable thing to crucify the flesh, with the affections thereof ; but man, having reason, doth know, or may know, that this command of God is equal ; that God doth not only require, but help us to per- form it, and prevent us by his grace.