48 BEBMOHS OifQN PHILIPPIC'S III. [SeB. V.
and condemn, and execute his sentence accordingly, partly in this life, yad partly in the life to come, as the scriptures abundantly witness : Acts xvii. 31, ' Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will j udge the world in righteousness, by the man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.'
[2.] The privileges of this new grant are exceeding great ; pardon, peace with God, justification from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses ; adoption into God's family ; the gift of his Spirit to renew us, and maintain his interest in our souls ; and a right to everlasting glory as our inheritance. Now surely these are things not to be despised. It will go well with those who have sub- mitted to Christ when they are to appear before their Lord and judge, having such a grant and charter to produce. Certainly to be interested in Christ's satisfaction and merit, so far as to become acceptable and pleasing to God, is no small privilege. To be accepted in the Beloved for the present, and to stand in the judgment hereafter, these are great things indeed. To be adopted into God's family in the kingdom of grace, and to be received into God's presence in the kingdom of glory , to be freed from condemnation to hell, and to have a right and title to heaven, should not this move us ?
[3.] The danger of final impenitency and refusing these things, and not submitting to this righteousness, is very grievous, if there were nothing but a forfeiting the hopes and possibility of our recovery ; but the scripture calleth it a ' sorer punishment,' Heb. x. 39. The law of grace threateneth the greatest punishment. Conscience in hell will have a special kind of accusations and self-tormentings in reflecting on the refusal of the remedy. Besides, the threatening of the gospel is peremptory, excluding all remedy to all eternity ; but the threatening of the law of nature is not peremptory and remediless ; there is a remedy at hand to dissolve the obligation of suffering that penalty ; namely, Christ's satisfaction (who fulfilled the law, and became a curse for us) is pleadable by all those who sincerely repent and believe.
8. The terms of this new law or covenant are repentance, faith, and new obedience. Or take one mentioned in the text, faith ; it is a right- eousness which is by faith. Faith is the grand and primary condition of the gospel. If you ask why faith is appointed, we might look no further than the will of the free donor ; but faith hath a special aptitude and fit- ness for this work.
[1.] In respect of God, he having determined to glorify his free mercy, he requireth nothing but our belief and acceptance . ' It is of faith, that it might be of grace,' Eom. iv. 16.
[2.] With respect to Christ Jesus, who is the fountain of our life and righteousness, and our head and husband. Faith is the closing act : John i. 12, ' To as many as received him.' The tie and nuptial knot between us and our Lord.
[3.] God had respect also to our necessitous estate, and therefore principally required that they should know Christ and own him, if they will have benefit by him, that such privileges should not be settled upon us without our knowledge, or besides and against our will.
VEK. 9.] SERMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. 49
[4.] With respect to the promise, which offers it to us. This happi- ness and blessedness is spiritual, and for the most part future, and cannot be seen. Now such thiugs are only apprehended by faith : Heb. xi. 1, ' Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.'
[5.] With respect to God's end, which is the willing subjection of the creature to God. By it we come to Christ as king, priest, and prophet ; take his yoke, as well as receive his benefits : Mat. xi. 28, 29, ' Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls/
9. This faith is such a hearty assent to the truths of the gospel as causeth us broken-heartedly, thankfully, and fiducially to accept the Lord Jesus as he is offered to us, and to give up ourselves to God by him.
[1.] An assent to the truths of the gospel there must be, for the general faith goeth before the particular, a belief of the gospel before our communion with Christ. This assent must produce acceptance, because the gospel is an offer of blessedness suitable to our necessities and desires, and receiving is one solemn notion by which faith is expressed. And this acceptance must be broken-hearted, because Christ and his benefits are a free gift to us ; and we come to accept this grace as condemned sinners, with a confession of our undeservings and ill-deservings : 1 John i. 9, ' If we confess our sins, he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- ness/ And that eternal wrath may justly become our portion, God lets none come out of the prison of the first covenant till they have felt somewhat of the smart of it in the sense of our guilt and misery, that we may fly to the ransom of Christ's blood, and the merit of his obed- ience. Therefore this must be distinctly considered as the procuring cause, which cannot be done seriously without a broken heart.