2. To show whether the calling hath had its effect upon you. Doth it make you more heavenly ? They that obey this call, their hearts are more heavenly. It is heaven they seek : Col. iii. 1, 2, ' If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which ars above, where Christ
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sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, and not on things of the earth/ It is heaven they hope for : 1 Peter i. 3, ' Blessed be God, who hath begotten us to a lively hope.' Heavenly tilings they savour : Kom. viii. 5, ' They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.' This is their treasure and portion : Mat. xx. 21, ' Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.' Their home and happiness : Heb. xi. 13, ' They declare plainly they seek a country.' It is their scope : 2 Cor. iv. 18, ' We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen.' And therefore are heavenly : Phil. iii. 20, ' Our conversation is in heaven.' Their course is becoming their choice : 1 Thes. ii. 12, ' That you walk worthy of God, who hath called us to his kingdom and glory.' They live as heirs of glory. Heaven they seek in the first place: Mat. vi. 33, 'First seek the king- dom of God.' Their conversation, hope, and happiness is in heaven. But when you are of the earth, and savour of the earth, you are not yet called off from the world. Certainly when grace gets the mastery, when it is the governing principle in ovfr hearts, it sets up some scope and end which was not before, for which it employeth our time and strength, life and love, minds and hearts, cares and endeavours. A carnal mind is carried out with greater estimation, resolution, and delight after earthly things than after heavenly ; but these are the proper good suited to the divine nature in us. In heaven is the most perfect enjoyment of God and conformity to him. Being born of God, they cannot live without him, nor be satisfied with that partial enjoyment which the present world will only afford. There is the consummation of the new creature.
3. The calling of God gives us hopes of a right to the blessing: 'No man taketh this honour, but he that is called of God ; ' and of the con- tinuance of that right : 1 Peter v. 10, ' But the God of all grace, who hath called us to this eternal glory by Jesus Christ.' If you have con- sented to his holy calling, he will not leave till he hath brought you to the full possession of what he hath called you unto.
SERMON XI.
I press toward the marie, for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. — Phil. iii. 14.
Having spoken of the thing pursued after, we come now to the second branch, the manner of prosecution. Where, the first thing observable is his fixing his scope. He propounded this ' prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ ' as his mark and scope which he aimed at, ' I press toward the mark.'
Boot. 1. That those that would be christians indeed must make heavenly things their scope.
First, Let me show you how many ways this is done — (1.) Habi- tually ; (2.) Actually.
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1. Habitually, when you have first fixed your end, and renounced the devil, the world, and the flesh, and did set upon hopes and resolutions for heaven, and did take the world to come for your portion and happi- ness, choosing the better part: 2 Cor. iv. 18, 'While we look not to the things which are seen, but to the things that are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' You have fixed this as the end of your faith : 1 Peter i. 9, ' Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls/ The end of your diligence, and the drift and purpose of all your serving and waiting upon God : Acts xxvi. 7, ' Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.' This is the end of all our labours : 2 Cor. v. 9, ' Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.' Your great ambition, that you may be accepted unto eternal life.
2. Actually ; it is not enough to choose the better part, but we must often actually think of it to renew lively affections. Having pitched upon a right end, you must renew your estimation and intention of it, that you may keep it strong and fixed : Prov. iv. 25, ' Let thine eyes look right on, and let thy eyelids look straight before thee ; ' that is, to the end of your journey ; that you may still make it your business to go to heaven.
Secondly, We must distinguish again, that the intention of the end and scope is either explicit or implicit, formal or virtual.