So you see why Christ is said to be sealed, especially because he is authorised by God the Father, ' made,' ' sent,' ' set forth,' ' whom the Father hath sealed;' that is, the party offended by our sins, he hath sealed and authorised Christ to be a mediator.
If this be so, let us learn this use of it, to bless God the Father as well as Christ. ' Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; ' and ' Blessed be Christ,' for him hath the Father ' sealed' by the Spirit. The blessed Trinity have all a hand in our salvation.
And then again consider, if we despise Christ, whom we despise. We despise the Father that hath ' sealed' him. It is a weighty matter. Read the second psalm, and you shall see there what it is to despise Christ, not to ' kiss the Son ;' that is, when God hath anointed and sent forth a Saviour, and ' sealed him,' and authorised him by all the testimonies that can be, to be a mediator, not to receive him for our king, for our priest and prophet. It is a rebellion, not against Christ only, but against the Father who hath ' sealed ' him.
And likewise it sei'veth wonderfully to strengthen our ^faith when we go to God for forgiveness of sins. Offer him his own broad seal, offer him Christ as a mediator authorised by himself. Lord, I am thus and thus a sinner, but notwithstanding, thou hast sent thy blessed Son and set him forth to be a Saviour for me, and him I offer to thee. Thou canst not deny or refuse thy own ' sealed ' Mediator and Redeemer. If he had been a mediator of my own appointing and of my own sealing, it were another matter ; but I offer thy own mediator, look on the death of him whom thou hast ' sealed ' to be my intercessor. It is a wondrous prevailing argument with God. He cannot deny that which he hath devised himself, him whom he chose before all worlds for this great office.
But how shall I know whether he be * sealed ' for my good or no ? Saith the soul that hears this, we hear much of an authorised Saviour, of an au- thorised mediator to be all-sufficient, but what is that to me ?
Why ? For whom is he ' sealed ? ' Is he * sealed ' for angels or for men ? And amongst men is he ' sealed' for holy men or sinners ? ' I come not to seek or to save whole men, or men that never were lost,' Mat. xviii. 11. No. He came to seek and to save men, but they are lost men, sick men ; and it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all means to be em- braced, ' that Christ came into the world to save sinners,' saith blessed Paul, 1 Tim. i. 15. Therefore he is ' sealed' to save thee if thou art a sinner, to save thee if thou wilt receive him ; and thou art bound to receive him, under pain of the punishment of i-ebellion. Is it not rebellion not to receive a magistrate whom the prince has authorised under his broad seal ? It is another manner of matter not to receive Christ. It is a greater sin than to sin against the law ; for if a man sin against the law there is the gospel to help him, but if a man sin against the gospel there is not another gospel to him. Now to refuse Christ offered in the gospel is a sin against the gospel. Where then can there be hope of salvation ? Salvation itself cannot save him that will not be saved, that refuses the remedy ' sealed' by God the Father, the party offended. Who can heal him that casts down the potion that is brought to heal him ? that refuseth the physician that comes to cure him ? I say he is ' sealed ' to save thee if thou wilt be saved ;
37G
THE FRUITFUL LABOUR
if thou wilt receive liim ; receive him not only to be thy Saviour, but to be thy king to rule thee, and thy prophet to teach and instruct thee, as we shall see afterwards.
But, to clear this a little better, wo must know that there are three dis- tinct sealings.
There is God's sealing of Christ, which I have unfolded to you.
And there is our sealing of God ; that is, our sealing of God's truth.
And then again, there is God's sealing of us by his Spirit. And these follow one the other.
Why hath God sealed Christ, but that we hereupon should be stirred up to believe and to receive Christ, and so by consequence to seal, that God is true in sending such a blessed Mediator, as St John saith, ' He that believes in the Son hath set to his seal that God is true,' John iii. 33. God hath sealed him, that we, by receiving him, should seal God's truth.
Beloved, God comes to us for our testimonials, for our hands and seals. Oh how wondrously doth God condescend to weak man ! He hath sealed Christ for the office of a mediator, and he offers him unto us, and he comes to us likewise that we would set to our seals too, that Christ is the Son of God. He counts it not sufficient that he hath sealed him himself, but he will have us seal too ; and we seal him when we receive him. He that receives him hath set to his seal that God is true. He that doth not receive him, ' he makes God a liar,' saith St John, 1 John v. 10,