Had any of us seen _Lazarus_ when he lay full of sores at the rich man’s gate; or _Job_ when he was smitten with ulcers, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot: And had we at the same time prescribed to them some healing medicines, which, because they might put them to pain, they would not apply to their wounds, should we not most justly think, that they were either fond of a distempered body, or were not sensible of their distempers? But our souls, by nature, are in an infinitely more deplorable condition than the bodies of _Job_ or _Lazarus_, when full of ulcers and boils: for, alas! “our whole head is sick, and our whole heart faint, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, we are full of wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, and there is no health in us.” And if we are unwilling to deny ourselves, and come after JESUS CHRIST in order to be cured, it is a sign we are not sensible of the wretchedness of our state, and that we are not truly made whole.
Even _Naaman_’s servants could say, when he refused (pursuant to _Elisha_’s orders) to wash in the river _Jordan_, that he might cure his leprosy, “Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, wash and be clean?” And may not I very properly address myself to you in the same manner, my brethren? If JESUS CHRIST, our great prophet, had bid you to do some far more difficult thing, would you not have done it? Much more then should you do it, when he only bids you deny yourselves what would certainly hurt you if indulged in, and he will give you a crown of life.
But to illustrate this by another comparison: In the 12th chapter of the _Acts_, we read, that “St. _Peter_ was kept in prison, and was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: And behold an angel of the LORD came upon him, and smote _Peter_ on the side, saying, arise up quickly: And his chains fell off from his hands.” But had this great apostle, instead of rising up quickly, and doing as the blessed angel commanded him, hugged his chains and begged that they might not be let fall from his hands, would not any one think that he was in love with slavery, and deserved to be executed next morning? And does not the person who refuses to deny himself, act as inconsistently, as this apostle would have done if he had neglected the means of his deliverance? For our souls, by nature, are in a spiritual dungeon, sleeping and fast bound between the world, the flesh, and the devil, not with two but ten thousand chains of lusts and corruptions. Now JESUS CHRIST, like St. _Peter_’s good angel, by the power of his gospel comes and opens the prison door, and bids us “deny ourselves and follow him.” But if we do not arise, gird up the loins of our mind and follow him, are we not in love with bondage, and do we not deserve never to be delivered from it?
Indeed, I will not affirm that this doctrine of self-denial appears in this just light to every one. No, I am sensible that to the natural man it is foolishness, and to the young convert an hard saying. But what says our Saviour? “If any man will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of GOD, or whether I speak of myself.” This, my dear friends, is the best, the only way of conviction: Let us up and be doing; let us arise quickly, and deny ourselves, and the LORD JESUS will remove those scales from the eyes of our minds, which now, like so many veils, hinder us from seeing clearly the reasonableness, necessity, and inexpressible advantage of the doctrine that has been delivered. Let us but once thus shew ourselves men, and then the spirit of GOD will move on the face of our souls, as he did once upon the face of the great deep; and cause them to emerge out of that confused chaos, in which they are most certainly now involved, if we are strangers and enemies to self-denial and the cross of CHRIST.
III. Proceed we therefore now to the third and last general thing proposed, to offer some considerations, which may serve as so many motives to reconcile us to, and quicken us in, the practise of this duty of self-denial.