before God : for " not every one that saitli unto Christ, ' Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of our Father which is in heaven." Men may plead that they have eaten and drunk in his presence, and done many wonderful works in his name ; but the Lord Jesus will say to them, " Depart from me ; I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity"."
O that every sinner would consider this ; and that every professor of religion would search and ti-y his ways ! ]
But the true believer has no cause to dread his presence —
[Even the removal of the judgments from the penitent Philistines is sufficient to shew that God delighteth in mercy, and that "judgment is his strange act," to which he is greatly averse. But there are numberless promises made to the believer, promises which may " embolden him to enter into the holiest with the blood of Jesus" in his hand, just as the high-priest, on the day of annual expiation, entered with the blood of his sacrifices within the veil. Though he is in him- self a guilty and corrupt creature, in Christ he stands before God without spot or blemish ° : yea, " though his sins have been red as crimson, they are washed away, and he is made white as snow." Let him only be steadfast in the faith, and he has nothing to fear p. Whilst he shews forth his faith by his works, he may expect to enjoy that " peace of God which passeth all understanding i;" and especially, whilst he is filled with love, and therein bears the image of his God, he may look forward to the day of judgment with confidence and
joy"^ Know then, BeHever, that "in Christ you may
have boldness and access with confidence unto the Father by the faith of Christ^;" and that in due time you shall " be pre- sented faidtless before him with exceeding joy'."]
Observe then, from this subject,
1 . How great an enemy to our welfare is slavish fear!
[What might not the Philistines and the Beth-shemites have obtained, if, instead of sending the ark from them through slavish terror, they had humbled themselves before it, and sought mercy of the Lord ? But so it is with persons who are filled with slavish fear ; they wish to banish that which inspires them with terror, rather than to part with their sin, which
" Matt. vii. 21—23. Luke xiii. 25 — 27. ° Eph. v. 27.
P Heb. iii. 6. IJohnii. 28. i Heb.vi. 11. Isai.xxxii. 17.
>• ] John iii. 18—21. and iv. 16, 17. >* Eph. iii. 12.
' Jude, ver. 24.
288.1 Samuel's successful intercession. 141
alone makes God an object of dread. Hence they will resort to any thing for peace, rather than to God himself, who alone can give them peace. But let this be a fixed principle in our minds ; that, whatever judgments we either feel or fear, we will not entertain hard thoughts of God. Let us bear in mind, that he is infinitely more willing to give than we are to ask ; and that those who " come to him in the name of Jesus he will in no wise cast out."]
2. What a comfort to the soul is the knowledge
of Christ !
[The dissolution of the world, and the coming of Christ to judgment, have nothing in them terrific to the true believer. He has a refuge, and an hiding-place ; yea " Christ himself is to
him a sanctuary," where he is hid from the fear of evil"
O that we did but cultivate this knowledge more ! Christ is the true ark, which contains that law that was fulfilled by him, and is covered by the mercy-seat, from whence mercy is dispensed to all his believing people. Into that ark we may look ; not indeed with unhallowed curiosity, but with an humble desire to understand all the mysteries of redemption. The cherubim that overshadowed the mercy-seat intimate to us, not only what the angels in heaven are doing, (for they are constantly endeavouring to look into this mystery'',) but what we also should do. St. Paul, after preaching Christ for twenty years, still pressed forward for a further knowledge of him ; and with the same view we also should be " searching the Scriptures which testify of him." This is a knowledge in com- parison of which all things else are as dung and dross ^r and the more we attain of it, the more shall we be transformed into his image ^, and be rendered meet for the glory which he has prepared for us ^]