The Sinners Sanctuary, Sermon 15
SERMON XV.
Rom. 8.4.
That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, &c.
THink not (saith our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ) that I am come to destroy the Law, I am come to fulfill it, Mat. 5.17 It was a needful Caveat, and a very timous Ad…ertisment; because of the natural mis-apprehensions in mens mind… of the Gospel. When free forgiveness of sins, and life …verlasting, i… preached duplicate page duplicate page in Jesus Christ, without our works, when the mercy of God is proclaimed in its freedom, and fulness, the heart of man is subject to a wofull mis-conceit of Christ, as if by these a latitude were given, and a liberty proclaimed to men to live in sin. That which is propounded as the incouragement of poor sinners, to come to God, and forsake their own wicked way, it is miserably wrested upon a mistake, to be an incouragement to revolt more and more. Righteousness and life, by faith in a Saviour, without the works of the Law, is holden out as the grand perswasion of the Gospel, to study obedience to the Law; and yet such is the perversness of many hearts, that either in opinion, or practice, they so carry themselves, as if there were an inconsistence, between Christ and the Law, between free Justification, and Sanctification, as if Christ had come to redeem us not from sin, but to sin. Now to prevent this, think not, saith he, that I am come to destroy the Law, do not fancie to your selves a liberty to live in sin, and an immunity from the obligation of a commandment, because I have purchased an immunity …nd freedom from the curse, no, I am come to fulfill it rather, not only in mine own person, but in yours also. And to this purpose, Paul, Rom. 3.31. Do we then make void the Law by faith? It is so natural to our rebellious hearts, to desire to be free from the yoke of obedience, and the…efore we fancy such a notion of faith, as may not give it self, to working in love, as is active in nothing but imagination. The Apostle abominats this, God forbid, he detests it, as impious and sacrilegious, yea, we establish it. So then, all returns to this, one of the great ends of Christs coming in the flesh, and one main intendment of the Gospel, published in his Name, is not meerly to deliver us from wrath, and redeem us from the curse, Gal. 3.13. 1 Th…ss. 1.10. But also, and that especially, to redeem us from all iniquity, that we might be a people zealous of …ood works, Ti…. 2.14. And to take away sin, and destroy the works of the devil, 2 Joh. 3.5, 8. We spoke something before noon, how Chr…t hath f…l…lled the Law, and established it, in his own person, by obedience and suffering, neither of which wayes, it could be so well contented by any other: but there is yet a third way that he fulfills and establisheth it▪ and that is in our persons, That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not aft…r the …esh, but after the Spirit. He hath oblidged himself to fulfill it, not only for believers, but in believers; therefore the promises run thus, I will write my Law in their hearts, and cause them to walk in my Satutes, Ez…k. 36.27. Jer. 31.33. Not only I delight do thy will, but I will make them d…light to do it also: And truly in this respect, the Law is more fulfilled …nd established by Christ, then ever it could have been, if man had been left to satisfie it alone. If we had reckoned alone with the Law, we had been taken up eternally with satisfaction for the breaches of it, so that there could be no access to obedience of the command, and no acceptance either: a sinner must first satisfie the curse, for the fault done, before ever he can be in a capacity to perform new obedience on the terms of acceptation of it with God. Now the first would have taken up eternity, so that there can be no place of entr… to the second; therefore if Christ had not found out a way of free pardon of the sins that are past, and assurance, of forgiveness for the time to come, the Commandments of God should be wholly frustrated, but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared, Psal. 130.4. The word is also, worshipped: Truly my beloved, this is the foundation of all Religion, free forgiveness, there had been no Religion, no worship of God, no obedience to his commands throughout all eternity, there should never have been any fear, any love, any delight in God, any reverence and subjection to him, if he had not forgiveness, a treasure of mercies with him, to bestow first upon sinners, and this makes access to stand and serve in his sight. The cloud of our transgressions is so thick and dark, that there could never have been any communion with God, if he had not found out the way to scatter and blot it out, for his own Names sake. Religion then must begin at this great and inestimable free gift of imputed righteousness, of accounting us, what we are not in our selves, because found so in another, it begins at remission of sins, but that is not all, this hath a further end, and truly it is but introductive to a further end; that so a soul may be made partaker of the gift of holiness within, and have that image of God renewed in holiness and righteousness. I would have you once perswaded to begin at this, to recieve the free gift of anothers righteousness, Rom. 5.17. And anothers obedience, to find your own nakedness and loathsomness without this covering, and how short all other coverings of your own works are. O that we could once perswade you to renounce your selves, to embrace this righteousness, then it were easie to prevail with you to renounce sin, to put on holiness. I say, first, you must renounce your selves, as undone in all you do, as loathsome in all that ever you loved, and come under the wide and broad skirt of Christs righteousness, which he did weave upon the earth, for to hide our nakedness. You must once have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled perfectly by another, before you can have access to fulfill on jot of it your selves, or any thing you do be accepted; and till this foundation be laid, you do but beat the air in Religion, you build on the sand.
Now if once you were brought this length, to renounce all confidence in your selves, and to flee in to Christs righteousnesse, then it were easie to lead you a step further, to renounce the love of your most beloved sins: and the more lovely that Christs righteousnesse is in your eyes, the more beauty would holinesse and obedience have in them also unto you; then you would labour to walk after the guidance of the Spirit.
I would have the impression of this deep in your hearts, that the Gospel is not a Doctrine of licentiousnesse, but a Doctrine of the purest liberty, of the compleatest redemption. Many think it liberty to serve their lusts, and it is indeed as bonds and cords to restrain them. There is no man but would be content to be saved from the wrath to come, and therefore many snatch at such sentences of the Gospel, and take them lightly, without consideration of what further is in it. But truly if this were all, it were not compleat redemption; if there were not redemption from sin too, which is the most absolute tyrant in the world. I think a true Christian would account the service of sin bondage, though it were left at his own option; He that commits sin, is the servant of sin, therefore the freedom that Christ purchaseth, is freedom from sin, Ioh. 8.38. I will say more, we are delivered from wrath, that so we may be redeemed from sin, we have the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to us, that so the image of Christ may be renewed within us, this is the very end of that. I am sure any that disce…ns aright, knows sin to have infinit more evil in it, then punishment hath; nay, punishment is only evil, as it hath relation to sin: There is a beauty of justice and righteousnesse in punish…nt, but there is nothing in sin, but deformity and opposition to his Holiness, its purely evil, and most purely hated of God: and if there were no more to perswade you that sin is infinitly more evil then pain, consider how our pain and punishment was really transferred upon the blessed Son of God, and that all this did not make him a whit the worse, but he was not capable of the real infusion of our sin, that would have made Christ as miserable, wretched, and impotent as any of us, that would have disabled him so far from helping us, that he would have had as much need of a Mediator, as we: all which were highly blasphemous to imagine. Look then how much distance and difference there was between suffering, dying Christ, and wretched men living in sin, none can say but he is infinitly better, even while in pain, nor the highest Prince in pleasure, so much disproportion there is between sin and pain, so much is the one worse then the other. Do not think then that Christ died to purchase an indulgence for you to live in sin, truly that were to take away the lesser evil, that the greater may remain; that were to deliver from one misery, that we may be more involved in that which is the greatest of all miseries. Nay, certainly if Christ be a Redeemer, he must redeem us from our most potent and accursed enemy, sin; he must take away the root, the fountain of all misery, sin; that which conceived in its womb all pains, sorrows, sicknesses, death and hell. You have the great end of redemption expressed, Luk. 1.75. That we being delivered from all our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness. It was that, for which he made man at first, and it is that for which he hath made him again, created unto good works, Eph. 2.8. It was a higher design certainly, for which the Son of God became partaker of our nature, then only to deliver us from hell, no doubt it was to make us partakers of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1.4. and this is the very nature of God, holiness and goodness. As sin is the very nature and image of the Devil, the great breach of the Creation was the breaking off of this Image of God, that was the heaviest fall of man, from that top of divine excellency, into the bottom of devillish deformity. Now it is this that is the great plot for which Christ came into the world, to make up that breach, to restore man to that dignity again, so that redemption from wrath, is but a step to ascend upon, to that which is truly Gods design, and mans dignity, conformity with God in holinesse and righteousnesse.
O that you could be perswaded of this, that Christs businesse in the world, was not to bring a notion of an imaginary righteousnesse only, by meer imputation, but to bring forth a solid and real righteousnesse in our hearts, by the operation of his Spirit: I say imputation, or accounting righteous, is but a meer imagination, if this lively operation do not follow. He came not only to spread his garment over our nakedness and deformity, but really and effectually to be a Physician to save our souls, to cure all our inward distempers. The Gospel is not only a Doctrine of a righteousnesse without us, but of a righteousnesse both without, for, and within us too, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, &c. Christ without, happiness it self without, cannot make us happy, till they come in within us, and take up a dwelling in our souls. Therefore I declare unto the most part of you who pretend to expect salvation by Jesus Christ, that you are yet in your sins, and as yet you have no fellowship in this redemption. Do you think to walk after the course of the world, and the lusts of the flesh, to wallow in these common pollutions and uncleannesses among men, swearing, lying, contention, railing, wrath, malice, envy, drunkenness, uncleanness, and such like, and yet be in Christ Iesus? Do not deceive your selves, God is not mocked: He that is in Christ, is a new creature, his endeavour and study, his affection and desire is toward a new walk, after the Spirit. Are not most of you carnal, all flesh; the flesh gives Laws, and you obey them? Are not your immortal souls enslaved to base lusts, to the base love of the world? Are they not prone to prostitute themselves to the service of your fleshly and bruitish part? Why do you then imagine that ye are in Christ Jesus, partakers of his righteousnesse? Consider it in time, that so you may be indeed, what you now are not, but pretend to be. It is the opinion that you are in Christ already, that keeps you out of him.
But on the other hand again, there is nothing here to discourage a poor soul, that thinks subjection to sin the greatest slavery, who would as gladly be redeemed from the power of it, as from hell: I say to such, whose souls desire it is to be purged from all that filthiness of flesh and spirit, and whose continued aim it is to walk in obedience. Though you have many sailings, and often fall, and defile yourself again, yet this comfort is holden out here unto you, there is no condemnation to you, Jesus Christ hath condemned sin, to save you, he hath fulfilled all righteousness for you, and therefore lay you the weight of your acceptation and consolation upon what he hath done himself, and not upon what is but yet a doing in you. Do you not find, I say, that the grace of Jesus Christ, revealed in the Gospel, is that which melts your hearts most? Is not the goodness of the Lord that which perswades you most? and do not these make you loath your self, and love holiness? Encourage your selves therefore in him, hold fast the righteousness that is without you, by faith, and certainly you shall find that righteousnesse and holinesse shall in due time be fulfilled within you. I know no soul so wretched, but it may lay hold on that perfect righteousnesse of Christs, and go under the covering of it, and take heart from it, if so be the desire and affection of their soul be dire…ted to a further end, to have his Spirit dwelling within them, for the renewing of their heart in righteousness and true holiness. I do not say that this is a condition which you must perform before you venture to lay lold on Christs righteousness without you, no wayes, but rather I would declare unto you the very nature of faith in Christ, that it seeks delivery from wrath in him, not simply and lastly, but that a way may be made for redemption from sin, and that there may be a participation of that Divine Nature, which is most in its eye.