Sermons Volume 4, Sermon on Luke 2
Sermon II. on Luke Xix.10.
For the Son of Man is come to seek, and to save that which is lost.
Secondly, I AM to prove that this was Christ's great end and business.
1. It is certain that Christ was sent to Man in a lapsed and fallen estate, not to preserve us as innocent but to recover us as fallen. The good Angels are preserved and confirmed in their first estate, they are kept from perishing, and being lost: And so would Adam have been saved, if God had kept him still in a state of Innocency: but our Salvation is a recovery and restauration, being lost, and undone by the fall, Rom. 3.23. For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. That is, lost the perfection of our natures, and the consequent priviledges.
2. Out of this misery Man is unable to deliver and recover himself. Not able to reconcile or propitiate God to himself, by giving a sufficient ransom to provoked justice, Psal. 49.8. For the Redemption of the Soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever, that is, if it should lie upon our Hands. And Man cannot change his own Heart; Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one, Iob 14.4. There is no sound part left in us to mend the rest, this is a work for the Spiritual Physician. We have need of a Saviour to help us to Repentance, as well as to help us to pardon.
3. We being utterly unable, God in pity to us, that the Creation of Man for his glory might not be frustrated, hath sent us Christ. First, he was from the Love of God predestinated to this end from all Eternity, to remedy our lapsed estate, Iohn 3.16. God so loved the World, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting Life. He was from all Eternity appointed by the Father to save sinners. Secondly, He was spoken of, and promised for this end in Paradise, presently after the fall, Gen. 3.15. The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head. Thirdly, He was shaddowed forth in the Sacrifices, and the other Figures of the Law, therefore said to be the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World, Rev. 13.8. Fourthly, He was prophesied of by the Prophets, as one that should Make his Soul an offering for sin, Isa. 53.10. As the Anointed one that should be cut off, not for himself, but to make an end of Sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, Dan. 9.27, 28, 29. Fifthly, He was waited for by all the Faithful, before his coming, as the consolation of Israel, Luke 2.25. And behold there was a Man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon and the same man was Iust, and Devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, Iohn 8.56. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad, 1 Pet. 1.10. Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired, and searched diligently, who prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you. Sixthly, In the fulness of time the Son of Man came, not at first to judge, or sentence any, but to save the lost World, Luke 9.56. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy Mens Lives, but to save them, John 3.17. God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World, but that the World through him might be saved. The erra…d of his first coming was to offer Salvation to the lost World, and not only to offer it, but to purchase it for them, Iohn 12.47. I came not to Iudge the World but to save the World. All these places shew, that at his first coming, he laid aside the quality of a Judge, and took the Office of a Saviour, and a Mediator; As a Prophet, to reveal the way of Salvation; As a Priest, to procure it for us by the merit of his Sacrifice; As a king▪ powerfully to bring us to the injoyment of it. He did not come down to punish the ungodly World, as Gen. 18.21. I will go down now and see, whether they have done altogether according to the cry of all it, which come up unto me. And so to put an end to transgression: But he would come with an offer of Peace and Salvation, and during this whole dispensation leaves room for Faith and Repentance. Seventhly, When he was upon Earth, you find him conversing with sinners, as the Physician with the sick, to heal their Souls; and when the Pharisees excepted against this familiarity, as if it were against decency, that so great a Prophet should converse with the poorest and worst, he sheweth it was needful for their cure. When they objected, Luke 15.2. This Man receiveth Sinners, and eateth with them, He defendeth himself by the Parable of the lost Sheep, and lost groat, and lost Son. So here, when they murmur at him for being Zaccheus his Guest, he pleadeth his Commission, and great Errand into the World. So when a Woman, that was a sinner, washed his Feet with her Tears, he preferreth her before Simon a Pharisee, Luke 7.44, 45, 46, 47. He pleadeth his being a Physician of Souls. When he sate at Meat with Matthew a Publican, Mat. 9.12. So those that would have the Adulteress Stoned, he said to them, Iohn 8.7. He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first Stone at her. He spake many Parables against those that were conceited of their Righteousness, and despised sinners, Luk. 18.9. The Parable of the two Sons, Mat. 21.28, 29, 30, 31. Now all these shew that his great work was to bring lost sinners to Repentance, that they might be saved. Eighthly, After he had offered himself through the Eternal Spirit, that he might purge our Consciences from dead works, he went to Heaven, and sate down at the Right Hand of God, that he might powerfully apply his Salvation. Therefore it is said, Acts 5.31. Him hath God exalted with his Right Hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give Repentance to Israel, and Remission of Sins. So that still he is upon the saving dispensation, till he come to Judgment, then all are in termino, in their final estate, where they shall remain for ever. Ninthly, The Ministry and Gospel was appointed to give notice of this, 1 Iohn 4.14. And we have seen, and do testifie, that the Father sent the Son, to be the Saviour of the World. Well then! If Christ had not been willing to save us, he would never have laid down his Life to open a way for our Salvation, nor would he have sent his Ambassadours to pray and beseech us to accept of his help.
Vse 1. Information.
1. How contrary to the temper of Christ they are, who are careless of Souls. We should learn of Christ to be diligent and industrious, to reduce the meanest person upon Earth, that is in a course of any danger of ruine to the Soul. Surely this care of seeking, and searching out, and reducing sinners to Repentance, should be imitated of all. These words are spoken by Christ upon another occasion, why his little ones should not be despised: Mat. 18.11. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. He came to redeem the meanest Believer. Now his little ones are despised, by laying stumbling Blocks in their way, or neglecting the means by which they may be reduced to God, as if their Souls were not worth the looking after. Hath the Minister no poor ignorant Creature to instruct? Or the Father of the Family no Children or Servants to bring home to God? Or the good Christian no Brothers, nor Sisters, nor Neighbours, who walk in a Soul-destroying course: how can we think our selves to belong to Christ, when we are so unlike him? Oh seek and save that which is lost; do what you can to pluck them out of the fire; they are lost and undone for ever, if they continue in their carnal and flesh-pleasing course. Be they never so mean, you must seek to save them, for you must not have the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons.
2. How much they obstruct the end of Christ's coming, who hinder the Salvation of lost Souls; either by depriving them of the means of Grace, as the Pharisees, who would neither enter into the Kingdom of God themselves, nor suffer them that were entring to go in, Mat. 23.13. but seek all means to divert them; or else by clogging his Grace with unnecessary conditions, or preparations, and so shut up the way to the City of Refuge, which was to be smoothed or made plain, Deut. 19.2, 3. that nothing might hinder him that fled thither, no stop, nor stumbling block, no hill, nor dale, nor river without convenient passage. It is enough they are sensible that they are lost Creatures. And it is not the deepness of the wound is to be regarded, but the soundness of the cure; they have a sense of sin and misery, Christ seeketh such to save and cure. Some exclude all conditions and means, he must look to nothing in himself to make out his claim, but only to Christ's Blood shed for the expiation of his sins: Alas! Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost, not only as a Priest, but as a Prophet, and as a King; not only to die for sins, but to call us to Repentance, and to work it in us by his Spirit. He findeth us lost sinners, but he doth not leave us so. And Conversion is a part of his Salvation, as well as Redemption; he saveth us by renewing God's Image in us, as well as procuring his favour for us; to be saved from our sins is Salvation, Mat. 1.21. To be regenerated is Salvation, as well as to be reconciled to God; and so the Scripture speaketh of it.
3. It informeth us, that if Men be not saved, the fault is their own, for Christ doth what belongeth to him, he came to seek and to save what is lost; but we do not what belongeth to us, we are not willing to be saved. The Scripture chargeth it upon our Will, we will not submit to his saving and healing methods, Mat. 23.37. I would have gathered thee as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings, but ye would not, Christ would, but we will not, so Iohn 5.40. Ye will not come to me, that you might have life. You complain of want of power, when ye are not willing to leave your sins. You say, I cannot save my self, when thou art not willing that Christ should save thee, thou wilt not receive the Grace and Help offered to thee. Possibly thou wouldest be freed from the Flames of Hell, but thou wouldest not leave thy sins. There is no man perisheth in his sins, but because he would not be saved. Is not Christ able to help thee? Yes, the doubt lieth not there; is he not willing to help thee? say it if thou canst; why did he die for thee? Why did he send means to offer his help? Why did he bear with thee so long, and warn thee so often of thy danger, when thou thoughtest not of it? if he were not willing to help thee out of thy misery, why doth he so often tender thee his saving Grace? Surely the defect is in thy Will, not in Christ's; thou art in love with the sensual pleasures of sin, loth to exchange them for the Salvation Christ offereth. Christ inviteth thee, and thy excuse is, I cannot, when the truth is thou wilt not come to him. The business is not, whether thou canst save thy self? But whether thou art willing Christ should save thee? Christ is not unwilling to do that, which he seeketh after with so much diligence and care. Say not then in thy heart, I know Christ can save me if he will; Why! he is as willing as able to save thee, but he will not save thee by force, against thy will, or without, or besides thy consent. Certainly none perish in their sins, but because they would not be saved, they refuse the help which God offereth, and will not improve the power which he hath given: They refuse his help, I would have purged thee, but thou wouldest not be purged, Ezek. 24.13. They do not use the power they have, for there is no wicked Man, but might do more than he doth; they are sloathful servants that hide their Talents in a Napkin, Matth. 25 26. They put off the Word, quench their Convictions, will not bestir themselves, nor hearken to Christ's offers: if others had these helps, they would have repented long ago, Matth. 11.21, 22. Wo unto thee, Chorazin! Wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which are done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tire and Sidon in the day of Iudgment, than for you.
Vse 2. To press you to accept of this Grace, and deal with Christ as a Saviour; this title is not a title of terror and dread, but of life and comfort. Oh! submit then to his healing Methods, and suffer Christ to save you in his own way.
Arguments to press you to accept of this Grace.
1. Consider the misery of a lost condition; We were all lost in Adam, and can onelyonly be recovered by Christ; we fell from God by his first transgression, and so were estranged from the Womb, and went astray assoon as we were born, Psal. 58.3. The wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray assoon as they be born, speaking lies. And every sin that we commit is a farther loss of our selves, for every wicked Man doth more undo himself, and plunge himself into farther Perdition; for our sins make a greater distance between God and us, Isa. 59.2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. And what will be the issue but the wrath of God, and miseries in this life, together with the everlasting Torments of the Damned in Hell? These are the due effects and punishment of sin, Rom. 2.9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of Man that doth evil, of the Iew first, and also of the Gentile. Now this must be thought on seriously by every one that will believe in Christ, he came to recover us out of these losses: many have been recovered, and many shall be so; but then you must submit to him, otherwise the wrath of God abideth on you, Iohn 3.36. He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
2. Think of the excellency, and reality of Salvation by Christ, 1 Tim. 1.15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Iesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners. It is worthy to be credited, worthy to be embraced. There is in us a defect in point of Assent, and also in point of Acceptance; if we were perswaded of the truth and worth of this Salvation, we would not slight it, and neglect it as we do; It allayeth our fears, and satisfieth our desires. Oh then! let us receive it with a firm assent, and with our dearest and choicest affections: It is vile ingratitude, that we are no more affected with it; if it were a Dream, or a Doctrine not suited to our Soul-necessities, then our carelesness might be the better excused. Usually we talk of it like Men in Jest, or hear it like Stale News; surely we do not regard it as lost and undone creatures should do, that have this onelyonly remedy to free us from eternal Misery, or bring us to eternal Happiness, nor with that hearty welcome which so necessary and important a truth doth require.
3. You have the Means; You have the offer made to you, Isa. 27.13. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great Trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which are ready to perish in the Land of Assyria, and the out-casts in the Land of Egypt, and they shall worship the Lord in the Holy Mount at Jerusalem: Some apply this to Cyrus his Proclamation, for the return of God's own People from their Captivity into their own Countrey to Worship God. The Ten Tribes had been carried Captive into the Land of Assyria, many had fled into Egypt, but the Ten Tribes returned not on Cyrus his Proclamation; However it hath a Spiritual meaning and use. Others make it an allusion to the year of Jubilee, and the Trumpet which then sounded, wherein Men were set free, and returned each one to his Inheritance and Possession again, Levit. 25.9, 10. A Type of the Evangelical Trumpet under the Messias, whereby God's Elect are called out of their Spiritual Thraldom under Sin and Satan, to inherit a share in the Kingdom of Grace, Isa. 61.1, 2. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to Preach good tydings unto the Meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the Captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. Time was when Christ was sent onelyonly to the lost sheep of Israel, Mat. 15.24. I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but now to People of all Lands and Countreys, Revel. 5.9. Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.
4. If you continue in your impenitency, and unbelief, it's a shrewd presumption that you are lost, not onelyonly in the Sentence of God's Law, but in the Purpose of his Decree, 2 Cor. 4.3. For if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, that is, past by, as those to whom the Gospel will do no good. Certainly such as refuse the Gospel, are in an Actual state of perdition, lost, undone, destroyed; we speak upon supposition, if they continue so, they are cast-aways. It's not an immediate absolute prediction, we cannot give out copies of God's decrees, or seal them up to final perdition; but we can reason from the rules of the Gospel, Mark 16.16. He that believeth not shall be damned. It is not a peremptory sentence; but we must warn you of your danger, though we do not pronounce God's doom that you are reprobates, that may come afterwards.
But what must we do? Directions.
1. Do not resist, or refuse Christ's help, but when the Waters are stirred put in for Cure. As we are to wait upon God diligently in the use of Means for the saving of our Souls; so we are to entertain and improve the offers, and to give serious regard to the friendly convictions and motions of the Spirit of God, not smothering or quenching them, lest our last estate be worse than the first. No water so soon freezeth in cold weather, as that which hath been once heated; no Iron so hard, as that which hath been oft heated and oft quenched; Therefore set in with such strivings of the Spirit. Christ hath sought thee out, and found thee in these preparative Convictions, and now he cometh to save thee; having made thee sensible of thy Wound, let him go on with the Cure; if we refuse his help, or delay it, as Felix, Acts 24.25. When I have a more convenient season I will send for thee, we lose this advantage. Therefore when Christ knocketh, open to him; when he draweth, run after him; when the Wind blows, put forth the Sails: one time or another God meeteth with every Man that liveth under the Gospel, so that his heart saith, I must be another Man, or I shall be undone and lost for ever: then Christ cometh to seek after thee and save thee in particular. Oh! give way and welcome to his saving and healing Work; if you resist this Grace by obstinacy and hardness of heart, or elude the importunity of it by neglect and delay, you lose an advantage which will not be easily had again, and so put away your own mercy.
2. Seek an effectual Cure; seek not only to be saved from wrath, but to be saved from sin; he doth not onelyonly procure it for us by his Merit, but worketh it in us by his Spirit, and giveth a penitent heart, as well as absolution from sin. Man's misery consists of two parts, Sin, and Condemnation for sin; Man's Salvation therefore must have two parts opposite to these evils, Sanctification which is Salvation from sin, and Pardon of sin and Justification, whereby a Man is delivered from guilt and condemnation. These two are inseparable, we must have both or none, 1 Cor. 1.30. But of him are ye in Christ Iesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Cor. 6.11. Such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Iesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Man's Justification is not the cause of his Sanctification, nor his Sanctification the cause of his Justification, but Christ is the cause of both, but yet he is first sanctified, then justifyed; first we recover his Image, then his Favour, then his Fellowship. Now you must look after both these, not to be eased of the fear of Hell onelyonly, but to be fitted for God. The penitent heart seeketh both, 1 Iohn 1.9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He were a foolish Man, that having his leg broken, should onelyonly seek to be eas'd of the smart, and not to have his leg set right again. Sin is the Mire that carnal persons stick in, and are unwilling to be drawn out of it. Therefore you are rightly affected, when you seek not the one onelyonly, but the other also; to have sin subdued, as well as pardoned.
3. Being Justified and Sanctified, you must live to the Glory of God. For you were not onelyonly lost to your selves, but to God; And you must be recovered not to your selves onelyonly, but to God also: You are redeemed to God: Thou hast redeemed us to God, Revel. 5.9. and this redemption is applied to you, Heb. 9.14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your Consciences from dead works, to serve the living God. You are Mortified to the Law, Gal. 2.19. I through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God. You are Married to Christ, Rom. 7.4. That you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit unto God. In short, as we are under the New Covenant, we are obliged to live unto God; As we are Justified and Pardoned, we are incouraged to live unto God; As we are Sanctified, we have a Principle of Grace to incline us to live unto God; And we shall have, besides this habitual principle, his Spirit to work in us what is pleasing in his sight.
4. You must continue with patience in well doing till you come to live with God. Till then Christ's salvation is not perfect, he hath not saved us to the uttermost; nor is our recovery perfect, we are not fully cleansed from all sin, nor do we serve God perfectly, nor injoy full communion with him. Here Christ seeketh, and there he saveth us; indeed here he puts us into the way of Salvation, but then are we compleatly saved. A wicked Man is gone out of the way, losing himself more and more; but the regenerate person, though he be put into the way, yet he is not come to the end of the journey, and therefore now we are but expecting and waiting for the salvation of God. It is said, Heb. 9.28. That unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto Salvation. Then he will reward all his Faithful Servants, that look for him. Heretofore he came to purchase Salvation, then to confer and bestow Salvation. Then Man shall be delivered from all sin, and all the sad and woful consequents of sin, and that for ever. Now this is that we look for, and wait for, and that in the way of well-doing; for when Christ hath sought us out, and brought us home, we must wander no more. Well then! being renewed and justified, we must wait for the time, when we shall be rid, and freed from sin, and sorrow for ever.
Vse 3. Is to press us to Thanksgiving, that the Son of God should come from Heaven to seek and save those that are lost, and us in particular. Thankfulness for Redemption and Salvation by Christ, being the great duty of Christians, I shall a little inlarge upon it.
1. Consider how sad was thy condition in thy lost estate. You were fallen from God, and become an Enemy to him in thy mind by evil works, Col. 1.21. And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. And were a wretched bondslave to Satan, led captive by him at his will, 2 Tim. 2.26. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. And thy work was to pursue vain pleasures, sutable to thy fleshly mind, Titus 3.3. Serving divers lusts and pleasures, running with the rest of the wicked World into all manner of sin, Ephes. 2.2. Wherein in times past ye walked, according to the course of this World, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And all this while thou wert under a Sentence of Condemnation, Iohn 3.18. He that believeth not, is condemned already. And there was nothing but the slender thread of a frail Life between thee and Execution, and the Wrath of the Eternal God ready ever and anon to break out upon thee, Iohn 3.36. He that believeth not the Son of God, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Surely we that were lost were not worth the looking after, now that God should, with so much ado, and so much care, seek to save such wretched creatures, Oh, how should we be affected with the Mercy! Which of you having a servant, that run away from you sound and healthy, but afterwards is become blind, deformed and diseased, will seek after him, and cure him with costly Medicines, and much care, and bring him into the Family, and receive him with so much tenderness, as if all this had not been; and yet this, and much more, is the case between us and God.
2. Consider how many Thousands there are in the World, whom God hath past by, and left them in their Impenitency, and Carnal Security, under the bondage of sin, and the vassalage of Satan; and how few there are that shall be saved, in comparison of the Multitude that shall be eternally destroyed: and that God should call thee with an holy calling, and bring thee in, to be one of that little Flock, that is under that good Shepherds care! And that when there is but, as it were, one of a Family, and two of a Tribe, that thou shouldst be singled out from the rest, and chosen, when they are left; What meer Grace, and astonishing distinguishing Mercy is this! Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? 1 Cor. 4.7. The Lord hath passed by Thousands, and ten thousands, who, for deserts, were all as good, and, for outward respects, much better than us. We were as deep in Original Sin as they, and for Actual Sin, it may be, more foul and gross; And for Dignity in the World, many more Rich, more Honourable, more Wise, are left in a state of sin to perish eternally; And that thou shouldest be as a brand plucked out of the burning; That God should reform thy crooked, perverse spirit, and pardon all thy sins, and lead thee in the way of righteousness unto Eternal Glory: How should thy heart and mouth be filled with the high Praises of God! and how should you say, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed my Soul!
3. Consider what preventing Grace God used towards you. How he sought you out, when you sought not him, that he might save you. As this saving Mercy was not deserved by you, so it was not so much as desired by you; the Lord pittied thee, when thou hadst not an heart to pity thy self, and prevented thee with his goodness. It is good to observe the circumstances of our first awakening, or reducement from our wandrings. The Apostle speaketh of the called foreign, according to his purpose, Rom. 8.28. Not the purpose of them that are converted, but the purpose of God. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate, and whom he did predestinate, them he also called, vers. 30. Many come to a Duty with careless and slight Spirits, or by a meer Chance, as Paul's Infidel, 1 Cor. 14.24, 25. But if all prophesie, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all; And thus are the secrets of the heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. Oh how many do thus stumble upon Grace unawares, as not minding or desiring any such Matter! yet God directeth a seasonable word that pierceth i…to their very hearts. Sometimes when opposing, and persecuting, as Paul, Acts … Many that come to scoff: I have seen his ways, I will heal him, Isa. 57.18 So…e are leavened with prejudice, loth to come, drawn against their consent, Iohn 1.46. Nathaniel saith to Philip, Can any good come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see: yet there he met with Christ. Various circumstances there are which shew Christ's vigilancy and care in seeking after lost Souls.
4. That he hath made the Cure effectual, notwithstanding the reluctancies of our carnal hearts. We are all of us full of the wisdom of the Flesh, and that is enmity to God, Rom. 8.7. Because the Carnal Mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. Now that our hearts should be quite changed, and have another bias and inclination put upon them, this is the Lord's doing, and it should be marvellous in our eyes, Iohn 3.6. That which is born of flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That we should be so quite altered, as now to mind Serious, Spiritual and Heavenly things; surely nothing could do this but the Almighty Spirit of Christ, or that efficacy which is proper to the Mediatour.