Sermons on Psalm 119, Sermons · Sermon 169
SERMON CLXIX.
PSALM CXIX. VER. 151.
Thou art near, O Lord, and all thy Commandments are truth.
IN the former Verse, the Enemies are represented as near, and near to do Mischief, but far from the Law of God. Here in the Text, there is somewhat put in opposition to both.
1. For their nearness to do Mischief, God is near to help.
2. They are far off from the Law, the Man of God asserteth, that God's Commandments are Truth. All their contempt of the Law, did not abate and lessen his Esteem of it: so that the summ of the Verse is, That the Enemies cannot be so ready to hurt, as God is to help and deliver: they cannot go about to defeat Promises, as God will go about to fulfil them. Mark, he compareth the readiness of wicked men to hurt, with the readiness of God; their Contempt of the Word, with the Truth of the Word, or God's Justification of it. In short, in the Verse we may observe two branches,
I. Something spoken of God. And
II. Something of his Law.
I. That which is spoken of God is, That he is near; a present help to those that persist in the Obedience of his Will: for nearness doth not only import his favour, or Inclination to help them; but that he will not delay his help too long, his help is at hand, therefore called a present help in trouble, Psal. 46. 1. and the Lord is at my right hand, Psal. 16. 8. Ready as our Second, in all Conflicts to stand by us, support, and comfort us in our Troubles, yea to deliver us; that is the Notion of nearness in the Text: near as the Enemies are near, onelyonly he is near to defend, as they are near to destroy: when to appearance Danger is nearest, at the same time help and salvation is nearest also: and this doth allay all our Cares and Fears. Phil. 4. 5, 6. The Lord is at hand, therefore be careful for nothing. Still present by his Providence, or hastening his second coming; Rev. 22. 20. I come quickly. I rather quote that place, for the Septuagint have it here foreign, there foreign, therefore he bids us be careful for nothing; certainly the belief of God's nearness should incourage us.
2. That which is said of his Word and Law is, Thy Commandments are Truth: one would think it had been more proper to say, are Just and Righteous, than to say are Truth. His Commandments are Just as the Rule of our Duty, they are just as the Rule of God's Process, but the word Commandment is not taken strictly for the mandatory part of the Word, but it is put for the whole Covenant; his Precepts invested with Promises and Threatnings: the Commandments thus considered with the Promises and Threatnings annexed, are true: Yea, mark the Emphasis of the Phrase, Truth it self. The Happiness promised to them that make Conscience of their Duty, will be made good; and so the Punishments on them that offend God, will be inflicted. Now the joyning of these two Clauses seemeth to speak thus much; I know that thou art near me, because thy Word is Truth. God in his Providence seemeth to be absent sometimes from his People, but upon the Assurance of his Word, we must believe him near. I say, God seemeth to be far off from his People, for who would think that the God of Peace and all Comfort should dwell with them that are broken in Spirit? Isa. 57. 15. For thus saith the high and holy One, that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones: Or that the Author of all Felicity should be present with them, that are harassed and exercised with such sharp Afflictions, and hunted up and down in the World, but because God hath promised it: Isa. 43. 2. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the Fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. We should be satisfied with it, his Word is Truth: whatever Sense and Reason saith to the contrary, neither distance of place, nor afflictedness of condition, do hinder his nearness to us.
Quitting all other points, I shall only insist on this one.
Doctrine. That it is the Priviledge and Happiness of God's Children, to have God near unto them upon all occasions.
My great business will be to explain what this nearness is, and then you will soon find it to be the great Happiness and Priviledge of the Saints.
First, What is this nearness?
Secondly, How is it brought about?
First, What is this nearness?
1. God is not said to be nearer to them than others in regard of his Essence, for so he is everywhere present, nullibi inclusus, nullibi exclusus; so an Heathen described God to be a great Circle, whose Centre is nowhere, and Circumference everywhere: and in the Prophet he telleth us, Ier. 23. 23, 24. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? do not I fill Heaven and Earth? can any hide him in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? He filleth all things with his Essential Presence, he is in Earth, in Heaven, and under the Earth. Psal. 139. 7, 8. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? and whither shall I flee from thy Presence? if I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, thou art there: if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. God is here, and there, and everywhere; the Heavens do not confine and inclose his Being, nor the Tumults of the Earth exclude it: in this sense God is alike near to all things, they that cannot endure the presence and thought of God, where will they go from him? They may run away from God as a Friend, but they cannot escape him as an Enemy: te non amittit, nisi qui dimi…t, & qui te dimittit, quo fugit, nisi a te placato ad te iratum? Men may shut God out of their hearts, and yet he is there, do what they can, and will be found there one day, in the dreadful Effects of his Anger.
2. Not in regard of his general Providence and common Sustentation: for so foreign he is not far from every one of us, for in him we live, and move, and have our being, Acts 17. 27, 28. This general Presence and providential sustentation is vouchsafed to all his Creatures, without which they could not subsist, nor move, nor act; so all things are inclosed under the hand of his Power, and are still under his disposing.
3. It is meant of his friendly and gracious Presence, and those eminent and gracious effects of his Power and Goodness which he is pleased to afford his People. So God is sometimes said to be nigh unto his People, and they are said to be a People near unto him: the Lord is said to be near unto them, Psal. 34. 18. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. And again, Psal. 145. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, and to all that call upon him in truth. Deut. 4. 7. What Nation is so great? who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? The Lord is said to be nigh, because he is always ready to hear their Prayers, and to direct them in their doubts, comfort them in their sorrows, defend and protect them in all their dangers, and deliver them in all their Troubles. On the other side, they are said to be a People near unto God; Psal. 148. 14. He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his Saints, even of the Children of Israel, a people near unto him. Because they are the special Objects of his Mercy and Favour, and as to the actual intercourse that passeth between God and them, God is said to draw nigh to them, as they are said to draw nigh to God. Iam. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you: and so drawing nigh to us on God's part, signifieth his Grace and Blessing; and drawing nigh on our part, our Duty, Love, Fear, Delight, and Reverence of God. Well then, it is meant of his friendly gracious Presence vouchsafed to his People.
4. This nearness may be understood of his visible Presence in his Ordinances, or of that spiritual inwardness and saving Union and Communion that is between God and his converted People, or those that are brought home to him by Christ, and are the members of his Mystical Body. In some sense it is the Priviledge of the Visible Church to have God near them, because they have the signs of his Presence among them: as in the former place, Deut. 4. 7. What nation hath God so nigh unto them? It was the common priviledge of the Nation in comparison of the Pagans about them, who were a People afar off, and strangers to the Covenants of Promise. So Ier. 14. 9. Thou, O Lord God, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name, leave us not. Thus God is said to be nigh, because he dwelleth in the Churches, and walketh in the midst of them; but those that are Converted indeed, are in a straighter Union with God, all those that are Members of the Visible Church, and are united to Christ by a visible and political Union, they have great Priviledges; for they are a Society under God's special care and government, and enjoy the means of Grace, and the offers of Salvation, and great helps by the gifts bestowed upon the body, and so have God nearer to them then others, though they have not the saving fruits of Union with Christ, and Communion with God. Once more, a People that are nigh unto God visibly and politically, may be cast off; as Ier. 13. 11. For as a girdle cleaveth to the loines of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Iudah, saith the Lord, that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, but they would not hear; yet I will cast them away as a rotten girdle that is good for nothing, ver. 10. These words are the Application of a charge given to Ieremiah, to get him a girdle, and hide it, till it was rotten, and then to bring it forth, and tell the People the meaning of this Ceremony: he was to get a Girdle, not Leathern, nor Woollen, such as were commonly worn by the ordinary sort; but a Linnen Girdle, such as the better sort of Persons were wont to wear: he was not to wet it, or put it in water, to imply that neither God, not ought from him, had been the cause of the general Corruption and Destruction of this People: but to hide it in a dry place near Euphrates, till it was Corrupted. Thus God would lay visibly before their eyes their own state, they were as near about him, girded as close to him, as a girdle about a man's loins, yet then good for nothing. But for those to whom God is near by saving benefits, they cannot be lost, for where the nearness is really begun, it will continue, and never be broken off. You may as well separate the Leaven and the Dough, impossibile est massam a pasta separare, &c.
5. In those that are living Members of Christ's Mystical Body, we must distinguish between a state of nearness, and Acts of nearness: by Converting Grace we are brought into a state of nearness unto God, and in Worship we actually draw nigh unto him, and he to us. The state of nearness is the state of Favour and Reconciliation with God, into which we are admitted, who were before strangers and Enemies, Col. 1. 21. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. And also our participation of the Divine Nature; 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature; having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: or Life of God, from which we were formerly alienated by Sin: Eph. 4. 18. Having their understandings darkned, being alienated from the life of God, through the Ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. For these three do alwayes go together, the Favour of God, the Image of God, and Fellowship with God: when Adam lost one, he lost all: when he lost the Image of God, he also lost the Favour of God, or Fellowship with God, or nearness to him. So then our state of nearness lyeth in the recovery of the Favour of God, and the Image or Life of God: when we stand right in his grace, and live his life, they are both great Mercies, and both the ground of our Fellowship with God, or nearness to him. Oh Christians think with your selves! is it not a great priviledge for poor sinful Creatures, that could not think of God without horror, or hear him named without Trembling, or pray to him without great dejection of Heart; to look upon God as reconciled, and willing to receive us, and bless us! So for the Life of God, to have a life begun in us by the Spirit of God, and maintained by the continual Influences of his Grace, till all be perfected in Glory, what a Priviledge is this! None but they that live this Life can have Communion with God. Things cannot converse that do not live the same Life, as Adam had no Companion or meet-help, but was alone; though all the Creatures came and subjected themselves to him, Trees, Beasts, Men, &c. Gen. 2. 18. And the Lord said, it is not good for man to be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. But besides this state of nearness, there are special Acts of nearness, both on God's part and ours; he is nearer to us sometimes than at others, when we have more evidences of his Favour inward or outward: inward Evidences, when he quickens, comforts, supports the Soul, filleth the heart with Joy and Peace in Believing; at such a time God is near, we feel him sensibly exciting and stirring up his own work in us. The Soul alwayes dwelleth in the Body, but it doth not alwayes act alike; it is ever equal in point of Habitation, but not in point of Operation. So Christ doth always dwell in the heart by his Spirit, but he doth not alwayes act alike, but foreign, according to his good Pleasure, Phil. 2. 13. God is not alike always present with his People, but never withdraweth that Influence that is necessary to the being of Grace: Psal. 73. 23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. So outwardly, sometimes God hideth himself, sometimes seemeth not to mind the affairs of his People, at other times all the World shall know that they are near and dear to him: he that toucheth them, toucheth the Apple of his Eye: those that will not see, shall see and be ashamed for their envy at his people. Isa. 26. 11. So on our part there is a standing Relation between us and God, but our hearts are more or less towards him in Worship; we especially then draw near unto him, though there be a communion in walking with God in our whole course: these things must be distinguished, for actual intercourse may be interrupted or suspended, when our state of nearness to God ceaseth not.
6. The Grounds and Reasons of all nearness, or the way how it cometh about, are these four,
I. God's Covenant with us.
II. Our Incorporation into Christ.
III. The Inhabitation of the Spirit in us. And
IV. Mutual Love between God and us. These are the Reasons why God is near us, and we a People near unto God.
I. His Covenant with us, or Confederation in the Covenant. God promiseth to be our God, and we to be his People. Ier. 32. 38. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. As those two Kings made a league Offensive and Defensive, 1 Kin. 22. 4. I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses; So God will be ours as really as we are his, you shall have a propriety in God, as God has in you; not absolutely indeed the same, but enough for your Comfort: you were his before the Contract, and to be at his Command; but he is not at your Command: you may supplicate and humbly sue out the Effects of your Right in God, and may be sure of speeding, when it is for his glory and your good. We have a Right to God, and all that is in God, but not a Right over him, as he hath over us: We have Propriety and Interest in God, but not Dominion as we have over the Creatures, or as God hath over us: He will let out his goodness, grace, and mercy to us, and for us: God still keepeth the rank of a Soveraign, and yet treateth us as Friends. Iam. 2. 23. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Yea Children, Ioh. 1. 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. When we give up. our selves to God to serve him, we enter our selves Heirs to all the Priviledges of the Gospel, and may lay Claim to them.
II. By Union with Christ. Such as are under the Covenant of Grace are made Members of the Mystical Body of Christ: The Union the Scripture sets forth by the Similitude of Head and Members; Rom. 12. 5. So we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Vine and Branches; Ioh. 15. 1, 2. I am the true Vine, and my Father is the husbandman; every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Stock and Graff, Rom. 6. 5. Body and Garment, Gal. 3. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. The converting of Meat and Drink into our Substance; Ioh. 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. House and Indweller; Eph. 3. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith. As the Members receive Sense and Motion from the Head; the Branches, Sap from the Root; and the Graff, liveth in the Stock; so we receive all Life and Being from Christ: Christ first giveth himself to us, and with himself all things; we must have himself first, for it is he in us becometh the Fountain of Life. Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. The hope of Glory; Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory. Now this indeareth us to God, and makes us near to him; Ioh. 17. 21. That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us. Christ is God-Man in one Person, and we are united to him Mystically, though not Hypostatically: and so God and we are brought near together. For we are in him as he is in the Father, not with an exact equality, but some answerable likeness; we are immediunited to Christ, and by Christ to God.
III. The Inhabitation of the Spirit, that is the fruits of Union, as Union of Confederation: the same Spirit that dwelleth in Christ, dwelleth in us; 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned to the Lord, is one spirit. It is by the same spirit that the Union is brought about, the same spirit that dwelleth in Head and Members; this is the Foundation laid on Christs part, for all our Communion and Commerce with God. 1 Ioh. 4. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in God, and God in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. We cannot know our Communion with God as the Author of Grace, by any other gift, he maketh his first entry this way, uniting us to himself by his Spirit.
IV. The mutual Love between God and them: God loveth them, and they love God; and so they are near and dear to one another, 1 Sam. 18. 1. The soul of Ionathan was knit with the soul of David, and Ionathan loved him as his own soul. Such love is here between Christ and Believers, and between them and God; God beginneth, he loveth first, and best, and most; no Father or Mother loveth their Children so tenderly as God doth them. Isa. 49. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. No Husband loves his spouse as Christ doth the Church, Eph. 5. 25. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it: not only gave himself to the Church, but for it; alas! when we are at our best, we love God too little. There is a strong love which the Saints have to God and Christ, they cannot live without him, are always crying, Abba, Father; Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. They cannot brook his absence, are dejected if they cannot hear from him at every turn.
7. There being such a ground layed for our nearness, all familiar intercourses do pass freely between God and us, through Christ, by whom and through whom are all things, and we by him: 1 Cor. 8. 5. Our Commerce with God is in Donatives and Duties.
(1) On Gods part, it is seen in his readiness to hear our Prayers; Isa. 58. 9. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, here I am. God is at hand when we knock at Heaven gates, he answereth presently, saying, and what would you have? If God should make an offer to us as Ionathan did to David, 1 Sam. 20. 14. Whatever thy soul desireth, I will do for thee: we would think then we should never want more, what would the World give for such a promise from an earthly Potentate? You have it from God, if you like the Condition; Psal. 37. 4. Delight thy self in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Thou canst not desire any thing regularly, and consisting with the Condition of the Covenant, with thy delight in God, but thou shalt have it. In an holy sense, you have God at command, to do for you what you would have, as if you had his Soveraignty at command, Iob 22. 27, 28. Thou shalt make thy prayers unto him, and he shall hear thee; and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and the light shall shine upon thy ways. Decree, and it shall be established: speak the word, and it shall come to pass: Is it for us to enact Decrees, to appoint what shall be! Their Prayer is a duplicate or counterpart of Gods Decrees. God guideth their hearts to ask such things as are pleasing to him; God is ready to help us, to give supplies in all our Necessities: he is remembring us for good upon all occasions, especially in our low Estate: when we have none to help, he will help. Isa. 59. 16. And he saw that there was no man, and wondred that there was no Intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. It was when he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey, he cannot be safe, unless he be wicked; and none will bestir himself in the behalf of Truth and Right, or own the good Cause, by speaking a word for it: therefore God himself would take the business in hand. Psal. 105. 14. He suffered no man to do them wrong. They that are Gods Confederates, he hath a watchful Eye over them they are under his Defence and Protection: an afflicted People are more sensible of God's Presence, Help, and Assistance than others are; for streights and troubles are means to open mens eyes, and waken their senses: now you will ever find God with you, when he seemeth most to forget you. But especially in Duties of Worship, the Visits of Love there, and the entertainment at Gods Table; Psal. 65. 4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach to thee, that he may dwell in thy Courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy Temple. They have many sweet experiences of God, which they find not elsewhere: there he doth Comfort, Quicken, and Revive them. Psal. 36. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house: thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures. God biddeth them welcom to this Table, and will not send them away empty: indeed there they come to feel joyes unspeakable and glorious. Not that we should build always on sensible experiences, or tye God to our time, or make an Essay of Curiosity; but if they humbly, resolutely wait upon God according to the incouragements of his Promise, first or last they shall have a full meal, and God will own them, and fill their hearts with goodness: Thus in answering their Prayers, helping them in streights, visiting in Duties.
(2) On our part, it is delightful to Converse with God,
1. In Holy Duties; Isa. 26. 16. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee: they poured out a prayer, when thy chastening was upon them. Iob. 22. 21. Acquaint now thy self with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. We have no Reason to be strange to God, for if we were acquainted with our selves, we should find daily and hourly some errand to the Throne of Grace. To forget him dayes without number, sheweth we have little knowledge of God, or of our selves. Be sure to look after a desire to enjoy God in the Duty: My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of my God, my flesh and my heart cryeth out for the living God; Psal 84. 2, 3. To rest in an empty Ordinance, sheweth we do what we do rather to pacifie Conscience, than satisfie spiritual desires. God is to be our End and Object, whom we are to seek and serve; abs te, sine te non recedam.
2. In a course of Holiness; how can two walk together except they be agreed? Amos 3. 3. Loveth, what he Loveth; Hateth, what he Hateth? Suitableness of disposition is the ground of intimacy. 1 Ioh. 1. 7. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. God saith I will dwell in them, and walk in them: walk as ever before God: Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Secondly. How we come to be brought into this nearness? The Reason of doubting, is because every man is born a stranger to God. Psal. 58. 3. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Sin causes a distance between God and us; Isa. 59. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God; and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Man is averse from God, without God, Christ, Covenant, or Hope or any good from him. Christ represents our Apostate Nature by the Prodigals going into a far Countrey; the breach groweth wider every day, and the distance is increased by actual sin. The wicked are far from God; Hos. 7. 13. Wo unto them, for they have fled from me: destruction unto them, for they have transgressed against me. While matters stand thus between us and God, there is no Hope; the rigour of Divine Justice, and the Terror of a guilty Conscience, will not give us leave to look for any Communion with God.
Ans. In this hopeless and helpless estate the Lord Jesus had pity on us; the great End of the Mediator is to bring us to God: 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ hath once suffered for sins; the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And therefore he is said to be the way to the Father; Ioh. 17. 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me. He hath taken our case into his own hands, and doth partly by his Merit, and partly by his Spirit, bring about this nearness, and fellowship between God and us.
1. By his Merit, he bringeth us into a state of Favour: he opened the door by his death: Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Iesus we who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. To go to God offended, and appeased by no satisfaction, is terrible to the guilty Creature: but Christ hath made our peace, so that we have access into this Grace wherein we stand: Rom. 5. 1, 2. Therefore being justified by Faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Iesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand. This door which he hath opened by his death, he keepeth open by his constant Intercession; Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost, all those that come unto God through him; seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us; which our repeated provocations would otherwise daily and hourly shut and close again; 1 Ioh. 2. 1. These things I write unto you, that you sin not: and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Iesus Christ the righteous: and so all distance is removed, and poor Creatures may comfortably come to God.
2. There is a great averseness in our hearts, and we need not only leave to come to God, but an heart to come to God: we are Fugitives, as well as Exiles; we hang off from God, and are loth to make use of the offered opportunity: therefore the imprecation of our liberty is not only to be considered, but also the Application of this grace to our Souls; which is done by the Spirit of Christ. Certainly as to God he considereth us as united to Christ, before he will be near to us. Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Iesus ye, who were sometimes afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. It was purchased by the blood of Christ, but it is not actually bestowed, and applyed to the Elect, until they be united to Christ, and in him by saving Faith, as branches in the root, not only through Christ, but in Christ: something for us, and something in us as to our selves; overcome our averseness to set our hearts to seek the Lord. Nemo te quarere potest nisi qui prius invenerit: vis igitur inveniri ut quaeraris? quaere, ut inveniaris: potes quidem inveniri, non tamen praeveniri. None can be afore-hand with God: we cannot seek him till we have found him: he will be sought, that he may be found: and found, that he may be sought: he draweth nigh to us by his preventing grace, that he may draw nigh to us by further grace: and inclineth us to do what he requireth, that he may Crown his own work.
Use. 1. To perswade us to enter into this state of nearness, by taking hold of God's Covenant. It is an excellent thing in the general, all will grant it that it is good to draw near to God; but it is not only good, but good for you, all things considered. Psal. 73. 28. It is good for me to draw near to God; it is our only blessedness, the practical Judgment must be possessed with this Truth, and then determine it so, that it may have the Authority of a Principle: and then the heart must be ingaged to draw nigh to God, by an hearty resolution to come unto God: till the heart be ingaged, we are too easily inticed away from God: now the engaging the heart is by Covenant, yield your selves to the Lord; 2 Chron. 30. 8. All Gods servants, they are his by Covenant. Ezek. 20. 37. I will cause you to pass under the rod, and bring you into the bond of the Covenant; as sheep, to pass one by one out of the Fold: God doth not Covenant with us in the lump, and body, but every man for himself, must engage himself to live according to the Will of God. It is not enough that Christ ingaged for us as our surety, Heb. 7. 22. Iesus was made the surety of a better Testament; something is to be done personally, if we would have benefit by it. It is not enough that the Church ingage for us, as a visible political body, professing Faith in Christ; Ezek. 16. 7. but every man must ingage his own heart. It is not enough our Parents did engage for us, in behalf of little ones, avouch God to be their God; Deut. 29. 10, 11, 12. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your Tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in thy Camp, from the hewer of wood, to the drawer of thy water: that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his Oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee▪ this day. We must ratifie their Dedication, and Covenant in our own Persons. 2 Cor. 9. 13. by a prosessed subjection to the gospel of Christ. This Covenant and Oath of Allegiance, you eat at God's Table, to shew that God and you are agreed, and entred into a strict Union and Fellowship one with another.
2. Let us live as in a state of nearness to God: let us fear him, and love him, and walk with him, as Enoch did, Gen. 5. 24. or set the Lord always before us, as David did; Psal. 16. 8. How so? in point of Reverence, in point of Dependance.
(1.) In point of Reverence, that we may not displease God, with whom we walk; Mich. 6. 8. to walk humbly with thy God. Thou shalt humble thy self to walk with God, it is not a fellow-like familiarity, or the intimacy of equals; but the common subjection of inferiours, the Obedience of Children, diligently taking heed lost a breach fall out betwixt God and them: Deut. 23. 14. For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thee, to deliver thee, and to give up thine Enemies before thee; therefore shall thy Camp be holy, that he may see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. God threatens to leave them, if he saw any filthiness among them; if we sin against God, we may find him near as a Judge to punish, not as a Father to protect us. Besides it is for the honour of God, that a People near and dear to him should study to please him in all things: and that they should walk worthy of God, with whom they profess to be in Covenant, and whose friendly presence they enjoy. The nearer you are to God, the greater your sins; if you be the Spouse of Christ, your sins are Adultery: if you be the Children of God, your sins are Rebellion and Parricide: if you be the Friends of God, Christ hath the more cause to complain. Psal. 55. 12, 13. For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have born it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me; then I would have hid my self from him: but it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. Your sins are the injuries of a false Friend; if you be of the houshold of God, after you had eaten his bread, will you lift up the heel against him? Psal. 41. 9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against me: It is Treachery of an unfaithful Domestick and Servant. Men will endure injuries from Strangers, better than from nearer Relations. Those that do not belong to God, that are not so dear and near to him, their sins are not so grievous. In short, if you be the People of God, whom God will own in the World, you should take care to live to his Honour.
(2.) In point of Dependance, did we believe more firmly that God were so near and so ready at hand, to comfort, support, deliver, and bless us, this would stay our hearts in all our troubles. Is God near us? what should we be afraid of? Psal. 23. 1, 2. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want: he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. God admitteth you to his Table, to assure you of his Bounty and Liberality: he gives you this Supper, as a sign of Reconciliation with you; that God and you are Friends. Now foreign: Especially let it check our fears when trouble is near, God is also near, to counterwork our Enemies and support his People: Zech. 3. 1, 2. And he shewed me Ioshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him: And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! even the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire? Where there is Satan to resist, there is an Angel to rebuke: as extremities draw nigh, God draweth nigh. When Laban with great fury followed after Iacob, God followed after Laban, and stepped between them, and commanded Laban not to hurt him. When Paul was like to be torn in pieces in an uproar, God runneth speedily to his help: 2 Cor. 1. 9, 10. But we had the sentence of death in our selves, that we should not trust in our selves, but in God which raiseth the Dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. When Danger cometh to be Danger indeed, you will find him a present help.
Use. 2. To quicken us and encourage us actually to draw nigh to God with the more Confidence: that is, let us address our selves to converse with him in his Ordinances, for his Favour, Mercy, and Blessing, that we may not stand afar off, but come boldly. To this end, Consider whither we come, by whom we come, in what manner we must come, or draw nigh to him.
1. To whom we draw near; to God, as reconciled in Christ. If God were inaccessible, it were another matter; but divine Justice being satisfied in Christ, we come to a Throne of Grace. Heb. 4. 16. Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Gods Throne is a Throne of Justice, Grace, Glory. To the Throne of strict Justice, no sinful man can approach; to the Throne of Grace, every penitent sinner may have access; to the Throne of Glory, no mortal Man can come, in his whole Person; his heart may be there; so it is said, Heb. 10. 19. Having therefore, Brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Iesus, as Petitioners are admitted to the Prince in the Presence Chamber: the way to the Throne of Glory lyeth by the Throne of Grace; we pass by one unto the other. In short, Christ stood before the Throne of Justice, when he suffered for our sins: Penitent sinners stand before the Throne of Grace, when they worship him in Faith: after the Resurrection, we shall ever stand before the Throne of Glory, and ever abide in his Presence. Our business now is with the Throne of Grace, to give answer, and dispatch our suites. There is a threefold Throne of Grace; the Typical, which was the Mercy-seat: Psal. 80. 1. Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims, shine forth: the Real, which is Christ: Being justified freely by his grace, through the Redemption that is in Christ Iesus: the Commemorative, which is the Lords Supper, where is a representation of Wisdom and Obsignation of the Grace of Christ in the New Testament. This Throne of Grace is set up every where in the Church, it standeth in the midst of God's People, as the Tabernacle did in the midst of Israel. For God is always in all places, nigh unto such as call upon him in Truth. Ioh. 4. 23. The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Access to God may be had every where, therefore let us come.
2. By whom we come, by Jesus Christ; Eph. 3. 12. In whom we have boldness, and access with confidence, by the faith of him: upon the account of his Merit and Intercession. We should come without fear or doubt to him, de facto, as if his blood were running afresh.
3. How we come, with a true heart. Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having an heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.