Part 20 (1/2)
This figure evidently refers to the sufferings of Christ, by which he was made perfect for his mediatorial work. Many hammers and chisels were upon him from Bethlehem to Calvary; but they were all appointed of G.o.d, as the instruments of his preparation to be the sure foundation and chief corner-stone of the church. The Scribes and the Pharisees, Caiaphas, Judas, Pilate, the Jewish populace, and the Roman soldiery, whatever their malicious designs, only accomplished ”the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of G.o.d” upon his well-beloved Son. All was appointed by the Father; all was understood by the Messiah; all was necessary to secure the great objects of his advent. It pleased the Father to bruise him, and put him to grief; and he cheerfully submitted to suffer, that we might be spared. O, wonder of wonders! Emmanuel wounded, that sinners might be healed! the Golden Vessel marred, that the earthen vessels might be saved! the Green Tree dried up, that the dry tree might grow as the lily, and cast forth its roots like Lebanon! According to another metaphor, ”the plowers plowed upon his back; they made long their furrows.” And they were deep as well as long. They plowed into his very heart, and his body was covered with blood, and his cry of agony pierced the supernatural gloom of Golgotha, and soured the wine of dragons throughout the region of Gehenna!
Thus the foundation was fitted and prepared; and wicked men and devils but blindly did the work which G.o.d had before determined to be done. It is fixed in its place, firm and immovable; and the chief Architect is raising other stones from the quarry, and building them thereon, ”for a habitation of G.o.d through the Spirit.” Brethren, ”look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye are digged”-even the flinty rock of impenitence, and the horrible pit of corruption. I have known men relinquish the hewing of stones from the quarry, because it was more expense than profit; and I have known men abandon the digging of ore from the mine, because it was too deep in the mountain. But Christ ”descended into the lower parts of the earth,” and imbibed the gas of death. He carried in his hand the hammer of the word, which breaketh the flinty rock in pieces. He expelled the deadly vapor, blasted the solid adamant, and prepared the way for the workmen; and when he ascended, he sent down the apostles, to gather stones for his spiritual temple; while he stands at the top of the shaft, and turns the windla.s.s of intercession, by which he draws up all to himself.
The work was gloriously begun on the day of Pentecost, and men and demons have never yet been able entirely to stop its progress. The pope and the devil tried their best, for a long time, to keep the digging and hewing tools of the twelve wise master-builders concealed in the vaults of the monasteries; but Luther, with the lamp of G.o.d in his hand, discovered them, brought them forth, and set them at work; and millions of lively stones have since been dug out, and sent up from the pit, to be placed in the walls of ”G.o.d's building.”
And still the gospel is mighty in the salvation of souls, of which we have abundant evidence in the princ.i.p.ality. What mult.i.tudes were converted at Langeiththo in the days of Rowlands and Williams; when two thousand communicants in the winter, and three thousand in the summer, met every month in the same place around the table of the Lord! And there are now in Wales hundreds of large and flouris.h.i.+ng churches among the Baptists and Independents. Glory to G.o.d, that I have in my own possession the register of hundreds, who have been hewn from the flinty rock, and raised from the horrible pit, to a place in the Lord's holy temple-from drunkenness to sobriety, from unbelief to faith in Christ, from enmity to reconciliation to G.o.d, from persecution to patient suffering for righteousness' sake, from disobedience to the filial temper of ”sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty;” and many of them I have seen going home, rejoicing, to their Father's house above!
Hark! what do I hear? The hammers and chisels of mercy all over the mountain of the militant church. The great Architect is building up Zion. He is gathering his materials from Europe, and Asia, and Africa, and America. Glory to G.o.d! I hear his footsteps to-day in this mountain; I see his hand in this congregation. Brethren in the ministry, we are workers together with him. Delightful work! How easy it is to preach, when the hand of G.o.d is with us! Let us labour on! The topstone will soon be brought forth with shouting, the sound of the building shall cease, and we shall receive our reward!
V. The gracious design for which this Divine Foundation is prepared, is the justification and sanctification of sinners. ”I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.”
Christ came to destroy the works of the devil-to take away sin by the offering of himself. As the moon is illuminated by the sun, so the rites and ceremonies of the old testament are ill.u.s.trated by the facts and doctrines of the new. The priesthood of Jesus explains the priesthood of Aaron. The one sacrifice of Calvary explains all the sacrifices that went before. The glory of G.o.d in the face of Jesus Christ enters the windows of Solomon's temple, and penetrates the Holy of Holies within the vail. All the b.l.o.o.d.y offerings of the Mosaic ritual were intended only as types of him who ”removed the iniquity of that land in one day.”
What land? Emmanuel's land-a garden enclosed, and measured by the line of G.o.d's eternal purpose; including all the redeemed of the Lord, who will ultimately be brought to glory. The map of ”that land” was in the mind of Jehovah, when he made this promise through the prophet. He remembered his covenant engagement before the foundation of the world in reference to its redemption. He saw it enc.u.mbered by mountains of sin, and blasted by the fiery curse of the law; and in the fulness of time, he sent his Son to deliver it.
To remove iniquity is to remove its penalty and its pollution. Christ hath accomplished both for believers. He ”bore our sins in his own body on the tree!” He carried upon his own shoulder the burden which must have sunk the whole human race to eternal perdition. By enduring our punishment, he provided for our purification. In his own wounds a fountain was opened wherein we may wash and be clean. From his own heart the balm was extracted whereby our moral leprosy may be cured. ”Behold the Lamb of G.o.d, that taketh away the sin of the world.” See how our great High-priest removes the iniquity of his people; not, like Aaron, by many sacrifices; but by the single offering of himself, ”in one day.”
The word which is here rendered ”remove” is in the original the same as that which is used to express the translation of Enoch. As Enoch was removed from the earth, beyond the sight of man, and the power of death; so sin is removed by the Mediator-removed for ever from the believer's heart and conscience-blotted out-cast into the depth of the sea-carried away into the land of forgetfulness. The removal is perfect and everlasting.
This was a work which Jewish sacrifices were too weak to accomplish. For two thousand years the victims bled upon the altar, and not a single sin was actually removed. Every year the goat of the burnt-offering must bleed afresh, and the scape-goat must be sent away into the wilderness.
But Jesus, the great ante-type of all these emblems, removed in one day, by a single offering, the iniquities of all who believe in him, from the fall to the end of time.
All the sacrifices that preceded his coming were intended only to remind men that they were sinners, that they needed an atonement, and that justification and eternal life could flow only from the meritorious sufferings of the future Christ. But when the substance came, the shadows pa.s.sed away, and the promised work was at once accomplished; and all our iniquities were lost in the sea of mercy, which rose to a full tide in the Mediator's merit.
Sinners, do you expect ever to be made free from sin? Would you have your leprosy cured, your impurity cleansed, and the curse removed? Come to our great High-priest! Lo, he stands by the altar, and the blood is on his hands! He waits to be gracious! Come, for he has virtually removed your iniquity, and it requires in you but a simple act of faith to realize the benefit! ”Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!”
SERMON XIX.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
”_But how should man be just with G.o.d_?”-Job ix. 2.
THE Almighty proclaimed himself to Moses, ”the Lord, merciful and gracious;” and in the New Testament, he is called ”the G.o.d of all grace.”
”Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” G.o.d is determined to glorify the unsearchable riches of his grace in the salvation of sinners. But how can this be done, without casting a cloud over the Divine throne, and bringing into contempt the Divine law? How can the guilty be considered and treated as innocent, without an apparent indifference to the evil of sin, and a total disregard of the claims of eternal justice? How can the rebel be acquitted in the court of Heaven, with honor to the character of G.o.d, and safety to the interests of his moral government? This is a question which angels could not answer; but it has been answered by the G.o.d of angels. The light of nature and reason is too feeble to afford us any aid in this inquiry; ”but we have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well that we take heed, as unto a light that s.h.i.+neth in a dark place;” for ”G.o.d hath s.h.i.+ned in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of G.o.d, in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Following, then, the guidance of the New Testament, let us consider the nature and the ground of a sinner's justification with G.o.d.
I. To justify is the public act of a judge, declaring a person innocent, not liable to punishment. ”It is G.o.d that justifieth” the unG.o.dly.
Justification, in its strict sense, and remission of sins, are two very different things. Job could forgive his friends; but he could not justify them. But in the gracious economy of the gospel, these are always immediately connected; nor these alone, but other and superior mercies-mercies infinite and unspeakable. Those whom G.o.d justifieth are not only forgiven, but also purified and renewed-not only delivered from condemnation, but also ent.i.tled to eternal life-not only redeemed from the curse of the law, but also blessed with the spirit and the privilege of adoption-not only liberated from bondage and imprisonment, but also const.i.tuted heirs ”to an inheritance that fadeth not away.” They are ”heirs of G.o.d, and joint-heirs with Christ.” They are kings and priests, and shall reign for ever and ever. G.o.d having given his Son as our surety, and published ”the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,”
and taken his seat upon the throne of grace in the character of a merciful judge, he proclaims the believer free from condemnation, and ”accepted in the Beloved.”
In a human court, a man may be either justified or forgiven. Sometimes the jury find the prisoner innocent, and he is acquitted; sometimes they find him guilty, and he is forgiven. The former is an act of justice; the latter, an act of mercy. No earthly court can go farther; no earthly court can justify the guilty. But G.o.d is able, through the wonderful economy of subst.i.tution and atonement revealed in the gospel, in the same court, from the same throne, by the same law, and in the same sentence, to proclaim full pardon and free justification to the sinner. By virtue of the obedience and suffering of Christ on his behalf, he is at once forgiven and justified. Faith unites us to Christ, and gives us an interest in him, as our Mediator, who ”bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” ”Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom G.o.d imputeth righteousness without works:-Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
The righteousness by which the sinner is justified infinitely transcends all other righteousness in earth or heaven. It is the righteousness of the Second Adam-an invaluable pearl, to which all the members of Christ's mystical body are equally ent.i.tled. It is the pure gold of the gospel, which cannot be mixed with the works of the law, or derive any increase of value from human merit. It lies upon the very surface of evangelical truth, like oil upon the water. It is the righteousness finished upon the cross-a complete wedding garment furnished by the Son of G.o.d, which the sinner has only to put on to be prepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb.
How cold and cheerless is the doctrine of the mere moralist, leaving the poor sinner wallowing in the mire, and weltering in his blood, with nothing but his own works to depend upon for salvation! But the doctrine of justification through the satisfying righteousness of Jesus Christ warms the heart, and quickens the soul of the believer into a new and heavenly life. Here is our deliverance from the curse of the law. Here the relation between us and Adam is annihilated, and another relation is established between us and Christ. Here is the sea into which our sins are cast to rise no more. ”There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit;” and they may boldly say-”O Lord, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me!”
II. The ground of our justification now claims a more particular attention.
This is a subject of the greatest importance; for if we build upon the sand, the whole superstructure inevitably falls, and great must be the fall thereof. The Jews, being ignorant of G.o.d's righteousness-the righteousness of faith-went about to establish their own, which was by the works of the law. Let us examine these two foundations-the righteousness which is of the law, and that which is of faith.