Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 14 - The Repentance of Believers - Sermons on Several Occasions

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14 - The Repentance of Believers - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: The repentance of believers repent ye and believe the Gospel Mark,
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Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse fifteen. It is generally supposed that repentance
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Speaker 1: and faith are only the gait of religion, that they
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Speaker 1: are necessary only at the beginning of our Christian course,
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Speaker 1: when we are setting out in the way to the Kingdom.
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Speaker 1: And this may seem to be confirmed by the Great Apostle,
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Speaker 1: where exhorting the Hebrew Christians to go on to perfection,
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Speaker 1: he teaches them to leave these first principles of the
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Speaker 1: doctrine of Christ, not laying again the foundation of repentance
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Speaker 1: from dead works and of faith towards God, which must
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Speaker 1: at least mean that they should comparatively leave these that
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Speaker 1: at first took up all their thoughts, in order to
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Speaker 1: press forward toward the prize of the high calling of
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Speaker 1: God in Christ Jesus. And this is undoubtedly true, that
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Speaker 1: there is a repentance and a faith which are more
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Speaker 1: especially necessary at the beginning. A repentance which is a
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Speaker 1: conviction of our utter sinfulness and guiltiness and helplessness, and
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Speaker 1: which precedes our receiving that Kingdom of God, which our
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Speaker 1: Lord observes is within us. And a faith whereby we
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Speaker 1: receive that kingdom, even righteousness and peace and joy in
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Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost. But notwithstanding this, there is also a
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Speaker 1: repentance and a faith taking the words in another sense,
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Speaker 1: a sense not quite the same nor yet entirely different,
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Speaker 1: which are requisite after we have believed the gospel yea,
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Speaker 1: and in every subsequent stage of our Christian course, or
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Speaker 1: we cannot run the race which is set before us.
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Speaker 1: And this repentance and faith are full as necessary in
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Speaker 1: order to our continuance and growth in grace, as the
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Speaker 1: former faith and repentance it's were in order to our
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Speaker 1: entering into the Kingdom of God. But in what sense
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Speaker 1: are we to repent and believe after we are justified?
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Speaker 1: This is an important question and worthy of being considered
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Speaker 1: with the utmost attention, and first, in what sense are
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Speaker 1: we to repent? Repentance frequently means an inward change, a
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Speaker 1: change of mind from sin to holiness, but we now
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Speaker 1: speak of it in a quite different sense, as it
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Speaker 1: is one kind of self knowledge, the knowing ourselves sinners
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Speaker 1: YEA guilty helpless sinners, even though we know we are
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Speaker 1: children of God. Indeed, when we first know this, when
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Speaker 1: we first find the redemption in the blood of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: When the love of God is first shed abroad in
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Speaker 1: our hearts and His kingdom set up therein, it is
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Speaker 1: natural to suppose that we are no longer sinners, that
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Speaker 1: all our sins are not only covered but destroyed. As
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Speaker 1: we do not then feel any evil in our hearts,
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Speaker 1: we readily imagine none is there. Nay, some well meaning
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Speaker 1: men have imagined this, not only at that time, but
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Speaker 1: ever after, having persuaded themselves that when they were justified,
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Speaker 1: they were entirely sanctified. Yea, they have laid it down
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Speaker 1: as a general rule. In spite of scripture, reason and experience.
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Speaker 1: These sincerely believe and earnestly maintain that all sin is
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Speaker 1: destroyed when we are justified, and that there is no
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Speaker 1: sin in the heart of a believer, but that it
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Speaker 1: is altogether clean from that moment. But though we readily
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Speaker 1: acknowledge he that believed is born of God, and he
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Speaker 1: that is born of God does not commit sin, yet
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Speaker 1: we cannot allow that he does not feel it from within.
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Speaker 1: It does not rain, but it does remain, And a
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Speaker 1: conviction of the sin which remains in our heart is
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Speaker 1: one great branch of the repentance. We are now speaking
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Speaker 1: of For it is seldom long before he who imagined
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Speaker 1: all sin was gone, feels there is still pride in
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Speaker 1: his heart. He is convinced both that in many respects
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Speaker 1: he has thought of himself more highly than he ought
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Speaker 1: to think, and that he has taken to himself the
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Speaker 1: praise of something he had received, and gloried in it
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Speaker 1: as though he had not received it. And yet he
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Speaker 1: knows he is in the favor of God. He cannot
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Speaker 1: and ought not to cast away his confidence. The spirit
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Speaker 1: still witnesses with his spirit that he is a child
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Speaker 1: of God. Nor is it long before he feels self
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Speaker 1: will in his heart, even a will contrary to the
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Speaker 1: will of God, a will every man must inevitably have,
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Speaker 1: as long as he has an understanding. This is an
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Speaker 1: essential part of human nature, indeed of the nature of
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Speaker 1: every intelligent being. Our blessed Lord himself had a will
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Speaker 1: as a man, otherwise he had not been a man.
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Speaker 1: But his human will invariably subject to the will of
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Speaker 1: his Father. At all times and on all occasions. Even
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Speaker 1: in the deepest affliction, he could say, not as I will,
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Speaker 1: but as THOU wilt. But this is not the case
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Speaker 1: at all times, even with a true believer in Christ,
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Speaker 1: he frequently finds his will more or less exalting itself
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Speaker 1: against the will of God. He wills something because it
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Speaker 1: is pleasing to nature, which is not pleasing to God.
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Speaker 1: And he kneels or is a verse from something because
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Speaker 1: it is painful to nature, which is the will of
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Speaker 1: God concerning him. Indeed, suppose he continues in the faith,
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Speaker 1: he fights against it with all his might. But this
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Speaker 1: very thing implies that it really exists, and that he
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Speaker 1: is conscious of it now self. Will, as well as pride,
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Speaker 1: is a species of idolatry, and both are directly contrary
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Speaker 1: to the love of God. The same observation may be
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Speaker 1: made concerning the love of the world. But this likewise
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Speaker 1: even true believers liable to feel in themselves, and every
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Speaker 1: one of them does feel it more or less sooner
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Speaker 1: or later, in one branch or another. It is true,
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Speaker 1: when he first passes from death onto life, he desires
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Speaker 1: nothing more but God. He can truly say, all my
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Speaker 1: desire is onto THEE and onto the remembrance of Thy name,
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Speaker 1: whom have I in heaven but THEE. And there is
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Speaker 1: none upon earth that I desire beside THEE. But it
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Speaker 1: is not so always. In process of time, he will
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Speaker 1: feel again, though perhaps only for a few moments, either
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Speaker 1: the desire of the flesh, or the desire of the eye,
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Speaker 1: or the pride of life. Nay, if he does not
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Speaker 1: continually watch and pray, he may find lust reviving Yea,
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Speaker 1: and thrusting sore at him that he may fall till
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Speaker 1: he has scarce any strength left in him. He may
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Speaker 1: feel the assaults of inordinate affection Yea, a strong propensity
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Speaker 1: to love the creature more than the creator, whether it
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Speaker 1: be a child, a parent, a husband or wife, or
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Speaker 1: the friend that is as his own soul. He may feel,
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Speaker 1: in a thousand various ways a desire of earthly things
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Speaker 1: or pleasures. In the same proportion, he will forget God,
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Speaker 1: not seeking happiness in him, and consequently being a lover
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Speaker 1: of pleasure more than a lover of God. If he
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Speaker 1: does not keep himself every moment, he will again feel
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Speaker 1: the desire of the eye, the desire of gratifying his
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Speaker 1: imagination with something great or beautiful or uncommon. In how
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Speaker 1: many ways does this desire assault the soul, Perhaps with
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Speaker 1: regard to the poorest trifles such as dress or furniture,
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Speaker 1: things never design to satisfy the appetite of an immortal spirit.
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Speaker 1: Yet how natural is it for us, even after we
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Speaker 1: have tasted of the powers of the world, to come
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Speaker 1: to sink again into these foolish, low desires of things
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Speaker 1: that perish in the using heart? Is it even for
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Speaker 1: those who know in whom they have believed to conquer
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Speaker 1: but one branch of the desire of the eye curiosity
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Speaker 1: constantly to trample it under their feet, to desire nothing
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Speaker 1: merely because it is new. And how hard is it
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Speaker 1: even for the children of God Holy to conquer the
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Speaker 1: pride of life? Saint John seems to mean by this
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Speaker 1: nearly the same with what the world terms the sense
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Speaker 1: of honor. This is no other than a desire of
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Speaker 1: and delight in the honor that cometh of men, a
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Speaker 1: desire and love of praise, and which is always joined
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Speaker 1: with it a proportionable fear of dispraise. Nearly Allied to
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Speaker 1: this is evil shame, the being ashamed of what wherein
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Speaker 1: we ought to glory. And this is seldom divided from
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Speaker 1: the fear of man, which brings a thousand snares upon
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Speaker 1: the soul. Now where is he even among those that
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Speaker 1: seems strong in the faith, who does not find an
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Speaker 1: himself a degree of all these evil tempers, so that
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Speaker 1: even these are but in part crucified to the world,
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Speaker 1: for the evil root still remains in their heart. And
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Speaker 1: do we not feel other tempers which are as contrary
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Speaker 1: to the love of our neighbor as these are to
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Speaker 1: the love of God? The love of our neighbor thinketh
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Speaker 1: no evil? Do not we find anything of the kind?
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Speaker 1: Do we never find any jealousies, any evil surmisings, any
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Speaker 1: groundless or unreasonable suspicions. He that is clear in these respects,
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Speaker 1: let him cast the first stone at his neighbor, who
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Speaker 1: does not sometimes feel other tempers or inward motions which
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Speaker 1: he knows our contrary to brotherly love. If nothing of malice, hatred,
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Speaker 1: or bitterness, is there no touch of envy, particularly towards
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Speaker 1: those who enjoy some real or supposed good which we
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Speaker 1: desire but cannot attain. Do we never find any degree
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Speaker 1: of resentment when we we are injured or affronted, especially
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Speaker 1: by those whom we peculiarly love, and whom we had
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Speaker 1: most labored to help or oblige. Does injustice or ingratitude
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Speaker 1: never excite in us any desire of revenge, any desire
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Speaker 1: of returning evil for evil instead of overcoming evil with good.
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Speaker 1: This also shows how much is still in our heart
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Speaker 1: which is contrary to the love of our neighbor. Coveteousness
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Speaker 1: in every kind and degree is certainly as contrary to
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Speaker 1: this as to the love of God, whether phil largre
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Speaker 1: the love of money, which is too frequently the root
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Speaker 1: of all evil, or pleonexia literally a desire of having
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Speaker 1: more or increasing in substance. And how few even of
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Speaker 1: the real children of God are entirely free from both. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: one great man, Martin Luther, used to say he never
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Speaker 1: had any coveteousness in him, not only in his converted state,
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Speaker 1: but ever since he was born. But if so, I
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Speaker 1: but not scrupled to say he was the only man
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Speaker 1: born of a woman except him that was God, as
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Speaker 1: well as a man who had not who was born
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Speaker 1: without it. Nay, I believe never was anyone born of
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Speaker 1: God that lived any considerable time after who did not
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Speaker 1: feel more or less of it many times, especially in
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Speaker 1: the latter sense. We may therefore set it down as
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Speaker 1: an undoubted truth that coveteousness, together with pride and self
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Speaker 1: will and anger remain in the hearts, even of them
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Speaker 1: that are justified. It is their experiencing this which has
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Speaker 1: inclined so many serious persons to understand the latter part
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Speaker 1: of the seventh Chapter to the Romans. Not of them
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Speaker 1: that are under the law, that are convinced of sin,
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Speaker 1: which is undoubtedly the meaning of the Apostle, but of
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Speaker 1: them that are under grace, that are justified freely through
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Speaker 1: the redemption that is in Christ. And it is most
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Speaker 1: certain they are thus far right. There does still remain,
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Speaker 1: even in them that are justice, a mind which is
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Speaker 1: in some measure carnal. So the Apostle tells, even the
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Speaker 1: believers at Corinth, ye are carnal and heart bent to backsliding,
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Speaker 1: still ever ready to depart from the living God. A
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Speaker 1: propensity to pride self, will anger, revenge, love of the
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Speaker 1: world yea, and all evil, a root of bitterness, which,
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Speaker 1: if the restraint were taken off for a moment, would
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Speaker 1: instantly spring up. YEA, such a depth of corruption, as
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Speaker 1: without clear light from God we cannot possibly conceive, and
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Speaker 1: a conviction of all this sin remaining in their hearts
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Speaker 1: is the repentance which belongs to them that are justified.
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Speaker 1: But we should likewise be convinced that as sin remains
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Speaker 1: in our hearts, so it cleaves to all our words
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Speaker 1: and actions. Indeed, it is to be feared that many
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Speaker 1: of our words are more than mixed with sin, that
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Speaker 1: they are sinful altogether. For such, undoubtedly is all uncharitable conversation,
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Speaker 1: All which does not spring from brotherly love, All which
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Speaker 1: does not agree with that golden rule. What ye would
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Speaker 1: that others should do to you? Even so do unto them?
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Speaker 1: Of this kind is all backbiting, all tale bearing, all whispering,
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Speaker 1: all evil speaking, that is, repeating the faults of absent persons.
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Speaker 1: For none would have others repeat his faults when he
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Speaker 1: is absent. Now, how few are there, even among believers,
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Speaker 1: who are in no degree guilty of this, who steadily
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Speaker 1: observe the good old rule of the dead and the
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Speaker 1: absent nothing but good I suppose they do. Do they
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Speaker 1: likewise abstain from unprofitable conversation. Yet all this is unquestionably
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Speaker 1: sinful and grieves the Holy Spirit of God. YEA, And
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Speaker 1: for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
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Speaker 1: give an account in the day of judgment. But let
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Speaker 1: it be supposed that they continually watch and pray, And
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Speaker 1: so do not enter in this temptation that they constantly
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Speaker 1: set a watch before their mouth and keep the door
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Speaker 1: of their lips. Suppose they exercise themselves herein that all
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Speaker 1: their conversation may be in grace season, with salt and
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Speaker 1: meat to minister grace to the hearers. Yet do they
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Speaker 1: not daily slide into useless discourse? Notwithstanding all their caution?
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Speaker 1: And even when they endeavor to speak for God? Are
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Speaker 1: their words pure free from unholy mixtures? Do they find
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Speaker 1: nothing wrong in their very intention? Do they speak merely
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Speaker 1: to please God and not partly to please themselves? Is
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Speaker 1: it holy to do the will of God and not
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Speaker 1: their own will? Also? Or if they begin with a
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Speaker 1: single eye, do they go on looking on to Jesus
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Speaker 1: and talking with him all the time they are talking
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Speaker 1: with their neighbor. When they are reproving sin, do they
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Speaker 1: feel no anger or unkind temper to the sinner? When
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Speaker 1: they are instructing the ignorant? Do they not find any
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Speaker 1: pride any self preference when they are comforting the afflicted
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Speaker 1: or provoking one another to love and to good works?
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Speaker 1: Do they never perceive any inward self commendation? Now you
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Speaker 1: have spoken well, or any vanity, a desire that others
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Speaker 1: should think so and esteem them on the account in
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Speaker 1: some or all of these respects. How much sin cleaves
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Speaker 1: to the best conversation, even of believers, the conviction of
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Speaker 1: which is another branch of the repentance which belongs to
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Speaker 1: them that are justified. And how much sin, if their
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Speaker 1: conscience is thoroughly awake, may they find cleaving to their actions? Also? Nay,
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Speaker 1: are there not many of these, which, though they are
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Speaker 1: such as the world would not condemn, yet cannot be
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Speaker 1: commended no nor excused, if we judge by the word
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Speaker 1: of God? Are there not many of their actions which
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Speaker 1: they themselves know are not to the glory of God?
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Speaker 1: Many wherein they did not even aim at this, which
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Speaker 1: were not undertaken with an eye to God? And of
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Speaker 1: those that were, are there not many wherein their eye
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Speaker 1: is not singly fixed on God? Wherein they are doing
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Speaker 1: their own will at least as much as his, and
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Speaker 1: seeking to please themselves as much, if not more, than
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Speaker 1: to please God. And while they are endeavoring to do
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Speaker 1: good to their neighbor, do they not feel wrong tempers
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Speaker 1: of various kinds? Hence their good actions, so called, are
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Speaker 1: far from being strictly such, being polluted with such a
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Speaker 1: mixture of evil. Such are their works of mercy? And
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Speaker 1: is there not the same mixture in their works of piety?
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Speaker 1: While they are hearing the Word which is able to
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Speaker 1: save their souls? Do they not frequently find such thoughts
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Speaker 1: as make them afraid lest it should turn to their
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Speaker 1: condemnation rather than their salvation? Is it not often the
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Speaker 1: same case while they are endeavoring to offer up their
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Speaker 1: prayers to God, whether in public or private, Nay, while
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Speaker 1: they are engaged in the most solemn service, even while
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Speaker 1: they are at the table of the Lord, what manner
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Speaker 1: of thoughts arise in them? Are not their hearts sometimes
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Speaker 1: wandering to the ends of the earth, sometimes filled with
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Speaker 1: such imagination as make them fear lest all their sacrifice
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Speaker 1: should be an abomination to the Lord, so that they
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Speaker 1: are now more ashamed of their best dodoisies than they
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Speaker 1: were once of their worse sins. Again, how many sins
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Speaker 1: of omission are they chargeable with? We know the words
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Speaker 1: of the Apostle to him that knoweth to do good,
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Speaker 1: and doeth it not to him at his sin. But
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Speaker 1: do they not know a thousand instances wherein they might
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Speaker 1: have done good to enemies, to strangers, to their brethren,
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Speaker 1: either with regard to their bodies or their souls, and
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Speaker 1: they did it. Not. How many omissions have they been
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Speaker 1: guilty of in their duty toward God. How many opportunities
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Speaker 1: of communicating, of hearing His word of public or private
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Speaker 1: prayer have they neglected? So great reason had even that
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Speaker 1: holy man Archbishop usher after all his labors for God
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Speaker 1: to cry out almost with his dying breath, Lord, forgive
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Speaker 1: me for my sins of omission. But besides these outward omissions,
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Speaker 1: may they not find in themselves inward defects without number,
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Speaker 1: defects of every kind. They have not the love, the fear,
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Speaker 1: the colf confidence they ought to have toward God. They
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Speaker 1: have not the love which is due to their neighbor
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Speaker 1: to every child of man, No, nor even that which
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Speaker 1: is due to their brethren to every child of God,
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Speaker 1: whether those that are at a distance from them or
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Speaker 1: those with whom they are immediately connected. They have no
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Speaker 1: holy temper in the degree they ought. They are defective
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Speaker 1: in everything, in a deep consciousness of which they are
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Speaker 1: ready to cry out with m diurenti I am aground
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Speaker 1: all overrun with thorns or with job. I am vile,
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Speaker 1: I abhor myself and repent as in dust and ashes.
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Speaker 1: A conviction of their guiltiness is another branch of that
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Speaker 1: repentance which belongs to the children of God. But this
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Speaker 1: is cautiously to be understood, and in a peculiar sense.
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Speaker 1: For it is certain there is no condemnation to them
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Speaker 1: that are in Christ Jesus, that believe in Him and
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Speaker 1: in the power of that faith, walk not after the
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Speaker 1: flesh but after the spirit. Yet can they no more
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Speaker 1: bear the strict justice of God now than before they believe?
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Speaker 1: This pronounces them to be still worthy of death on
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Speaker 1: all the preceding accounts, and it would absolutely condemn them
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Speaker 1: thereto were it not for the atoning blood. Therefore, they
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Speaker 1: are thoroughly convinced that they still deserve punishment, although it
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Speaker 1: is hereby turned aside from them. But here there are
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Speaker 1: extremes on one hand, and on the other a few
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Speaker 1: steer clear of them. Most men strike on one or
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Speaker 1: the other, either thinking themselves condemned when they are not,
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Speaker 1: or thinking they deserve to be acquitted. Nay, the truth
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Speaker 1: lies between. They still deserve strictly speaking, only the damnation
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Speaker 1: of hell. But what they deserve does not come upon them,
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Speaker 1: because they have an advocate with the Father, his life
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Speaker 1: and death. An intercession still interpose between them and condemnation.
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Speaker 1: A conviction of their utter helplessness is yet another branch
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Speaker 1: of this repentance. I mean hereby two things. First, that
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Speaker 1: they are no more able now of themselves to think
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Speaker 1: one good thought, to form one good desire, to speak
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Speaker 1: one good word, or do one good work, than before
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Speaker 1: they were justified. That they have still no kind or
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Speaker 1: degree of strength of their own, no power either to
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Speaker 1: do good or resist evil, no ability to conquer or
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Speaker 1: even withstand the world, the devil, or their own evil nature.
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Speaker 1: They can, it is certain, do all these things, but
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Speaker 1: it is not by their own strength. They have power
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Speaker 1: to overcome all these enemies. For sin hath no dominion
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Speaker 1: over them. But it is not from nature, neither in
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Speaker 1: whole or in part. It is the mere gift of God.
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Speaker 1: Nor is it given all at once, as if they
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Speaker 1: had a stock laid up for many years, but from
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Speaker 1: moment to moment. By this helplessness, I mean secondly, an
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Speaker 1: absolute inability to deliver ourselves from that guiltiness or desert
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Speaker 1: of punishment whereof we are still conscious ye, and an
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Speaker 1: inability to remove by all the grace we have to
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Speaker 1: say nothing of our natural powers, either the pride self will,
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Speaker 1: love of the world, anger and general proneness to depart
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Speaker 1: from God, which we experimentally know to remain in the
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Speaker 1: heart even of them that are regenerate, or the evil which,
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Speaker 1: in spite of all our endeavors, cleaves to all our
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Speaker 1: words and actions. Add to this an utter inability wholly
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Speaker 1: to avoid uncharitable and much more unprofitable conversation, and an
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Speaker 1: inability to avoid sins of omission, or to supply the
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Speaker 1: numberless defects we are convinced of, especially the want of
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Speaker 1: love and other right tempers, both to God and man.
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Speaker 1: If any man is not satisfied of this, If any
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Speaker 1: believes that whoever is justified, is able to remove these
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Speaker 1: sins out of his heart and life, let him make
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Speaker 1: the experiment. Let him try whether, by the grace he
21:48
Speaker 1: has already received, he can expel pride self will, or
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Speaker 1: in bread's sin in general. Let him try whether he
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Speaker 1: can cleanse his words and actions from all mixture of evil,
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Speaker 1: whether he can avoid all uncharitable and unprofitable conversation with
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Speaker 1: all sins of omission. And lastly, whether he can supply
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Speaker 1: the numberless defects which he still finds in himself. Let
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Speaker 1: him not be discouraged by one or two experiments, but
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Speaker 1: repeat the trial again and again, And the longer he tried,
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Speaker 1: the more deeply will he be convinced of his utter
22:19
Speaker 1: helplessness in all these respects. Indeed, this is so evident
22:22
Speaker 1: a truth that well nigh all the children of God
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Speaker 1: scattered abroad. However they differ in other points, yet generally
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Speaker 1: agree in this that although we may by the spirit
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Speaker 1: mortify the deeds of the body, resist and conquer both
22:36
Speaker 1: outward and inward sin. Although we may weaken our enemies
22:39
Speaker 1: day by day, yet we cannot drive them out by
22:43
Speaker 1: all the grace which is given at justification. We cannot
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Speaker 1: extirpate them. Though we watch and pray, ever so much,
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Speaker 1: we cannot wholly cleanse either our hearts or hands. Most
22:54
Speaker 1: sure we cannot till it shall please our Lord to
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Speaker 1: speak to our hearts again, to speak the second time
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Speaker 1: be clean, And then only the leprosy is cleansed, Then
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Speaker 1: only the evil root the carnal mind, is destroyed and
23:08
Speaker 1: inbred sin subsists no more. But if there be no
23:12
Speaker 1: such second change, if there be no instantaneous deliverance after justification,
23:17
Speaker 1: if there be none but a gradual work of God,
23:20
Speaker 1: that there is a gradual work, none denies, then we
23:23
Speaker 1: must be content as well as we can, to remain
23:26
Speaker 1: full of sin till death, And if so, we must
23:29
Speaker 1: remain guilty till death, continually deserving punishment. For it is
23:33
Speaker 1: impossible the guilt or desert of punishment should be removed
23:37
Speaker 1: from us as long as all this sin remains in
23:40
Speaker 1: our heart and cleaves to our words and actions. Nay,
23:44
Speaker 1: in rigorous justice, all we think and speak and act
23:48
Speaker 1: continually increases it. In this sense, we are to repent
23:52
Speaker 1: after we are justified. Until we do so, we can
23:56
Speaker 1: go no further. For till we are sensible of our disease,
24:00
Speaker 1: it admits of no cure. But supposing we do thus repent,
24:04
Speaker 1: then are we called to believe the gospel. And this
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Speaker 1: also is to be understood in a peculiar sense, different
24:11
Speaker 1: from that wherein we believed in order to justification. Believe
24:16
Speaker 1: the glad tidings of great salvation which God hath prepared
24:19
Speaker 1: for all people. Believe that he who is the brightness
24:22
Speaker 1: of his Father's glory, the expressed image of his person,
24:27
Speaker 1: is able to save unto the uttermost, all that come
24:31
Speaker 1: unto God. Through him. He is able to save you
24:34
Speaker 1: from all the sin that still remains in your heart.
24:37
Speaker 1: He is able to save you from all the sin
24:39
Speaker 1: that cleaves to all your words and actions. He is
24:43
Speaker 1: able to save you from sins of omission, and to
24:45
Speaker 1: supply whatever is wanting in you. It is true this
24:49
Speaker 1: is impossible with man. But with God man all things
24:53
Speaker 1: are possible, or what can be too hard for him
24:57
Speaker 1: who hath all power in heaven and in earth. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: his bare power to do this is not a sufficient
25:03
Speaker 1: foundation for our faith that he will do it, that
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Speaker 1: he will thus exert his power, unless he hath promised it.
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Speaker 1: But this he has done. He has promised it over
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Speaker 1: and over in the strongest terms. He has given us
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Speaker 1: these exceeding, great and precious promises, both in the Old
25:21
Speaker 1: and the New Testament. So we read in the Law
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Speaker 1: and in the most ancient part of the Oracles of God,
25:27
Speaker 1: the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the
25:31
Speaker 1: heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God
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Speaker 1: with all thy heart and with all thy soul Deuterotomy,
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Speaker 1: chapter thirty, verse six. So in the Psalms, he shall
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Speaker 1: redeem Israel, the Israel of God, from all his sins.
25:45
Speaker 1: So in the Prophet, then will I sprinkle clean water
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Speaker 1: upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness,
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Speaker 1: and from all your idols. Will I cleanse you, and
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Speaker 1: I will put my spirit within you, and you shall
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Speaker 1: keep my judgments and do them. I will also save
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Speaker 1: you from your uncleanness. Ezekiel thirty six, verse twenty five.
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Speaker 1: So likewise, in the New Testament, blessed be the Lord
26:08
Speaker 1: God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
26:12
Speaker 1: and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us
26:15
Speaker 1: to perform the oath which he swear to our father Abraham,
26:18
Speaker 1: that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered
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Speaker 1: out of the hands of our enemies, should serve him
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Speaker 1: without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the
26:27
Speaker 1: days of our life. Luke one sixty eight. You have
26:31
Speaker 1: therefore good reason to believe he is not only able
26:35
Speaker 1: but willing to do this, to cleanse you from all
26:37
Speaker 1: your filthiness of flesh and spirit, to save you from
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Speaker 1: all your uncleanness. This is the thing which you now
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Speaker 1: long for. This is the faith which you now particularly need,
26:47
Speaker 1: namely that the great physician, the lover of my soul,
26:51
Speaker 1: is willing to make me clean. But is he willing
26:53
Speaker 1: to do this tomorrow or today? Let him answer for
26:57
Speaker 1: himself today. If you will hear my voice, harden not
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Speaker 1: your hearts. If you put it off till tomorrow, you
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Speaker 1: harden your hearts you refuse to hear his voice. Believe therefore,
27:10
Speaker 1: that he is willing to save you today. He is
27:12
Speaker 1: willing to save you. Now. Behold, now is the accepted time.
27:17
Speaker 1: He now saith be thou clean. Only believe, and you
27:21
Speaker 1: also will immediately find all things are possible to him
27:25
Speaker 1: that believeth continue to believe in him that loved THEE
27:30
Speaker 1: and gave himself for THEE, that bore all thy sins
27:33
Speaker 1: in his own body on the tree, And he saveth
27:35
Speaker 1: THEE from all condemnation by his blood continually applied. Thus
27:40
Speaker 1: it is that we continue in a justified state. And
27:43
Speaker 1: when we go from faith to faith, when we have
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Speaker 1: faith to be cleansed from all indwelling sin, to be
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Speaker 1: saved from all our uncleannesses, we are likewise saved from
27:53
Speaker 1: all that guilt, that desert of punishment which we felt before,
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Speaker 1: so that then we may say, not only every moment, Lord,
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Speaker 1: I want the merit of thy death, but likewise, in
28:06
Speaker 1: the full assurance of faith, every moment, Lord, I have
28:09
Speaker 1: the merit of thy death. For by that faith in
28:13
Speaker 1: His life, death and intercession for us renewed from moment
28:17
Speaker 1: to moment, we are every whit clean. And there is
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Speaker 1: not only now no condemnation for us, but no such
28:23
Speaker 1: desert of punishment as was before, the Lord cleansing both
28:26
Speaker 1: our hearts and lives. By the same faith, we feel
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Speaker 1: the power of Christ every moment resting upon us, whereby
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Speaker 1: alone we are what we are, whereby we are enabled
28:37
Speaker 1: to continue in spiritual life, and without which, notwithstanding all
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Speaker 1: our present holiness, we should be devils the next moment.
28:45
Speaker 1: But as long as we retain our faith in Him,
28:48
Speaker 1: we draw water out of the wells of salvation. Leaning
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Speaker 1: on our beloved even Christ in us, the Hope of Glory,
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Speaker 1: who dwelleth in our hearts. By faith, who likewise is
28:58
Speaker 1: ever interceding for us the right hand of God, we
29:01
Speaker 1: receive help from Him to think and speak, enact what
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Speaker 1: is acceptable in his sight. Thus does He prevent them
29:09
Speaker 1: that believe in all their doings and further them with
29:11
Speaker 1: his continual help, so that all their designs, conversations, and
29:16
Speaker 1: actions are begun, continued, and ended in Him. Thus doth
29:20
Speaker 1: He cleanse the thoughts of their hearts by the inspiration
29:23
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, that they may perfectly love Him
29:26
Speaker 1: and worthily magnify His holy name. Thus it is that
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Speaker 1: in the children of God, repentance and faith exactly answer
29:35
Speaker 1: each other. By repentance we feel the sin remaining in
29:38
Speaker 1: our hearts and cleaving to our words and actions. By faith,
29:42
Speaker 1: we receive the power of God in Christ, purifying our
29:45
Speaker 1: hearts and cleansing our hands. By repentance, we are still
29:49
Speaker 1: sensible that we deserve punishment for all our tempers and
29:52
Speaker 1: words and actions. By faith, we are conscious that our
29:56
Speaker 1: advocate with the Father is continually pleading for us, and
30:00
Speaker 1: thereby continually turning aside all condemnation and punishment from us.
30:05
Speaker 1: By repentance we have an abiding conviction that there is
30:07
Speaker 1: no help in us. By faith we receive not only
30:10
Speaker 1: mercy but grace to help in every time of need.
30:15
Speaker 1: Repentance disclaims the very possibility of any other help. Faith
30:19
Speaker 1: accepts all the help we stand in need of from
30:22
Speaker 1: Him that hath all power and heaven and earth. Repentance
30:25
Speaker 1: says Without him, I can do nothing. Faith says I
30:29
Speaker 1: can do all things through Christ, strengthening me. Through Him,
30:33
Speaker 1: I cannot only overcome, but expel all the enemies of
30:37
Speaker 1: my soul. Through Him, I can love the Lord my
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Speaker 1: God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength Yea,
30:44
Speaker 1: and walk in holiness and righteousness before Him all the
30:47
Speaker 1: days of my life. From what has been said, we
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Speaker 1: may easily learn the mischievousness of that opinion that we
30:54
Speaker 1: are wholly sanctified when we are justified, that our hearts
30:58
Speaker 1: are then cleansed from all sin. It is true we
31:01
Speaker 1: are then delivered, as was observed before, from the dominion
31:04
Speaker 1: of outward sin. And at the same time the power
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Speaker 1: of inward sin is so broken that we need no
31:10
Speaker 1: longer follow or be led by it. But it is
31:13
Speaker 1: by no means true that inward sin is then totally destroyed,
31:16
Speaker 1: that the root of pride, self, will anger, love of
31:19
Speaker 1: the world is then taken out of the heart, or
31:22
Speaker 1: that the carnal mind and the heart bent to backsliding
31:25
Speaker 1: are entirely extirpated. And to suppose the contrary is not,
31:29
Speaker 1: as sum may thing, an innocent, harmless mistake. No, it
31:33
Speaker 1: does immense harm. It entirely blocks up the way to
31:36
Speaker 1: any further change, For it is manifest they that are
31:40
Speaker 1: whole not need a physician, but they that are sick.
31:45
Speaker 1: If therefore, we think we are quite made whole already,
31:48
Speaker 1: there is no room to seek any further healing. On
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Speaker 1: this supposition, it is observed to expect a further deliverance
31:54
Speaker 1: from sin, whether gradual or instantaneous. On the contrary, a
31:59
Speaker 1: deed conviction that we are not yet whole, that our
32:02
Speaker 1: hearts are not fully purified, that there is yet in
32:06
Speaker 1: us a carnal mind which is still in its nature
32:08
Speaker 1: enmity against God. That a whole body of sin remains
32:12
Speaker 1: in our heart weakened indeed but not destroyed, shows beyond
32:16
Speaker 1: all possibility of doubt the absolute necessity of a further change.
32:22
Speaker 1: We allow that at the very moment of justification we
32:25
Speaker 1: are born again. In that instant we experience that inward
32:29
Speaker 1: change from darkness into marvelous light, from the image of
32:32
Speaker 1: the brute and the devil, into the image of God,
32:35
Speaker 1: from the earthly, sensual, devilish mind to the mind which
32:38
Speaker 1: was in Christ Jesus. But are we then entirely changed,
32:43
Speaker 1: are we wholly transformed into the image of Him that
32:45
Speaker 1: created us? Far from it, We still retain a depth
32:49
Speaker 1: of sin. And it is the consciousness of this which
32:52
Speaker 1: constrains us to groan for a full deliverance to Him
32:55
Speaker 1: that is mighty to save. Hence, it is that those
32:58
Speaker 1: believers who are not convict of the deep corruption of
33:01
Speaker 1: their hearts, or but slightly and as it were, notionally convinced,
33:06
Speaker 1: have little concerned about entire sanctification. They may possibly hold
33:11
Speaker 1: the opinion that such a thing is to be either
33:13
Speaker 1: at death or some time they know not when before it,
33:17
Speaker 1: But they have no great uneasiness for the want of it,
33:20
Speaker 1: and no great hunger or thirst after it. They cannot
33:23
Speaker 1: until they know themselves better, until they repent in the
33:27
Speaker 1: sense above described, until God unveils the inbred monster's face
33:31
Speaker 1: and shows them the real state of their souls. Then
33:34
Speaker 1: only when they feel the burden will they groan for
33:37
Speaker 1: deliverance from it. Then, and not till then will they
33:41
Speaker 1: cry out in the agony of their soul, break off
33:45
Speaker 1: the yoke of inbred sin and fully set my spirit free.
33:49
Speaker 1: I cannot rest till pure within, till I am wholly
33:53
Speaker 1: lost in thee. We may learn from hence secondly, that
33:58
Speaker 1: a deep conviction of our to merit after we are accepted,
34:02
Speaker 1: which in one sense may be termed guilt, is absolutely
34:06
Speaker 1: necessary in order to our seeing the true value of
34:10
Speaker 1: the atoning blood, in order to our feeling that we
34:13
Speaker 1: need this as much after we are justified as ever
34:16
Speaker 1: we did before. Without this conviction, we cannot but account
34:20
Speaker 1: the blood of the Covenant as a common thing, something
34:23
Speaker 1: of which we have not now any great need, seeing
34:26
Speaker 1: all our past sins are blotted out. Yeah, but if
34:30
Speaker 1: both our hearts and lives are thus unclean, there is
34:33
Speaker 1: a kind of guilt which we are contracting every moment,
34:37
Speaker 1: and which, of consequence, would every moment expose us to
34:41
Speaker 1: fresh condemnation. But that he ever lives above for us
34:46
Speaker 1: to intercede is all atoning love, his precious blood to plead.
34:51
Speaker 1: It is this repentance and the faith intimately connected with it,
34:55
Speaker 1: which are expressed in those strong lines. I sin in
34:59
Speaker 1: every breath, Thy draw, nor do thy will, nor keep
35:02
Speaker 1: thy law on earth. As angels do above, But still
35:06
Speaker 1: the fountain open stands washes my feet, my heart, my hands,
35:12
Speaker 1: till I am perfected in love. We may observe. Thirdly,
35:17
Speaker 1: a deep conviction of our utter helplessness, of our total
35:22
Speaker 1: inability to retain anything we have received, much more to
35:26
Speaker 1: deliver ourselves from the world of iniquity, remaining both in
35:29
Speaker 1: our hearts and lives, teaches us truly to live upon
35:32
Speaker 1: Christ by faith, not only as our priest, but as
35:35
Speaker 1: our King. Hereby we are brought to magnify Him, indeed,
35:39
Speaker 1: to give him all the glory of his grace, to
35:42
Speaker 1: make him a whole Christ, an entire savior, and truly
35:45
Speaker 1: to set the crown upon his head. These excellent words,
35:49
Speaker 1: as they have frequently been used, have little or no meaning,
35:53
Speaker 1: but they are fulfilled in a strong and deep sense.
35:56
Speaker 1: When we, thus, as it were, go out of ourselves
35:59
Speaker 1: in order to be swallowed up in Him, when we
36:01
Speaker 1: sink into nothing, that He may be all in all,
36:06
Speaker 1: then his almighty grace, having abolished every high thing which
36:09
Speaker 1: exalted itself against him, every temper and thought and word
36:14
Speaker 1: and work is brought to the obedience of Christ. Londonderry,
36:21
Speaker 1: April twenty fourth seventeen sixty seven end of Section fourteen