Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 21 - Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse I - Sermons on Several Occasions

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21 - Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse I - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Upon our Lord's sermon on the mount Discourse one. And
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Speaker 1: seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and
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Speaker 1: when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and
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Speaker 1: he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are
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Speaker 1: the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Speaker 1: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted
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Speaker 1: Matthew five, Verses one through four. Our Lord had now
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Speaker 1: gone about all Galilee Matthew four twenty three, beginning at
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Speaker 1: the time when John was cast into prison Matthew four twelve,
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Speaker 1: not only teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel
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Speaker 1: of the Kingdom, but likewise healing all manner of sickness
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Speaker 1: and all manner of disease among the people. It was
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Speaker 1: a natural consequence of this that there followed him great
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Speaker 1: multitudes from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and
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Speaker 1: from Judea, and from the region beyond Jordan Matthew four
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Speaker 1: twenty five. And seeing the multitudes whom no synagogue could contain,
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Speaker 1: even had there been any at hand, he went up
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Speaker 1: into a mountain where there was room for all that
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Speaker 1: came unto him from every quarter, and when he was
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Speaker 1: set as the manner of the Jews was. His disciples
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Speaker 1: came unto him, and he opened his mouth in expression
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Speaker 1: denoting the beginning of a solemn discourse, and taught them, saying,
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Speaker 1: let us observe who it is that is here speaking,
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Speaker 1: that we may take heed how we hear. It is
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Speaker 1: the Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of all,
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Speaker 1: who as such has a right to dispose of all
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Speaker 1: his creatures, The Lord, our governor, whose kingdom is from
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Speaker 1: everlasting and ruleth over all, the great lawgiver, who can
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Speaker 1: well enforce all his laws, being able to save and
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Speaker 1: to destroy, yea to punish with everlasting destruction. From his
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Speaker 1: presence and from the glory of his power. It is
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Speaker 1: the eternal wisdom of the Father, who knoweth whereof we
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Speaker 1: are made, and understands our inmost frame, who knows how
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Speaker 1: we stand related to God, to one another, to every
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Speaker 1: creature which God hath made, and consequently how to adapt
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Speaker 1: every law he prescribes to all the circumstances wherein He
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Speaker 1: hath placed us. It is he who is loving unto
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Speaker 1: every man, whose mercy is over all his works, The
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Speaker 1: God of Love, who, having emptied himself of his eternal
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Speaker 1: glory is coming forth from his Father to declare his
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Speaker 1: will to the children of men. And then goeth again
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Speaker 1: to the Father, who is sent from God to open
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Speaker 1: the eyes of the blind, and to give light to
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Speaker 1: them that sit in darkness. It is the great Prophet
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Speaker 1: of the Lord, concerning whom God had solemnly declared long ago.
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Speaker 1: Whosoever will not hearken under my words which he shall
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Speaker 1: speak in my name, I will require it of him
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Speaker 1: Deuteronomy eighteen and nineteen, Or as the Apostle expresses it,
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Speaker 1: every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be
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Speaker 1: destroyed from among the people, Acts three twenty three. And
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Speaker 1: what is it which he is teaching? The Son of God,
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Speaker 1: who came from heaven, is here showing us the way
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Speaker 1: to Heaven, to the place which he hath prepared for us,
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Speaker 1: the glory he had before the world began. He is
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Speaker 1: teaching us the true way to everlasting life, the royal
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Speaker 1: way which leads to the Kingdom, and the only true way,
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Speaker 1: for there is none besides. All other paths lead to destruction.
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Speaker 1: From the character of the speaker, we are well assured
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Speaker 1: that he hath declared the full and perfect will of God.
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Speaker 1: He hath uttered not one tittle too much, nothing more
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Speaker 1: than he had received of the Father, nor too little.
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Speaker 1: He hath not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God.
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Speaker 1: Much less hath he uttered anything wrong, anything contrary to
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Speaker 1: the will of Him that sent him. All his words
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Speaker 1: are true and write concerning all things, and shall stand
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Speaker 1: fast forever and ever. And we may easily remark that
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Speaker 1: in explaining and confirming these faithful and true sayings, he
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Speaker 1: takes care to refute not only the mistakes of the
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Speaker 1: scribes and Pharisees, which then were the false comments whereby
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Speaker 1: the Jewish teachers of that age had perverted the word
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Speaker 1: of God, but all the practical mistakes that are inconsistent
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Speaker 1: with salvation, which should ever arise in the Christian Church,
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Speaker 1: all the comments whereby the Christian teachers so called, of
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Speaker 1: any age or nation should pervert the word of God
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Speaker 1: and teach unwary souls to seek death in the error
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Speaker 1: of their life. And hence we are naturally led to
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Speaker 1: observe whom it is that he is here teaching, not
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Speaker 1: the apostles alone. If so, he had no need to
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Speaker 1: have gone up into the mountain a room in the
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Speaker 1: house of Matthew or any of his disciples, would have
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Speaker 1: contained the twelve. Nor does it in any wise appear
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Speaker 1: that the disciples who came unto him were the twelve.
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Speaker 1: Only Hoi attuo, without any force put upon the expression
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Speaker 1: may be understood of all who desired to learn of him.
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Speaker 1: But to put this out of all question, to make
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Speaker 1: an undeniably plain that where it is said he opened
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Speaker 1: his mouth and taught them the word them includes all
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Speaker 1: the multitudes who went up with him into the mountain.
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Speaker 1: We need only observe the concluding verses of the seventh chapter,
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Speaker 1: and it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings,
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Speaker 1: the multitudes hoi okloi were astonished at his doctrine or teaching,
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Speaker 1: for he taught them the multitudes as one having authority,
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Speaker 1: and not as the scribes Matthew seven, Verses twenty eight
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Speaker 1: and twenty nine. Nor was it only those multitudes who
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Speaker 1: were with him on the mount to whom he now
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Speaker 1: taught the way of salvation, but all the children of men,
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Speaker 1: the whole race of mankind, the children that were yet unborn,
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Speaker 1: all the generations to come even to the end of
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Speaker 1: the world, who should ever hear the words of this life,
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Speaker 1: and this all men allow. With regard to some parts
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Speaker 1: of the ensuing discourse. No man, for instance, denies that
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Speaker 1: what is said of poverty of spirit relates to all mankind.
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Speaker 1: But many have supposed that other parts concerned only the Apostles,
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Speaker 1: or the first Christians, or the ministers of Christ, and
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Speaker 1: were never designed for the generality of men, who consequently
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Speaker 1: have nothing at all to do with them. But may
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Speaker 1: we not justly inquire who told them this that some
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Speaker 1: parts of this discourse concerned only the Apostles, or the
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Speaker 1: Christians of the Apostolic Age, or the ministers of Christ.
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Speaker 1: Bare assertions are not a sufficient proof to establish a
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Speaker 1: point of so great importance. Has then our Lord himself
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Speaker 1: taught us that some parts of his discourse do not
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Speaker 1: concern all mankind? Without doubt, had it been so, he
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Speaker 1: would have told us he could not have omitted so
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Speaker 1: necessary an information. But as he told us so, where
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Speaker 1: in the discourse itself? No, here is not the least
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Speaker 1: intimation of it. Has he said so elsewhere in any
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Speaker 1: other of his discourses. Not one word so much as
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Speaker 1: glancing this way, can we find in anything he ever
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Speaker 1: spoke either to the multitudes or to the disciples. Has
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Speaker 1: any one of the apostles or other inspired writers left
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Speaker 1: such an instruction upon record? No such thing, No assertion
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Speaker 1: of this kind is to be found in all the
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Speaker 1: oracles of God. Who then, are the men who are
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Speaker 1: so much wiser than God? Why so far above that
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Speaker 1: which is written? Perhaps they will say that the reason
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Speaker 1: of the thing requires such a restriction to be made.
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Speaker 1: If it does, it must be on one of these
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Speaker 1: two accounts, because without such a restriction, the discourse would
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Speaker 1: either be apparently absurd, or would contradict some other scripture.
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Speaker 1: But this is not the case. It will plainly appear,
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Speaker 1: when we come to examine the several particulars, that there
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Speaker 1: is no absurdity at all in applying all which our
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Speaker 1: Lord hath delivered here to all mankind. Neither will it
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Speaker 1: infer any contradiction to anything else he is delivered, nor
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Speaker 1: do any other scripture whatever. Nay, it will further appear
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Speaker 1: that either all the parts of this discourse are to
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Speaker 1: be applied to men in general, or no part. Seeing
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Speaker 1: they are all connected together, all joined as the stones
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Speaker 1: in an arch of which you cannot take one away
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Speaker 1: without destroying the whole fabric. We may lastly observe how
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Speaker 1: our Lord teaches here, and surely as at all times,
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Speaker 1: so particularly at this he speaks as never man spake,
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Speaker 1: not as the holy men of old, although they also
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Speaker 1: spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, not
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Speaker 1: as Peter or James, or John or Paul. They were
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Speaker 1: indeed wise master builders in his church. But still in this,
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Speaker 1: in the degrees of heavenly wisdom, the servant is not
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Speaker 1: as his Lord, no, nor even as himself at any
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Speaker 1: other time or on any other occasion. It does not
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Speaker 1: appear that it was ever his design at any other
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Speaker 1: time or place to lay down at once the whole
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Speaker 1: plan of his religion, to give us a full prospect
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Speaker 1: of Christianity, to describe at large the nature of that
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Speaker 1: holiness without which no man shall see. The Lord. Particular
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Speaker 1: branches of this he has indeed described on a thousand
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Speaker 1: different occasions. But never besides here did he give of
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Speaker 1: set purpose a general view of the whole. Nay, we
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Speaker 1: have nothing else of this kind in all the Bible,
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Speaker 1: unless one should accept that short sketch of holiness delivered
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Speaker 1: by God in those ten words or commandments to Moses
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Speaker 1: on Mount Sinai. But even here, how wide a difference
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Speaker 1: is there between one and the other. Even that which
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Speaker 1: was made glorious had no glory in this respect. By
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Speaker 1: reason of the glory that excelleth Tewod Corinthians three, verse ten.
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Speaker 1: Above all, with what amazing love does the Son of
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Speaker 1: God here reveal his father's will to man. He does
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Speaker 1: not bring us again to the mount that burned with fire,
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Speaker 1: nor into blackness and darkness and tempest. He does not
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Speaker 1: speak as when he thundered out of heaven, when the
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Speaker 1: Highest gave his thunder, hailstones and coals of fire. He
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Speaker 1: now addresses us with his still small voice. Blessed or
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Speaker 1: happy are the poor in spirit? Happy are the mourners,
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Speaker 1: the meek, those that hunger after righteousness, the merciful, the
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Speaker 1: pure in heart, happy in the end and in the way,
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Speaker 1: happy in this life and in life everlasting. As if
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Speaker 1: he had said, who is he that lusteth to live
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Speaker 1: and would fain see good days? Behold, I show you
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Speaker 1: the thing which your soul longeth for. See the way
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Speaker 1: you have so long sought in vain, the way of pleasantness,
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Speaker 1: the path to calm, joyous peace, to heaven below and
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Speaker 1: Heaven above. At the same time, with what authority does
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Speaker 1: he teach? Well, might they say not as the scribes
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Speaker 1: observe the manner, But it cannot be expressed in more words.
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Speaker 1: The air with which he speaks, not as Moses the
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Speaker 1: servant of God, not as Abraham his friend, not as
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Speaker 1: any of the prophets, nor as any of the sons
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Speaker 1: of men. It is something more than human, more than
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Speaker 1: can agree to any created being. It speaks the creator
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Speaker 1: of all, a God, A God appears yea ooh, on
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Speaker 1: the being of beings, Jehovah, the self existent, the Supreme,
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Speaker 1: the God who is overall blessed forever. This divine discourse,
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Speaker 1: delivered in the most excellent method every subsequent part illustrating
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Speaker 1: those that precede, is commonly and not improperly divided into
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Speaker 1: three principal branches, the first contained in the fifth, the
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Speaker 1: second in the sixth, and the third in the seventh chapter.
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Speaker 1: In the first, the sum of all true religion is
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Speaker 1: laid down in eight particulars, which are explained and guarded
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Speaker 1: against the false glosses of men in the following parts
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Speaker 1: of the fifth chapter. In the second are rules for
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Speaker 1: that right intention which we are to preserve in all
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Speaker 1: our outward actions unmixed with worldly desires or anxious cares
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Speaker 1: for even the necessaries of life. In the third are
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Speaker 1: cautions against the main hindrances of religion, closed with an
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Speaker 1: application of the whole. Our Lord first lays down the
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Speaker 1: sum of all true religion in eight particulars, which he
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Speaker 1: explains and guards against the false glosses of men to
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Speaker 1: the end of the fifth chapter. Some have supposed that
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Speaker 1: he designed in these to point out the several stages
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Speaker 1: of the Christian course, the steps which a Christian successively
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Speaker 1: takes in his journey to the Promised land. Others that
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Speaker 1: all the particulars here set down belong at all times
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Speaker 1: to every Christian. And why may we not allow both
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Speaker 1: the one and the other. What inconsistency is there between them?
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Speaker 1: It is undoubtedly true that both poverty of sais spirit
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Speaker 1: and every other temper which is here mentioned, are at
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Speaker 1: all times found in a greater or lesser degree in
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Speaker 1: every real Christian. And it is equally true that real
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Speaker 1: Christianity always begins in a poverty of spirit, and goes
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Speaker 1: on in the order here set down till the Man
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Speaker 1: of God is made perfect. We begin at the lowest
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Speaker 1: of these gifts of God, yet so as not to
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Speaker 1: relinquish this when we are called of God to come
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Speaker 1: up higher. But whereunto we have already attained, we hold
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Speaker 1: fast while we press on to what is yet before,
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Speaker 1: to the highest blessings of God in Christ Jesus. The
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Speaker 1: foundation of all is poverty of spirit. Here therefore our
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Speaker 1: Lord begins, Blessed said he are the poor in spirit,
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Speaker 1: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. It may not
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Speaker 1: improbably be supposed that our Lord looked on those who
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Speaker 1: were round about him, and observing that not many rich
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Speaker 1: were there, but rather the poor of the world took
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Speaker 1: occasion from thence to make a train transition from temporal
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Speaker 1: to spiritual things. Blessed said he or happy. So the
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Speaker 1: words should be rendered both in this and the following
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Speaker 1: verses are the poor in spirit. He does not say
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Speaker 1: that they are poor as to outward circumstances, it being
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Speaker 1: not impossible that some of these may be as far
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Speaker 1: from happiness as a monarch upon his throne. But the
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Speaker 1: poor in spirit, they who, whatever their outward circumstances are,
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Speaker 1: have that disposition of heart which is the first step
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Speaker 1: to all real substantial happiness, either in this world or
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Speaker 1: that which is to come. Some have judged that by
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Speaker 1: the poor in spirit here are meant those who love poverty,
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Speaker 1: those who are free from coveteousness, from the love of money,
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Speaker 1: who fear rather than desire riches. Perhaps they have been
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Speaker 1: induced so to judge by wholly confining their thoughts to
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Speaker 1: the very term, or by considering that weighty of observation
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Speaker 1: of Saint Paul that the love of money is the
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Speaker 1: root of all evil, and hence man many have wholly
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Speaker 1: divested themselves, not only of riches, but of all worldly goods.
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Speaker 1: Hence also the vows of voluntary poverty seem to have
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Speaker 1: arisen in the Romish Church, it being supposed that so
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Speaker 1: eminent a degree of this fundamental grace must be a
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Speaker 1: large step towards the kingdom of heaven. But these do
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Speaker 1: not seem to have observed. First that the expression of
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Speaker 1: Saint Paul must be understood with some restriction, otherwise it
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Speaker 1: is not true. For the love of money is not
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Speaker 1: the root the sole root of all evil. There are
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Speaker 1: a thousand other roots of evil in the world. As
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Speaker 1: Sad experienced daily shows, his meaning can only be it
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Speaker 1: is the root of very many evils, perhaps of more
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Speaker 1: than any single vice. Besides, secondly, that this sense of
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Speaker 1: the expression poor in spirit will by no means suit
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Speaker 1: our Lord's present design, which is to lay a general
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Speaker 1: foundation whereon the whole fabric of Christianity may be built,
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Speaker 1: a design which would be in no wise answered by
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Speaker 1: guarding against one particular vice, so that if even this
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Speaker 1: were supposed to be part of his meaning, it could
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Speaker 1: not possibly be the whole. Thirdly, that it cannot be
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Speaker 1: supposed to be any part of his meaning unless we
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Speaker 1: charge him with manifest tautology. Seeing if poverty of spirit
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Speaker 1: were only freedom from coveteousness, from the love of money
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Speaker 1: or the desire of riches, it would coincide with what
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Speaker 1: he afterwards mentions, It would be only a branch of
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Speaker 1: purity of heart. Who then are the poor in spirit?
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Speaker 1: Without question, the humble they who themselves who are convinced
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Speaker 1: of sin, those to whom God hath given that first
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Speaker 1: repentance which is previous to faith in Christ. One of
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Speaker 1: these can no longer say I am rich and increased
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Speaker 1: in goods, and have need of nothing, as now, knowing
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Speaker 1: that he is wretched and poor and miserable and blind
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Speaker 1: and naked. He is convinced that he is spiritually poor. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: no spiritual good abiding in him. In me saith. He
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Speaker 1: dwelleth no good thing, but whatsoever is evil and abominable.
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Speaker 1: He has a deep sense of the loathsome leprosy of sin,
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Speaker 1: which he brought with him from his mother's womb, which
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Speaker 1: overspreads his whole soul and totally corrupts every power and faculty. Thereof,
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Speaker 1: he sees more and more of the evil tempers which
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Speaker 1: spring from that evil root, the pride and haughtiness of spirit,
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Speaker 1: the constant bias to think of himself more highly than
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Speaker 1: he ought to think, the vanity, the thirst after the
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Speaker 1: esteem or honor that cometh from men, the hatred or envy,
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Speaker 1: the jealousy or revenge, the anger, malice or bitterness, the
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Speaker 1: inbred enmity, both against God and man, which appears in
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Speaker 1: ten thousand shapes, the love of the world, the self will,
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Speaker 1: the foolish and hurtful desires which cleave to his inmost soul.
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Speaker 1: He is conscious how deeply he has offended by his tongue,
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Speaker 1: if not by profane, immodest, untrue, or unkind words. Yet
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Speaker 1: by decourse which was not good to the use of edifying,
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Speaker 1: not meet to minister grace to the hearers, which consequently
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Speaker 1: was all corrupt in God's account and grievous to his
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. His evil works are now, likewise ever in
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Speaker 1: his sight. If he tells them, they are more than
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Speaker 1: he is able to express. He may as well think
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Speaker 1: to number the drops of rain, the sands of the sea,
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Speaker 1: or the days of eternity. His guilt is now also
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Speaker 1: before his face. He knows the punishment he has deserved,
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Speaker 1: were it only on account of his carnal mind, the
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Speaker 1: entire universal corruption of his nature, how much more on
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Speaker 1: account of all his evil desires and thoughts, of all
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Speaker 1: his sinful words and actions. He cannot doubt for a moment.
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Speaker 1: But the least of these deserves the damnation of hell,
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Speaker 1: the worm that dieth not, and the fire that never
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Speaker 1: shall be quenched. Above all, the guilt of not believing
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Speaker 1: on the name of the only begotten Son of God
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Speaker 1: lies heavy upon him. How saith he shall I escape
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Speaker 1: who neglect so great salvation? He that believeth not is
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Speaker 1: condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him.
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Speaker 1: But what shall he give in exchange for his soul,
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Speaker 1: which is forfeited to the just vengeance of God? Wherewithal
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Speaker 1: shall he come before the Lord? How shall he pay
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Speaker 1: him that he oweth? Were he from this moment to
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Speaker 1: perform the most perfect obedience in every command of God,
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Speaker 1: this would make no amends for a single sin, for
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Speaker 1: any one act of past disobedience. Seeing he owes God
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Speaker 1: all the service he is able to perform from this
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Speaker 1: moment to all eternity, could he pay this, it would
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Speaker 1: make no manner of amends for what he ought to
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Speaker 1: have done before. He sees himself therefore utterly helpless with
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Speaker 1: regard to atoning for his past sins, utterly unable to
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Speaker 1: make any amends to God, to pay any ransom for
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Speaker 1: his own soul. But if God would forgive him all
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Speaker 1: that is past on this one condition that he should
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Speaker 1: sin no more, that for the time to come he
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Speaker 1: should entirely and constantly obey all his commands, he well
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Speaker 1: knows that this would profit him nothing, being a condition
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Speaker 1: he could never perform. He knows and feels that he
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Speaker 1: is not able to obey even the outward commands of God,
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Speaker 1: seeing these cannot be obeyed. While his heart remains in
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Speaker 1: its natural sinfulness and corruption. Inasmuch as an evil tree
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Speaker 1: cannot bring forth good fruit, but he cannot cleanse a
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Speaker 1: sinful heart. With men, this is impossible, so that he
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Speaker 1: is utterly at loss even how to begin walking in
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Speaker 1: the path of God's commandments. He knows not how to
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Speaker 1: get one step forward in the way. Encompassed with sin
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Speaker 1: and sorrow and fear, and finding no way to escape,
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Speaker 1: he can only cry out, Lord, save or I perish
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Speaker 1: poverty of spirit. Then, as it implies, the first step
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Speaker 1: we take in running the race which is set before us,
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Speaker 1: is a just sense of our outward and inward sins,
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Speaker 1: and of our guilt and helplessness. This sum have monstrously
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Speaker 1: styled the virtue of humility, thus teaching us to be
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Speaker 1: proud of knowing we deserve damnation. But our Lord's expression
21:05
Speaker 1: is quite of another kind, conveying no idea to the hearer,
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Speaker 1: but that of mere want, of naked sin, of helpless
21:13
Speaker 1: guilt and misery. The Great Apostle, where he endeavors to
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Speaker 1: bring sinners to God, speaks in a manner just answerable
21:20
Speaker 1: to this. The wrath of God saith. He is revealed
21:24
Speaker 1: from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Romans one,
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Speaker 1: verse eighteen, a charge which he immediately fixes on the
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Speaker 1: heathen world, and thereby proves they are under the wrath
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Speaker 1: of God. He next shows that the Jews were no
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Speaker 1: better than they, and were therefore under the same condemnation.
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Speaker 1: And all this not in order to their attaining the
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Speaker 1: noble virtue of humility, but that every mouth might be
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Speaker 1: stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore,
21:54
Speaker 1: by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
21:57
Speaker 1: be justified. But now the righteousness of God, which is
22:00
Speaker 1: by faith of Jesus Christ, without the law, is manifested.
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Speaker 1: We conclude that a man is justified by faith without
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Speaker 1: the deeds of the Law. Expressions all tending to the
22:12
Speaker 1: same point, even to hide pride from man, to humble
22:16
Speaker 1: him in the dust, without teaching him to reflect upon
22:19
Speaker 1: his humility as a virtue, to inspire him with that
22:22
Speaker 1: full piercing conviction of his utter sinfulness, guilt, and helplessness,
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Speaker 1: which casts the sinner stripped of all lost and undone,
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Speaker 1: on his strong helper. Jesus Christ, the righteous one, cannot
22:35
Speaker 1: but observe here that Christianity begins just where heathen morality ends,
22:40
Speaker 1: poverty of spirit, conviction of sin, the renouncing ourselves, the
22:43
Speaker 1: not having our own righteousness, the very first point in
22:47
Speaker 1: the religion of Jesus Christ, leaving all pagan religion behind.
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Speaker 1: This was ever hid from the wise men of this world,
22:53
Speaker 1: insomuch that the whole Roman language, even with all the
22:57
Speaker 1: improvements of the Augustin Age, does not afford so much
23:00
Speaker 1: as a name for humility. The word from whence we
23:04
Speaker 1: borrow this as is well known, bearing in Latin a
23:07
Speaker 1: quite different meaning. No, nor was one found in all
23:11
Speaker 1: the copious language of Greece till it was made by
23:14
Speaker 1: the Great Apostle. Oh, that we may feel what they
23:18
Speaker 1: were not able to express. Sinner awake, know thyself, Know
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Speaker 1: and feel that thou wert shapen in wickedness, and that
23:28
Speaker 1: in sin did thy mother conceive thee, And that thou
23:31
Speaker 1: thyself hast been heaping up sin upon sin ever since
23:35
Speaker 1: thou couldst discern good from evil. Sink under the mighty
23:38
Speaker 1: hand of God as guilty of death eternal, and cast off, renounce,
23:42
Speaker 1: abhor all imagination of ever being able to help thyself.
23:46
Speaker 1: Be it all thy hope to be washed in His
23:48
Speaker 1: blood and renewed by His almighty Spirit, who himself bear
23:52
Speaker 1: all our sins in his own body on the tree.
23:56
Speaker 1: So shalt thou witness. Happy are the poor in spirit?
24:00
Speaker 1: For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. This is that
24:03
Speaker 1: kingdom of Heaven or of God, which is within us,
24:07
Speaker 1: even righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
24:10
Speaker 1: And what is righteousness but the life of God and
24:13
Speaker 1: the soul, the mind which was in Christ Jesus, the
24:16
Speaker 1: image of God stamped upon the heart, now renewed after
24:19
Speaker 1: the likeness of Him that created it. What is it
24:23
Speaker 1: but the love of God because He first loved us,
24:25
Speaker 1: and the love of all mankind for his sake. And
24:28
Speaker 1: what is this peace, the peace of God, but that calm,
24:32
Speaker 1: serenity of soul, that sweet repose in the blood of Jesus,
24:35
Speaker 1: which leaves no doubt of our acceptance in Him, which
24:38
Speaker 1: excludes all fear, but the loving, filial fear of offending
24:42
Speaker 1: our Father, which is in Heaven. This inward kingdom implies
24:46
Speaker 1: also joy in the Holy Ghost, who seals upon our
24:49
Speaker 1: hearts the redemption which is in Jesus, the righteousness of
24:52
Speaker 1: Christ imputed to us for the remission of the sins
24:55
Speaker 1: that are past. Who giveth us now the earnest of
24:58
Speaker 1: our inheritance of the crown which the Lord, the Righteous
25:02
Speaker 1: Judge will give at that day? And well, may this
25:06
Speaker 1: be termed the Kingdom of Heaven. Seeing it is Heaven
25:09
Speaker 1: already opened in the soul, the first springing up of
25:12
Speaker 1: those rivers of pleasure which flow at God's right hand. Forevermore,
25:19
Speaker 1: theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever thou art, to
25:22
Speaker 1: whom God hath given, to be poor in spirit, to
25:25
Speaker 1: feel thyself lost, Thou hast a right there too, through
25:28
Speaker 1: the gracious promise of Him who cannot lie. It is
25:31
Speaker 1: purchased for thee by the blood of the Lamb. It
25:33
Speaker 1: is very nigh. Thou art on the brink of heaven.
25:37
Speaker 1: Another step, and thou enterest into the Kingdom of righteousness
25:40
Speaker 1: and peace and joy. Art thou all sin behold the
25:44
Speaker 1: Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the
25:46
Speaker 1: world all unholy. See thy advocate with the Father Jesus Christ,
25:51
Speaker 1: the Righteous. Art thou unable to atone for the least
25:54
Speaker 1: of thy sins? He is the propitiation for all thy sins.
25:59
Speaker 1: Now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and all thy
26:01
Speaker 1: sins are blotted out. Art thou totally unclean in soul
26:05
Speaker 1: and body. Here is the fountain for sin and uncleanness.
26:09
Speaker 1: Arise and wash away thy sins. Stagger no more at
26:12
Speaker 1: the promise through unbelief, give glory to God. Dare to believe. Now,
26:17
Speaker 1: cry out from the ground of thy heart. Yes, I yield,
26:21
Speaker 1: I yield at last. Listen to Thy speaking blood, me
26:25
Speaker 1: with all my sins, I cast on my atoning God.
26:30
Speaker 1: Then thou learnest of Him to be lowly of heart.
26:34
Speaker 1: And this is the true, genuine Christian humility, which flows
26:37
Speaker 1: from a sense of the love of God reconciled to
26:39
Speaker 1: us in Jesus Christ. Poverty of spirit in the meaning
26:43
Speaker 1: of the word begins where a sense of guilt and
26:46
Speaker 1: of the wrath of God ends, and is a continual
26:49
Speaker 1: sense of our total dependence on Him for every good
26:52
Speaker 1: thought or word or work, of our utter inability to
26:56
Speaker 1: all good unless He water us every moment, and an
26:59
Speaker 1: abhorrence of the praise of men, knowing that all praise
27:02
Speaker 1: is do unto God. Only with this is joined a
27:05
Speaker 1: loving shame, a tender humiliation before God, even for the
27:09
Speaker 1: sins which we know he hath forgiven us, and for
27:11
Speaker 1: the sin which still remaineth in our hearts, although we
27:15
Speaker 1: know it is not imputed to our condemnation. Nevertheless, the
27:19
Speaker 1: conviction we feel of inbred sin is deeper and deeper
27:22
Speaker 1: every day. The more we grow in grace, the more
27:25
Speaker 1: do we see of the desperate wickedness of our heart,
27:28
Speaker 1: the more we advance in the knowledge and love of
27:30
Speaker 1: God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As great a mystery
27:33
Speaker 1: as this may appear to those who know not the
27:36
Speaker 1: power of God and to salvation, the more do we
27:38
Speaker 1: discern of our alienation from God, of the enmity that
27:42
Speaker 1: is in our carnal mind, and the necessity of our
27:44
Speaker 1: being entirely renewed in righteousness and true holiness. It is
27:48
Speaker 1: true He has scarce any conception of this. Who now
27:51
Speaker 1: begins to know the inward kingdom of Heaven in his prosperity,
27:55
Speaker 1: he saith, I shall never be moved. Thou Lord hast
27:59
Speaker 1: made my ill so strong, sin is so utterly bruised
28:03
Speaker 1: beneath his feet, that he can scarce believe it remaineth
28:06
Speaker 1: in him. Even temptation is silenced and speaks not again,
28:10
Speaker 1: it cannot approach, but stands afar off. He is borne
28:14
Speaker 1: aloft in the chariots of joy and love. He soars
28:18
Speaker 1: as upon the wings of an eagle. But our Lord
28:20
Speaker 1: well knew that this triumphant state does not often continue long.
28:25
Speaker 1: He therefore presently subjoins. Blessed are they that mourn, for
28:30
Speaker 1: they shall be comforted. Not that we can imagine, this
28:33
Speaker 1: promise belongs to those who mourn only on some worldly account,
28:36
Speaker 1: who are in sorrow and heaviness merely on account of
28:39
Speaker 1: some worldly trouble or disappointment, such as the loss of
28:42
Speaker 1: their reputation or friends, or the impairing of their fortune.
28:46
Speaker 1: As little title to it have they who are afflicting
28:49
Speaker 1: themselves through fear of some temporal evil, or who pine
28:53
Speaker 1: away with anxious care, or that desire of earthly things
28:56
Speaker 1: which maketh the heart sick. Let us not think thee
29:00
Speaker 1: shall receive anything from the Lord. He is not in
29:03
Speaker 1: all their thoughts. Therefore it is that they thus walk
29:07
Speaker 1: in a vain shadow, and disquiet themselves in vain And
29:11
Speaker 1: this shall ye have of mine hand, saith the Lord,
29:15
Speaker 1: ye shall lie down in sorrow. The mourners of whom
29:18
Speaker 1: our Lord here speaks are those that mourn. On quite
29:21
Speaker 1: another account, they that mourn after God, after Him in
29:26
Speaker 1: whom they did rejoice with joy unspeakable when He gave
29:29
Speaker 1: them to taste the good, the pardoning word, and the
29:33
Speaker 1: powers of the world to come. But He now hides
29:36
Speaker 1: his face, and they are troubled. They cannot see him
29:39
Speaker 1: through the dark cloud. But they see temptation and sin,
29:43
Speaker 1: which they fondly supposed were gone, never to return, arising again,
29:48
Speaker 1: following after them again, and holding them in on every side.
29:53
Speaker 1: It is not strange if their soul is now disquieted
29:56
Speaker 1: within them, and trouble and heaviness take hold upon them.
30:00
Speaker 1: Nor will their great enemy fail to improve the occasion
30:03
Speaker 1: to ask, where is now Thy God? Where is now
30:07
Speaker 1: the blessedness? Whereof thou spakest the beginning of the kingdom
30:10
Speaker 1: of heaven? Yea hath God said thy sins are forgiven?
30:14
Speaker 1: Thee Surely God hath not said it. It was only
30:17
Speaker 1: a dream, a mere delusion, a creature of thy own imagination.
30:21
Speaker 1: If thy sins are forgiven, why art thou thus can
30:25
Speaker 1: a pardon sinner be thus unholy? And if then, instead
30:29
Speaker 1: of immediately crying to God they reason with him that
30:32
Speaker 1: is wiser than they, They will be in heaviness indeed,
30:35
Speaker 1: and sorrow of heart, in anguish not to be expressed. Nay,
30:39
Speaker 1: even when God shines again upon the soul and takes
30:41
Speaker 1: away all doubt of his past mercy, still he that
30:44
Speaker 1: is weak in faith may be tempted and troubled on
30:47
Speaker 1: account of what is to come. Specially when inward sin
30:50
Speaker 1: revives and thrusts sore at him, that he may fall.
30:55
Speaker 1: Then may he again cry out, I have a sin
30:59
Speaker 1: of fear, that when I've spun my last thread, I
31:02
Speaker 1: shall perish on the shore, lest I should make shipwreck
31:06
Speaker 1: of the faith, and my last state be worse than
31:08
Speaker 1: the first, lest all my bread of life should fail,
31:12
Speaker 1: and I sink down unchanged to hell. Sure it is
31:16
Speaker 1: that this affliction for the present is not joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless,
31:21
Speaker 1: afterward it bringeth forth peaceable fruit. Unto them that are
31:24
Speaker 1: exercised thereby blessed. Therefore are they that thus mourn, if
31:29
Speaker 1: they tarry the Lord's leisure and suffer not themselves to
31:32
Speaker 1: be turned out of the way by the miserable comforters
31:34
Speaker 1: of the world. If they resolutely reject all the comforts
31:38
Speaker 1: of sin, of folly and vanity, all the idle diversions
31:42
Speaker 1: and amusements of the world, all the pleasures which perish
31:46
Speaker 1: in the using, and which only tend to be numb
31:48
Speaker 1: and stupefy the soul, that it may neither be sensible
31:52
Speaker 1: of itself nor God. Blessed are they who follow on
31:56
Speaker 1: to know the Lord and steadily refuse all other comfort.
32:01
Speaker 1: They shall be comforted by the consolations of His Spirit,
32:05
Speaker 1: by a fresh manifestation of His love, by such a
32:08
Speaker 1: witness of His accepting them in the Beloved, as shall
32:12
Speaker 1: never more be taken away from them. This full assurance
32:15
Speaker 1: of faith swallows up all doubt, as well as all
32:19
Speaker 1: tormenting fear, God now giving them a sure hope of
32:22
Speaker 1: an enduring substance and strong consolation through grace. Without disputing
32:27
Speaker 1: whether it is possible for any of those to fall
32:29
Speaker 1: away who were once enlightened and made partakers of the
32:32
Speaker 1: Holy Ghost, it suffices them to say, by the power
32:36
Speaker 1: now resting upon them, who shall separate us from the
32:38
Speaker 1: love of Christ, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
32:42
Speaker 1: nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor
32:45
Speaker 1: depth shall be able to separate us from the love
32:47
Speaker 1: of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans
32:50
Speaker 1: eight thirty five through thirty nine. This whole process, both
32:55
Speaker 1: of mourning for an absent God and recovering the joy
32:58
Speaker 1: of his countenance, aims to be shadowed out in what
33:01
Speaker 1: our lords spoke to his apostles the night before his passion.
33:05
Speaker 1: Do ye inquire of that I said, a little while,
33:09
Speaker 1: and ye shall not see me, And again a little while,
33:11
Speaker 1: and ye shall see me verily. Verily I say unto
33:15
Speaker 1: you that ye shall weep and lament, namely when ye
33:19
Speaker 1: do not see me, but the world shall rejoice, shall
33:23
Speaker 1: triumph over you, as though your hope were not now
33:26
Speaker 1: come to an end. And ye shall be sorrowful through doubt,
33:31
Speaker 1: through fear, through temptation, through vehement desire. But your sorrow
33:35
Speaker 1: shall be turned into joy by the return of Him
33:37
Speaker 1: who your soul loveth. A woman, when she is in travail,
33:41
Speaker 1: hath sorrow because her hour is come. But as soon
33:45
Speaker 1: as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no
33:47
Speaker 1: more the anguish for the joy that a man is
33:49
Speaker 1: born into the world. And ye now have sorrow, ye
33:53
Speaker 1: mourn and cannot be comforted. But I will see you again,
33:56
Speaker 1: and your heart shall rejoice with calm inward joy and
34:00
Speaker 1: your joy no man taketh from you John sixteen, Verses
34:04
Speaker 1: nineteen through twenty two. But although this morning is at
34:07
Speaker 1: an end, is lost in holy joy by the return
34:12
Speaker 1: of the comforter, Yet there is another, and a blessed mourning.
34:14
Speaker 1: It is which abides in the children of God. They
34:18
Speaker 1: still mourn for the sins and miseries of mankind. They
34:21
Speaker 1: weep with them that weep. They weep for them that weep,
34:24
Speaker 1: not for themselves, for the sinners against their own souls.
34:27
Speaker 1: They mourn for the weakness and unfaithfulness of those that are,
34:30
Speaker 1: in some measure saved from their sins. Who is weak
34:34
Speaker 1: and they are not weak? Who is offended and they
34:36
Speaker 1: burn not? They are grieved for the dishonor continually done
34:40
Speaker 1: to the majesty of heaven and Earth. At all times
34:43
Speaker 1: they have an awful sense of this, which brings a
34:46
Speaker 1: deep seriousness upon their spirit, a seriousness which is not
34:49
Speaker 1: a little increased since the eyes of their understanding were
34:52
Speaker 1: opened by their continually seeing the vast ocean of eternity
34:55
Speaker 1: without a bottom or ashore, which has already swallowed up
34:59
Speaker 1: millions of millions of men, and is gaping to devour
35:02
Speaker 1: them that yet remain. They see here the House of
35:05
Speaker 1: God eternal in the heavens, there hell in destruction without
35:09
Speaker 1: a covering, and thence feel the importance of every moment
35:13
Speaker 1: which just appears and is gone forever. But all this
35:17
Speaker 1: wisdom of God is foolishness with the world. The whole
35:20
Speaker 1: affair of mourning and poverty of spirit is with them
35:23
Speaker 1: stupidity and dulness. Nay, it is well if they pass
35:27
Speaker 1: so favorable a judgment upon it, if they do not
35:30
Speaker 1: vote it to be mere moping and melancholy, if not
35:33
Speaker 1: downright lunacy and distraction. And it is no wonder at
35:37
Speaker 1: all that this judgment should be passed by those who
35:40
Speaker 1: know not God. Suppose, as two persons were walking together,
35:44
Speaker 1: one should suddenly stop and, with the strongest signs of
35:47
Speaker 1: fear and amazement, cry out, on what a precipice do
35:50
Speaker 1: we stand? See we are on the point of being
35:53
Speaker 1: dashed in pieces. Another step and we fall into that
35:56
Speaker 1: huge abyss. Stop. I will not go on for all
36:00
Speaker 1: the world. When the other, who seemed to himself at
36:04
Speaker 1: least equally sharp sighted looked forward and saw nothing of
36:07
Speaker 1: all this. What would he think of his companion, but
36:11
Speaker 1: that he was beside himself, that his head was out
36:14
Speaker 1: of order, That much religion, if he was not guilty
36:17
Speaker 1: of much learning, had certainly made him mad. But let
36:21
Speaker 1: not the children of God, the mourners in Scion, be
36:25
Speaker 1: moved by any of these things. Ye, whose eyes are enlightened,
36:30
Speaker 1: be not troubled by those who walk on still in darkness.
36:34
Speaker 1: You do not walk on in a vain shadow. God
36:37
Speaker 1: and Eternity are real things. Heaven and Hell are in
36:40
Speaker 1: very deed open before you, and ye are on the
36:44
Speaker 1: edge of that great gulf. It has already swallowed up
36:48
Speaker 1: more than words can express, nations and kindreds, and peoples
36:51
Speaker 1: and tongues, and still yawns to devour, whether they see
36:55
Speaker 1: it or know, the giddy, miserable children of men. Oh,
36:59
Speaker 1: cry aloud, spare not lift up your voice to him
37:03
Speaker 1: who grasps both time and eternity, both for yourselves and
37:07
Speaker 1: your brethren, that ye may be counted worthy to escape
37:10
Speaker 1: the destruction that cometh as a whirlwind, that ye may
37:14
Speaker 1: be brought safe through all the waves and storms, into
37:16
Speaker 1: the haven, where ye would be weep for yourselves till
37:21
Speaker 1: he wipes away the tears from your eyes, And even
37:24
Speaker 1: then weep for the miseries that come upon the earth,
37:27
Speaker 1: till the Lord of All shall put a period to
37:29
Speaker 1: misery and sin shall wipe away the tears from all faces.
37:34
Speaker 1: And the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth
37:37
Speaker 1: as the waters cover the sea. End of Section twenty
37:42
Speaker 1: one