Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 44 - The Scripture Way of Salvation - Sermons on Several Occasions

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44 - The Scripture Way of Salvation - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: The scripture way of salvation. Ye are saved through faith
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians two eight. Nothing can be more intricate, complex, and
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  Speaker 1: hard to be understood than religion as it has been
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  Speaker 1: often described. And this is not only true concerning the
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  Speaker 1: religion of the Heathens, even many of the wisest of them,
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  Speaker 1: but concerning the religion of those also who were in
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  Speaker 1: some sense Christians yea, and men of great name in
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  Speaker 1: the Christian world, men who seem to be pillars thereof.
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  Speaker 1: Yet how easy to be understood, how plain and simple
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  Speaker 1: a thing is the genuine religion of Jesus Christ, provided
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  Speaker 1: only that we take it in its native form, just
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  Speaker 1: as it is described in the Oracles of God. It
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  Speaker 1: is exactly suited by the wise creator and governor of
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  Speaker 1: the world to the weak understanding and narrow capacity of
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  Speaker 1: man in his presence state. How observable is this both
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  Speaker 1: with regard to the end it proposes and the means
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  Speaker 1: to attain that end. The end is, in one word, salvation.
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  Speaker 1: The means to attain it faith. It is easily discerned
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  Speaker 1: that these two little words, I mean, faith and salvation
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  Speaker 1: include the substance of all the Bible. The marril as
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  Speaker 1: it were of the whole scripture. So much the more
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  Speaker 1: should we take all possible care to avoid all mistake
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  Speaker 1: concerning them, and to form a true and accurate judgment
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  Speaker 1: concerning both the one and the other. Let us then
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  Speaker 1: seriously inquire what is salvation? What is that faith whereby
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  Speaker 1: we are saved? And how are we saved by it?
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  Speaker 1: And first let us inquire what is salvation? The salvation
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  Speaker 1: which is here spoken of is not what is frequently
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  Speaker 1: understood by that word, the going to heaven eternal happiness.
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  Speaker 1: It is not the soul's going to paradise termed by
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  Speaker 1: our Lord Abraham's bosom. It is not a blessing which
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  Speaker 1: lies on the other side death, or, as we usually speak,
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  Speaker 1: in the other world. The very words of the text
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  Speaker 1: itself puts this beyond all questions. Ye are saved. It
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  Speaker 1: is not something at a distance. It is a present thing,
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  Speaker 1: a blessing which, through the free mercy of God you
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  Speaker 1: are now in possession of. Nay, the words may be rendered,
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  Speaker 1: and that with equal propriety ye have been saved, so
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  Speaker 1: that the salvation which is here spoken of might be
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  Speaker 1: extended to the entire work of God from the first
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  Speaker 1: dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated
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  Speaker 1: in glory. If we take this in its utmost extent,
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  Speaker 1: it will include all that is wrought in the soul
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  Speaker 1: by what is frequently termed natural conscience, but more properly
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  Speaker 1: preventing grace, All the drawings of the Father, the desires
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  Speaker 1: after God, which, if we yield to them, increase more
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  Speaker 1: and more. All that light, wherewith the Son of God
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  Speaker 1: enlighteneth everyone that cometh into the world, showing every man
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  Speaker 1: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
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  Speaker 1: with his God. All the convictions which his Spirit, from
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  Speaker 1: time to time works in every child of man, although
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  Speaker 1: it is true the generality of men stifle them as
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  Speaker 1: soon as possible, and after a while forget or at
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  Speaker 1: least deny that they ever had them at all. But
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  Speaker 1: we are at present concerned only with that salvation which
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  Speaker 1: the Apostle is directly speaking of, and this consists of
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  Speaker 1: two general parts, justification and sanctification. Justification is another word
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  Speaker 1: for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins,
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  Speaker 1: and what is necessarily implied therein our acceptance with God,
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  Speaker 1: the price, whereby this hath been pro cured for us.
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  Speaker 1: Commonly termed the meratorious cause of our justification is the
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  Speaker 1: blood and righteousness of Christ, or, to express it a
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  Speaker 1: little more clearly, all that Christ hath done and suffered
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  Speaker 1: for us till he poured out his soul for the transgressors.
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  Speaker 1: The immediate effects of justification are the peace of God,
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  Speaker 1: a peace that passeth all understanding and rejoicing in hope
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  Speaker 1: of the glory of God, with joy unspeakable and full
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  Speaker 1: of glory. And at the same time that we are justified, yea,
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  Speaker 1: in that very moment, sanctification begins. In that instant we
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  Speaker 1: are born again, born from above, born of the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: There is a real as well as a relative change.
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  Speaker 1: We are inwardly renewed by the power of God. We
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  Speaker 1: feel the love of God shed abroad in our heart
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  Speaker 1: by the Holy Ghost, which is given on to us,
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  Speaker 1: producing love to all mankind and more especially to the
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  Speaker 1: children of God, expelling the love of the world, the
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  Speaker 1: love of pleasure, of ease, of honor, of money, together
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  Speaker 1: with pride, anger, self, will, and every other evil temper,
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  Speaker 1: in a word, changing the earthly, sensual, devilish mind into
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  Speaker 1: the mind which was in Christ. Jesus. How naturally do
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  Speaker 1: those who experience such a change imagine that all sin
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  Speaker 1: is gone, that it is utterly rooted out of their
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  Speaker 1: heart and has no more any place therein? How easily
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  Speaker 1: do they draw that inference? I feel no sin, therefore
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  Speaker 1: I have none. It does not stir, therefore it does
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  Speaker 1: not exist. It has no motion, therefore it has no being.
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  Speaker 1: But it is seldom long before they are undeceived, finding
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  Speaker 1: sin was only suspended, not destroyed. Temptations return, and sin revives,
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  Speaker 1: showing it was but stunned before, not dead. They now
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  Speaker 1: feel two principles in themselves, plainly contrary to each other,
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  Speaker 1: the flesh lusting against the spirit, nature opposing the grace
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  Speaker 1: of God. They cannot deny that, although they still feel
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  Speaker 1: power to believe in Christ and to love God, and
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  Speaker 1: although His Spirit still witnesses with their spirits that they
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  Speaker 1: are children of God, yet they feel in themselves sometimes
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  Speaker 1: pride or self will, sometimes anger, or unbelief. They find
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  Speaker 1: one or more of these, frequently stirring in their heart,
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  Speaker 1: though not conquering, yet perhaps thrusting sore at them, that
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  Speaker 1: they may fall, But the Lord is their help. How
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  Speaker 1: exactly did Macarius fourteen hundred years ago. Describe the present
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  Speaker 1: experience of the children of God. The unskillful or unexperienced.
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  Speaker 1: When grace operates presently, imagine they have no more sin,
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  Speaker 1: whereas they that have discretion cannot deny that even we
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  Speaker 1: who have the grace of God may be molested. For
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  Speaker 1: we have often had instances of some among the brethren
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  Speaker 1: who have experienced such grace as to affirm that they
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  Speaker 1: had no sin in them. And yet after all, when
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  Speaker 1: they thought themselves entirely freed from it, the corruption that
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  Speaker 1: lurked within was stirred up anew, and they were well
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  Speaker 1: nigh burned up. From the time of our being born again,
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  Speaker 1: the gradual work of sanctification takes place. We are enabled
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  Speaker 1: by the spirit to mortify the deeds of the body
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  Speaker 1: of our evil nature. And as we are more and
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  Speaker 1: more dead to sin, we are more and more alive
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  Speaker 1: to God. We so on from grace to grace, while
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  Speaker 1: we are careful to abstain from all appearance of evil,
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  Speaker 1: and are zealous of good works, as we have opportunity
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  Speaker 1: doing good to all men. While we walk in all
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  Speaker 1: His ordinances blameless, therein worshiping Him in spirit and in truth,
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  Speaker 1: while we take up our cross and deny ourselves every
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  Speaker 1: pleasure that does not lead us to God. It is
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  Speaker 1: thus that we wait for our entire sanctification, for a
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  Speaker 1: full salvation from our sins, from pride, self, will anger, unbelief, or,
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  Speaker 1: as the Apostle expresses it, go on to perfection. But
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  Speaker 1: what is perfection? The word has various senses. Here it
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  Speaker 1: means perfect love. It is love excluding sin, love feeling
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  Speaker 1: the heart, taking up the whole capacity of the soul.
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  Speaker 1: It is love rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, in everything,
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  Speaker 1: giving thanks. But what is faith through which we are saved?
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  Speaker 1: This is the second point to be considered. Faith in
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  Speaker 1: general is defined by the Apostle a pragmaton elecchaus ou blepomenum,
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  Speaker 1: an evidence, a divine evidence. In conviction, the word means
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  Speaker 1: both of things not seen, not visible, not perceivable, either
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  Speaker 1: by or by any other of the external senses. It
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  Speaker 1: implies both a supernatural evidence of God and of the
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  Speaker 1: things of God, a kind of spiritual light exhibited to
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  Speaker 1: the soul, and a supernatural sight or perception thereof. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: the scripture speaks of God's giving, sometimes light, sometimes a
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  Speaker 1: power of discerning it. So, Saint Paul, God who commanded
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  Speaker 1: light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
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  Speaker 1: hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And elsewhere. The same apostle speaks of the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: our understanding being opened by this twofold operation of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. Having the eyes of our soul both open
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  Speaker 1: and enlightened, we see the things which the natural eye
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  Speaker 1: hath not seen, neither the year heard. We have a
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  Speaker 1: prospect of the invisible things of God. We see the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual world, which is all around about us, and yet
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  Speaker 1: no more discerned by our natural faculty than if it
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  Speaker 1: had no being. And we see the eternal world piercing
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  Speaker 1: through the veil which hangs between time and eternity, clouds
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  Speaker 1: and darkness. Then rest upon it no more, but we
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  Speaker 1: already see the glory which shall be revealed. Taking the
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  Speaker 1: word in a more particular sense, faith is a divine
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  Speaker 1: evidence in conviction, not only that God was in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: reconciling the world unto himself, but also that Christ loved
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  Speaker 1: me and gave himself for me. It is by this
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  Speaker 1: faith whether we term it the essence, or rather a
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  Speaker 1: property thereof that we receive Christ, that we receive him
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  Speaker 1: in all his offices as our prophet, priest and king.
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  Speaker 1: It is by this that he is made of God
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  Speaker 1: unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. But
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  Speaker 1: is this the faith of assurance or faith of adherents?
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  Speaker 1: This scripture mentions no such distinction. The apostle says, there
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  Speaker 1: is one faith and one hope of our calling, one
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  Speaker 1: Christian saving faith, as there is one Lord in whom
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  Speaker 1: we believe, and one God and Father of us all.
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  Speaker 1: And it is certain this faith necessarily implies an assurance,
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  Speaker 1: which is here only another word for evidence, it being
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  Speaker 1: hard to tell the difference between them. That Christ loved
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  Speaker 1: me and gave himself for me. For he that believeth
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  Speaker 1: with the true living faith, hath the witness in himself,
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  Speaker 1: the spirit, witnesseth with his spirit that he is a
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  Speaker 1: child of God, because he is a son God, hath
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  Speaker 1: sent forth the spirit of his son into his heart,
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  Speaker 1: crying abba Father, giving him an assurance that he is
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  Speaker 1: soul and a childlike confidence in him. But let it
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  Speaker 1: be observed that in the very nature of the thing,
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  Speaker 1: the assurance goes before the confidence. For a man cannot
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  Speaker 1: have a childlike confidence in God till he knows he
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  Speaker 1: is a child of God. Therefore, confidence, trust, reliance, adherents,
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  Speaker 1: or whatever else it be called, is not the first,
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  Speaker 1: as some have supposed, but the second branch or act
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  Speaker 1: of faith. It is by this faith we are saved, justified,
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  Speaker 1: and sanctified, taking that word in its highest sense. But
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  Speaker 1: how are we justified and sanctified by faith? This is
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  Speaker 1: our third head of inquiry. And this being the main
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  Speaker 1: point in question, and a point of no ordinary importance,
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  Speaker 1: it will not be improper to give it a more
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  Speaker 1: distinct and particular consideration. And first, how are we justified
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  Speaker 1: by faith? In what sense is this to be understood?
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  Speaker 1: I answer? Faith is the condition and the only condition
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  Speaker 1: of justification. It is the condition. None is justified but
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  Speaker 1: he that believes. Without faith, no man is justified, and
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  Speaker 1: it is the only condition. This alone is sufficient for justification.
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  Speaker 1: Every One that believes is justified, whatever else he has
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  Speaker 1: or has not. In other words, no man is justified
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  Speaker 1: till he believes. Every man, when he believes, is justified.
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  Speaker 1: But does not God command us to repent? Also yea,
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  Speaker 1: and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, to cease,
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  Speaker 1: for instance, from doing evil and learn to do well.
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  Speaker 1: And is not both the one and the other of
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  Speaker 1: the utmost necessity, insomuch that if we willingly neglect either,
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  Speaker 1: we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all. But
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  Speaker 1: if this be so, how can it be said that
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  Speaker 1: faith is the only condition of justification. God does undoubtedly
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  Speaker 1: command us both to repent and to bring forth fruits
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  Speaker 1: meet for repentance, which if we willingly neglect, we cannot
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  Speaker 1: reasonably expect to be justified at all. Therefore, both repentance
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  Speaker 1: and fruits meet for repentance are in some sense sense
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  Speaker 1: necessary to justification. But they are not necessary in the
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  Speaker 1: same sense with faith, nor in the same degree, not
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  Speaker 1: in the same degree. For those fruits are only necessary
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  Speaker 1: conditionally if there be time and opportunity for them. Otherwise
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  Speaker 1: a man may be justified without them, as was the
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  Speaker 1: thief upon the cross, if we may call him so.
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  Speaker 1: For a late writer has discovered that he was no thief,
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  Speaker 1: but a very honest and respectable person. But he cannot
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  Speaker 1: be justified without faith. This is impossible. Likewise, let a
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  Speaker 1: man have ever so much repentance or ever, so many
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  Speaker 1: of the fruits meet for repentance. Yet all this does
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  Speaker 1: not at all avail. He is not justified till he believes,
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  Speaker 1: but the moment he believes, with or without those fruits, yea,
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  Speaker 1: with more or less repentance, he is justified. Not in
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  Speaker 1: the same sense. For repentance and its fruits are only
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  Speaker 1: remotely necessary necessary in order to faith. Whereas faith is
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  Speaker 1: immediately necessary to justification. It remains that faith is the
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  Speaker 1: only condition which is immediately and approximately necessary to justification.
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  Speaker 1: But do you believe we are sanctified by faith? We
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  Speaker 1: know you believe that we are justified by faith, But
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  Speaker 1: do not you believe and accordingly teach that we are
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  Speaker 1: sanctified by our works? So it has been roundly and
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  Speaker 1: vehemently affirmed that these five and twenty years. But I
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  Speaker 1: have constantly declared just the contrary, and that in all
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  Speaker 1: manner of ways, I have continually testified, in private and
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  Speaker 1: in public, that we are sanctified as well as justified
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  Speaker 1: by faith. And indeed that one of those great truths
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  Speaker 1: does exceedingly illustrate the other. Exactly as we are justified
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  Speaker 1: by faith, so we are sanctified by faith. Faith is
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  Speaker 1: the condition and the only condition of sanctification, exactly as
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  Speaker 1: it is of justification. It is the condition. None is sanctified,
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  Speaker 1: but he that believes. Without faith, no man is sanctified,
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  Speaker 1: And it is the only condition. This alone is sufficient
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  Speaker 1: for sanctification. Every One that believes is sanctified, whatever else
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  Speaker 1: he has or has not. In other words, no man
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  Speaker 1: is sanctified till he believes. Every man, when he believes,
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  Speaker 1: is sanctified. But is there not a repentance consequent upon,
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  Speaker 1: as well as a repentance previous to justification. And is
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  Speaker 1: it not incumbent on all that are justified to be
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  Speaker 1: zealous of good works? Yea? Are not these so necessary
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  Speaker 1: that if a man willingly neglect him, he cannot reasonably
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  Speaker 1: expect that he shall ever be sanctified in the full
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  Speaker 1: sense that is perfected in love? Nay, can he grow
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  Speaker 1: at all in grace in the loving knowledge of our
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ? Yea? Can he retain the grace which
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  Speaker 1: God has already given him? Can he continue in the
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  Speaker 1: faith which he has received? Or in the favor of God?
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  Speaker 1: Do not you yourself allow all this and continually assert it?
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  Speaker 1: But if this be so, how can it be said
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  Speaker 1: that faith is the only condition of sanctification. I do
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  Speaker 1: allow all this and continually maintain it as the truth
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  Speaker 1: of God. I allow there is a repentance consequent upon
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  Speaker 1: as well as a repentance previous two justification. It is
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  Speaker 1: incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of
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  Speaker 1: good works. And they are so necessary that if a
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  Speaker 1: man willingly neglect them, he cannot reasonably expect that he
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  Speaker 1: shall ever be sanctified. He cannot grow in grace in
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  Speaker 1: the image of God, the mind which was in Christ Jesus. Nay,
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  Speaker 1: he cannot retain the grace he has received. He cannot
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  Speaker 1: continue in faith or in the favor of God. What
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  Speaker 1: is the inference we must draw here from? Why that
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  Speaker 1: both repentance rightly understood, and the practice of all good
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  Speaker 1: works works of piety, as well as works of mercy,
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  Speaker 1: now properly so called, since they spring from faith, are
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  Speaker 1: in some sense necessary to sanctification. I say repentance rightly understood,
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  Speaker 1: for this must not be confounded with the former repentance.
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  Speaker 1: The repentance consequent upon justification is widely different from that
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  Speaker 1: which is anticidant to it. This implies no guilt, no
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  Speaker 1: sense of condemnation, no consciousness of the wrath of God.
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  Speaker 1: It does not suppose any doubt of the favor of God,
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  Speaker 1: or any fear that hath torment. It is properly a
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  Speaker 1: conviction brought by the Holy Ghost of the sin which
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  Speaker 1: still remains in our heart, of the Phronima sarcos, the
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  Speaker 1: carnal mind, which does still remain as our Church, speaks
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  Speaker 1: even in them that are regenerate, although it does no
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  Speaker 1: longer reign, it has not now dominion over them. It
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  Speaker 1: is a conviction of our proneness to evil, of an
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  Speaker 1: heart bent to backsliding, of the still continuing tendency of
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  Speaker 1: the flesh to lust against the spirit. Unless we continually
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  Speaker 1: watch and pray, it lusteth to pride, sometimes to anger,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes to love of the world, love of ease, love
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  Speaker 1: of honor, or love of pleasure, more than of God.
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  Speaker 1: It is a conviction of the tendency of our heart
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  Speaker 1: to self will, to atheism or idolatry, and above all
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  Speaker 1: to unbelief, whereby, in a thousand ways and under a
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  Speaker 1: thousand pretenses, we are ever departing more or less from
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  Speaker 1: the Living God. With this conviction of the sin remaining
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  Speaker 1: in our hearts. There is joined a clear conviction of
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  Speaker 1: the sin remaining in our lives, still cleaving to all
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  Speaker 1: our words and actions. In the best of these, we
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  Speaker 1: now discern a mixture of evil, either in the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: the matter, or the manner of them, something that could
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  Speaker 1: not endure the righteous judgment of God. Where he extremed
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  Speaker 1: to mark what is done amiss, where we least suspected it,
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  Speaker 1: we find a taint of pride or self will, of
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  Speaker 1: unbelief or idolatry, so that we are now more ashamed
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  Speaker 1: of our best duties than formerly of our worst sins.
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  Speaker 1: And hence we cannot but feel that these are so
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  Speaker 1: far from having anything meritorious in them, yea, so far
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  Speaker 1: from being able to stand in the sight of the
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  Speaker 1: divine justice, that for those also we should be guilty
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  Speaker 1: before God, were it not for the blood of the Covenant.
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  Speaker 1: Experience shows that, together with this conviction of sin remaining
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  Speaker 1: in our hearts and cleaving to all our words and actions,
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  Speaker 1: as well as the guilt which on account thereof we
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  Speaker 1: should incur were we not continually sprinkled with the atoning blood,
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  Speaker 1: one thing more is implied in this repentance, namely a
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  Speaker 1: conviction of our helplessness, of our utter inability to think
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  Speaker 1: one good thought or to form one good desire, and
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  Speaker 1: much more, to speak one word, to write, or to
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  Speaker 1: perform one good action. But through His free, almighty grace,
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  Speaker 1: first preventing us and then accompanying us every moment. But
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  Speaker 1: what good works are those the practice of which you
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  Speaker 1: affirm to be necessary to sanctification. First all works of piety,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: such as public prayer, family prayer, and praying in our closet,
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  Speaker 1: receiving the supper of the Lord, searching the scriptures by hearing, reading, meditating,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: and using such a measure of fasting or abstinence as
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: our bodily health allows. Secondly, all works of mercy, whether
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: they relate to the bodies or souls of men, such
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, entertaining the stranger,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: visiting those that are in prison or sick or variously afflicted,
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  Speaker 1: such as the Endeavoring to instruct the ignorant, to awaken
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the stupid sinner, to quicken the lukewarm, to confirm the wavering,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to comfort the feeble minded, to succor the tempted, or
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: contribute in any manner to the saving of souls from death.
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  Speaker 1: This is the repentance, and these the fruits eat for repentance,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: which are necessary to full sanctification. This is the way
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: wherein God hath appointed his children to wait for complete salvation.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Hence may appear the extreme mischievousness of that seemingly innocent
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: opinion that there is no sin in a believer, that
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: all sin is destroyed root and branch. The moment a
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: man is justified. By totally preventing that repentance, it quite
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: blocks up the way to sanctification. There is no place
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: for repentance in him who believes there is no sin,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: either in his life or heart. Consequently, there is no
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: place for his being perfected in love, to which that
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: repentance is indispensably necessary. Hence, it may likewise appear that
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  Speaker 1: there is no possible danger in thus expecting full salvation.
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  Speaker 1: For suppose we were mistaken, Suppose no such blessing ever
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: was or can be attained, Yet we lose nothing. Nay,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: that very expectation quickens us in using all the teal
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: us which God has given us, yea, in improving them all,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: so that when our Lord cometh, he will receive his
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: own with increase but to return. Though it be allowed
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: that both this repentance and its fruits are necessary to
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: full salvation, yet they are not necessary, either in the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: same sense with faith, or in the same degree. Not
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: in the same degree. For these fruits are only necessary
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: conditionally if there be time and opportunity for them. Otherwise
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: a man may be sanctified without them, but he cannot
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: be sanctified without faith. Likewise, let a man have ever
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: so much of this repentance, or ever so many good works,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Yet all this does not at all avail. He is
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: not sanctified till he believes. But the moment he believes,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: with or without those fruits, yea, with more or less
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: of this repentance, he is sanctified, not in the same sense.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: For this repentance and these fruits are only remotely necessary,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: necessary in order to the continuance of his faith, as
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: well as the increase of it. Whereas faith is immediately
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and directly necessary to sanctification, it remains that faith is
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the only condition which is immediately and proximately necessary to sanctification.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: But what is that faith? Whereby we are sanctified save
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: from sin and perfected in love. It is a divine
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: evidence in conviction. First, that God hath promised it in
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the Holy Scripture. Till we are thoroughly satisfied of this,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: there is no moving one step further, And one would
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: imagine there needed not one word more to satisfy a
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: reasonable man of this than the ancient promise. Then will
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: How clearly does this express the being perfected in love?
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: How strongly imply the being saved from all sin? For
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: as long as love takes up the whole heart, what
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: room is there for sin? Therein it is a divine
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: evidence in conviction. Secondly, that what God hath promised he
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: is able to perform. Admitting therefore that with men it
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: is impossible to bring a clean thing out of an unclean,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to purify the heart from all sin, and to till
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: it with all holiness, yet this creates no difficulty in
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the case, seeing with God all things are possible. And
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: surely no one ever imagine it was possible to any
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: power less than that of the Almighty. But if God speaks,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: it shall be done, God saith, let there be light,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and there is light. It is thirdly a divine evidence
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: and conviction that He is able and willing to do
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: it now, and why not is not a moment to
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: him the same as a thousand years. He cannot want
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: more time to accomplish whatever it is his will, and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: he cannot want or stay for any more worthiness or
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: fitness in the persons he is pleased to honor. We
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: may therefore boldly say, at any point of time, now
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: is the day of salvation. Today, if you will hear
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: his voice, harden not your hearts. Behold, all things are
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: now ready. Come on to the marriage to this confidence
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that God is both able and willing to sanctify us.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Now there needs to be added one thing more, a
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: divine evidence and conviction that He do with it in
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: that hour. It is done. God says to the inmost soul,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: according to thy faith, be it unto thee. Then the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: soul is pure from every spot of sin. It is
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: clean from all unrighteousness. The believer then experiences the deep
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: meaning of those solemn words. If we walk in the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: son clensest Us from all sin. But does God work
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: this great work in the soul gradually or instantaneously? Perhaps
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: it may be gradually wrought in some I mean in
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: this sense, they do not advert to the particular moment
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: wherein sin ceases to be. But it is infinitely desirable,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: were it the will of God that it should be
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: done instantaneously, that the Lord should destroy sin by the
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: breath of his mouth in a moment, in the twinkling
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: of an eye. And so he generally does, a plain
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: fact of which there is evidence enough to satisfy any
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: unprejudiced person. Thou therefore, look for it every moment, look
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: for it in the way above described, and all those
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: good works whereunto thou art created a you in Christ Jesus.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: There in then no danger. You can be no worse
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: if you are no better for that expectation. For were
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: you to be disappointed of your hope, still you lose nothing.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: But you shall not be disappointed of your hope. It
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: will come and will not tarry. Look for it then,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: every day, every hour, every moment, why not this hour,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: this moment. Certainly you may look for it now if
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: you believe it is by faith, and by this token
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: you may surely know whether you seek it by faith
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: or by works. If by works you want something to
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: be done first before you are sanctified, you think I
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: must first be or do thus or thus, then you
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: are seeking it by works onto this day. If you
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: seek it by faith, you may expect it as you are,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: and expect it now. It is of importance to observe
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: that there is an inseparable connection between these three points,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: expected by faith, expected as you are, and expect it now.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: To deny one of them is to deny them all.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: To allow one is to allow them all. Do you
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: believe we are sanctified by faith? Be true then to
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: your principle, and look for this blessing just as you are,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: neither better nor worse as a poor sinner that has
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: still nothing to pay, nothing to plead. But Christ died.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: And if you look for it as you are, then
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: expect it. Now stay for nothing? Why should you? Christ
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: is ready, and he is all you want. He is
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: waiting for you. He is at the door. Let your
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: inmost soul cry out, come in come in thou heavenly guest,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Nor hence again remove, but sup with me, and let
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the feast be everlasting love. End of Section forty four