“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jer. 31:3)

Intro.
What is Love?
After having explained, and I hope faithfully how believers are effectually drawn by Christ into His kingdom by His own will, (even when ours were quite contrary to it) by His grace and truth, I hope now to explain the nature and effect of God’s love, which is indeed one of the deepest and sweetest mysteries of religion and is the subject of not a little controversy. But before we see how God draws us by His love, which is by no means separate from His grace and truth, we ought to seek to know a little more about love itself, what it is, how it is defined in scripture, and discourse on some of its principle motions and actings, and by this holy exercise learn a little more about its nature, being purified by it, and conformed thereby into the image of God. For what is all the world compared to love? The Song of Solomon says, “If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would utterly be despised.” (Song. 8:7)
Love is the preeminent and principal moral virtue from which all other graces flow, thrive, and flourish. Love is the bond of perfection, the crowing grace of the Spirit, the jewel of the affections, the fulfillment of the law, the helmet against pride, the armor against hypocrisy, the shield against envy, the sword against iniquity, the defender of chastity, the sanctifier of knowledge, the proof of faith, the source of good works, the strength of patience, the companion of kindness, the comfort of the soul, and the end of all our hope. There is nothing more rare and valuable in this present age than true Biblical love. It is the first and great commandment of the law to love God, and the second to love our neighbor, and if we are to do so, and imitate God in this as Paul says, [Eph. 5:1-2] it is necessary to know and understand what love is, and distinguish it from false loves, and counterfeit loves which are prevalent both in the world and in the church. Love works and operates alongside faith, and is inseparable from truth, and is always in perfect agreement with Holy Scripture. Love is not the opposite of hate, but necessitates hate of what is opposite to love. The opposite of love therefore (as it is attributed to God- a holy virtue essential to His divine excellency, and superlative moral beauty), is to love anything besides what is worthy to be loved which is God only. To set our affections upon the things of the world and pursue worldliness is the antithesis of spiritual love. Love therefore as the world knows it is the opposite of love as the Bible teaches it. Therefore we must see that the devil, the enemy of the truth is not out to oppose the truth by direct opposition. He does not teach men to hate the truth by putting it in their minds to teach, “we ought to hate the truth” but by subtle corruptions and perversions of the truth, by denying the antithesis, and teaching men to love that which they ought not to love, and remain in their sinful, natural, carnal understanding of love.
Therefore it is more consistent with the devil’s strategy to say things like, “God loves all men”, “love for the world is not inconsistent with love to God.”, “as long as you love Jesus God will forgive all your sins” and many other such perversions of the truth of love.
But we know that God loves Himself, and that He loves holiness, and therefore does not love the wicked of the world whom He hath reserved for wrath. We know that love for the world cannot be reconciled with love for God, yea is contrary to it. We know that God forgiveth only the humble and those who are truly repentant for their sins, and don’t vainly imagine that God accepts man’s best efforts, or his false belief in a false Jesus.
God’s love is not contradictory nor inconsistent with His law. Yea His law is the rule of love, and apart from the law of God we cannot understand the nature of God’s love.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And 1 John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” We see then that God’s love for the world cannot in any sense pertain to the sin in the world to which all people are enslaved, nor the sinners which are enslaved by the devil, but rather that God loved His people who were in the world, from all ages, and all nations, and He loved them so that He gave them His only Son that they might be saved, repent and believe in Him for righteousness and conform to His law. God’s love is a holy love; a distinguishing and separating love. Those who remain in sin, and perish in iniquity and lawlessness cannot be said in any fashion to be loved by God.
John Calvin said, “God loves no man out of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 13:8 likewise says “Love never fails.” If God should love all the people in the world, and yet people sin, and die, and are punished by Him for eternity, it must be said that love fails, and fails more than it succeeds. This is to make God’s words to fail that man’s works might be established in its place. The belief that God loves all men, or even one sinner inconsistently is the essence of all false religion. This is not the love of God, nor is this kind of universal love taught in any portion of Holy Scripture. Therefore, we are going to observe some of the distinguishing marks of the love of God in order to better guard our minds against the spurious, fallacious and lawless definitions of love being propagated by the wicked in the world and the professors of religion alike.

1. The Principle of Love.
Here we are set to discuss the origin of love which is and must be God Himself. As God is the first cause, and the supreme good, and love is in scripture objectively considered a moral excellency, so we must understand that love comes from God, yea that God is love, and apart from God there is no love. Therefore love itself has no beginning, but is eternal with and in God. It can never be said therefore that God loves us because we did anything, or are anything. This would make our own acts or deeds superior to love, and to God Himself. This is blasphemy of the highest order. Love is not speculative but fixed. As it proceeds from eternity, and has no beginning, so it will last for eternity and have no end. Love does not wax and wane over time and grow either dull or hot over the length of ages, but is as fixed as God’s eternity, and always as vehement at one moment, as it is in the next, and will be forever. Therefore seeing that we are changeable creatures, and subject to mutability, frailty, weakness, foolishness, vanity, sin, iniquity, and all kinds of error, it could never be said that God loved us for any other reason than His own purpose and will. God loves His church and people because God freely willed to love us. God’s love is inseparable with His eternal decrees and from His eternal mind, nature and essence. Therefore, God’s love is set on no one, but whom He has a mind to be favorable towards for no other sake than His own, and for no other end but His own glory. Love itself comes from God. God is love, and nothing that we can possibly understand about love can be understood apart from God. Therefore when it is said that God hates the wicked, we must understand that this is not antithetical to love, but inseparable from it. God’s love is not ignorant of its object. He does not hate the wicked without a perfect knowledge of their frame towards Him, and He does not punish them without a righteous indignation of their sin against Him. He must hate them because they hate Him, and in hating Him they hate love itself for God is love. Therefore it is said in the scriptures, “men loved darkness rather than light.” Therefore if God is love, He cannot be God without hating the wicked. We see then that His hatred of the wicked, and His wrath and fury poured out upon them is a manifestation of His love to His people whom He has chosen and set His love upon, as we see in the Ark and Passover record, in drowning Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea, in the siege of Jericho and in the promise of the second coming of Christ, wherein He will receive His people to Himself and consume all the wicked of the world. God who is infinite in wisdom and knowledge alone knows the incomprehensible depths of love. God Himself alone is worthy of love. If God’s love is placed upon an object, the reason cannot be for anything else than God’s own purpose which is made in perfect love. He loves us for love’s sake. He loves us in Christ who is the express image of God’s love. God loves His image and shows His love by sending His Son to redeem us and implant His image upon us. God’s love is not uncertain of circumstance, or finality, and therefore it is in this way His love infinitely exceeds our greatest apprehensions. God’s love is eternal. He loved us before we were created, after we sinned, and will continue to love us for eternity. “Yea I have loved you with an everlasting love.” [Jer. 31:3] “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” [John 13:1] Love therefore has its origin in eternity, and how then can it respect our deeds or works, or even our faith? God’s love does not respect these, but produces them. God loved before we existed. Therefore, all those in the world upon whom He has set His eternal love upon, He will love to the end and will never cease to love them. He will make all things in the world come about for their creation, redemption, sanctification and glorification. As He made the wicked to be hated, He made us to be loved. [see Rom. 9:22-23] He does not merely think about saving us, but has a mind fully set and intent on saving us, and has been intent on this plan for eternity, and assuredly everything God sets His mind to do, and says that he will perform, He will do it. He will not allow one of His words to fall to the ground. We see in our own days it is more common than anything that men allow their words to fail, being carnal, speaking of love, saying they love, and being full of iniquity, hateful and hating one another, making and breaking wedding vows, and all sorts of demonstrations that man being mortal and sinful breaks his word and does not love in truth, but only in word. But we are confident and know that God will perform His word. God does not love in word, but in deed and in truth, as He says by Jeremiah, “I have loved thee, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” and again, “Being confident… that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.” [Phil. 1:6] He formed us, reformed us, and has promised to perfect us, and will He not accomplish His own mind seeing He is Almighty? He is purposed to do it, and He will do it.

2. The Power of Love.
Love is not blind emotion, but willing volition. There is not merely intention, but execution of love. God’s love is not only infinite as to extent in time, which is eternity, but also in the lengths He will go to perform it, accomplish it, finish it, demonstrate it, prove it to us and bring it into fruition. The Holy Spirit willing to show to us how infinitely great Christ is, and how unfathomably far His love goes says in Rom. 5:8, “God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God is not only purposed in mind to love us, but actively does with immense and unspeakable power that which is required to make our end perfect. As His plan from eternity was eternity in glory with His Beloved people, so He has ordered and decreed all things to come to pass for this blessed end. Man’s fall separated him from God, and man became dead, blind, dumb, lame, and utterly unable to do anything pleasing to God. He was a slave to God’s arch-enemy Satan and became willingly bound to him. Man’s state in sin is as bad as bad can be described. If he is not wholly lawless, he is wholly self-righteous. What could be more blasphemous than to affirm that man can save his own soul by his own works, his own faith, or that God saves him because of his faith and works?? This is the extent of man’s depravity, that he denies his depravity, and insults the love and power of the creator. The Westminster says of man’s original sin, “From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.” This fallen world is the stage on which God demonstrates His infinite, eternal, powerful, victorious, and conquering love.
This will be the main subject of this discourse: the demonstration of God’s infinite love, and our response to Him on account of His love for us. There is no trouble so great that the love of God cannot overcome, no pit so deep that He cannot pull us out of, no death so painful, but He will destroy death itself, and turn it into the day of great delight, and everlasting life! Herein is love: that we were dead in sin, wholly defiled by sin, having every part of us darkened in sin, ignorant of God, hateful to God, and hating God, doing those things which God hates, and delighting in it, and despising even the thought of being saved from this, or being saved by Him. Here is the extent of man’s depravity, that he would rather venture eternal damnation than be saved by the love of God. What object could be more worthy of hatred than man? Is the devil worthy of more hatred? Satan only has power enough to hate and trample God’s laws, and in this man imitates him! He does not differ in this from Satan Himself! Hating God, despising His laws, blaspheming His name, and profaning His ordinances: this is all the devil can do and we do as much. Such is the natural condition of our hearts.
Salvation therefore is not something to take for granted, but to wonder and continually be amazed at! God’s love is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice in order that our end might be blessed with Him. God’s love does not only think, but acts in full majesty and power. The great scheme of redemption therefore can be called the manifestation of God’s love: As John says in 1 John 4:8-9, ”God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” God’s love for us is the overcoming and defeating of all His and our enemies. The last enemy that will be defeated is death. By His life he fulfilled the law, by His death he destroyed him that had the power of death, and by His resurrection He opened the fountain of life that all who should believe in Him would be given everlasting life. He underwent the cruelest torments for the most unworthy people.
God’s love is the propitiation of wrath, the forgiveness of sins, the covering of infirmities, the bestowing of grace, the purchasing of heaven, the adoption of sons, the sanctification of the church, and the promise of glory with Him forever. There is nothing within our salvation that we have the power, will, or even a mind to do and nothing left out of our salvation that God does not accomplish Himself by His awesome power. God has a mind to do it, and He will accomplish it fully. The word has gone out of His mouth, and who shall prevent Him from doing His own will? “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”
(Dan. 4:35) Even if the mountains themselves need to be removed and cast into the sea, if a nation needs to be plagued with darkness, and death, if the sea needs to be ripped asunder, and parted in two, if a people need to be fed in the wilderness, if a wall must come crashing down without force of arms, if a nation needs to be utterly destroyed, if kings must be raised, if prophets must be sent, if His own people must be thrown into captivity, if God Himself must become man, and be born of a woman, if He must live according to all the righteous requirements of the law, and suffer the agony of death itself and the weight of God’s fierce wrath, then He will certainly do it for His people for love’s sake. He did it because all of it was necessary! So powerful is the love of God that He will bring down cities, destroy empires, overturn governments, command the course of history to bring His people into the knowledge of the truth of His love so that they may be firmly settled and established in it for eternity. Every minute detail of history is working together for the salvation of God’s chosen people.
3. The purpose of love.
God’s love is singular and distinguishing. It is a holy love.
Love is not affection for iniquity, but delight in truth.
“The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.
For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.” (Ps. 11:5-7)
““Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” (Heb. 1:8-9)
“Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.” (1 Cor. 13:6)
If God is said to love righteousness, then by necessity He must also hate wickedness, and also hate the wicked who are wholly enslaved to it. This is where all the controversy and debate on this topic stems from. The lie, (which is the world’s view) is that every man no matter how wicked has something in him worth loving, therefore God loves him. The Biblical view is that no man no matter what he does or thinks of himself has anything in him worth loving therefore God hates him, and he is under God’s wrath and curse. He is wholly given to the devil in mind, deed, and affection. His life is an imitation of the devil, and his whole soul is in service to him. Therefore while we were yet children of wrath it may have been properly and rightly said that we were hated by God. Although His love was set upon us from eternity, it was not displayed or manifested until we repented from sin, and cast ourselves upon His mercy. Then after we have repented may it be said we are the children of God, and not before. It is more accurate to tell the elect while he is in a state of sin that he is hated by God (for he is by nature hateful to God), than tell any reprobate that he is loved by Him (this is antithetical to the truth). The elect sinner will tremble and repent at these words, and turn to God rather than despair inasmuch as the gospel was faithfully preached to him. Those who are loved therefore have been loved from eternity and are loved only so much as they are elected in Christ. As previously mentioned, the love of God is inseparable from His infinite, eternal, and immutable Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth. God does not love ignorantly, and ineffectually. God’s love does not try, and fail. He does not attempt, and simply hope to succeed, but He knows all things. God’s love for holiness necessitates the infinite and eternal hatred and the punishment of all sin and iniquity. All men are born in sin and iniquity. Therefore if any man is to be a proper object of God’s love, his sin and iniquity must be removed. This is an indescribable act of God’s immense love, that He should remove our sin, and make us worthy of love by His own love! As Bernard says, “We are in the heart of God, not by our own dignity, but by His dignifying.” Therefore it is properly said that God loves no man out of Christ. Christ is righteousness, and God’s love for His people is communicated to them solely in Christ who clothes them with His own righteousness. If we are ever to understand the love of God, we must begin with the fear of God, and understand that God loves righteousness, and that we are by nature, and of our own strength wholly destitute of righteousness, and wholly given to wickedness. Moreover the purpose of God’s love is to redeem for Himself a people who will love Him in return, and keep His laws of righteousness which He delights in. God delights in nothing so much as obedience to His righteous laws, which are a mirror of His righteous character, and were fulfilled and perfectly adhered to by His righteous Son. We ought never to forget the words the Father spoke to the Son saying, “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” [Matt. 3:17] We must understand that in accomplishing our salvation by love, the purpose is to make us holy and blameless before Him in love. [Eph. 1:4] And walk according to those good works, which God has prepared beforehand. [Eph. 2:10] These good works Paul is speaking of is the path we follow when we obey God and keep His commandments, which are an inseparable part of God’s holy love. God saved us in order that we might obey Him.

Doctrine.
Christ Draws His Beloved to Himself by Love.
God’s love is manifested in the life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the manner by which He draws us into communion with Himself- by showing us His love in Christ, revealing it to us in scripture, making us to understand it, and causing us to love Him in return. There can be no love outside of Jesus Christ, who is the Beloved Son of the Father and through whom all love is communicated.
Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
Seeing that God has loved His people from eternity, He will in time draw, and gather His people to Himself. He is willing to be gracious to them, to reveal the truth to them, and to show His love for them. His love is greater than anything we can imagine, and we ought to glorify Him by thinking upon, remembering, and adoring Him for His great love.
1. By His Life of Obedience.
We ought first to look at how Christ draws us to Himself by His life of perfect obedience.
Jesus said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30), and again, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) Christ not only draws us to Himself by overtures of love, but lived His whole life for the purpose of love for His people. His people were in a state of sin and darkness, enslaved and captive to the devil’s will. We were rebels and wholly disobedient to the Father’s will. But Christ came to set us free, and to fulfill that which we could never accomplish- even perfect obedience. There was no command so great, and no law so broad, but Christ did all, and did all in perfect love both for His Father and for His church. Romans 8:3-4 says, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Here Paul is saying that in order for us to be delivered from wrath and drawn to the Son we must have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us. This was only possible by Christ’s perfect obedience, and if Christ had not offered His life of perfect obedience, and His most righteous soul as the sacrifice, we could never have been delivered from the clutches of the devil, and were subject to eternal damnation. Paul says the same thing in Hebrew 10:8-10 saying,  “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  All the Old Testament sacrifices were weak shadows compared to Christ’s own obedience which was not after carnal ordinances, but after the power of an endless life. Christ not only fulfilled the whole of the moral law, but offered Himself a sacrifice for His people to fulfill the ceremonial law also. Christ offered up His obedience to the Father which was superlatively pleasing to God. So pleased with Christ was the Father that His obedience nullified our disobedience inasmuch as He was purposed to intercede for us, and mention us to the Father. Our sins in Christ are now cancelled out, and He remembers them no more. When a believer sins therefore, he is chastised by God, and moved to repent of it that it might not destroy him. God does not revenge our sins upon us, but disciplines us that we might be more holy, and more like His perfectly obedient Son. It is the rod of a loving parent, not the whip of an angry master. The Father elected us, the Son came to fulfill the law of obedience for us, and all whom God the Father gave the Son, He mentioned by name to the Father so that our disobedience which was beyond moderation, and impetuously bursting forth daily with new vice and iniquity might be forgotten, and God might think only upon the obedience of the Son. If Christ had not obeyed, we could never hope to obey. We would remain in bondage to sin, and slaves to the devil’s will. Therefore we see with what great love Christ has for us, and how He draws us to Himself by His moral perfection. What object can compare with Christ or what love like His love? The apostle Paul said He counts all as dung that He may win Christ. He says he counts all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Those therefore who know Him, and are drawn by Him, love Him above all else, are made to see His superlative loveliness, and enjoy communion with Him by the Spirit. He came to do His Father’s will, and to both give us hope by His oblation, and an example by His obedience. Christ humbled Himself to the point of death, and submitted to the Father’s will that we might be drawn to Him, and to His kingdom. It is most certainly a conquest, but to us who are effectually drawn it is a most pleasant conquest, and we are sweetly captivated by His love, and can do no other than fall before His mercy and weep for joy, and love, repenting from our patterns of disobedience, and endeavoring to do the Father’s will for His sake even as Christ did for us.
2. By His sacrifice.
We also ought to see that Christ draws us to Himself by His sacrifice, and propitiating the wrath of God. Not only were we wholly rebellious and contrary to the law of God, which law Christ fulfilled on our behalf, but we were guilty, and liable to all the punishments that came with our sinfulness. We are by nature sinners in the hands of an angry God, and deserve only His indignation, and wrath. We are miserable wretched sinners who deserve no mercy. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) We all fall short of perfection, which is in God’s eyes horrible misery, and death. God hates sin with a more intense and extraordinary hatred than anything we could ever hate or conceive of hating. One sin deserves an infinite, and eternal punishment due to the infinite and eternal majesty which it offends. God is justly, and righteously angry with the wicked on account of their sin, and will always act according to His righteous and immutable justice. This means that unless this justice is satisfied, we must perish eternally under the weight of wrath on account of our sinful nature, and on account of our sins. In order for us to be delivered from this great and terrible wrath Christ the Son had to be made like a man, born of a woman, and born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. [Gal. 4:4-6] Being by nature directly and wholly contrary to the law, and having done all those things which displease God, and none of those things which please Him, we were made subject to the law’s curse. As it is written, “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Gal. 3:10) If we are to enter into God’s presence, it must be in spotless obedience, which obedience is contrary to our natures, and which obedience Christ came to accomplish on our behalf. Therefore not only did Christ fulfill the law as pertaining to the moral commands, but also according to the sacrifices which all were set before Israel to reveal to them their sin, and their dire need for propitiation.
How precious then is the blood of Christ that it should be poured out for poor and wretched sinners!? Christ’s obedience was fulfilled in His bearing the weight of the wrath of God, and taking what punishment we owed but could never pay, upon Himself who was ready, able and willing to pay, but never owed. He paid our debt and suffered the consequences. His innocent blood was spilled for our guilty souls. For there were two parts to the righteousness of the law that was set against us: Perfect obedience, which obedience we failed, and perfect punishment which was due to us for failure. Christ by His obedience accomplished the first, and by His propitiation accomplished the second. God was not willing that a drop of His great wrath would fall upon His Beloved people, and so He sent His son into the world to save them from it, and to drink the dregs of it Himself. What love! What patience! What grace! Christ has taken the curse out of the way having nailed it to His cross, and has left behind only a blessing, that we by faith might apprehend, and cling to all the promises of God through Him. We have the full forgiveness of sins, and need not fear the judgment of God anymore, but do serve Him in truth, and sincerity with a clean conscience.
3. By His death.
We also ought to take note and observe that if we are ever to be drawn by Christ into communion and fellowship with Him, we must be delivered from death itself. We cannot hope to have fellowship with the eternal Son of God, except death be removed, and everlasting life given. To what purpose is temporal fellowship with God? Paul said that if it is in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable. This life is a wilderness, and we dwell here as pilgrims with a loose grip on everything in the world, knowing it is a passing shadow, and can never satisfy the longings of the soul.
For us to be drawn into Christ’s eternal love, death must be taken out of the way, and defeated. But how is this accomplished, seeing we deserve death on account of our sins? Truly there is one thing certain in life and that is death. “For the wages of sin is death.” [Rom. 6:23] But Christ came to save His people from their sins, and to draw them to Himself, that He might be one with His people, and united to them in blissful fellowship forever. But to do this death itself must die. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Here Paul links the incarnation with the destruction of death and the deliverance of God’s people from it. Inasmuch as we were confined to an earthly habitation, and partakers of flesh and blood, which carnal properties defied Him, and brought the curse of death upon it, He likewise shared in the same nature, which Paul says in Romans is, “the likeness of sinful flesh”, but although He was made as a man, and “was in all points tempted as we are, yet He was without sin.” And by His humbling Himself so as to become as we are, He suffered with a true body, and a reasonable soul thereby putting to death sin in the flesh, and in suffering the weight of the curse which was due to us in His own body, and by the crucifixion and death of that body He thereby destroyed death itself. [see Rom. 8:1-4]
We are not left in a shroud of ignorance regarding how we come to the conclusion that we will live forever. We who are in Christ know we will live forever, because we are inseparably united to the eternal Son of God in whom is life. We have no part with spurious fantasies of eternal youthfulness, or unlawful means by which to make our current existence last forever. Our salvation is quite contrary to natural thinking. In delivering us from death, Christ must deliver us from sin, which brings death with it, and in delivering us from sin, He also delivers us from death. Therefore the Song says, “Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
A most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.” (Song of Songs 8:6-7)
The flames of Christ’s love for His people burned with an unspeakable heat, and vehemency, and so strong was His love that He was willing to overcome all obstacles to prove, demonstrate and complete it, and will bring it to full fruition at the appointed time. Christ did not come to do more than His Father asked, or less, but because the Father loved us and elected us from eternity, so the Son came to rescue them from the death which they had so freely bound themselves to by sin. Therefore we see here in the incarnation, and death of the Son, only mentioning a few parts of a few verses, the great extent of Christ’s love, that God Himself in order to save His people from sin became as one of them, a most profound mystery, and now Christ the Son ever lives in heaven as both God, and man in two distinct natures, yet one person. We have confidence therefore and are enabled to approach the throne of grace seeing that we have a Mediator in heaven who even became as we are, and completed the whole of that great work of redemption that must needs be accomplished perfectly, earning, and meriting for us all the rich treasures and glories of heavenly paradise, having destroyed death itself. It is well said that salvation is deliverance from the greatest evil, and being made partaker of the highest good, and we ought to stand and consider the wonderful works of God, that He suffered the cruelest evil Himself in that He was made to be sin for us, and was cursed for our sake on account of our sin, and not only did He free us from that weight which was so marvelous and terrible, but also purchased for us all the blessings of this life, which are faith, and the virtues that accompany it, and also all the eternal blessings of heaven- the fruition of that faith which we cannot fathom the depths of. Oh! How we should with one heart, and mind rejoice greatly in this our Savior, and continually praise His name, adoring Him for His unspeakable love, and His great Wisdom and Power, who took us from our bondage, and rent the sea of death in two that we might cross over it into paradise.
4. By His resurrection.
We should also see that this discourse on the glory of Christ does not finish with His death, but is further established by His resurrection from the dead. We could have no hope of salvation if Christ remained in the grave. But seeing and believing that He is risen, His death is made the death of our sins, and His life is the resurrection of our spirits, coming out of the graves, and walking in newness of life. Romans 4:24-25 says, “[Righteousness] shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” Now, not only has Christ abolished death for us by His own death, and covered our sins with His precious blood, but He has also clothed us in immortality and life by the power and virtue of His resurrection. He offered His own righteousness to God as the ransom for our debt, and in His infinite, eternal and immutable glory covered us in His own righteousness, that we might have fellowship with Him and with the Father. By nature God is infinitely holy, and cannot so much as look upon sin. He hates and detests sin more than we could ever think of hating an object. And by nature we are sin, wholly inclined to it, and daily acting out its motions. Even after we have been saved from wrath, and made new by the power of regeneration, we have within ourselves a sinful nature that is still often inclined to do that which God hates. But Christ takes this obstacle out of the way also by justifying us by virtue of His own justice which was satisfied at the cross. He has put to death sin in the flesh by His sacrifice, and purchased the victory of eternal life and justification by His resurrection. Peter said it was not possible that death should hold Him. In order to destroy death He had to die, and to defeat it forever, making the promise of eternal life sure, He rose again from the dead now to live forever at the right hand of God as our Bridegroom, Head, Prince and Intercessor. We can no more be held in the bands of death than Christ, who rose again on our behalf. “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Col. 1:18) He was raised for our justification that we being by nature sinful, and unworthy, might be clothed in His own virtue and moral perfection, that we might have fellowship with Him, and with the Father who dwells in unapproachable light. If man were to approach and behold God while sinful, He would immediately be destroyed, for our God is a consuming fire. But now being forgiven by His death and justified by His resurrection life, we are enabled and even emboldened to come before the throne of grace. John 11:25-26 says, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Oh, Christian, do you believe this? Do you believe that Christ died, and now lives forevermore? Do you believe that all of your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake? Do you believe that you are justified by His grace, and accepted by God solely for the righteousness of Christ imputed to you? How shall we prove that we believe? How shall we prove ourselves to be Christians? We show forth that we have been given life, by walking in newness of life, and endeavoring fully to mortify sin and keep the commandments of God. All profession of faith apart from the fear of God and endeavoring to keep the law of God is vanity, and confusion. We know that Christ is risen, and we evidence His resurrection life in us when we love God and keep His commandments. “Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.” (Isa. 60:1-2)
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)
5. By His ascension.
We should also note how great a thing it was for Christ to be received into heaven again.
i. It was the proof of His acceptance. Christ came to earth to do His Father’s will. He came to gather His sheep, call His disciples, expound to them the law, give them a perfect example, fulfill the obedience required in the law, offer His body a perfect sacrifice, appease the justice of God that was set against His people, cover them in His own righteousness, and sanctify them that they may live according to His law until He comes again and glorifies them. His work is a complete work. All that was to be done concerning our salvation, and the full procurement of it was accomplished by the Lord Christ. His ascension into heaven therefore is of major importance, because it was the receiving of Christ into heaven after He rose from the dead. His works were accepted by God, and God received Christ the man who had a true resurrected body into the Holy of Holies. The apostle Paul discloses this to us in Hebrews 9 when he explains the purpose for the propitious sacrifices of the Old Covenant, the superiority of the one sacrifice of Christ, the power of his blood, His righteous oblation, the purification of the heavenly services, and the entering into the holiest of all, which is heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
“For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Heb 9:24)
ii. It was the proof of our acceptance.
This brings us to the point that Christ was accepted into heaven in order that we might also be accepted through Him. He did not come to earth to do an incomplete work.
He became man, taking upon Himself (who was full of infinite glory) the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh by suffering God’s wrath in His own body on the cross. Having destroyed the powers of darkness, He rose again for our justification, so that He might clothe us in newness of life, and by virtue of His own obedience, make many righteous. Moreover He ascended into heaven having been raised with a perfect spiritual body, still inseparably united with His divine nature so that we, His body might also be raised with Him, and be accepted into heaven when this temporal, earthly body is destroyed.
The apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:44, “It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.” We have hope that our sins will be destroyed by Christ’s own death, we have hope of new life because of Christ’s resurrection, and we have hope of being raised into heavenly glory because Christ as a man and the Lord of glory Himself went before us, and now sits in heaven interceding for us. “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb. 6:19-20)
6. By His intercession.
This brings us to the last point here. (The subject of the second coming will be spoken of in a later point)
Let us finally observe that Christ magnifies His love and draws us to Himself by interceding for us at the right hand of God. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost who come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25) We ought to observe closely the great love of Christ displayed in these acts necessary for our redemption, and His willingness to draw us to Himself by them. There is no greater love than God’s, and there should be no greater honor for us than to know Him, and receive this great love into our souls. Having put to death our sins, and rising again from the dead by the power of God, entering into the Holiest of all, and being accepted into heaven by virtue of His own merit, He now sits on the right hand of God and daily, and continually intercedes for His people. For how could our sinful natures be purified except by the blood of Christ? And how could we be made alive again unless Christ had gone before us having taken away the curse? And how could we be forgiven for our daily failures if Christ was not always interceding for us, and offering to the Father His own obedience which was accomplished in full, and which covers our own infirmities? We are unprofitable servants who have received mercy from our God though we deserved wrath. We cannot live up to that which we are commanded to by reason of the weakness of the flesh. Every day new sinful thoughts swell in our minds, new sinful affections dwell in our hearts, and new sinful deeds break forth from the fountain of corruption which is our sinful nature. We ought to well understand firstly how frail we are, and how prone we are to carnal affections, and carnal actions, but we also must learn to repent from these and apply ourselves to obedience and endeavor to live a holy and sanctified life, knowing that to this end we are called. But we also must remember God’s unspeakable mercy for us in continually accepting Christ’s intercession, so that we might be kept safe from the devil’s schemes to destroy us, and might never perish out of His hand. He has promised that none of His sheep will be snatched out of His hand, and this is the ground we have for this hope- even that He daily intercedes for us, yea and ever lives to intercede for us.
We know that being justified by His blood, sanctified by His resurrection, adopted by virtue of His ascension, having promised to glorify us at His second coming, we have hope that we will persevere through all of life’s trials and troubles because of Christ’s great Mediatorial work of interceding for us.

Application.
1. Being drawn into Communion with Christ, we are made to know Him in order to love Him.
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
Those who have been effectually drawn into the arms of Christ by the grace, truth and love of God are made to know the true God in order that they might also love Him.
Here we must distinguish speculative knowledge from saving knowledge. What must be said first by way of doctrinal preface is that one cannot be endowed with spiritual knowledge and be made to know the true God without also his affections being made lively, and himself being made ready and willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and enabled to believe the gospel. There is no believer who has no true knowledge of God, and there is no unbeliever who understands the true nature of God. An unregenerate man may have very many speculative thoughts about religion, yea he may spend his life in the pursuit of religion, even the Christian religion, and yet be without true knowledge. We cannot separate the mind from the affections without separating the soul from its distinct faculties. If the mind and the affections acted against each other, they would no longer function as a reasonable soul, and we could never be assured that what we know is what we believe, and are truly affected by. But now by making us to know the true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, God has given us spiritual knowledge which no unregenerate man can claim, and He has done it so that we might also serve Him in truth, and love, offering our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. This is our reasonable service. Those who find religion, and especially devotion, and obeying God unreasonable or wearisome, I say, know very little if not nothing at all of God, or His ways. We are enlightened in the mind, that we might give our hearts to God in worship and sincere devotion and love. Jesus says in Matt. 22:37-38, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” He that is effectually called, and made willing and able by the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit is also made willing to love the Lord with all His heart, and to offer Him spiritual worship having been given a new nature which is created after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, seeing that God has made known His love to us, and showed us most graciously His love in the cross, and has made many great and precious promises to love us to the end, even beyond death, unto eternity itself, let us endeavor to return this love by offering our hearts to Him and when we come to Him in devotion, whether in public worship or the private exercises of worship let it always be that our hearts are prepared to come before Him in reverence and due affection, that our hearts would be stirred in us to lay hold on the promises of Christ’s love to us, that we would be sensible of sin, and apply ourselves to the casting off of the same, for His own honor and glory. Since He has loved us with so great a love, and made it known to us, so that we know it and believe it with the whole of our souls, let us cleave also to Him in love, and endeavor daily to make progress in this love, growing to love Him more, and learning more of His love which is manifested to us in His holy word.
2. Being drawn into Christ’s love, we ought to return His love with obedience.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
Since we are made to know the true and living God and have been drawn with cords of love into His fellowship, we ought also to obey Him willingly, yea and if we love Him we will obey Him. Having been renewed by the Spirit of holiness, and been shown the love of God in Christ we who are the objects of His love return His love with diligent observance of His law. Yea, a true Christian cannot do otherwise than love God and obey Him having been sealed with the Spirit, and being promised that He will abide in us forever. David shows what is in the heart of a believer in Psalm 119, where he composes glorious overtures of love for God and love for His law. Having been shown our wretchedness by the law, we were led to Christ by it, and now having been redeemed by Christ’s love, we return to the law to return our love for Christ who redeemed us from its curse. So far is the law from cursing us that through Christ it blesses us! We are not held under the law as a means by which to save us, but we are pointed to the law by the golden scepter of Christ’s righteousness as a means by which to sanctify us. Yea, we do not keep the law to merit salvation, but Christ having merited our salvation, has merited for us also our obedience to Him. He has obtained the hearts of His people by effectual purchase, and we can do no other than love Him and keep His commandments. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20)
Our souls were the purchase of the cross. He has paid for us with His own precious blood, and shall we make light of His great deliverance by casting His law behind us, and regarding it wearisome? Let it never be said that Christ’s commandments are a burden! “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (1 John 5:3)
And how if the commands of the gospel are stricter are they not burdensome? The law commands, “Thou shalt not kill.” But the gospel commands, “Thou shalt not hate.”
The law commands, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” But the gospel commands, “Thou shalt not lust.” Now these laws are one, but we see in Christ’s ministry how He expounded the law’s meaning, so that after the gospel has been revealed, we are under a greater curse if we do not believe it, and if we do believe it, we have a greater responsibility to keep the law, having been given extraordinary means- even the Spirit of God to point us to its meaning, and aid us in its observance. Therefore if God’s commandments are not to be burdensome to us, they must be done in love, and in this the law is fulfilled. A hypocrite will observe the law until he is occasioned by temptation, and then he will fall away. But the believer is not so. He keeps the law in His heart, so that whether he is tempted or not, He applies Himself to obedience. Joseph was tested by temptation, but he came out as gold, and even suffered prison before suffering God’s displeasure. Such is the disposition of all saints. Because we sincerely love God, we keep His commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight, and His commandments are not burdensome to us. We delight in the law of God after the inward man. So although our obedience is not perfect, yea every day our affections are disordered, and we cannot say that we have loved God as we ought, yet loving Him truly and having a heart of sincere affection is accepted by God because this comes only by faith, and faith uniting us to our blessed Savior unites us to His righteousness which covers all our infirmities in His own love, and enables us more and more to die unto sin and live after the standard of His law – the fulfillment of which is love.
3. We ought also to return His love by loving His people.
“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-36)
Having been given the Spirit of Christ, and being enabled to love Him, we are also commanded to love those in Him. As we are in Christ, so we love all those who are also in Christ, who bear His image on their soul, and are fellow partakers of the Spirit of grace. We can no more love Christ without loving His people than love the Sun without its light. Christ’s people are His body who have been with us effectually drawn, engrafted into blessed communion with Him, and do share with us those peculiar and glorious joys that He has promised to all who love Him. John says in His epistle, “If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loves God love his brother also.”
(1 John 4:20-21) So important is love for the brethren that John dedicates a large portion of his epistle to encourage believers in this work. We prove our discipleship when we love God, and we prove our love to God by loving His people. “Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” (1 John 5:1)
So sure is John of the love between fellow believers that he confidently asserts that those who are born of the Spirit must and do love each other being begotten by the same Spirit. Therefore where do fights, wars, and contentions arise from but in our carnal members which war against the flesh, and war against the body of Christ? And how is it that we see so many who call themselves Christian who do not love the brethren, spending their time contending with the truth, and maliciously contemning the people of God? Beloved, though the church is one body with Christ, yet not all who partake of Christ’s exterior benefits will be made partakers of His Spirit. The church invisible is much smaller than the church visible. There are many who claim to be Christian, and act no different than heathen, who take up the name of Christ, and yet take up the cause of Satan! There are many who take up the Sword of the Spirit to make war against the Spirit! They use the scriptures not to fight against the forces of darkness, but against the kingdom of light! “This thing I hate, and is an abomination to me… One that sows discord among brethren.” [Prov. 6:16,19] As surely as we would shake off a viper that bit us to preserve our body, so will Christ shake these vipers off His body, and cast them into the fire. Violently wresting the scriptures and twisting the sacred texts, they accuse the people of God of being antinomian because we believe in the gratuitous mercy of God bestowed upon unworthy men, and they call us legalists because we adhere strictly to the word of God, and uphold to the best of our ability all His laws! These that contemn us are not brothers, nor the people of God, but enemies, and snakes. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing whose desire is to destroy the church of God. Therefore we must take heed, and know assuredly that when God bids us to love the brethren, we are to be careful only to call those brothers whom God calls sons! We must be careful not to do as the prophet so adamantly warns against and call those “Good” whom God calls “evil.” [Isa. 5:20] A woe is pronounced against them for doing so. “What communion has light with darkness, and what concord has Christ with Belial, or what part has he that believes with an infidel?” [2 Cor. 6:15] He that mistakes an infidel for a saint is like he that mistakes a serpent for a dove! Therefore let us be sober, and vigilant against all heresies and schisms, otherwise we will be found to have communion with wolves who will spoil our goods, and diminish our reward. And let us do all these for the benefit of the church of God, not seeking to please ourselves, or gain honor, but let us love each other, and do that which is best for the flock, keeping God’s commandments, and aspiring to grow daily in communion with Him, and fellowship with His people. Let us with full purpose endeavor to love the brethren even as God has commanded us, knowing that they should be loved by us, even as they are loved by God.
4. Since God has done so much to demonstrate His love for us, we ought to love Him above all and offer Him the best of our affection.
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” (Ps. 73:25)
Having been drawn into communion with Christ, we ought to desire that love above all loves, and seek His glory above all else. He has gone to the greatest lengths to demonstrate His love to us, and shall we go to no lengths to serve Him? It cannot be.
Shall His love be so warm, and shall ours be cold? Shall His affections for us be so steadfast, and shall ours be so inconstant? Whom do we have but Christ, and what is there on earth that is worth desiring apart from Him? Everything that has any worth draws it directly from Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God from which all wisdom flows, and the beauty of God from which all beauty shines. Having given us His all, and suffering the greatest pains for us, we ought to take the greatest pains for Him, and offer Him the best of our affections. Is there anything in this world that can do what Christ can, or has done what Christ has? He has both created and renewed us, justified, and forgiven us, redeemed, and sanctified us and has promised to glorify us with Him when He returns for us, and shall we make light of it? He is worthy of much esteem, and shall we offer Him only a little esteem? Our worship ought to be frequent, and affectionate. He has drawn us into His love, and therefore we ought to return His love with constant praises, prayers and thanksgivings to God for Him. Yea let us daily offer Him the praise of our hearts and lips and boldly proclaim, “Blessed be God for Jesus Christ!”
5. Since Christ being both God and man lived a life of humility and submission to God, we ought to imitate Him and take up our cross daily.
Christ the glory of the Father was made into the likeness of our sinful flesh, and lived a life of humility and self-denial. He that was worthy of all honor, on earth received no honor from men. “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Ps. 69:20-21) Thomas Watson once said, “Christ was crowned with thorns and do we think to be crowned with roses? Put the cross in your creed.”
i. In trials.
“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Heb. 2:10) Inasmuch as our salvation was perfected by suffering, so faith is also perfected by suffering. Was Christ filled with continual sorrow and grief and do we think to have a life of ease? Christ not only suffered as our satisfaction, but as our example. He suffered to show us the life that is pleasing to God, which is often a life of trial and affliction. Chastening is a mark of sonship. “If you are without chastening, you are bastards and not sons.” [Heb. 12:8] Augustine once said that God has one Son without sin, but no son without suffering. If we are given faith in Christ and made partakers of His salvation, God will test and increase our faith by making us partakers of His suffering.
“Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” [John 15:2]
We must be content to lose the lofty branches of pride that we might grow the lowly fruit of humility. But let us be quick to repent, and cast off sin, for if we would not have our branches pruned by His initial strokes of tenderness, He will be sure to lop the bough with terror. If we do not hear the still small voice of the word, and shut our ears to the prick of light affliction, He will surely open our ears with the scourges of great affliction. “The LORD scourges every son whom He receives.” (Heb. 12:6) A scourge is a whip with sharp objects tied at the end of it in order to inflict more damage, and make the discipline more painful. When the lash is not sufficient, the scourge will accomplish God’s purpose, and God will certainly chastise us when we err, and do what is necessary to bring us back to a holy frame of mind and heart. Therefore let us be obedient children and listen to the rebukes and admonitions of the Word for the sanctification of our souls, and let us be patient under trials, and bear the cross of affliction knowing that God will not destroy us by it but build us up, and He will renew His comfortable presence and show us His face when we have repented and turn back to His love and embrace. This is very important to the subject we’re dealing with, because inasmuch as Christ effectually draws His beloved in love so He chastens us also in love so that we might turn our faces to Him, and love Him wholly, taking our affections off of the base things of this world, and setting them on Christ who alone is worthy of them.
ii. In persecution.
We also ought to note that much of a saints suffering in this world is not a direct result of their sin, but of their service. The saints suffer not for rebellion but for righteousness! “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt. 5:11-12)
If we are to be like prophets, we must be willing to suffer like the prophets did and bear the reviling, taunts and insults of men. We do not bear an easy message, nor do we call men to an easy life. The life we are called to is impossible for men to live without the grace of the gospel, and because of this we are despised, and persecuted. We do not promote man’s dignity, but his wickedness! We do not exhort to a life of pleasure and sin, but of righteousness and law-keeping! We do not promote a life of wealth and luxury, but of poverty and self-denial. We do not preach the sovereignty of the state, but the Lordship of Christ! We preach doctrines that bring danger to our names and estates in this world, and we must be ready to suffer for it. Peter says in his epistle, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Pet. 3:14-17) We must be ready to hold fast to the truth, and also to suffer for it. It is better to suffer for obedience, than to be chastised for disobedience. Therefore let us bear the cross of persecution with boldness, and know that God will reward all our suffering, and though we are lowly esteemed among men, we will be honored by God in heaven, and the Lord Himself will vindicate us. Job cried out during his sufferings in great lamentation thinking that God had become his enemy, but we see God saying to Satan, “Have you seen anyone like my servant Job?”
God owns us even when we disown ourselves! “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” [1 John 3:20] Therefore let us submit to His will, and suffer patiently, not charging God with error lest we be found to add rebuke to our affliction.
iii. In daily self denial.
The Christian life is one of affectionate love to God, which necessitates hate of what God hates. Therefore love for God is self-abhorrence, self-denial, and self-abasement. There is no room for self-esteem in the heart of a Christian. Job when confronted by God’s majesty confessed and said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6) The LORD says to the people of Israel, “And there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.” (Ez. 20:43) When compared to God’s holiness, we are loathsome creatures and when we consider our sinful frame in light of the awesome majesty of God, we ought to return to the dust and repent in humility. The active duty of taking up the cross proceeds from a humiliated heart which has been convicted by sin, and knows its responsibility to God. We ought to be daily mourners, and daily cross bearers. There is certainly great joy in the Christian life, but there is never a day without duty, and that duty is a difficult duty, it is an uphill battle, and a conquest against the natural bias of the flesh. We are to be reasonable, spiritual creatures, and offer our bodies a living sacrifice to God by humbling ourselves before Him, casting off vain thoughts, trivial activities, mundane concerns, and conducting ourselves heartily to obedience, self-denial and the taking up of the cross. If Christ who was God became man, and He who was worthy of all glory humbled Himself, so we ought (being creatures of dust) to humble ourselves, and submit to the Father’s will. Let us find our duty in the Word, and apply ourselves to it, until the nails are fastened into our own hands, and we bearing our crosses becoming more and more crucified to this world, become dead to it.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matt. 16:24) Christ draws us into His love, and in doing so He bids us to live the best life- one that will put to shame the hypocrites, and condemn the heathen. Our life is one of self-denial, of diligent obedience and of sincere and voluntary sacrifice, and this sacrifice through the intercession of Christ, and assistance of the Spirit is well pleasing in the sight of God. There is no being crowned with Christ without bearing cheerfully the cross of Christ. We are to think upon His propitiation and redemption for us, and our daily practice and returning His love by bearing it for Him. What love like Christ to bear the cross for sinful creatures! And shall we not bear the cross for our dear Savior? A thankful life under the cross is a sign of sincerity, and a proof of our love for Him.
He will draw us by love, and in giving us His love, He makes us willing to live for Him, to take up the cross, and follow Him, to suffer for Him, and if necessary to give our lives for Him.
6. Since Christ has paid in full for our justification, and the purity of our conscience let us keep from sins which defile it.
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14)
“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Cor. 7:1)
Though sin can never defile our justification, yet it can and does defile the conscience.
The chief reason for Christians losing their assurance, and being beset by seasons of doubt is because although they are partakers of grace, and have a principle of new life implanted in their soul, yet because of the weakness of the flesh, the deceit of the devil, and the prevailing power of sin in the soul, they act inconsistently with the principle of grace by which they were redeemed and fall into acts of sin and transgression, and their conscience condemns them for it.
What could our heart condemn us for but sin? Therefore if your conscience would be clean you must crucify. Christ became our peace with God by the death of His body, and we must imitate his example by pursuing peace through the death of our sins. Comfort comes by conquest. Coldness in affection breeds conflict in assurance. It is well that we are grieved by our own inward corruption that we might know assuredly that we must fight against it and learn to call upon God in all our temptations. But let us never despair of His love, but press on towards righteousness, knowing assuredly that if we are of Christ, God has certainly forgiven us of all our sins, and will accept us into His presence on account of Christ who has merited it for us in full. But though we are freely forgiven, there remains a battle to be fought against the flesh, and our conscience will often tell us when we are losing it. Christ fights for us, and in us, and by His Spirit enables us to fight against the forces of darkness. Let us be diligent then to keep the temple of our souls holy, and pure, and banish all forms of idolatry, and sinfulness from it that we might have purity of heart and cleanliness of mind. Christ bled for us that our conscience would be free from guilt. Why then do we at times bear that guilt if it has been taken away? Beloved, we may bear it in our minds, but we can never bear it upon our souls. Christ has taken away the curse, and we can never be held by the curse of the law on account of sin. However, we feel the guilt because God would have us know when we do things against His will, and He would have us always be ready to fight against the corruptions of the flesh, and learn to mortify. The mortification of sin is essential to a life of faith. The reason why assurance and peace of mind is so closely tied to our success in mortification, is because that success is so closely tied to faith. Faith in Christ, and love for Him and an understanding of His love for us at the cross lies at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification. If we would imitate our Savior, we are to live blamelessly and righteously, and seek to cleanse our bodies, spirits, and minds from all pollution of the flesh, that our love would be unclouded, our hope would be unshaken, and our faith would be unmovable. Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments.
Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes, That I may not be ashamed.
(Psalm 119:6, 80)
We ought to seek such purity of life that reaches into the depths of the heart. Our conscience will not condemn us if our hearts have nothing in them worthy of being condemned. Now while we cannot be spotless as pertaining to sin, we must strive to be blameless as pertaining to accusation. The saint who knows his unworthiness will conduct himself in a worthy manner. Purity of heart is proof of sincerity of heart and will lead to cleanliness of conscience and peace of mind.
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
(Hebrews 10:35)
It is suitable and most fitting that this point follows that of suffering, for peace of mind, cleanness of conscience and assurance of salvation will make our suffering joyful and our greatest grief a delight. The saint who has cleanliness of conscience can suffer anything peacefully. The burdens that weigh on our mind are greater than those on our shoulders. It is easier to bear burdens of suffering than burdens of sin. Guilt is a harsher master than grief. Therefore, if we would have this blessed peace and assurance, we must be willing to take up the cross and crucify the flesh, for these two are constant companions, and he that would have great peace, must wage that great war against his flesh.
7. Christ though He died and was buried rose again with newness of life by the power of God, and we ought to apply this to our daily sluggishness, not being slack or lazy, but rise to diligence in worship, and devotion.
As a final exhortation, I would encourage you by the mercy and love of God that you devote your time to the diligent study of scripture, devoted prayer and sincere worship. Christ rose from the dead that we might rise to newness of life with Him and in Him. We in Christ have put off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. We have been given a new heart that is enabled to serve and love God, and we ought then to dedicate our lives to loving Him, worshiping Him, and keeping His commandments. God has given us access into communion with Him and has given us means by which we might draw closer to Him, and become further sanctified, and further blessed by His love and comfortable presence. Though there are many stars in the sky, yet they do not all shine with equal brightness. Daniel 12:3 says, “Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.”  Paul also says in 1 Cor. 15:41, “There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.” We ought to have the desire to shine brighter for the Father’s glory and apply ourselves to the means by which we might serve Him better. All our duty and that which appertains to our eternal happiness is found in the word of God, and shall we not search for truth there as for gold, when our reward is more precious than gold? Why so little time spent in study and prayer? Why so diligent to promote success in this life, and so slack in our religious life? We ought to be zealous for the word, and zealous to grow in grace, shaking off the dust of our natural frame, and putting on the robes of righteousness and the cloak of zeal. Let us be more diligent to read, study and profit in the word of God than anything else in this world. Christ has risen again, and has given us a new life, and hope of eternal life. We therefore as new creatures ought to pursue holiness, righteousness, and apply ourselves to the diligent practice of reading the scriptures, praying for the wisdom to grow thereby, and worshiping God in sincerity, purity, and fervency that we might not be found as smoking flax or dimming candles, but as bright stars in the heavens shining for the glory of their Father, and reflecting the light of the Sun of righteousness.
Conclusion.
As Christ has so loved us and drawn us powerfully and effectually into His love by demonstrating it to us in His humiliation and exaltation, let us also love Him, returning His love with spiritual desire, ardent affection, and zealous worship. As He is drawing us into His love let us not hesitate to follow Him faithfully to the end, through trial, affliction, anguish, suffering or even death itself, but prove our love by patience and thankfulness to God in all things. Yes, let us be thankful even in the worst of conditions because Christ has justified us, and is now sanctifying us and has promised to glorify us with Him in eternal glory forever.