Chapter V: The excellency of the gospel consists in the riches of spiritual knowledge manifested in
Because they are holy, they are saints, and he hath made manifest this gospel of his unto his saints, whereas the unclean shall not so much as cross the way, nor pass over it.
The apostles and prophets themselves were men of holiness, or God had not revealed the gospel mysteries to them, as the first publication of it by them. It is therefore emphatically said, Eph. 3:5,
'As now it is revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets.' It will, however, to be sure, help you to get the start of any other, and grace will do this. 'Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given us of God,' 1 Cor. 2:12. A godly man hath a renewed principle, is made a spiritual man; a natural man brings only natural parts; a regenerate man, supposed to have as good, hath a further power of discerning given him; 'the spiritual man discerneth all things,' 1 Cor. 2:15. 'Tis his own art, and as wicked men are often wiser in their art and generation than a 'child of light,' the reason will stronglier hold that a child of light may easier be wiser in his; and therefore Solomon says, 'The understanding of the holy is understanding.' Trust not the judgments of unclean men, though ministers, in the matters of grace. This is a godly man's art, not a wicked man's, though never so learned; and a man will trust an artist in his own trade rather than another. 'The understanding of the holy is understanding,' says Solomon, Prov. 9:10, especially in the ways of holiness.
Chapter V:
The excellency of the gospel consists in the riches of spiritual knowledge manifested in it.
To whom (viz., his saints) God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery, &c.—COL. 1:27.
Though others know the things of the gospel, yet those to whom God intends the intimate knowledge of it are the saints. All God's care and contrivance is, that his saints may know it; and that he may so reveal it that all his saints shall know it, he hath taken a sure course for that; and as for others, he leaves them to the darkness and blindness of their own minds. 'To whom God would make known,' &c.
The greatest controversy now on foot is this, who they are that are the supreme judge now upon earth of all the mysteries of the gospel.
1. The Socinians, they would have human reason to be the judge; that God should have so writ the Scripture, that it should be made known to all men's understandings, that have but human reason in them, and that God would make known to human reason, instead of making known to his saints, what is his meaning in all the things delivered in the gospel. Now I confess, that what they say hath the greatest reason in the world in it, if God had intended that the gospel should be made known, in the spiritualness of it, unto all mankind.
But they do not consider, both that it is a mystery, and that God would have it so made known only to his saints. Indeed, if God had meant to satisfy all mankind, then the Scripture and all these mysteries would have been so delivered, as reason should have subdued them, and been able to have been master of them, and taken them in. But the care God took in writing the Scripture, was to have
his saints satisfied, and they to take in the mysteries of it. These, I say, would bring all the Scripture to the bar of human reason, and would have the Holy Ghost's meaning, in all the places of Scripture, concluded within the circle of a syllogism, and believe no more than the power of reason can convince them of. Reason indeed subserveth, for this is a certain truth, that there is nothing that a saint by faith apprehendeth, but when he apprehends it, he sees the greatest reason, from the harmony of one truth with another fall* in with it, that may be. One scripture doth suit so with another, and one theological truth so with another, that there is nothing more agreeable to spiritual reason, than what in the mysteries of the gospel are held forth. But, my brethren, reason will never alone work out these mysteries. There are two principles in the heart of man (and you would wonder they should be the greatest enemies, either of them, that can be), the one is natural conscience, and the other is human reason. They were the two principles that were set up in Adam, and therefore they would be the predominant principles still.
Now God hath set faith over them both. He will have faith subdue conscience; my meaning is this, conscience shall subserve faith, it shall serve to give directions to a believer how he shall walk; so the law doth, and so conscience doth; but if you will make that the eminent principle, a man will fall into a legal temper, and all his comfort will come from his conscience, and not from his faith. So on the other side, if you will make reason the predominant principle, when you come to judge of the matters of religion, it is a good servant indeed; but if you will make that the supreme judge, you will understand nothing, or little, of the mysteries of salvation, for God hath appointed faith, and faith in the saints to receive them all.
2. The papists make a pope that shall determine all controversies, as our infallible and standing judge, led into all truth. And, I confess, had God meant in delivering the mysteries of the gospel to have
satisfied all mankind, and to have resolved all their consciences, and all their scruples in interpreting scriptures, he would have had some such judge. He would have had either an internal judge common to all mankind, which human reason is, or an external judge which all mankind should submit unto as to an oracle. But, my brethren, whatsoever power on earth shall be set up, the great end and scope of God in writing the Scriptures, is to make things known to his saints, and he hath taken a course, and made provision for them beyond all these. And what is that?
(1.) He hath given to his saints his Spirit, who writ the Scripture, who knows the meaning of all the mysteries therein, and he is the supreme judge; and to be sure he gives this Spirit unto his saints:
'We have not received the spirit of the world' (1 Cor. 2:12), 'but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God.' Here is my word, here is my Spirit, saith he.
Wherever God hath a saint, he doth by the ministry of the word convey his Spirit into that saint's heart, and teacheth him this mystery; and let the world quarrel, that they have not an infallible rule to judge by; God never meant to satisfy the world; he meant to make this mystery known to his saints. 'We have not received the spirit of the world,' saith he, that is, we have not only received that principle, or that ability to judge of things which the world hath, which carnal men in the world have, and whereby worldly things are judged, which is that of human reason, &c., to beat out truths that way only, 'but we have received the Spirit which is of God.' Here then lies the great wisdom, and love, and favour of God to his children, that he hath taken a course and made provision for them; he hath given them his Spirit (for he can give his Spirit to whom he will), and he will certainly lead all those he means to save, into so much truth as shall save them.
(2.) As God hath given to his saints his Spirit, so he doth give to them alone an understanding on purpose to know the things of the gospel;
1 John 5:20, 'We know that the Son of God is come, and he hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true.' As they have the Holy Ghost as a guide, so they have an understanding created on purpose for to know him that is true; and therefore you may observe, that still the apostles in their writings pray 'that the eyes of their mind may be enlightened,' &c.
(3.) As he hath given them a renewed understanding, so he hath put a new creature, his own image, into the whole man. And what is the image of God, that he thus puts in the whole man? It is a thing suited to all truths more or less. And because this image is imperfect, hence therefore it is, that there being corruption and darkness in the holiest men, they cannot relish all truths; darkness prevailing in respect of some truths, more than the light of God's image in them; even as it doth in respect of ignorance of some sins. But yet I say, as he hath given them his Spirit, as he hath given them a renewed understanding on purpose, a new eye, so he hath given them a new creature, his own image stamped upon their wills and affections, which savoureth and relisheth what is true, as what is agreeable unto it. God hath put into every creature a taste, and a discerning of what shall nourish it. A man by his taste discerneth what is good and what is ill for him in a great measure, what agreeth with his stomach and with his nature, finds what inflames him, what poisoneth him, what comforts him, the whole man feels it. So is it here. God hath suited all the truths of the gospel to the regenerate part, that, as some philosophers said, all truth is interwoven in the soul of man; so, to be sure, all truth is interwoven in the image of God in a man. And as the senses in a man are suited to objects in the world, a man's eye to colours, his ear to sounds, his stomach to meats, so hath God made the things of the gospel to suit the regenerate part, and the
regenerate part to suit them. And therefore in that 1 Cor. 2:9, the things of the gospel are called things 'prepared for them that love him;' they are suited, suited on purpose as it were to them; and in Philip. 1:9, the knowledge of the saints it is called sense, 'This I pray, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge, and in all sense,' so the word is in the original, and in your margins. We translate it 'in all judgment,' but it is a judgment which ariseth from, or at least is joined with sense, a taste, a suitableness that the soul hath to the things revealed. And so much now for the clearing of that also, 'To whom God would make known,' &c.
I come now to those two other properties that, in this 27th verse, are attributed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The one, that it is a rich mystery; and the second, that it is a glorious mystery. 'To whom,' saith he, 'God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery,' &c.
Riches and glory here doth not only refer to Christ himself, though mainly to him as the subject of the gospel—as those next words,
'which is Christ in you,' &c., imply—as if that Jesus Christ only were the riches, and the glory that the apostle here intended; but it refers to the mystery, to the doctrine that reveals this Christ also, which by reason of the riches that are in him, which it revealeth, is a rich mystery and glorious. It refers therefore both objectively unto Christ, and likewise to the gospel that reveals him; because that Christ himself is so rich and glorious, therefore is the gospel which reveals this Christ rich and glorious also. And indeed, according to the Hebraism, that is, that phrase that the Jews use to speak in, which the apostles do likewise often use in writing the New Testament, these two 'riches of glory' are terms convertible, and his meaning is this, that the gospel it is either rich in respect of the glory of it, or glorious in respect of the riches of it; so as none knows whether the
riches or the glory of it be greater. I shall first of all, therefore, open to you the riches of this mystery.
Obs. The gospel itself, which revealeth the Lord Jesus Christ, and the free grace of God in him, is a most rich gospel.
In 2 Cor. 4, the apostle having spoken of the gospel (as you shall find he doth all along in that chapter, from the 1st verse to the 7th), and laid open the excellency of it in the glory thereof, what saith he when he hath done? 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the power might be of God, and not of us.' I am (saith Paul) but a poor man, I am but an earthen vessel, made of the same clay mingled with sin, that other men are made of, yet God hath been pleased to betrust me with a world of treasure. What a world of treasure was lost— though it was not lost, for he had preached it out, and writ it—but what a world of treasure was broken when that earthen vessel was broken. And what was that treasure? It was (as the coherence evidently carries it) the gospel. Hence is it that every believer, that believeth this gospel and the truths of it, is said to be 'rich in faith,'
James 2:5, and in 1 Cor. 1:5, to be 'rich in all knowledge.' The knowledge of the gospel is a rich knowledge, and the faith of the gospel is a rich faith, and the gospel itself is a treasure, saith Paul, which poor earthen vessels carry about with them. Now riches imply these three things— 1. A preciousness.
2. Abundance.
3. Profitableness and gain.
And the things the gospel revealeth, and the truths contained therein, and the knowledge thereof unto those that are the true
owners and professors of them, and do make them theirs, are rich in all these respects.
1. First, There is a preciousness in all the truths the gospel doth reveal. Not only Jesus Christ is said to be precious, as the foundation and corner-stone (that you have in 1 Peter 2:6, 'I will lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect and precious'), but the truths that are built upon Christ are all precious too; so you have it in 1 Cor. 3:10, 'I,' saith he, 'as a wise master-builder have laid the foundation, which is Jesus
Christ,' the great precious stone of all the rest; 'now if any man shall build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones,' so he calls all the truths that are built upon this foundation—there is not a truth of the gospel but it is more worth than gold, more rich than precious stones; and then he expresseth all the falsehoods that men build thereupon by wood, and hay, and stubble that will be burnt up, but by gold and precious stones, he means those truths that will abide the fire. So that every truth of the gospel that is built upon Jesus
Christ, that is the superstructure of it, are all pearls and precious stones, and gold, and silver; they have degrees of excellencies indeed, but they all have a preciousness in them. I shall not need to enlarge more about it, I will only quote one place, and so open the particulars in which the gospel is precious. Prov. 3:14; speaking there of wisdom, he saith, 'The merchandise of it is better than the merchandises of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold;' and if there be anything better than these (and yet the world hath turned these up as the great things that should master all the rest), he prefers it before them.
Precious stones, you know, are more precious than silver and gold.
Why, saith he, 'Wisdom is more precious than rubies;' and yet because the hearts of men imagine there is something more precious than these, he addeth, 'All the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.' This he speaks of wisdom, which is the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he speaks of it as he knew it even
under the time of the law; he valued every truth, and every part of it, above gold, and silver, and rubies, and whatever the heart of man could think precious.
Every truth of the gospel is precious in these five respects:— (1.) Antiquity makes things precious. Small pieces of coin that contain not much in value, if they be old, are prized; any old medal, or old pieces of brass, or of gold, and silver coined in the time of the Roman emperors, or in the time of the Grecian, any piece that hath
Alexander's image and stamp upon it, and the like, how do your antiquaries esteem it! How more precious do they think it than a great deal of gold! Now if antiquity commend anything to you, why, there is never a truth of the gospel but was coined in heaven, and coined from everlasting. It is 'the everlasting gospel,' and it bears the image of God upon it.
(2.) Things far fetched are precious. 'She fetcheth her merchandise from afar,' saith Solomon, Prov. 31. There is not a word of this gospel, but it came from afar, it came from heaven. Jesus Christ came himself from heaven on purpose to reveal it. Heb. 12:25, comparing law and gospel together, says the apostle, 'If they escape not that refused him that spake from earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven.' Who doth he mean by him that speaks from earth, and who by him that spake from heaven? Why, Moses and Christ. Moses gave the law, 'the law came by Moses,' and the law came but from earth; but the gospel, every tittle of it, came from heaven. The law comes out of a man's own heart, it was written in man's heart on earth, namely, in Adam's innocency, and there is a great deal of it written even in the hearts of wicked men; 'they do the things of the law, which are written in their hearts,' saith the apostle, Rom. 2. But not a word of this truth of the
gospel was written in Adam's heart; no, it was written in God's heart, it was hid in God, it came from heaven.
(3.) Things that are dearly bought you account precious. There is not one truth of the gospel, but it cost the blood of Jesus Christ. You will easily grant, there is no grace you have but it cost Christ's blood; why, my brethren, there is no truth you have that is a gospel truth, but it cost the blood of Christ. The law did not cost Christ's blood, for the law was written in Adam's heart, and without the supposition of his death, it was given to Adam in paradise; but not a tittle of the gospel, not a promise of it, but depends upon the blood of Christ. 'In him all the promises are yea and amen,' 2 Cor. 1:20, and they are therefore 'exceeding precious promises;' so Peter calls them, 2 Pet.
1:4, for they all cost the blood of Christ. We could have had no promise if Christ had not paid the thing promised; not a promise had been written if Jesus Christ had not died to make it so; they had all been blanks but for his death.
(4.) Things charily and warily laid up are precious. The gospel and all the truths of it have had the richest cabinet that ever was. First, it had God's heart, it was hid in God (as I said afore), Eph. 3:9. Then there was a copy of it transcribed into Christ's heart, and he came into this world full of grace and truth, as full of the truths of the gospel as he could hold. Then doth God transcribe it out of Christ's heart into the hearts of his elect; 2 Cor. 3:3, 'Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.'
(5.) Things that perish not, but still do vindicate themselves from corruption, they also are precious. Why is gold and silver precious?
Because that gold if put into the fire, though it will melt, yet it will
not be lost, it will not be consumed. But, 1 Pet. 1:7, 'faith is more precious than gold.' Why? Because it perisheth not, though it be tried in the fire. Gold in time will perish; if you try it too often, it will come to nothing; but faith, the more you try it, the more precious it is, there is not a dram of it lost at any time. And the doctrine of faith, and of the gospel, is of the same nature, it will never perish, and it will still vindicate itself from corruption; though men mingle it, as always in the bringing forth of truths certainly men mingle a great deal of dross, and of their own wisdom and artifice, but that Spirit that is in the truth itself will work out all that dross in time. Never take care* to have the truth of God clear. We may be doubtful of it in many things in our age; it is certain the next age, or an age after, will clear it; the truth hath a spirit in it that will still purify it. In 1 Cor.
3:13, saith the apostle there, where he calls truth gold, and silver, and precious stones, 'Every man's work,' saith he, namely, every minister's work, whether he preach truth or whether he preach falsehood, whether he preacheth gold, silver, precious stones (so he calls the truths of the gospel), or whether he preach wood, hay, stubble, 'it shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it,' whether it be precious stones or no, 'because,' saith he, 'it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.' He speaks evidently of the doctrines men preach or hold forth in the world; still there will come a more clear daylight that shall reveal them, and there will come a fire, and if it be hay or stubble, or whatever it is that is dross, or falsehood, or error mingled with the truth, it shall be burnt up. As when you go and burn cloth of silver or of gold, all the cloth is burnt up, but the silver and gold remains, so it is here; and the Holy Ghost will never leave till he hath purified his truth thoroughly. Therefore the psalmist saith, 'The words of the Lord are pure words' (Ps. 12:6), 'as silver tried in a furnace, purified seven times.' You know, they that purify silver to the purpose use to put it in the fire again and again that it may be thoroughly tried. So is
the truth of God; there is scarce any truth but hath been tried over and over again, and still if any dross happen to mingle with it, then
God calls it in question again. If in former times there have been scriptures alleged that have not been pertinent to prove it, that truth shall into the fire again, that what is dross may be burnt up; the Holy
Ghost is so curious, so delicate, so exact, he cannot bear that falsehood should be mingled with the truths of the gospel. That is the reason, therefore, why that God doth still, age after age, call former things in question, because that there is still some dross one way or other mingled with it; either in the stating of the opinions themselves, or else in the scriptures that are brought and alleged for them, that have passed for current, for he will never leave till he hath purified it. The doctrine of God's free grace hath been tried over, and over, and over again. Pelagius he begins and he mingles his dross with it: he saith, grace is nothing but nature in man. Well, his doctrine was purified, and a great deal of dross purged out. Then comes the semi-Pelagians, and they part stakes; they say, nature can do nothing without grace, but they make nature to concur with grace, and to have an influence as well as grace; and the dross of that was burnt up. The papists they take up the same quarrel, but will neither be Pelagians nor semi-Pelagians, yet still mingle dross. The Arminians, they come and they refine popery in that point anew; still they mingle dross. God will have this truth tried seven times in the fire, till he hath brought it forth as pure as pure may be. And I say it is, because that truth is thus precious. And so much now for that first head, that it is a rich gospel in regard of the preciousness of the truths that are therein.
2. The second thing that is proper to riches is abundance. Now the doctrine of the gospel hath abundance of truth and knowledge in it.
Take all philosophy, all the books of human wisdom and learning, if they were all distilled, if you could extract the quintessence of them
all, there is not so much knowledge as one book of the New Testament contains. In this Col. 2:3, saith this apostle there, do you stick to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and do not leave that, 'for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' There is all sorts, both wisdom and knowledge, and there is all wisdom and knowledge, and there are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in this Christ, who is revealed to you in this gospel. It is all knowledge by way of eminency, as they use to say metaphysics are: it contains all knowledge, because it swallows up all the axioms of all other sciences. I may say of all other learning and knowledge whatsoever, they are all by way of eminency swallowed up in the truths of the gospel. As the person of Jesus Christ contains by way of eminency all the excellencies in the creature, so the knowledge of Jesus Christ contains all the excellency of whatsoever knowledge can be had, the knowledge of governing kingdoms, the knowledge of nature, or the things of nature, or the knowledge of the law, or of whatever else. Our Saviour Christ, as he was full of grace, so he was full of truth; John 1:14, 'We saw his glory, as the glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth.' He came so rich into this world, he had such abundance of treasures, that he brought forth continually some truths or other. He was full of grace to fill the will and affection, and full of truth to fill the understanding and judgment; and those truths did comprehensively take in all sorts of truths that ever were uttered, in a transcendent manner. Solomon he had a heart as large for knowledge in natural things, as the sea is full of sands; he had as many notions in his head as there be sands upon the sea-shore. This Solomon, Jesus Christ that came from heaven, he had his heart larger than the sea, as large as heaven itself, he was full of truth. Saith David, who knew but the law (I mean the law in distinction from the gospel, as we know it, and as it is now revealed), yet saith he in Ps. 119, 'I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy law is exceeding broad;' he saw such a vastness in the knowledge of
the law as he stood aghast at it; as if a man should stand in the midst of the sea, it is so broad, so vast, he cannot see where it ends; I can see to the end (saith he) of all perfection else, but I cannot see to the end of thy law, it is so full, so broad. And therefore in 2 Cor. 3 the apostle tells us they did not see to the end of his ministry; ay, but, my brethren, the gospel is much more endless, for what doth John say in that place quoted even now, when he said Christ was full of grace and truth, he speaks in opposition to the law, 'The law came by Moses,' saith he, 'but grace and truth by Jesus Christ;' and we saw his glory, and we saw him full of grace and truth. Moses his law was but a scanty business, though it was exceeding broad, and David saw an end of it; but the knowledge of Christ, and of what is contained in the gospel, they do so abound as they are unsearchable. So the apostle saith, Eph. 3:8, 'That I may preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;' and Paul himself, though he had abundance of revelations (as he saith in 2 Cor. 12), yet he professeth that he knew but in part, such abundance is there in the truths of the gospel. The times of the gospel therefore, they are like the times of Solomon, in which the scripture saith, silver was as the stones in the street; so Jesus Christ hath filled the world with the riches of the gospel, for so the gospel is called, 'The riches of the Gentiles,' and the riches of the world, wherein the precious truths revealed concerning him, they are as common as the stones in the streets, and as many for number, if men had eyes to see them, and hearts, and heads, and hands to dig for them, and search them out of the mines in which they lie. And so much now for the second head, viz., that the gospel is a rich gospel, in regard of the abundance of truth and knowledge contained in it.
3. Thirdly, All the truths of the gospel are likewise rich in regard of the gain and profitableness of them; they do make those rich that are the possessors of them. There are in the world a great many
curiosities of knowledge, which men do pride and boast themselves in; the trial of the secrets of nature, and the experiments thereof. But usually all such knowledge doth impoverish all those that are retainers to it. But the knowledge of the gospel is clean otherwise, it possesseth them that know it by faith of all the treasure it revealeth.
It is not like stories that do set forth glorious and rich things to you, yet when stories do so they do mightily take you, but you may read such stories and be poor men still. But the gospel, as it reveals to you infinite riches, so it possesseth you of them; therefore what doth the Holy Ghost say here? 'Which riches is Christ in you,' saith he, for the particle which refers to riches as well as to mystery, and indeed to both. And therefore in Prov. 3, a place I quoted afore for the preciousness of wisdom and all the wares thereof, it is not only compared to rubies for the worth and preciousness of it, but for the gain and profitableness of it also; 'Happy is the man that findeth understanding, for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than of fine gold.' And if the heart of man in its vast desires could think of any more precious things unknown, stretch the compass of your desires to the utmost, yet saith he, 'All the things thou canst desire cannot be compared to her:' so ver. 15.
If you ask me, wherein lies this riches? It lies in wisdom, says Solomon, and that wisdom is Christ, says the text. 'Which riches,' saith he, 'is Christ in you.' We all acknowledge that God is infinitely rich and blessed in himself, Philip. 4:19, 'My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ;' riches in glory, for God's riches lie in glory most, and he communicateth them to all believers in and by Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ's becoming yours—('Which is Christ in you,' saith the text)—hence you come to have a title and interest in all those riches of God that God himself possesseth. This is certain, that Jesus Christ is worth all that God is
worth. He is God's only Son, and he is his heir (he is said to be the heir of all things, Heb. 1:2); and God will not give one penny from him, as I may so express it to you. Now this glorious gospel which we preach, if received and entertained, makes Jesus Christ yours, and all his riches. And therefore in 1 Cor. 3:22, the apostle thus pleads the title of a Christian, 'Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Here I say you have, as the inventory of a Christian, so the title by which all things are derived to him. 'All things are yours,' saith he, why God himself is worth but all things, and Jesus Christ (as I said) is worth all that God is worth; 'All things are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.'
And therefore, in Rom. 8:17, we are said to be 'heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;' not only heirs of God, as a son is said to be the heir of his father, that is, that he is the bequeather, but we are said to be heirs of God materially, heirs of God himself, for he is our inheritance, and we are joint-heirs with Christ; we are so put into God's will, that as men are said to be joint purchasers with another, so we are said to be 'joint-heirs with Christ.' Joint purchasers we are not, that is Christ's prerogative alone, but when it comes to matter of inheritance, then we are joint-heirs with Christ.
And that which we are to possess is a free estate, Rom. 8:32, 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' There is not only all things that you possess, and the title, as joint-heirs with Christ, but you have it freely; there is no debts to pay out of it, no portions, no legacies, but you are heirs of all things, and of all things freely.
And then do but consider what the revenues of Christ's blood are.
Look what both Christ's personal interest in all things would convey to you: so much is a Christian worth; and look what the purchase of
Christ's blood is: so rich is a Christian also that entertains the gospel.
I say two things. First, Our Saviour Christ is personally the heir of all things, and you have the same title he hath, being joint-heirs with him. Then this heir laid all that he was heir of down again to make a further purchase; and do but think now what a purchase this must needs be, what riches it must needs arise to. In 2 Cor. 8:9, 'Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich' (for he was rich, as he was the heir of all things), 'yet for your sakes he became poor.' Why? 'That ye through his poverty might be rich.'
Jesus Christ is first rich as the heir, and ye are ordained joint-heirs with him, by that title. But he that is the heir of all things becomes poor, and poor on purpose to purchase, if it be possible, more riches, or the same over and over again. As it is in Philip. 1:8, 'He thought it no robbery to be equal with God.' As in glory, so in riches, he had as great and as good an estate as God himself hath, and it was no robbery, it was no stealth. He came not by it by any such course or way, it is no unjust claim that he laid to it; yet he emptied himself, he left himself not worth one farthing. He emptied himself, so saith the text, as in respect of glory, so in respect of riches. He became poor, and as we may express it, not worth the ground he went on, for he had not a hole to hide his head in; women ministered unto him. Now
I say, this heir of all things made over all his riches, and did it all for you; it is said in that Prov. 3, 'The merchandise of wisdom is better than that of fine gold.' When Wisdom, Christ himself (I do not say that is the meaning of the place, only I allude to it, and speak in the expression of it), shall put forth all the riches he hath in a way of merchandise to have it returned again, and become poor to make us rich, do but think now what riches this must needs amount unto.
Now the gospel therefore is a rich gospel, not only because it doth reveal and is the story of all these riches, but because it possesseth you of them, and is your bond for it. The gospel, I say, and all the
promises of it, are the bond that you have to shew for all these riches, and in that respect it is rich. When our Lord and Saviour Christ laid down all his riches, and laid down his blood to purchase riches for us, what is it that he hath to shew for it? He hath but the promises of the gospel, which God hath made to him, and made to us in and through him; therefore as a man is said to be rich, though he be rich but in bonds, if they be sure bonds, so is a Christian, he is rich in promises. Compare for this Eph. 3 ver. 6 with ver. 8. At the 6th verse, saith he, 'That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the gospel.' Now what is it the gospel containeth? Read ver. 8: 'That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.' Where lie all these riches? They lie in the promises; we are now partakers but of the promises of the gospel. They are unsearchable riches, which cannot be told over to eternity, and the promises are the conveyers of them, and in these promises do our estates lie for the present, but it is a sure estate; and in this respect Peter calleth them 'exceeding great and precious promises,' 2 Pet. 1:4. And, therefore, although you will say a Christian hath nothing, it is true, but he is rich in promises; and our apostle answers it in that 2 Cor. 6:10, 'As having nothing, yet possessing all things.' Why? Because a Christian possesseth Christ;
'which riches is Christ in you,' saith the text here. It is all one to be rich in bonds, and rich in money told by you, and that is all the difference between your estate here and in heaven: in heaven you have the money, the thing itself; and here you have the possession of the bonds themselves.
It were infinite to go over all the inventory of a Christian; I have therefore done it in a short, brief sum. Here are riches in Christ to pay all thy debts the first day thou comest in; and to pay all thy debts thou shalt run into God (and it would have beggared all the angels in heaven to pay for one sin), and when that is done, thou hast a
righteousness so rich as the angels never possessed, a robe stuck so full of jewels (for such is every action of Christ, and all his sufficiency) as never came upon the angels' back. Every grace thou hast is a rich thing; 'rich in faith,' James 2; 'rich in assurance,' Col.
2:2. In a word, hath God any more riches? His Spirit is as rich as Christ too, and thou hast him. It is a phrase used in Tit. 3:6, 'He hath poured his Spirit richly on us;' so it is in the original and in your margins. And then thou hast all the riches of glory in the world to come, when thou art to be the possessor of all this. And this the gospel reveals to thee, and makes thee possessor of it that art a believer; and although the meanest Christian, if he have but the least knowledge of the gospel, is possessed of this, yet the more he comes to know the gospel, the more he comes to know his own riches.
First, Therefore, my brethren (that I may make a use or two of this, and so pass on to the next), it is a very great invitement to us to be acquainted with all the things of the gospel of Christ; for still what dost thou do? Thou dost but study over thine own riches, and increase thine own inventory, comest to the knowledge of things thou never dreamedst of should be thine. The angels do study the gospel, and pry into it, but it is not their riches; it is not 'which riches is Christ in angels,' but it is, 'which riches is Christ in you.' It is a thing worth your observation, that in Eph. 3, speaking of the excellency of the gospel, and the riches of it, he saith, that it is made manifest to all men, and likewise to angels, but with this difference, unto men it is called the unsearchable riches of Christ; so ver. 8,
'That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;' but when he speaks of the angels knowing of it, he calls it wisdom: so ver. 10. 'To the intent,' saith he, 'that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.' The angels are taken with the wisdom of it, but thou mayest be taken with the riches that are in it;
not only with the wisdom of it, though that takes the angels, and may take thee; but it is riches to thee, but wisdom only unto them.
Secondly, Is the gospel thus rich in its preciousness and abundance?
Then let us take heed that we do not sell any part of the truths of the gospel which have been revealed to us. 'Buy the truth,' saith
Solomon, Prov. 23:22, 'but sell it not;' for if you do you sell your riches, you part with your estates. This kingdom, and this city (for aught I know) hath been the greatest mart of truth for this last age, of any part of the world, and Wisdom hath cried her wares here more than in any other place. There is nothing more the riches of a kingdom or a city than the gospel; it is the expression the Holy Ghost hath in Rom. 11:12, where, speaking of the gospel, when it was revealed to the Gentiles, he calls it, 'the riches of the Gentiles and the riches of the world,' in the same place. Take heed, therefore, of parting with any of the truths of the gospel, those truths that have been cried,* that have run through the fire so much in all ages, for let me tell you this, that when God did first deliver to the saints in the primitive times, all that the apostles said went then for current in a manner; but when they were gone, God presently went and began to put every truth to a trial, first one and then another.
That there is one God, and one Christ his Son, and that he is God as well as man, and hath a true human nature; all these fundamental truths were the exercise and conflicts against heretics and heathens, that the holy Christians in the primitive times suffered for. Then God put this truth into the fire, whether Christ was God or no, and all the world turned Arian; but he tried it, and it hath stood, and doth stand, and is continued to this day. He hath likewise put the doctrine of free grace into the fire. He began to do it presently after Arianism was down; he hath tried it over, and over, and over, and it is still propagated purer and purer. Now I say, all those truths that God
hath thus suffered to run through the fire, which we now possess by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by the blood of martyrs, and the conflicts of the saints in all ages, should be preserved by us. I beseech you, give not up those truths, for they are your riches. Shall we now in this age question the foundation of religion? for so some do. Will you sell away those things that have been derived to us age after age at such cost? Oh let us possess them as our dearest treasures. Let us value the truths of the gospel as Paul did. 'I profited,' saith he, 'in knowledge more than any of my brethren, equals,' or as much as any.
Oh, thought he once, when he had got a form of the knowledge of the law in his head, what a treasure have I! But, saith he, Phil. 3:7, 8,
'The things I counted gain to me,' thought myself rich by them, 'I esteemed all to be but loss and dung, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord.' My brethren, let us not sell the truth. God never takes it away from a nation or a people till they sell it, as Esau did his birthright. The Lord had made the Jews his market for truth; to them were committed the oracles of God, Rom. 3:2, and therefore because he had committed to them the truth, and they had been the pillar of it, when the gospel came to be preached, they must have the first offer of it, they must have the refusal of it before God would carry it to another market. 'It was necessary,' saith Paul and Barnabas, preaching to the Jews, Acts 13:46, 'that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you: but seeing you put it from you, seeing you refuse it, carry yourselves unworthy of it, we will go to the Gentiles.'
And, last of all, let the doctrine of the gospel dwell plenteously in you; 'let it dwell richly in you,' for so the expression is, Col. 3:16. And let us labour to be enriched with all the knowledge of; as it is in 1 Cor.
2:5, let us grow rich in faith, for the more you know, the richer you are.