Sermon III - Rev. 3:20
mighty through God, to pull down these strong holds. Despair not therefore of your carnal and dead-hearted relations; bring them to the gospel upon the encouragement of these words of Christ, John 5:25. "The hour cometh, yea, and now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall live."
Infer. 8. Is Christ spiritually present in his ordinances? O then what an endeared affection should every gracious soul bear to the ordinances of God! They are the walks of Christ and of his Spirit, the appointed times and places for your meeting and communion with him; there your souls first met with Christ; there you began your acquaintance with him; there you have had many sweet converses with him since that day; they were the seed of your regeneration, 1 Pet. 1:23 the bread of life by which your souls have been sustained ever since, and therefore to be more esteemed by you than your necessary food, Job 23:12. Here you have found the richest cordials to revive and recover your drooping spirits, when ready to sink away in a faint fit under sin within you, and afflictions upon you. No wonder David's soul even fainted for the courts of God, Psal. 119:50 and that Hezekiah desired a sign on his sick-bed, that he should go up to the house of the Lord. Here are the choicest comforts of the saints upon earth; all our fresh springs are in Zion, Psal. 88:7. What a dungeon, what a barren wilderness were this world without them! Prize the ordinances, love the ordinances, wait assiduously upon the ordinances, and pray for the liberty and efficacy of the gospel, that it may set no more in your days, nor in the days of your posterity.
SERMON III - REV. 3:20
Behold I [stand] at the door, and knock, &c.
HAVING finished Christ's solemn preface, and cleared the manner of his presence in his churches and ordinances; I now come to a third observation which is necessarily implied in these words, "Behold I stand at the door and knock;" and that sad truth therein implied is this,
Doct. That the hearts of men are naturally locked up, and fast barred against Jesus Christ, their only Saviour.
If it were not so, what need were there of all that pains and patience used and exercised by Christ, in waiting patiently, and knocking importunately for entrance into the hearts of men? To keep a clear method in this point, three things must be stated in the doctrinal part.
1. How it appears the hearts of men are thus shut up.
2. What are those locks and bars that shut them up.
3. That no power of man can remove these bars.
First, That all hearts are naturally shut and made fast against Christ, is a sad but certain truth; we read, John 1:11, 12. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not," &c. He came unto his own people, from whose stock he sprung up; a people to whom he had been prefigured in all the sacrifices and types of the law, and in whom they might all clearly discern the accomplishment of them all. His doctrines and his miracles plainly told them who he was, and whence he came; yet few discerned or received him as the Son of God. Christ found the doors of men's hearts generally shut against him, save only a few whose hearts were opened by the Almighty power of God, in the way of faith, ver. 12. These indeed received him, but all the rest excluded and denied entrance to the Son of God. So again, John 5 from ver. 33 to 40. Christ reasons with them, and gives undeniable demonstrations, that he was the Messiah come to save them; proves it from the testimony of John, ver. 33. "Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth:" Tells them, the design of his coming among them was their salvation, ver. 34. shews them the great seal of heaven, his uncontrolable miracles, ver. 36. "The works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me:" And if that were not enough, he reminds them of the immediate testimony given of him from heaven, ver. 37. "The Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me." He did so at his baptism, Matth. 3:17. "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
And so again at his transfiguration, upon the holy mount, Matth. 17:5.
"While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them; and
behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." He bids them search the scriptures, and critically examine his perfect correspondence to them,
John 5:39. Enough, one would think, to open the door of every man's understanding and heart, to receive him with fullest satisfaction; and yet, after all, behold the unreasonable obstinacy and resistance of their hearts against him, ver. 40. "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life."
Not a soul will open, with all the reasons and demonstrations in the world, till the Almighty Power of God be put forth to that end. If another come down in his own name (saith he, ver. 43) him will ye receive; any body rather than the Son of God: Every cheat can impose upon you easily; it is to me only your hearts have such strong aversions. Now there is a twofold shutting up of the heart against Jesus Christ.
1. Natural.
2. Judicial.
1. Natural. Every soul comes into this world shut up and fast closed against the Lord Jesus. The very will of man, which is the freest and most arbitrary faculty, comes into the world barred and bolted against Christ,
Rom. 8:7 "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject unto the law of God, neither indeed can be," Phil. 2:13. "It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure." This is a dismal effect of the fall. Who feels not strong aversions, violent rebellions, and obstinate resistances in his own heart, when moving towards Christ in the first weak and trembling acts of faith?
2. There is a judicial shutting up of the heart against Christ. This is a sore and tremendous stroke of God, punishing former rebellions: Psal. 86:11,
12. "Israel would have none of me, so I gave them up to their own hearts lusts." This looks like a prelude of damnation, a very near preparation to ruin. Israel would have none of me; there is the natural shutting up of the heart; so I gave them up; there is the judicial shutting up of the heart; they would not hear, they shall not hear. O fearful judgment! Thus the Lord gave up the Heathens, Rom. 1:26 they had abused their natural light, and now their minds are judicially darkened; given up to a sottish
and injudicious mind, not able to distinguish duty from sin, safety from danger; a mind that should elect the worst things, and reprobate the best.
This was the reprobate mind unto which God gave them up; what sadder word can the Lord speak than this, unless it be, Take him, devil! It is true, those that God shuts up he can open, and those whom justice shuts up, mercy can set free; but it is beyond all the power of angels and men to do it: Job 12:14. "He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening." These two closures of the heart are not always found together in the same subject; and blessed be God they are not. Christ meets with many a repulse, and endures with much patience the gainsaying of sinners, before he pronounces that dreadful sentence upon them, Isa. 6:9, 10. "Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not: make the heart of this people fat," &c.
But when it comes to this once, dreadful is the case of such souls; and none are in greater danger of this spiritual judicial stroke of God, than those that have sat long under the light, rebelling against it. That is the first thing, the hearts of men by nature are locked and shut up against Christ.
Secondly, In the next place, let us examine what those locks and bars are which oppose and forbid's Christ's entrance into the hearts of poor sinners. And they will be found to be, 1. Ignorance.
2. Unbelief.
3. Pride.
4. Custom in sin.
5. Presumption.
6. Prejudices against the ways of holiness.
Bars enough to secure the soul in Satan's possession, and frustrate all the designs of mercy, except an Almighty Power from heaven break them asunder.
1. The first bar making fast the soul of man against Christ, is ignorance, that obex infernalis, that hellish bolt, which effectually keeps Christ out of the soul.
If knowledge be the key that opens the heart to Christ, as it is plain it is from Luke 11:52 where Christ denounceth a woe to them that took away the key of knowledge; then ignorance must needs be the shutter that makes fast the door of the heart against Christ. Upon this ground Christ told the woman of Samaria, that her infidelity grew upon the root of her ignorance; John 4:10. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Ah, sinners, did you but know what a Christ he is that is offered to your souls in the gospel; did you see his beauty, fulness, suitableness, and feel your own necessities of him, all the world could not keep you from him: you would break through all reproaches, all sufferings, all self-denials, to come unto the enjoyment of him. But alas! it is with you, as it was with those, Cant. 5:9. "What is thy beloved (say they to the spouse) more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?" Unknown excellencies attract not: ignorance is
Satan's sceptre which he sways over all his kingdom of darkness, and holds his vassals in miserable bondage to him: hence the devils are called,
Eph. 6:12. "The rulers of the darkness of this world." Alas, were the eyes of sinners but opened to see their woful state, and their remedy in Christ, he could never hold them in subjection one day longer: they would break away from under his cruel government, and run over by thousands to Christ; for so they do as soon as ever God opens their eyes; in the same hour they are turned from darkness to light, they are also turned from the power of Satan to God, Acts 28:16. O that you did but know the worth of your souls, the dreadful danger they are in, and the fearful wrath that hangs over them, the willingness and ability of Christ to save them, you could not sleep one night longer in the state you are: the next cry would be, What shall I do to be saved? Who will shew me the way to Christ?
Help ministers, help Christians, yea, help Lord; these would be the laments and cries of them that are now secure and quiet. But the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not: no cries for a physician, because no sense how their souls are stabbed by sins of
commission, and stabbed by sins of omission. O that the great Physician would once apply his excellent eye-salve to your understandings, which are yet darkened with gross ignorance both of your misery and remedy.
2. The second bar or lock, that shuts Christ out of men's souls, is the sin of unbelief. This is one of the strongest holds of Satan wherein he trusteth; this is a sin that not only locks up the heart of a sinner, but also binds up the hand of a Saviour; Mat. 13:58. "He could do no mighty works there, because of their unbelief."
It obstructed his miraculous works when he was on earth, and it obstructs his gracious work, now he is in heaven. A Saviour is come into the world, but poor unbeliever, thy soul can neither have union nor communion with him till this bar of thy unbelief be removed. The gospel is come among us with mighty arguments to convince, and powerful motives to persuade, but little saving effect follows: its main design is to many frustrated, and all this through unbelief, shutting up, and hardening men's hearts under it. The word preached did not profit them because of their unbelief. Ah cursed bar! which shuts up thy hearts, shuts out thy
Saviour, and will effectually shut thee out of heaven, except the Almighty Power of God break it asunder. "They could not enter in because of unbelief," Heb. 4:2. The ruin of souls is laid at the door of unbelief; it is the damning sin, Mark 16:16 and truly called so, because no other sin could damn but in virtue of this sin. That is the second bar to Christ.
3. The third bar denying entrance to Christ into the hearts of sinners, is pride and stoutness of spirit. The natural heart is a proud heart; it lives upon its own stock, it cannot stoop to a sincere and universal renunciation of its own righteousness: "Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own righteousness, ουχʼ υπεταγησαν, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God," Rom. 10:3. Pride stiffens the will that it cannot stoop or condescend to declare their own emptiness, discover their own shame, and live wholly upon the righteousness of another. Proud nature had as live be damned, as deny itself in such a point as this is: This makes faith so exceeding difficult, because it involves such deep points of selfdenial in it: To give up all to Christ, to draw all from Christ, and to be willing to part with all for Christ. What will can be brought to a deliberate
consent to such things as these, unless an Omnipotent Power bow it? It is natural to men rather to eat a brown crust, or wear a coarse ragged garment which they can call their own, than to feed upon the richest dainties, or wear the costliest garments which they must receive as an alms or gift from another. O how hard is it to subdue this pride of the heart, even after light and convictions are come into the soul; to convince men of their undone condition, and the absolute necessity of another and higher righteousness than their own? When souls are in a treaty with Christ, and the match is almost made; this is the sin that makes the last opposition. Fain would they come to Christ, ten thousand worlds for a Christ; but yet they think they must not approach him without some qualifications which are yet wanting. But soul, if ever Christ and thou conclude the match, thou must deny self even in this, the most refined form and interest of it, and come as Abraham did, naked and emptyhanded to him that justifieth the ungodly. Down with this house-idol, thy self, thy righteous self, trimmed up, like another Agag, with such precious pretences of humility.
4. The fourth bar, forbidding Christ's entrance into the soul, is custom in sin. Sin hath so fixed itself by long continuance in the soul, the soul is so settled and confirmed in its course, that all arguments and persuasions to change our way are swept away by the power of custom, as straws and feathers are by the rapid course of a mighty torrent; Jer. 13:23. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." Soap and nitre may as soon make a blackmoor white, or fetch the spots out of the leopard's skin (which are not accidental, but connate) as the reasonings of men can prevail to remove the mighty power of customary sin. Physicians find it a hard thing to cure a cachexia or ill habit of body. It is a grave and serious note of Seneca, a teneris assuescere, multum est. It is a great matter to be accustomed this way or that from our childhood; every repeated act of sin confirms and strengthens the habit; and hence it is that we see so few conversions in old age. It was a wonder in the primitive times, that Marcus Caius Victorius embraced Christianity in the sixtieth year of his age. Take an habituated drunkard, a self-righteous moralist, lay before them the necessity of a change, and you shall find it as easy to stop the course of a river with the breath of your mouth, as to stop them in a
customed course of sinning. That is the fourth bar to Christ.
5. The fifth bar, opposing and resisting Christ's entrance into the soul, is the sin of presumption; this is the sin that parts Christ and thousands of souls in the world; presuming they hope; and hoping they perish. When men presume their condition is safe already, their souls never make out after a Saviour. This was the ruin of Laodicea, Rev. 3:17. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." This damning presumption is discovered in three things, (1.) Many think they have that grace which they have not, mistaking the similar for the saving works of the Spirit; a fatal mistake never rectified with many thousands till it be too late. (2.) They presume to find that mercy in God, which they will never find; for all the saving mercies of God are dispensed to men through Christ, in the way of regeneration and faith, Jude, ver. 21. (3.) They presume upon that time for repentance and faith hereafter, which their eyes shall never see. And thus presumption doth lock up the heart against Christ, and leaves sinners perishing even in the presence of a Saviour. They make a bridge of their own shadow, and so perish in the waters.
6. The sixth and last sin, barring up the heart against Christ, is a strong prejudice against holiness, and the strict duties of religion. Thus, in the very infancy of Christianity, the world was scared and driven off from religion by the common prejudices that lay upon the professors of it; As concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against, Acts
27:22.
Thus Justin Martyr complains, that Christians were every where condemned δια την φημην, by common fame; and upon this account
Christ pronounces a woe upon the world because of offences, Mat. 18:7.
Alas! it will be the ruin of thousands; some have sucked in such prejudicate opinions and vile notions of religion, and its professors, as make them irreconcileable enemies to it. Satan hath dressed it up in their fancies in such an odious form and representation, that make them lothe both name and thing. These prejudices are drawn from various things; sometimes from the necessary duties of Christianity, which are laid as crimes upon the people of God; when I wept, and chastened my soul with
fasting, that "was to my reproach," Psal. 69:10. Sometimes the groundless and malicious slanders and inventions of the enemies of Christianity are the occasions of real prejudices to the world; "Come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah, and let us smite him with the tongue," Jer. 18:18.
Sometimes the innocent and serious professors of godliness are censured and condemned for hypocritical professors sakes, who never heartily espoused religion. And lastly, The ways of holiness suffer for the slips and infirmities of weak Christians, who commonly give too many occasions to disgust the world against the ways of God.
By these things multitudes are kept off from attendance upon the means of grace, and multitudes more have their hearts shut up from receiving any saving benefit under them.
These are the common bars and locks by which the strong man armed secures his possession in the souls of sinners; and these bars are too strong for any power beneath the Almighty Power and arm of God to remove or break. It is said, that the Lord opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, Acts 14:27. The arm of the Lord must be revealed, or none will open to Christ by faith, Isa. 53:1.
1. The iron bar of the law, that thundering terrible law, cannot force open the heart of an unbeliever; all the dreadful curses flying out of its fiery mouth, make no more impression than a tennis-ball against a wall of marble. You read of them that hear the words of this curse, yet bless themselves in their heart, saying, They shall have peace, though they walk in the imaginations of their hearts, to add drunkenness to thirst, Deut.
29:18.
They play with hell and eternal torments, rush into iniquity as the horse rusheth into the battle, act as men in love with their own death, as those that are at an agreement with hell. O the besotting, hardening, infatuating power of sin!
2. The golden key of free grace cannot, in itself, remove these bars, and open men's hearts to Christ; "We have piped unto you, but you have not danced," Matth. 11:17. The melodious and delicious airs of grace, mercy, peace, and pardon, affect not the dead hearts of unbelievers: like deaf
adders they stop their ears at the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. These gospel-melodies only dispose them to a more quiet sleep in sin.
3. No works of providence are, in themselves, sufficient to open the hearts of men to Christ. (1.) The judgments of God cannot do it; thousands have been sick with smiting, that yet cannot be made sick for sin. "I have consumed them, but they refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return," Jer. 5:3.
Messengers of judgment are abroad, smiting some in their estates, scattering in one day the labour of many years; and therein giving a warning-blow at the conscience to make sure of Christ, and the world to come, since their comfort and happiness is scattered in this world. Some are smitten in their dearest relations; death knocks at their doors, and carries out the delight of their eyes, and with the same admonisheth their souls to place their happiness in more durable comforts: some are smitten in their bodies with diseases, giving warning of the near approach of their latter end, and bidding them prepare for another habitation; but all in vain. (2.) No mercies of God are in themselves sufficient to open the obstinate hearts of sinners to Christ. God hath heaped up mercies by multitudes upon many of you; all these mercies of God lead you to repentance, Rom. 2:4, 5. They take you in a friendly way by the hand, and thus walk with you: Ah sinner! how canst thou grieve and dishonour that God that thus feedeth, clotheth, and comforteth thee on every side? Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Yet all will not do, neither judgments nor mercies can fright or allure the carnal heart to Jesus Christ. It is his Spirit, his Almighty Power alone, that opens these everlasting gates, and makes these strong bars give way and fly at his voice.
Inferences Infer. 1. Behold here the dismal state of nature, the woful condition of all unregenerate souls; Christ the Redeemer shut out, sin and Satan shut in.
This is the horrid state of nature shut up in unbelief, Rom. 11:32. Ah Lord, what a condition is this! we should certainly account it an unspeakable misery to be shut into a house haunted by the devil, where we should be continually scared and frighted with dreadful noises and
apparitions; but alas, what is an apparition of the devil without us, to the inhabitation of the devil within us? Nay, what is the possession of a body, to Satan's possession of the soul? Yet this is the very case of the unregenerate, Luke 11:21. The strong man armed keepeth the palace, till
Christ dispossesses him by sovereign victorious grace. Poor wretch, canst thou start at a supposed vision of a spirit, and not tremble to think that thy soul is the habitation of devils? There is a twofold misery lying upon all christless, unregenerated persons; Satan is,
1. Their ruler in this world.
2. Their tormentor in that to come.
1. He is their ruler in this world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, Eph. 2:3. Look as the holy Spirit of God dwells and rules in sanctified souls, walks in them as in hallowed temples, guiding and comforting the souls of the saints; so Satan dwells in unregenerate hearts, actuating their lusts, inflaming them with his temptations, using their faculties and members as instruments of unrighteousness. And then, 2. He will be their tormentor in the world to come: He that tempts now, will torment then, Matth. 25:41. "Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Flee therefore, and escape for your lives, sleep not quietly another night in so dismal and dreadful an estate. "If the Son make you free, then are you free indeed."
Infer. 2. What a glorious and admirable effect of sovereign, omnipotent grace is the effectual conversion of a sinner unto God!
If every heart by nature be secured for Satan under so many locks and bars, then the opening of any heart to Christ is deservedly marvellous in our eyes. You all acknowledge that the opening of the graves at the resurrection will be a glorious display of Almighty Power, and so it will: it will be a wonderful thing to behold the graves opened, and the dead raised at the voice of the Arch-Angel, and the trump of God; but yet give me leave to say, that the opening of thy heart, poor sinner, to receive
Christ, is a more glorious work than that of raising the dead; it is
therefore deservedly put into the first rank of the great mysteries of godliness, that Christ is believed on in the world, 1 Tim. 3:16. He that well views and considers Christ, may justly wonder that all the hearts in the enlightened world do not stand wide open to embrace him; and he that shall consider the frame and temper of the natural heart, and how strongly Satan hath entrenched and fortified himself in it, may justly wonder to hear of a work of conversion in an age. O brethren, consider the marvels of conversion, the wonderful works of God upon the soul that opens unto Christ by faith.
1. There is a new eye created in the mind: "The Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true," 1
John 5:20. O that eye, that precious eye of faith, which shews the soul, as it were a new world, of new and ravishing objects, Eph. 5:8. All the angels in heaven, ministers, and Libraries upon earth, cannot create such an eye, give such an illumination; it is only he that "commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that thus shineth in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. 4:6.
2. And what a glorious supernatural work is the conviction of the conscience by the powerful stroke of the saving beams of light upon it?
Now the conscience, that lay in a dead sleep, begins to startle and look about it with fear and horror. Life and sense is got into it, and now it cries, Ah, sick, sick, sick at the heart for sin, sick for a Saviour.
3. And no less marvellous an effect of the Almighty Power is the bowing of the stubborn will so efficaciously, so congruously, and so determinately and fixedly to the Lord Jesus.
The will is efficaciously determined, so as no power of hell or nature can resist or frustrate that mighty power which worketh effectually in all them that believe, 1 Thes. 2:13. Yet it works not by way of compulsion, but in a way congruous and agreeable to the nature of the will, Hosea 11:4. "I drew them with the cords of a man, with the bands of love." Satan bids for the soul, Christ infinitely out-bids all his offers; eternal, spiritual, and unsearchable riches, instead of sensitive, perishing enjoyments, which determine the choice of the will in its own natural method, by the sight of the excelling glory of spiritual things. And thus the mighty, supernatural
power of God opens that heart which Satan had secured so many ways against Christ.
Infer. 3. Hence it also follows, that man hath no free-will of his own to supernatural good. The will cannot, by its own power, open itself to receive Christ by faith. When it doth open to him, it is not virtute innata, sed illata, not by its natural power, but by the power of God upon it. The admirers of nature talk much of the sovereignty, virginity, and liberty of the will, as if it alone had escaped the fall, and that no more but a moral suasion is needed to open it to Christ; that is, that God doth need no more to save men than the devil doth to damn them. But if ever God make you sensible what the work of saving conversion is, you will quickly find that your will is lame, its freedom to spiritual things gone; you will cry out of a wounded will, as well as of a dark head, and a hard heart. You will quickly find, "That it is God alone that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure," Phil. 2:13. That the birth of the new creature is not of the will of man, but of God, John 1:13.
Infer. 4. Learn hence the necessity of conversion, in order to salvation.
Christ and heaven are shut up against you till your hearts be savingly opened unto him. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again,"
John 3:5. O sinner, that hard heart of thine must be humbled; thy stubborn and refractory will must be bowed; all the powers of thy soul must be unlocked and opened unto Christ; he must come into thy soul, or thou canst never see the face of God in peace. "It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory," Col. 1:27. Till thy heart be opened, Christ, with all the hopes of glory, stand without thee. And if hopes from the death of Christ without us, without the application of his person, be enough so save men, then why are any damned? Consult 1 Cor. 1:30. Adam's sin damns none but only such as are in him; and Christ's righteousness saves none but those only that are by faith in him; the eternal purpose of the Father, the meritorious death of the Son, put no man into the state of salvation and happiness till both be brought home by the Spirit's powerful application in the work of saving conversion. It is good news, good indeed, that Christ died for sinners; it is good news that Christ is brought to our very doors in the tenders of the gospel, and that the Spirit knocks at the door of our hearts, by many convictions and persuasions, to open to him, and enjoy
the unspeakable benefits of his death; these things bring us nigh to Christ, the next door to salvation; and yet all this may be, eventually, but a dreadful aggravation of our damnation, and will certainly be so to them whose hearts are but almost opened to Christ.
Infer. 5. See hence the necessity of fervent prayer to accompany the preaching of the gospel. Without the Spirit and power of God accompanying the word, no heart can ever be opened to Christ: alas, such bars as these are too strong for the breath of man to break! let ministers pray, and the people pray that the gospel may be preached "with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven," 1 Pet. 1:12. It greatly concerns us that preach the gospel to wrestle with God upon our kness, to accompany us in the dispensation of it unto the people; to steep that seed we sow among you in tears and prayers before you hear it; and I beseech you, brethren, let us not strive alone, join your cries to heaven with ours, for the blessing of the Spirit upon the word. How doth Paul beg of the people, as a beggar would beg for an alms at the door, for their assistance in prayer, Rom.
15:30. "I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me."
For want of such wrestlings with God in prayer, there is so little efficacy in ordinances. Martha told her Saviour, John 11:21. "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died;" and I may tell you, that if the Spirit had been here, your souls had not remained dead under the word as they do this day. O when the sabbath draws near, let fervent cries ascend from every family to heaven. Lord, pour out thy Spirit with thy word; make it mighty through thy power to open these gates of iron, and break asunder these bars of brass.
Second Use of Exhortation Seeing the case stands thus, that all hearts by nature are barred and shut up against Christ; let every soul do what it can, and strive to its uttermost to get the heart and will opened to Christ: Strive to enter in at the strait gate. Christ is at the door, O strive with yourselves as well as with God now to get it opened, now that salvation is come so near your souls.
Object. But have you not told us, that no sinner can open his own heart, nor bow his own will to Christ?
Ans. True, he cannot convert himself, but yet he may do many things in order to it, and which have a remote tendency to it, which he doth not do; and so he perisheth not, though he cannot, but because he will not.
Divers things may be done by poor sinners with their own hearts, which are not done; and though in themselves they are insufficient, yet being the way and method in and by which the Spirit of God usually works, we are bound to do them. As for example, (1.) Though it be not in your power to open your hearts to Christ, yet it is in your power to forbear the external acts of sin, which fasten your hearts the more against Christ; who forces thine hands to steal, thy tongue to swear or lie? Who forces the cup of excess down your throat? (2.) Though you cannot open your hearts under the word, yet it is in your power to wait and attend upon the external duties and ordinances of the gospel: why cannot those feet carry thee to the assemblies of the saints, as well as to an ale-house? (3.) And though you cannot let the word effectually into your hearts, yet certainly you can apply your minds with more attention and consideration to it than you do. Who forces thine eyes to wander, or closes them with sleep, when the awful matters of eternal life and death are sounding in thine ears? (4.) Though you cannot open your hearts to embrace Christ, yet certainly you can reflect upon yourselves when the obvious characters of a christless state are plainly held forth before your eyes: God hath given you a self-reflecting power; "The spirit of man knoweth the things of a man," 1 Cor. 2:11. When you hear of convictions of sin, compunction of heart for sin, deep concernments of the soul about its eternal state, hungerings and thirstings after Christ; restless and anxious days and nights about salvation, which others have felt; you can certainly turn in upon yourselves and examine whether ever it were so with you: and if not, methinks it might conduce to the prevention of your misery, to take your poor souls aside, and bemoan them, saying, Ah, my poor soul, canst thou endure everlasting burnings? What will become of thee if Christ pass thee by, and his Spirit strive no more with thee? Why cannot you throw yourselves at the feet of God, and cry for mercy? Prayer is a part of natural worship, distress usually puts men upon it that yet have no grace,
Jonah 1:5. Do but this towards the opening and saving of your own souls, which though it be not in itself sufficient, nor puts God under any meritorious obligation or necessity to add the rest; yet it puts you into the way of the Spirit. And is not thy soul, sinner, worth as much as this comes to? Have you not taken a great deal more pains than this for the trifles of this world? And will it not be a dreadful aggravation of sin and misery to all eternity, that you are perished so easily. Do not you see many striving round about you for Christ and salvation, whilst you sit still with folded arms as if you had nothing to do for another world? "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force," Mat. 11:12.
Why should other men's souls be dearer to them than yours unto you?
What discouragements have you which other men have not? Or what encouragements have they which you have not!
Object. Say not, We have no assurance that our pains shall prosper, or our strivings be made effectual to conversion; if there were any promise in the gospel that such endeavours should be seconded from heaven, and made available to salvation, then we would strive, as long as breath and life should last; but all this may be to no purpose, we may be christless, and hopeless when all is done.
Sol. But yet remember it is possible God may bless these weak endeavours, and come in by his Almighty Spirit with them: nay, it is highly probable that he will do so: and is a strong probability nothing with you? Do you use to do no actions about your civil callings without an assurance of success? When the merchant adventures his life or estate at sea, is he sure of a good return? Or doth he not adventure upon the mere hopes and probabilities of a gainful voyage? When the husbandman plows his land, empties both his bags and purse upon it, is he sure of a good harvest? May not a blast come that shall defeat all his hopes? Yet he ploweth and soweth in hope, and ordinarily God maketh him partake of his hope: but without such industry his expectations would be vain. Away then with vain excuses; up and be doing in the use of all appointed means, and the Lord be with you.
Third Use for Trial
Before I dismiss this point, let us try ourselves by it, whether God hath opened our hearts to Christ, broken these bars of ignorance, unbelief, custom, prejudice, &c. and the will stand wide open to receive Christ
Jesus the Lord.
This is a solemn use, the consequence of it great; O that our faithfulness and seriousness in the trial might be answerable. Try yourselves by these following marks:
Mark 1. If your eyes be not opened to see sin in its vileness, and Christ in his glory, suitableness, and necessity; then sure your hearts were never yet effectually opened by the gospel. I confess men's eyes may be opened to see sin, and yet their hearts at the same time shut up by unbelief against Christ; but no man's heart can be opened to Christ whilst his eyes are shut: John 4:40. "This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting life." The work of faith is always wrought in the light of conviction; the cure of the heart begins at the eye of the mind, Acts 26:18. "to open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and; from the power of Satan to God."
God opens men's hearts by shining into them, 2 Cor. 4:6. If therefore any man's eyes be still blinded with ignorance, prejudice, &c. so that he apprehends not his own guilt and misery, nor sees the worth and necessity of a Saviour; that man's heart is still under Satan's lock and bar, sin is shut in, and Christ is shut out of that man's soul.
Mark 2. No heart opens to Christ by faith till it be first pricked and wounded by compunction and humiliation; this heart-wounding work is always antecedent to the work of faith. I doubt not but your thoughts fore-run my discourse to that famous scripture, Acts 2:37 where Peter preaching to those that had crucified Christ, and bringing up his discourse close to their consciences, in the application of that sermon, convincing them not only what a horrid and atrocious crime the crucifying the Son of God was in itself; but also charging it home upon them, "Whom ye have taken with wicked hands have crucified and slain; when they heard this they were pricked at the heart; and cried out, men and brethren what shall we do?" Upon this out-cry three thousand souls opened in one hour to Christ. Now consider whether your hearts have been thus pricked and wounded; hath sorrow for sin pierced thy soul?
Vain sinner, that frothy heart of thine must be made to bleed under compunctions for sin, or there will be no room for Christ in it. Come souls, it is in vain to flatter yourselves in your own eyes: reflect upon the frames of your hearts, call back the days that are past, and say, when was the time, and where was the place when thou layest at the foot of God, sobbing and mourning upon the account of thy sins? Did ever God hear such a cry as this from thy soul! Ah Lord, my soul is distressed, I roll hither and thither for ease and comfort, but find none: O the insupportable weight of guilt! O the bitterness of sin! My soul fails under it, Lord undertake for me. I do not say, the degrees of compunction and humiliation are equal in all converts; neither their sins nor abilities to bear sorrows for them, are equal; but this I say, thy heart must ache for sin, or it will never open to Christ; he binds up none but broken hearts,
Isa. 16:1.
Mark 3. If Christ be come into thy heart, then the love and delight of every sin is gone out of thy heart. Christ and the love of sin cannot dwell together: what Christ said to the soldiers that apprehended him in the garden, the like he saith to every soul that comes to apprehend him by faith, If you seek me, let these go their way; away with the sin that thou most delightest in: Christ cannot come in till these be gone, Isa. 55:6, 7, 8.
"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Here be the terms of your acceptation and salvation plainly laid down, forsake thy ways and thoughts; the way notes the external acts of sin; and the thoughts the internal acts, both of contrivance and delight in sin; both these must be forsaken; and that is not all, for this makes but a negative holiness. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy. It is in vain for men to make the door of salvation wider than God hath made it; we cannot bring down Christ's terms lower than he hath set them; if we will not come up to them, Christ and we must part. And this makes the great struggle, the sharp debate in the souls of converts. O! it is hard to give up pleasant and profitable lusts; but away they must go, a bill of divorce must be signed for them, or you cannot be espoused to the Lord Jesus. This will be found to be much harder than to part with all externals for Christ's sake.
Mark 4. No heart can open truly to Christ, that it is not made willing upon due deliberation to receive him, with his cross of sufferings, and his yoke of obedience, Mat. 16:24 and 11:29.
An exception against either of these is an effectual bar to thy union with Christ; he looks upon that soul as not worthy of him, that puts in such an exception, Mat. 10:38. If thou judgest not Christ worth all sufferings, all losses, all reproaches, he judges thee unworthy to bear the name of his disciple. So for the duties of obedience, called his yoke; he that will not receive Christ's yoke can never receive his person, nor any benefit by his blood.
Mark 5. Every heart that opens sincerely and evangelically to Christ, opens to him in deep humility and sense of its emptiness and unworthiness; all self-righteousness is given up as dung and dross: Thus
Abraham came unto him as to one that justifieth the ungodly, Rom. 4:5.
"Now to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness," Yea, here is the true way of justification indeed; where the imputed righteousness of Christ comes, all self-righteousness vanishes before it. By him that worketh not, understand not an idle, lazy believer, that takes no care of the duties of obedience; no, an idle faith can never be a saying faith: But the meaning is, he worketh not in a law sense, to the ends and intentions of the first covenant; to make up a righteousness to himself by his own working, to cover himself with a robe of righteousness of his own spinning and weaving, a home-made cloth; no, not a rag of that: Thou must receive
Christ into an empty, naked, unworthy, soul, or not receive him at all.
Blessed Paul heartily rejected all his own righteousness, cast down that house-idol to the ground, that he might be found in the imputed righteousness of Christ, Phil. 3:18. Cast that idol out of doors, it stands in the way of a better righteousness. There be divers ways wherein sinners maintain their own righteousness to their own ruin: There is a gross and a more refined self-righteousness; the one more palpable and easily liable to conviction, the other much harder to be discovered and cured. Ask some men upon what their hopes of salvation are grounded? and they will tell you, they are just in their dealings with men, and constant in their prayers to God, that is all, and therefore they doubt not of their salvation:
Thus they substitute a righteousness of their own, in the room of Christ's blood, and are their own destroyers by seeking this way to be their own saviours. But then there is a more refined way of self-righteousness, drest up with such pretences of humility, that men are hardly to be convinced of it. I pity many poor souls upon this account, who stand off from Christ, dare not believe because they want such and such qualifications to fit them for Christ. O saith one, could I find so much brokenness of heart for sin, so much reformation and power over corruptions, then I could come to Christ; the meaning of which is this, if I could bring a price in my hand to purchase him, then I should be encouraged to go unto him. Here now lies horrible pride covered over with a veil of great humility: Poor sinner, either come naked and empty-handed, according to Isa. 55:1, Rom 4:5 or expect a repulse; for Christ is not the sale, but the gift of God.
Mark 6. Lastly, whatever soul opens savingly to Christ, it opens finally and everlastingly to him; the heart once opened to Christ, must stand open for ever to him, never to shut out Christ any more. And here is a very observable difference betwixt a man that comes to Christ, in a sudden fright of conscience, and parts with him again when that fright is over; and a man that receiveth Christ not to sojourn, but to dwell in his heart by faith, Eph. 3:17. When Christ comes into the heart, he saith,
Here will I dwell for ever; and Lord, saith the soul, so I receive thee; this is the day of union, O let me never know a day of separation; let it never be in the power of life or death, angels, principalities, or powers, things present or to come, to make a separation betwixt thee and me. Soul, saith
Christ, thou shalt be mine whilst I am in heaven; and Lord, saith the soul, I will be thine whilst I am on earth. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, saith Christ: O my Lord, saith the soul, hold me fast in thy hand, that I may never leave nor forsake thee; my estate, liberty, and life, may, and must go; but it is in the fixed purpose of my heart never, never to let thee go. The espousals betwixt Christ and the soul are for ever, Hos. 2:19.
"I will betroth thee unto me for ever, yea, for ever." And here lies another great difference betwixt the hypocrite that takes Christ with a politic reserve, that will venture with Christ at sea no farther than he can see the shore; and the upright heart that embarks itself with Christ without reserves, come what will; that saith to him, as Ittai to David, when persuaded to go back in a time of danger; nay, saith he, where my Lord
Jesus Christ is, whether it be in liberty or in prison, in life or in death, there also will I be. Flesh may persuade to a retreat, nay, saith the soul, I cannot retreat; but wherever the truths of Christ, the interest and glory of Christ are, there also must I be; for upon these terms I first received him, and opened the door of my heart to him. These things are no surprises to me, Christ and I have debated them long ago; he dealt fairly with me, and I must deal faithfully with him.
Now, brethren, view over these six trials: Have your eyes been opened to see sin in its vileness, Christ in his beauty and necessity? Have your hearts been pricked and wounded with compunction and sorrow for sin?
Are the loves and delights of sin gone out of your souls? Have you no exceptions either to the cross or yoke of Christ? Have you given up all your own righteousness, whether gross or refined, for dung and dross, and received Christ for ever? Then thy heart is savingly opened to him.
Fourth Use The last use that closeth this point, will be consolation to all those whose hearts the Lord hath thus opened to receive Christ at his knocks and calls of the gospel.
Hath God indeed opened any of your hearts, and made you sincerely willing to receive Christ? then there are ten sweet consolations, like so many boxes of precious ointment to be poured forth, in the close of this discourse, upon every such soul. And the First Consolation shall be this: The opening of any man's heart to receive
Christ, is a clear, solid scripture-evidence of the Lord's eternal love to, and setting apart that man for himself from all eternity. I do not say, that every man, whose heart is opened by faith, is thereupon immediately assured and satisfied that God hath chosen him to salvation: But whether he apprehend it or not, the thing in itself is certain and real: Consult 1
Thes. 1:4, 5. "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God; for our gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost," &c. Their election of God was the thing to be proved; but alas, might they say, who can know that but God alone? It is among the divine secrets; yes, saith the apostle, we know it, and by this we know it: for our
gospel came not unto you in an empty sound, but in mighty efficacy, effectually opening your hearts to believe. A more clear and certain evidence of your election cannot be given in this world. Look again into Rom. 8:30. "Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
There are two great and ravishing truths cleared in this scripture; the one is this, that the whole number of the called, upon earth, is taken out of such as were predestinated to life before the world was. The other is this, that as the whole number of the glorified saints in heaven, is made up of souls called and justified upon earth; so the called soul, that is, the soul that savingly opens to Christ by faith, may, from that work of the spirit upon him, solidly reason backward to God's electing love before all time; and forward to his glorification with God, when time shall be no more.
O how strong is the consolation flowing out of this glorious work of the Spirit upon our hearts! that is one thing.
II. Consolation. The opening of the heart to receive Christ, is the peculiar effect of the divine and Almighty Power of God; the arm of an angel is too weak to break those strong bars before-mentioned. Therefore the exceeding greatness of his power is applied unto this work of believing,
Eph. 1:19. "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead." Here is power, the power of God, the greatness of his power, the exceeding greatness of his power, the very same power which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead; and all this no more than needs to make the heart of man open by faith to receive Christ. The only key that fits the cross wards of man's will, and effectually opens his heart, is in the hand of Christ, Rev.
3:7. "He hath the key of David, he openeth and no man shutteth."
How long have some of you sat under able ministers, searching sermons, and rousing providences? yet all to no purpose, till this Almighty Power came with the word, and then the work was done. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power," Psal. 110:3. What a glorious power was that which opened Christ's grave when he lay in the heart of the earth,
with a weighty stone rolled upon his sepulchre? And how mighty a power is that which breaks asunder all those bars which kept thy soul in the state of sin and death? None feel this power, but only those whom God intendeth for salvation; and having once wrought this, it is engaged to go through with all the rest, which yet remaineth to be done, to perfect thy salvation.
III. Consolation. The opening of thy heart to Christ, is not only an effect of Almighty Power, but such an effect of it, without which, all that Christ hath done and suffered had been of no avail to thy salvation; neither the eternal decrees of God, nor the meritorious sufferings of Christ, are effectual to any man's salvation, until this work of the Spirit be wrought upon his heart. The offering up of Christ is, in its kind and place, sufficient to purchase our redemption; but it is the receiving of Christ by faith that brings home salvation to our souls; where there may be many concauses to produce one effect, that effect is not produced until the last cause have wrought. Thus it is here; the moving cause, viz. the free-grace of God hath wrought; and the meritorious cause, the death of Christ, hath also wrought; but still the heart, even of an elect man, remaineth under guilt and condemnation, until the Spirit, who is the applying cause, have also wrought this blessed effect we now speak of. It is Christ in us, i.e. in union with our souls, which is to us the hope of glory, Col. 1:27, 1 Cor.
1:30. Behold then the last stroke given in this opening of the heart by faith; herein electing love hath brought home Christ, with all the purchases and benefits of his death, into the actual possession of thy soul.
O how transporting and ravishing a consideration is this!
IV. Consolation. In this work, the opening of the heart by faith, the great design and main intention of the gospel is also answered and accomplished. You behold in the church a glorious frame of ordinances set up by Divine institution, ministers appointed to preach sermons, sacraments, prayers, singing, variety of ordinances set up, excellent gifts given to men, as the fruit of Christ's ascension into heaven. Now, what was the design of God in the institution of all these things, but that by them, as instruments in his hand, our ignorant, dead, unbelieving hearts might be opened to Christ, in acts of repentance and faith, and built up to a perfect man? Ministers are sent "to open your eyes, turn you from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God," Acts 26:18. They are not sent by Christ into this world to get a living, to drive so poor a trade as that for themselves, but to bring you to faith, 1 Cor. 3:5. When
God's elect are thus brought in and built up in Christ, you shall see this glorious frame of ordinances taken down; there will be no more preaching nor hearing, the end of all these things being accomplished; 1
Cor. 15:24. "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," &c. Now the consideration of the accomplishment of the great and principal design of the gospel thus far upon thy heart, is matter of transporting joy. Ministers may, and must die, ordinances may be removed, but this blessed effect of them upon thy soul shall never die: God will perfect what he hath begun. That is the fourth consolation.
V. Consolation. And then, 5thly, That day wherein thy heart is savingly opened to receive Christ, that, very day is salvation come to thy soul.
When Zaccheus' heart was opened to Christ, he tells him, Luke 19:9.
"This day is salvation come to thy house." Salvation was come into the world before thou wast born; yea, salvation was come to thy doors in the tenders of the gospel before, but it never came into thy soul till the day wherein thy heart opened to Christ by faith. And is not this matter of singular consolation? If salvation be not, what is? no wonder that the eunuch went home rejoicing when he had received Christ by faith, Acts
8:39 that the jailor rejoiced with all his house, Acts 16:34. Neither blame nor wonder at men for rejoicing, for it is the day of their salvation. It is true, their salvation is not finished that day, there may be many things yet to be done and suffered by them before the completing of it; but it is begun that day, the foundation is laid in the soul that day, and the topstone shall be set up with shouting in due time, crying, grace, grace, unto it.
VI. Consolation. The opening of a sinner's heart to Christ makes joy in heaven a triumph in the city of our God above; Luke 15:7. "I say unto you, likewise, that joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine just persons which need no repentance." As when a young prince is born, all the kingdom rejoices, the conduits run with wine, and there is all demonstration of joy and thankfulness in every city
and town: It is much more so in heaven, when a soul is born to Christ under the gospel. It is a satisfaction to the heart of the Lord Jesus, who new beholds more of the travail of his soul; and to all the angels and saints that another soul is espoused to him.
Beloved, when the gospel is effectually brought home by the Spirit to the heart of a sinner, and wounds him for sin, sends him home, crying, O sick, sick of sin, and sick for Christ; the news thereof is presently in heaven, and sets the whole city of God a rejoicing. Christ never rejoiced over thee before; thou hast wounded him and grieved him a thousand times, but he never rejoiced in thee till now; and that which gives joy to Christ may well be matter of joy to thee. And that is the sixth consolation.
VII. Consolation, And then 7thly, That day thy heart is unlocked, unbarred, and savingly opened by faith, that very day an intimate, spiritual, and everlasting union is made betwixt Christ and thy soul; from that day Christ is thine, and thou art his. Christ is a great and glorious person, but how great and glorious soever he be, the small and feeble arms of thy faith may surround and embrace him; and thou mayest say with the church, "My beloved is mine, and I am his:" For mark what he saith in the text, "If any man open to me, I will come unto him." That soul shall be my habitation, there will I dwell for ever. Thus will Christ dwell in your hearts by faith. What soul feels not itself advanced by this union with the Son of God? Hereby the believer becomes a member of his body, flesh and bones; this is an honour bestowed upon thy soul, above, and beyond all that honour that ever God bestowed upon any angel in heaven; to them Christ is an head by way of dominion, but to thee by way of vital influence. Angels are as the barons and nobles of his kingdom, but the believer his spouse, and all the angels of heaven ministering spirits unto such. That is the seventh consolation.
VII. Consolation. And then, 8thly, The opening of thy heart to Christ brings thee not only into union with his person, but into the state of sweet, soul-enriching communion with him. So he speaketh in the text,
"If any man open the door, I will sup with him, and he with me." Poor soul, thou hast lived many years in the world, and never hadst any communion with God till this day. Christ and thy soul hath been strangers till now. It is true, thou hast had communion with ordinances,
and communion with saints, but for communion with Christ thou couldest know nothing of it, till thou receivedst him into thy soul by faith.
Now thou mayest say, "Truly my fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John 1:3.
And thenceforth thy communion with men is pleasant and desirable.
IX. Consolation. The opening of a man's soul to Christ by faith is a special and peculiar mercy, which falls to the share, but of a very few. God hath done that for thee which he hath denied to millions; "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" i.e. to how small a remnant in the world, Isa. 53:1. And the apostle puts the work of faith among the great mysteries of godliness, among the wonders of religion, 1 Tim. 3:16. "Preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world."
The sound of the gospel is gone forth into the world; "Many are called, but few are chosen. There were many widows in Israel, in the days of Elias, but to none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow," Luke 4:25, 26. To allude to this, there were many hundreds that sat under the same sermon which opened thy heart to Christ, but it may be unto none of them was the Spirit of God sent that day, to open their hearts by faith, but unto thee; thou wilt freely acknowledge thyself as unlikely and unworthy as the vilest sinner there. O astonishing mercy!
X. Consolation. And then lastly, in the same day thy heart opens by faith to Christ, all the treasures of Christ are unlocked and opened to thee. In the same hour God turns the key of regeneration to open thy soul, the key of free-grace is also turned to open unto thee the unsearchable riches of Christ; then the righteousness of Christ becomes thine to justify thee, the wisdom of Christ to guide thee, the holiness of Christ to sanctify thee; in a word, he is that day made of God to thee, "Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. 1:30. "All is yours, for ye are
Christ's, and Christ is God's," 1 Cor. 3 ult. And thus I have shewed you some of those great things God doth for those souls that will but do this one thing for him, viz. open their hearts to receive Christ upon the tenders and terms of the gospel.