SERMON I
SERMON I
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me. ISAIAH 61:1
THIS text is that upon which our Lord Jesus himself preached to the congregation at Nazareth, Luke 4:16–19. And if we ask of whom the prophet spake, Jesus tells you, ver. 21, that it was of him. Though the prophet perhaps had an eye to himself, and to the promised deliverance from the Babylonish captivity; yet certainly Christ, and the spiritual deliverance by him, is the principal subject. Jesus is here described as the Mediator between God and man. In the words we have two things:—
1. The glorious qualifications of our Mediator: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." Here are the three persons of the Trinity distinguished. The Lord God, his Son, and his Spirit. Our Lord Jesus being both God and man, the Holy Spirit, with all his gifts, was put on the man Christ. At his baptism the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, Matth. 3:16. On him also the Spirit rested, and never again departed from him, but continued filling him at all times with graces and gifts for the discharge of his great trust. So that he says the Spirit is upon me, not is come upon me.—We have,
2. The reason of these glorious qualifications. This was, because they were necessary for the office to which he was called: "Because the Lord God hath anointed me." It behoved him to be both God and man. As he was God, he could have nothing added to him; but as he was man, it behoved him to be endowed with unparalleled qualifications for this unparalleled office.—Here consider his call to the work. The Lord anointed him, as prophets, priests, and kings were wont to be, and thus were called and set apart to their respective offices; in like manner was Christ called of the Father to the Meditorial works, not with material oil, as they were, but with the Holy Spirit, which was signified by that oil.—Again, consider his mission: the Lord sent him. He did not come unsent to the world; but his Father having called him, and furnished him for the work, sent him away to exercise his commission, and to perform his work.—Consider, next, the work he was called to, and sent out upon. Consider this work with respect to Christ himself; and it is threefold. First, As a prophet or preacher of the gospel, revealing the Father's mind. Secondly, A priest or healer, a spiritual physician, for sin-sick souls, to bind up the broken-hearted. Thirdly, As a king, to issue out proclamations, far more joyful than those of Cyrus to the captives, as the spiritual captivity and imprisonment is far worse than a corporal one.—Consider the work as it respects the different sorts of people with whom he has to deal; and it is twofold. First, Some of them have some good in them wrought by his Spirit; and of these, some are the meek, others are broken-hearted. Secondly, Some of them have no good in them, they are captives, prisoners to Satan. Both sorts are in his commission, as persons he has to deal with.—Consider this work as it respects the different cases of these sorts of persons; and it is fourfold. 1st, To the meek, he has to carry good tidings. 2dly, to the broken-hearted, he has to bind up their wounds. 3dly, To the captives he has to give deliverance, and 4thly, To the prisoners he has to open the prison doors. Thus he is, by the Father's special appointment, to give suitable help to each case. A more particular explication of these things will be given as we advance in the subject.
Now, here is a great work; and because of it, (or, as it is in the Hebrew, answerable to it), he is endowed with the Spirit, with his graces and gifts, without which he could not be qualified for it.
The subject of our present discourse, is our Lord's qualification for his work: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." Here our Lord commends himself to poor sinners, that they may come to him, and be happy in him. Who can commend him to purpose but himself? He commends himself to us, from the fulness of the Spirit lodged in him, as in Rev. 3:1, "And unto the angel of the church of Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars." As when the soul is gone, the body can move and act no more; so where the Spirit of God is gone from men, they can do no more good. While destitute of the Spirit, they are shut up under an uninterrupted barrenness. Now, this is the natural case of the whole world. To the world, then, under the want of the Spirit, Christ here makes public proclamation where the Spirit is to be found; as if he had said, "O all ye spiritless, lifeless sinners, dead to grace and goodness, be it known unto you, "the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." He says as Joseph said to his brethren, Gen. 45:9, and downwards. The Spirit came upon Moses and the prophets, but they could spare none of their oil; if they could, they could not have communicated it. But the Spirit is on me, as the oil in the cistern, to be dispersed by the pipes of conveyance to poor sinners who will come to me. This is indeed a proclamation of a well-stored and cheap market, to a country perishing under famine, to which they should all resort.
That this is the true intent of these words, appears first, Because it is plain from the original accentuation, that the principal purpose of the text, is not to shew why the Spirit was on Christ, (for in that case the chief stop within the verse had been at broken-hearted), but to shew, that the Spirit is on him, (for there the great stop is.) "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me," &c. Secondly, Because an amazing change is prophesied, in the preceding chapter, to come upon the church of the Gentiles; and so here follows the accounting for it: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me," to be communicated for effecting this change.
From this part of the subject, I observe the following
DOCTRINE, That the Spirit of God was eminently on Jesus Christ, to be communicated to poor sinners.
This was typified by the ointment poured out on the head of the High Priest, Psalm 133:2. Compare John 1:16.
For illustrating this doctrine, we propose,
I. To shew in what eminent sort the Spirit of the Lord was upon Christ the Mediator.
II. To confirm this point, That the Spirit is put upon Christ to be communicated.
III. I will consider the reasonableness and suitableness of this glorious device, of the Spirit's being put on Christ, to be communicated to poor sinners.—And then,
IV. We shall improve the subject.—We are,
I. To shew in what eminent sort the Spirit of the Lord was upon the Mediator.—Here we observe,
1. That the gifts and graces of the Spirit were conferred on Christ's human nature in a singular measure: Psalm 45:7, "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." What these are you may see, Isa. 3:2, 3. Others have had much of these, but never any so much of them as the man Christ, though they were not infinite, which is a property peculiar to the divine perfections. Thus his enemies were obliged to confess, that he spoke as never man spoke. And in this sense that testimony, John 3:34, "God giveth not his Spirit by measure unto him," may be applied even to Christ's manhood; namely, that God gives not his gifts and graces to him sparingly, as out of a measure, but with a full hand most abundantly.—We observe,
2. The fulness of the Spirit was upon the Mediator; and that is an infinite fulness, for he is God as well as man: Col. 2:9, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The Holy Spirit is an infinite Spirit of boundless perfections, all which Jesus Christ as God doth fully possess. The divine nature, an unfathomable depth of perfections, was united to the human nature in our Mediator; so that he has not only a portion of the Spirit, but the whole fulness of the Spirit, John 3:34. Saints have, and can have, by their measure; but the ocean of perfections, which knows no bounds, and all grace, were and was in him.—We observe,
3. That the Spirit was at all times alike on that Mediator. The Spirit came sometimes on the prophets, instructing them what to say, and exciting them to say it; but sometimes the spirit of prophecy did not blow, they had it not at their command: 1 Peter 1:21, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." See an instance, 2 Sam. 7:2–5, where the prophet Nathan knew not how to direct David, till the word of the Lord came to him. So the Spirit of sanctification in the saints, though he never departs from them, yet how often is there a dead calm in their souls, which requires them to say, as in Song 4:16, "Awake, O north wind! and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." But the Spirit rested on Jesus Christ, Isa. 11:2; it dwelleth in him, Col. 2:9. He never can be at a loss for want of the Spirit, whose waters in him are never shallow, but still continue alike deep. We observe,
4. That the Spirit is upon him in the fulness of a fountain, to be communicated to those who come to him: Zech. 13:1, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness:" so "Jesus breathed on his disciples," John 20:22, and said unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." All others, even the saints in heaven, have but the fulness of a vessel, what only may serve themselves. But he has the fulness of a spring, where the waters are ever flowing, and therefore can furnish all others who come to him, and yet have never the less to himself.—We come now,
II. To confirm this point, That the Spirit was in Christ to be communicated.—We observe,
1. That this is plain from scripture-testimony: Rev. 3:1, "He hath the seven spirits of God." All the saints have the Spirit of God. He dwells in each of them; if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, Rom. 8:9. But then this is quite another thing than the simple having of the Spirit. Christ hath the Spirit as he hath the seven stars, that is, at his disposal, to give them or take them from whom he will: Psalm 66:18, "Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell among them." Compare Eph. 4:8. Whence it is plain, that Christ received these gifts, received them to give them to men.—This is plain,
2. For Christ, as Mediator and surety of the new covenant, is a common person, as Adam was in the first covenant, who received the stock of all mankind in his hand, and lost it. Now, free grace has made up the stock again, and put it in a sure hand, where it never can be lost: Psalm 89:19, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty." He is the second Adam, and therefore the fulness of the Spirit and of his grace is put upon him, to be communicated by him to poor sinners.—Consider farther,
3. That Christ could not have been qualified to execute the office to which the Father had called him, without communicating the Spirit to those with whom he has to deal; therefore says the text, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath sent me to preach good tidings to the meek." How shall the poor meek ones, who see nothing in them or about them to recommend them to God, believe the good tidings, without the Spirit of faith? How can the broken-hearted have their wounds bound up without the healing spirit? How can the captives and prisoners be delivered, unless the Spirit break off their fetters.—Consider,
Lastly, That it is from Jesus Christ that all who partake of the Spirit do receive the Spirit; there is no other channel of conveyance: John 1:16, "Out of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." John 6:63, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth: the words that I speak unto you are spirit, and they are life." It is he who sends the Spirit, John 15:16. It is true, the Father is said to give the Spirit to them that ask him, Luke 11:13; but it is still in Christ's name, and for his sake, John 14:29. Therefore he is called the Spirit of God's Son, whom he sends forth into the hearts of his people.—We now proceed,
III. To consider the reasonableness and suitableness of his glorious device, of the Spirit being put on Christ to be communicated to poor sinners.
1. It is most suitable to the Father's honour, that guilty criminals partake of his Spirit through a Mediator. God looked on all the fallen race of man, and could be pleased with none of them: Psalm 14:3, "They are all gone aside; they are altogether become filthy." But behold his own Son became man! and he is well pleased with him, with his person and mediation, and therefore with sinners in him, Matth. 3:17. In Christ he meets with the sinner; and his justice being satisfied by him, he may, with safety to his own honour, communicate with the poor creatures, and they receive his Spirit, as members of his own Son, their glorious Head.
2. It is most suitable to the honour of the Son, who is appointed head over all things to the church, which is his body, Eph. 1:23. This is that honour which his Father has put upon him, that he be the great steward of heaven, the trustee for all the elect of God, the great dispenser of the Father's favours, to the objects of everlasting love. And as Pharaoh put an honour upon Joseph, by ordering his petitioners to go to Joseph; so does the Father put honour upon Christ, his own well-beloved Son, by a similar appointment.
3. It is most suitable to the honour of the Holy Spirit; for in this manner the gift of the Spirit appears to be by the infinite value of the blood of the Son of God: Rev. 5:6, "The Lamb slain hath seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." No receiving of this holy fire, but from the altar where a Saviour was slain. No communicating of that Spirit, but through the blood of the Redeemer.
Lastly, It is most suitable to the sinner's case; for Christ is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He is our near kinsman, through whom we come to God boldly: Eph. 3:12, "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." We are not able to behold an unvailed God, his glory would dazzle and confound us; but through the vail of the flesh of Christ we may behold him and live.—We now come,
IV. To a practical improvement of the subject. And this,
First, In a use for information.
1. This lets us see the transcendent glory and beauty of Jesus Christ. Pharaoh could say of Joseph to his servants, Gen. 41:38, "Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?" How does the firmament shine with the stars which sparkle in it! How beautiful is the earth, when decked with the variety of the gifts of nature in the spring! But what are all these to the Mediator's glory and beauty, in whom all the gifts and graces of God's Spirit do centre: Psalm 45:2, "Thou art fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured into thy lips." There is no man, however well qualified, that excels in all things, there is a want in every individual, but no want in Christ; Song 5:16, "Yea, he is altogether lovely." (Heb. He is all desires).—We may learn,
2. The absolute fulness and sufficiency of Christ to make the sinner who comes to him perfectly happy; he gives them rest, Matth. 11:28. There is a fulness of the Spirit in him to answer all their necessities, be what they will. Behold the whole constellation of gifts and graces in our exalted Redeemer. Every good gift, natural, moral, or religious, comes from this Spirit. Some have one gift of him, some another; but our Lord Jesus Christ has all, which is more than all the excellencies to be found in angels and men. And what can he want to bestow, who has the Spirit to give to those who come to him?—We may learn,
3. The freedom of grace in Christ. He has all, and he communicates all freely. The spring runs freely without price or hire. It is a pleasure to have a full breast sucked: and it is a pleasure to our blessed Redeemer to do good and to communicate to undeserving sinners.—We may see,
4. The absolute need we have of Christ. Ye are ruined without the Spirit, ye will pine away in your guilt, rust away in your corruptions, and, like dead corpses, be buried out of God's sight, if ye get not the Spirit; and ye cannot have the Spirit but from Christ. This is the only market opened to relieve your necessities.
Lastly, Ye are inexcuseable if ye continue without the Spirit, for you may have the Spirit if you come to Christ; but, alas! he may say of us, as John 5:40, "Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life." I would raise your dead souls, I would quicken you, I would make you as a well-watered garden: but alas! ye care not for the Spirit. Prov. 1:25, "Ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof."—We shall improve this subject,
Secondly, In a use of exhortation.
1. I would exhort you, then, to come to Christ, that ye may partake of his Spirit. Christ is saying to you this day, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." Come, and I will pour him out upon you. Alas for the want of the Spirit this day! it appears sadly in the whole church, in the congregation, in neighbourhoods, and in families. There is enough of a selfish, devilish, carnal, worldly, profane, and formal spirit, but little of a holy heavenly spirit, to be seen this day. But we may get the spirit, if we will by faith come to Christ for it. O that we were moving to him for this spirit!—To be more particular, we would exhort you,
1. Come to Christ, O thou dead and lifeless sinner, who art lying rotting under the power of thy lusts, who hast a heart within thee which cannot repent and mourn, or let go the dead grip it has taken of the world, and of sinful courses. His Spirit is a spirit of life, which will make the dry bones live, the withered soul flourish as an herb, the heart, which is like a clog now in duties, to be like the chariots of Aminadib: Eph. 5:14, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give thee light."
2. Come, drooping, fainting, dispirited soul, who art harassed with terrors, pierced with fearful apprehension, whose heart is like a stone, dying within thee. His Spirit is a spirit of light, life, and comfort: he binds up the broken-hearted, makes light to arise to those who go mourning without the sun, takes off the sackcloth, and girds with gladness.
3. Come, hard-hearted sinner, whom nothing can move, neither judgments nor mercies, who canst not mourn either for thy own sins, or the sins of the generation. His Spirit can soften the heart. He will take away your stony heart, and give you an heart of flesh. An outpouring of the Spirit would melt down the heart, and dissolve it in tears of godly sorrow, this would break the bands of iron and brass: Zech. 12:10, "And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants, of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son; and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born."
4. Come, tempted sinner, who art harassed with temptations, and art ready to say, One day I shall fall before this great adversary. The Spirit is a spirit of power, 2 Tim 1:7. It may be, that temptations come in on thee like a breaking forth of waters, threatening to sweep all before them; but come to Christ for his Spirit, who is able to stem the tide, to create peace, and to make thee more than a conqueror.
5. Come, unfruitful sinner. The Lord is at much pains with you by ordinances and providences, yet you are barren! you bring forth no fruit answerable to the pains of the Husbandman. What is the reason the Spirit comes not with the word and providences? But you may have the Spirit from Christ, and this would make you fruitful: Eph. 5:9, "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth." The blowing of that wind from heaven would make the spices flow out, Cant. 4:16, and cause you to make progress in your journey to the Zion above.
6. Come, unholy sinner. The Spirit which Christ has to give, is a spirit of holiness, Rom. 1:4. He works like water in washing the polluted soul, like fire in burning up corruption. He is the great principle of holiness, who works it wherever he comes, and makes of the very worst a vessel fit for the Master's use.
Lastly, Come to Christ for his Spirit, whatever your case be; you will find a suitable cure from him, by the fulness of the Spirit in him; he is suited for every case that is put in his hand: Col. 2:9, 10, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principalities and powers." He will be eyes to the blind, light to them that sit in darkness, legs to the lame, meat to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked; all in all.—To prevail with you in coming to Christ for the Spirit, I would offer you the following motives:—
MOT. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is absolutely necessary for you to have, you cannot want him, you must have him. The world may as well want the sun, moon, and stars, as you can want the Spirit; for without the Spirit ye can do nothing but sin. When the soul is away, the body is dead, and can do nothing but lie and rot in a grave: and when the Spirit of God is not in a man, he is dead in sin, and can do nothing but sin: John 6:63, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life." Ye cannot have a good and aceptable thought, nor perform any duty acceptable: John 4:24, "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." So that all pains are lost upon thee, as on the dead tree, to which summer and winter are alike.—Again, without the Spirit, ye are none of Christ's, Rom. 8:9, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." All those who are Christ's, they are sealed and marked with the Spirit of Christ: Eph. 1:13, "In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Men set their mark on their sheep, and therefore says one, If such a one be one of my sheep, it has such a mark; so says our Lord, If one of my sheep, he has my Spirit in him; and so without the Spirit, without Christ, and without the Father, therefore without the Spirit, without God in the world.—Farther, without the Spirit, ye are undone for ever: for so ye are without God, and therefore without hope, Eph. 2:12. The dead corpse may be kept a while, but when there is no hope of the return of life, it is buried in a grave; so, without the Spirit, ye may be kept a while through God's patience, but the end will be, to be east into the pit, and buried out of God's sight in fiery flames.
MOT. 2. You cannot have the Spirit but from Jesus Christ. The blessed Mediator is the bowl from which this holy oil is conveyed to all the lamps which burn with it. The Spirit, Bays he, is on me: 1 John 2:20, "But ye have an unction from the holy One, and ye know all things." Ver. 27, "But the anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in you." The Egyptians must have starved, if they had not been supplied with corn by Joseph, for he had all the corn at his disposal; and we must be for over without the Spirit, if we receive him not from Christ. The Spirit dwells in none but as members of Christ: and whence shall the members have life but from the Head?
MOT. 3. Ye may have the Spirit, and that freely, from Christ: Prov. 1:23, "Turn ye at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." And the promise is very bountiful, ye may have all free of cost: Rev. 22:17, "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." The Spirit on Christ is that water of life which gives life to the dead, and life more abundantly to the living; and the terms are, Ask of him, and he will give thee living water, John 4:10. Not only drops of the Spirit, but the Spirit poured out, floods of the same: Isa. 44:3, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." John 7:38, 39, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified)."
Lastly, By way of motive, if ye will not come to Christ for the Spirit, ye judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, ye are slighters of Christ, and dreadful will your reckoning be: Prov. 1:24–27, "Because I have called, and ye have refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." It will he more tolerable for those who never heard where they might partake of the Spirit than for you.
In conclusion, I shall only add the following directions:—
1. Pray earnestly for the Spirit, in the name of Christ; you have a promise of the Spirit; says God, by the prophet Ezekiel, "And I will put my spirit within you." And said Jesus, "If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more should your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Take courage, then, believe the promise, press it and depend upon it.
2. Unite with Jesus Christ, accepting him in the gospel-offer, and giving yourselves away freely to him. Bring your dead soul to the Lord of life, and he will breathe in it, and ye shall be like the dead man laid in the sepulchre of Elisha, who revived, and stood upon his feet, whenever he touched the prophet's bones, 2 Kings 13:21.
Lastly, Wait and look for the Spirit in Christ's ordinances, especially the preaching of the gospel. They who would have the wind to blow on them, go out into the open air; though they may for the present miss it, they wait till it blows, when in like manner exercised, then you shall know that the ministration of the Spirit is glorious, 2 Cor. 3:8. Amen.