Part 2
2. Behold here a broad and firm foundation of faith for all and every one of you; that you may come to Christ, whatever your case is, and claim his righteousness and his whole salvation for yourselves; that you may betake yourselves to him as the refuge appointed for you by the Father, from sin and wrath, with as much freedom as a stung Israelite might have looked to the brazen serpent; that you may wholly trust on him, that he will save you from sin and wrath. For he was sent of the Father Saviour of the world; and if by the Father's appointment he is Saviour of the world, he is by office your Saviour, and my Saviour, since we are members of that world of mankind: so that we may by faith claim his saving us from sin and wrath; as a scholar bred in a place may claim teaching of him who is appointed master of a free school in that place; as those of a congregation may claim preaching of their own minister; and as the wounded in battle may claim healing of their own physician, who has a commission to
be physician to their regiment. "For we testify, that the Father sent the Son Saviour of the world."
3. Sinners living in their sins, pining away, and about to perish eternally in them, are without excuse. For "we testify, that the Father has sent the Son Saviour of the world:" John 15:22. "If I had not come, and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin." Sinners are destroyed with their living and raging lusts, they are run down with them as with running sores, their souls are bleeding to death with them as with mortal wounds: in this case they hold on over the belly of their convictions; and they say, they cannot help it. One cannot help his swearing; another his sensuality; another his pride, passion, covetousness, gross ignorance, his old corrupt unrenewed heart. But the truth is, ye will not have it helped, John 5:40. "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." If ye cannot help it, ye have a Saviour who can help it, and would certainly help it if ye would employ him. Know it of a truth, if any of you shall perish, and if ye go on in your sins ye shall perish, ye shall not perish for want of a Saviour. At the tribunal of God, the devils may say, we could not be saved from our sins; for there was no Saviour appointed for us: the pagans may say, we could not be saved; for though we were within the compass of the Saviour's commission, yet we never heard of it, it was never intimated to us. But what will ye have to say, that ye are not saved from your sins; when your Saviour shall sit judge upon you, and condemn you, to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, for that ye would have none of him, nor his salvation; ye would not be saved from your sins, would not put your case in his hand; though he had his Father's commission to be Saviour of the world, and your Saviour, and it was read to you, ye would not receive
him as your Saviour, but would rather die in your sins than employ him?
4. Believers themselves may be ashamed and confounded, for that iniquity prevails so against them. Alas! it is a sad sign the Saviour is little employed among us. Little living by faith, makes little holiness of life. O look to that sin that so easily besets you, that has so often wrecked your soul's case: believe you have a Saviour for it, and employ him.
USE II. For trial.
Try whether the Saviour of the world by office is your actual Saviour; whether or not he has saved you. Think not that Christ puts off his saving of sinners till they come to heaven: true, they are not completely saved till they be there; but if your salvation by Christ is not begun here, you shall never get there: Tit. 3:5. 6. 7. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour: that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." And ye have no right before the Lord to his table, if he has not been a Saviour to you actually and eventually, in having saved you from sin and wrath initially, though not completely: for if it is not so, it is an evidence you have not received him as your Saviour; for no sooner is he employed by a sinner but he begins to save that sinner.
Mark 1. If Christ has really begun to save you, ye will have the saved man's thoughts of sin, and of the wrath of God. If a drowning man were pulled alive out of a water, or a filthy stinking puddle; and
standing at the side of it, looking to it after that gliff; what would be his thoughts of that water, that puddle, where he was once over head and ears, and almost gone? Such will be your thoughts of sin, and of the wrath of God. Ye will have awful and reverend thoughts of the wrath of God above all awful things: Heb. 12:28. 29. "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." For our God is a consuming fire." Matth. 10:28. "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Of all terrors it will be to you the most terrible. Those in the state of wrath, they are either so as they have lost their senses in it; they know not where they are, they are dreaming of some pleasant place; and so they go on peacefully in their sins, undisturbed with thoughts of wrath: or else they have some terrible apprehensions of it; but there is something more terrible; and therefore they will rather sin than suffer the hardships attending duty, yea attending mortification: or else their heart is fire-hot with the terror of the wrath of God, and in the meantime, at least, key-cold of love and child-like affection to the God whose wrath it is. But the saved soul looks on it as of all things the most awful, but in the meantime with a child-like reverence of and affection to that God whose wrath it is.
Mark 2. Ye will have a transcendent esteem of and love to your Saviour, 1 Pet. 2:7. "Unto you which believe he is precious." His conscience-purifying blood, his soul-sanctifying Spirit, will be more valuable to you than a thousand worlds. Ye will desire them above all things, pant and long after them, and aye more and more of them: and in comparison of them, all the world will be but trifles in your eyes, which ye would be content to part with to gain them: Matth.
13:46. "The merchantman when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." Luke 14:26. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Phil. 3:8, 9. "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
Mark 3. Lastly, Ye will be groaning under the remains of the disease of sin ye are saved from; your conscience will witness ye would fain be wholly rid of it, Rom. 7:24. "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" Your souls will be longing for the complete salvation; that the enemies you see to-day, ye may see no more for ever; that ye may get a complete victory over all your corruptions: Rom. 8:23. "We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
USE Last.
Receive the Lord Jesus, then, O sinners, in that character wherein his Father sent him, as the Saviour of the world, and your Saviour. Ye are lost in your sins, and lost under the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; come to him for his whole salvation. Employ him, put your case in his hand as your Saviour by the Father's appointment; and slight him no more.
Motive 1. Consider you need a Saviour. Your disease of sin will ruin you, if ye be not saved from it. The guilt of it will stake you down under wrath, and the wrath of God will sink you into hell. And while sin keeps its dominion over you, be sure the guilt is not removed: Matth. 9:12. "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Gen. 2:17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."
Motive 2. There is no Saviour besides Christ, Acts 4:12. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." All others are physicians of no value. All your own endeavours will not save you, nor any thing any creature can do for you.
Motive 3. He is able to save you, Heb. 7:25. "He is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him." Whatever be your case, there is infinite merit in his blood to take away the deepest guilt, 1 John 1:7. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." There is an infinite efficacy of his Spirit to sanctify the most unholy, 1 Cor. 6:11. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." If ye doubt it, ye dishonour Christ, and his Father who sent him, Psal. 89:19. "Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people."
Motive 4. He is willing to save you, Rev. 22:17. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water
of life freely." The only thing wanting is your willingness to be saved, Jer. 13:27. "Wo unto thee, O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?" There is no fear of being rejected if ye come, John 6:37. "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." He has taken on him the office of Saviour of the world, and he cannot refuse the business of it.
Motive 5. Lastly, Ye must either receive him as your Saviour from sin and wrath, according to his commission from heaven; or ye will be, and be held refusers of him for your Saviour, after his Father has nominated and commissioned him for that effect. Consider how ye will answer that before the judgment-seat.
Question. How shall I receive him, and employ him? Answer. By faith, by believing on him. Being convinced of your sin and cursed state, and desiring to be saved from both, believe Christ is your Saviour by his Father's appointment; and so wholly trust on him as a crucified Saviour, for his whole salvation, on the ground of God's faithfulness in his word.
THE NECESSITY OF SELF-DENIAL
A Sermon preached, on a sacramental occasion, at Galashiels.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. - LUKE 9:23.
THEY that are rash and indeliberate in their setting away after Christ among his followers, will readily be found to break away from him
again, and desert him, ere they come to the end of the course. Therefore our Lord Jesus fairly intimates here how he is to be followed of all that would come to the end of the course with him; that men may count the cost ere they begin to build; and lay their account with what they are to expect in his company, in the way to the kingdom. And in the words there is,
1. The case which this intimation refers to, "If any man will come after me." It is not the case of coming to Christ, as if none might come to him, or believe on him, till once they have denied themselves, and taken up their cross daily: for as none can come after Christ in the sense of the text, till once they have come to him; so none shall ever be able to reach these things, till once they have believed on him. But it is the case of coming after Christ; which is more than following him; and consists of two parts. (1.) Following him in the way to the kingdom, upon which one is set by believing. This part of it our Lord points at, Luke 14:26, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple;" as it is plainly imported in the expression. (2.) Coming in at his back into the kingdom; as the term to which Christ with his followers was moving: where he being set down, they also come in after him, and in his right. And this part of it is expressed, ver. 24, "For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."
2. What is necessary to that case, to one's following Christ in the way to, and coming in at his back into the kingdom of heaven. Two things are necessary thereto. (1.) Self-denial; "Let him deny himself," otherwise he will not follow me in the way to the kingdom: for I deny
myself, Rom. 15:3, "For even Christ pleased not himself; but as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." John 5:30, "I can of mine own self do nothing—I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." The original word is very forcible, "Let him deny away himself," like those that desert a party, to have no more to do with them, and content that all the world know it. They must deny themselves as the Jews denied Christ, Acts 3:14, "But ye denied the holy One, and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you." And how that was ye see, John 19:15, "But they [the Jews] cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him—we have no king but Cæsar." Away with self, crucify it: we have no king but Christ. They must deny themselves, as they must deny ungodliness, Tit. 2:12, denying its cravings, starving it, till it dwindle away into nothing. (2.) Taking up the cross daily, and following him with it on our back, "Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily;" otherwise he will not come in at my back to the crown; for so I go to it with the cross on my back, and that daily. The cross is any trouble or adversity which the Lord lays upon his followers.
Now, these things are necessary in this case, absolutely necessary; otherwise we do not follow Christ in the way to the kingdom, but self in the way to destruction: and so we cannot come in at his back to the kingdom, and there is no other way to get into it. They are universally necessary: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Be who they will, ever so delicate or dainty; they must lay their fair necks under this yoke, or perish.
3. The parties to whom this intimation is made: "He said to them all." Peter gave the occasion for this, by his rashness in advising or wishing Christ might spare himself as to the cross: for which he got a particular rebuke. But Mark tells us, that thereupon he called together the people, and his disciples also, chap. 8:34. And here he said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." The matter nearly concerning them all, as well as Peter, the intimation was made to all accordingly.
DOCTRINE. Whosoever will follow Christ in the way to the crown, and come in at his back to the kingdom of heaven, must of necessity deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Christ with it on his back.
Three things fall here to be considered. I. One's coming after Christ, which is the case put; II. One's denying himself; and, III. One's taking up his cross, and following Christ; which are the two things necessary in that case.
I. First, We are to consider the coming after Christ, which is the thing some do aim at, and all should. For clearing of that, consider,
1. Christ in the world was in the way to his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven: Luke 19:12. "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom." As he was God everywhere present, he was there even when on earth, John 3:13. "the Son of man which is in heaven:" but as he was man, he was but in his way to it. That was the joy set before him, which he had in view all along while he travelled through our wilderness-world.
2. Accordingly he was in the world, not as a native thereof, but as a stranger travelling through it, with his face always away-ward from it, home to his Father's house. Therefore, though he was sometime courted to set up for himself in it, he would not hearken to the solicitations to stay, and take his kingdom here. The Jews would have forced their kingdom on him, John 6:15; but he fled from it, departing into a mountain, where he was nearer heaven, out of the din of the world. Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world, Matth. 4:8, 9. but he rejected his proposal with indignation.
3. Our Lord Jesus made his way to his kingdom through many bitter storms blowing on his face in the world, and is now entered into it: Heb. 12:2—"who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." His life here was a life of sorrows; but now he has reached the fulness of joy. Death wrought on him all along to the grave; now it has no more dominion over him.
4. There is no coming into that kingdom, for a sinner, but at his back, in fellowship with him: John 14:6. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." If we pretend to come into it otherwise, justice will cast the door on our face, and tumble us down into the pit. He is the captain of our salvation, that is on the head of the whole company of the saved: he is the door of the sheep, and there is no entering but through him. So, "If any man will come after me," is in effect, If any man will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
5. Lastly, There is no coming in at his back into the kingdom, without following him in the way: Psal. 125:5. "As for such as turn aside unto
their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity." John 15:6. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." He is the author as well as the finisher of our faith; the chief guide in the way, as well as the giver of the prize at the end of the race. Certainly the merit of Christ is effectual on none unto salvation but those whom it conforms to his example. If we have any saving part in his death, we will be conformed to him in his life. Wherefore, since Christ went to his kingdom, denying himself, and taking up his cross, we must lay our account to go and do likewise, if we mind to be there.
II. Secondly, Let us then consider briefly, one's denying himself to come after Christ. And,
1. It implies two things. It implies,
1st, That Christ and self are contraries, leading contrary ways: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself." Self is Christ's great rival in the world; and no man can serve the two masters: he must either deny himself, and go after Christ; or he will deny Christ, and go after self. There is no compromising the matter betwixt the two: for Christ is the leader of God's upsetting; self of the devil's, when man fell off from God. Hence it implies,
2dly, That the self to be denied is our corrupt self, the old man, the unrenewed part; for that only is contrary to Christ. And, indeed it is not possible there can be any true self-denial but in sound believers, regenerate persons; in whom there is a renewed part, which is that which denies, and an unrenewed, which is that which is denied.
2. Wherein it consists. It consists in a holy refusal to please ourselves, that we may please God in Christ: for it is a denying of ourselves in competition: and God is the competitor, whom the selfdenying Christian prefers to himself, after Christ's example, Rom. 15:3. "For even Christ pleased not himself," &c. And it is God in Christ for whom a sinner denies himself, as saith the text: for an absolute God out of Christ being a consuming fire, with which we can have no comfortable communion, the sight of him frights away the sinner, and causeth self to gather together all its strength in its own defence against him; whereas the view of God in Christ draws the sinner to lie down at his feet in hope. Hence, in self-denial there is,
1st, Faith and hope, as the necessary springs thereof: Phil. 1:29. "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ,—to believe on him." Rom. 12:12. "Rejoicing in hope." Cut off these, and you cut off self-denial: for the heart of man will never quit hugging one's dear self, till it get a God to rest in; nor let go its gripes of what it has, till it have hope of better.
2dly, A practical setting up of God as our chief end; and a bringing down ourselves to lie at his feet: Psal. 73:25. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." This is true conversion, whereby a man is brought back to his primitive situation, out of which he was turned by sin, setting self on the throne as his chief end, and laying the honour of God at its feet. The which unnatural situation all natural men are in; their whole life being one uninterrupted course of practical blasphemy, making themselves their chief end, and God the means.
3dly, An unlimited resignation of ourselves unto God in Christ: 2 Cor. 8:5.—"first gave their ownselves to the Lord." Faith taking hold of God as our God, according to the measure of faith, the whole man is swallowed up in him; God is all, and we become nothing in our own eyes: the whole soul, the whole man, the whole lot, is resigned to him.
4thly, A refusing to please ourselves in any thing in competition with God; but denying the cravings of self, as they are contrary to what God craves of us: Tit. 2:12.—"denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts." And herein lies the exercise of self-denial, which there will always be occasion for while we are here. We may take it up in two generals.
1. Denying our self-wit, which is ready to crave of us a quite other belief and judgment than God demands of us by his word and works: Prov. 3:5. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." If we will come after Christ, we must in this case shut our own eyes, or refuse to believe our own eyes. So did Abraham, Rom. 4:17, 18.—"who against hope believed in hope," &c. There are two cases particularly wherein this self-wit is to be denied.
(1.) In the case of truths revealed in the word, be they never so mysterious: 2 Cor. 10:5. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." The want of this is causing many unhumbled men to make shipwreck of the faith at this day, to sap the foundations of Christianity in gratification of their self-wit. But the grace of God will make the greatest wits and profoundest scholars receive revealed truths like a child, if ever it
touch their hearts: Luke 18:17. "Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receieve the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."
(2.) In the case of wants, crooks, and hardships that we find in our lot. God in his providence says, that trial, cross, &c. is best for you: self-wit says, it is very bad; and thinks it sees well how that work of God might be mended, and made far better. And thus many walk in a course of contradiction to the judgment of God declared in his works of Providence. Holding fast by self-wit, they will not quit their opinion of the matter to him. That is walking after self-wit.
2. Denying our self-will, which is ready to thwart with the will of God. Therefore we are taught to pray, (Matth. 6:10.) "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." If we come after Christ, we must take God's will for our will, saying with him, (Matth. 26:39.)—"Not as I will but as thou wilt." There are two cases wherein we are particularly to deny our self-will.
(1.) In the case of duty, that we may comply with the will of God's command, however cross it may lie to our inclination: Rom. 7:22, 23, "For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." God's will must be a sufficient reason for our practice, and we must put the knife to the throat of all our contrary inclinations, Tit. 2:12, "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts."
(2.) In the case of our lot, that we may comply with the will of God's providence, Acts 21:14, saying, "The will of the Lord be done." He that made us must be allowed to manage our lot and condition; we
calmly and contentedly submitting our will to his, readily embracing what he carves for us. There is reason for it, Job 34:33, "Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose."
And this denying our self-wit and self-will must extend to three kinds of things.
1. To our civil comforts; such as, our outward peace, worldly substance, liberty, and credit, and the like: all which must be laid at the Lord's feet, to do with them as he will, take them from us, or continue them with us, if so be we will come after Christ: Luke 14:26, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."
2. To our natural enjoyments, as health, ease, relations, even life; all which also must be laid at the Lord's feet, to be disposed of as he will, not as we will, Luke 14:26, forecited.
3. To things of religion; not trusting in our own management for them, but depending wholly on the Lord, Psal. 127:1, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain;" nor making ourselves the chief end of them, but the honour of God, even as in all things else, 1 Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
And here two things are of special consideration. One is, that when we refuse to gratify our will, on some carnal motive that may feed some spiritual lust, as is the case in Popish austerities, that is not the
Christian self-denial; but a gratifying of self in one thing by denying it another: and that is a bias the heart is ready to slip aside to. Another is, that there is a denying of ourselves even in spiritual things; for there is nothing wherein self may not mix while we are here. This was called for at Mary's hand, John 20:17, "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father," &c. It was exercised by Paul, Phil. 1:23, 24, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Spiritual benefits are ever to be desired: but even in those things there must be an awful regard to the will of God. Say, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
USE 1. Is it so that there is no coming after Christ but in the way of men's denying themselves? then religion is no easy business, and there are few like to see heaven. It is not a way wherein men can be allowed that latitude and self-indulgence which most men cannot want. And they do but deceive themselves, who pretend to faith, or to have come to Christ, that are not exercised to deny themselves.
2. See and consider, communicants, what ye are to lay your account with in coming after Christ, which, in communicating at his table, ye say ye are resolved on. Lay your account with the struggle against self; giving up with self-wit, and self-will: and lay your account with your cross.
3. See a weighty errand ye have at the Lord's table, with respect to denying yourselves, and taking up your cross. Ay, say ye, we are to bind ourselves solemnly to these duties. I will not deny but ye are. But I doubt ye know your errand well anent these things, if that be
the main part of it: that should be, how to get strength for these duties, and to get a sealed possession of Christ and the promises for that effect. And believing is the way to attain that.
(1.) The more firmly ye believe on Christ, and apprehend God as your God in him, the more will ye be in case to deny yourselves, a and take up your cross.
(2.) It is by believing we at first become new creatures, 2 Cor. 5:17. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Eph. 2:10. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." And it is by believing that the new man grows. And so it is by it that there is a principle of self-denial, and by it one is strengthened to the exercise thereof.
(3.) Lastly, In this duty deny yourselves, and depend on the Lord.
III. Thirdly, We come now to consider one's taking up his cross, and that daily, and following Christ. Without this none can come after Christ to the kingdom of heaven, and in the way thereto. They who mind to come after him to mount Zion, must go as Simon the Cyrenian went after him to Calvary, Luke 23:26. bearing his cross.
We offer the import of this clause in these following things.
1. God will lay down the cross to every one that minds for heaven, that they shall have nothing ado but to take it up, John 16:33. "In the world ye shall have tribulation." They shall not need to make crosses to themselves, nor to go out of their way to seek a cross: God will lay it down at every one's door. He had one Son without sin, but no son
without the cross, Heb. 12:8. "But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." And God lays down the cross to be taken up by us; when it is brought to that, we must either suffer or sin, Heb. 10:35. "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."
2. He will lay it down daily to the followers of Christ, that they may have a daily exercise in taking it up, and bearing the cross of the day, Matt. 6:34. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." A change of crosses may be got, but there will be no end of them as long as we are here. Our wilderness-station may be changed indeed; but it will be but for another wilderness-station, till once we are over Jordan: Psal. 73:14. "For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning."
3. We must not be choosers of crosses. Every one must take up his own, allotted to him by sovereign wisdom, that is the best judge what cross fits us best. We are ready to think we could bear another cross better than that which is laid before us: but that is but a deceit of the heart, that is aye for shifting the present cross; and speaks a want of self-denial. But to strike the bottom out of this humour of picking and choosing crosses, know, that if God mind to take a particular trial of you for heaven and eternal life, and there be any one thing wherein, of all other things, ye are least able to be touched, God will choose your cross for you in that very thing: ye will be sure to be touched in the sore heel, and get rubs where ye are least able to abide them. And it is highly reasonable the trial should be there, when the competition is betwixt God and self. Mark 10:21. "One thing thou lackest; go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor;
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come take up the cross, and follow me."
4. We must not trample on the cross, and step over it, but take it up: Heb. 12:5. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord." The sullen manliness and Roman courage wherewith some bear their crosses is the produce of self-will, not of self-denial: and speaks contempt of God, not submission to him. When heaven is our party, it becomes us to stoop, and not to make our faces like flint, lest God be provoked to dash us in pieces.
5. Yet neither must we faint at the sight of the cross; for at that rate we will not be able to take it up: Heb. 12:5. "Nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." It is unbelief which causes that fainting, whispering into the soul at the appearance of the cross, Now, ye will never be able to bear that: and when that is received, the hands hang down, and the knees become feeble: and then the soul is next door to going out of God's way for relief, Heb. 12:12, 13. "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees: and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed." But know ye it for a truth, there is no cross whatsoever so heavy but we may get it borne acceptably: there is an allowance of proportionable strength made for it, to be fetched in by faith, 2 Cor. 12:9. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Phil. 4:13. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me."
6. As we must not go off the road of duty to shift the cross, so we must not stand still till it be rolled out of our way, but take it up, and go forward. It is easy going off the way, but not easy coming on again. There are quagmires of sin and sorrow on every side of the cross, where the shifters of it may come to stick, 1 Tim. 6:9, "But they that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." And to follow Christ in the summer of prosperity, and desert him in the winter of adversity, speaks self-love, not the love of Christ to be predominant in us; and will shew us to be time-servers, not servants of Christ: Job 17:9, "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger."
7. We must take up no more for our cross than what God lays down; not what Satan and our own corruptions lay to it: it will be our wisdom to shovel that off in the first place, and we will take up the cross the easier. God lays down barrenness to Rachel for her cross, Satan and her own corrupt heart lay a killing weight upon it, Gen. 30:1, "And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die." And then she is like to die in taking it up. O how often do men lay overweights on their cross, and then complain they are not able to heave it! Indeed, we are for the most part in the mist about our crosses, and then molehills appear mountains: but when the cross is cleared of what is laid to it, the naked cross turns little bulk; and he has it half up, that has it so cleared: 2 Cor. 4:17, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
8. But however heavy the cross be, we are not to refuse it. Our very life, which of all worldly things is dearest to us, must be laid at the Lord's feet, and we ready to part with it for Christ. The cross was an instrument of death, and that a most shameful and painful one: and the necessity of taking it up, says, that every true follower of Christ must be content to be a martyr; and will be so, either in action or affection. Luke 14:26, "If any man come to me, and hate not—his own life, he cannot be my disciple."
9. We must yoke with the cross willingly and submissively: God can lay it on us, whether we will or not; but he will have us to stoop, and take it up on us: James 1:2. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." When, by the providence of God, we fall into them, we must not be like the untamed bullock, on whose neck the yoke must be forced; but like the camel that bows down on his knees till the burden is laid on him, Lam. 3:29, 30, "He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him, he is filled full with reproach." So did Eli, 1 Sam. 3:18, "He said, It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good." This is done by a Christian submission of our will to the will of God in the matter.
10. We must bear it, going evenly under it, till the Lord take it down. It is what belongs to the Lord to take it off; it is our part to take it up. There must be an exercise of patience in our coming after Christ, Luke 21:19, "In your patience possess ye your souls." And patience must have her perfect work, enduring to the end, James 1:4.
11. Lastly, We must follow Christ with the cross on our back. The example of Christ's holy life is the compass by which we must steer
our course, if ever we get to the shore of Immanuel's land, 1 John 2:6, "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." And the hardships of the way through the cross will not excuse our going out of the way. However we be put to suffering, we must aye be doing in imitation of Christ.
USE. O Christians, communicants, and whosoever of you mind for the kingdom of heaven, lay your account with the cross; take it up meekly, and bear it after Christ. Think it not strange concerning the flery trial. The cross is a kindly name to a Christian: be reconciled to it. For that end consider,
1. The necessity of it, in virtue of the divine appointment: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." They that cast out with the cross, do in effect cast out with heaven. Though the way of the cross is a rough way, yet it is the highway, the only way to it. The fiery trial by the cross is that whereby God tries what metal is fit to be made a vessel of glory, and what not: and it is a dreadful thing to be casten here as base metal, Jer. 6:29, 30, "The bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them."
2. Christ bore the cross before you, for your sake; and shall it be such a frightful thing for you to bear it after him, for his sake? If ye would partake of his crown, will ye refuse your part of his cross? Rom. 8:17, "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." It is highly reasonable Christ's followers be like him in the way to the kingdom, as well as glorified with him in it. If the head
bore a cross, it were unbecoming the members to go without one. When he was a man of sorrows, can his followers expect to be men of joys here? Will the world, that was a step-dame to him, be a natural mother to us?
3. Consider the relation your crosses and troubles have to the cross of Christ, O believers.
(1.) They are the cross set up again to Christ, upon which his members are now suffering: Col. 1:24. "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church." And the cross, piercing his members, cannot miss to touch the head, Is. 63:9. "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them, all the days of old." Zech. 2:8. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye." This view of the cross, in which Christ himself appears on it with us, may render it more lovely.
(2.) They are Christ's cross to you, as he left it. Christ in person took up the cross, and there was a curse in it when he took it up: he takes off the curse, and leaves it; and bids you take it up next. O believer, the tree is left thee, but the curse is away; the nails are left, but the venom they were dipt in is away. Though bulls should push you, the horns wherewith they pushed him are cut off. Though crosses of all sorts should meet together in your case, the soul and life which the flery law breathed into them is gone.
(3.) They grow out of the cross of Christ. Ye will, may be, not expect the Christian's bitter troubles among the fruits of Christ's cross: but mistake it not: they must either be blessings or curses. Curses they are not, Gal. 3:13. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;" therefore they are blessings: and if blessings, from whence else can they drop? Eph. 1:3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." It was by the blood of his cross he procured the covenant-blessings to his people, and the cross among the rest, Psal. 89:30–33. "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." We might welcome the cross in this view.
4. The cross is for the destruction of the old man, not of the new man. It is a cross to our corruptions that is much needed: but no real grace ever yet died by the cross. As the candle shines brightest in the night, and the fire burns keenest in a keen frost; so grace has ordinarily thriven best under the cross. It is indeed a cross to our corrupt will, that never goes right while it gets head: it is a cross to particular lusts, that should be mortified, Gal. 5:24. "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts:" and both these need to be crossed.
5. It has been the lot of the saints in all ages. And there is no shifting of the cross, if we will go out by the footsteps of the flock. Yea, and ordinarily they that have been most dear to God have drunk deepest of the bitter cup; the most eminent for piety and usefulness, as Job;
for piety and parts, as Heman and Paul; for divine manifestations made to them, as Jacob and David.
6. Lastly, Public persecution for the cause of Christ is what most now alive never saw, far less felt; though our fathers had a long and dark night of it. But the way to heaven is still the same; and therefore no wonder God is making up that want another way in the case of his people; and what trial formerly he took of them, by persecutors, prisons, and gibbets, he is taking the same upon the matter of them now, by other means.
I will conclude by giving you some helps to bear the cross.
Help 1. Look on yourselves as strangers on earth; and keep your eye on Christ, as he went through the world; and upon heaven, as your home, where only ye expect your rest.
2. Quit not faith's gripe of the promise of through-bearing: Is. 43:2. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Believe firmly, that Christ lays on no cross without allowance of ability for acceptable bearing it; plead and look for it.
3. Lastly, Set the cross in the light of the word, and look in through it, till ye see the pleasure in it that Paul assures us from his experience to be within it, 2 Cor. 12:10. "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." Why, (1.) There is a pleasure in a man's seeing himself standing a candidate for glory,
on his trials for heaven. (2.) In seeing a gracious God cross our corrupt inclinations; in seeing the thieves on the cross, and the hand of God darting one arrow after another into their heart. (3.) In seeing ourselves pass the mountains, where we see the marks of Christ's own footsteps before us. Such a paradise there is within the thorn hedge of the cross.
THE OLD AND THE NEW MAN IN
BELIEVERS
A Sermon preached, on a sacramental occasion, at Maxton, in the year 1729.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. - ROM. 6:6.
THE sanctification of sinners is no less a mystery than their justification: the former springing out of the cross of Christ unto them, through the intervention of faith knitting the sinner to a crucified Christ, as well as the latter. Hence the apostle—having asserted the insurance, of the sanctification of believers, that they shall certainly walk in "newness of life," ver. 4; in "the likeness of Christ's resurrection," ver. 5, i. e. as Christ, during the forty days after his resurrection, lived in the world after a new manner, very different from his manner of life in it before his death—brings the ground of it from the cross of Christ, in the words of the text. In which we have,
1. The ground insuring holiness of life in believers united to Christ, "Our old man is crucified with him." This secures their holiness of life, in such manner as the drying up of the fountain doth the drying up of the streams.
(1.) The state the fountain of sin is in believers, "Our old man is crucified with him." This supposeth that Christ was crucified; that in believers there is a twofold man, a new man, and an old; for while he saith, "our old man," he intimates that the old man is not the whole man, as in the unregenerate. The new man is the new creature of grace in the believer, or he as renewed. The old man is the corruption of nature, or he as unrenewed. This old man is the fountain of sin in his heart and life.
Now, the state it is in is a state of crucifixion; it is nailed to the cross, which is a state of death. And its crucifixion is a concrucifixion with Christ, Gal. 2:20. "I am crucified with Christ." In so far as the believer is by faith united to Christ, his old man is nailed to the cross of Christ, to fare here as Christ fared: and that was heavy fare.
(2.) The issue of this state of the fountain of sin in believers. It is twofold.
1st, The final issue, "That the body of sin might be destroyed." The old man is the body of sin, being a complication of the several sinful lusts opposite to the holy law, as the body is of members competent to the human frame. Now, the final issue of this state of the old man, the body of sin, is its destruction and utter ruin. Crucifixion is not present death indeed, but it is sure and certain death. Pilate would have "chastised Christ, and released him," Luke 23:16. but the Jews would have him crucified, for that would carry him quite away from
among them: even so the old man is not to be corrected and amended, but destroyed quite and clean.
2dly, The intermediate issue, "That henceforth we should not serve sin;" that from the moment of our union with Christ we should not serve sin any more, voluntarily living in it, and giving up ourselves to it as its servants, to live and act for satisfying it, as we did before. The old man may live long on the cross before he be destroyed: but then his hands and feet cannot serve him as they did before, there are nails driven through them; he may move them indeed, but then it is with pain and difficulty. So was it with Christ; he behoved to recommend his mother to the care of his beloved disciple John, for that his own hands and feet were not at liberty to act and go for her as formerly.
2. The certainty concerning this ground, "Knowing this." It is not a matter of uncertain hope, but known for truth. It could not be known by sense; no bodily eye could discern our old man on the cross with Christ: nor yet by rational deduction from natural principles; for the whole mystery of Christ is supernatural. Therefore it is known by faith upon divine testimony; it is a conclusion of faith to be laid down for invigorating us in all our endeavours after holiness of life, and to be firmly held and stuck by in all our struggles with the old man, as ever we would desire to make head against him.
That I may touch the several purposes of this text, I shall offer them in several doctrines to be briefly handled.
DOCTRINE I. "There is in believers united to Christ a new man, a holy principle; and an old man, a fountain of sin.
I. Why the holy principle and the corrupt nature in believers are called the new and old man?
1. They are called men, because each of them possesseth the whole man, though not wholly. There are by their means two I's in every believer, Rom. 7:15. "For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate that do I." There is not one part of the man that is in Christ, but grace has a part of it, and corruption has a part of it: as in the twilight there is light over all, and darkness over all too, the darkness being mixed in every part with the light. So my renewed part is I, a man having an understanding enlightened, a will renewed, affections spiritualized, using my body conformably: but my unrenewed part is I too, having an understanding darkened, a will rebellious, affections corrupted, and using my body accordingly.
2. They are called the new and old man, for two reasons.
(1.) Because the new nature is brought in upon the corrupt principle, which was the first possessor. The corrupt nature is of the same standing with ourselves from the conception and birth, and possessed us alone till our union with Christ by faith. And then only came in the new nature, and that made the former old.
(2.) Because of their different originals; the one being in us from the corrupt first Adam, the other from the holy second Adam. So the believer, looking on the corruption of his nature, may call fallen Adam father; and on the new creature in him, he may call Christ father. The second Adam coming after the first, made the first old: so the produce of them in us is the old and new man accordingly.
II. How the believer comes to be thus split in two, two men. This is done by virtue of his union with Christ, from whence ariseth a communication of grace to him from Christ, 1 Cor. 1:30. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Concerning which two things are to be noted.
1. That in the moment of one's union with Christ by faith, there is communicated to him, out of the fulness of grace in the man Christ, a measure of every grace in him, as the wax impressed receives every point in the seal, John 1:16. "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Eph. 4:13. "Till we all come—unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." And thus is the new creature formed, being a new man perfect in parts, entire or having all its members, no grace totally wanting.
Hence it is that the new man is formed immediately after Christ's image, so that it is the very picture of the man Christ, as Eve was of Adam. Therefore the forming of it is said to be the forming of Christ in the believer, Gal. 4:19.
2. That yet there is not then, nor during this life, communicated to the believer a full measure of any grace, 1 Cor. 13:9. "For we know in part." So all the graces being imperfect, though they remove sin as far as they go, they cannot fill up the room in any part, mind, will, or affections. And thus is there an old man left in the believer still, Rom. 7:14. which is the image of the first Adam, from whom the corruption composing it is derived.
USE 1. Hence see, that the believer's life while here cannot miss to be a struggling life, Gal. 5:17. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." The believer is like. Rebekah in another case, the two men struggle in him; and like the two armies in the Shulamite.
2. See here the rise of the peace and easy life of it most men have. The flesh in them has no competitor. In the state of glory, grace has all, so there is a perfect peace: in the state of nature, corruption has all; so there is peace too; except what is marred by the struggle between the flesh in one part lusting, and the flesh in another part fearing, as in Balaam, 2 Pet. 2:15. "who loved the wages of unrighteousness." Compared with Numb. 22:18. "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more." Whereas the struggle in the believer is betwixt the flesh and Spirit in the.same part willing, and willing the same thing of their proper motion, Rom. 7:15, 16. forecited.
DOCT. II. The old man in believers is a body of sin, an entire body, lacking none of its members, Rom. 7:24. "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" This appears from the account of it already given. As we derive every grace from the second Adam in our regeneration, so every corruption from the first Adam in our natural generation.
USE 1. This may serve to humble believers, when they are at their best. There is an entire body of sin in them while they are here. Do they excel in any grace? yet there is in them a member of the old man opposite to it, as passion in meek Moses. Have they every grace in them? They have every corruption too, though every one does not
appear, more than every grace. Therefore they have need to watch against all sin whatsoever; for there is never a snare in the ill world but there is a member of the old man ready to fall in with it, Col. 3:5. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness," &c.
2. No wonder the believer groans being burdened, having a whole body of sin carrying about with him. And they that groan not under it are certainly all flesh; no new man in them. If ye belong to Christ ye cannot want an errand to him for sanctification. Ye have a body of sin to lay before him, which he alone can destroy.
DOCT. III. The old man in believers is crucified with Christ. This bears two things.
I. Christ was crucified. He not only died for us, but died for as the cursed, painful, shameful, lingering death on the tree of the cross; which we are met to commemorate. Christ was put to this death for us, rather than another kind of death.
1st, That the first sin that let in all sin into the world might be the more clearly read in the punishment. When ye consider the awful and tremendous dispensation of the Son of God, the second Adam, hanging naked on a tree, and dying there at great leisure in exquisite pain, can ye miss to see the fiery wrath of God against the sin of that naked pair in paradise, pleasuring themselves in the fruit of the forbidden tree, and in an instant defacing the image of God in them?
2dly, That the whole world might see what a low and hard state Christ took on him, putting himself in our room. We were bond-men under the curse, and Christ took on him our state of servitude, and
that under the curse becoming a bond-man for us under the curse, Philip. 2:7. "He took upon him the form of a servant." Hereof the death on the cross was the sign and badge, being the punishment of slaves, and accursed in the law. And to make way for this circumstance, the Jews were subjected to the Romans.
USE 1. Remember a crucified Christ, enter this night deep into the thought of the Son of God hanging, groaning, dying on a cross for us. Admire the matchless love in it. Behold the severity of divine justice against sin in it. Prize the salvation so dearly bought, and receive it with thankfulness.
2. Think not strange, if ye have a crucified life in the world. If ye are Christians, followers of Jesus, why should ye think strange of it, to be thus conformed to your head?
II. The old man in believers is crucified together with him. Here we are to inquire how it is crucified with him; which take in the following particulars.
1. Christ hung on the cross as a public person, a representative of his spiritual seed. For he was the second Adam suffering, as the other the first Adam sinning. So that as they sinned in Adam, they suffered in Christ; the law having them all on the cross in Christ their representative, Gal. 2:20. "I am crucified with Christ."
2. Christ hanging on the cross had the body of all their sins upon him, your old man, and my old man. They were on him by the imputation of the guilt of them, though not inherent in him, 2 Cor. 5:21. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Therefore our old man is said to be crucified, not in him, but with him.
3. While he was hanging on the cross, he was meritoriously doing away the guilt of them, and consequently the power, pollution, and very being thereof; inasmuch as the guilt being removed, these must cease of course. For the strength of sin is the law, whereby it stakes down the sinner under the curse, 1 Cor. 15:56.
4. The sinner being united to Christ by faith, the merit and virtue of Christ's suffering on the cross is actually applied to him. So that, his guilt being removed, there is a reigning principle of grace planted in him, going through the whole man, whereby the dominion of sin is broken, Rom. 6:14. and the pollution removed so far as that new man goes, Tit. 3:5. So that the believer is an image of Christ on the cross, full of grace in him, and of sin on him; but the former working off the latter.
USE 1. See then, O communicants, that the crucifying of the old man, the body of sin in you, depends entirely on your uniting with Christ by faith. The sacrament is appointed to seal and strengthen that union. Therefore your great business at the table should be, closely to knit with a crucified Christ. The more of that, the more will the death of sin be hastened on. And they that aim not at the destruction of sin in their communicating, while they pretend to remember a crucified Saviour, forget the end of his crucifixion, viz. that the body of sin, being crucified with him, might be destroyed.
2. The old man in believers is in a state of death, though not dead outright. It is crucified with Christ. It may move and stir in them, and vehement struggles it may make, as a dying man struggling with the
mortal disease: but whatever efforts it make, it is on the cross, whence it shall not come down till it breathe out its last.
3. The practice of religion is painful work; and Christians must not think it strange, that oft-times they are pained to the heart in it. The saints in glory have no pain in their work; for the old man is destroyed in them: but the saints here have an unrenewed part; and that is on the cross, and cannot but pain them. There are right eyes in them to be plucked out; the man has a painful struggle in denying himself, crossing his own inclinations, wrestling against his own flesh and blood. Providence thrusts a spear into the old man's side, by piercing trials and troubles; it breaks his legs by cutting disappointments from many airths, to forward his death. This cannot be but painful.
4. The old man is long a-dying out; for crucifying is a lingering death. There must be an exercise of patience in the Christian course; for there may be many a battle ere the complete victory be got. Many a wound the old man will take ere he fall; and after he is worsted again and again, he will get up and renew the battle, till he get the final stroke from the Lord's immediate hand.
It is a grave question, Why doth the Lord suffer the old man of sin to dwell in his people after their conversion? Why is not sin quite expelled at the first entry of grace? Our text affords one weighty reason for it, viz. that the members may be conformed to the head. Christ did not put off the body of our sins, that by imputation lay on him, at his very first encounter with it: nay, he had a grievous struggle with it for the space of three hours on the cross, till he himself got the first fall, dying by its hand on the cross. Nay, if we
reckon rightly, it lay heavy on him the space of thirty-three years; only upon the cross was the heat of the battle, which ended in his death and burial, whereby he put it off quite and clean. So, since imputed sin was on Christ the head all his life, inherent sin is left in believers, the members, all their life. The old man is crucified with him.
DOCTRINE IV. By virtue of the cross of Christ, the old man in believers shall certainly be destroyed quite and clean at length. Here we may inquire,
I. What destruction is that that is certainly abiding the old man in believers? It is an utter destruction of it, with all effects of it, all marks and vestiges of it, all belonging with it to the old Adam.
1. The old man himself shall be destroyed, utterly destroyed, out of all that are Christ's; so that though he has many a time trode them like a field of battle, there shall not be in them the least print of his feet to be discerned, Heb. 12:23. "The spirits of just men made perfect." The day will come, when there shall not be the least guilt of it on them, to draw a frown from their Father's face against them, (Is. 33 ult. "The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity"); when it shall have no power to prevail over them in the least: nay, when it shall no more have an indwelling in them, Heb. 12:23. forecited; but shall be utterly east forth as an abominable branch. So the new man shall possess all alone, without a competitor for ever.
2. The sinful vile body derived from old Adam, which brought him down from Adam to us, Psal. 51:5. and continues to the end the best friend he has in believers, shall be destroyed for his sake. The soul
shall leave the sinful flesh to be carried into the grave, where it shall rot and consume, till it return to the dust again, so as not the least lineament of old Adam's image or likeness shall be discerned on it. And Christ will take the same dust thus purified, and form it anew after his own likeness as second Adam, Phil. 3:21.
3. The visible heavens that covered him, and this earth that bore him, and furnished fuel to his lasts, shall for his sake be set on flames, and reduced to ashes, 2 Pet. 3:10. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." Compare Gen. 3:17. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." So that it shall no more for ever be to be said, There is the earth where the old man some time lived, and there the heavens that gave him light and air. But Christ will make new heavens and a new earth for the new man, 2 Pet. 3:13. "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."