SERMON VII.
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SERMON VII.
Treats of the Solemn CONSECRATION of the MEDIATOR.
JOHN xvii. 19. And for their fakes Ifanctify myself.
ESUS Christ being fitted with a body, and authorized by J a commission, now actually devotes, and sets himself apart to his work.
In the former sermon you heard what the Father did ; in this you shall hear what the Son hath done towards the farther advancement of that glorious design of our salvation : He sanctified himself for our fakes.
Wherein observe, (1.) Christ's sanctifying of himself.
(2.) The end or design of his to doing.
1. You have Christ's sanctifying of himself.
The word αγιαζω is not here to be understood for the cleansing, purifying or making holy that which was before unclean and unholy, either in a moral sense, as we are cleansed from finby fanctification; or in a ceremonial sense, as persons and things were sanctified under the law; though here is a plain allusion to those legalrites: But Christ's fanctifying himself, imports,
(1.) His separation, or setting apart to bean oblation or sacrifice.
So Beza, nempe utfacerdos et victim a, as the priest and sacrifice.
I sanctify myself, imports, (2.) His confecration, or dedication of bimselfto this holy use and service *.
So the DutchAnnotations, I sanctify myself (i. e.) I give up myself for a holyfacrifice.
And to ourEnglishAnnotations, Ifanctify, (i. e.) I consecrate and voluntarily offer myself a holy and unblemished sacrifice to thee for their redemption. And thus under the Law, when any day, person,or vessel was consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, it was tointirelyfor his use and service, that to use it afterward in any common service,was to profane and pollute it, as you see Dan. v. 3 .
2. The end of his so sanctifyinghimself [for theirfakes, and that they might be sanctified†] where you have the Finis cujus,
* To sanctify, is to separate or set apart fordivineuses.
Brentius on this place.
† The meaning then is this, I sanctify myself, i. e. for their fakes
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Christ is fo in love with holiness, that at the price of his blood he will buy it for us.
Hence the observation is ; Doct. That Jesus Chriftdid dedicate, andwhollyset himself a part to the work ofa Mediator, for the elects fake.
This point is a glass, wherein the eye of your faith may fee Jesus Christ preparing himself to be offered up to God for us, fitting himself to die. And to keep a clear method, I shall open these two things, in thedoctrinal part; First, what his sanctify. ing himself implies: Secondly, How it respects us.
First, What is implied in this pharse, " I sanctify myself,"
And there areleventhings carried in it.
1. This phrase [" sanctify myself"]implies thepersonalunion of the two natures in Christ : For what is that which he here calls himself,but the fame that was consecrated to bea sacrifice, even his human nature ? This was the sacrifice.
And this also was himself: So the apostle speaks, Heb. ix. 14. "He through the " eternal Spirit, offered up himself to God, without spot."
So that our nature,by that assumption, is become himself.
Greater honour cannot be done it, or greater ground of comfort propofedtous. But having spoken of that union in the former sermon, shall remit the reader thither.
2. This sanctifying, orconfecrating himself to be a sacrifice for us, implies, the greatness and dreadfulness of that breach which fin made betwixt God and us. You fee no less a sacrifice than
Christ himself must be sanctified to make atonement. Judge of the greatness of the wound by the breadth of the plaifter.
" Sacrifice and offering, and burnt-offering for fin, thou wouldst " not; but abody haft thou prepared me," Heb. 8. 5. All our repentance, could we shed as many tears for fin, as there have fallendropsofrain since the creation, could not have been our atonement: " But God was in Christ reconciling the world
" in himself." And had he not sanctified Christ to this end, he would have sanctified himself upon us, in judgment and fury forever. fakes I die, that they by my death maybe filled with the Spirit of. holiness, and may become holy vessels of God, by the Spirit of God revealed.
Marlorat. on this placet
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3. This his fanctifying himself, implies his free and volunta. ry undertaking of the work.
It is not, I am sanctified, as if he had been merely passive in it, as the lambs that typedhim out were, when pluckt from the fold ; but it is an active verb he useth here *, I sanctify myself; he would have none think that he died out ofa necessity of compulsion,but out of choice :
Therefore he is said to " offer up himself to God," Heb . ix..
14.
And Johnx. 18. " I lay down my life of myself : no man " taketh it from me." And although it is often said his Father sent him, and gave him ; yet his heart was as much set on that work, as if there had been nothing but glory, ease and comfort in it ; he was under no constraint, but that of his own love.
Therefore, as when the scripture would set forth the willingness of the Father to this work, it faith, Godfent his Son, and God gave his Son ; so when it would set forth Christ's willingness to it, it faith, he offered up himself, gave himself, and, here in the. text,sanctified himself.
The sacrifice that struggled, and came not without force to the altar, was reckoned ominous and unlucky by the Heathen : our sacrifice dedicated himself; he died outofchoice, and was a free will offering. '
4. His fanctifying himself, implies his pureandperfect holiness ; that he had no spot or blemish in him.
Those beasts that prefigured him, were to be without blemish, and none else were consecrated to that service. So, and more than so, itbehoved Christ to be, Heb. vii. 26. "Such a High Priest became us, who is
" holy, harmless, undefield, separate from sinners :" And what it became him to be, he was. Therefore, in allusion to the lambs. offered under the law, the apostle calls him a Lamb without blemish, or spot, 1 Pet. i. 19. Every other man hath a double spot on him, the heart-spot, and the life-spot; the spot of original, and the spots of actual sins. But Christ was without either, he had not the spot of original fin, for he was not by in an ; he came in a peculiar way into the world, and so escaped that : nor yet of actual fins ; for, as his nature, so his life was spotless and pure,
Ifa. liii. 9. " He did no iniquity." And though tempted to fin externally, yet he was never defiled in heart or practice ; he came as near it as he could for our fakes, yet still without fin,
Heb. iv. 15.
If he sanctifies himself for a sacrifice, he must be as the law required, pure and spotless.
5. His fanctifying himself for our fakes, speaks the strength of his love, andlargeness of his heart to poorfinners, thus to set himSelf wholly and entirely apart for us : tothatwhathedid and * Έγω αγιαζω εμαυτον.
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suffered, must all of it have a respect and relation to us. He did not(when consecrated for us)live a moment, do an act, or speak a word, but it hadfome tendency to promote the great design of our salvation. He was only and wholly, and always doing your work, when consecrated for your fakes.
His incarnation respects you ; Ifa. ix. 6. " For to us a child is born, to us a son is
"given."
And he would never have been the son of man,but tomakeyou the sons and daughters of God. God would not have come down in the likenessoffinful flesh, in the habit ofa man,but to raise up finfulmaninto the likeness of God. All the miracles he wrought were for you, to confirm your faith. When he raised up Lazarus, John xi. 42. " Because of the people which " standby, I faidit, thattheymight believe that thou hast sent
" me." While he lived on earth, he lived as one wholly set apart for us ; and when he died, he died for us,Gal. iii. 13. " he was
" made a curse for us." Whenhehanged on that cursed tree, he hanged there in our room, and did but fill our place. When he was buried, he was buried for us : for the end of it was, to perfume our graves, against we come to lie down in them. And when he rose again, it was, as the apostle faith, " for ourjustifi
" cation," Rom. iv.25.
When he ascended into glory, he protested it was about our business, that he went to prepare places for us : and if it had not been fo, he would have told us, John xiv. 2. And now he is there, it is for us that he there lives; for " he ever lives to make interceffion for us," Heb. vii. 25.
And when he shall return again to judge the world,he will come for us too. "He comes(whenever it be) to be glorified in his saints,
" andadmiredinthem that believe," 2 Theff. i. 10. He comes to gather his faints home to himself, that where he is, there they all may be, in foul and body with him for ever. Thusyoufee how, as his confecration for us doth speak him set apart for our use; fo he did wholly bestow himself, time, life, death, and all upon us; living and dying for no other end, but to accomplish this great work offalvation for us.
6His fanctifyinghimselfforus plainly speaks thevicegerency of his death, that it was in our room orstead.
When the priest confecratedthe sacrifice, it was set apart for the people.
So 'tis faidfor the scape-goat; "And Aaronshalllayboth his hands up66 on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the i- " niquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions
" in all their fins,putting them upon the head of the goat, and " shall send him away by the hand of a fitman into the wilder- " ness," Levit. xvi. 21. Thus Ifa. liii. 6, 7. He stood in our
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room, to bear our burden. And as Aaron laid the iniquities of the people upon the goat, so were ours laid on Christ :It was said to him in that day; On thee be their pride, their unbelief, their hardness of heart, their vain thoughts, their earthly-mindedness , &c.
Thou art consecrated for them, to be the sacrifice in their room.
His death was in our stead, as well as for our good. And so much his sanctifying himself [for us] imports.
7. His fanctifying himself, imports the extraordinariness of his person: for it speaks him to be both priest,facrificeand altar, all in one : a thing unheard of in the world before.
So that his name might well be called Wonderful.
Ifanctify myself : I sanctify, according to both natures ; myself, that is, my human nature, which was the sacrifice upon the altar of my divine nature; for 'tis the altar that fanctifies the gift. As the three offices never met in one person before, so these three things never met in one priest before. The priests indeed consecrated the bodies of beasts for sacrifices, but never offered up their own souls and bodies as a whole burnt-offering, as Christ did.
And thus you have the import of this phrase, 1sanctify myself for theirfakes.
Secondly, I shall shew you briefly the habitude and respect that all this hath to us ; for unto us the scriptures every where refer it.
So in 1 Cor. v. 7. " Christ our passover is sacrificed " for us." Eph . v. 2. " He loved the church, and gave himself
" for it ." See Tit. ii. 14. This will be made out, by a threefold consideration of Christ's death.
And, 1. Let it be considered, that he was not offered up to God for his own fins : for he was most holy.
Ifa. liii. 9. No iniquity was found in him.
Indeed, the priests under the law offered for themselves, as well as the people; but Christ did not so,
Heb . vii. 27. " He needed not daily, as those High Priests, to " offer up sacrifice, first for his own fins, and then for the peo- " ples." And indeedhadhebeen a sinner, what value or efficacy could have been in his sacrifice ? He could not have been the sacrifice, but would have needed one. Now, if Christ were most holy, and yet put to death, and cruel sufferings ; either his death and sufferings must be an act of injustice and cruelty ; or it must respect others, whose persons and cause he sustained in that suffering capacity. He could never have suffered or died by the Father's hand, had he not been a sinner by imputation. And in that respect, as Luther speaks, he was. the greatest of sinners; or, as ths prophet Ifaiah speaks, all cur finsweremade to meet upon him : not that he was intrinsically, but was made fo, so, by imputation, as is clear from2 Cor. v.
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21. " He was made fin for us, who knew no fin."
So that hence it is evident, that Christ's death, or sacrifice, is wholly a respective or relative thing.
2. It is not to be forgotten here, that the scriptures fre quentlycall the death of Christ a price,
1 Cor. vi. 20. and a ransom, Mat. xx. 28. or counter price †. To whom then doth it relate, but to them that were, and are in bondage and captivity ? I fit was to redeem any, it must be captives : but Christ himself was never in captivity ; he was always in his Father's bosom, as you have heard; but we were in cruel bondage and thraldom, under the tyranny of fin and Satan : and it is we only that have the benefit of this ransom.
3. Either the death of Christ must relate to believers, or else he must die in vain. As for the angels, those that stood in their integrity, needed no sacrifice, and those that fell, are totally excluded from any benefit by it: he is not a Mediator for them .
And among men that have need of it, unbelievers have no share in it, they reject it; such have no part in it.
If then he neither died for himsclf, as I proved before, nor for angels, nor unbelievers ; either his blood must be shed with respect to believers, or, which is most absurd, and never to be imagined, shed as water upon the ground, and totally cast away : fo that you fee by all this, it was for our fakes, as the text speaks, that he sanctified himself. And now we may say ; Lord, the condemnation was thine, that the justification might be mine ; the agonythine, that the victory might be mine ; the pain was thine, and the ease mine ; the stripes thine, and the healing balm issuing from them mine ; the vinegar and gall were thine, that the honey and sweet might be mine ; the curse was thine, that the blessing might be mine ; the crown of thorns was thine, that the crown of glory might be mine ; the death was thine, the life purchased by it mine ; thou payedst the price that I might
☐ enjoy the inheritance.
We come next to the inferences of truth deducible from this point, which follow.
Inference 1. If Jesus Christ did wholly set himself apart for believers, how reasonable is it that believers should confecrateand set themselves apart wholly for Christ ? Is he all for us, and shall we be nothing for him ? What he was, he was for you ? What ever he did, was done for you ; And all that he suffered, was suffered for you. O then," I beseech you Brethren, by themerΟ 2
† Λύτρον ἀντιλυθρον, i. e. pretium exadverfo refpondens.
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SERM. VII,
" cics of God, presentyourbodies," i. e. your whole selves, (for sobody is there * fynecdochically put to signify the whole person) I say." present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept a- " ble to God, which is your reasonable service," Rom. xii . 1. As your good was Christ's end,so lethisglorybe your end.
Let Christ be the " end of your conversation," Heb. xiii . 7. As Christ couldfay, To me to live is you ; so do you fay, " For us to live is Christ," Phil i 21. O that all who profess faith in Christ, could subscribe cordially to that profession, Rom. xiv.
8. " None of us liveth to himself, and no mandieth to himself; " but whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we
" die, we die to the Lord : so then whether we live or die, we " are the Lord's."
This is to be a Christian indeed.
What is a Christian, but an holy dedicated thing to the Lord ? And what greater evidence can there be, that Christ set himself apart for you, than your setting yourselves apart for him ?
" This is the marriage covenant,Hos. iii. 3." Thou shalt be for me, and not for another ; fo will I be for thee. "
Ah, what a life is the life of a Christian ! Christ all for you, and you all for him.
Blessed exchange ! Soul, (faithChrift) all I have is thine.
Lord, (faith the soul), and all I have is thine.
Soul, (faith Christ), my person is wonderful, but what I am, I am for thee : my life was spent in lab our andtravail, but lived for thee. And Lord, (faith the believer), my person is vile, and not worth thy accepting ; but, such as it is, it is thine; my soul, with all and every faculty; mybody, and every member of it, my gifts, time, and all my talents are thine.
And fee that as Christ bequeathed and made over himself to you, so ye, in like manner, bestow and make over yourselves to him. He lived not, neither died (as you hear) for himself, but you. O that you, in like manner, would down with self, and exalt Christ in the room of it. "Wo, wo is me, (faith one)
" that the holy profession of Christ is made a shewy garment by many to bring home a vain fame; and Christ is made to " serve mens ends.
This is to stop an oven with a king'srobes.
Exceptmen martyr and flay the body of fin, in sanctified self- " denial, they shall never be Christ's martyrs and faithfulwit- " nesses . O if I could be master of that house-idol, myself,
" mine own, mine own wit, will, credit, and ease, how blessed " were I ! O but we have need to be redeemed from ourselves,.
" rather than from the devil and the world.
Learn to put out * Synsadoche Hebraica, pro vos totos. SicPareus in loc.
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" yourselves, and to put in Christ foryourselves.
I should make a tweet bargain, and give old for new, if I couldthuffle out self, and substitute Christ my Lord in place of my self;
" to say, not I, but Christ; net my will, but Christ's ; not my " ease, not my lusts, not my credit, but Christ, Christ.- Q
" wretched idol, myself, when thall I see thee whollydecourted, « and Christ wholly put in thy room ? O it Christ had the " full place and room of myself, that all my aims, purposes, thoughts and desires would coast and land upon Christ, and not upon myself."
He set himself apart for you believers, and no others ; no, not for angels, but for you : Will ye also set yourselves apart peculiarly for Christ ? be his, and no other's ? Let not Christ and the world share and divide your hearts in two halves betwixt them; let not the world step in and say, half mine
You will never do Christ right, nor answer this grace, till you can say, as it is, Psal. lxxiii. 25. " Whom have I in heavenbutthee ?
" and on earth there is none that Idefire in comparison of thee.
None but Christ, none but Christ, is a proper motto for a Christian.
He left the highest and best enjoyments, even those. in his Father's bosom, to let himself apart for death and suffering for you: Are you ready to leave the bosom of the best and sweet, estenjoyments, you have in this world, to serve him ?
If you Stand not habitually ready to leave father, mother, wife, chil. dren, lands, yea, and life too, to serve him, you are not worthy of him, Matth . x. 37.
He was so wholly given up to your service, that he refused not the worst and hardest part of it, even bleeding, groaning, dying work ; his love to you sweetned all this to him ; Can you say so too; do you "account the reproaches of Christ greater
"riches than the treasures ofEgypt, as Moses did ?" Heb. xi. 26.
He had so entirely devoted himself to your work, that he could not be at rest till it was finished: he was sointentupon it, that he"forgot to eat bread," John iv. 31, 32.
So it should be with you; his service should be meat anddrinktoyou.
To conclude:
He was so wholly given up to your work and service, that he would not suffer himself to be in the least diverted, or taken off from it: and ifPeter himself counsel him to favour himself,he shall hear, " Get thee behind me, Satan." Ohappy were it if our hearts were but so engaged for Christ ! In Galen's time it was proverbial, when they would express the impossibility of a thing, You may as soon take off a Christian from Christ.
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Thus you fee what use you should make of Christ's fanctifying himself for you.
Inference 2. If Christ hath sanctified or consecrated himself for us ; learn hence, what a horrid evil it is, to use Christ or his blood, as a common and unfanctified thing.
Yet so some do, as the apostle speaks, Heb. x. 29.
The apostate is said to tread upon the Son of God, as if he were no better than the dirt underhisfeet, andtocounthisblood an unholy (or common) thing.
But wo to them that so do, they shall be counted worthy of fomethingworse than dying without mercy, as the apostle there speaks.
And as this is the fin of the apostate, so it is also the finof all those that without faith approach, and so prophane the table of the Lord, unbelievingly and unworthily handling those aweful things.
Such " eat and drink judgment to themselves, not " discerning the Lord's body," 1 Cor. xi. 29.
Whereas the bodyofChrist was a thing of the deepest sanctification that ever God created; sanctified (as the text tells us)toa far more excellent and glorious purpose than ever any creature in heaven or earth was sanctified.
It was therefore the great fin of those Corinthians, not todifcernit, and not to behave themselves towards it,when they saw and handled the signs of it, as became so holy athing.
And as it was their great fin, soGoddeclared his just indignation against it, in those sore strokes inflicted for it.
As they discerned not the Lord'sbody, so neither did the Lord discern their bodies from others in the judgments that were inflicted.
And, as one well observes, God drew the model and platform of their punishment, from the structure and proportion of their fin.
And truly, if the moral and spiritual feeds and originalsofmany ofouroutwardafflictions and ficknesses were butduly sifted out, possibly we might find a great part of them in the bowels of this fin.
The just and righteous God will build up the breaches we make upon the honour of his Son, with the ruins of that beauty, strength and honour which he hath given our bodies. O then, when you draw nigh to God in that ordinance, take heed to sanctify his name,by a spiritualdifcerning of this most holy, and most deeplyfanctified body of the Lord; sanctified beyond all creatures, angels or men, not only in respect of the Spirit which filled him, without measure with inherent holiness, but also in respectofits dedication to such a service as this, it being set apart by him to such holy, solemn ends and uses, as you have heard.
And let it, for ever, be a warning to such as have lifted up
SERM. VII.
The Fountain of Life. their hands to Christ in a holy profession, that they never lift up their heel against him afterwards byapostacy. The apoftate treads on God's dear Son, and God will tread upon him for it.
" Thou hast trodden down all thaterr from thy statutes," Psal. схіх. 118 .
Inference 3.What a choice pattern of love tofaintshavewehere before us ! Callingallthatare in Christ to an imitation of him, eventogive up ourselves to their service, as Christ did ; not in the same kind, fo,none can give himself for them, but as we are capable.
You see here how his heart was affected to them, that he would sanctify himself as a sacrifice for them.
See to what a height of duty the apostle improves this example of Christ, 1 John iii. 16. " Hereby perceive we the love of God,be.
" cause he laiddownhis life for us; and we ought also to lay "down our lives for the brethren."
Some Christians came up fairly to this pattern in primitive times; Priscilla andAquila laid down theirnecks for Paul,Rom. xvi. 4. i. e. eminently hazarded their lives for him ; and he himself could " rejoice, if he
66 were offered up upon the sacrifice and service of their faith,"
Phil. ii. 17.
And in the next times, what more known, even to the enemies of Christianity, than their fervent love one to another ? Ecce quam mutuo se diligunt, et mori volunt pro alterutris ! See how they love one another, and are willing to die one for another !
But alas ! the primitive spirit is almost lost in this degenerate age: instead of laying down life,how few will lay down twelvepence for them ? I remember, it is the observation ofalateWorthy, upon Matth. v. 40., That he is persuaded there is hardly thatman to be found this day alive, that fully understands and fully believes that scripture. O, did men think what they do for them, is done for Christ himself, it would produce other effects than are yet visible.
Inference 4. Lastly, If Christ sanctified himself, that we might be sanctified by [or in) the truth: then it will follow, by found consequence, That truefanctification isa good evidence that Christ set apart himself to die for us .
* In vain did he sanctify himself (as to you) unless you be sanctified.
Holy fouls only can claim the benefit of the great sacrifice. Otry then, whether true holiness (and that is only to be judged by its conformity to its
* Nor did Christ so sanctify himself for us, that we should continue to be wicked, and strangers to the communion of the Spirit, and his sanctifying influences. Whosoever are void of this, invainpromise themselves intercourse with Christ.
Mufc. on this place.
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66pattern, 1 Pet. i. 15. " As he that called you is holy, fo be ye holy") ; whether such a holiness as is, and acts (according to its measure) like God's holiness, in the following particulars, be found in you.
1. God is universally holy in all his ways ; fo Psal. exlv.-17.
" His works are all holy :" whatever he doth, ' tis still done as becomes aholyGod: he is not only holy in all things, but at all times unchangeablyholy.
Beye therefore holy in all things, and at all times too, if ever you expect the benefit of Christ's sanctifying himself to die for you .
O brethren, let not the feet of your conversation be as the feet of a lame man, which are unequal, Prov. xx. 7.
Be not sometimes hot, and sometimes cold ; at one time careful, at a not her time careless; one day in a spiritual rapture, and the next in a fleshly frolic; but be ye holy εν παση ἀναστροφή, 1 Pet. i.
15. " in all manner of conversation," in everycreek and turning of your lives : and let your holiness hold out to the end. " Let
" him that is holy, be holy still," Rev. xxi. 11.
Not like the hypocrites paint, but as a true natural complexion.
2.God is examplarily holy, Jesus Christ is the great pattern of holiness .
Be ye examples of holiness too, unto all that are about you. " Let your light so shine before men, that they
" may see your good works," Matth. v. 16.
As wicked men infectone another by their examples, and diffuse their poison and malignity, wherever they come; fodo ye disseminate godliness in all places,and companies; and let those that frequently con verse with you, especially those of your own families, receive a deeper dye and tincture ofheavenliness every time they come nigh you, as the cloth doth by every new dipping into the fat.
3. God delights in nothing but holiness, and holy ones; he hath set all his pleasure in the saints. Be ye holy herein, as God is holy.
Indeed, there is this difference betwixt God's choice and yours ; he chuses not men,because they are holy, but that they maybe so; so you are to chuse them for your de lightful companions,thatGodhathchosen and made holy. " Let
" all your delights be in the saints, even them that excelin vir " tue," Psal. xvi. 3 .
4.God abhors and hates all unholiness; do yeso likewise that ye may be like your Father which is in heaven.
And when the spirit of holiness runs down thus upon you, a sweeter evi. dence the world cannot give, that Christ was sanctified for you.
Holy ones may confidently lay the hand of their faith on the head of this great sacrifice, and say, " Christ our passover is fa
" crificed for us ."