Preston:

Free Grace Magnified

Revel. 22: 17

Let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will let him take the waters of life freely.

Not to stand to open the words, we may observe in them five parts.

First, and offer to all men.

Secondly, that God calls and invites us to come.

Thirdly, that if they so come they shall take of the water of life.

Fifthly, and that freely.

I purpose at this time to speak of the second, viz,. ‘That God invites man to come.’

The point we will deliver is not of controversy we rather decline, but a point of singular and great comfort, and that is that glorious Gospel which Paul did so much magnify, that mystery the Angels did so much labor to pry into, that secret that was so much kept from the Jews, and revealed in due time to the Gentiles, and that is the offer of Christ to all men in the world, that would take him without all exceptions of persons of sins, God does not only or merely offer Christ, but sends out his Ministers and Ambassadors, beseeching us to be reconciled, he does not only tell us that there is a Marriage of his Son, and that whosoever will come may come, but he sends Messengers to beseech, and to use an holy violence and earnest persuasion; and not only thus, but he commands men and charges upon their allegiance to come, “this commandment,” says the Apostle, “that you believe on him whom he has sent,” yea he charges us upon death and damnation o come, “If you believe you shall be saved. If yo believe not you shall¹ be Damned.”

Reas. 1.

The first reason of this is, because God would not have the death of his Son to be of none effect, he would not have the blood of his Son spilt in vain, and therefore he does not make a bare offer of Christ, but he beseeches and compels men to come and believe on him: Saint Paul uses the same reason why he would not preach with elegant words, because then he should convert none to Christ, and if none be converted to Christ, “the death of Christ would be in vain and of none effect,” to say I, if God did not send out his messengers to beseech and persuade and command men to believe, the death of Christ would be in vain.

Reas. 2.

The second reason is to show forth the riches of God’s mercy and the abundance of his love to mankind, the same motives he had to give Christ, the same motive he has to entreat men to believe, and this is his love, and he shows to the elect, that they might know the greatness and largeness of his love to them, and to the wicked, that the glory of his justice might appear in their damnation, when they shall see that they have displeased and despised so gracious an offer.

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à Brakel:

1)

The External and Internal Call

Thus far we have discussed the Surety of the covenant and the partakers of this covenant, the church. We shall now proceed to consider the ways in which the Lord brings these partakers of the covenant into the covenant, and how He leads them to the ultimate goal of eternal felicity. The first aspect of this way is the calling.

The Calling: God’s Declaration of the Gospel to Sinners

The calling is a gracious work of God, whereby He invites the sinner by means of the gospel to exchange the state of sin and wrath for Christ, in order that through Him he may be reconciled to God and obtain godliness and salvation. By means of this calling He also, by the Holy Spirit, efficaciously translates His elect into this state.

The calling is a gracious work of God: “And (the king) sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. For many are called, but few are chosen” (Mat. 22:3, 14); “. . .Him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3); “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9).

God calls neither by the law of nature nor by the works of nature, whereby, in doing good, He nevertheless does not leave Himself without witness to the heathen (Acts 14:17). “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him” (Acts 17:27). For in all this Christ is neither proclaimed to them nor are they exhorted to believe in Him. The heathen are subject to the covenant of works, and whatever God does in and toward them has reference to that covenant. They are thus obligated to live according to this rule, “Do this and thou shalt live.” Therefore neither the law of nature, nor God’s works belong to the calling; the heathen are not called.

This call also does not occur by way of the moral law of Scripture. The moral law must be viewed in a twofold sense: It must be viewed either in its demands, whereby it reveals the perfect conditions of the covenant of works, or in its purpose, as having been given to the church as a rule of life and as the standard for true holiness. In its first sense the law is preached to convict man of sin (Rom. 3:20), thus bringing man to despair of being saved by his works. Here the function of the law ends. If, however, Christ is simultaneously preached by means of the gospel, man, being rejected by the law, is allured by the gospel. Thus, wherever Christ is preached, the law functions as a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ (Gal. 3:24). The law, however, neither teaches about Christ nor calls to Him, and thus the moral law is not a functional element of the calling. This is different as far as the ceremonial law is concerned, which belongs to the gospel.

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Sarcerius:

Of the Gospel.

Distinction.

The Gospel is a preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name.

Probation.

The distinction is made of the parts of the Gospel and appears by the words of Christ whereafter his resurrection he said to his disciples. Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again from death, the 3^rd day, and that repentance and redemption of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, &c. Christ is the person and for whom forgiveness of sins chances.

Cause.

The cause of the Gospel disclosed is the mercy of God, by which God promised them glad tidings to mankind concerning Christ [Eph. 1.]. This cause the apostle otherwise calls the acceptable pleasure of God, otherwhiles grace. The promise also may be the cause of the Gospel according to the saying of Paul, put a part to preach the Gospel of God which he promised before, &c.  Hither unto belong also such places of Scripture as contain the promises of the Gospel which first was made to Adam and afterward to Abraham an so by first and little, oftentimes afterward to the holy fathers [Gen, 3, 12, 16, and 22].

The Mean.

Christ is the mean or person in whom God has promised the Gospel to mankind, and in whom it was first revealed and disclosed at the time appointed that God had set with himself and determined that through him, in him, and for him should be offered to all that believe forgiveness of sins which is the very effect of the Gospel.

The Illumination
of to the Gospel
of the promise.

The Holy Ghost lights to the Gospel which was promised in Christ and now opened.   Now man’s nature oppressed, with sin and death for the fall of Adam was the occasion of the Gospel first promised and afterward disclosed. This occasion is opened in the 3^rd chapter of Genesis, where even in the very sins the Gospel is promised to Adam.

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Jacombe:

1) 5. I might add, (which indeed will be but a more particular explication of the former head,) this condemnation will be the sadder, especially to such who live under the gospel, because they will lie under the sense and conviction of this, that they have foolishly and willfully brought all this misery upon themselves. For—and their hearts will tell them of it—Christ offered himself to them from time to time, but they refused to close with him; he tendered pardon to them, but they slighted it; and who will pity the traitor that dies for his treason, when his prince offered him a pardon and he scorned to accept of it 1 They might have been saved as well as others, would they but have hearkened to the free, gracious, hearty, often repeated invitations which in the gospel were made to them; how often would Christ have ‘gathered them as the hen gathers her chickens, but they would not,’ Mat. xxiii. 37; and therefore now their souls are lost for ever. O sinner! ‘thy destruction is of thyself,’ Hosea xiii. 9; and the consideration of this will sadly gnaw upon thy conscience for ever ; this is the worm that never dies. The Jews, when they had adjudged a malefactor to die, the judge and the witnesses used to lay their hands upon him, and to say ‘Thy blood be upon thy own head;’ in imitation of which the murderers of our Savior said, ‘His blood be on us and our children,’ Mat. xxvii. 25. Thus Christ, when he shall have passed the dreadful sentence of eternal death upon the impenitent and unbelieving, he will say, Your blood be upon your own heads. Thomas Jacombe, Sermons on the Eight Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1868), 309-310. [Some spelling modernized, underlining mine.] Thomas Jacombe, Sermons on the Eight Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1868), 28. [Underlining mine.]

2) It is to be feared that the greatest part of men (not out of any want of mercy in God, or from anything to be charged upon God, but merely through their own sin and folly) will perish therein. You read of the condemning of the world, Cor. xi. 32; now therefore what are you, or what do you do, that you may be exempted from the general misery? Certainly if you lie in the common state, and live in the common course, you must perish in the common condemnation; think; of it, and make some timely provision against it. Your judge deals very graciously with you; he warns you beforehand, tells you how his terrible sentence may be prevented, nay, he offers life and pardon to you if you will but accept of it. And after all this, will you force him to condemn you? Then it will be condemnation with a witness. I would upon this consideration be the more earnest with you in the present advice, because though this condemnation will be sad enough to all, yet to you it will be superlatively sad. You living under the gospel, where the way of salvation is set before you, where tenders of grace are made to you, if you be not wise and serious in securing the main, this will not only make your condemnation more unavoidable,—‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?’ Heb. ii. 3,—but also more intolerable: it will be condemnation with an accent or emphasis to you. ‘This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,’ &c., John iii. 19. The Scripture speaks of ‘greater damnation,’ Mat. xxiii. 14. It will be great damnation to pagans and infidels, but greater damnation to Christians. According to the different measures of that gospel light and gospel grace which men live under, so will the different measures of their future misery be. If they live and die in impenitency and unbelief Oh how will these aggravate your condemnation! If there be one place in hell hotter than another, that very place shall be yours, whilst others shall mitius ardere. ‘Thou Capernaum, which art exalted into heaven, &c. But I say unto you. That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you,’ Mat. xi. 23, 24. Thomas Jacombe, Sermons on the Eight Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1868), 29. [Underlining mine.]