Archive for August 18th, 2010
The Satisfaction of Christ1
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8
You have heretofore heard that point of Christian doctrine which concerns the knowledge of our misery and wretched estate by nature. The substance of all is that we are the children of wrath and disobedience, as well as others. You see then in what state every man stands before he has made his peace with God. You see what the Holy Ghost says, “They are the sons of disobedience, and children of wrath, as well as others.” I tell you this not to discourage a sinner or drive him to desperation, but because it is fitting that he should know the estate in which he is. If they will try arguing with God, if they oppose Him, the Lord will come with a bar of iron, and will break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. “Those, mine enemies, that will not have Me to reign over them, bring them and slay them before Me.”
It is fitting that every man know this, and it is only to awaken us; otherwise, to what purpose do we preach to you? Till the law awakens us, we sleep securely in our sins till the dreadful trumpet of Mount Sinai comes with thundering and lightning. Ephesians 5:14: “Awake thou that sleeps.” Unless this awaken us, in what case are we? We are sleeping men who are dreaming (Jude 8). A sleeping sinner will be a dreaming sinner: he never sees things they are in their proper shape. He thinks, like the church of Laodicea, that he is rich and lacks nothing, when he is really poor, miserable, blind, and naked. He thinks he be admitted into heaven as soon as the best, but this is a dream. “As the hungry man dreams, and behold he eats, but when he awakes, behold he is empty; or as thirsty man that dreams he drinks, but awakes and behold he is faint” (Isaiah 29:8). Thus it is with us: we think we are entering upon the suburbs of heaven, and yet we are but in a dream and are asleep.
Now being thus awakened, consider what you have to do when the dreadful trumpet of the law has awakened you. Consider your state; if you sleep this night, hellfire will be your portion. It would be better for you therefore to awaken yourself before the flames of hellfire awaken you. Consider likewise that you must not be led by yourself; you must renounce your own will. Our states may be pleasing to us, to enjoy in a dream our heart’s lusts here on earth; but consider that unless you cross your will here, it shall be crossed hereafter; yea, it shall be the main cross a man shall have in hell (besides the eternal weight of God’s wrath) that he can will or desire nothing but he shall be crossed in it-not the least thing he desires but he shall have the contrary. Learn then what a woeful thing it is to be our own lords, to follow our own lusts and pleasures; see what we shall gain by it. We shall never enjoy the least portion of our will in the world to come; if we would have but a drop of cold water, we shall be crossed in it. We shall have the opposite of everything we desire.