Part 2 - http://dailypuritan.blogspot.com/2015/08/Grey2.html
Part 3 - http://dailypuritan.blogspot.com/2015/08/Grey3.html
For
Jesus Christ is Precious to Believers (Sermon 2)
1
Peter ii, 7 - Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious.
Such
is the universal stupidity and hardness of heart that has
overtaken the people of this generation, that if Christ should
come from heaven, as being there glorified with majesty,
and should invite us to partake of that promised land,
there are that would stop their ears, as with their finger,
lest they should be overcome and led captive there,
and lest they should be charmed with the enchanting voice
of that blessed charmer. We shall say to these that
sell Christ at so low a rate, that word, Lev. xiii, 46,
“All the days wherein the plague shall he
in them, they shall
be defiled; they are unclean; they shall dwell alone, without
the camp shall their habitation be.” When we consider
the contrary practice that is betwixt the higher house
and the lower house, how may we blush and be ashamed!
The practice of the higher house is still to be singing, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
Hosts”; our practice in
this lower house is to undervalue Him. The reproaching of
Him should he our complaint. If prayer
could
be exercised in heaven, the first prayer that we would
put up when our feet were within the New Jerusalem would
be, O precious Christ, pardon our undervaluings of
Thee while we were below.
Have
ye never been constrained to say, Who can show forth
His Praise? David summoned all the angels in heaven,
the souls of men, sun, moon, stars, beasts, birds, etc.,
to shcw forth his praise. Did ye never know what it was
to be convinced of the remissness of that duty, and the
coldness of your love? The love of Christ involves an everlasting
obligation on angels to praise Him. The grace of
love in a Christian is under a twofold sweet mistake; it conceives every hour’s absence from Christ to be an eternity, and an eternal presence to be but
an hour. “How long wilt thou Forget me, O Lord, for ever?”
says David. And if we may allude unto these words,
Psalm xc, 4, “A thousand years in thy sight are but as
yesterday.” You have
in the words a Christian described. He has a dignity that
is of more value than if he did derive his pedigree from
a thousand kings, without an interrupted line. The
word ‘therefore’ in the text relates to the
preeeding verse.
There be two sweet proofs and advantages of
faith that make Christ precious to the believer; it is
not said unto you He was precious. It is said He is
precious. There is a relative preciousness of Christ; it is to
the believer He is precious; yet although ye be not a
believer, it is bad divinity to conclude that ye are not within the
compass of the decree of election. Christ’s
preciousness to the believer is the foundation of our faith.
I shall not dwell long on this excellent
and royal dignity of a Christian, only there is that one
excellency, faith keeps a soul in most constant communion
with Christ; Eph. iii, i7, ‘That Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith.” By the exercise of the grace of faith
Christ becomes our husband, our householder, and indweller
with us. It is a most sweet and desirable thing
to have Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, and our
souls dwelling with Christ by love; that is a sweet
connection. Faith renders Christ more precious to a Christian than
sense. This may he shown from faith’s estimation of
Christ; it is built on his person. Sense looks to Christ’s feet
and hands, and his outward parts, but faith looks to His
person. Faith looks to what Christ was before the world
began, or a cornerstone thereof was laid; sense alone
looks to what Christ is at the present time. The grace of
faith looks to the love that is in Christ’s heart: sense
alone looks to the smiles of His face. The estimation of faith
is more constant than the estimation of sense; when Christ
withdraws, sense loses its opinion. When faith would
have wisdom, it consults with Christ, whose name
is Wonderful. Counsellor. Faith is as a sinew, that being
cut, all our strength goes from us. Faith is an heroic
grace; the crown of martyrdom is set upon the head of faith.
A Christian that is under the excellency of this grace,
is a most humble
Christian.
By what law was boasting excluded? By the
law of faith. Paul presseth this doctrine upon a
Christian. Faith discovers to a Christian the excellency of God, and
makes him take up his dwelling in the dust. Faith
makes a Christian to have two contrary motions, one to
ascend, another to descend, so to speak; it keeps all the
graces of the Spirit in motion. Faith is the messenger of
the soul, and discovers what Christ is; who being
discovered, faith cries out, ‘‘It is good for me to he here,’’
and then love cries out, “Let us make a tabernacle.”
Faith likewise mortifies corruption. Faith has a sweet influence on
the work of mortification in a Christian. When
Christ is discovered to a soul, it will cast away its idols as a
menstrous cloth, and will cry out,“Whom have I in
heaven but thee?’’ The soul is more where it loseth
than where it liveth. Being justified by faith, we glory
in tribulation. Faith holds out the crown on the right hand
to a Christian. having this motto written on it, ‘‘He that
persevereth to the end shall he saved." Moses was
never at patience till be was at the top of the mount, where he did
see the promised land. Faith makes out the promises to a
Christian. Faith is a life-sanctifying grace. When
faith goes abroad in the world, good works are the handmaids
that accompany the queen. Faith has Rachel’s eye and Leah‘s womb. Faith has a sweet influence on our
fruitfulness to Christ; John xv, 5, “He that abides in me
shall bring forth much fruit.” See also 1 Pet. ii, 5. Faith
is that spouse-like
grace that marries Christ; and good works
are the children which faith beareth. Faith is that superior
grace, which, at the motion thereof, all the rest
go. Faith is an intelligent grace; it is called the “mystery
of godliness,” Col. ii, 2. Faith raiseth the soul to the
highest pitch of reason. Faith is an heart-pacifying grace;
peace is the daughter of faith, Faith is the dove that
brings the olive branch of peace in its mouth. Faith is an
empty hand that receives the precious alms out of Christ’s
merits, and it is the instrument, or the channel, through
which the blessed streams of life flow to us from
Him. Faith is an heavenly plant, which will not grow in an
impure heart. Faith is an heart-purifying grace, Acts xv,
9. it is a virgin grace of a pure and heavenly soil.
Now, for the use of the point - is it so
that faith is such an excellent grace? O be pursuing after it.
There is more guilt in the sin of unbelief, than in the
sin of murder; Matt. xi, 24, “It shall be more tolerable
for Sodom,” etc. Luke x, 13. There is no sin made mention of
there, but the sin of unbelief. If once ye had that
divine plant Faith ingrafted in your souls, it would have a
kind of onmipotency.
Unbelief passeth under the veil of
humility, and so we embrace it, rather than decline it as a
sin. Now, the effects of the grace of faith make Christ
precious to a soul. It discovers to a sinner the extract
[copyl of his pardon, and that he hath been loved from all
eternity; “She loved much, because much was forgiven her.”
A Christian that believes shall see Christ as He is.
Faith lets a Christian see the accomplishment of the
promises. Faith is a sister grace; hope is patient, love is
impatient. Faith and hope are two sisters, but they differ
thus; hope looks at the excellency of the promise, faith at
the certainty of it. Faith can suspend fruition, but love
cannot. When Christ and a Christian are trysted
together, faith and love grow apace. The best way to improve your
necessity, is to believe, although your faith be but in
the swaddling clothes or bands; be content to wait a while, till
you have gotten such a vigorous faith as will carry
you with full sails to heaven. We have the reversion
(future possession) in heaven, when the lease of life is run
out. A weak faith may be fruitful; the thief upon the
cross had but a weak faith, yet how many precious clusters
grew upon that vine? Luke xxiii, 43. Here was a young
plant, but very fruitful. Faith is a grace that puts a
commentary upon all the actings of Christ. When Christ
seems to frown, faith will cry out, I know the
thoughts of His heart are not war, but grace to me. Faith can
prophesy at midnight. Let a Christian yield to the premises of
unbelief, but deny its conclusions. This is bad
logic, but it is Christian divinity.
Sirs, did ye never know what it was to use
this medium for pardon, “Lord, pardon our iniquities,
because they are great?” Christ strengthens love by the
discoveries of Himself. Faith discovers the period of our
afflictions. Love is written in illegible characters
upon the cross; but if ye consult with faith, you may read it.
Faith and love, they are pleasant in their lives, and in
their death they are
not divided. Faith and love are the jewels
wherewith Christ’s bride is adorned. Love never
ceaseth, 1 Cor. xiii, 8. In our sense, love is more excellent
than faith. The spouse when she goes to heaven, shall put
off her jewel of faith, but shall never put off her jewel
of love. In heaven the smoke of desire shall he ever
bathing itself in the pure and pleasant fountain of glory.
That which makes the higher house have such a smell
is, the floor and windows are all strewed over with the
leaves of the Rose of Sharon. What joy shall there be
when Christ shall take us to His banqueting-house, and
kiss us with
the kisses of His mouth!
When we shall come to heaven, we shall not
know which of our senses shall be most taken up.
Firstly: The eye. What joy to see there the
orient brightness in the face of Christ; there you may see
the lily and the rose mixed, white and ruddy, Cant. v.
10.
Secondly: The ear shall be filled with
melody; what joy to the spouse to hear Christ’s voice, to
hear Him say, “My love, my dove, my undefiled!”
Thirdly: The smell shall be filled with
sweet savour; what joy to smell that fragraney and
perfume that comes from Christ! All His garments smell of
myrrh, aloes, and cassia; the sweet breath of His spirit
blowing on thee, and giving forth His scent as the wine of
Lebanon.
Fourthly: The taste shall be filled; O what
joy is there to be drinking in the fountain of Christ, that
is the water of life!
Fifthly: The touch shall be filled; the
saints shall be ever in the embraces of Christ! “Behold my hands
and my feet - handle me, and see,” etc. Luke xxiv, 39.
That will be our work in heaven, when we shall arrive
betwixt these sweet arms that were once stretched out
upon the cross; there shall be no such inhibition as that
to Mary, “Touch me not.” If Christ’s sufferings are so full
of joy, what are His embraces? What joy will there be at the
saints’ coronation, when they shall be eternally united to
Christ Jesus! When we are in the glorious inheritance,
what joy, what glory there in the chambers of His
presence! If the streets of this inheritance are of pure
gold, what are the furniture and hangings? What is the cabinet
of jewels? What are all the rarities of the world, the
cost of pearls, yea, what are all things to this place!
What a rich place must this needs be, where God will lay out
all this cost?
This is a purchase worth the getting. What
spring will that be, which will never dry up? I think I
see the morning- star appear; it is break of day already;
who would, for the indulging of a lust, forfeit so
glorious an inheritance? Lay the whole world in the scales with it,
it is lighter than vanity. There is the vine
flourishing, there are the pomegranates budding, Cant. vi, 11.
While we are sitting at the table, Christ’s
spikenard will send forth his smell, Cant. i, 12, There is
the bed of love, there are the curtains of Solomon; there is
the mountain of spices, and streams from Lebanon; there
are the cherubims, not to keep out, but to welcome into
paradise; there shall the saints be adorned as a
bride with pearls of glory; there God will give us abundance of
all that we can ask or think, Eph. iii, 20. Such is the
excellency of that celestial paradise, that if the angels
would take up
their responsals to delineate it, they
would stain and eclipse the glory of it. When thou wast
sailing to hell, for we have both wind and tide to carry us
thither, hath the north wind and south wind awakened thee?
Have the gales of the Spirit blown upon thee, and
turned thy course? Art thou sailing to a new port?
Then I am speaking to thee all this while, this glorious
inheritance shall be given to thee; but if thou art an old
sinner, be assured Christ will never put the new wine of glory
into old bottles. We shall add no more. Now, unto the King,
eternal, immortal, and invisible, be everlasting
praise. Amen._
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