By faith Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king....Heb. xi. 27. HERE we see faith opposed by fear, and the victory of faith over the dread of wrath. Consider his work and his danger, his faith and his safety. 1st. Moses was engaged in a great work; he was to go to Pharoah, and say from the Lord, "Israel is my son, even my first born, let him go that he may serve me."....Exod. iv. 22, 23. Now might not the king very naturally look upon Moses as a very dangerous, pestilent, hot-headed enthusiast, who under a pretence of religion wanted to raise a rebellion in his kingdom; he had no fear that the king might put him to death in his wrath ; "for the wrath of a king, is as the roaring of a lion."....Prov. xix. 12. Most terribly fierce but, 2d. Consider his FAITH; this set him above fear. He bids defiance to wrath. Forsake Egypt he must; flee from the king he was determined; for he had the command of his God for it. Faith is the parent of all holy obedience; but was his faith nothing more than a strong impulse of his mind, something within him which suggested to him that he must forsake Egypt? No: this he might have had, and obeyed it too to his own destruction; but he had the Lord's word, for the ground of his faith: mind this. "Thus saith the Lord, I will send thee unto Pharoah, that thou mayest bring my people out of Egypt:" there is the word of his faith. 3d. Consider his safety. Pharoah could not hurt the hair of his head: why not? Because the Lord added, "certainly. I will be with thee."....Exod. iii. 12. There is the warrant for his safety: thus he believed God, and feared not the wrath of the king. See here the nature and actings of a true and lively faith. 1st. It hath the word of the Lord for its object. There may be strong impressions of mind, warm suggestions of fancy, where there is not, thus saith the Lord. Soul, these will not carry thee out of the Egypt of nature, to the promised land; they will soon forsake thee: then, thou wilt not only fear the wrath of a king, but the shaking of a leaf. 2d. Faith in the Lord's word delivers the soul from fear of the Lord's enemies; according to the strength of our faith, we are set above fears of wrath; we cannot have stronger cause for faith than the Lord's word, nor a better object for our faith than the Son of God. O then, when fear of wrath prevails, look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, with Lord increase my faith.... Luke xvii. 5. "Where is your faith?" our Saviour Thou author of our faith, increase The gift which thou hast giv'n, So shall we find thy precious peace, The antepast of heav'n. M. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear and your soul shall live....Isa. lv. 3. SOME cannot bear exhortations to be used, either to saints or sinners. O dear, they sound so legal in their ears, they are quite surfeiting to them; but why? Truly they are got to be wise above what is written; but they proclaim their folly in condemning the conduct of Christ, and his Spirit in the prophets and apostles; they have most need of exhortations who see least cause for them: be not high minded, but fear. A Chinese philosopher asserted, that a man had three ears, one different from those two which are seen; this was counted a great absurdity; but it holds true in a spiritual sense, for naturally we have ears, but hear not the hearing ear the Lord hath made."....Prov. xx. 12. This Christ calls for; "Incline your ear." Just as sentenced rebels and condemned malefactors, be all ear to a sound of mercy and a proclamation of a reprieve from me. Though your hearts are bowed down under a sense of your lusts and corruptions, your consciences burdened with guilt, your minds pained with fears, and your spirits dejected with sorrows; yet listen not to the suggestions of satan, the intimations of carnal reason, or the surmises of your legal spirits; but turn away your ear from all to me. O, it is precious living, thus to hear the voice of Christ! but this call from Christ carries conviction with it, that we do not enough incline our ear to him; therefore we are not always happy in him. Sweet invitation! "Come unto me." "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and forever."....Heb. xiii. 8. His love is the same; his words are the very same to poor sinners, whether he speaks by his prophets, or by himself in flesh: his loving heart proclaims, "COME UNTO ME, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."....Matt. xi. 28. Come under all your load of guilt, weight of dejection, and burden of sorrow; Christ gives us to feel all this, that we may see our want of him, come to him, and enjoy fellowship with him. Never misconstrue your soul-burdens and spiritual distress, as black marks upon you; they are love-tokens from him who says, "hear and your souls shall live;" not only live, but be lively; not barely live, but enjoy the vigor of life, the comforts of life, and bring forth abundantly the fruits of spiritual life. All this is by hearing the voice of Christ, believing the love of Christ, and living upon the fulness of Christ. "See then ye refuse not him who speaketh from heaven."....Heb. xii. 25. Holy prince of peace and love, Thy sweet voice, and come to thee. Thou wouldst have us happy be, M. Thy God reigneth....Isa. lii. 7. CHRIST Commissions his ministers to proclaim this joyful truth to Zion, his church, that every member of his might receive it in faith, change the pronoun and say, My God reigneth: Christ's reign is his people's glory, their triumph on earth, and the shouts of disembodied saints in glory: hark to their acclamations of joy; "alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the LAMB is come."....Rev. xix. 6, 7. Are we married to the LAMB? Has he got our hearts and affections? Then we should constantly rejoice and give honor to him, that he who is our God reigneth. Where? Where he dwells in heaven for us, and in our hearts over us; for as he dwells in our hearts by faith, he spiritually reigns over all within us. O, what matter of joy and consolation is this! For, 1st. If our King has set up his throne in our hearts, what enemy can hurt us? They must conquer the Lord God omnipotent before they can subdue us. If Christ reign for us, and in us, we are sure of reigning eternally in glory with him. 2d. Consider his rich grace in thus reigning: we were once under the reign of a dreadful tyrant. "Sin reigned in and over us unto death."....Rom. v. 21. Though we have sin in our nature, though it warreth in our members, yet it cannot reign and get the victory over us. It is under the feet of Christ it is his vanquished enemy: he reigns over it: we are under the reign of his grace: "grace reigns through righteousness.unto..... what? present peace, comfort and joy? Yes, and infinitely more, even unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Is sin our grief and burden? That is a proof that Christ reigns in our hearts. Do we long for perfect freedom from all sin? That is a sign that we are. partakers of his holiness. Are we afraid sin will destroy us in death? It cannot: Jesus reigns to give us victory unto eternal life. 3d. Behold Jesus our King reigns in righteousness."....Isa. xxxii. 1. "His people shall be all righteous."....Isa. Ix. 21. Christ's righteousness. is upon us to justify us: his Spirit within us, to make us love. righteousness and hate iniquity: if we do not, we only talk of Christ's reign, but never felt its power. "For he must reign till he has put every enemy under his feet."....1 Cor. xv. 25. Therefore, 4th. Rejoice, for all your troubles, temptations, conflicts and distresses, &c. are under Christ's reign. No one can hurt you and the last enemy death shall bring you to reign with him eternally in life."....Rom. v. 17. : The Lord on high doth ever reign, For his dear people's good, Then why my soul, my friends, those Which daily us annoy? [fears, Look up to Christ, wipe off your tears, Rejoice with holy joy. M. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not....John viii, 6. EVERY, the most minute transaction of the life of Christ should be precious to the faith of our hearts; for in all that he did in life, and by all that he suffered in death, he manifested himself to be the Saviour of lost sinners. The love of his heart knows no bounds to such he willingly came to seek and to save them: it is his joy to find, and his glory to save the LOST. O, was it not so, the hand that writes must tremble to hold the pen, must drop it with terror, while his heart must be filled with distress, and his soul sink into black despair. But O, this faithful saying, "that Christ Jesus came into. the world to save SINNERS," braces every nerve with joy, and fills the whole man with triumph. See a vile prostitutè brought before our Lord, and her crime charged upon her; she was taken in the act; here are witnesses to prove it; her sin admits not of a doubt; yet Christ pays no attention to them; he pours the utmost contempt upon them; from the holy Jesus should we not expect to hear,' "Take the vile whore from before me and knock out her brains, her abominable sin deserves it?" Are not our self-righteous hearts ready to rise at his conduct! "With his finger he wrote on the ground;' fine amusement for a judge! No that was not his office; he came not to try, judge, and condemn, but to save sinners: but does he not connive at her sin? by no means: he has an utter abhorrence of all sin, at the same time that he has infinite love to sinners; his love works by conviction of sin upon the heart, and then easing the sin-burdened conscience; he had many self-righteous hearts before him; while they accused this woman, he aimed to convict them. It is said an ancient Greek copy declares, “Christ wrote on the ground the sins of every one of them;" be that as it may, they were convicted in their own consciences; they had not a stone to cast at the poor sinner; they left her alone with Christ: what says he to her? "I do not condemn thee, go and sin no more." He speaks as the sinner-justifying, sin-hating Saviour; now imagine yourself that guilty sinner, such you are; standing before Christ, that you do: accused by the law, and condemned by your own conscience, that you must own; and yet Jesus saying, guilty, hell deserving as you are; yet I do not condemn thee, I fully justify and freely absolve thee from all sin : O what peace, comfort, and joy would inspire your soul! Well this is true: faith receives it, and takes up the triumphant challenge, who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect....Rom. viii. 33. Can Jesus e'er be pleas'd with sin? No sin he hates, sinners he'll love; : Then let us pray his grace to win, And o'er all sin to live above. O, let us ne'er licentious be, From sins which daily us surround. M. Woe unto them which justify the wicked for a reward, and 1 take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.... Isa. v. 23. PERSON'S are said in scripture to do a thing when they aim to do it, and was it in their power, would; so apostates are said “to crucify the Son of God afresh."....Heb. vi. 6. But that is impossible; yet by denying Christ to be the Son of God, they justify the act, and was it in their power would do it again: so here, a woe is denounced against persons for teaching cursed, corrupt doctrine. 1st. They justify the wicked for a reward; this is the common and prevailing doctrine of our day the wicked is the character of every natural man let the lives of such be ever so wicked, yet instead of being told the necessity of being born again of the Spirit and justified by the Son of God, they are taught to believe they can bribe God's justice, obtain his favor and justify their souls in his sight by their duties and good works. If the Lord had not interposed by his special grace, such would have sent my wicked soul to hell with a lie in my right-hand. Glory to thee, O Spirit, for teaching me the justification and salvation of precious Jesus: his blood is my plea for pardon his righteousness my glory for justification unto life. Then, 2d. We are beset on the other side with those who would take away our righteousness from us. What is the righteousness of the righteous? His own works and obedience? Do these constitute us righteous in the sight of God? No: why not? Because they fall short of the rule of righteousness, the law of God; as they do not fulfil the righteous law, we cannot be made righteous thereby. Was our justification put upon this, the holiest saint must be damned for want of righteousness: hear this and tremble, ye selfrighteous; hear this and be humble, ye sin-convinced souls. "Yet rejoice in Jesus, for he is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."....Jer. xxiii. 6. "He is of God made unto us righteousness."....I Cor. i. 30. "We are made the righteousness of God IN HIM."....2 Cor. v. 21. This ONE everlasting righteousness we receive by faith, and glory in ALONE: but there be those who would rob us of it, and spoil our glory in it; they tell us this faith leads to licentiousness : we reply, there is a woe against you from the Lord: you are linked with those, "who call evil good, and good evil, &c. who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight: yea with drunkards also."....Isa, v. 20, 21, 22. See what sad company you are in : your heads are intoxicated with pride, and your hearts blinded to the truth by your own fancied righteousness: you decry this truth which you have not experienced, "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory."....Isa. xlv. 25. |