A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, &c....Luke x. 30. An awful down-hill journey! Here is a true picture of the woeful backsliding of a believer from his Lord. 1st. "He went down from Jerusalem," which signifies the visions of peace: these are enjoyed by faith, in communion with Christ and close walking with God: when these are departed from, it is going down indeed; the way of sin is down hill; the descent is easy; the event dreadful: it is going down from the delectable mountains into the dreary vale of Jericho; this place was cursed by Joshua....vi. 26. It was very wicked in the days of Christ, so is this present world now. 2d. "He fell among thieves," so does the believer when he gives up himself to sinful company, vain delights and carnal diversions: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, steal his heart from God and strip him of his raiment of purity and peace. 3d. "They wounded him :" O the dreadful stabs which sin and apostacy give to the believer's heart and conscience! 4th. "Departed from him:" having robbed the believer of his comfort in God, now the sense of carnal joys also forsake him; he cannot find those mighty pleasures in sin which it promised him. 5th. "Leaving him half dead:" not totally dead to God, nor wholly alive to sin; he can be happy in neither: awful state! But there is still a spark of spiritual life in his soul: this, all the devils.in hell nor all the men on earth can never quench. But now, O what misery he feels! What wounds, pains, and griefs he groans under? What loss does he deplore? 6th. "The priest and the Levite pass by on the other side:" the law can neither ease nor cure him: it curses, condemns and leaves him: but lastly, who is he that says, "I will heal their backslidings, and love them freely?"....Hos. xiv. 4. O, it is the good Samaritan; the precious, ever loving friend of sinners. He came where he was; he saw him and had compassion on him; he bound up his wounds, pouring in the oil of his precious grace and the wine of his heavenly love, and took care of him. O my soul, dread the danger of such a journey highly esteem the visions of peace; remember Jericho; forget not the snares of this wicked world; beware of thieves; never, never forget the compassion of the good Samaritan; bless him for his sympathizing heart: he is "touched with a feeling of our infirmities."....Heb. iv. 15. Sin's promis'd joys are turn'd to pain, Wretch that I am to wander thus And I am drown'd in grief, But my dear Lord returns again, He flies to my relief. In chase of false delight! And never lose thy sight. 1 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool....Isa. i. 18. WHENEVER Our Lord denounces his judgments against hardened and impenitent sinners, we are sure to find a word of grace from his precious lips to his dear trembling saints; his loving heart knew that what threatenings he had been declaring against others, his people would take to themselves, reason their hearts into dejection and sorrow, and cast away their hopes and their comforts; therefore, as frequently in the days of his flesh, he turned aside to his disciples and said, COME NOW, let not trouble arise in your hearts, let not terror and dread seize on your spirits one moment; so here, LET US REASON TOGETHER. Do not reason with flesh and blood, with your carnal notions and your legal hearts: confer not with satan who is your enemy and accuser; but reason with me: I am just.. Do you say then I must perish in my sins? No: "I am just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus."....Rom. iii. 26. "I am just to forgive thee thy sins.".... 1 John i. 9. Reason with me upon the purity and spirituality of my law. Dost thou say it pronounces thee cursed for not continuing in all things written therein? True, but my law has been magnified and made honorable by my Son's perfect, unspotted obedience; therefore I pronounce thee blessed in him: because I impute his perfect righteousness to thee. Come and reason with me at my throne of grace; plead thy sins; aggravate them to the most enormous size; multiply them to the greatest number as sands by the sea side; paint them in the deepest hue as SCARLET and CRIMSON blood divine changes their colour to the most perfect whiteness, even as snow and wOOL; not the least stain shall remain; not the least spot shall be seen: "his blood cleanseth from ALL SIN."....1 John i. 7. Thou art all fair, all pure, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing in my sight: all the guilt of thy sins are atoned: all taken away by the sacrifice of my Son: they are all covered from my sight by his perfect righteousness, and I the LORD pronounce thee BLESSED; I impute no sin to thee, no more than if thou hadst never sinned. O my soul, here is reasoning: thy Lord wonld have thee happy and holy, and full of love, and free from legal terrors and slavish dread; therefore he thus calls on thee to reason with him. True, all this is contrary to thy carnal reason; but it is the truth of God, who says, "I am pacified towards thee."....Ezek.. xvi. 63. Lord, daily bring my reas'ning pow'rs. My sins, though of the deepest dye,, Thou say'st their colour thou wiltz The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men....Tit. ii. 11. HERE are three blessed and glorious truths: they demand the constant attention of our minds; they tend to sink into the deepest humility of heart, to excite the greatest joy of spirit, and to inspire the most ardent love and gratitude of soul. 1st. Salvation: this was the council of heaven: the work of the Son of God: the wonder of angels: the envy of devils, and the glory of apostate, rebellious sinners....sinners who are born with enmity of heart, rebellion of will, and hatred of affections against God, and who have manifested the enmity of their mind by wicked works....the rebellion of their will by taking arms against the Lord; and the hatred of their affections by refusing to lay them down and submit unto him: O, that precious word, full of wonder, grace and love, "God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us....when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.' ..Rom. v. 8...10. This is a salvation worthy a God of infinite love to bestow: here is a Saviour worthy to be received with all readiness of mind, to be embraced with the most cordial affection, and to be gloried in as the richest blessing by lost, hopeless, ruined sinners. For, 2d. this salvation is brought to us; the news of it is sounded in our ears; the report of it is daily made to us it is displayed and set before us in all its glory, richness, freeness and fulness in the gospel, that we may receive it and enjoy. the comforts of it; take it as our own, and rejoice in the salvation of our God. 3d. It is brought to us by the grace of God which hath appeared. Where? In the person of the Son of his love, and in the gospel of his grace: there the grace of God appears; there the salvation of Jehovah shines forth and is made manifest to all men; to all sorts of men, Jews and Gentiles. Therefore it is revealed, as a free and full salvation, worthy of ALL acceptation: free from all limitation and restriction. Paul speaks of "knowing the grace of God in truth."....Col. i. 6. This is done, when any poor sinner receives and believes the gospel: it then becomes the power of God to salvation to that poor sinner's soul: he then knows the free favor of God in Christ Jesus: Christ is all his salvation and all his desire: that dear Spirit who hath convinced him of sin, and enlightened him to see gospel truths and gospel grace, will comfort him by them. Hath the grace of God thus appeared to thee? Hath it brought salvation to thy soul? Dost thou believe the gospel? Then take heed of mixing any work or duty of thy own with thy faith and hope in the grace of God and salvation of Jesus; for this were to degrade both and bring thy soul into bondage to the law of works. Teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world....Tit. ii. 12. WE read in Esdras of three young men who wrote of the strength of different subjects. The 1st. chose WINE: the 2d. the KING: the 3d. WOMEN and TRUTH. He fully demonstrated, that truth is superior to all the charms of women and the power of a king: "As for truth it endureth and is always strong, it liveth and conquereth for evermore; and all the people shouted and said, great is truth and mighty above all things."....1 Es. iv. 38, 41. Surely so it is with the truth of God's grace: the stoutest rebels have been conquered by it; the most mighty kings have fallen victims to it: whom it conquers, them it also teaches: when it has brought the heart to yield to its sovereign power, it captivates the affections by its sweet influence and regulates the life by its salutary rules. There is a most vile spirit gone forth and prevails. Out of a zeal for holiness and pretence for perfection, the doctrines of grace are exploded, the God of grace is blasphemed; and in order that men may not live like beasts, they are taught the pride of devils, which consists in rejecting and belying the truths of God's grace. This teaches us. Who? Us who bow to the sovereignty of God, submit to the righteousness of his Son, and accept salvation as a free gift of free grace, without our works having the least hand in procuring it, or entitling to it. It teaches us not to labor in the fire of nature's zeal to establish our righteousness before God; but to deny all ungodliness, every thing which is contrary to God's nature and. will, and worldly lusts; seeing no happiness in indulging them, seeking no comfort from gratifying them: we deny ourselves, and deny them, as contrary to our holy faith and heavenly hope. God's grace, or his free favor and unmerited love in Christ, teaches us to live soberly, righteously and godly; aiming to discharge every duty to God, our neighbours and ourselves, faithfully, conscientiously and perfectly; but not to be made righteous hereby; not to entitle ourselves to God's favor, but to glorify God who hath made us righteous in his Son; and to honor him in our lives who has reconciled us to himself by his Son. This text, like a two-edged sword, cuts both ways; it cuts down the vain confidence of self-righteous pharisees; it lops off the unscriptural hope of licentious Antinomians; such as walk after their own lusts, "ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."....Jude iv. Their heads have the notion of truth; while their hearts are strangers to the influence of grace; "from such turn away."....2 Tim. iii. 5. Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?....2 Kings vii. 2. THIS is a daring reply to " Thus saith the LORD." The word of the Lord promises by vast plenty instantly to relieve his people from a great famine. Doubtless, with a witty sneer, this great peer of the earth uttered this reply to Elisha, as though he had said, 'Behold, ye people, do not mind what this mad fellow says, use your reason, judge of the nature of things by your senses: do you think God will make windows in heaven to pour down corn for you ? There is no other possible way for such a supply as Elisha talks of.' Thus with an imperious air he insults the prophet and exalts his carnal reason and unbelief against the Lord's word of promise. Today he prides himself in his wisdom: to-morrow he perishes, and is trod under foot as an unbelieving fool. Here see the cursed nature of carnal reason: here behold the dreadful evil of rejecting the word of the Lord by unbelief. Beware of the great, the noble and the wise of this world; not many of them are called: those who are not, are great enemies to God's grace and truth. Look not at the wisdom of the wise, and the judgment of the great of this word; they are fools in the things of God: "God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world."....1 Cor. i. 20. But, my fellow sinners, see we not somewhat of ourselves in the judgment of this lord? O Jesu, how does our human reason and unbelief often oppose thy blessed word of grace? When we find a famine in our souls, we think we shall perish for want of the bread of life; we look this way and that for hope: human probability shuts up every avenue: still we have "thus saith the LORD" to look to: great and precious promises to trust in. Ah, but says carnal reason, will the Lord' fulfil them? No, says unbelief, it is impossible. What! after the Lord himself came down from heaven to seek and to save us; after such a miracle of love to us, can we doubt of his care for us? O, let us cry to the Lord to enable us to trample this man of sin, this lord of unbelief under our feet, that we be not faithless, but believing. What! the word of God: what he speaks to us: what he has promised to bestow on us; for his word is truth: "he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"....Rom. viii. 32. Come, let our souls address the Lord, Come, let us hear his voice to-day, The councils of his love obey; |