Sermon III

If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

In our two preceding discourses, we touched on points necessary to be considered in order to a just apprehension of our subject; but they were rather of an introductory nature, than a direct unfolding of the subject itself. We now come to that which is of prime importance, and in which our present and eternal interests are most deeply involved; namely, the work which the Holy Spirit accomplishes in men, in order to their becoming the people and the property of Christ. And in our statements we will exercise all imaginable caution — not, on the one hand, to fall short of what the Scripture indispensably requires; nor, on the other hand, to strain any requirement of Scripture beyond what it plainly and incontrovertibly imports:

for if, on the one hand, we are bound, at the peril of our souls, not to withhold any thing that can be profitable to you; so we are extremely anxious, on the other hand, not, by carrying any part of our subject to excess, to “make sad the heart of any whom God would not have made sad.”*

In prosecution of the plan before laid down, I now come to state,

III. What the Holy Spirit icill work in us in order to our being Christ’s, And here I shall comprehend the whole in those three acknowledged duties — repentance, faith, and obedience. I say then, that in order to bring us to Christ,, the Holy Spirit will — first, Convince us of sin; secondly, He will reveal Christ to us, as the appointed and only Saviour; and, thirdly, He will lead us to an unreserved surrender of ourselves to God, in a way of holy obedience.

Firsts — He will convince us of sin. This is the first work of the Spirit in bringing us to Christ; and till this is accomplished, we neither

* Ezek. xiii. 22.

are, nor can be, Christ’s. Of this work, there is not any real experience in the natural man. He may have, as we often see, a spirit of bondage; which appears from the apprehensions which men betray in the prospect of death and judgment: but as for any real humiliation, he has it not; nor can he form it in himself by any power of his own. It is only when Christ sends his Holy Spirit into our souls, that this great preparatory work is accomplished in us. It is that heavenly Agent alone, that can “take away from us the heart of stone, and give us an heart of flesh.”* Hence our blessed Lord has promised to send his Holy Spirit for this very end: “I will send the Comforter unto you; and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.”f

Now, the Holy Spirit will convince us, not of the mere existence of sin, for nobody can be ignorant of that; but of the extent and heinousness of our transgressions. In order to this, he will discover to us the spiritual import of the law. Whilst in a natural and unconverted state, we have little notion of the law, except as it

Ezek. xh 19. t John xvi. 7, 8, appears in the mere letter. But the Holy Spirit will show us, that it extends to every motion of the heart; that an angry wish is murder; and an impure look, adultery ;* and an inordinate desire after any thing whatever, is a violation of the tenth commandment. t Thus he shows us that our sins, which to the generality appear only as the stars in a cloudy night, few, and at a great distance from each other, are, in reality, like the stars in the brightest hemisphere; or rather, like the stars in the clearest night, viewed through a telescope of the largest power, when their numbers (the number of our sins) exceed all that we could ever have imagined; forming, as it were, one continuous mass through the whole space of our lives.! The various aggravations of our sins are then, also, brought to light, and are revealed to us as the vilest ingratitude towards our heavenly Benefactor; the most injurious rebellion against our almighty Creator; and the most inconceivable folly, as destructive of our eternal welfare.

We are apt, for the pacifying of our own minds, to balance our virtues against our faults.

“Matt. v. 2l; 22, 27, 28. t Rom. vii. 7.

X Psa. xl. 12?

But the Holy Spirit, by applying the law to our consciences, and showing us the extent of its demands, makes us to see that our brightest virtues are, in fact, but splendid sins, falling, as they do, infinitely short of that perfection which the law requires of us. Thus the Holy Spirit shows us, not only the depth of our guilt, but the awfulness of our desert; and that, if we die in an unpardoned state, we have nothing to expect at God’s hands, but wrath and fiery indignation.

But, in addition to all this, there is one sin in particular of which the Holy Spirit will convince us, and which is especially referred to by our Lord-5 — the sin of unbelief. Our Lord says, “I will send the Comforter to reprove the world of shi, because they believe not on me.”* Now this is a sin of which the unconverted man makes no account. If he think of it at all, it is rather in extenuation than in aggravation of his other sins. He considers unbelief rather as his misfortune than his fault. He never once suspects that there is in him a corrupt bias, and an evil heart of unbelief; and that

‘John xvi. 7 — 9.

these are the main causes of his departing from the living God.* Nor is he at all aware, that his unbelief owes its origin to the corruption of his heart, and not to any want of clearness in the things revealed.

God has sent his only dear Son into the world, to reconcile sinners unto him, by his own obedience unto death. He has also given most abundant evidence of this, such as must of necessity convince any dispassionate and candid mind. And he invites all the children of men to accept of mercy in this his appointed way. The heathen, who have never heard of this merciful provision made for them, are not accountable for their neglect of it; but we, who have been instructed in the knowledge of Christ, and who profess to be followers of that Divine Saviour, have “made light of these things,” and are utterly inexcusable for not having inquired more fully into the mystery of redeeming love, and for having practically said, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”t Now, when the Spirit of God brings this to our view, it appears the very summit of our guilt and

H Heb. iii. 12. i Luke xix. 14..

folly; for, in fact, instead of requiting the Saviour’s love as we ought, with all imaginable gratitude and self-devotion, we have done nothing, throughout our whole lives, but “crucify to ourselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”*

Thus the Spirit of God brings to our view a sense of our guilt and danger. But this is not all. He breaks the heart, and humbles it in the dust, and makes us cry out with the converts on the day of Pentecost, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”t This effect is absolutely universal. There may be a difference in the degrees with which these feelings are produced in different people; but in quality, and in effect, they are the same in all. In all do they produce that “broken and contrite spirit, which God will not despise.”|

Now let not this work be mistaken. Where it exists, whether the person have been more or less moral, it discovers to the mind such a total alienation from God, such an entire want of the divine image, and such a hateful depravity

Heb. vi. 6. t Acts ii. 37. * Psa. li. 17.

of heart, as makes a man to say, with the prophet, “Wo is me! I am undone:”* yea, and to exclaim with Job, “Behold I am vile; I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes. “f These may be thought to be merely particular instances, peculiar to some distinguished saints, and that they are not to be realized or expected amongst us. But the prophet Ezekiel tells us, that all of us, without exception, must “loathe ourselves for our iniquities and abominations, and that not only before, but after, that God is pacified towards us.”J This is the very state which our Lord describes, when he says, that “he came to seek and to save that which wTas fos/;”§ and till we know ourselves to be thus lost, we never shall come to Christ aright. We must feel ourselves, like Peter, actually sinking in the waves, and, under a sense of our perishing condition, must stretch out our hands, crying, “Save, Lord, or I perish.”

The next, the second work of the Holy Spirit, is, to reveal the Lord Jesus to us as the appointed and only Saviour of the world. For

* Isa. vi. 5. t Job xl. 4, and xiiii G.

% Ezek. xvi. 63, and xxxvi. 31. § Matt, xviii. 11.

j| Matt. viii. 25. this also a divine agency is wanted, as much as for the humbling of our souls before God. We may indeed acknowledge, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the appointed Saviour; we may even contend for it as an article of our creed, and write learned dissertations upon it; but all this is widely different from that kind of view which the Spirit of Christ gives to the believing soul. It is not as a speculative truth that the Holy Spirit brings this to the mind, but as a matter of indispensable importance to every soul of man; like that of pointing out the city of refuge to a man, who, hearing the pursuer of blood rapidly gaining ground upon him, feels that he must flee with all his might, if by any means he may attain the wished-for gate of safety, before the avunger shall have overtaken him.

The Spirit of God, as our Lord himself has expressed it, “takes of the things that are Christ’s, and shows them to the inquiring soul.” He shows to us what Christ has done and suffered for a ruined world: that he has left “the bosom of his Father,“* and assumed our nature, and” borne our sins in his own body

John i. 18 on the tree.“* He shows us, that Christ is also a living Saviour, sitting at the right hand of God to complete in heaven the work which he began on earth; and that he is coming again in due season to receive us to himself, that where he is wTe may be also.t He shows us, that our blessed Lord has, in all this work, accomplished every thing that wTas either predicted concerning him in the prophecies, or shadowed forth in the Mosaic ritual. He shows us, that by that one offering of himself upon the cross, he has made an ample satisfaction “for the sins of the whole wTorld,”| and effected a perfect reconciliation between God and man,§ so that now God can be “just, and yet a Saviour;”|| yea, he may be “just, and yet a jtlstifier of them that believe in Christ.”^ He shows us, that “if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without sfpok to God, purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”** Convincing us, I

1 Pet ii. 24. t John xiv. 3. t 1 John ii. 2.

§ Col. i. 20. Isa xjv. 21. «1 Rom. iii. 26

Hob. ix, 13, 14 say, of these things, he assures us, that, if only we “live by faith on this Saviour,” and “receive out of his fulness” our daily “supplies of his Spirit” and grace, we have nothing to fear; for that work that is now begun in us shall assuredly be carried on and perfected “until the day of Christ.”* From this time the sinner builds on “Christ as the only true foundation,”! and glories in him as “all his salvation and all his desire.”| Even a full assurance of faith he is now enabled to exercise, under a full conviction that “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus;”§ and that “all who believe in him are justified from all things. “||

A full assurance of hope, indeed, a true believer may want; but a full assurance of faith he must have, and should never lose. Faith, being founded simply on the truth of God, should never vary, under any circumstances whatever; but hope is founded partly on the promises of God, and partly on a consciousness that we are in that state to which the promises are made, and therefore it may vary, yea, and should vary, according to the progress we have

“Phil. i. 6. tlCor.iii.il. 2 Sam. xxifi. 5.

* Rom. viii. h Acts xiii. 39.

made in the divine life, and the meetness we have attained for the heavenly inheritance. Faith is a duty, and can never be too strong; hope is a privilege, and should rise or fall according to circumstances. The want of an assured faith is sin; the want of an assured hope may, indeed, argue a low, or even a sinful state; but it is in itself rather a duty than a sin, provided we are not in a state that warrants such a hope. Strong faith will, doubtless, for the most part, generate a lively hope, and render it as influential for our safety as it is conducive to our comfort. Hope is, in fact, the daughter of faith; and, when grown to maturity, wall perform the same offices as faith, “purifying the heart after the Saviour’s image,”* and “saving the soul,” both with a present and an everlasting salvation.f This distinction between faith and hope is necessary for our comfort, and should be particularly borne in mind by those who minister in holy things; for many, from confounding the two, are adverse to the doctrine of a full assurance of faith; whilst many, from the very same cause, are induced to write bitter things against themselves without

Acts is. 15 *ith 1 John ». 3. Rom. viii. 24.

any just occasion for their disquietude, apprehending that their weakness of hope argues, of necessity, a want of faith. But a person may have strong faith, whilst yet he is very far from an assured hope. The Canaanitish woman, who was repeatedly rejected by our Lord as an unfit person to enjoy the blessing which she solicited — (” I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;“* “I cannot take the children’s bread, and cast it unto dogs,”t) — showed, by her persevering importunity, that her faith in Christ was strong; and therefore our Lord commended her, saying, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. “J This, then, I have spoken, lest any, because they have not an assured hope, should think themselves destitute of a saving faith. If our faith in Christ be simple and entire, “we shall be saved by him with an everlasting salvation.”^

If it be thought that this knowledge of Christ is attainable by any human efforts, let the Apostle’s declaration be borne in mind:” By grace ye are saved, through faith y and that not

* Matt. xv. 24. t Matt. xv. 2G.

4 Matt. xv. 28: §Isa. xlv. 17.

of yourselves: it is the gift of God.“* And he elsewhere tells us, that “it is given to us to believe in Christ.”f It was “by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that any of old attained the knowledge of Christ;”£ and it is by the same divine Teacher that we must all be brought to him at this time; as it is said — “All thy children shall be taught of God:”§ and again, “No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him.”||

But I observed, that the Spirit of Christ yet further (in the third place) enables the believer to devote himself wholly and unreservedly to God. This is as necessary as either of the former. In fact, without this, where it can be effected, the others, even if they could exist, would be of no saving benefit to the soul. An entire surrender of the soul to God is that for which the graces of penitence and faith are given. But this also is the work of the Spirit, and can never be wrought by any finite power. The man now possesses “a divine nature,”^” totally distinct from that which he brought into the world with him. He is altogether” a new

* Eph. ii. 8. t Phil. i. 29. Eph. i. 17.

§ John vi. 45. John vi. 44. *I 2 Pet. i. 4, creature;“• made so by him who created him at first, and” breathed into him a living soul.“f And can there be any doubt by whom this change is wrought? Let the Apostle’s testimony determine this point:” We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. “| And again, 11 He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God; who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”^

I have said that the Spirit of God makes known to the believing soul the mercies of God in Christ Jesus; and by this manifestation of God’s love he constrains the believer to “give himself up, a living sacrifice to God;”|| and, from a consciousness that “he has been bought with a price, to glorify God with his body and his spirit, which are his.”^[ From this time, the man enters on a new course, mortifying the whole body of sin, and crucifying all his corrupt affections; as it is written, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.”** From this time also, all the fruits of the Spirit are brought forth by him,

* Gal. vi. 15. t Gen. ii. 7. X Eph. ii. 10.

$2 Cor. v. 5. URom.xii.l. ![ 1 Cor. vi. 20

Gal. v. 21, and he progressively abounds in “all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”* Holiness, in all its branches, is now the chief desire and delight of his soul. “By walking in the Spirit, he is kept from any desire to fulfil the lusts of the flesh. “t “He can no longer commit sin, as he once did, because he is born of God.”* Were it possible, he would become “holy, as God himself is holy.”§ His continual prayer is, that “the God of peace would sanctify him wholly; and that his whole body, soul, and spirit may be preserved blameless unto God’s heavenly kingdom.” As for the world, and all its vanities, he is crucified to it “by the cross of Christ; and the world, even in all its most attractive graces, is as a crucified object to him.”^[ The relation between him and the world, like the tie of a departed relative, is dissolved ;** and thought;?, the world, “he is no more of the world, than Christ himself was of the world. “ft To walk before God, and with God, and to “maintain continual fellowship with the Father and the Son, “{J is now his- one

* Phil. i. 11. t Gal. v. 16. % 1 John iii. 9.

$ Lev. xlx. 2. 1 Thess. v. 23. H Gal. vi. 14.

’ Horn. vii. 4. U John svii. 1G. XX 1 John i. $ ambition, his one pursuit. And it is only in proportion as he has attained this change, that he has any evidence that he belongs to Christ. In this way,. allowing only for circumstantial varieties in different cases, the Holy Spirit completes in men the three different works which I mentioned, as necessary in order to our becoming Christ’s.

I know that there are some who would call this a legal statement. But I have no hesitation in saying, that it is the statement which is found in every page of the inspired volume; and that no part of it can, by any means, be dispensed with. If we be not penitent, we can never come to Christ aright; if we rely on any thing but his meritorious blood and righteousness, we can never be accepted of him; and, if we yield not ourselves up to him in a way of holy obedience, he will never acknowledge us as his. The same Scripture which] says, “Except ye repent, ye shall all perish,“* says also,” He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him ;t” and still further adds,” Without holiness, no man

‘Luke riii. 5. t John iii. 36.

shall see the Lord.”* Now no true disciple of Christ would wish any one of these demands to be waved, or softened down in any respect. He would most gladly comply with them all. He would assign no measure to his penitence, no bounds to his faith, no limits to his obedience. In actual attainment, it is true, he has many defects, and much that affords him occasion for grief and shame: but in heart and mind, he is like-minded with God; and he can appeal to God, that he would regard a perfect conformity to his revealed will as a very heaven upon earth.

Now comes the question which it behoves every one of us to put to himself with all sincerity — What evidence have I that I am Christ’s? Has the Spirit of Christ actually wrought these things in me? Does my conscience bear me witness that I am deeply penitent before God; and that not merely on account of some flagrant transgression which I may have committed, but for the indwelling corruptions of my heart, and all the defectiveness of my very best duties? Do I take the

Hub. xii. 14 law as my rule of judgment, and feel that I have need, in reference to every one of the commandments, to pray from my inmost soul, “Lord, have mercy upon me for my past violations of this law, and incline my rebellious heart to keep it in future .;” Can I also appeal to God that I do flee to Christ for refuge, renouncing utterly every other ground of hope, and “determining to know nothing, and rely on nothing, for my acceptance with God, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified?”* Do I look with a holy jealousy and indignation on every tiling that would divide with him the honour of my salvation; and is this the most rooted and habitual sentiment of my heart, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?”i Further, does “the love of Christ constrain me to live, not to myself, but to Him who died for me and rose again;”£ and does my whole walk, both in public and private, bear witness for me, that I live only for God and for eternity; and that all my other pursuits, of whatsoever kind they be, are subordinated to this, and made subservient to it? Let it be remembered, I am not now asking.

1 Cor. ii. 2. Gal. vi. 14. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.

whether we do these things perfectly; but whether we do them sincerely and habitually; and whether every deviation from this heavenlv course be a source of grief and shame to us; yea, whether we are “labouring after perfection,”* though we know we are not able to attain it f Moreover, is all this manifest to those around us, and especially to those who are most conversant with us in our daily walk? Do they see, and can they testify in our behalf, that this is indeed the constant habit of our minds, and the uniform tenor of our life? Do they see a marked difference between us and the world around us; and that we are, in fact, “lights in a dark world, holding forth in our conversation the word of life;”t and proving to every beholder the truth of our profession by the consistency of our conduct? Let us not put away from us these searching inquiries; let us not turn away from them as though this change were unattainable, or as though we could be saved without it. Let us remember what is at issue, and how deeply we are interested in it. J want to know whether I am Chrisfs: I want to know whether, if I icere to die this day, Christ woidd acknowledge

* 2 Cor. xiii. 9.. t Phil. ii. 16.

me as his; or whether I have not reason rather to fear that he would say to me, “Depart from me; I never knew you.”*

I am aware that some will endeavour to evade these things, by saying that we require too much. Then I demand, which of these things can be dispensed with? Can repentance? Can faith f Can obedience? There is not a person here who does not know, that not one of these things can be neglected, but to the certain destruction of our souls. Again, I ask, which of these things can be wrought in us by our own power; or for which of them is not the operation of the Holy Spirit necessary? If repentance can be wrought effectually in you by any power of your own, prove it. If faith in Christ can, prove it. If obedience to his commandments can, prove it. But be careful not to mistake the shadow for the substance. Think not that the saying that you possess these things, or that you intend hereafter to attain them, will suffice. You must possess them; you must possess them in reality; you must possess them now, if you would have any scriptural evidence that you are Christ’s, or any well-

* Matt. vii. 23.

founded hope of dwelling with Christ in the eternal world. I charge you before God, that you examine, every one of you, your present state, and that you defer not any longer the attainment of the things on which. your everlasting salvation depends. Think, I pray you, if ye are not Chrisfs, ichose are ye? Fearful thought! I pray God that no one amongst you may ever have to learn this by bitter experience; but that all of you may, from this moment, lay it to heart, and improve, whilst yet ye may, this day of your salvation! I tremble, lest in any of you this day of grace be terminated by death; and, when ye are vainly hoping for acceptance With Christ as his peculiar people, Satan should lay claim as his vassals, and possess you for ever, sad trophies of his victorious power, and wretched monuments of his malignant sway.

And now, in conclusion, may God send down his Holy Spirit upon you all, “to bear testimony to the word of his grace”* which has been delivered to you, and render it “the power of God to the salvation of your souls!”t Amen and Amen.

* Acts xiv. 3. f Rom. i. 16.