Object. 5. But how, if they have exceeded many in sin and made themselves far more abominable? They are the leading sinners in the county, town, or family.
Answ. What then? Shall that hinder the execution of Shall-come? It is not transgressions, nor sins, nor all their transgressions in all their sins, if they by the Father are given to Christ to save them, that shall hinder this promise, that it should not be fulfilled upon them. “In those days, and in that time,” saith the Lord, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found” (Jer 50:20). Not that they had none, for they abounded in transgression, (2 Chron 33:9; Eze 16:48), but God would pardon, cover, hide, and put them away, by his absolute promise, by which they are given to Christ to save them. “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, praise, and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall bear all the good that I do unto them; and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it” (Jer 33:8, 9).
Object. 6. But how, if they do not have faith and repentance? How shall they come then?
Answ. Why, he that saith, They shall come, shall he not make it good? If they come, they shall come; and he that hath said, they shall come, if faith and repentance be the way to come, as indeed they are, then faith and repentance shall be given to them! for shall-come must be fulfilled on them.
1. Faith shall be given to them. “I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.” “There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust” (Zeph 3:12; Rom 15:12).
2. They shall have repentance. He is exalted to give repentance. “They shall come weeping, and seeking the Lord their God.” And again, “With weeping and supplication will I lead them” (Acts 5:31; Jer 31:9).
I told you before, that an absolute promise has all conditional ones in the belly of it, and also a provision to answer all those qualifications, that they propound to him that seek their benefit. And it must be so; for if Shall-come be an absolute promise, as indeed it is, then it must be fulfilled upon every one of those concerned therein. I say it must be fulfilled, if God can, by grace, and his absolute will, fulfill it. Besides, since coming and believing are all one, according to John 6:35, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst,” then, when he saith they shall come, it is as much as to say, they shall believe, and consequently repent, to the saving of the soul.
So then the present want of faith and repentance cannot make this promise of God of any effect; because this promise has in it to give what others call for and expect. I will give them a heart, I will give them my Spirit; I will give them repentance, I will give them faith. Mark these words: “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.” But how came he to be a “new creature,” since none can create but God? Why, God indeed doth make them “new creatures.” “Behold,” said He, “I make all things new.” And hence it follows, even after he had said they are “new creatures,” “and all things are of God;” that is, all this new creation stands in the several operations, and special workings of the Spirit of grace, who is God (2 Cor 5:17–18).
Object. 7. But how shall they escape all those dangerous and damnable opinions, that, like rocks and quick sands, are in the way in which they are going?
Answ. Indeed, this age is an age of errors, if ever there was an age of errors in the world; but yet the gift of the Father, laid claim to by the Son in the text, must escape them, and, in conclusion, come to him. There is a company of Shall-comes in the Bible that doth secure them; not but that they may be assaulted by them; yea, and also for the time entangled and detained by them from the Bishop of their souls, but these Shall-comes will break those chains and fetters, that those given to Christ are entangled in, and they shall come, because he hath said they shall come to him.
Indeed, errors are like that whore of whom you read in the Proverbs, that sits in her seat in the high places of the city, “to call passengers who go right on their ways” (Prov 9:13–16). But the persons, as I said, that by the Father are given to the Son to save them, are, at one time or another, secured by “shall come to me.”
And therefore, it is said, God will guide them with his eye, with his counsels, by his Spirit, and that in the way of peace; by the springs of water, and into all truth (Psa 32:8; 73:24; John 16:13; Luke 1:79; Isa 49:10). So then he that hath such a guide, and all that the Father giveth to Christ shall have it, he shall escape those dangers, he shall not err in the way; yea, though he be a fool, he shall not err therein, (Isa 35:8), for of every such a one it is said, “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isa 30:21).
There were thieves and robbers before Christ’s coming, as there are also now; but, said he, “The sheep did not hear them.” And why did they not hear them, but because they were under the power of Shall-come, that absolute promise, that had that grace in itself to bestow upon them, as could make them able to rightly distinguish voices, “My sheep hear my voice.” But how did they hear it? Why, to them, it is given to know and to hear, and that distinguishingly (John 10:8, 16; 5:25; Eph 5:14).
Further, the very plain sentence of the text makes provision against all these things; for, saith it, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;” that is, shall not be stopped, or be allured to take up anywhere short of ME, nor shall they turn aside, to abide with any besides ME.
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