3. "They that are of the second are better than they that are of the first; and it also appeareth in this—The promises of the Law, through them we have neither faith, nor hope, nor the Spirit conveyed; but through the promises of the Gospel there are all these—"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). O therefore "let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised" (Heb 10:23). "In hope of eternal life," how so? because "God, that cannot lie, promised it before the world began" (Titus 1:2)..
4. They that are in this covenant are in a very happy state; for though there be several conditions in the Gospel to be done, yet Christ Jesus doth not look that they should be done by man, as man, but by His own Spirit in them, as it is written, "Thou hast wrought all our works in us." Is there that condition, they must believe? Why, then, He will be both the "author and finisher of their faith" (Heb 12:2,3). Is there also hope to be in His children? He also doth and hath given them "good hope through His grace" (2 Thess 2:16). Again, are the people of God to behave themselves to the glory of God the Father? then He will work in them "both to will and to do of His own good pleasure" (Phil 2:13).
5. Again, as He works all our works in us and for us, so also by virtue of this covenant we have another nature given unto us, whereby, or by which we are made willing to be glorifying of God, both in our bodies and in our spirits, which are His—"Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" (1 Cor 6:20; Psa 110:3).
6. In the next place, all those under this second covenant are in a wonderful, safe condition, for in case they should slip or fall after their conversion into some sin or sins, for who lives and sins not? (Prov 24:16), yet through the merits and intercession of Christ Jesus, who is their Undertaker in this covenant, they shall have their sins pardoned, their wounds healed, and they raised up again; which privilege the children of the first covenant have not; for if they sin, they are never afterward regarded by that covenant—They break My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord (Heb 8:9). But when He comes to speak of the Covenant of Grace, speaking first of the public person under the name of David, He saith thus, "He shall cry unto Me, Thou art My Father, My God, and the rock of My salvation. Also, I will make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for Him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with Him. His seed will also make me endure forever, and His throne will be the days of heaven. If His children forsake My law and walk not in My judgments; If they break My statutes and keep not My commandments, Then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, My loving kindness will not utterly take from Him, nor will I suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will be that I will not break or alter what is gone from my lips. Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven" (Psa 89:26-37). "My covenant shall stand fast with him"—mark that. As if God had said, I did not make this covenant with man, but with My Son, and with Him I will perform it; and seeing He hath given Me complete satisfaction, though His children do, through infirmity, transgress, yet My covenant is not therefore broken, seeing He with whom it was made standeth firm, according to the desire of my heart; so that My satisfied justice, and My Law, hath nothing to say, for there is no want of perfection in the sacrifice of Christ. Suppose you love your souls and would have them live in the peace of God, to which you are called in one body, even all believers. In that case, I beseech you earnestly to ponder and labor to settle in your souls this one thing, that the new covenant is not broken by our transgressions, and that because it was not made with us. The reason why the very saints of God have so many ups and downs in their travel towards Heaven is because they are so weak in faith in this one thing, for they think that if they fail at this or that particular performance, if their hearts be dead and cold, and their lusts mighty and strong, therefore now God is angry, and now He will shut them out of His favor, now the new covenant is broken, and now Christ Jesus will stand their Friend no longer; now also the devil hath power again, and now they must have their part in the resurrection of damnation; when, alas! The covenant is not for all; this is never the more broken, so God's grace is no longer straitened than before. Therefore, I say, when thou findest that thou art weak here, and failing there, backward to this good, and thy heart forward to that evil; then be sure thou keep a steadfast eye on the Mediator of this new covenant and be persuaded that it is not only made with Him, and His part also fulfilled, but that He does look upon His fulfilling of it, so as not to lay thy sins to thy charge, though He may as a Father chastise thee for the same—"If His children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless," mark "Nevertheless, my loving kindness will not utterly take from HIM, nor will I suffer from my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips." And what was that? Why, that "His seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before Me" (Psa 89:30-34,36).
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