THE THIRD USE.
[THIRD] By this doctrine, sinners, as sinners, are encouraged to come to God for mercy, for the curse due to sin is taken out of the way. I speak now to sinners who are awake and see themselves as sinners.
There are two things in particular when men begin to be awakened that kill their thoughts of being saved. 1. A sense of sin. 2. The wages due thereto. These kill the heart, for who can bear up under the guilt of sin? 'If our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?' (Eze 33:10). How indeed! It is impossible. So, neither can man grapple with the justice of God. 'Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong?' They cannot (Eze 22:14). 'A wounded spirit who can bear?' (Prov 18:14). Men cannot, angels cannot. Wherefore, if now Christ be hidden, and the blessing of faith in his blood denied, woe be to them; such go after Saul and Judas, one to the sword, and the other to the halter, and so miserably end their days; for come to God, they dare not; the thoughts of that eternal Majesty strike them through.
But now, present such poor dejected sinners with a crucified Christ, and persuade them that the sins under which they shake and tremble were long ago laid upon the back of Christ, and the noise and sense and fear of damning begins to cease, depart, and fly away; dolors and terrors fade and vanish, and that soul conceived hopes of life; for thus the soul argued, Is this indeed the truth of God, that Christ was made to be sin for me? Was it made the curse of God for me? Had he indeed borne all my sins and spilled his blood for my redemption! O Blessed tidings! O welcome, Grace! 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.' Now is peace come; now the face of heaven is altered; 'Behold, all things become new.' Now the sinner can abide God's presence, yea, sees unutterable glory and beauty in him; for here he sees justice smite. While Jacob feared Esau, how heavily did he drive even towards the promised land? But when killing thoughts were turned into kissing, and the fears of the sword's point turned into brother embraces, what says he?—' I have seen thy face as though it had been the face of God, and thou was pleased with me' (Gen 33:10).
So far better is it with a poor, distressed sinner at the revelation of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.' O what work will such a word make upon a wounded conscience, especially when the next words follow—' For he hath made him be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him!'
Now, the soul sees qualifications able to set him quit in the sight of God; qualifications prepared already. I say prepared already, and that by God through Christ; even such as can perfectly answer the law. What does the law require? If obedience, here it is; if bloody sacrifice, here it is; if infinite righteousness, here it is! Now, then, the law condemns him that believes before God no more, for all its demands are answered, all its curses are swallowed up in the death and curse Christ underwent.
Object. But reason said, since personal sin brought death, surely personal obedience must bring us life and glory.
Answ. True reason said so, and so doth the law itself (Rom 10:5); but God, we know, is above them both, and he in the covenant of grace saith otherwise; to wit, that 'if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved' (Rom 10:9).
Let reason, then, hold its tongue, yea, let the law with all its wisdom subject itself to him that made it; let it look for sin where God had laid it; let it approve the righteousness which God approved; yea, though it be not that of the law, but that by faith of Jesus Christ.
God has made him our righteousness, God has made him our sin, God has made him our curse, God has made him our blessing; I think this word, 'God hath made it so,' should silence all the world.
