This is a Blog for those interested in following hard after His heart. Those willing to strive to live a moment-by-moment life as we go through the transformation process with Him. It is not an easy life, but the Father expects each of us to become an offering for His pleasure. So, if this is you, then let’s journey together hand in hand. I am humbled that you have chosen to walk with me. Thanks!
Having thus touched upon this, we will now proceed to show you what kind of people they are that come to God by Christ, and then draw some inferences from this also.
[Who are the people that come to Christ.]
There are, therefore, three sorts of people that come to God by Christ. First, men were newly awakened. Second, men turned away from backsliding. Third, the sincere and upright man.
[Of the newly awakened coming to Christ.]
First, men were newly awakened. By awakened, I mean awakened thoroughly. So awakened as to be made to see themselves, what they are; the world, what it is; the law, what it is; hell, what it is; death, what it is; Christ, what he is; and God, what he is; and also what judgment is.
A man who will come to God by Christ aright must, precedent to his coming, have competent knowledge of things of this kind. 1. He must know himself, what a wretched and miserable sinner he is before he will take one step forward to his coming to God by Christ. This is plain from a great many scriptures; as that of the parable of the prodigal, (Luke 15); that of the three thousand, (Acts 2); that of the jailer, (Acts 16), and those of many more besides. The whole has no need of a physician. They were not the sound and whole, but the lame and diseased that came to him to be cured of their infirmities; and it is not the
righteous, but the sinners that do well know themselves to be such, that come to God by Christ.
It is not in the power of all the men on earth to make one man come to God by Christ, because it is not in their power to make men see their state by nature. And what should a man come to God for, that can live in the world without him? Reason says so, experience says so, and the Scripture bears witness that so it is of a truth. It is a sight of what I am that must unroots me, that must shake my soul, and make me leave my present rest. No man comes to God by Christ but he that knows himself, and what sin hath done to him; that is the first. (Job 21:7-15)
1. Of God. God is the chief good. Good so, as nothing is but himself. He is in himself most happy; yea, all good; and all true happiness is only to be found in God, as that which is essential to his nature; nor is there any good or any happiness in or with any creature or thing but what is communicated to it by God. God is the only desirable good; nothing without him is worthy of our hearts. Right thoughts of God can ravish the heart; how much happier is the man who has an interest in God? God alone can put the soul into a more blessed, comfortable, and happy condition than can the whole world; yes, and more than if all the creatures created by all the angels of heaven did dwell in one man's bosom. God is the upholder of all creatures, and whatever they have that is a suitable good to their kind, it is from God; by God, all things have their subsistence and all the good that they enjoy. I cannot tell you what to say; I am drowned! The life, the glory, the blessedness, the soul-satisfying goodness that is in God is beyond all expression.
2. Now there must be in us something of a suitableness of spirit to this God before we can be willing to come to him.
Before, therefore, God has been with a man, and has left some impression of his glory upon him, that man cannot be willing to come to him aright. Hence it is said concerning Abraham, that, to his coming to God, and following of him aright, the Lord himself did show himself unto him—'Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.' (Acts 7:2,3, Gen 12:1)
It was this God of glory, the sight and visions of this God of glory, that provoked Abraham to leave his country and kindred to come after God. The reason why men are so careless of and so indifferent about, their coming to God, is because they have their eyes blinded, because they do not perceive his glory. God is so blessed a one, that did he not hide himself and his glory, the whole world would be ravished with him. But he has, I will not say reasons of state, but reasons of glory, glorious reasons why he hid himself from the world, and appeared but to particular ones. Now by his thus appearing to Abraham, down fell Abraham's vanity, and his idolatrous fancies and affections, and his heart began to turn unto God, for that there was in this appearance an alluring and soul-instructing voice. Hence that which Moses calls here an appearing, Christ calls a hearing, and a teaching, and a learning—' It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me,' that is, to God by me. But, I say, what must they hear and learn of the Father but that Christ is the way to glory, the way to the God of glory. This is a drawing doctrine; wherefore that which in this verse is called teaching and learning is called, in the verse before, the drawing of the Father—' No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him'; that is, with powerful proposals, and alluring conclusions, and heart-subduing influences. (John 6:44,45)
It is true that the Son has the power to give pardon and glory, but he gives it not by himself but by and according to the will of his Father. (Matt 9:6, John 17:22) They, therefore, that come to him for an eternal good and look not to the Father by him, come short thereof; I mean, now, pardon and glory. And hence, though it is said the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins—to wit, to show the certainty of his Godhead and of the excellency of his mediation—forgiveness of sin is said to lie more particularly in the hand of the Father, and that God for Christ's sake forgives us. (Eph 4:32)
The Father, as we see, will not forgive unless we come to him by the Son. Why, then, should we conceit that the Son will forgive these that come not to the Father by him?
So then, justifying righteousness is in the Son, and with him also is intercession; but forgiveness is with the Father; yea, the gift of the Holy Ghost, yea, and the power of imputing the righteousness of Christ is yet in the hand of the Father. Hence Christ prays to the Father to forgive, prays to the Father to send the Spirit, and it is God that imputes righteousness to justification to us. (Luke 23:34, John 14:16, Rom 4:6) The Father, then, doth nothing but for the sake of and through the Son; the Son also doth nothing derogating from the glory of the Father. But it would be a derogation to the glory of the Father if the Son should grant to save them that come not to the Father by him; wherefore you that cry Christ, Christ, delighting yourselves in the thoughts of forgiveness, but care not to come by Christ to the Father for it, you are not at all concerned in this blessed text, for he only saves by his intercession them that come to God by him.
There are three sorts of people that may be said to come to Christ, but not to God by him.
1. They whose utmost design in coming is only that guilt and fear of damning may be removed from them. And there are three signs of such a one—(1.) He takes up in a belief of pardon, and so goes on in his course of carnality as he did before. (2.) He whose comfort in the belief of pardon stands alone, without other fruits of the Holy Ghost. (3.) He that, having been washed, can be content to tumble in the mire, as the sow again, or as the dog that did spur to lick up his vomit again.
2. They may be said to come to Christ, but not to God by him, who does pick and chooses doctrines, itching only after that which sounds of grace, but secretly abhorring of that which presseth to moral goodness. These did never see God, what notions soever they may have of the Lord Jesus, and of forgiveness from him. (Matt 5:8)
3. They surely did never come to God by Christ, however, they may boast of the grace of Christ, that will from the freeness of gospel grace plead an indulgence for sin.
[Manner of coming to God.]—And now to speak a few words of coming to God, or coming as the text intends. And in speaking to this, I must touch upon two things—1. Concerning God. 2. Concerning the frame of the heart of him that comes to him.
THIRD, The third particular is to show WHO ARE THE PERSONS INTERESTED IN THIS INTERCESSION OF CHRIST, and they are those that come to God by him. The words are concise and distinctly laid down; they are they that come, that come to God, that come to God by him. 'Wherefore he is able also to save them, to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.'
[Of coming to God by Christ.]—A little, first, to comment upon the order of the words, 'that come unto God by him.'
Some come unto God, but not 'by him'; these are not included in this text; they have no share in this privilege. Thus the Jews came to God, the unbelieving Jews, 'who had a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.' (Rom 9:30–34, 10:1-4) These submitted not to Christ, the righteousness of God, but thought to come to him by works of their own, or at least, as it were, by them, and so come short of salvation by grace, for that reigns to salvation only in Christ. To these Christ's person and undertaking were a stumbling stone, for at him they stumbled and did split themselves to pieces, though they indeed were such as came to God for life.
As there are that come to God, but not by Christ, so there are that come to Christ, but not to God by him:11 of this sort are those who, hearing that Christ is the Saviour, therefore come to him for pardon but cannot abide to come to God by him, for that he is holy, and so will snub their lusts and change their hearts and natures. Mind what I say. There are a great many who would be saved by Christ but would love not to be sanctified by God through him. These make a stop at Christ and will go no further. They might as well have pardon, they care not whether ever they went to heaven or not. Of this kind of coming to Christ I think it is, of which he warneth his disciples when he saith, 'In that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.' (John 16:23) As who should say, when you ask for anything, make not a stop at me, but come to my Father by me; for they that come to me, and not to my Father, through me, will have nothing of what they come for. Righteousness shall be imputed to us, 'if we believe in him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.' (Rom 4:24,25) To come to Christ for a benefit, and stop there, and not come to God by him, prevaileth nothing. Here the mother of Zebedee's children erred; and about this, it was that the Lord Jesus cautioned her. Lord, saith she, 'Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.' But what is the answer to Christ? 'To sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared of my Father.' (Matt 20:21-23) As who should say, Woman, of myself I do nothing, my Father worketh with me. Go therefore to him by me, for I am the way to him; what thou canst obtain of him by me thou shalt have; that is to say, what of the things that pertain to eternal life, whether pardon or glory.
7. Are those that are already justified by the blood of Christ such as do still in need of being saved by his intercession,? Then is this also to be inferred from hence, that saints should look to him for that saving that they shall yet need between this and the day of their dissolution; yea, from henceforward, even to the day of judgment. I say they should still look to him for the remaining part of their salvation, or for that of their salvation which is yet behind; and let them look for it with confidence, for that it is in a faithful hand; and for thy encouragement to look and hope for the completion of thy salvation in glory, let me present thee with a few things—
(1.) The hardest or worst part of the work of thy Saviour is over; his bloody work, his bearing of thy sin and curse, his loss of the light of his Father's face for a time; his dying upon the cursed tree, that was the worst, the sorest, the hardest, and most difficult part of the work of redemption; and yet this he did willingly, cheerfully, and without thy desires; yea, this he did, as considering those for whom he did it in a state of rebellion and enmity to him.
(2.) Consider, also, that he has made a beginning with thy soul to reconcile thee to God, and to that end has bestowed his justice upon thee, put his Spirit within thee, and began to make the unwieldable mountain and rock, thy heart, to turn towards him, and desire after him; to believe in him, and rejoice in him.
(3.) Consider, also, that some comfortable pledges of his love thou hast already received, namely, as to feel the sweetness of his love, as to see the light of his countenance, as to be made to know his power in the raising of thee when thou was down, and how he has made thee stand, while hell has been pushing at thee, utterly to overthrow thee.
(4.) Thou mayest consider, also, that what remains behind of the work of thy salvation in his hands, as it is the easiest part, so the most comfortable. That part will more immediately issue in his glory, and therefore he will mind it.
(5.) That which is behind is also safer in his hand than if it were in thine own; he is wise, powerful, faithful, and therefore will manage that part that is lacking to our salvation well until he has completed it. His love to thee has made him that 'he put no trust in thee'; he knows that he can himself bring thee to his kingdom most surely; and therefore has not left that work to thee, no, not any part thereof. (Job 5:18, 15:15)
Live in hope, then, in a lively hope, that since Christ is risen from the dead, he lives to make intercession for thee, and that thou shalt reap the blessed benefit of this twofold salvation that is wrought, and that is working out for thee, by Jesus Christ our Lord. And thus have we treated of the benefit of his intercession, in that he can save to the uttermost. And this leads me to the third particular.
5. Are those that are already justified by the blood of Christ yet such as need being saved by his intercession? Then, hence, I infer that Christ is not only the beginner but the completer of our salvation; or, as the Holy Ghost calls him, 'the author and finisher of our faith,' (Heb 12:2); or, as it calls him again, 'the author of eternal salvation.' (Heb 5:9) Of salvation throughout, from the beginning to the end, from first to last. His hands have laid the foundation of it in his own blood, and his hands shall finish it by his intercession. (Zech 4:9) As he has laid the beginning fast, so he shall bring forth the headstones with shoutings, and we shall cry. Grace, grace, at the last, salvation only belongs to the Lord. (Zech 4:7, Psa 3:8, Isa 43:11)
Many there be that begin with grace, and end with works, and think THAT is the only way. Indeed works will save from temporal punishments, when their imperfections are purged from them by the intercession of Christ; but to be saved and brought to glory, to be carried through this dangerous world, from my first moving after Christ till I set my foot within the gates of paradise, this is the work of my Mediator, of my high priest and intercessor; it is he that fetches us again when we are run away; it is he that lifteth us up when the devil and sin has thrown us down; it is he that quickeneth us when we grow cold; it is he that comforteth us when we despair; it is he that obtains fresh pardon when we have contracted sin; and he that purges our consciences when they are loaden with guilt. (Eze 34:16, Psa 145:14)
I know also, that rewards do wait for them in heaven that do believe in Christ, and shall do well on earth; but this is not a reward of merit, but of grace. We are saved by Christ; brought to glory by Christ; and all our works are no otherwise made acceptable to God but by the person and personal excellencies and works of Christ; therefore, whatever the jewels are, and the bracelets, and the pearls, that thou shalt be adorned with as a reward of service done to God in the world, for them thou must thank Christ, and, before all, confess that he was the meritorious cause thereof. (1 Peter 2:5, Heb 13:15) He saves us and saves our services too. (Rev 5:9-14) They would be all cast back as dung in our faces, were they not rinsed and washed in the blood, were they not sweetened and perfumed in the incense, and conveyed to God himself through the white hand of Jesus Christ; for that is his golden-censer; from thence ascends the smoke that is in the nostrils of God of such a sweet savor. (Rev 7:12-14, 8:3,4) 6. Are those that are already justified by the blood of Christ, such as do still need to be saved by his intercession? Then hence I infer again, that we that have been saved hitherto, and preserved from the dangers that we have met with since our first conversion to this moment, should ascribe the glory to Jesus Christ, to God by Jesus Christ. 'I have prayed that thy faith fail not: I pray that thou wouldest keep them from the evil,' is the true cause of our standing, and of our continuing in the faith and holy profession of the gospel to this very day. Wherefore we must give the glory of all to God by Christ: 'I will not trust in my bow,' said David, 'neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God, we boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. Selah'! 'He always causeth us to triumph in Christ.' 'We rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' (Psa 44:6-8, 2 Cor 2:14, Phil 3:3) Thus you see that, both in the Old and New Testament, all the glory is given to the Lord, as well for preservation to heaven as for justification of life. And he that is well acquainted with himself will do this readily; though light heads, and such as are not acquainted with the desperate evil that is in their natures, will sacrifice to their own net. But such will so sacrifice but a while. Sir Death is coming, and he will put them into the view of what they see not now and will feed sweetly upon them because they made not the Lord their trust. And therefore, ascribe thou the glory of the preservation of thy soul in the faith hitherto, to that salvation which Christ Jesus our Lord obtaineth for thee by his intercession.
I will proceed no further in this kind of repetition of things; only thus much give me leave to say over again; even many of the truly godly are very faulty here. But what would they do if there were not one always at the right hand of God, by intercession, taking away these kinds of iniquities?
2. Are those who are justified by the blood of Christ such that, after that, they need to be saved by Christ's intercession? From this, we may infer that it is sin, so Satan will not give up assaulting the best of the saints.
It is not justification that can secure us from being assaulted by Satan: 'Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you.' (Luke 22:31,32) Two things do encourage the devil to set upon the people of God:
(1.) He knows not who are elect; for all that profess are not, and, therefore, he will make trial, if he can get them into his sieve, whether he can cause them to perish. And great success he has had this way. Many a brave professor has he overcome; he has cast some of the stars from heaven to earth; he picked one out from among the apostles, and one, as it is thought, from among the seven deacons, and many from among Christ's disciples; but how many, think you, nowadays, doth he utterly destroy with his net?
(2.) If it so happeneth that he cannot destroy, because Christ, by his intercession, prevaileth, will he set upon the church to defile and afflict it? For (a), If he can but get us to fall with Peter, then he has obtained that dishonor be brought to God, the weak to be stumbled, the world offended, and the gospel vilified and reproached. Or (b), If he cannot throw up our heels, yet, by buffeting us, he can grieve us, afflict us, put us to pain, frighten us, drive us to many doubts, and make our life very uncomfortable unto us, and make us go groaning to our Father's house. But blessed be God for his Christ, and for that 'he ever liveth to make intercession for us.'
3. Are those that are justified by the blood of Christ such as, after that, need to be saved by Christ's intercession? Then, hence I infer that it is dangerous going about anything in our own name and strength. If we would have help from the intercession of Christ, let us have care that we do what we do according to the word of Christ. Do what he bids us as well as we can, as he bids us, and then we need not doubt to have help and salvation in those duties by the intercession of Christ. 'Do all,' says the apostle, 'in the name of the Lord Jesus.' (Col 3:17) Oh, but then the devil and the world will be most of all offended! Well, well, but if you do nothing but as in his fear, by his Word, in his name, you may be sure of what help his intercession can afford you, and that can afford you much help, not only to begin but to go through with your work in some good measure, as you should; and by that also you shall be secured from those dangers, if not temptations to dangers, that those that go out about business in their own names and strength shall be sure to meet withal.
4. Are those who are justified by the blood of Christ, such as, after that, need to be saved by Christ's intercession? Then, hence, I infer again, that God has a great dislike of the sins of his own people and would fall upon them in judgment and anger much more severely than he doth, were it not for Christ's intercession. The gospel is not, as some think, a loose and licentious doctrine, nor is God's discipline of his church a negligent and careless discipline; for, though those who believe already have an intercessor, God, to show his detestation against sin, doth often makes them feel the weight of his fingers. The sincere, that fain would walk oft with God, have felt what I say, and that to the breaking of their bones full oft. The loose ones, and those that God loves not, may utter strangers as to this, but those that are his own indeed do know it is otherwise.
'You only have I known' above all others, says God, 'therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.' (Amos 3:2) God keeps a rigorous house among his children. David found it so, Haman found it so, Job found it so, and the church of God found it so; and I know not that his mind is ever the less against sin, notwithstanding we have an Intercessor. True, our Intercessor saves us from damning evils, from damning judgments; but he neither doth nor will secure us from temporal punishment, from spiritual punishment, unless we watch, deny ourselves, and walk in his fear. I would to God that those who are otherwise minded did but feel, for three or four months, something of what I have felt for several years together for base sinful thoughts! I wish it was for their good, and for the better regulating of their understandings. But whether they obtain my wish or not, sure I am that God is no countenancer of sin; no, not in his own people; nay, he will bear it least of all in them. And as for others, however, he may for a while have patience towards them, if, perhaps, his goodness may lead them to repentance; yet the day is coming when he will pay the carnal and hypocrites' home with devouring fire for their offenses.
But if our holy God will not let us go altogether unpunished, though we have so able and blessed an Intercessor, that has always to present God with, on our behalf, so valuable a price of his own blood, now before the throne of grace, what should we have done if there had been no day's-man, none to plead for us, or to make intercession on our behalf? Read that text, 'For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.' (Jer 30:11) If it be so, I say, what had become of us, if we had had no Intercessor? And what will become of them concerning whom the Lord has said already, 'I will not take up their names into my lips'? (Psa 16:4) 'I pray not for the world.' (John 17:9)
(3). The Lord Jesus having thus taken our sins upon himself and presented God with all the worthiness that is in his whole self for them, in the next place he calleth for justice, or a just verdict upon the satisfaction he hath made to God and to his law. Then a proclamation is made in open court, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him,” from him that hath offended, and clothe him with a change of garment (Zech 3).
Thus the soul is preserved that hath sinned; thus the God of heaven is content that he should be saved; thus Satan is put to confusion, and Jesus was applauded and cried up by the angels of heaven and by the saints on earth. Thus have I shown you how Christ does advocate it with God and his Father for us, and I have been more particular in this because the glory of Christ and the comfort of the dejected are greatly concerned and wrapped up in it. Look, then, to Jesus, if thou hast sinned; to Jesus, as an Advocate pleading with the Father for thee. Look to nothing else; for he can tell how, and that by himself, to deliver thee; yea, and will do it in a way of justice, which is a wonder; and to the shame of Satan, which will be his glory; and also to thy complete deliverance, which will be thy comfort and salvation.
Second, But to pass this and come to the second thing, which is, to show you how the Lord Jesus manages this, his office of an Advocate before his Father against the adversary; for he pleadeth with the Father, but pleadeth against the devil; he pleadeth with the Father law and justice, but against the adversary he letteth out himself.
I say as he pleads against the adversary, so he enlargeth himself with arguments over and besides those which he pleadeth with God his Father.
Nor is it meet or needful that our advocate, when he pleads against Satan, should limit himself to matters of law, as when he pleaded with his Father. The saint, by sinning, oweth Satan nothing; no law of his is broken thereby; why, then, should he plead for the saving of his people, justifying righteousness to him?
Christ, when he died, died not to satisfy Satan, but his Father; not to appease the devil, but to answer the demands of the justice of God; nor did he design, when he hanged on the tree, to triumph over his Father, but over Satan; “He redeemed us,” therefore, “from the curse of the law,” by his blood (Gal 3:13). And from the power of Satan, by his resurrection (Heb 2:14). He delivered us from righteous judgment by price and purchase, but from the rage of hell by fight and conquest.
And as he acted thus diversely in the work of our redemption, even so, he also did in the execution of his Advocate’s office. When he pleaded with God, he pleaded so; and when he pleaded against Satan, he pleaded so; and how he pleaded with God when he dealt with law and justice, I have shown you. And now I will show you how he pleaded before him against the “accuser of the brethren.”
3. As he pleadeth by himself alone, and nowhere else but in the court of heaven with the Father, so as he pleadeth with the Father for us, he observeth this rule-
(1.) He granteth and confesseth whatever can rightly be charged upon us; yet so as that he taketh the whole charge upon himself, acknowledging the crimes to be his own. "O God," says he, "thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins"; my guiltiness "is not hid from thee" (Psa 69:5). And this he must do, or else he can do nothing. If he hides the sin, or lesseneth it, he is faulty; if he leaves it still upon us, we die. He must, then, take our iniquity to himself, make it his own, and so deliver us; for having thus taken the sin upon himself, as lawfully he may, and lovingly doth, "for we are members of his body" ('tis his hand, 'tis his foot, 'tis his ear hath sinned), it followeth that we live if he lives; and who can desire more? 5This, then, must be thoroughly considered, if ever we will have comfort in a day of trouble and distress for sin.
And thus far there is, in some kind, a harmony betwixt his being a sacrifice, a priest, and an Advocate. As a sacrifice, our sins were laid upon him (Isa 53). As a priest, he beareth them (Exo 28:38). And as an Advocate, he acknowledges them to be his own (Psa 69:5). Now, having acknowledged them to be his own, the quarrel is no more betwixt us and Satan, for the Lord Jesus has espoused our quarrel, and made it his. All, then, that we in this matter have to do, is to stand at the bar by faith among the angels, and see how the business goes. O blessed God! what a lover of mankind art thou! and how gracious is our Lord Jesus, in his thus managing matters for us.
(2.) The Lord Jesus having thus taken our sins upon himself, next pleads his own goodness to God on our behalf, saying, "Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel: because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face" (Psa 69:6,7). Mark, let them not be ashamed for my sake; let them not be confounded for my sake. Shame and confusion are the fruits of guilt, or of a charge for sin, (Jer 3:25), and are but an entrance into condemnation (Dan 12:2. John 5:29). But behold how Christ pleads, saying, Let not that be for my sake, for the merit of my blood, for the perfection of my righteousness, for the prevalency of my intercession. Let them not be ashamed for my sake, O Lord God of hosts. And let no man object, because this text is in the Psalms, as if it were not spoken by the prophet of Christ; for both John and Paul, yea, and Christ himself, do make this psalm a prophecy of him. Compare verse 9 with John 2:17, and with Romans 15:3; and verse 21 with Matthew 27:48, and Mark 15:25. But is not this a wonderful thing, that Christ should first take our sins, and account them his own, and then plead the value and worth of his whole self for our deliverance? For by these words, "for my sake," he pleads his own self, his whole self, and all that he is and has; and thus he put us in good estate again, though our cause was very bad.
To bring this down to weak capacities. Suppose a man should be indebted twenty thousand pounds, but has not twenty thousand farthings wherewith to pay; and suppose also that this man be arrested for this debt, and that the law also, by which he is sued, will not admit of penny bate; this man may yet come well enough off if his advocate or attorney will make the debt his own and will, in the presence of the judges, out with his bags, and pay down every farthing. This is the way of our Advocate. Our sins are called debts (Matt 6:12). We are sued for them by the law (Luke 12:59). And the devil is our accuser, but behold the Lord Jesus comes out with his worthiness, pleads it at the bar, making the debt his own (Mark 10:45. II Cor 3:5). And saith, Now let them not be ashamed for my sake, O Lord God of hosts: let them not be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. And hence, as he is said to be an Advocate, so he is said to be a propitiation, or amends-maker, or one that appeaseth the justice of God for our sins: If any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins."
And who can now object to the deliverance of the child of God? God cannot; for he, for Christ's sake, according as he pleaded, hath forgiven us all trespasses (Col 2:13, Eph 4:32). The devil cannot; his mouth is stopped, as is plain in the case of Joshua (Zech 3). The law cannot, for it approves of what Christ has done. This, then, is the way of Christ's pleading. You must know that when Christ pleads with God, he pleads with a just and righteous God, and therefore he must plead law, and nothing but law; and this he pleaded in both of these pleas: first, in confessing the sin, he justified the sentence of the law by pronouncing it evil; and then, in his laying of himself, his whole self, before God for that sin, he vindicated the sanction and perfection of the law. Thus, he magnifies the law, makes it honorable, and yet brings off his client safe and sound in the view of all the angels of God.
II. I come now to show you how Jesus Christ manages his office as an Advocate for us. And that I may do this to your edification, I shall choose this method to open it first. Show me how he manages this office with his Father. Second. I shall show you how he manages it before him against our adversary.
First, how does he manage his office of Advocate with his Father?
1. He doth it by himself, by no other as deputy under him, no angel, no saint; no work has a place here but Jesus, and Jesus only. This is what the text implies: “We have an Advocate”; speaking of one, but one alone; without an equal or an inferior. We have but one, and he is Jesus Christ. Nor is it for Christ’s honor, the honor of the law, or the justice of God that anyone but Jesus Christ should be an Advocate for a sinning saint. Besides, to assert the contrary, what doth it but lessen sin, and make the advocateship of Jesus Christ superfluous? It would lessen sin should it be removed by a saint or angel; it would make the advocateship of Jesus Christ superfluous, yea, needless, should it be possible that sin could be removed from us by either saint or angel.
Again; if God should admit of more advocates than one, and yet make mention of never a one but Jesus Christ; or if John should allow another, and yet speak nothing but of Jesus only; yea, that an advocate under that title should be mentioned but once, but once only in all the book of God, and yet that divers should be admitted, stands neither with the wisdom or love of God, nor with the faithfulness of the apostle. But saints have but one Advocate, if they will use him or improve their faith in that office for their help; if not, they must take what follows. This I thought good to hint at, because the times are corrupt and because ignorance and superstition always wait for a countenance with us, and these things have a natural tendency to darken all truth, so especially this, which brings to Jesus Christ so much glory and yields to the godly so much help and relief.
2. As Jesus Christ alone is Advocate, so is God’s bar, and that alone is that before which he pleads, for God is to judge himself (Deut 32:36). Heb 12:23). Nor can the cause for which he is now pleading be removed from any other court, either by appeals or otherwise. Could Satan could remove us from heaven to another court, he would certainly be too hard for us, because there we should want our Jesus, our Advocate, to plead our cause. Indeed, sometimes he impleads us before men, and they are glad of the occasion, for they and he are often one. Still, then we have left to remove our cause, and to pray for a trial in the highest court, saying, “Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal” (Psa 17:2). This wicked world does sentence us for our good deeds, but how then would they sentence us for our bad ones? But we will never appeal from heaven to earth for right, for here we have no Advocate; “our Advocate is with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
