1. There is a pleading of the virtue of His Blood for them that are already come in, that they may be kept from the evils of heresies, delusions, temptations, pleasures, profits, or anything of this world which may be too hard for them. "Father, I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world," saith Christ, "but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15).
2. In case the devil should aspire up into the presence of God, to accuse any of the poor saints, and to plead their backslidings against them, as he will do if he can, then there is Jesus, our Lord Jesus, ready in the Court of Heaven, at the right hand of God, to plead the virtue of His Blood, not only for the great and general satisfaction that He did give when He was on the Cross but also the virtue that is in it now for the cleansing and fresh purging of His poor saints under their several temptations and infirmities; as saith the Apostle, "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life"—that is, by His intercession (Rom 5:10).
3. The maintaining of grace is also by Jesus Christ's intercession, the second part of His priestly office. O, had we not a Jesus at the right hand of God making intercession for us and conveying fresh supplies of grace unto us through the virtue of His Blood being pleaded at God's right hand, how soon would it be with us as it is with those for whom He prays not at all (John 17:9)? But the reason why thou standest. In contrast, others fall; thou goest through the world's many temptations and shake them off from thee, while others are ensnared and entangled therein because thou hast an interceding Jesus. "I have prayed," saith He, "that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:32).
4. The elect are brought in partly by the virtue of Christ's intercession. Many who have not yet been brought into Christ are to come to Christ. It is one part of His work to pray for their salvation too—"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe," though as yet they do not believe "on Me," but that they may believe "through their word" (John 17:20). And let me tell thee, soul, for thy comfort, who art a-coming to Christ, panting and sighing, as if thy heart would break, I tell thee, soul, thou wouldst never have come to Christ, if He had not first, under His blood and intercession, sent into thy heart an earnest desire after Christ; and let me tell thee also, that it is His business to make intercession for thee, not only that thou mightest come in, but that thou mightest be preserved when thou art come in (Compare Heb 7:25; Rom 8:33-39).
5. It is by the intercession of Christ that the infirmities of the saints in their holy duties are forgiven. Alas, if it were not for the priestly office of Christ Jesus, the prayers, alms, and other duties of the saints might be rejected because of the sin that is in them; but Jesus being our High Priest, He is ready to take away the iniquities of our holy things, perfuming our prayers with the glory of His own perfections. Therefore, an answer is given to the saints' prayers, and they are accepted for their holy duties (Rev 8:3,4). "But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament," or covenant, "that through death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called," notwithstanding all their sins, "might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Heb 9:11-15).
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