Third, I come now to the third man—to wit, to the sincere and upright man that cometh to God by Christ. And although this may, in some sense, apply to the two former, for his coming is not worthy to be counted coming to God, that is, not in sincerity and uprightness, yet by such an one I now mean, one that has been called to the faith, and that has in some good measure of sincerity and uprightness therein abode with God.
This man also comes to God by Christ, but his coming is to be distinguished, I mean, in the main of it, from the coming of the other two. The other comes for the knowledge of forgiveness, a thing that the upright and faithful Christian, for the most part, has a comfortable faith in and for which he is often helped to give thanks to God. I do not say he doubted not, or that he has not had his evidence sometimes clouded; nor do I say that the knowledge of his reconciliation to God by Christ Jesus is so high, so firm, so fixed, and steadfast, that it cannot be shaken, or that he needs no more. I will then explain myself. He comes not to God as an unconverted sinner comes; he comes not as a backslider comes when he is returning to God from his backslidings; but he comes as a son, as one of the household of God, and he comes as one that has not, since correction, wickedly departed from his God.
1. He then comes to God with that access and godly boldness that is only proper to such as himself, that is, to them that walk with God. (Rom 5:2) Thus, everyone that shall be saved doth not do; thus, every one that shall be saved cannot do—for instance, the two spoken of before.
2. He comes to God by Christ constantly, by prayer, by meditation, by every ordinance. For therefore he maketh use of ordinances, because by them through Christ he gutted into the presence of God. (Psa 27:4)
3. He comes to God through Christ, because he judges that God is only that good, that blessedness, that happiness that is worth looking after; that good and that blessedness that alone can fill the soul to the brim; that good and that happiness that is worthy of our hearts, souls, and spirits. Hence David expresses his coming to God by panting, thirsting, crying, and saying, ‘My soul panted after thee, O God.’ And again, ‘My soul thirsted for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?’ (Psa 42:1,2) And again, ‘I will go to the altar of God, unto God, my exceeding joy.’ (Psa 43:4) And hence it was that he so envied the swallow and sparrow, even because they could come to the altar of God, where he had promised to give his presence, when he, as I think, by the rage of Saul, was forced to abide remote. ‘My soul longed,’ saith he, ‘yea, even fainted for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cried out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee.’ Then, after a few more words, he said, ‘For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper,’ I would choose rather to sit at the threshold of thy house, ‘than to dwell in the tents of wickedness’; and then renders the reason—’ For the Lord is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory,’ &c. (Psa 84)
The presence of God and the glory and soul-ravishing goodness of that presence are things that the world does not understand, nor can they, as such, desire to know what they are.
4. These good men come to God upon other accounts also; for so it is that they have many concerns with God.
[Concern for themselves.]—(1.) They come to him for a clearer discovery of themselves, for they desire to know how frail they are, because the more they know that, the more they are engaged in their souls to take heed to their ways and to fear lest they should tempt their God to leave them. (Psa 39:1-8)
(2.) They come to God by Christ for the weakening of their lusts and corruptions, for they are a sore, yea, a plague to a truly sanctified soul. Those, to be rid of which, if it might be, a godly man chooses rather to die than to live. This is what David meant when he cried. ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,’ (Psa 51:10), and Paul, when he cried out, ‘O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ (Rom 7:24)
(3.) They come to God by Christ for the renewing and strengthening of their graces. The graces that the godly have received are, and they feel they are, subject to decay; yea, they cannot live without a continual supply of grace. This is the meaning of ‘Let us have grace,’ and ‘Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’ (Heb 4:16)
(4.) They come to God by Christ to be helped against those temptations that they may meet withal. (Matt 6:13) They know that every new temptation has a new snare and a new evil in it; but what snare and what evil do they not know at present? But they know that their God knows and can deliver us out of temptation when we are in it and keep us out while we are out.
(5.) They come to God by Christ for a blessing upon that means of grace which God has afforded for the succor of the soul and the building of it up in the faith, knowing that as the means, so a blessing upon it, is from God. (2 Thess 3:1) And for this, they have encouragement because God has said, ‘I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.’ (Psa 132:15)
(6.) They come to God by Christ for the forgiveness of daily infirmities (Psa 19:12) and for continuing them in the light of his countenance, notwithstanding. Thus he also always accepts them and their services and grants that an answer of peace may be returned from their Father into their bosoms, for this is the life of their souls. There are a great many such things that the sincere and upright man comes to God for—too many here to mention. But again,
[Concern for the church and others.]—(1.) This man also comes to God to beseech him for the flourishing of Christ’s kingdom, which he knows will never be until the Antichrist is dead, and till the Spirit be more plentifully poured upon us from on high. Therefore, he also cries to God for the downfall of the first and for the pouring out of the other.
(2.) He comes to God for the hastening of the gathering of his elect, for it is an affliction to him to think that so many of those for whom Christ died should be still in a posture of hostility against him. (Psa 122:6)
(3.) He comes to God for a spirit of unity to be poured out among believers, for for the divisions of Reuben he has great thoughts of heart.
(4.) He comes to God to pray for magistrates, and that God would make speed to set them all to that work that is so desirable to his church—that is, to ‘hate the whore,’ ‘to eat her flesh,’ to ‘make her desolate,’ ‘and burn her with fire.’ (1 Tim 2:1, Rev 17:16)
(5.) He comes to God to beg that he would hasten that great and notable day, the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus, for he knows that Christ will never be exalted as he must be till then; yea, he also knows that God’s church will never be as she would and shall be till then. (Rev 22:20)
(6.) But the main meaning, if I may so call it, of this high text is this: that they that come to God by him—that is, by Christ—are those that come by Christ to God to enjoy him by faith and spirit here, and by open vision and unspeakable possession of him in the next world. This is the great design of the soul in its coming to God by Jesus Christ, and it comes to him by Jesus Christ because it dares not come by itself and because God himself has made him the way, the new and living way. Here, as I said, the Father meets with that which pleases him, and the soul with that which saves her. Here is righteousness and merits to spare, even righteousness that can justify the ungodly. Here is always, how empty soever we are, a fullness of merit always presented to God by Christ for my obtaining of that which at any time I want, whether wisdom, grace, Spirit, or any good thing soever; only, since I was upon this subject, I thought a little to touch upon things in this order, for the enlarging of thy thoughts, for the conviction of thy spirit, for the stirring of thee up to God, and for the showing of the good signs of grace where it is, where is abused, and where any are seeking after it.
