Paradise Opened, or the Secrets, Mysteries,
and Rarities of Divine Love, of Infinite Wisdom, and of Wonderful Counsel—Laid
Open to Public View
The Covenant of Grace Proved and Opened
(Part 2)
(1.) Let us but cast our eyes upon the several springs
from whence the covenant of grace flows
, and then we cannot but
strongly conclude that the covenant of grace is a sure covenant. Now
if you cast your eye aright, you shall see that the covenant of grace flows
from these three springs.
First, From the free grace and favor of God. There
was nothing in fallen man to invite God to enter into covenant with him;
yes, there was everything in fallen man that might justly provoke God to
abandon man, to abhor man, to revenge himself upon man. It was mere grace
that made the covenant, and it is mere grace that makes good the covenant.
Now, that which springs from mere grace must needs be unexceptionably sure.
The love of God is unchangeable; "whom he loves he loves to the end," John
13:3; whom God loves once he loves forever. He is not as man, soon on—and
soon off again, Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; soon in—and as soon
out, as Joab's dagger was. Oh no! his love is like himself—lasting, yes,
everlasting: "I have loved you with an everlasting love," Jer. 31:3. Though
we break off with him, yet he abides faithful, 2 Tim. 2:13. Now what can be
more sure, than that which springs from free love, from everlasting love?
Romans 4:16. Hence the covenant must be sure. The former covenant was not
sure, because it was of works; but this covenant is sure, because it is of
grace, and rests not on any sufficiency in us, but only on grace.
Secondly, The covenant of grace springs from the
immutable counsel of God. Heb. 6:17, "God, willing more abundantly to
show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath." Times are mutable, and all men are mutable, and the love and
favor of the creature is mutable. But the counsel of God, from which the
covenant of grace flows—is immutable, and therefore it must needs be sure,
Isaiah 40:6; Psalm 146:3, 4; Jer. 33:14. The manifestation of the
immutability of God's counsel is here brought in, as one end of God's oath.
God swears, that it might evidently appear that what he had purposed,
counseled, determined, and promised to Abraham and his seed—would assuredly
be accomplished; there would be, there could be, no alteration thereof. His
counsel was more firm than the laws of the Medea and Persians, which alters
not, Dan. 6:13.
Certainly God's counsel is inviolable: "My counsel shall
stand." Isaiah 46:10; Psalm 33:11, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Proverbs 19:21, "Nevertheless
the counsel of the Lord—that shall stand." The immutability of God's counsel
springs from the unchangeableness of his essence, the perfection of his
wisdom, the infiniteness of his goodness, the absoluteness of his
sovereignty, the omnipotency of his power. God in his essence being
unchangeable, his counsel also must needs be so. Can darkness flow out of
light, or fullness out of emptiness, or heaven out of hell? No! no more can
changeable counsels flow from an immutable nature. Now the covenant of grace
flows from the immutable counsel of God, which is most firm and inviolable,
and therefore it must needs be a sure covenant. But,
Thirdly, The covenant of grace springs from the purpose
of God, resolving and intending everlasting good unto us. Now this
purpose of God is sure; so the apostle, 2 Tim. 2:19, "The foundation of God
stands sure." [Our graces are imperfect, our comforts ebb and flow; but
God's foundation stands sure.] That foundation of God is his election, which
is compared to a foundation; because it is that upon which all our good and
happiness is built, and because as a foundation it abides firm and sure. The
gracious purpose of God is the fountain-head of all our spiritual blessings.
It is the foundational cause of our effectual calling, justification,
glorification; it is the highest link in the golden chain of salvation. What
is the reason that God has entered into a covenant with fallen man? it is
from his eternal purpose. What is the reason that one man is everlastingly
saved—and not another? It is from the eternal purpose of God, Ezek. 20:37.
In all the great concerns of the covenant of grace, the
purpose of God gives the casting voice. The purpose of God is the sovereign
cause of all that good that is in man, and of all that external, internal,
and eternal good that comes to man. Not works past, for men are chosen from
everlasting; not present works, for Jacob was loved and chosen before he was
born; nor foreseen works, for men were all corrupt in Adam. All a believer's
present happiness, and all his future happiness, springs from the eternal
purpose of God; as you may see, by comparing these scriptures together.
[Romans 8:28, and 9:11; Eph. 1:11, and 3:11.] "For He says to Moses, 'I will
have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but
on God's mercy." Romans 9:15-16. "God, who has saved us and called us to a
holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own
purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the
beginning of time." 2 Timothy 1:8-9.
This purpose of God speaks our stability and certainty of
salvation by Christ, God's eternal purpose never changes, never alters;
"Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have
purposed," says God, "so shall it stand." God's purposes are immutable, so
is his covenant. God's purposes are sure, very sure, so is his covenant. The
covenant of grace that flows from the eternal purpose of God, is as sure as
God is sure; for God can neither deceive nor be deceived. That covenant that
is built upon this rock of God's eternal purpose, must needs be sure; and
therefore all that are in covenant with God need never fear falling away.
There is no man, no power, no devil, no violent temptation—which shall ever
be able to overturn those that God has brought under the bond of the
covenant, 1 Pet. 1:5. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or
sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them,
and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." John
10:27-29. But,
(2.) Secondly, Consider that the covenant of grace is
confirmed and made sure by the blood of Jesus Christ
, which is
called "the blood of the everlasting covenant," Heb. 13:20. Christ, by his
irrevocable death, has made sure the covenant to us, Heb. 9:16-17. The
covenant of grace is to be considered under the notion of a testament; and
Christ, as the testator of this will and testament. [The main point which
the apostle intended, by setting down the inviolableness of men's last wills
after their death, is to prove that Christ's death was very requisite for
ratifying of the New Testament: consult these scriptures; Mat. 16:21; Luke
24:26; Heb. 9:16, 17.]
Now look, as a man's will and testament is irrevocably
confirmed by the testator's death—"For where a testament is, there must
also, of necessity, be the death of the testator; for a testament is of
force, after men are dead; otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the
testator lives." Heb. 9:16, 17. These two verses are added as a proof of the
necessity of Christ's manner of confirming the new testament as he did,
namely, by his death. The argument is taken from the common use and equity
of confirming testaments, which is by the death of the testator. A testament
is only and wholly at his pleasure of the person who makes it. He may alter
it, or disannul it while he live, as he sees good; but when he is dead, he
not remaining to alter it, no one else can alter it. In the seventeenth
verse, the apostle declares the inviolableness of a man's last will, being
ratified as before by the testator's death. This he shows two ways:
(1.) Affirmatively; in these words, "A testament is of
force after men are dead."
(2.) Negatively, in these words, "Otherwise it is of no
strength."
Now from the affirmative and the negative, it plainly
appears that a testament is made inviolable by the testator's death; so
Jesus Christ has unalterably confirmed this will and testament—namely, the
new covenant, by his blood and death, "For this reason Christ is the
mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the
promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them
free from the sins committed under the first covenant." Heb. 9:15. Christ
died to purchase an eternal inheritance; and on this ground eternal life is
called an eternal inheritance; for we come to it as heirs, through the
goodwill, grace, and favor of this purchaser thereof, manifested by the last
will and testament.
Hence you read, "This is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many, for the remission of sins," Mat. 26:28. Again, "This
cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you," Luke 22:20; 1
Cor. 11:25. The covenant is called both a covenant and a testament, because
his covenant and testament is founded, established, ratified, and immutably
sealed up—in and by his blood.
Christ is the faithful and true witness, yes, truth
itself; his word shall not pass away, Rev. 3:14; John 14:6; Mark 13:31. If
the word of Christ is sure, if his promise be sure, if his covenant be
sure—then surely his last will and testament, which is ratified and
confirmed by his death, must needs be very sure. Christ's blood is too
precious a thing to be spilt in vain; but in vain is it spilt if his
testament, his covenant, ratified thereby, be altered. If the covenant of
grace is not a sure covenant, 1 Cor. 15:14, then Christ died in vain, and
our preaching is in vain, and your hearing, and receiving, and believing is
all in vain. Christ's death is a declaration and evidence of the eternal
counsel of his Father, which is most stable and immutable in itself. But how
much more it is so, when it is ratified by the death of his dearest Son, "In
whom all the promises are yes and amen," 2 Cor. 1:20; that is, in Christ
they are made, performed, and ratified.
By all this we may safely conclude that the covenant of
grace is a most sure covenant. There can be no addition to it, detraction
from it, or alteration of it—unless the death of Jesus Christ, whereby it is
confirmed—is frustrated and overthrown. Certainly the covenant is as sure as
Christ's death is sure. The sureness and certainty of the covenant is the
ground and bottom of bottoms for our faith, hope, joy, patience, peace, etc.
Take this corner, this foundation-stone away—and all will tumble. Were the
covenant uncertain, a Christian could never have a good day all his days;
his whole life would be filled up with tears, doubts, disputes,
distractions, etc.; and he would be still a-crying out, "Oh, I can never be
sure that God will be mine, or that Christ will be mine, or that mercy will
be mine, or that pardon of sin will be mine, or that heaven will be mine!
Oh, I can never be sure that I shall escape the great damnation, the worm
which never dies, the fire that never goes out, or an eternal separation
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power!" 2 Thes. 1:9.
The great glory of the covenant is the certainty of the covenant; and this
is the top of God's glory, and of a Christian's comfort, that all the
mercies that are in the covenant of grace are "the sure mercies of David,"
and that all the grace that is in the covenant is sure grace, and that all
the glory that is in the covenant is sure glory, and that all the external,
internal, and eternal blessings of the covenant are sure blessings.
I might further argue the sureness of the covenant of
grace, from all the attributes of God, which are deeply engaged to
make it good, as his wisdom, love, power, justice, holiness, faithfulness,
righteousness, etc. And I might further argue the certainty of the covenant
of grace, from the seals which God has annexed to it. You know what was
sealed by the king's ring could not be altered, Esther 8:8. God has set his
seals to this covenant: his broad seal in the sacraments, and his privy seal
in the witness of his Spirit; and therefore the covenant of grace is sure,
and can never be reversed. But upon several accounts I may not now insist on
these things. And therefore,
[8.] Eighthly and lastly, The covenant of grace is styled
a WELL-ORDERED covenant.
2 Samuel 23:5, "He has made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. Will he not bring to
fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?" Oh, the admirable
counsel, wisdom, love, care, and tenderness of the blessed God, which
sparkles and shines in the well-ordering of the covenant of grace! [Romans
11:33-36; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:8, and 3:10; Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:28; Rev.
7:12.] Oh, how lovely and beautiful, with what symmetry and proportion, are
all things in this covenant ordered and prepared! Oh, what head can
conceive, or what tongue can express—that infinite wisdom which God has
manifested in ordering the covenant of grace, so as it may most and best
suit to all the wants, and straits, and necessities, and miseries, and
desires, and longings of poor sinners' souls! Here are fit and full supplies
for all our spiritual needs—so excellently and orderly has God composed and
constituted the covenant of grace. In the covenant of grace every poor
sinner may find a suitable help, a suitable remedy, a suitable
support, a suitable supply, Jer. 33:8; Ezek. 36:25; Psalm
94:19.
The covenant of grace, is so well ordered by the
unsearchable wisdom of God, that you may find in it remedies to cure all
your spiritual diseases, and cordials to comfort you under all your soul-faintings,
and a spiritual armory to arm you against all sorts of sins, and all sorts
of snares, and all sorts of temptations, and all sorts of oppositions, and
all sorts of enemies, whether inward or outward, open or secret, subtle or
silly, Eph. 6:10-18. Do you, O distressed sinner—need a loving God, a
compassionate God, a reconciled God, a sin-pardoning God, a tender-hearted
God? Here you may find him in the covenant of grace, Exod. 34:5-7. Do you, O
sinner—need a Christ, to counsel you by his wisdom, and to clothe you
with his righteousness, and to enrich you with his grace, and to enlighten
you with his eye salve, and to justify you from your sins, and to reconcile
you to God, and to secure you from wrath to come, and after all, to bring
you to heaven? Rev. 3:17-18; Acts 13:39; 1 Thes. 1:10; John 10:28-31. Here
you may find him in a covenant of grace. Do you, O sinner! want the Holy
Spirit to awaken you, and to convince you of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment? or to enlighten you, and teach you, and lead you, and guide you
in the way everlasting? or to cleanse you, or comfort you, or to seal you up
to the day of redemption? Ezek. 36:25-27; Luke 11:13; Eph. 1:13. Here you
may find him in the covenant of grace.
O sinner! Do you need grace, all grace, great grace,
abundance of grace, multiplied grace? Here you may find it in the covenant
of grace! O sinner! Do you need peace, or ease, or rest, or quiet in your
conscience? Here you may find it in the covenant of grace! O sinner! Do you
need joy, or comfort, or content, or satisfaction? Here you may have it in a
covenant of grace. O sinner, sinner! whatever your soul needs are—they may
all be supplied out of the covenant of grace! God, in his infinite wisdom
and love, has laid into the covenant of grace, as into a common storehouse,
all those good things, and all those great things, and all
those suitable things—that either sinners or saints can either desire
or need! Now the adequate suitableness of the covenant of grace to all a
sinner's wants, straits, necessities, miseries, and desires—does
sufficiently demonstrate the covenant of grace to be a well-ordered
covenant.
Look, in a well-ordered commonwealth—there are wholesome
laws to govern the people; and wholesome remedies to relieve
the people; and strong defences to secure the people. Just so, that
must needs be a well-ordered covenant, where there is nothing lacking to
govern poor souls, or to secure poor souls, or to save poor souls. And such
a covenant, is the covenant of grace. I might easily lay down other
arguments to evince the covenant of grace to be a well-ordered covenant.
As for the right placing of all persons and things in the
covenant of grace, and from the outward dispensation of it—God revealed it
but gradually. First, he revealed it more darkly, remotely, and
imperfectly—as we see things a great way off. But afterwards the Lord did
more clearly, fully, immediately, frequently, and completely reveal it—as we
discern things close at hand. God did not at once open all the riches and
rarities of the covenant to his people, but in the opening of those
treasures that were there laid up, God had a respect to the childhood
and full-age of his people. And from God's dispensing and giving out
all the good and all the great things of the covenant in their fittest time,
in a right and proper season, when his people most need them, and when they
can live no longer without them. But I must hasten to a closing up of this
particular.
Thus you see in these eight particulars, how gloriously
the covenant of grace, under which the saints stand, is set out in the
blessed Scriptures.
Concerning the covenant of grace, or the new covenant,
that all sincere Christians are under, and by which at last they shall be
judged, let me further say—All mankind would have been eternally lost, and
God had lost all the glory of his mercy forever, had he not, of his own free
grace and mercy, made a new covenant with sinful man.
The fountain from whence this new covenant flows,
is the grace of God: Gen. 17:22, "I will make my covenant." This covenant is
called a covenant of grace, because it flows from the mere grace and mercy
of God. There was nothing outside of God, nor anything in God, but his mere
mercy and grace, which moved him to enter into covenant with poor sinners,
who were miserable, who were loathsome, and polluted in their blood, and who
had broken the covenant of their God, and were actually in arms against him!
[Isaiah 41:1-2; Eph. 1:5-7, and 2:5, 7-8; 2 Sam. 7:21; Romans 9:18, 23; Jer.
32:38-41; Ezek. 36:25-27, and 16:1-10. Surely if a woman commit adultery, it
is a mere act of favor if her husband accept of her again, Jer. 3:7. The
application is easy.] This must needs be of mere favor and love, for God to
enter into covenant with man, when he lay wallowing in his blood, and no eye
pitied him, no, not even his own. As there was nothing in fallen man to draw
God's favor or affection towards him; just so—there was everything in fallen
man which might justly provoke God's wrath and indignation against him; and
therefore it must be a very high act of favor and grace, for the great, the
glorious, the holy, the wise, and the all-sufficient God, to enter into
covenant with such a forlorn creature as fallen man was. Nothing but free
grace was the foundation of the covenant of grace with poor sinners. Now let
us seriously mind how this covenant of grace, or this new covenant, runs
both in the Old and in the New Testament:
"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It
will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant I
will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I
will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their
God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or
a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will
forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jeremiah
31:31-34
Now let us see how Paul explains this new covenant. "But
the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of
which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better
promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no
place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the
people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will
not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to
my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the
covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the
Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I
will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach
his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they
will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive
their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." By calling this
covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and
aging will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:6-13.
This is the substance of the new covenant; and thus the
Lord did fore-promise it by Jeremiah, and afterwards expounded it by Paul.
Some small difference there is in their words, but the sense is one and the
same. Now this covenant is styled the new covenant, because it is to
continue new, and never to wax old or wear away, so long as this world shall
continue. Neither do the Holy Scriptures anywhere reveal another covenant,
which shall follow this covenant. [Where then is the fire of purgatory, and
that popish distinction of the fault and the punishment? As for the fiction
of purgatory, it deserves rather to be hissed at, than by arguments refuted.
And to punish sin in purgatory, as popish doctors teach, what is this, but
to call sin to mind and memory, to view and sight, to reckoning and account?
which is contrary to the doctrine of the new covenant.]
If any covenant should follow this, it must be either a
covenant of works, or a covenant of grace. It cannot be a covenant of works,
for that would bring us all under a curse, and make our condition utterly
desperate. Nor can it be a covenant of grace, because more grace cannot be
shown in any other covenant than in this. Here is all grace and all mercy,
here is Jesus Christ with all his righteousness, mediatorship, merits,
purchase. This covenant is so full, so ample, so large, so perfect, so
complete, and is every way so accommodated to the condition of lost
sinners—that nothing can be altered, nor added, nor mended. Therefore it
must needs be the last covenant, that ever God will make with man. "This is
the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will
put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Their
sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." Hebrews 10:16-17.
Romans 11:26, "There shall come out of Zion the
Deliverer, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." The person
delivering is Christ, described here by his office and by his original; his
office, the deliverer; the original word which Paul uses, signifies
delivering by a strong hand, to rescue by force, as David delivered the lamb
out of the lion's paw; ver. 27, "For this is my covenant unto them, when I
shall take away their sin." This covenant concerning the pardon of
believers' sins, and their deliverance by Christ, God will certainly make
good to his people.
Now from the covenant of grace, or the new covenant that
God has made with sincere Christians, a believer may form up this eighth
plea to these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:14, and
18:23; Luke 16:2; Romans 14:10 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet.
4:5.] which refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular
account, namely, O blessed God, you have, in the covenant of grace, by which
I must be tried, freely and fully engaged yourself that you will pardon my
iniquities, and remember my sins no more; so runs the new covenant: Jer.
31:34, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more." Heb. 8:12, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. 10:17, "Their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more." Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am he who
blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your
sins." Ezek. 18:22, "All his transgressions that he has committed, they
shall not be mentioned unto him." Jer. 50:20, "In those days, says the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I
reserve."
Now, O holy God, I cannot but observe that in the new
covenant you have made such necessary, choice, absolute, and blessed
provision for your poor people, that no sin can disannul the covenant, or
make a final separation between you and your covenant-people. [The new
covenant can never be broken. 2 Chron. 13:5; Psalm 89:34; Isaiah 50:7; 2
Sam. 23:5; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2; Isaiah 54:10.] Breaches made in the
first covenant were irreparable, but breaches made in the new covenant are
not so, because this new covenant is established in Christ. Christ lies at
the bottom of the covenant. The new covenant is an everlasting covenant; and
all the breaches that we make upon that covenant are repaired and made up by
the blood and intercession of dear Jesus. Every jar does not break the
marriage covenant between husband and wife; no more does every sin break the
new covenant that is between God and our souls. Every breach of peace with
God, is not a breach of covenant with God. That free, that rich, that
infinite, that sovereign, and that glorious grace of God, which shines in
the covenant of grace, tells us that our eternal estates shall never be
judged by a covenant of works; and that the lack of an absolute perfection
shall never damn a believing soul; and that the obedience that God requires
at our hands is not a legal obedience, but an evangelical obedience.
So long as a Christian does not renounce his covenant
with God, so long as he does not willfully, wickedly, and habitually break
the bond of the covenant; the main, the substance, of the covenant is not
yet broken, though some articles of the covenant may be violated. Just as
among men, there be some trespasses against some particular clauses in
covenants, which, though they be violated, yet the whole covenant is not
forfeited; it is so here between God and his people.
And, O blessed God, I cannot but observe that in the new
covenant you have engaged yourself to pardon all my sins: "I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more," Heb. 8:12; Jer. 31:34. [He is a forgiving God, Neh.
9:31. None like him for that, Micah 7:18. He forgives naturally, Exod. 2:2;
abundantly, Isaiah 55:7, 3; constantly, Psalm 130:4; Mal. 3:6.]
Here are two things worthy of our notice:
(1.) The reconciliation of God with his people, "I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness;" he will be merciful or propitious,
appeased and pacified towards them; which has respect to the ransom and
satisfaction of Christ.
(2.) That God will pardon the sins of his people fully,
completely, perfectly. Here are three words, "unrighteousness," "sins," and
"iniquities," to show that he will forgive all sorts, kinds, and degrees of
sins. The three original words here expressed are all in the plural number:
1. Unrighteousnesses. This word is by some
appropriated to the wrongs and injuries that are done against men.
2. Sins. This is a general word, and according to
the notation of the Greek, may imply a not following of that which is set
before us; for he sins, who follows not the rule that is set before him
by God.
3. The third word, iniquities, according to the
notation of the Greek, signifies in general, transgressions of the law. This
word is by some appropriated to sins against God. The Greek word that is
frequently translated "iniquity," is a general word, which signifies a
transgression of the law, and so it is translated, 1 John 3:4. The word
iniquity is of as large an extent as the word unrighteousness, and implies
an unequal dealing, which is contrary to the rule or law of God.
All this heap of words is to plainly teach us,
that it is neither the many kinds of sins, nor degrees of sin, nor
aggravations of sin, nor even the multitude of sins—which shall ever harm
those souls who are in covenant with God. God has mercy enough, and pardons
enough, for all his covenant-people's sins, whether original or actual,
whether against the law or against the gospel, whether against the light of
nature or the rule of grace, whether against mercies or judgments, whether
against great means of grace or small means of grace. The covenant remedy
against all sorts and degrees of sin—infinitely transcends and surpasses all
our infirmities and enormities, our weaknesses and wickednesses, our follies
and unworthinesses, etc. What is our unrighteousness—compared to Christ's
righteousness; our debts—compared to Christ's pardons; our
unholiness—compared to Christ's holiness; our emptiness—compared to Christ's
fullness; our weakness—compared to Christ's strength; our poverty—compared
to Christ's riches; our wounds—compared to that healing which is under the
wings of the Sun of Righteousness! 1 Cor. 1:30; Psalm 1:3, 9-10; Mal. 4:2.
Parallel to Hebrews 8:12, is that noble description that
Moses gives of God in that Book of Exodus: chapter 34, 6-7, "The Lord, the
Lord merciful and gracious; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin."
Some, by these three words, do understand such sins as are committed against
our neighbor, against God, or against ourselves. A merciful God, a gracious
God will pardon all kinds of sinners, and all kinds and degrees of sin, by
whatever names or titles they may be styled or distinguished.
Some by iniquity do understand sins of
infirmity; and by transgression they understand sins of malice; and by sin
they understand sins of ignorance. God is said to keep mercy, and to forgive
all sorts of sins, as if his mercy were kept on purpose for pardoning all
sorts of sinners and all sorts of sins. The Hebrew word that is here
translated iniquity, signifies that which is unright, unequal,
crooked or perverse; it notes the vitiosity or crookedness of nature; it
notes crooked offences, such as flow from malice, hatred, and are committed
on purpose.
Secondly, the Hebrew word which is here translated
transgression, signifies to deal unfaithfully; it notes such sins as
are treacherously committed against God, such sins as flow from pride and
contempt of God.
Thirdly, the Hebrew word Chataah, generally signifies
sin, but is more especially here taken for sins of ignorance and
infirmity. Oh, what astounding mercy, what rich grace is here: that God will
not only pardon our light, our small offences, but our great and mighty
sins! etc.
And I cannot, O dear Father, but further observe that in
the new covenant you have frequently and deeply engaged yourself, that you
will remember the sins of your people no more! O my God, you have told me
six different times in your word, that you will remember my sins no more. In
the new covenant you have engaged yourself not only to forgive but also to
forget, and that you will cross off your debt-book, and never question or
call me to an account for my sins; that you will pass an eternal act of
oblivion upon them, and utterly bury them in the grave of oblivion, as if
they had never been.
The sins that are forgiven by God are forgotten by God;
the sins that God remits he removes from his remembrance, Heb. 10:13-19, and
1-15. Christ has so fully satisfied the justice of God for the sins of all
his seed, by the price of his own blood and death, that there needs no more
expiatory sacrifices to be offered for their sins forever. Christ has, by
the sacrifice of himself, blotted out the remembrance of his people's sins
with God forever. The new covenant runs thus, "And their sinful error I will
not remember any more," Jer. 31:34; but the Greek runs thus, "And their
sinful errors and their unrighteousnesses, I will not remember again, or any
more," Heb. 8:12. Here are two negatives, which do more vehemently deny,
according to the propriety of the Greek language; that is, I will never
remember them again, I will in no case remember them any more, I will so
forgive as to forget: not that in propriety of phrase, God either remembers
or forgets, for all things are present to him; he knows all things, he
beholds, he sees, he observes all things, by one eternal and simple act of
his knowledge, which is no way capable of change, as now knowing, and at
another time forgetting. But it is an allusion to the manner of men,
who, when they forgive injuries fully and heartily, do also forget them,
blot them out of mind; or rather, as some think, it is an allusion to the
manner of the old covenant's administration in the sacrifices, where there
was a remembrance again of sins every year, there was a fresh indictment and
arraignment of the people for sin continually, Heb. 10:1-3, etc.
But under this new covenant our Lord Jesus Christ has,
"by one offering, perfected forever those who are sanctified," (see from ver.
5 to ver. 20;) Christ has, forever, taken away the sins of the elect; there
needs no more expiatory sacrifice for them; they that are sprinkled with the
blood of this sacrifice shall never have their sins remembered any more
against them. God's not remembering or forgetting a thing is not simply to
be taken of his essential knowledge, but respectively of his
judicial knowledge, to bring the same into judgment. Not to remember a
thing that was once known, and was in mind and memory, is to forget it; but
this properly is not incident to God, it is an infirmity. To him all things
past and future are as present. What he once knows he always knows. His
memory is his very essence, neither can anything that has once been in, it
slip out of it. For God to remit sin is not to remember it; and not to
remember it is to remit it. These are two reciprocal propositions, therefore
they are thus joined together. "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more. I, even I, am he who blots out your
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember your sins," Jer.
31:34; Isaiah 43:25.
To remember implies a fourfold act;
(1.) To lay up in the mind what is conceived thereby;
(2.) To hold it fast;
(3.) To call it to mind again;
(4.) Oft to think of it. Now in that God says, "I will
remember their iniquities no more;" he implies that he will neither lay them
up in his mind, nor there hold them, nor call them again to mind, nor think
on them, but that they shall be to him as if they had never been committed.
God's discharge of their sins shall be a full discharge.
Such sinners shall never be called to account for them. Both the guilt and
the punishment of them shall be fully and everlastingly removed. Let the
sins of a believer be what they will for nature, and be ever so many for
number, they shall all be blotted out, they shall more never be mentioned;
[Mat. 12:31; Isaiah 55:7; Jer. 31:12; Ezek. 18:22; Psalm 32:2; Romans 4:8.
Now if God will not remember nor mention his people's sins, then we may
safely and soundly infer that either there is no purgatory, or else that God
severely punishes those sins in purgatory which he remembers not.]
(1.) God will never remember, he will never mention their
sins, so as to impute them or charge them upon his people.
(2.) God will never remember, he will never mention their
sins any more, so as to upbraid his people with their follies or
miscarriages. He will never hit them in the teeth with their sins, he will
never hold their weaknesses against them. When persons are justified, their
sins shall be as if they had not been; God will bid them welcome into his
presence, and embrace them in his arms, and will never object to them their
former unkindness, unfruitfulness, unthankfulness, vileness, stubbornness,
wickedness, as you may plainly see in the return of the prodigal, and his
father's deportment towards him.
Luke 15:20-23, "When he was a great way off." The
prodigal was but conceiving a purpose to return, and God met him. The very
intention, and secret motions, and close purposes of our hearts, are known
to God. The old father sees a great way off. Dim eyes can see a great way,
when the son is the object.
"His father saw him, and had compassion." His affections
roll within him. The father not only sees, but commiserates and
compassionates the returning prodigal, as he did Ephraim of old, "My
affections are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy on him;" or, as
the Hebrew runs, "I will, having mercy, have mercy, have mercy on him, or I
will abundantly have mercy on him," Jer. 31:20. "Look," says God, "here is a
poor prodigal returning to me, the poor child has come back, he has smarted
enough, he has suffered enough. I will bid him welcome, I will forgive him
all his high offences, and will never hit him in the teeth with his former
vanities."
"And ran." The feet of mercy are swift to meet a
returning sinner. It had been sufficient for him to have stood, being old,
and a father; but the father runs to the son.
"And fell on his neck." He does not take him by the hand;
but he falls upon him, and incorporates himself into him. How open are the
arms of mercy to embrace the returning sinner, and lay him in the bosom of
love!
"And kissed him." Free, rich, and sovereign mercy has not
only feet to meet us, and arms to clasp us, but also lips
to kiss us. One would have thought that he should rather have kicked
him or killed him, than have kissed him. But God is
Pater miserationum, he is all affections. All this while the
father speaks not one word. His joy was too great to be uttered. He ran, he
fell on his neck, and kissed him, and so sealed up to him mercy and peace,
love and reconciliation, with the kisses of his lips.
And the son said unto him, "Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and in your sight." Sincerely confess, and the amends is made;
acknowledge but the debt, and he will cross the book.
"I am no more worthy to be called your son." "Lord," said
that blessed martyr, "I am hell, but you are heaven; I am soil and a sink of
sin, but you are a gracious God," etc.
"But the father said to his servants—Bring forth the best
robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hands, and shoes on his feet.
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry."
Here you have,
(1.) The best robe;
(2.) The precious ring; [Among the Romans the ring was an
ensign of virtue, honor, and especially nobility, whereby they were
distinguished from the common people.]
(3.) The lovely shoes; and
(4.) The fatted calf.
The returning prodigal has garments, and ornaments, and
necessaries, and luxuries. Some understand by the robe, as the
royalty which Adam lost; and by the ring, they understand the seal of
God's Holy Spirit; and by the shoes, the preparation of the gospel of
peace; and by the fatted calf, they understand Christ, who was slain
from the beginning. "Christ is that fatted calf," says Mr. Tyndale the
martyr, "and his righteousness is the goodly raiment to cover the naked
deformities of their sins."
The great things intended in this parable is to set forth
the riches of grace, and God's infinite goodness, and the returning sinner's
happiness. When once the sinner returns in good earnest to God, God will
supply all his needs, and bestow upon him more than ever he lost, and set
him in a safer and happier estate than that from which he fell in Adam; and
will never hit him in the teeth with his former enormities, nor ever hold
his old wickednesses against him. You see plainly in this parable that the
father of the prodigal does not so much as mention or object the former
pleasures, lusts, or vanities wherein his prodigal son had formerly lived.
All old scores are forgiven, and the returning prodigal embraced and
welcomed, as if he had never offended.
"And now, O Lord, I must humbly take leave to tell you
further that you have confirmed the new covenant by your word, and by your
oath, and by the seals that you have annexed to it, and by the death of your
Son, and therefore you can not but make good every tittle, word, branch, and
article of it. Now this new covenant is my plea, O holy God, and by this
plea I shall stand." Hereupon God declares, "this plea, I accept as holy,
just, and good. I have nothing to say against you—enter you into the joy of
your Lord."
IX. The ninth plea that a believer may form up as to these ten scriptures,
[Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:14, and 18:23; Luke 16:2; Romans 14:10; 2
Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5.] which refer to the great day of
account, or to a man's particular account, may be drawn up from the
consideration of that evangelical obedience
which God requires, and that the believer yields to God.
There is a legal account, and there is an
evangelical account. Now the saints, in the great day, shall not be put to
give up a legal account; the account they shall have to give up, is an
evangelical account. In the covenant of works, God required perfect obedience in
our own persons; but in the covenant of grace God will be content if there be
but uprightness in us, if there be but sincere desires to obey, if there be
faithful endeavors to obey, if there be a hearty willingness to obey. "Well,"
says God, "though I stood upon perfect obedience in the covenant of works, 2
Cor. 8:12; yet now I will be satisfied with the will for the deed;
if there be but uprightness of heart, though that be attended with many
weaknesses and infirmities, yet I will be satisfied and contented with that."
God, under the covenant of grace, will for Christ's sake
accept of less than he requires in the covenant of works. He requires us to live
without sin, but he will accept of our sincere endeavors to do it. Though a
believer, in his own person, cannot perform all that God commands, yet Jesus
Christ, as his surety and in his stead, has fulfilled the law for him. So that
Christ's perfect righteousness is a complete cover for a believer's imperfect
righteousness. Hence the believer flies from the covenant of works—to the
covenant of grace; from his own unrighteousness—to the righteousness of Christ.
[Luke 1:5-6; Mat. 28:20; Acts 24:16; 1 Pet. 1:14-15; Heb. 13:18.]
If we consider the law in a high and rigid notion—no believer
can fulfill it; but if we consider the law in a soft and mild notion—every
believer does fulfill it: Acts 13:22, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a
man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will;" that is, "All my
wills," to note the universality and sincerity of his obedience. David had many
slips and falls, he often transgressed the royal law; but being sincere in the
main bent and frame of his heart, and in the course of his life, God looked upon
his sincere obedience as perfect obedience.
A sincere Christian's obedience is an entire obedience to all
the commands of God, though not in respect of practice, which is
impossible, but in disposition and affection. [Psalm 119:6. "When
my eye is to all your commandments."] A sincere obedience is a universal
obedience. It is universal in respect of the subject, the whole man; it is
universal in respect of the object, the whole law; and it is universal in
respect of durance, the whole life; he who obeys sincerely obeys universally.
There is no man who serves God truly, who does not endeavor to serve God fully;
sincerity turns upon the hinges of universality; he who obeys sincerely
endeavors to obey thoroughly, Num. 14:24. A sincere Christian does not
only love the law, and like the law, and approve of the law, and delight in the
law, and consent to the law, that it is holy, just, and good, but he obeys it in
part, Romans 7:12, 16, 22; which, though it be but in part, yet he being sincere
therein, pressing towards the mark, and desiring and endeavoring to arrive at
what is perfect, Phil. 3:13-14, God accepts of such a soul, and is as well
pleased with such a soul, as if he had perfectly fulfilled the law.
Where the heart is sincerely resolved to obey, there it does
obey. A heart to obey, is our obeying; a heart to do, is our doing; a heart to
believe, is our believing; a heart to repent, is our repenting; a heart to wait,
is our waiting; a heart to suffer, is our suffering; a heart to pray, is our
praying; a heart to hear, is our hearing; a heart to give, feed, clothe, visit,
is our giving, feeding, clothing, visiting; a heart to walk holily, is our
walking holily; a heart to work righteousness, is our working righteousness; a
heart to show mercy, is our showing mercy; a heart to sympathize with others, is
our sympathizing with others. He who sincerely desires and resolves to keep the
commandments of God—he does keep the commandments of God; and he who truly
desires and resolves to walk in the statutes of God—he does walk in the statutes
of God.
In God's account and God's acceptance, every believer, every
sincere Christian, is as wise, holy, humble, heavenly, spiritual, watchful,
faithful, fruitful, useful, thankful, joyful, etc., as he desires to be,
as he resolves to be, and as he endeavors to be; and this is the
glory of the new covenant, and the happiness that we gain by dear Jesus. And, my
friends, it is remarkable that our feeble, partial and very imperfect obedience
is frequently set forth in the blessed Scriptures, as our fulfilling of the law,
Luke 10:25-27. Take a few places for a taste: Romans 2:27, "uncircumcised
Gentiles who keep God's law." Romans 13:8, "He who loves another, has
fulfilled the law;" ver. 10, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Not
to love is to do ill and to break the law, but love is the fulfilling of it; we
cannot do ill by that which is the perfection and the fulfilling of the law.
Love is the sum of the law, love is the perfection of the law; and were love
perfect in us, it would make us perfect keepers of the law. Love works the
saints to keep the law in desires and endeavors, with care and
study to observe it in perfection of parts, though not in perfection of degrees:
Gal. 5:14, "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, You shall
love your neighbor as yourself;" Gal. 6:2, "Bear one another's burdens, and so
fulfill the law of Christ." Now in this sense that is under
consideration, the saints in themselves, even in this life, do keep the royal
law.
Now, from what has been said, a believer may form up this
plea—"O blessed God, in Christ my head I have perfectly and completely
kept your royal law; and in my own person I have evangelically kept your
royal law, in respect of my sincere desires, purposes, resolutions, and
endeavors to keep it. And this evangelical keeping in Christ, and in the new
covenant, you are pleased to accept of, and are well satisfied with it. I know
that breaches made in the first covenant were irreparable, but breaches made in
the covenant of grace are not so; because this covenant is established in
Christ; who is still a-making up all breaches. Now this is my plea, O holy God,
and by this plea I shall stand." "Well," says God, "I cannot in honor or justice
but accept of this plea, and therefore enter into the joy of your Lord!"