Christ in the Covenant
New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
8/31/1856
"I will give you for a covenant of the people."—Isaiah 49:8.
WE all believe that our Savior has very much to do with the covenant of eternal salvation. We have been accustomed to regard him as the Mediator of the covenant, as the surety of the covenant, and as the scope or substance of the covenant. We have considered him to be the Mediator of the covenant, for we were certain that God could make no covenant with man unless there were a mediator-a days-man, who should stand between the both. And we have hailed him as the Mediator, who, with mercy in his hands, came down to tell to sinful man the news that grace was promised in the eternal counsel of the Most High. We have also loved our Savior as the Surety of the covenant, who, on our behalf, undertook to pay our debts; and on his Father's behalf, undertook, also, to see that all our souls should be secure and safe, and ultimately presented unblemished and complete before him. And I doubt not, we have also rejoiced in the thought that Christ is the sum and substance of the covenant; we believe that if we would sum up all spiritual blessings, we must say, "Christ is all." He is the matter, he is the substance of it; and although much might be said concerning the glories of the covenant, yet nothing could be said which is not to be found in that one word, "Christ." But this morning I shall dwell on Christ, not as the Mediator, nor as the surety, nor as the scope of the covenant, but as one great and glorious article of the covenant which God has given to his children. It is our firm belief that Christ is ours, and is given to us of God; we know that "he freely delivered him up for us all," and we, therefore, believe that he will, "with him, freely give us all things." We can say, with the spouse, "My beloved is mine." We feel that we have a personal property in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and it will therefore delight us for a while, this morning, in the simplest manner possible, without the garnishings of eloquence or the trappings of oratory, just to mediate upon this great thought, that Jesus Christ in the covenant is the property of every believer.
First, we shall examine this property; secondly, we shall notice the purpose for which it was conveyed to us; and thirdly, we shall give one precept, which may well be affixed upon so great a blessing as this, and is indeed an inference from it.
I. In the first place, then, here is a GREAT POSSESSION-Jesus Christ by the covenant is the property of every believer. By this we must understand Jesus Christ in many different senses; and we will begin, first of all, by declaring that Jesus Christ is ours, in all his attributes. He has a double set of attributes, seeing that there are two natures joined in glorious union in one person. He has the attributes of very God, and he has the attributes of perfect man; and whatever these may be, they are each one of them the perpetual property of every believing child of God. I need not dwell on his attributes as God; you all know how infinite is his love, how vast his grace, how firm his faithfulness, how unswerving his veracity; you know that he is omniscient; you know that he is omnipresent; you know that he is omnipotent, and it will console you if you will but think that all these great and glorious attributes which belong to God are all yours. Has he power? That power is yours-yours to support and strengthen you; yours to overcome your enemies, yours to keep you immutably secure. Has he love? Well, there is not a particle of his love in his great heart, which is not yours; all his love belongs to you; you may dive into the immense, bottomless ocean of his love, and you may say of it all, "it is mine." Has he justice? It may seem a stern attribute; but even that is yours, for he will by his justice see to it, that all which is covenanted to you by the oath and promise of God shall be most certainly secured to you. Mention whatever you please which is a characteristic of Christ as the ever glorious Son of God, and O faithful one, you may put your hand upon it and say, "it is mine." Your arm, O Jesus, upon which the pillars of the earth do hang, is mine. Those eyes, O Jesus, which pierce through the thick darkness and behold futurity-your eyes are mine, to look on me with love. Those lips, O Christ, which sometimes speak words louder than ten thousand thunders, or whisper syllables sweeter than the music of the harps of the glorified-those lips are mine. And that great heart which beats high with such unselfish, pure, and unaffected love-that heart is mine. The whole of Christ, in all his glorious nature as the Son of God, as God over all, blessed forever, is yours, positively, actually, without metaphor, in reality yours.
Consider him as man too. All that he has as perfect man is yours. As a perfect man he stood before his Father, "full of grace and truth," full of favor; and accepted by God as a perfect being. O believer, God's acceptance of Christ is your acceptance; for know you not, that that love which the Father set on a perfect Christ, he sets on you now? For all that Christ did is your. That perfect righteousness which Jesus wrought out, when through his stainless life he kept the law and made it honorable, is your. There is not a virtue which Christ ever had, that is not your; there is not a holy deed which he ever did which is not your; there is not a prayer he ever sent to Heaven that is not your; there is not one solitary thought towards God which it was his duty to think, and which he thought as man serving his God, which is not your. All his righteousness, in its vast extent, and in all the perfection of his character, is imputed to you. Oh! can you think what you have gotten in the word "Christ?" Come, believer, consider that word "God," and think how mighty it is; and then meditate upon that word "perfect man," for all that the Man-God, Christ, and the glorious God-man, Christ, ever had, or ever can have as the characteristic of either of his natures, all that is your. It all belongs to you; it is out of pure free favor, beyond the fear of revocation, passed over to you to be your actual property-and that forever.
2. Then, consider believer, that not only is Christ your in all his attributes, but he is your in all his offices. Great and glorious these offices are; we have scarce time to mention them all. Is he a prophet? Then he is your prophet. Is he a priest? Then he is your priest. Is he a king? Then he is your king. Is he a redeemer? Then he is your redeemer. Is he an advocate? Then he is your advocate. Is he a forerunner? Then he is your forerunner. Is he a surety of the covenant? The he is your surety. In every name he bears, in every crown he wears, in every vestment in which he is arrayed, he is the believer's own. Oh! child of God, if you had grace to gather up this thought into your soul it would comfort you marvelously, to think that in all Christ is in office, he is most assuredly your. Do you see him yonder, interceding before his Father, with outstretched arms? Do you mark his ephod-his golden mitre on his brow, inscribed with "holiness unto the Lord?" Do see him as he lifts up his hands to pray? Hear you not that marvelous intercession such as man never prayed on earth; that authoritative intercession such as he himself could not use in the agonies of the garden? For
"With sighs and groans, he offered up
His humble suit below;
But with authority he pleads,
Enthroned I glory now."Do see how he asks, and how he received, as soon as his petition is put up? And can you, dare you believe that that intercession is all your own, that on his breast your name is written, that in his heart your name is stamped in marks of indelible grace, and that all the majesty of that marvelous, that surpassing intercession is your own, and would all be expended for you if you did require it; that he has not any authority with his Father, that he will not use on your behalf, if you do need it; that he has no power to intercede that he would not employ for you in all times of necessity? Come now, words cannot set this forth; it is only your thoughts that can teach you this; it is only God the Holy Spirit bringing home the truth that can set this ravishing, this transporting thought in its proper position in your heart; that Christ is yours in all he is and has. See you him on earth? There he stands, the priest offering his bloody sacrifice; see him on the tree, his hands are pierced, his feet are gushing gore! Oh! do you see that pallid countenance, and those languid eyes flowing with compassion? Do you mark that crown of thorns? Do you behold that mightiest of sacrifices, the sum and substance of them all? Believer, that is your, those precious drops plead and claim your peace with God; that open side is your refuge, those pierced hands are your redemption; that groan he groans for you; that cry of a forsaken heart he utters for you; that death he dies for you. Come, I beseech you, consider Christ in any one of his various offices; but when you do consider him lay hold of this thought, that in all these things he is YOUR Christ, given unto you to be one article in the eternal covenant-your possession forever.
3. Then mark next, Christ is the believer's in every one of his works. Whether they be works of suffering or of duty, they are the property of the believer. As a child, he was circumcised, and is that bloody rite mine? Ay, "Circumcised in Christ." As a believer he is buried, and is that watery sign of baptism mine? Yes; "Buried with Christ in baptism unto death." Jesus' baptism I share when I lie interred with my best friend in the selfsame watery tomb. See there, he dies, and it is a master work to die. But is his death mine? Yes, I die in Christ. He rises. Mark him startling his guards, and rising from the tomb! And is that resurrection mine? Yes, we are "risen together with Christ." Mark again, he ascends up on high, and leads captivity captive. Is that ascension mine? Yes, for he has "raised us up together." And see, he sits on his Father's throne; is that deed mine? Yes, he has made us, "sit together in heavenly places." All he did is ours. By divine decree, there existed such an union between Christ and his people, that all Christ did his people did: and all Christ has performed, his people did perform in him, for they were in his loins when he descended to the tomb, and in his loins they have ascended up on high; with him they entered into bliss; and with him they sit in heavenly places. Represented by him, their Head, all his people even now are glorified in him-even in him who is the head over all things to his church. In all the deeds of Christ, either in his humiliation or his exaltation, recollect, O believer, you have a covenant interest, and all those things are your.
4. I would for one moment hint at a sweet thought, which is this, you know that in the person of Christ "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." AH! believer, "and of his fullness have we received, and grace for grace." All the fullness of Christ! do you know what that is? Do you understand that phrase? I warrant you, you do not know it, and shall not do just yet. But all that fullness of Christ, the abundance of which you may guess of by your own emptiness-all that fullness is your to supply your multiplied necessities. All the fullness of Christ to restrain you, to keep you and preserve you; all that fullness of power, of love, of purity, which is stored up in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, is your. Do treasure up that thought, for then your emptiness need never be a cause of fear; how can you be lost while you have all fullness to fly to?
5. But I come to something sweeter than this; the very life of Christ is the property of the believer. Ah! this is a thought into which I cannot dive, and I feel I have outdone myself in only mentioning it. The life of Christ is the property of every believer. Can you conceive what Christ's life is? "Sure," you say, "he poured it out upon the tree." He did, and it was his life that he gave to you then. But he took that life again; even the life of his body was restored; and the life of his great and glorious Godhead had never undergone any change, even at that time. But now, you know he has immortality: "he only has immortality." Can you conceive what kind of life that is which Christ possesses? Can he ever die? No; far sooner may the harps of Heaven be stopped, and the chorus of the redeemed cease forever; far sooner may the glorious walls of paradise be shaken, and the foundations thereof be removed; than that Christ, the Son of God, should ever die. Immortal as his Father, now he sits, the Great Eternal One. Christian, that life of Christ is your. Hear what he says: "Because I live you shall live also." "You are dead; and your life"-where is it? It is "hid with Christ in God." The same blow which smites us dead, spiritually, must slay Christ too; the same sword which can take away the spiritual life of a regenerate man, must take away the life of the Redeemer also; for they are linked together-they are not two lives, but one. We are but the rays of the great Sun of Righteousness, our Redeemer, sparks which must return to the great orb again. If we are indeed the true heirs of Heaven, we cannot die until he from whom we take our rise dies also. We are the stream that cannot stop until the fountain be dry; we are the rays that cannot cease until the sun does cease to shine. We are the branches, and we cannot wither until the trunk itself shall die. "Because I live, you shall live also." The very life of Christ is the property of every one of his brethren.
6. And best of all, the person of Jesus Christ is the property of the Christian. I am persuaded, beloved, we think a great deal more of God's gifts than we do of God; and we preach a great deal more about the Holy Spirit's influence than we do about the Holy Spirit. And I am also assured that we talk a great deal more about the offices, and works, and attributes of Christ than we do about the person of Christ. Hence it is that there are few of us who can often understand the figures that are used in Solomon's Song, concerning the person of Christ, because we have seldom sought to see him or desired to know him. But, O believer, you have sometimes been able to behold your Lord. Have you not seen him, who is white and ruddy, "the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely?" Have you not been sometimes lost in pleasure when you have seen his feet, which are like much fine gold, as if they burned in a furnace? Have you not beheld him in the double character, the white and the red, the lily and the rose, the God yet the man, the dying yet the living; the perfect, and yet bearing about with him a body of death? Have you ever beheld that Lord with the nail-print in his hands, and the mark still on his side? And have you ever been ravished at his loving smile, and been delighted at his voice? Have you never had love visits from him? Has he never put his banner over you? have you never walked with him to the villages and the garden of nuts? Have you never sat under his shadow? have you never found his fruit sweet unto your taste? Yes, you have. His person then is your. The wife loves her husband; she loves his house and his property; she loves him for all that he gives her, for all the bounty he confers, and all the love he bestows; but his person is the object of her affections. So with the believer: he blesses Christ for all he does and all he is. But oh! it is Christ that is everything. He does not care so much about his office, as he does about the Man Christ. See the child on his father's knee-the father is a professor in the university; he is a great man with many titles, and perhaps the child knows that these are honorable titles, and esteems him for them; but he does not care so much about the professors and his dignity, as about the person of his father. It is not the college square cap, or the gown that the child loves; ay, and if it be a loving child it will not be so much the meal the father provides, or the house in which it lives, as the father which it loves; it is his dear person that has become the object of true and hearty affection. I am sure it is so with you, if you know your Savior; you love his mercies, you love his offices, you love his deeds, but oh! you love his person best. Reflect, then that the person of Christ is in the covenant conveyed to you: "I will give you to be a covenant for the people."
II. Now we come to the second: FOR WHAT PURPOSE DOES GOD PUT CHRIST IN THE COVENANT?
1. Well, in the first place, Christ is in the covenant in order to comfort every coming sinner. "Oh," says the sinner who is coming to God, "I cannot lay hold on such a great covenant as that, I cannot believe that Heaven is provided for me, I cannot conceive that the robe of righteousness and all these wondrous things can be intended for such a wretch as I am." Here comes in the thought that Christ is in the covenant. Sinner, can you lay hold on Christ? Can you say,
"Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to your cross I cling?"Well, if you have got that, it was put in on purpose for you to hold fast by God's covenant mercies all go together, and if you have laid hold on Christ, you have gained every blessing in the covenant. That is one reason why Christ was put there. Why, if Christ were not there, the poor sinner would say, "I dare not lay hold on that mercy. It is a God-like and a divine one, but I dare not grasp it; it is too good for me. I cannot receive it, it staggers my faith." But he sees Christ with all his great atonement in the covenant; and Christ looks so lovingly at him, and opens his arms so wide, saying, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," that the sinner comes and throws his arms around Christ, and then Christ whispers, "Sinner, in laying hold of me, you have laid hold of all." Why, Lord, I dare not think I could have the other mercies. I dare trust you, but I dare not take the others. Ah, sinner, but in that you have taken me you have taken all, for the mercies of the covenant are like links in the chain. This one link is an enticing one. The sinner lays hold of it; and God has purposely put it there to entice the sinner to come and receive the mercies of the covenant. For when he has once got hold of Christ-here is the comfort-he has everything that the covenant can give.
2. Christ is put also to confirm the doubting saint. Sometimes he cannot read his interest in the covenant. He cannot see his portion among them that are sanctified. He is afraid that God is not his God, that the Spirit has no dealings with his soul; but then,
"Amid temptations, sharp and strong,
His soul to that dear refuge flies;
Hope is his anchor, firm and strong,
When tempests blow and billows rise."So he lays hold of Christ, and were it not for that, even the believer dare not come at all. he could not lay hold on any other mercy than that with which Christ is connected. "Ah," says he, "I know I am a sinner, and Christ came to save sinners." So he holds fast to Christ. "I can hold fast here," he says, "my black hands will not black Christ, my filthiness will not make him unclean." So the saint holds hard by Christ, as hard as if it were the death-clutch of a drowning man. And what then? Why, he has got every mercy of the covenant in his hand. It is the wisdom of God that he has put Christ in, so that a poor sinner, who might be afraid to lay hold of another, knowing the gracious nature of Christ, is not afraid to lay hold of him, and therein he grasps the whole, but often unconsciously to himself.
4. Again, it was necessary that Christ should be in the covenant, because there are many things there that would be nothing without him. Our great redemption is in the covenant, but we have no redemption except through his blood. It is true that my righteousness is in the covenant, but I can have no righteousness apart from that which Christ has wrought out, and which is imputed to me by God. It is very true that my eternal perfection is in the covenant, but the elect are only perfect in Christ. They are not perfect in themselves, nor will they ever be, until they have been washed, and sanctified, and perfected by the Holy Spirit. And even in Heaven their perfection consists not so much in their sanctification, as in their justification in Christ.
"Their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesus the Lord their righteousness."In fact, if you take Christ out of the covenant, you have just done the same as if you should break the string of a necklace: all the jewels, or beads, or corals, drop off and separate from each other. Christ is the golden string whereon the mercies of the covenant are threaded, and when you lay hold of him, you have obtained the whole string of pearls. But if Christ be taken out, true there will be the pearls, but we cannot wear them, we cannot grasp them; they are separated, and poor faith can never know how to get hold of them. Oh! it is a mercy worth worlds, that Christ is in the covenant.
4. But mark once more, as I told you when preaching concerning God in the covenant, Christ is in the covenant to be used. There are some promises in the Bible which I have never yet used; but I am well assured that there will come times of trial and trouble when I shall find that that poor despised promise, which I thought was never meant for me, will be the only one on which I can float. I know that the time is coming when every believer shall know the worth of every promise in the covenant. God has not given him any part of an inheritance which he did not mean him to until. Christ is given us to use. Believer, use him! I tell you again, as I told you before, that you do not use your Christ as you ought to do. Why, man, when you are in trouble, why do you not go and tell him? Has he not a sympathizing heart, and can he not comfort and relieve you? No, you are gadding about to all your friends save your best friend, and telling your tale everywhere except into the bosom of your Lord. Oh, use him, use him. Are you black with yesterday's sins? Here is a fountain filled with blood; use it, saint, use it. Has your guilt returned again? Well, his power has been proved again and again; come use him! use him! Do you feel naked? Come hither, soul, put on the robe. Stand not staring at it; put it on. Strip, sir, strip your own righteousness off, and your own fears too. Put this on, and wear it, for it was meant to wear. Do you feel yourself sick? What, will you not go and pull the night-bell of prayer, and wake up your physician? I beseech you go and stir him up early, and he will give the cordial that will revive you. What! are you sick, with such a physician next door to you, a present help in time of trouble, and will you not go to him? Oh, remember you are poor, but then you have "a kinsman, a mighty man of wealth." What! will you not go to him and ask him to give you of his abundance, when he has given you this promise, that as long as he has anything you shall go shares with him, for all he is and all he has is your? Oh, believer, do use Christ, I beseech you. There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for his people to make a show-thing of him and not to use him. he loves to be worked. He is a great laborer; he always was for his Father, and now he loves to be a great laborer for his brethren. The more burdens you put on his shoulders the better he will love you. Cast your burden on him. You will never know the sympathy of Christ's heart and the love of his soul so well as when you have heaved a very mountain of trouble from yourself to his shoulders, and have found that he does not stagger under the weight. Are your troubles like huge mountains of snow upon your spirit? Bid them rumble like an avalanche upon the shoulders of the Almighty Christ. He can bear them all away, and carry them into the depths of the sea. Do use your Master, for for this very purpose he was put into the covenant, that you might use him whenever you need him.
III. Now, lastly, here is A PRECEPT, and what shall the precept be? Christ is ours; then be you Christ's, beloved. You are Christ's, you know right well. You are his by your Father's donation when he gave you to the Son. You are his by his bloody purchase, when he counted down the price for your redemption. You are his by dedication, for you have dedicated yourselves to him. You are his by adoption, for you are brought to him and made one of his brethren and joint-heirs with him. I beseech you, labor, dear brethren, to show the world that you are his in practice. When tempted to sin, reply, "I cannot do this great wickedness. I cannot, for I am one of Christ's." When wealth is before you to be won by sin, touch it not; say that you are Christ's, else you would take it; but now you can not. Tell Satan that you would not gain the world if you had to love Christ less. Are you exposed in the world to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are one of Christ's. Are you in a field where much is to be done, and others are sitting down idly and lazily, doing nothing? Go at your work, and when the sweat stands upon your brow and you are bidden to stay, say, "No, I cannot stop; I am one of Christ's. He had a baptism to be baptized with, an so have I, and I am straitened until it be accomplished. I am one of Christ's. If I were not one of his, and purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am one of Christ's." When the syren song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply, "Hush your strains, O temptress; I am one of Christ's. Your music cannot affect me; I am not my own, I am bought with a price. When the cause of God needs you, give yourself to it, for you are Christ's. When the poor need you, give yourself away, for you are one of Christ's. When, at any time there is ought to be done for his church and for his cross, do it, remembering that you are one of Christ's. I beseech you, never belie your profession. Go not where others could say of you, "He cannot be Christ's;" but be you ever one of those whose brogue is Christian, whose very idiom is Christ-like, whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of Heaven, that all who see you may know that you are one of the Savior's and may recognize in you his features and his lovely countenance.
And now, dearly beloved hearers. I must say one word to those of you to whom I have not preached, for there are some of you who have never laid hold of the covenant. I sometimes hear it whispered, and sometimes read it, that there are men who trust to the uncovenanted mercies of God. Let me solemnly assure you that there is now no such thing in Heaven as uncovenanted mercy; there is no such thing beneath God's sky or above it, as uncovenanted grace towards men. All you can receive, and all you ever ought to hope for, must be through the covenant of free grace, and that alone.
Perhaps, poor convinced sinner you dare not take hold of the covenant today. You can not say the covenant is your. You are afraid it never can be your; you are such an unworthy wretch. Hark you; can you lay hold on Christ? Dare you do that? "Oh," say you, "I am too unworthy." Nay, soul, dare you touch the hem of his garment today? Dare you come up to him just so much as to touch the very skirt that is trailing on the ground? "No," say you "I dare not," Why not, poor soul, why not? Can you not trust to Christ?
"Are not his mercies rich and free?
Then say, poor soul, why not for thee.""I dare not come; I am so unworthy," you say. Hear, then; my Master bids you come, and will you be afraid after that? "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Why dare you not come to Christ? Oh, you are afraid he will turn you away! Hark you, then, what he says; "Whoever comes unto me, I will in nowise cast out." You say, "I know he would cast me out." Come, then, and see if you can prove him a liar. I know you can not, but come and try. He has said "whoever." "But I am the blackest." Nevertheless, he has said "whoever:" come along, blackest of the black. "Oh, but I am filthy." Come along, filthy one, come and try him, come and prove him; recollect he has said he will cast out none that come to him by faith. Come and try him. I do not ask you to lay hold on the whole covenant, you shall do that by-and-bye; but lay hold on Christ, and if you will do that, then you have the covenant." "Oh, I cannot lay hold of him," says one poor soul. Well, then, lie prostrate at his feet, and beg of him to lay hold of you. Do groan one groan, and say, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Do sigh one sigh, and say, "Lord, save, or I perish." Do let your heart say it, if your lips cannot. If grief, long smothered, burns like a flame within your bones, at least let one spark out. Now prayer one prayer, and truly I say unto you, one sincere prayer shall most assuredly prove that he will save you. One true groan, where God has put it in the heart, is an earnest of his love; one true wish after Christ, if it be followed by sincere and earnest seeking of him, shall be accepted of God, and you shall be saved. Come, soul, once more. Lay hold on Christ. "Oh, but I dare not do it." Now I was about to say a foolish thing; I was going to say that I wish I was a sinner like yourself this moment, and I think I would run before, and lay hold on Christ, and then say to you, "Take hold too." But I am a sinner like yourself, and no better than yourself; I have no merits, no righteousness, no works; I shall be damned in Hell unless Christ have mercy on me, and should have been there now if I had had my deserts. Here am I a sinner once as black as you are; and yet, O Christ, these arms embrace you. Sinner, come and take your turn after me. Have not I embraced him? Am I not as vile as you are? Come and let my case assure you. How did he treat me when I first laid hold of him? Why he said to me, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you." Come, sinner, come and try, If Christ did not drive me away, he will never spurn you. Come along, poor soul, come along-
"Venture on him, (tis no venture,) venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good."He can do you all the good you lack: oh! trust my Master, oh! trust my Master; he is a precious Lord Jesus, he is a sweet Lord Jesus, he is a loving Savior, he is a kind and condescending forgiver of sin. Come, you black; come, you filthy; come, you poor; come, you dying; come, you lost-you who have been taught to feel your need of Christ, come all of you-come now for Jesus bids you come; come quickly. Lord Jesus, draw them, draw them by this Spirit! Amen.