Thomas Manton · 47 of 57

The Eleventh Verse. · Part 2

(1.) Desires: Luke xii. 50, ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!’ Luke xxii. 15, ‘With desire have I desired to eat this passover;’ that was immediately before his death. And it is remarkable, when Peter dissuaded him from suffering, Christ rebuked him with the same words that he did Satan tempting him to idolatry: Mat. xvi. 23, with iv. 10, ‘He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.’

(2.) Labour. According to the labour in the means, so is the joy in the end: ‘God hath made me forget all my toil,’ saith Joseph, Gen. xli. 51, when advanced after all his hardships and sorrows; Ps. cxxviii. 2, ‘Thou shalt eat of the labour of thine hands, and happy shalt thou be.’ These were the wished, longed, laboured-for fruits of his mediation: no such sorrows as his sorrows, therefore no such satisfying joys; things that are the purchase of his blood—things dearly bought, are highly prized. Rachel is brought in mourning because she had a son in sorrows, Jer. xxxi. 15; John xvi. 21, ‘A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more her anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.’ This was Christ’s travail, and the end that he pursued the salvation of poor, lost, and undone sinners.

[3.] Now, in heaven it is his rejoicing to see the work thrive: Luke xv. 7, ‘Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth;’ and ver. 10, ‘There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth;’ that the lost sheep is found, and the lost son returned: John xv. 11, ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.’ There is our joy and Christ’s joy; these are distinct things, joy in us and for us. It is not only matter of rejoicing to us to be taken to grace, but a rejoicing to Christ. When he seeth the gospel prevail, when sins are pardoned, hearts are sanctified, their spirits comforted, he is more pleased in this, and rejoiced in this than you can be, when he heareth in heaven and knoweth how it is with your souls on earth.

[4.] When he shall come from heaven to judge the world, oh, with what triumph and rejoicing will he come, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father! 1 Cor. xv. 24; Heb. ii. 13, ‘Behold I and the children which thou hast given me.’ He will present them and show them to God as the fruit and proof of his death. See what joy and rejoicing Paul had as a subordinate instrument: 1 Thes. ii. 19, ‘For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?’ They are the fruit of his ministerial labours. Paul had not such an interest in them as Christ had; the main virtue came from his death.

But to determine the point, what this contentment and satisfaction is negatively and positively:—

1. Negatively. It is not only that complacency which God taketh in acts of grace and mercy: Micah vii. 18, ‘He delighteth in mercy.’ It is a native act. Justice is as natural to God as mercy; yet the exercise of justice in a punitive way presupposeth a foregoing act of ours; and the due desert of the creatures’ punishment is wrested and extorted from him, and therefore called his ‘strange work.’ Isa. xxviii. 21: but mercy, like live honey, droppeth of its own accord; the exercise of it is more pleasing to him: Lam. iii. 33, ‘He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.’ It is not from ‘his heart; for when the rod is in his hand, tears are in his eyes; but, on the other side, Jer. xxxii. 41, ‘I will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole heart and whole soul.’ It is an act most suitable to the nature of God, which goeth before, and is done without any regard to the creatures’ desert; this is part of it.

[2.] It is not only that complacency which he taketh in the holiness of his people. In the holiness of his people there is amor benevolentiae, a good-will and happiness to the unconverted; and there is amor placentiae, his delight in them as they are holy, because of the suitableness of their nature: Isa. lxii. 4, 5, ‘Thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, for the Lord delighteth in thee. And as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.’ When we are drawn into a near relation to God, there is another love, for we are in another state; and Zeph. iii. 17, ‘He will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love.’ His love putteth a comeliness upon his people,—there is the ground of God’s delight. So, for their prosperity, it is said, Ps. xxxv. 27, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.’ He is glad to see when they are holy, and when they do well.

2. Positively. The formality of the expression implieth more: he is satisfied, he accounts our well-being a sufficient recompense for all his pains, and all the travail of his soul well bestowed, though he hath been at that expense for it. It is natural and kindly for a good man to do good, and to rejoice in others’ good. But now for Christ to count it a saving bargain, if with the expense of his all he may promote the welfare of others; this is the delight and the contentment here spoken of. Christ did not reckon of the charges, so he might gain sinners to God.

The reasons of the point:—

1. Because this was his work, his personal work; every person of the Godhead is refreshed in his work. God the Father, his personal work is creation,—the first mercy we received, and so proper to the first person. Now, it is said, Exod. xxxi. 17, ‘In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested and was refreshed;’ not in point of weariness, but in point of delectation. It was a refreshment to God the Father, to see all the creatures disposed into their apt cells and places, as the fruit and effect of his goodness, wisdom, and power. He delighted himself in the survey of his work. So God the Spirit is grieved with the resistance and opposition he meeteth with in our hearts, Eph. iv. 30, but gratified and delighted with our obedience to his sanctifying work. And likewise the second person, when he seeth of the travail of his soul, what a numerous in crease ^his death will bring in, he is refreshed and satisfied. Christ hath his rest as God hath his rest: he took great complacency and delight in the salvation of poor sinners, as the fruit of all his labours.

2. His love was the cause of all: his love to the Father, and his love to the saints.

[1.] His love to the Father, to see him fully glorified. When Christ came into the world, it was sung by the angels: Luke ii. 14, ‘Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good-will towards men;’ John xiii. 31, ‘Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.’ Our comfort is not only concerned in the salvation of the elect, but God’s glory. He would have been but half discovered to the world if we had only been created and not redeemed: we should have known but half his goodness, for that goodness which was manifested in creation was in order to some other thing. God did not create us merely that he might create us, but that he might communicate himself to us, and manifest more of his glory, and that we might see more of his wisdom, and goodness, and power. These were in part discovered in making the world, but much more in the gospel: there is much of his wisdom seen in making the creatures, but much more in the mystery of redemption, in bringing God and man together—justice and mercy together, ‘which the angels desire to look into,’ 1 Peter i. 12. We see his power in making us out of nothing, in dissolving the works of the devil, loosing the bands of death, raising the dead. His goodness is seen in giving the world, in giving Christ, in giving eternal life. Christ saith in love to his Father, I am satisfied; I see it will be a way wherein the glory of God will be much promoted.

[2.] Love to poor lost sinners.

(1.) They are dearly bought: they are his own; and having loved them so as to buy them, he will love them to the end. The saints are the purchase of his blood, and therefore they are called ‘the purchased possession,’ Eph. i. 14. Things dearly bought are much esteemed and valued. The church, which he hath purchased with his precious blood, he paid dear for it—expended his royal blood for it. The Lord Jesus forgets all his agonies and sorrows, because this was it he travailed for, and the end which he pursued.

(2.) They are his own, his interest is concerned in them: John xvii. 6, ‘I have manifested thy name unto the men thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me.’ He hath not only undertaken a charge concerning them, but received them as a reward at the hands of God: John xiii. 1, ‘Having loved his own.’ Propriety endeareth a thing. They are his, and therefore his heart is made glad when they thrive and do well—when his work doth prosper in their hands. He is the owner of the saints; and as a man is dissatisfied when his bargain turneth to no good account, so is Christ when you do not grow in grace and make a daily progress in your heavenly journey.

Use 1. Let us consider our obligations to Christ. It was wonderful love that the Son of God should lay aside his glory and willingly come down from heaven, and undertake the business of our salvation. He needed us not; God was alone from all eternity, and yet happy from all eternity, when there was nothing besides his divine majesty. If he had any happiness by making the world, he might have made it sooner; he wanted not us, we are of no worth to him. What can we, that are less than the dust of the balance, contribute to the perfection of our Redeemer? yet that he should take pleasure in our welfare, and count himself satisfied, so we may be saved! Oh, the greatness of this love! How shall we answer it but by loving Christ again, by imitating him? Let us be satisfied in Christ; let it be enough to allay our cares, and fears, and worldly distractions, that we have an interest in him. Say with the psalmist: Ps. lxxiii. 25, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee.’ Let this draw us from outward comforts and worldly satisfactions: if Christ did ‘so much for you, that are not worth the having, oh, how should your souls be satisfied in him! The merchant sold all for the pearl; but what doth Christ get by us creatures, of us sinners? We can give a reason of our love to Christ, because of his excellency and our obligations to him: Cant. vi. 9, 10, ‘My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the choice one of her that bare her: the daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they blessed her. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?’ But ‘Lord, what is man that thou regardest him? and the son of man that thou makest account of him?’ Let all worldly contentments be as nothing to you, so you may win Christ, Phil. iii. 8. And when you have him, you should say, It is enough. He that hath God for his portion may say with the psalmist, Ps. xvi. 5, 6, ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.’

Use 2. It is a ground of comfort in the work of faith. We may plead with you not only from your own interest, but from Christ’s contentment: he hath chidden many for not coming, but never any for corning to him. Nay, in point of gratitude, thou hast long grieved the Spirit of God with thy stubbornness and impenitency, taking liberty in fleshly delights, and running after vanity and folly. Oh, come now, and make glad the heart of thy Redeemer! When Isaac longed for savoury meat, a profane Esau would take his bow and arrows and go and kill. Go and try how thou canst mourn over an unbelieving heart, what thou canst do in compliance with Christ’s desire. So, in point of hope, when he seeth you begging pardon, you speak to his very heart; he will join issue with you, and sue out the fruit of his labour. He rejoiceth in our justification and salvation. It will be accomplished by his desire and contentment.

Use 3. It giveth ample encouragement to faith to come to Christ. It maketh his heart joyful when you come; the Lord Christ counteth it worth all his pains. People question Christ’s willingness; would any be against their own joy and satisfaction? You have high thoughts of an interest in Christ, and Christ hath high thoughts of our interest in him; and therefore the saints plead it reciprocally: Ps. xlii. 5, ‘Why art thou disquieted, O my soul? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.’ They speak to their own hearts. Again, Ps. cxix., ‘I am thine; save me.’ It is your gain, and yet Christ counts it his joy. Why should we stand back, when Christ crieth earnestly to us? Mat. xi. 28, ‘Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Pray come; he chideth earnestly for not coming: John v. 40, ‘Ye will not come unto me, that you may have life.’ But he never chid you for coming. It is hard to distinguish whether Christ be more willing to take the soul, or the soul to take Christ. We cannot desire it more than Christ will delight in it. If you are afraid of seeking self in it, consider it would not be for your contentment but Christ’s; when he seeth the travail of his soul he is satisfied. Your souls are enough to him. You are vile creatures. It is no matter; your Spouse thinketh it worthy of all his pains and entreaties to gain a daughter of light into his embraces; your comfort is his privilege.

Use 4. It yieldeth fuel to increase the flame of love. There are three circumstances offered here as matter of this divine fire:—The impatiency of his desires; the painfulness of his endeavours; and the sweetness and fulness of his contentment, intended for the good of our souls.

1. The impatiency of his desires. The whole life of Christ was but a thirst after our good, spent in the heat of love and desire. And when he died, he said, John xix. 28, ‘I thirst.’ No doubt, in such agonies, his natural moisture was turned into drought; but especially it was a thirst after the good of souls, the good of the creatures; it was a thirst that the prophecies might be fulfilled. Paul, that had the Spirit of Christ by measure, see what longings he expresseth: Gal. iv. 19, ‘My little children, of whom I travail in birth again till Christ be formed in you.’ This ‘was but a taste, a drop of what was in Christ. Phil. i. 8, ‘For God is my record, how greatly I long for you in the bowels of Christ.’ All Paul’s longings were but a glimpse or specimen of those bowels in Christ. The impressions upon his spirit were more pure and powerful.

2. The painfulness of his endeavours, such as could not be expressed by a lower term than the travail of his soul; and do but remember all the hardships of Christ’s life, the woes of the garden, all the conflicts and assaults of hell upon his spirit; you shall see Christ’s love did not dwindle in a wish, nor die away in a cold desire. The sparks of the creature’s love may soon languish, but Christ’s love did not leave him till it got him out of heaven into the womb, from the womb to the wilderness, to the garden, to the cross, to the grave. All these waters could not quench it. The apostle expresseth the common acts of the creature’s love by labour: ‘The labour of love.’ Heb. vi. 10. But here was higher labour in the utmost degree, yea, travail: ‘He shall see the travail of his soul.’ Paul maketh it an endearing circumstance: 1 Thes. ii. 9, ‘Ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail, labouring night and day.’ But what was it for Paul to part with his allowance, when Christ parted with his glory? Well, then, consider it was no lazy love, no idle wish, but such as ended in restless endeavours for your good. There are pains on the cross, and pains in his spirit.

3. The sweetness and fulness of contentment. Still the Lord went on till he took the last sour draught of vinegar; then he said, ‘It is finished,’ John xix. 30. Christ’s spirit was restless, but then satisfied; it was enough if he could gain souls. O vile wretches that we are, that God should think our souls enough! Alas! what can we bring to him that Jesus Christ should set up his rest in the good of our souls? The merchant sold all for a pearl; but alas! we are but an ill purchase. What doth Christ get by us so as to be satisfied when he gaineth sinners?

Use 5. It holdeth forth a high pattern for our imitation.

1. To ministers. All the toil and travail of Christ’s spirit was to gain souls, and he thought that a good purchase. He did not mind other things but for our good; heaven, that we might be glorified in his glory. He was head over all things, that he might be so to the church; otherwise he did not mind dignities and honours. Oh that our spirits did act thus purely, that we would not drive on a selfish design in such a weighty calling! God’s work must be done to God’s ends. Oh that the joy of our hearts might be the good of souls, and not a thriving in our own concernments: 3 John 4, ‘I have no greater joy than to hear that thy children walk in the truth.’ Oh, that should most affect our spirits! Many mind the gain, but not the soul, and rather oppose grace than further it; and as the dragon sought to devour the man-child, so they to nip the early blossoms of grace.

2. To all. If Jesus Christ seek you, that are not worth the having, oh, what should you do to serve him, who is all desire, as the spouse calleth him, Cant. i. 16, enough to invite me and others!

[1.] Desire him: Ps. lxxiii. 25, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee.’ Christ, that had no need of you, thirsted after you; and who would not but pant for Christ? Disclaim, all other things, they are nothing to his gain. What is it, so I may win Christ? Phil. iii. 8, all is nothing, all is but dung and dross. Who would leave the pearl of price, to trade for dung?

[2.] Pursue hard after him. The Lord Christ sought you with bruises in his body and travail in his soul; and will you begrudge him an hour in duty, a little time in prayer? When Augustus refused the petition of one of his soldiers, he told him, I did not serve you so at the battle of Actium: so may Christ say to us. Though you gain him by meditation, prayer, hearing, great endeavours against the unbelief of your souls; though you search for him about the city as the spouse doth, Cant. v. 2, which is spoken in allusion to Jerusalem, where God was worshipped in his ordinances; though you go from duty to duty, yet still seek him; Christ will recompense all the endeavours that are laid out in the pursuit of him.

[3.] Value him in the enjoyment. Alas! your travail is nothing to your gain: if Christ be satisfied, you should much more be satisfied. Say then, as Jacob, ‘It is enough, I have seen Joseph;’ so say, It is enough, I have Christ: Ps. xvi. 5, 6, ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance: the lines have fallen to me in a pleasant place; yea, I have a goodly heritage.’ It is like the trade with the Indians, you have gold for a toy, a glass, or a bason. Therefore you may well be satisfied; this labour is well spent, these carnal desires well renounced: Oh, it is all made up abundantly above whatever I could part with for it. Therefore say as the psalmist, Ps. ciii. 2, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,’ as it is in the Hebrew. You may say, Here is a wonderful recompense indeed.

By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.

We are now come to that clause wherein one particular glorious effect of God’s covenant with Christ, and his obedience answerable thereunto, is mentioned; to wit, justification, which is here set out to us by most of its considerable causes. Here is the efficient cause; the instrumental cause on God’s part, the doctrine of the gospel. On our part, the knowledge of God; for it may be taken either way, by his knowledge, or by the knowledge of him. The meritorious cause; and that is the satisfaction of Christ. The subject of it, many.

The first thing that is offered to us in the order of the words is the instrumental cause of justification: bedaato, ‘by his knowledge.’ There is some little difference about the opening of this word. The Septuagint do plainly pervert the sense of it, while they reflect upon the person spoken of in this chapter, and render it thus: That God would show him light, and form his mind with knowledge, and justify his righteous servant that served many. But we need not stay upon that among Christians.

1. Some take it actively, for the knowledge which he shall give out concerning himself, the doctrine of the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation, because it containeth the revelation of the righteousness of Christ: Rom. i. 16, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.’ And it is contradistinguished to the law, which holdeth out a discovery of sin: Rom. iii. 20, ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin;’ and so worketh wrath, as it is said, Rom. iv. 15; that is, all that we can get out of the law is guilt and wrath;. and that will show us that we are in a condition not to be justified, and the sadness and misery of that condition. But now the gospel, that discovereth a way of justification, even for the justification of sinners. ‘By his knowledge;’ that is, by his doctrine, by his gospel, he shall discover a way of justification.

2. It is taken passively, for our apprehension of Christ; for so it may be rendered: ‘By the knowledge of him shall; he justify them.’ And this I conceive to be most proper to this place, though I cannot wholly exclude the other. The other without this is nothing; the gospel condemneth rather than justifieth, where it is not apprehended and embraced by faith. Christ saith, they had no sin if he had not spoken to them, John xv. 22;. that is, not so much sin. And it is said, John iii. 19, ‘This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light;’ that is, the light of the gospel by accident proveth the cause of the greatest condemnation. Therefore you must take in this; and besides, the words will bear it. First, it must be so, for the prophet speaketh not only of a way of justification, but of actual justification. But then all the difficulty will be, why we are said to be justified by knowledge, since everywhere the scripture carries it for faith, and usually faith is made the instrument in our justification. We apprehend the righteousness of Christ for justification. There may be divers reasons given for the expression.

[1.] Because the first radical act of faith is knowledge. There are three radical acts of faith—knowledge, assent, and affiance. The first is knowledge; by that God begetteth persuasion and confidence in the spirit. God dealeth in the new creation, and framing of the heart to his own use and service, as he dealt in the old creation and framing of the world. The first creature that he made was light; so in the new creation he shineth in upon the heart, and taketh away the natural blindness and folly of the spirit.

[2.] Because it is the property of the Hebrews to count and apply all words of knowledge and of the understanding to such affections as are suitable and becoming such knowledge; so God’s knowing and remembering of us implieth his pity and relieving, and our remembering of God our duty and observance of him; and in an ill sense imaginations are usually put for all those vicious affections following them. What the New Testament expresseth by lusts, the Old does by imaginations; because the understanding being the great wheel of the soul, the scripture expresseth the good or ill carnage of the soul by acts proper to the understanding. By knowledge is meant such an apprehension of Christ according as he hath revealed himself in the gospel, so as to close with him, embrace him, and rely upon him for salvation, acknowledging and relying upon Christ for justification. To all such as thus know him, Christ will procure a perfect absolution from all their sins. By one act are implied the other acts of faith, it being the manner of the Hebrews thus to express themselves. And therefore you must understand other suitable dispositions and goings out of the heart to Christ as will become such knowledge.

[3.] Because it is no unusual thing in scripture to make knowledge to be the hand to receive the greatest conveyances of grace: 2 Peter i. 2, ‘Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God, and Jesus Christ our Lord.’ He maketh it to be multiplied, and shed into the heart through knowledge. So eternal life, which is the greatest of blessings: John xvii. 3, ‘This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ It is made to be a happy fruit of knowledge, even life eternal. The knowing of God in Christ entitleth us to it. Well, then, you see the reason of the expression why he saith ‘by his knowledge.’

I shall give you the points:—

Doct. 1. That it is the privilege of the gospel to discover a way for the justification of sinners ‘by his knowledge,’ or by his doctrine; and you have that only in the gospel of Christ.

Doct. 2. That faith is knowledge, or an apprehension of Christ; and therefore it is expressed by such a term here: ‘the knowledge of him.’

Doct. 3. That by faith we are justified. He saith by his knowledge, but he meaneth faith; such a knowledge as is affective, such apprehensions of Christ as cause answerable dispositions in the spirit.

For the first of these, that it is the privilege of the gospel to discover a way for the justification of sinners.

My work shall be to show you:—

1. That by no other way, doctrine, or knowledge in the world, can this be done to make a sinner just before God; not by your vain pretences, that may serve to justify you before men, but not in the sight of God: Ps. cxliii. 2, ‘Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified;’ which is quoted by the apostle. The business is to get a righteousness that will endure the eye of God: Rom. ii. 13, ‘For the hearers of the law are not justified before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.’ That is the intent of that verse; that it is not appearances, but exact obedience, not any outward excellency and privilege, that could endear you to God’s acceptance: Rom. ii. 11, ‘For there is no respect of persons with God, bond or free, Jew or Gentile.’ God is not charmed by any outward pomp and glory of the creatures; the wicked may be justified for a reward. Men are apt to prize anything that is pompous. The disciples showed Christ the buildings of the temple, Mat. xxiv. 1. God did not regard Saul for his personage, nor Jezebel for her painting, nor Absalom for his beauty, nor Sodom for her beauty. Not any device of the creatures; men and angels could not find out a way for the re-instating of sinners into the favour of God, and absolving them from their guilt. God himself seemeth to hint that he could find no other way: Isa. lix. 16, ‘And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation.’ No endeavours or contrivance of the creature would serve the turn; our own prayers and endeavours, lashing and punishing others, will not serve the turn; nor the law, which is the chiefest thing that discovereth a way of justification, but not for the justification of sinners, for the making of a man righteous, but not for the making of a sinner righteous: if a man could walk up to the exactness of it, yet how should he do to redeem his soul from guilt, and to expiate sin? Papists fondly dream of a satisfaction in the creature’s endeavours. Alas! all will not do: ‘The law is weak through our flesh:’ Rom. viii. 3; that is, we being weak creatures, it were impossible it should be done that way. The law in itself might have done it, were it not that we were sinners; and therefore mere doing will not serve. Doing indeed may make us less sinners, but it cannot make us righteous. But alas! we are weak through the flesh, and we cannot do anything: Rom. iv. 5, ‘But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly;’ that is the circumstance that maketh it emphatically glorious.