Thomas Manton · 55 of 57

The Twelfth Verse. · Part 3

[4.] It presseth us to praise, honour, and obey him. Conquerors merit of their country; usually some trophy and statue is erected to their memorial. Oh, what honour do you devise for Christ, now he hath conquered for you, now he hath recovered a church, and it may be your souls, out of the hands of death, and hell, and Satan, and defended you against all the malice of the world! When our knees bow to Christ, our mouths must confess him, Phil. ii. 10, 11. Fall down like the elders before the Lamb, with the harps of God in your hands, Rev. v. 9, and give him honour, and blessing, and praise. David, when he had rest from his enemies, he thinketh of building God a temple, 2 Sam. vii. 2. God hath given you rest, think of a trophy for God. Honour him in your expressions, affections, and conversations. Serve him now he hath set you free; you are his by right of conquest: pass over into his power and love as Christ’s, Rom. vii. 14. The apostle speaketh of himself in his natural condition, ‘I am carnal, sold under sin.’ He alludeth to a custom among the Romans, who, when captives and prisoners were taken in war, they were wont to sell them to one another, as captives, under a spear. Oh, do not live as carnal, and for the uses and advantages of sin, as if you were the spoils of sin, but as the spoils of Jesus Christ. Oh, be not sold under sin; wholly pass over into his power and right, and live to his glory.

[5.] Set against the enemies with the more courage and resolution. Oh, that the joy of the Lord may be your strength, that in all your endeavours against sin and Satan you may look up to the victory of Christ! It is said, Rom. vii. 24, 25, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ Oh, you are enclasped within the ribs of the body of death: how shall I get free? Through Jesus Christ there is hope of triumph. Therefore do not fear, but set upon it. You are mistaken, if you think the work was so done upon Christ’s cross that there remaineth nothing for your care and endeavours: Rom. xvi. 20. God ‘will bruise Satan,’ but it is ‘under your feet; implying there is something that we must do. And Ps. cx. 5, ‘The Lord at thy right hand will smite through kings in the day of his wrath.’ God will smite them through, but it will be at thy right hand, which doth imply our endeavours. Christ will divide the spoil with the strong, and the violent take heaven by force; therefore use all due means. Men cherish a lazy wish, a yawning, drowsy prayer; they may read a chapter, and go on in a dead way, perform a cold duty, or make a formal discourse, but they do not stir up themselves to lay hold upon God. They do not pray, with tears and strong cries and supplications, for a share in Christ’s conquest. Where is the violence of your spirits, the earnestness of desires, the fervency of raised affections, vigorous and powerful endeavours? Prov. xiii. 4, ‘The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.’ Oh, therefore, stir up yourselves. Who would not put forth endeavours when they are like to be successful? James iv. 7, ‘Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you.’ You shall not only repel him, but chase him. Oh, buckle to it to the purpose, put on the whole armour of God. Christ’s death, and Spirit, and prayers aim at this, that he may do it in you; for it should never content you, unless it be done in your souls, that he may destroy death in you: Col. i. 29, ‘Whereunto I also labour, striving according to the working which worketh in me mightily.’ Not that he did put forth in his own person only.

[6.] Pray to him that he would show himself Lord and King, that he might rule among his enemies. Christ hath taught us to say, Thy kingdom come: desire that he would powerfully and with his own arm work salvation. Christ’s conquest is founded on his prayers and intercessions, therefore help on his kingdom. You know where and to whom to go, when you see the church small, worldly powers enraged, Satan busy. Oh, complain to him, the strong get all the spoils. Urge the promises, especially in the latter days, when the kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ.

2. Here is terror to the adversaries of Christ. His reign is your ruin: Ps. xciii., ‘The Lord reigneth;’ that is as bad a word as David could speak to the enemies. Be wise, you that act contrary designs to the glory, reign, cause, and servants of Christ. The Red Sea. that yielded a passage to the Israelites, proved a grave to the Egyptians. Consider seriously whether it be not against Christ. When your ways are challenged as opposite to God, look more thoroughly into the nature of them.

I come now to the second part of the text: ‘Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and was numbered with transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.’ Which is called the conflict of Christ explained, and is set out in four things:—

1. His death.

2. The ignominy of it.

3. The cause of it.

4. The noted circumstance in it: ‘He made intercession for the transgressors.’

I shall begin with the first of these: ‘He hath poured out his soul unto death.’ It doth not only imply the bare death of Christ, simply that he died; but he died willingly and freely, gave up his whole self to death. So David speaks in the person of Christ, Ps. xxii. 14, ‘I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.’ There is nothing left in the vessel, neither sap nor savour; he freely and willingly poured out every drop of his soul, as if he made no account of it, so man might enjoy benefit by it. It noteth both the freeness and fulness of the sacrifice; it was unto death, and it was poured out.

Observe, That the Lord Jesus did freely and willingly yield up himself to die for our sakes. I handled such a like point on verse the 7th, therefore shall be the more sparing and wary in this. For the proof, I shall rather evidence that it was so, than why he desired it: Luke xii. 50, ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!’ He thought the time would never come; he hindered it not: he did not discontinue resorting to the garden, the place of his usual abode and retirement. Judas knew that he often resorted thither with his disciples: Mat. xxvi. 53, ‘Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently send me more than twelve legions of angels?’ The violence of man did not take his life from him: John x. 17, 18, ‘Therefore cloth my Father love me, because I lay down my life: no man taketh it from me, I lay it down of myself.’ It was not an enforced obedience to the will of God, for God did not only give Christ, but he gave himself: Gal. i. 4, ‘Who gave himself for our sins;’ and Eph. v. 2, ‘He loved us, and gave himself for us;’ which appeared by the cheerful resignation of his soul into the hands of the Father in his agonies: Luke xxiii. 46, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit.’ It is said, ‘He cried with a loud voice,’ which noteth his confidence and willingness.

Use 1. It serveth to commend the love of Christ, in that he gave himself: ‘He poured out his soul,’ and that ‘to the death.’ There are three things to be noted:—

1. The gift.

2. The manner of giving.

3. The intent.

1. The gift. We read of great gifts in the scripture: Zaccheus, when salvation was come to his house, Luke xix. 8, says, ‘Half my goods I give to the poor.’ And Herod proffered half his kingdom to his niece when she pleased him, Mark vi. 23. God in the creation gave all the creatures to man; and the devil says to Christ, Mat. iv. 9, ‘All these will I give thee.’ Ay! but here Christ giveth himself, poureth out his own soul, and with himself everything that maketh for the delighting and contenting of the spirit. Oh, it is better than a thousand worlds! At our creation God gave us but the creatures, but here God giveth himself.

2. The manner; ‘He poured out his soul;’ which noteth a copious and bounteous effusion of his blood for the creatures’ good. Nihil in hoc Christo est nisi profusa liberalitas misericordiae, et remissionis peccatorum, said Luther—I see nothing in this Christ but a prodigality of love; if guilty of anything, it was of too much freeness: ‘He poured out his soul.’ Oh, when you are at the Lord’s Supper, and see the wine poured out, remember the death of Christ set out by this notion, ‘He poured out his soul unto death;’ see how freely Christ emptied his veins. In the garden he did sweat drops of blood; every pore in his body became an eye, and it wept blood for your sakes.

3. The end and intent, why he would pour out himself like water. It was to die for you: ‘He poured out his soul to death.’ Simeon suffered himself to be bound for his brethren, Gen. xlii. 24. Lot offered his daughter, and the man in Judges prostitutes his daughter; and the Levite, Judges xix. 23, 24, his concubine to the lusts of the men of Gibeah; but saith Christ, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.’ That is man’s heroic honour, and it may be we may find two or three rare instances in history. But Jesus Christ laid down his life for enemies, for ‘dead dogs,’ as David calleth himself. Such as we are he poured out his soul for, even to death. Oh, enlarge your thoughts on these particulars.

Use 2. It yieldeth useful inferences and enforcements to duty.

1. To humbled sinners. Take Christ as freely as he offereth himself to you: He poured out his soul, and you will not come to him, you will not receive him. Oh, come and pour out yourselves into the bosom of Christ; he hath poured out his soul to death for you. You that complain as the church, Lam. ii. 11, ‘My liver is poured out,’ there is much faintness and fears. The liver is the seat of blood; it is made there, and dispersed from thence into all the veins: your liver is only poured out, but Christ’s soul is so. Consider, all the persons in the blessed Trinity are willing, and are not you? The Father, John iii. 16, ‘He gave his only-begotten Son.’ And Christ gave himself, Gal. i. 4. And the Spirit is willing, he is grieved at your refusal: ‘I would have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.’ He wooeth and beseecheth you, and pleadeth for your entertainment of Jesus Christ. Oh, open to him, and be as willing to believe as Christ was to die: Ps. cxlii. 2, ‘I poured out my complaint to him, I showed before him my trouble.’ Pour out your souls in faith and prayer, as Christ poured out his soul on the cross.

2. To stubborn sinners, to press them to come out of their sins upon this ground—Jesus Christ poured out his soul unto death. Christ parted with his heart’s blood, and will not you part with your sinful delights? Shall we love our sins better than Christ loved his own soul? He laid down his life, and will not you lay down your lusts? Nay, what horrible unthankfulness is this? Christ poured out his soul to death, and we pour out our souls in the ways of death. In the 11th verse of Jude’s epistle we read, that ‘they ran greedily after the error of Balaam.’ In the original it is, ‘They poured out in the error of Balaam;’ not as water out of a vessel, drop by drop; but as water out of a bucket, in abundance. Hearts set upon the world, set upon lusts and pleasures, are expressed by giving themselves to work wickedness. Oh, should not you give up yourselves to Jesus Christ, when he gave out himself for you? That is an ill requital, to let loose the reins to your vile affections, and to pour out yourselves in sins without restraint.

3. To the people of God. Christ poured out his soul to death, freely and fully offered himself for your sakes: it presseth you to an imitation in your duties and respects towards God and men. Pour out your souls, discharge them fully and freely; they are both expressed by pouring out the soul. In your duty to God: So Hannah is said, 1 Sam. i. 16, to ‘pour out her soul before the Lord;’ to come freely, and draw out her affections and desires before God. And so for duties to man: Isa. lviii. 10, ‘If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as noonday.’ Do both freely.

[1.] Your duties and respect to God. Oh, come and pour out your whole souls; the willingness of your services is the commendation of them: ‘Call the Sabbath a delight,’ Isa. lviii. 13; and 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, ‘Thou shalt serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind;’ and make prayer your joy and pleasure, your comfort and your solace: Isa. ii. 3, ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways.’ Let the meditation of God be sweet to you: Ps. civ. 34, ‘And I will be glad in the Lord.’ See that the thoughts of God are pleasing to you. But now, on the contrary, when the Sabbath is a burden, prayer a task, and you cannot wait upon the Lord one hour in hearing or holy meditation; when the commandments are grievous, meditation irksome, holy company and conference a prison; oh! then, I say, consider the freeness of Jesus Christ in pouring out his blood for you, and you will find the advantage of pouring out your hearts before God.

[2.] In your duties and respects to men. In all offices of love and service, do it willingly; for such was the love of the Lord Jesus to you: 1 Peter v. 2, ‘Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly;’ especially if it be to instruct and teach them, and to take pains with them about the good of their souls: Phil. iii. 1, ‘To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.’ He often speaks how little good was done, but it was not grievous to him to try again. Labour to put off the sluggishness of your spirits with this consideration—Jesus Christ died freely for souls to relieve them, and shall not I be at some pains to persuade them to accept of him? Forced kindness loseth its acceptance; God and man prize the willing mind best. The will honoureth God more than the deed; for it is not our act any further than it is done willingly: 2 Cor. viii. 12, ‘If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted, according to that a man hath, and not according to what he hath not.’ The widow’s mite was noted; the unjust judge did his duty by constraint; and in so doing we do not only relieve others, but ourselves.

Use 3. To press us to act proportionably to the act of Christ. He yielded up his whole self, and did it with his whole heart; so let your abounding be in believing, and your gratitude in yielding up yourselves with your whole heart.

I come now to the second circumstance, the ignominy of Christ’s death: ‘He was numbered with transgressors.’ It is to be understood of God or man. It is true before God, God looking upon him under our guilt; but it is most properly true in regard of men, who counted him a sinner and a transgressor, and so delivered him to the Gentiles: John xviii. 30, ‘If he were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him to thee.’ But more especially this prophecy is said to be fulfilled in two places of scripture: as Mark xv. 27, 28, ‘And with him they crucified two thieves, one on his right hand, and the other on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith. And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ That is then eminently fulfilled; for it was also at other times, but then especially, being placed in the middle, not only as a companion of thieves, but as their prince and chieftain. So Luke xxii. 37, ‘For I say unto you, that this that is written must be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.’ There he speaketh as if the intent of this prophecy was more general. I told you of all things necessary; for I and you must be accounted wicked persons; it must be so, for it is foretold. You see the sense; now for the points.

Observe, that the Lord Jesus Christ was reckoned among transgressors, especially in his death and sufferings.

For proof of the point, which is general, let me suggest to you that he was so reputed by men; by wicked men, godly men, and by God himself.

1. By wicked men he was counted a glutton and a wine-bibber, Mat. xi. 19; and John viii. 48, ‘Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil.’ Nay, they accounted him the prince of devils, but this was chiefly at his death. The high priest charged him with no less than blasphemy: Mat. xxvi. 65, ‘He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?’ False witnesses were suborned to accuse him of sedition against his country, as if he would destroy the temple, and as if he were a seducer and perverter of the people; of disloyalty to Caesar, as if he went about to make himself king, John xviii. 36. They preferred Barabbas, a murderer, before him. See these things in the Evangelists.

2. By godly men: Luke xxiv. 21, ‘We trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel.’ In their distrustful thoughts the disciples began to doubt of him, and so looked upon him as an imposter.

3. By God himself. Christ having taken our sins upon him, was dealt with as a transgressor: 1 Peter iv. 1, ‘For he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin;’ and Heb. ix. 28, ‘He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ In his first coming he was not without sin by imputation.

Well, but for the reason why God would suffer Christ thus to be numbered with transgressors. I shall not much trouble you with the allegories of the ancients, recorded by Aquinas, why Christ was crucified between two thieves, and so reckoned as one of them, as the chief of them, to typify that distinction that shall be made at the day of judgment, some being put on the right hand of Christ, and some on the left. The thief on the right hand was received into paradise, so Reo and Austin. Christ’s cross, made his tribunal in his sufferings, and a type of his second glorious coming, and he as a judge placed between two others, who are of less avail, implied, as Hilary would have it, that though all did not know the cross and sufferings of Christ, yet some should be placed on the right hand and some on the left. So Beza thought that the thief on the left side signified those that should endure strictness and hardships in Christianity for the praise of men; others for the praise of God, as the thief on the right side. But these are all but flashes of wit. The reasons of the point are:—

1. That these might be sensible evidences of those sins of ours that Christ bore in his body, and had taken upon himself. This reason is in the text, ‘He was numbered among transgressors, for he bare the sins of many.’ God would give believers this evidence and testimony that he was a transgressor; that you may know all the load of the blasphemies and rebellions laid upon Christ, God gave a taste of it in these imputations—a devil, a blasphemer. God made special use of their malice to direct our thoughts to the guilt transacted on Christ.

2. Because Christ was to make satisfaction by suffering all that we were to suffer. We are cursed, therefore Christ was made a curse, Gal. iii. 13. We were to endure the wrath of God, therefore he bore our griefs, Isa. liii. 4. We are to blame, and deserve shame, therefore he would undergo that, and suffer in his credit and honour, Our reproach is taken away, because Christ would take it upon himself: he was ‘the reproach of men,’ Ps. xxii. 6. We were sinners, and therefore Christ is called a murderer, a thief, a blasphemer, one that had a devil. This was a circumstance that commended the greatness of the satisfaction. What greater satisfaction could we expect or desire than that Christ, who is holiness itself, should not only suffer, but suffer under ignominies—that innocency itself should suffer as a malefactor? This made the sufferings of Christ exceeding great and valuable. Christ would lay aside all his glory, pleasure, and honour, and sacrifice everything for the good of the creature. You have the life of God, and the honour of God, and all. There is nothing that God prizeth so much as his honour, and Christ would suffer that God’s honour might not be obscured by these imputations, but repaired.

Use 1. Is information. It informeth us of the great love of Christ; he not only poured out his soul to death, but to an accursed death. Suppose it had been merely for the cause of salvation, would it then have yielded more comfort? No; but he suffered as a malefactor, a thief, worse than a murderer. An ingenious man valueth his good name above all enjoyments. It stood Christ in much stead to have his innocency cleared, that the world might know that he did not die for his own sins, but the just for the unjust. And yet, though it is true there were evident demonstrations of his innocency out of Pilate’s mouth, yet Christ would suffer as a malefactor, so as to suffer every thing you were to suffer; he would make his sufferings every way valuable. Oh, what a mercy is here!

2. It informeth us that glory and innocency itself may be beclouded. Christ was under aspersions. Do not believe every report of the godly. Wicked men would fain paint them out in ill colours; but we must drink of the same cup with Christ. What foul things were charged upon the primitive Christians, that they were obscene and turbulent in their practices! Always suspect those aspersions that are cast upon religious eminency.

3. It informeth us how unlike Christ the men of the world are. Christ is innocent, but counted a transgressor; they are transgressors, yet would fain be accounted innocent. ‘Honour me before the people,’ saith Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 30. They are more careful of their credit than their conscience; they would not be accounted sinners, and yet do not fear to be so. They are all for man’s judgment, though that is nothing to a gracious heart. Christ was innocent, however he might suffer under misrepresentations. You are most like him when you look to your conscience, and trust God for your credit.

Use 2. Is consolation to you. Here is comfort, for the main: Christ was counted a sinner for your sakes; that must needs be a great satisfaction, seeing Christ has suffered his own glory to be obscured and eclipsed. You are a great sinner, but urge the sufficiency of his satisfaction. You have deserved great blame; consider God hath laid it upon Christ. Satan accuseth of foul miscarriages, and you must certainly cry out Guilty. He cannot commence a greater accusation against you than his instruments did against Jesus Christ. They accuse him of sedition, theft, heresy, blasphemy—crimes that run highest against God and men. Oh, what abundant consolation is there, that Christ hath borne the blame, and hath made a great satisfaction! As high accusations were commenced against Christ as can be against you.

2. Here is comfort in this. When you are under undiscerned reproaches, comfort yourselves thus: This was the lot of Christ. I do not mean merely under the same reproaches, but sufferings not deserved, for Christ’s sake. God knew his Son in the midst of the two thieves, and the martyrs in the common goal, and Daniel in the lions’ den, and the lily among thorns. The thieves were crucified with him, yet they justly; but if you do not suffer as an evil-doer, take comfort though you be crucified between thieves, yoked with ill companions; Christ was numbered among transgressors. It was an old trick to bring an odium upon the truth, to put it upon ill company. Though you be bound up in ill bundles, yet God will know his jewels.

I come now to the third circumstance, that which is called the conflict of Christ, and that is the cause both of his death and the ignominy of it: ‘He bare the sins of many.’ This is a circumstance very often repeated in this prophecy, and often mentioned by the prophet in this chapter; so that I need dwell the less on it now. And it is so often mentioned, because this is the great argument that maketh the glory and innocency of Christ to be clear in our thoughts, notwithstanding the scandal of the greatness of his sufferings from the repetition. By the way observe:—

That when we remember, consider, or make mention of the sufferings of Christ, we should also reflect upon the cause of it, viz., the bearing of our sins and iniquities. This is what the prophet doth frequently here, not only once or twice, but again and again, to show you that other reflections upon the sufferings of Christ were not proper and useful.

The reasons are:—

1. Because this is most for the glory and honour of Christ.

2. For the good and benefit of the creature.

1. For Christ’s glory. We are apt to judge men mean under sufferings and disgrace. The prophet bringeth in the Jews’ saying here, ‘We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,’ Isa. liii. 4. Otherwise men would be apt to think something alien and unbecoming Christ, especially when there were such formal accusations commenced against him. But alas! consider they were not occasioned by any fault of his, either against God’s or man’s interest. Much was pretended, but nothing proved; nothing to make him obnoxious to God’s justice or man’s judgment. They talked of destroying the temple, of rising against Caesar; but these were but surmises and malicious jealousies. The person of Christ and the glory of Christ is most clear in your thoughts, when you perceive that on his part there was nothing to occasion his death and sufferings.

2. For the good of the creature. It mindeth us of our comfort and duty.

[1.] Our comfort. When we consider his sufferings under such a notion, we cannot but remember there is our expiation, there is a satisfaction for our sins. God hath found a ransom: ‘He died, the just for the unjust,’ 1 Peter iii. 18. It maketh you mindful of the price and ransom. The price was paid for you: Rom. v. 8, ‘Herein God commended his love, that when we were sinners, Christ died for us.’ Here is a just Christ, that died for poor sinners: remember it for your comfort, mention it for your comfort; here is your expiation and satisfaction.

[2.] It mindeth us of our duty. When we consider these sufferings were for our sins, it mindeth us of our debt of obedience, wherein we stand engaged to his love and liberality; and it giveth us a sense of his love, and so in thankfulness engageth us to obedience. What sufferings are too hard, what duty too great, to go through with for one that hath done so much for us?

Use. By this you may know what reflections upon the death and sufferings of Christ are good and proper; not such only as work a fond compassion, for we are naturally apt to pity those in misery; not foolish anger against the Jews, not a little vain delight—these are effects when you look upon it as a mere story; but the glorifying of Christ and humbling of ourselves, increase of faith, comfortable persuasions and excitations to duty and praise—these show you consider it rightly. I would but hint these things, because they are obvious.