Translated By: Archtelos Intelligence

Volumes

Chapters

The Bruised Reed

Or, A Hundred and Forty-Five Sermons on Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which a weak and little-believing Christian is stirred up and directed to hope in the Lord Jesus, and various cases and difficulties of the soul are resolved and answered, for the comfort and encouragement of such as would, with joy, though still striving, walk the way of faith toward heaven, and in due time come to share in everlasting blessedness.

By the late blessed Bernardus Smytegelt, in his lifetime a faithful minister of the Gospel at Middelburg.

Volume One. Second Edition.

The Hague: Pieter van Thol, and the widow of O. van Thol and Son. Middelburg: the widow of A. L. Callenfels and Son, and the widow of M. H. Callenfels. 1768. With Privilege.

Approbation

We, the undersigned Professors of Sacred Theology at the University of Leiden, have read and examined — with such attention and care as our many occupations have allowed — the First Volume of THE BRUISED REED, or the first seventy Sermons on Matthew 12:20, 21, by the late blessed Bernardus Smytegelt, in his lifetime a faithful minister of the Divine Word at Middelburg in Zeeland, taken down from his own mouth, as we are informed, by a hearer under his ministry; and we have found in it nothing that runs contrary to the rule of faith contained in God's Word and expressed accordingly in the Formularies of Unity of our Church, but rather a godly and particular design to stir up every Christian — and especially one of little faith — to hope in the Lord Jesus, and to direct him in the way that leads to life. We are therefore well content that these Sermons be given to the light, judging that they may be read with much edification, even as we heartily wish and pray the Lord's abundant blessing upon them.

Leiden, the 24th of March, 1744.

Joannes Esgers, Doctor and Professor of Sacred Theology, Dean.

The Printers to the Reader

The work of the now-blessed Bernardus Smytegelt, which we bring to light and set before your eyes, kind reader, comprises, as the title indicates, in all a hundred and forty-five Sermons, of which seventy appear in this volume, upon the words found in Matthew 12:20, 21. These were preached by that renowned man before the considerable congregation at Middelburg, and there begun by him in the New Church on the second of March 1720, and concluded in the same church on the third of September 1734.

The occasion he had, and took, for treating these words and matters, and for working them out so extensively in what followed, was this: that in that time certain devout people came to him with their difficulties and cases of conscience, to receive counsel, comfort, and direction from him as a father in Christ. These he always received with much love, and heard and dealt with, with much patience and tenderness. But because this happened so often and so much, he resolved to treat these matters publicly, and from this these Sermons on the already-mentioned text were born. And when this person or that came to him afterward, he would say: only keep yourself under the ministry, there I shall speak of these things — and so these matters were, from time to time, expanded more and more.

The order he followed, in order to reach his purpose in these Sermons, appears to us to be this: that in the first eight he explains the words of the text, and on that occasion treats some cases of conscience, thus paving the way to pass on to resolving this or that difficulty. Thereupon he proposes and answers various difficulties, in the ninth through the nineteenth Sermons, in which he sets forth ten marks of the state of grace, in order to treat them further, point by point, in what follows. The first concerns the new birth, together with its timing, of which he speaks from the twentieth through the twenty-third Sermon inclusive. In the second he shows how precious it is to the gracious soul to live upon grace, in the twenty-fourth. In the third, how they are discovered to themselves, in the twenty-fifth. The fourth concerns convictions of sin, which he treats distinctly from the twenty-sixth through the forty-seventh inclusive. In the fifth he speaks of godly sorrow, from the forty-eighth through the fifty-sixth. The sixth comprises the confession of sins, from the fifty-seventh through the sixty-seventh. The seventh contains holy shame, from the sixty-eighth through the seventieth. In the eighth he treats hatred of sin, from the seventy-first through the eighty-fourth. In the ninth, poverty of spirit, from the eighty-fifth through the ninety-fourth. The tenth and last mark is humility, of which he speaks at length from the ninety-fifth through the hundred-and-eighteenth Sermon inclusive. Having come this far, he pauses, as it were, and in the nine following Sermons treats the ten named marks by way of a brief recapitulation, both in general and in particular — that is, from the hundred-and-nineteenth through the hundred-and-twenty-seventh inclusive. In the remaining eighteen Sermons he gives various reasons for this manner of proceeding in preaching upon marks of grace, answers this or that objection, and shows the right and wrong use of such marks. And so this excellent work hangs together as a whole, which may rightly be reckoned a quite complete and admirable system of experimental and saving divinity. And so that one might see at a glance what matters are treated in this whole work, we have placed at the front a brief summary of the contents dealt with in each Sermon, as many as occur in each volume.

But perhaps someone will think: so many sermons on a single text — why not rather choose a fresh subject each time? To this we may say that we are informed, from the mouth of the departed preacher himself, that when this question was put to him he was accustomed to answer that he had chosen this manner of preaching solely to better edify his congregation, and knew by experience that the Lord did not leave it unblessed; that he could otherwise, much more easily, take up and expound a new subject each time, as he had also learned to do at the universities in the days of his studies, alongside others of his teachers; but that to treat the divine and soul-saving truths in this manner had to be learned at the gate of heaven, in much meditation and prayer, and that it was not so easy as one might perhaps imagine. Nor do we doubt at all that every godly reader, having read these sermons with attention and care, will not refuse to set his own seal to this.

As for the editor of these Sermons, this is Maria Boter, well known in the Middelburg congregation. How this devoted follower of the departed wrote down his sermons, under the hearing, not only in substance but also, as far as possible, word for word, it is not necessary for us to demonstrate at length, since the Reverend A. W. de Beveren has already done so in his preface to The Christian's Salvation and Ornament, to which we accordingly refer the reader. And that these Sermons must have been very accurately taken down appears abundantly also from this: that the author's own nephew, Marinus Smytegelt, then minister at Borssele, within the classis of South Beveland, so urgently desired and requested this copy — as was also said in person, that if these Sermons were printed after his uncle's death, they ought to be printed from this very copy. He had himself already transcribed some sermons from this copy, but an all-too-early death prevented him from continuing in it. All of which we could confirm by a letter in his own hand, written from Borssele to Maria Boter on the fifteenth of September, 1727.

We also cannot — though it is abundantly known at Middelburg — fail to note further, with respect to this work, that these Sermons were written down from his mouth not without the author's own knowledge, and indeed were often under his own eyes, just as he was also often urged to have them printed with his approval; yet to this he could never be persuaded, any more than for any of his other sermons. But whether he had not indeed noticed and considered that they would be handed over to the press after his death, we will not presume to say. Meanwhile this much is certain: that when he was approached about it, he would say, not in my lifetime — after my death I govern no more. Indeed, he more than once expressed his joy that they had been written down from his own mouth, and wished that they might yet be of profit to many.

Nor can we fail to note that the editor of this work has often testified, and still testifies, with a deep acknowledgment of God's undeserved goodness, that it has not obscurely appeared, in his gracious providence, how the transcribing of these Sermons was carried through by her so completely that not one of them was missing — for she has observed with wonder that in the fourteen years during which the author preached upon this subject, she was never so much as once hindered in this task, whereas man, being so fragile a vessel, must often wrestle with many sicknesses and weaknesses, as indeed often befell her, being weak by nature; but that God so ordered it in his providence that his Reverend was himself drawn away from pursuing this subject, whether by sickness or otherwise, or else that she was so powerfully sustained by him in her weakness, that the doctor attending her declared she came out of church in better condition than she had gone in. Perhaps the Lord in his providence willed, and thus showed, that this material should be transcribed by her in its entirety and brought to completion, so that it might yet be of profit and blessing to many of his people. This has always been the editor's wish and aim in publishing these Sermons, even as she does not doubt that this her labor will not be unwelcome to the Lord's people. We join our wish to hers, and pray God that he may bless you, kind reader, and this work, in every way.

Table of Contents (continued)

[This chunk begins mid-index; the summary below continues from the close of Sermon 61.]

Sermon 61 (concluded) — IV. That it thus appears of itself, that a person may have a cross to bear and yet be a good confessor of the faith.

Sermon 62 (p. 567) — I. It is granted that a true confessor of sin also forsakes sin.

Sermon 63 (p. 576) — Concerning the difference between an unregenerate person and a godly one.

Sermon 64 (p. 585) — I. That there is nothing in sin but evil. II. That, through God's holy and wise ordering, sin nevertheless does much good to God's children. III. That care must be taken lest this be abused.

Sermon 65 (p. 595) — I. That sin does evil to the sinner. II. That sin, nevertheless, does good to the godly.

Sermon 66 (p. 604) — I. What mercy is: in God, in the Mediator, and in men. II. That whoever confesses and forsakes his sins shall surely find mercy. III. That the godly, when they complain that they find no mercy, then find abundant mercy.

Sermon 67 (p. 614) — I. The confession of sins made acceptable, set out in thirteen propositions. II. The last case of the godly resolved. III. An objection of the ungodly answered.

Sermon 68 (p. 623) — In which holy shame, as the seventh mark of the state of grace, is treated, showing: I. What shame is. II. Where it has no place. III. By what occasions one falls into it. IV. Wherein it consists.

Sermon 69 (p. 631) — I. There is not one saint who is not ashamed before God. II. There are sinners who are shameless. III. Not all shame is holy shame, for there are sinners who also stand in a kind of shame. IV. There is a difference between the shame of the godly and that of the ungodly.

Sermon 70 (p. 640) — I. An exhortation to godly and ungodly alike to that holy shame. II. A question to godly and ungodly alike: do you possess that spiritual, evangelical shame?

Privilege — States of Holland and West Friesland

The States of Holland and West Friesland make known: that it was represented to Us by Otto and Pieter van Thol, citizens and booksellers here in The Hague, together with Adam Louwerens and Michiel Hendrik Callenfels, citizens and booksellers at Middelburg in Zeeland, that the petitioners had, on the 24th of April 1744, graciously obtained from Us — for themselves and for whoever might in future acquire their right or claim — a Privilege to print, cause to be printed, publish, and sell, wholesale or retail, to the exclusion of all others, for the term of fifteen years, under penalty of three thousand guilders against transgressors, the writings of Bernard Smytegelt, in his lifetime minister of the Divine Word at Middelburg — comprising various Sermons on Sanctification, on Fasting and Prayer, on the Catechism, The Bruised Reed, and other subjects by the same author, all in quarto, together with a Catechism-book of the Christian Religion composed by the said author; and that the said Privilege had expired in the year 1759 past, and the petitioners wished to continue enjoying it: the petitioners therefore turned to Us, respectfully requesting that We be pleased to grant them a continuation of the said Privilege for a further fifteen years, under the like penalties against transgressors, and to grant them a Privilege in due form. Now therefore, having considered the matter and being inclined to grant the petitioners' request, We, out of Our certain knowledge, sovereign power, and authority, have consented, agreed, and granted, and do by these presents grant, that they, for a further fifteen consecutive years, shall alone be permitted, within Our said territories, to print, cause to be printed, publish, and sell the said writings of Bernard Smytegelt, in the manner requested; forbidding any and all others to print or reprint the same, in whole or in part, or to deal in or sell them, or, if reprinted elsewhere, to bring them into Our territories, on pain of forfeiture of all such copies and a fine of three thousand guilders besides — one third to the officer bringing the prosecution, one third to the poor of the place where the offense occurs, and the remainder to the petitioners — as often as it is repeated; it being understood that We intend by this Privilege only to protect the petitioners against loss through reprinting, and not thereby to approve the contents of the work, still less to lend it any greater credit or standing under Our protection — rather, should anything improper occur in it, the petitioners alone shall answer for it. We further expressly require that, should they place this Our Privilege before the said works, they make no abridged mention of it, but print it in full and without omission; and that they deliver a copy of the said writings, on large paper, well bound, to the Library of Our University at Leiden within six weeks of beginning to publish, on pain of six hundred guilders for the poor of their place of residence, and further on pain of forfeiting the effect of this Privilege; and that, even having delivered a copy at the outset, should they during the term of this Privilege wish to reprint the said writings with any observations, notes, additions, alterations, or corrections, or in any other format, they shall again be bound to deliver a further copy, conditioned as before, to the said Library, within the same term and under the same penalties. And to the end that the petitioners may duly enjoy this Our Consent and Privilege, We charge all whom it may concern to let them enjoy and make use of it peacefully and fully, all hindrance to the contrary ceasing. Given at The Hague, under Our Great Seal, on the seventh of March, in the year of Our Lord and Savior seventeen hundred and sixty.

Privilege — States of Zeeland

The States of Zeeland make known: that it was represented to us by Michiel and Adam Callenfels, citizens and booksellers within Middelburg, that all the surviving writings of the late Rev. Bernardus Smytegelt, in his lifetime minister of the Holy Gospel in this city, had been placed in their hands, and that they were inclined to print these in partnership with Otto and Pieter van Thol, booksellers at The Hague; but, fearing that the same might, in whole or in part, to their great loss, be reprinted by others, the petitioners turned to us, humbly requesting that it might please us to grant them, together with their aforesaid partners, Our Letters of Privilege, in the customary form, for the sole printing and selling of the aforementioned surviving writings, in such formats as they should judge advisable, for the term of fifteen consecutive years, under such penalties as it should please us to determine. Now therefore, having considered the foregoing, and being inclined to grant the petitioners' request, We, out of Our certain knowledge, sovereign power, and authority, have authorized and granted, and do by these presents authorize and grant, that they alone, in partnership with Otto and Pieter van Thol, shall for fifteen consecutive years be permitted to print and bring into Our territory of Zeeland the said surviving writings of the Rev. Bernardus Smytegelt, in his lifetime minister at Middelburg, in such formats as they shall judge advisable; forbidding any and all persons to reprint the same writings, in whole or in part, wholesale or retail, or to bring reprints made elsewhere into Our territory or distribute them, on pain of forfeiture of the copies concerned, and a further fine of one thousand Caroli guilders — one third applied to the poor of the place where the offense occurs, one third to the prosecutor, and the remainder to the petitioners; ordering all whom this may concern to let the petitioners enjoy and make use of the effect of this Our favor and grant peacefully and fully, without hindrance to the contrary. In witness whereof We have caused Our Great Seal to be affixed hereto, and have had it signed by Our Secretary. Given at the Court of Zeeland at Middelburg, the 9th of July, 1739.

By order of the Right Honorable the States. Signed, J. P. Recestoot.

The above Privilege was prolonged by Their Noble Great Mightinesses the States of Zeeland for fifteen years, beginning on the 9th of July 1754, granted under date of the 24th of December, 1754.

Sermon 1

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

We read in Genesis 33:13, 14 that Jacob, coming with his flock, met his brother Esau; and instead of Esau striking him dead, they fell on each other's necks and kissed one another. Esau's hatred had so turned that he said: my brother, the way is not so safe that you should go it alone, and I have here many soldiers who march before me — let me leave some of them with you, that you may come the more safely to me, and to your father. What did Jacob answer? My lord, you know that I have with me tender little children, nursing ewes, weak lambs: if the flock is driven but one day too hard, it will die; the lambs are tender, the children small, for such a journey alongside armed soldiers. To this the man replied: My lord, since I know the condition of the flock, I ask that you go on ahead, and I will make my own way at my ease, according to the pace of the work — and so that faithful shepherd came at last to where he needed to be.

Is not the Lord Jesus just such a shepherd? In John 10:11 he says, I am the good shepherd. Has he not a flock? He has purchased his congregation with his own blood (Acts 20:28); he lays down his life for his sheep; he knows his sheep (John 10:11, 15). And of him it is said, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he

shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck, Isaiah 40:11. When someone is brought in by the workings of the Spirit — this one or that, who are yet but young children in Christ — he well knows what they can bear, how small their strength and their grace is; he stoops down to their own pace, according to the progress of the work; he does not drive them senselessly — no — but carries them in their weakness; and when they cannot walk, he lets them stand a while, and is himself content to stand there with them a while. When their hearts are broken, has he then no healing for them? Oh yes. Does he leave the weak without a bandage? No; but he does just as Jacob did, who came home with his whole flock — this Shepherd does likewise. He says: do not be troubled; have I convicted you, wounded you, brought you to a standstill? Take heart, I will not leave you nor forsake you; the bruised reed I will not break, and the smoking flax I will not quench, until I have brought you to victory, until I have brought forth judgment unto victory — and then I will take you all to myself.

In the first eight verses you will find the Son of God drawn into dispute over the Sabbath with the Pharisees; but he stops their mouths with word and with deed — in these eight verses, with words. How stands it, he says, with works of love and godliness — and God, who is Lord of the Sabbath, may he not also appoint another day? They had little to say to that. From verse 9 to verse 15 he stops their mouths by deeds, by healing, on the Sabbath, a man who had a withered hand: he said, if a man had a sheep that fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, would he not put out his hand and pull it out? And how much more is a man worth than a sheep? They had not a word to say, but burst with spite, and said, this can no longer be endured — he must be put to death, since he stops our mouths so. But Jesus withdrew, for his hour was not yet come. And the Lord Jesus healed many; they could hardly keep silent about it, but he told them to tell no one, for he did not seek his own glory as those do who love to boast; but he said, keep silence about it. The Savior found great entry into people's hearts, but where he brought the work of grace it was not with a great show; it was a hard time for those under conviction — one spoke this way, another that way. The Lord showed that he would make no great commotion, but that where he had begun the work he would not abandon it there; it was God's charge, given through the prophet, that he should not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the streets. The reason he does not abandon someone once convicted is that it is his office and his commission from the Father to see the matter through, and not to break the bruised reed, nor

quench the smoking flaxwick, Isaiah 42:1-3. Now we have read to you verses 20 and 21, where the Lord shows that where he has begun the work, he will not withdraw his hand from it until he has brought it to victory, and set it beyond all contradiction, whether of the devil or of the world; and though there be some among men who contradict it, there shall yet be, among the Gentiles, those who will hope in his name.

At present we shall show you: first, a bruised reed; then, that the Lord will not break it; third, the truth of the matter. The rest, God willing, we shall take up another time. First, then, we are to consider a bruised reed; second, that the Savior will not break it; third, the truth that he will not break it — for a bruised reed says, I do not know whether God will indeed help me; yet I say, he will help you, and that we shall show you.

I. As to the first point: reed and rushes, taken literally, are known to us as a weak, thirsty, and abundant growth; though it has little standing or use, it can nevertheless endure much, and once the bad weather that has beaten it down has passed, it grows back all the more thickly for it. Reed and rushes support one another — you would sooner break through a stand of oaks than through a bed of reed and rushes; those weak stalks hold one another up more than the oaks of righteousness do. Moses lay in a little ark of rushes and reed upon the water, and reed and rushes are mentioned in Isaiah 35:7. That is the letter of it; but the Lord here means nothing other than the rational reed — the man whom he has graced, in the laying of the work of grace, in all his stumbling and wavering. What is a little child in Christ but tossed about by every wind? The Lord gives pictures in his Word in which the strong are vividly portrayed after their own likeness: he calls them cedars of Lebanon, oaks of righteousness, the horse of his Majesty in battle, Solomon's mighty men, armies as terrible as with banners. But the first beginners, the weak in grace, have other pictures in the Word, which portray them just as exactly, and to the life, as those images portray the strong. What are they called? A little child, a lamb, a young shoot, a young grape, a little ark, the tenderest of all things, a suckling, a little plant, and among others, a little reed, a bruised reed. A child of God in the state of grace is called a reed, and a bruised reed. Why do they come under this picture?

1. A reed is not a wild growth of itself, but is planted by God's own hand, however small and weak it is — just as much as the pomegranate tree or the cedar. So it is with the little ones in grace: the

work of grace that is in them is planted there by God's hand: they are a plant of the Father, Matthew 15:13; it is the work of his hands, by which he is glorified, Isaiah 60:21. Ah, children of God, the work that is in you is not the work of your own hand: he has made us, and not we ourselves, to be his people, the work of his hands, Psalm 100:3.

2. A reed is not outwardly impressive; it is not much sought after. A child of God, at the beginning of his work, has little standing, even though great things are wrought in him; the world says of him: can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Are not all who speak so Galileans? What did you go out to see — a reed shaken by the wind?

3. Reed and rushes grow in valleys and marshes. A child of God, at the beginning, is usually the lowest and least in his own eyes: ah Lord, they say, what am I? Who am I? A dead dog; ah, I am so small; they are like the tax collector, they stand afar off, and say, Lord, I am not worthy to come near you, or to speak with you; I am your servant, Lord, Lord, what would you do with me? Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. 2 Samuel 7 and Luke 5.

4. A reed stands in deep waters. So it goes also with a weak child of God: in what waters do they stand? Ah, in the waters of grace and of spiritual workings, Isaiah 44:3; and in the waters of tears, 2 Kings 20:19; and in the waters of adversity and oppression — the more Israel was oppressed, the more it grew, Exodus 1:12.

5. A reed stands in marsh and mire. Ah, a child of God, at his first beginning — what sins does he not have at the first beginning of his grace? What corruptions is he not beset with, so that he must say, even further on, in me dwells no good thing, Romans 7:18. What corruptions do not the weak still have, even in their progress, so that they must say, Song of Solomon 5:2, I sleep, but my heart waketh. Peter, when he was a bruised reed, stood in just such a mire; they often have such a mire of corruption. Does the rush grow up without mire? Job 8:11.

6. Yet the reed, though it stands in the mud, keeps nonetheless its sap and its greenness. A child of God, though he live among the ungodly and amid a power of corruption, keeps his grace. Joseph was in Egypt, at Pharaoh's court, and in Potiphar's house, just as godly as in Canaan. Noah was as godly in the old world as in the new. Lot was godly in Sodom. Daniel kept the work of grace in Babylon; they keep their tenderness, their prayer, their hope in God.

7. The reed is exceedingly fruitful. Indeed, I do not know whether one small

in grace does not gain more profit for the Lord than a strong one does. The strong often have so many considerations before they will come out with anything; but the small cannot keep silent — they weep, they sigh at once; they have so tender a conscience that they cannot hide it — their weeping, their tenderness, becomes known. I think the tender, weak ones in grace are often the more fruitful: a small, faltering reed often does the more good; they work upon their friends, husband, wife, children if they have them, so that daily some are added to the congregation; their one talent gains them two.

8. The reed can endure so much. A child of God under conviction — what does he not endure? Anguish, strife, fear, dread — so that inwardly he is often as one dead. What winter storms, what snow and hardship must a child of God still expect, before he can say, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, Song of Solomon 2:11. Then it is: then had the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria rest, and were edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied, Acts 9:31.

9. The reed supports its fellow. So it is also with God's children: those weak children of God flock together, and go and edify one another, and comfort one another — just as we said before, that you would sooner break through a grove of oaks than through a bed of rushes, since the oaks do not support one another so; it is that, with all their faltering, they are simple — they speak once out of their simplicity, they pray once, and another takes away from it a little word by which he is edified and strengthened.

10. The reed — weak as it is, how easily it takes a bruise! So it is with the weak: have they been anywhere that something was said, or in a sermon — the least harsh word spoken, they have taken note of it; they take note of all that is against them, and what is for them they do not, and they cannot help or heal themselves; they concede the speaker is right, and say, yes, it is so, and it must be so, and they lie flat against the ground.

Now you will say, that is a reed; but what, then, is a bruised reed? Those who have the bruise. We must make a distinction between a reed and a bruised reed: there can be weak souls who nevertheless do not have the bruise. Now we must see what a bruised reed is.

1. These are first beginners, under conviction, who continually throw away their own work: their work is no good, their work, they say, has never in their life been good, nothing good will come of it, and I shall yet perish; ah, my work is not sound, and it will not stand, Jeremiah 6:29; my work, they say, is no work that can be reckoned the work of God's Spirit — it is nothing but conscience-work, it is only out of

fear of death that I have it, and I have no grace.

2. That is a bruised reed who is so small in knowledge: they scarcely know the Lord's way; there is such ignorance in the spiritual life; speak of faith and love, and they hardly know what to make of them; they often throw away the very costliest thing.

3. These are such as are tossed to and fro in their condition: ah Lord, they say, now and then there is a flicker, a small one, but it seems about to go out — a little spark of God's Spirit; now and then a little light shines, and now and then it is as dead again. What is the difference between one day and the next? One day, they say, it seems as though I have grace, and the next day again, ah, I have lost it! You will find them so, so often other than how you left them.

4. They are dark, embattled, deadened souls, who say: ah, I am so dead! Ah, I am so shut in that I cannot get out! I am like a man that has no strength, Psalm 88:5. This matter is so contested within me, I cannot hold out any longer; do I go forward, I do not see him; do I go backward, I do not perceive him; do I go into church and to the Lord's Table, I do not feel the Lord.

5. These are such as say: ah God, I cannot bear all the crosses, I am full of shame, Lamentations 3:30. My chastening is every morning, Psalm 73:14. Your rebukes are many; behold my affliction, Job 10:15 — for my soul is full of troubles, Psalm 88:4.

6. These are such as say: I shall yet give it up, I see that all I do is fruitless anyway.

7. Once more, this is such a child of God as cannot yet entrust his affairs to God: I cannot do that, they say, roll my way upon the Lord, and believe that he will make it right; I do not know how to lift up my downcast heart; my hope has perished from the Lord; everything is dying, and I fear that God will yet make of me an example to others.

See, so you will find in the Word a bruised reed: he says, I am not worthy that God should take notice of me; I am so vile in my own eyes; I must say to God, cast me only into hell, for that is all I am worth. That has other names in the Word, which we shall not enumerate now.

II. What now does the Lord do, when he finds his children so in a thousand and one anxieties? He does not break it. When he was on earth, he went to just such people. Had they gone to the Pharisees, they would have been driven away outright. Had God's children gone to them, it would have counted for nothing as the work of God — they struck such people hard on the head too. What did they say? It is hypocrisy. Did a tax collector go to the Pharisees, you hear how he was treated. Did a Judas

go to the Jewish council, and say, ah, I am in such anguish — you may see to that yourselves, they said, Matthew 27:4. Ah, had Peter, after denying his Master, gone to them, he would have been treated as a criminal; but instead he goes off street after street, and weeps and cries bitterly, Matthew 26:75. But the Lord is not like the others: I will not break you, he says; you may bear as deep a wound as you please. The Lord says little and means much: I will sustain you, uphold you, set you upright, comfort you — so that in the end you will have to say, well, what have I found in the Lord Jesus! But what does this mean, I will not break it?

1. I allow you to mourn a while, to pour out your heart, to complain now and then, to despair a little at times; you may indeed toss about a while upon the waters of hope, fear, and worry; you may drag your little anchor, your hope, along for a time — but I still do not say that I cannot or will not help: I let the sinful woman weep, but not despair; I let Peter weep bitterly, but not despair.

2. I will not deal with you harshly or sternly: I may say, once, why do you waver so — did I give you such reason for it? And I may say, once, foolish and slow of heart to believe — but I will raise no harsher tone than that, Luke 24:25. I would rather cry, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, Matthew 5:3, 4 and 11:28. I would rather do as a mother does, who is most anxious for her sick child; I will care most for a sick soul: I will have no other business with it; I will not make you sigh, and I will give all my children and servants, too, a gentle message for you: I will give them the tongue of the learned, I will have them speak a gentle word, Isaiah 50:4.

3. However small your graces still are, I know them well nonetheless; they will remain graces — your convictions, your tenderness, your esteem for God, your low regard for the world; God alone shall remain great to you: I know your frame, Psalm 103:14, and 1 John 3:20, I am greater than your heart, I know all things.

4. I will not only not break you, but I will give you food, by which you shall be refreshed and strengthened: the Word, the lips of the godly (the lips of the righteous feed many, Proverbs 10:21), my sacraments, my Spirit — do you think you shall have to stand at the back? No, Isaiah 54:10: this is my covenant, that it shall not be broken.

5. I will now and then give you some counsel; you shall not always hang so idle: even if you dare not say it to the godly, you may say it to me sometimes — why should I hang so idle? Is not light sown for the righteous? Psalm 97:11. You shall not die without comfort.

6. Lastly: you shall never be made to lose out with me; you are my wages, I have bought you at so dear a price — should I break my Father's counsel? Should I not fulfill the contract? Should I spoil the Spirit's work? Should I make the Word out a liar? You shall never find me against you, in your life and in your death; and when I am for you, who or what shall be against you? Romans 8:31. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? verse 33.

III. Now we come to our third point. Is it true — will it always be so? Yes; it has been true ever since a church was founded, and it shall be true until I bring them to heaven. Do we have such certainty of this? Yes.

1. Do you not think it is certain, when God has said it? Shall he lie, who is the Strength of Israel? No — 1 Samuel 15:29; Psalm 147:3, he heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds — one bandage one day, another the next. Psalm 34:19, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted; and Isaiah 61:1, he comes to those that are broken, says God. Are these mere words, or also deeds? Yes indeed — Isaiah 57:15: I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. What does the Lord do there? I revive them, I give them courage, I comfort them a while, I tend them a while, as a mother tends her sick child. Indeed, David, that bruised reed, how often did he sustain him? Peter, how did he sustain him? John 21. On that occasion, after he had denied the Lord, as soon as the Lord had risen, he said, go, tell it to Peter, Mark 16:7 — it shall go well, man, said the Lord, take heart, you shall yet become a martyr for me. 2 Corinthians 2:7, lest such a one be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. What deeply bruised reeds — that sinful woman, the Canaanite woman — did he ever break them?

2. Upon what foundation, so firm, do we build this certainty? Upon the merciful and gentle heart the Mediator has. James 5:11, behold, the Lord is very pitiful. And Isaiah 49, their compassionate one shall lead them. Come to the throne of my mercy, says God, Hebrews 4:16. Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on it? Yet though she may forget, I will not forget you, little ones, Isaiah 49:15.

3. It cannot go otherwise than certainly, for God the Father sends his own Son to them: comfort those who mourn, he says. He speaks to their heart; to that end he gives the Son the Spirit without measure. Here he sees one who is sick, sorrowful, discouraged, one who faints beneath the cross — go, sustain them, says the Father, bind them up, help them up. Isaiah 61:1-3.

4. It is certain, too, because such broken ones so resemble the broken Lord Jesus himself: my child, he says, for your sake I have been so broken, and you are the reason for it; and should I then cast off that weak reed? You would gladly shelter in my broken offering — I will heal your broken heart.

5. There is yet another ground on which I will not break it. Why? Because I am the physician and healer: well, before I would break you, I would rather lay upon you a plaster made of my own blood and righteousness — I had rather be broken myself.

What say you now of our three points? Do we not have good reason? Does not the Lord conform himself to the pace of the work? Shall not the whole flock so come safely home? You will say, ah Lord, should I be a reed? Are there not some here — have you not been able to understand the sermon? You will say you grasp it well enough. And have you got it, then? You will not truly have it unless you have gone through it yourself. Bruised little reeds, why are you so downcast? You throw it away so often. Why do you speak so unkindly of yourselves? The Master calls you; he says, if you come, I will in no wise cast you out, John 6:37. Ask it of all God's children, whether it has not gone with them as it goes with you. Do not all who know you take pains to help you? Do they not sometimes speak out their own experience to you? Well, though you be a bruised reed, you are nevertheless a little plant of God the Father, which shall not be uprooted; you are a spark of his Spirit, which shall never be quenched. The Lord will perhaps meet you soon at heart, and you shall surely have an encounter for good — only wait for it. Was there ever a mourner, a burdened soul, a darkened one, to whom the Lord did not go, while he was yet on earth? Have you ever, in your life, seen him do otherwise? Ah, says the Lord, I will turn my hand upon the little ones, Zechariah 13:7. You will say, I am no reed, not even a bruised reed. What can you truly say to that? Do you know that for certain? Do you not have something else in you now than before? Is there not something in you besides what nature can give you? Does nature give this — that you love it so? Do you not wish to be a reed? What then do you see in it? Why do you long for it? How has it become so appealing, so desirable, to you? Do you not say, well, to God: however bruised it was, if only it was genuine — ah, that I might once give you the honor of the work! And can that all be, without being a bruised reed? It cannot be. You will say, I am no bruised reed, I am already broken, I have fallen into so many sins, I have sinned against the light of my conscience, against the workings of God's Spirit. I answer you: to fall into sin is not yet to be broken. Peter, Noah, Lot, David, fell indeed into such sins, but they were not broken. You will say, can someone, in the greatest fall, still know whether he is a bruised reed? Seeing that we shall not be able to settle all of this now, we shall therefore draw it out further in a following sermon, and leave it here for the present, praying God that he be pleased to bless what has been spoken, to his own glory. Amen.

Sermon 2

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which some cases and difficulties are resolved that were left over from the previous sermon.

We read in the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 50, verse 4, that the Lord Jesus said that the Lord had given him the tongue of the learned, to know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.

What is a learned tongue? 1. It is a substantial tongue: these are not words with which one merely detains a person, but matters weighty in themselves — every word is doubled in substance and in weight. 2. It is not only a substantial tongue, but a learned one: the unlearned have a windy tongue, but the learned has a tongue that is like goads and nails driven deep in, Ecclesiastes 12:11. The lips of the righteous feed many, Proverbs 10:21 — what they speak goes inward. 3. A learned tongue is a fitting tongue, which does not speak out of its season: it is a tongue that knows its time for speaking and for silence; the learned tongue will know time and manner, Ecclesiastes 8:5. It speaks a word in its season, and this is as fair, as fitting, as pleasant, as apples of gold in pictures of silver — one would not want to take from it or add to it, Proverbs 25:11. When someone speaks a timely word, that speech is doubly learned. 4. It is a tongue that is not only substantial, prudent, and fitting, but is also a quiet tongue: the more learning, the more silence, and the more quietness, the more learning; it makes no noisy show in outward words — the words of the wise are heard in quietness, Ecclesiastes 9:17. 5. A learned tongue is also a tongue that knows how to lift up a soul that is sinking: to one whose soul is sinking away in sorrow, a learned tongue is a medicine for the bones — it is medicine and oil, Proverbs 12:18. These are such tongues

as can speak to a person's heart, that, where people cannot even put into words what is in their own hearts, know how to do it; such as know how to support a person, who can speak to a person's heart, who speak as one would wish to be spoken to. Song of Solomon 5:13, his lips are like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Psalm 45:2, grace is poured into your lips. Such a tongue of the learned has the Lord given me, says the Son of God as Mediator, that I might know how to use it well in every case where you see or hear me.

You will find these qualities as you read the sermons of Christ, wherever you find him among the crowd and among his enemies. We find them all together in these twenty-one verses. Christ here speaks against his enemies concerning the Sabbath. In the first nine verses he speaks matters of substance: he shows who instituted the Sabbath, and that the same one also had the authority to alter it; thereupon he shows those Sabbath-zealots that they had overlooked that the priests, on the Sabbath, had not ceased to do their priestly work. Then, from verse 9 to verse 13, he had a timely and fitting tongue: there sits a man with a withered hand; stretch it out, said the Lord, and he healed it — so timely, so fitting: he said, if someone had a sheep that fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, you would help it out; a man is worth more than a sheep, and should I not help this man? Thereupon he showed that he had a tongue with little noisy show about it, and thereafter a tongue that would deal with the weary soul. Then they wanted to kill him, but he withdrew. He did many signs and wonders; the crowds were, as it were, wild after him; he wrought great works upon the soul, but also outwardly — yet where he did so only outwardly, he says little of it. You must know that the prophecy stood there, that he should not cry out, nor lift up his voice. Indeed, he received a learned tongue, and it was also a tongue that gave courage: it lay, too, in Isaiah's prophecy, that he would not break the bruised reed, but would do something else to it besides breaking it. Those bruised reeds were the first beginners in the kingdom of Christ, the godly of that time, and of every age — first beginners who had only just set their feet toward heaven, small and weak. Who is still, even now, a bruised reed? The convicted, the tossed-about, who now and then give a little flicker, now and then a spark, now and then seem about to go out, and then lie flat against the ground again; they are embattled, deadened, darkened souls — ah, such as are ready to give it up. I will not break it, says the Lord, but I will do something else to it: I will not deal hardly with it; I will not take away its nourishment, nor let its workings cease; I will not leave the little ones as prey to

the lion of hell; I will not let them fail, but I will do something else instead: I will comfort them; I will keep the work going; I will make them stronger by degrees; I will make them grow up, and bring them to joy. Yes, but — one might think — may I really count on that so surely? Is that so certain? Do you actually say that the Lord does this? Yes: there are scriptural passages that assure us the Lord will do so. Psalm 147:3, and Isaiah 61:1, 2: the Lord has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, and that King gave me this charge, and said, look to the mourning. Psalm 34:19, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. He binds them up in their sorrows — you may build on that firmly. Do you want examples of it — whole clouds of witnesses are there for you. David, how bruised was he at times? The Lord did not break him. The tax collector and others — the Lord did not break them, but brought them to the light, gave them refreshment in his time; the whole record of his practice bears this out, to refresh them: was there ever a burdened one, a mourner, a poor soul, that the Lord Jesus was not present with, to bring to rest? To those lambs, those bruised reeds, he says: despise not the day of small things, Zechariah 4:10, and 13:7, I will turn my hand upon the little ones — I will take them by the hand, and lead them to God. Ask, indeed, all God's children, whether they have not found it so: when you are with them, ask them, speak with them, and see whether they have not found it so, and whether it has not gone with them just so. And if it is so, I do not see why you should be so discouraged — take heart: though you be a bruised reed, you are nevertheless a planting of my Father, which shall not be uprooted; a spark of his Spirit, which shall not be quenched; even if you think you give off more smoke of sin and boldness than true light, you are still a bruised reed, a glimmering flaxwick — as soon as you are in heaven you shall bloom as well as the cedar of Lebanon, when I come to bring you to myself. Only come to me, and I will not cast you out — it never entered my heart to strike you down, so let it not enter your heart either. These are the matters we have thus laid out somewhat.

Last time we said that we could not settle all the difficulties the bruised reed raises, but that we would, if God pleased, take these up on another occasion. This is now the day the Lord has appointed for it, and the opportunity we shall, in his fear, seek to seize, to take away the doubts and difficulties of the bruised reeds by means of a taught tongue, that they may no longer be unbelieving but believe.

I. What is the first difficulty that the dark, convicted, embattled, discouraged soul has? Ah, they say, the promise would refresh me, if only I were a reed! That word of the King I do indeed hear well, but I am no reed; it would refresh me if I were a reed. Ah God, that would be a comforting word to me, and a honeycomb to my soul! I answer you:

1. First, you can be a reed and not know it. Was David not a reed, when he pleaded so, make me to hear the assurance of my salvation through your grace, Psalm 51? Was Asaph not a reed, when he said, has God forgotten to be gracious, Psalm 77:10? Was Heman not a reed (he did not know it at the time), when he said, ah Lord, I am so shut in that I cannot get out, I am beset before and behind, Psalm 88? I answer you.

2. Second: if you knew that you were a bruised reed, you would then be a bruised reed no longer. To be bruised, and to be assured of one's grace and God's favor, do not go together. You would then rather resemble an oak tree and a cedar of Lebanon, were you assured of God's favor, love, and grace; if you could say, I know that God has shown me grace, I know whom I have believed, 2 Timothy 1:12 — then you could no longer be a bruised, dark, or small reed. I answer you

3. this: have you been able, all your life, to deny it? Have you not, in your life, been forced to think that you were a bruised reed? That crying out, those tender feelings, that clinging, those sweet gifts in prayer, whatever good resolutions you made, when you first turned to God. Think of the days of old, when as a young man you made a covenant with the Lord and said, Lord, I choose you — would you then have dared to say, I am no bruised reed?

4. I answer you this: consider all God's children who have come to the light; they are so ashamed of their earlier, wrongful speaking — what godless things I have said, they say, and to God's dishonor. Those who now speak so godlessly too — could they not, for that very reason, be a bruised reed?

5. I answer you: would it not be precious to you, to have grace — the sooner the better, the dearer to you? Are you not sick with longing for it? Ah yes, Lord, you will say, that is what I am sick for: ah, that you were my God in Christ! Ah, that my work were but genuine!

6. I answer you: are you not different now from what you were before, when you were still profane? Do you not possess something more than nature knows, than nature gives or can give? Finally,

7. how are the bruised reeds named in the Word? Stricken, shattered, tender, fleshly hearts: can you truly say, with confidence, that you are not among them?

II. That is the first doubt and difficulty resolved. I do not believe there is much left over in you, unless you are being willfully perverse — but at bottom, no. Yes, you will say, there still remains this: what then? If I were a bruised reed, I would then experience the truth of that promise — that God would speak to my heart, and that he would come to me to set me upright — but I find it quite the opposite: it is as if the Lord were my enemy; my sins strike me in the face, it is as if they have turned against me; my conscience is against me; I do not find a single promise in the whole Bible that is for me — and this is indeed a strong argument for the little ones: I do not experience that promise. What counsel? I answer you:

First, you have not yet died — who knows what is still in store for you in God's counsel? Ask others who were the same, whether they never came to the light. Psalm 97:11, light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.

2. Have you found this to be so firmly and constantly against you? Is there anyone through whom the Lord does not, at times, let his servants and children go through much of this? Is there not one minister of God whose chief preaching is not for such sickly, small souls? Is it then, after all, so much against you?

3. I answer you, poor creature: ask those who once spoke so despondently, how it is with them now. Do you not have examples before you, of someone who came out of darkness into light? Surely yes — and think then, though I be silent, God may yet grant it to me too.

4. I answer you: when the Lord said he would not break it, he did not say he would do it in a day. Do you not know that God has his own time, in which he does it? He waits, that he may be gracious unto you, Isaiah 30:18. He shall make everything beautiful in its time, Ecclesiastes 3:11. God will do it when it is most to his glory — when he knows that you will give him the most honor for it.

5. I answer you: the Lord does not choose to sustain you quickly. Why? Ah, the Lord so loves to see the tears of the little ones, their tenderness; he so loves to hear their childlike speech; he does it so that it may all come from their own heart, whatever is in it. The Canaanite woman, the travelers to Emmaus — they were not comforted all at once for that reason.

III. Yes, they say, there still remains a difficulty like a stone upon my heart. I am already broken, it is over with me. Ah God, how far I have fallen behind! Ah Lord, how I have grieved your Spirit! I have sinned against my conscience and against the light of your Spirit; I have fallen grievously; there is nothing left in me to be strengthened; whatever there was has died; I have lost all my sweetness. Is it true? Then it is a grave matter. Is it true? Yes, you say, I stand by it. Then we answer you:

First, not only bruised reeds can fall grievously, but men who were reckoned to be pillars. A Noah, a Lot, a David, a Peter — how grievously did they fall!

2. Are you broken? Well, said God, I do not therefore break the covenant of grace — that stands firm; though you be faithless, I remain faithful, 2 Timothy 2:13. And the Mediator remains faithful; though you have fallen, the root of the matter remains in you nonetheless; though the righteous fall, he shall not therefore be cast away, Psalm 37:24.

3. Do you wish to go on lying in sin? Ah Lord, no, you will say. Do you not rise up against it? Do you not intend to escape it? Do you not say, deliver me from the wicked one? Can you not, perhaps, pray that most earnestly of all? Lie still, then: rejoice not against me, o my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise, Micah 7:8. Peter, Lot, David — did the Lord not raise them up?

IV. Once more, the fourth difficulty: someone will say, I have such a stony heart; whatever the Lord does, it does not move me — it is as if I were hardened and turned to stone; there is scarcely anything that presses upon me; ah, I have such a hardened heart! It is a serious matter, if you speak the truth — but you must not say it if it is not so; you must make it a matter of conscience not to lie in spiritual things any more than in bodily ones. You say, I speak the truth: it may well be so — then we have a word or two on this.

1. There is a difference between a heart that is hard, or has hardness in it, and a heart that is like a stone: hardness without any tenderness is not the same as a heart in which there is some hardness, yet paired still with some tenderness, with grief and sighing. You would not sigh over your hardness and lack of tenderness, if you were not a bruised reed. Isaiah 63:17, why have you hardened our heart? Song of Solomon 5:2, I sleep, but my heart waketh.

2. There is a difference between the ungodly and the godly: in the ungodly, hardness is natural to them; in the godly, it comes by way of a lapse. Is there not a difference between the hardness of a rock and the hardness of ice? Let the sun shine on a rock, it stays hard, it will not melt; but let it shine on ice, it will melt at once. Children of God: let the Spirit come to work, and it melts along the way, even though you must complain of your hardness; then God makes you like a David, a Peter — they became so sorrowful, and Peter so full of love for the Lord, that he had to appeal to the Lord's own omniscience, John 21:17.

V. A fifth difficulty: could someone in the very deepest fall still know that he was a bruised reed? Might there still be a thread by which I am not yet broken, and shall not be broken? Yes — it cannot be said by how fine and slender a thread

grace hangs; nor can it be said by how coarse a thread mere imagination hangs. Be as base as you please — though it be hidden from you, your grace, others see it well enough, though they dare not say so; your tears speak, your complaint succeeds. You will say, that still does not satisfy me — tell me plainly whether I am a bruised reed that shall not be broken. I answer you — you may put yourself through all the trouble you like — but briefly, this:

1. When you complain of this, when you must conclude, by your own judgment, that you have no grace — are you grieved over it, or does it bring you joy? I know for certain that you are grieved over it: then you are a reed that shall not be broken.

2. Can you bear the lack of God's favor easily? Or is it unbearable to you? What do you think — when God is against you, can you bear that easily, or can you not bear it?

3. Are you satisfied with anything else, the way you are with God's favor? Even if God gave you crowns, do you not say, I must have more — that is not God?

4. Does the Lord Jesus not remain your refuge in trouble and in death? When it comes to the pinch, is not the Son of God your only refuge?

5. Do you not love God's name and cause? Would you not gladly suffer something for it? Would you not gladly stake everything on it, if need called you to it?

6. Can you return to the world, and to your former life, your old way of living?

7. Can you cast away your whole state entirely? Is there not something in your past life that has passed? Do you not say, if only I had it back again, might I taste its sweetness once more?

8. Would you be willing to forgo your uncertain share in it, for all that is under the sun? And would you then be no reed?

Remember this, as far as you can: it shall be your staff and support, even should you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The little ones say, I want always to examine myself when I am in conflict, or when I am under the hiding of God's face, or when my corruptions and sins are stirring. Well, that is not the moment for it: when you are in conflict, that is not the time, for then you always see so much ugliness in yourself; when you are under the hiding of God's face, then you are not composed; and when you have fallen into sin and are wrestling with your corruptions, then you are troubled.

Well, poor sinner, are you a rock of stone instead of a reed? Well, poor sinner, even if you are a rock, you shall be broken by the hammer of God's almighty power: if you are not broken here by repentance, you shall afterward be broken in hell by God's righteousness. Do you wish to be no bruised reed? How unfortunate you are!

If God will not have these bruised reeds broken, how unfortunate then are those preachers who have no grace, who reckon the work of God's Spirit as mere fanaticism and pretense! They do not strengthen the hands of the wicked, nor grieve the righteous — or else they lay blood-guilt upon themselves, Ezekiel 13:22.

Godly ones, be not overbearing, despise not the little ones; they have far more zeal and tenderness than the strong; they have not so many excuses or considerations for holding back before God as you have. A Nicodemus, one of the little ones, came out better for the cause of God than Peter, one of the great ones in grace. Godly ones, you too were once small — you know how it went with you then; when one of the wiser sort once bore with you in your weakness, you thanked the Lord for it — do not strike the little ones in the face, do not judge them high-handedly, do not speak against their leading or their workings.

Little ones, refresh yourselves with this promise: when you are set back in some corner, think then, God will not break the bruised reed.

The rest, God willing, another time; and I wish that the Lord may bless it to us and to you, to his own glory, for his name's sake. Amen.

Sermon 3

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

We read Proverbs 10:25: the righteous is an everlasting foundation. As unstable as the state of the ungodly is, so firm is the state of the godly. The one you might well blow away from the earth; but the other — though a wind out of hell itself should come — would not be moved. Godly people are often strong people, and yet at times they are very weak: the strong are often very strong, but the weak are often very weak. Wherein are the strong, strong?

1. In their praying: the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, James 5:16; Genesis 32:26, I will not let you go, except you bless me, said Jacob.

2. They are exceedingly strong in their love: you have never in your life seen such love — let the world offer them all the goods of its house, they would utterly despise it; that love is stronger than death, its coals are coals of fire, a most vehement flame, Song of Solomon 8:6, 7. They cannot be separated from the love of God, come what may — neither height, nor length, nor depth, nor breadth, Romans 8:35-39.

3. They are so strong in their courage: must you stand up against the mighty godly, then you must stand up against lions. Should such a man as I flee? said Nehemiah, Nehemiah 6:11. They are steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58. They are as bold as a young lion, said Solomon, Proverbs 28:

1; they are like the horses in Pharaoh's chariots, Song of Solomon 1:9.

4. They are strong in their patience, and in bearing their cross: they endure all things, and are silent before God; though they walk through a valley of the shadow of death, they will fear no evil, Psalm 23:4.

5. They are strong in their hope: they hope all things, they hope against hope, with Abraham, Romans 4:18. We are but strangers, they say, we are not yet home; but the God of hope will yet help us, Hebrews 11. They hope against hope: they say, we serve a God who is able to deliver us, Daniel 3:17. Ground or no ground, well then: though he slay us, Job 13:15.

6. They are very strong in their faith: I know on whom I have set my trust, they say — it is God, who is infallible, who is able to do what he has promised, Romans 4:20, 21; Abraham gave glory to God, believing that he was able to do what he had promised. They overcome the world by their faith, 1 John 5:4.

Just as the strong are exceedingly strong, so the weak are exceedingly weak. In what? In the very same things the strong are strong in. They are often so weak in their praying: it is a broken heart, a broken prayer. They fail in their love: they used to be better — before they were so faithful, now often so unfaithful. They are so weak in their courage: their heart is so cast down, Psalm 42:11 [6]. They are weak in their patience: ah Lord, they say, I cannot, I am spent, my strength is gone! I can no longer — how much longer must I remain so? Psalm 6, Psalm 73, and Jeremiah 12. They are weak in their hope: they have no hope, my hope is perished from the Lord, Lamentations 3:18. They are so weak in their faith: they cannot rest on God's word. The Lord had to say, where is your faith, you of little faith? Why did you doubt? Matthew 14:31.

The Lord displays the weak under pictures: among birds, as young turtledoves; among little children, plants, young trees, vine-shoots; among growing things, as a reed, a bruised reed; among fuel, as a smoking flaxwick, a wick — something that wants to burn, and yet seems to be going out, giving more stench and smoke than light. The strong are bound to bear with the weak. Is there a minister who is strong, or a strong Christian — he must bear with the weak, just as the Lord has done, even as he has left us an example that we should do likewise, John 13:15. The godly, when they see a bruised reed, must not break it, but seek to sustain it. We have now seen how the weak are like a glimmering flaxwick. We have seen already how the Lord dealt with those bruised reeds; now we must see that he does not quench the glimmering flaxwicks either. Of the one the Lord says, I will not break it, and of the other, I will not put it out. It is a rare little piece of teaching.

First we are to see what a glimmering flaxwick, or a smoking wick, is; then what the spiritual flaxwick is; then why such are compared to flaxwicks; then the smoke of the flaxwick; then why they are smoking flaxwicks, and so full of smoke; then what the King will do with them; then the reason why he will not quench them. Those are our seven points.

I. What a natural flaxwick is. II. What the rational and spiritual one is. III. Why such are called flaxwicks. IV. What their smoke is. V. Why the flaxwick is smoking and so full of smoke. VI. That the Lord will not quench that smoking flaxwick. VII. The reason why he will not quench it. You see well enough that this piece is large in scope.

I. What is a flaxwick, naturally? You all know it well enough. A flaxwick has a thin husk on the outside; the flax is green on the outside — a green growth, before it is dried into flax; and once dried, it is thin and slight; it is not much regarded among men, it is quite negligible; it is easily set alight, and once it has quickly caught fire, it is just as easily put out again. However small the fire, it has its warmth; those husks of the flaxwicks, once you set them alight, lie there and glimmer — no proper coal comes of it; having glimmered a long while, it dies down; a wind comes up, and part of it blows away, but the harder part remains lying; stir the ash, and you see something glimmer, you see some fire still in it. In olden times, it seems, they prepared it much as we prepare cotton, and so made it into wicks for lamps, and set a little wick into a vessel of oil, olive oil, and lit it — and it gave light; or they put it into a pan or vessel, which was as familiar then as it is now, and when light was lacking from heaven, and they lit it, the fat melted as it burned — that was then a candle, and according to the amount of fat, and the thickness or thinness of the wick, so it gave its light.

II. So it stands with the natural wick: what now is a rational, spiritual wick, or flaxwick? This is exactly Christ's own doing: it corresponds precisely with the prophecy of Isaiah 42:3, which is here applied. We shall not detain you over the reason why one is called a wick here and a flaxwick there — we have already given you reason for that, if you have taken note of it. By Isaiah, and in Christ's time, are meant those who are elect, and the

first beginners in grace: those wicks are convicted, struck down, they cry out — what shall we do? Those under the crowd said, what will this be? They became doubtful in spirit; they were in their first workings, changes, and convictions of the Spirit — in Christ's time, and in our time, and in every age. Doubt-mindedness comes into their heart, they turn things over, they have their thoughts, their deliberations, they do not know what to do; they sigh, once, they hesitate between two thoughts, they would gladly go to God — such, then, are spiritual flaxwicks, who are in their first beginning, in their first convictions and stirrings; they have but small grace.

III. Our third point is, why are these now compared to flaxwicks?

1. Those flaxwicks are so slight in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the world. Well, what will these amount to, says the world. They are so slight in their own eyes, they dare think nothing good of themselves; they fear that whatever they experience will pass away again; and in the world's eye they are a despised torch, Job 12:5. I have become like a despised torch, said Job.

2. Though a flaxwick is slight, it is nevertheless fit material for giving light. I will yet make you a light, says God, though you be a smoking flaxwick; your light shall yet shine. Ah, a small fire — how great a heap of straw it can kindle! Consider that well: this is why they are compared to flaxwicks — because, though they are small, they are nonetheless the right material to become something great.

3. A flaxwick is fitted and prepared for becoming a light. You sit and weep and pray, flaxwicks, said God — and do you not know, then, that I have prepared you to become a light for me? He who has wrought us for this very thing is God, 2 Corinthians 5:5. I have called you to this, says God, according to my eternal purpose and grace, 2 Timothy 1:9. I have called you unto glory and virtue, 2 Peter 1:3. You do not see it, flaxwicks — but God sees it.

4. One expects a wick to burn, said God, flaxwicks. Ah, I expect it of you, that you should become light; the true godly expect it; the world expects it. Well, how long, said God, will you still be so — why do you not break through? The world expects it of you; we expect something different of you than we do of the world, says the world; the godly expect it too — they say, of that little one we expect some good — however small they may yet be.

5. A little wick, when it is lit, gives but a small light by sunshine, but in the dark it gives so great a light that it lights all who are in the house, Matthew 5:15. So it is with the little ones too — they give light to all who are in God's house; they may say at times, our lamps are going out, but — God be praised — it is not yet the day of judgment, Matthew 25:8. As long as it is granted in this life, I see no light in me; well, you are not dead yet, we say.

IV. Now, as such a little wick is set alight, it gives off so much smoke. What now are the reasons that the spiritual flaxwick — those godly people who are fitted and prepared for it by God, and are fit material to burn, once God has set them alight — should give off so much smoke? We find, in nature, that a little fuel causes much smoke: the smaller the light, the more smoke it raises — and yet there is light all the same. The godly have their light, but they also have their smoke — not only the weak, but the great too; the great in grace have also been smoking wicks, they too have smoked; the little ones also have their grace, and their smoke along with their grace. You will ask, what then is the smoke? That is all their corruption — do you think their grace takes away all their corruption? It refines and scrapes them, it takes away something of the roughness on the outside; but within they sit just as firmly as ever, even in one who is truly in grace — they weep over how corrupt they still are, that so many fumes and sparks of their old nature remain, that they have so much sin. Grace goes hand in hand with much corruption: that, now, is the smoking flaxwick.

V. Why is a child of God compared to a smoking flaxwick?

1. We say, although a wick seems nearly burnt out, and you see smoke from it, you conclude there is still fire in it. A young child of God, at the beginning, you often see such corruptions in — but one also sees that there is fire in it. What kind of fire? Ah, they have such fiery convictions in their heart, their heart is so hot within them, Psalm 39:3 [4]. What fire besides? Such fiery complaints over their corruptions. Romans 7:14, am I then so carnal, sold under sin! What more? O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, verse 24. Not only a fire of complaint, but a fire of holy longings, and of wrestling with God, as Jacob did.

2. A smoking wick gives off not only smoke, but warmth besides; you will never see a smoking wick without being able to feel some warmth from it; however small a person's grace, you will find warmth in it: they have love for God, compassion for their neighbor; though you have not yet broken through, do you not say, I wish I had already broken through? They have such love for God's name, and cause, and children; they can say, as the travelers to Emmaus once said, did not our heart burn within us, as he talked with us by the way, and opened to us the Scriptures? Luke 24:32.

3. A smoking wick shows not only that there is fire and warmth in it, but it has its own flare-up — there comes a little flicker, as of something burning in a pipe, it revives, there comes a glimmer; one says it is out, but then comes again a little smoke and a little flame. So it is here too: go to the very weakest, you will find some little light there still — their sincerity, their humility, their sighing over their corruptions, the tears running down their cheeks; indeed, at times even the strong come away with a troubled heart, so that they must say, I am not, after all, as those little ones are — I lack that carefulness, that sincerity, that tenderness.

4. A wick is made of several threads twisted together: so it is with those spiritual, smoking wicks — they edify and warm one another; one says, you have grace, and another, you do; and another, could that really be so, if someone had no grace at all? They edify one another more than the strong do. Would you see it in just such a pair? Look at the travelers to Emmaus: they were so distressed, they go out of the city, and they strengthen and edify one another, Luke 24.

5. Ah, poor souls — a smoking wick, how easily you can put it out! Take but a snuffer, and you can quench it with ease; if you handle it a little harshly and high-handedly, you strike it flat to the ground with one blow — do not set such snuffers upon it. Paul said, 1 Corinthians 8:11, will you then, through your overbearing manner, destroy your brother for whom Christ died? Romans 14 — you must stand up for him, you must weep with him sometimes, you must have compassion with him; and if you have been set upright, you must in turn seek to set them upright. Did the Lord ever quench such smoking wicks? No. How easily might a Thomas, that smoking wick, have been put out! Had the Lord once refused to show himself to him, his faith would have ended right there. So it would have gone with Peter too, had the Lord not cared for him and said, go, tell it to Peter, that I am risen, Mark 16:7.

6. Bring a smoking wick to but the smallest fire, and you can easily kindle it: so a child of God who walks amid corruptions, and has but small grace — let one of the godly come near him, how easily is he kindled! How easily could Peter's little lamp be relit? How easily could a weeping Mary be kindled at the grave, so that she had to cry, Rabboni, is that you, o my Master? John 20:16. And Peter: Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you, John 21:16. And the travelers to Emmaus: did not our heart burn within us, as he talked with us on the way, and opened to us the Scriptures? Luke 24:32.

7. Lastly, a smoking wick has a stench, so that it makes free breathing difficult: so it is with those spiritual wicks too; there is a fume of corruption about them. Come once to such little ones to deal with them, and you will find so much sin in them; they are slothful, without zeal, lazy; they are argumentative, they set themselves against everything; would you comfort them, they say, you too are but a miserable comforter, I shall never improve, you cannot help me, and I will never believe that God will help me. Would you see such smoking wicks? Look then at Moses: he prays, he stands there before the sea, Pharaoh and his army behind him, and the cliffs to the side; he cried unto God — there you had his light and his fire, he showed a spark; but he had his smoke too, Numbers 20. Why do you waver, said God? There he stands before the rock; he need only have spoken to it, but instead he strikes the rock, verses 8, 11. David before Abimelech, where he feigns himself mad — what a smoke! But Psalm 34, which he composed on that occasion — there you had his light. Jonah, what a smoke he made — he flees, he would not go to Nineveh; but in the belly of the fish, there you had his light: I will praise him, he said — the little wick still burned. David, Psalm 31:22, said, I am cut off from before your eyes — there you had his smoke; but crying unto God, so he heard me — there you had his little spark of grace, Psalm 138:3. Those seven churches in Asia, and those four lampstands, which nevertheless had their light, gave off more smoke than light; and of those churches the Lord had to say, I have not found your works perfect before God — therefore repent quickly, Revelation 3:2, 3. What a smoke! Would you see yet another smoking wick — behold Paul, Romans 7. He smoked so much that it deceived even himself: what I do, he says, I do not acknowledge; I sigh over it. Yes, I will tell you more still — there are some who are so full of smoke that you can scarcely see the least grace in them. Where could you see the grace of a Solomon, when he loved his many wives, and when his heart was turned to other gods? Look at a Samson — how little grace did you find in him, when he loved Delilah? Besides that, where did you find the grace of David, in his pride and adultery? It cost seventy thousand men their lives. How great corruption there often is — and grace is sometimes so little, that you find hardly any faith at all, but rather distrust in place of trust. Consider the prophet Jonah once: my anger is justly kindled, even unto death — is your anger justly kindled? said God. Yes, Lord, justly, he said, chapter 4:9. What do you think of Job's smoke in his distress, Job 3? What do you think? It is almost

impossible to find where the grace was. There now you have a smoking wick, and why they are compared to it.

VI. What will the Lord do about it? Will he act like a man who, having a foul-smelling candle, snuffs it out, or throws it away? Or will he do as the careless, zealous but unwise godly do, and set a snuffer on it? Or like the Pharisees? Or like the Devil, who, through his temptations, sets a snuffer on it? Or will he do as they themselves do — they say, my corruption is winning? Or will he do as Moses did — without mercy he breaks them? Will Christ do so too? No. Have you no lamb to offer, said the Lord — bring a young turtledove; have you no perfection — bring a little wick. What then will the Lord do with it? Quench it? No.

1. He will handle it gently, he will not press it too hard. Was there a Samaritan woman who had lived in unchastity — did the Lord not deal gently with her, John 4? Was a woman taken in adultery brought to him, John 8 — the woman could not deny it; woman, said the Lord, has anyone condemned you? No, Lord, she said: neither do I condemn you, said the Lord — not that he approved the unchastity. Does the Lord come to Peter — he does not press him hard, he does not say, you denier, you who cursed yourself: but he says, do you love me? Is the hole still in the heart, is there still a spark — and he asks it only three times, John 21. How gently the Lord deals! Ah, poor souls — there are at times overbearing godly folk who know only how to press such little ones hard: I will not do that, says the Lord, I cannot bear it. When the Lord met Thomas, did he press him hard? I will not believe it, he said, unless I see him and feel him: eight days later the Lord comes and says, Thomas, do you know what you have said? Ah my Lord and my God! he said: be not faithless, but believing, said the Lord, John 20:27, 28. I will not quench you — I know your frame, Psalm 103:14.

2. The Lord says, however easily you may be quenched, so will I watch over your little spark, that it does not go out. How did the Lord watch over that Canaanite woman? And over Peter? And would you have one or two more? How did the Lord watch over that blasphemer Paul? He said to Ananias, go to Paul, behold, he prays; he is to me a chosen vessel, Acts 9:11, 15. How did that most loving Lord watch over that chamberlain? He said to Philip, go, join yourself to that chariot, and speak boldly to that man, Acts 8:29.

3. The Lord will bear them in all their corruptions. Do you think the Lord does not bear us in all our corruptions? He bears us as a mother bears her child — yet with pity. I bear with you, though you be a Thomas, a Peter; I bear with you

even though you have denied me, said the Lord — I will not therefore deny you.

4. Finally, it is as if to say, I will fan it into flame, so that it becomes, in the end, a blaze. And in truth so the King does: he brings it, by degrees, to a greater light; he causes their workings to become somewhat greater, that they give off a little more shine; he causes their grace, in the eyes of others, to begin shining somewhat more brightly through their corruption. There stand two olive branches; what are they? It is the ministry of the Old and New Testament, which continually pour oil into the heart, so that a little flame is seen — and so they shall, by degrees, be brought to the state of perfection; here below, they are often full of confusion. Matthew 26:56, there all the disciples of the Lord flee away; and Acts 5, there they let themselves be beaten and scourged for the Lord's sake. See there now — do you see that the Lord does not quench it?

Now we ought to give the reason why he does not quench it — but seeing we cannot get through it all, we shall leave that seventh and last point for later: the reason why the Lord does not break a child of God with small grace and great corruption, but rather speaks courage and heart into his soul. And you who have great grace — even though the little ones have great corruption, he does not therefore quench them; they are as truly, and even more, to God's glory as you are. Now I hope the Lord will bless what has been spoken, to us and to you, to his own glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 4

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which the seventh and last point left over from the previous sermon — the reason why the Lord will not quench the smoking flaxwick — is treated, and then the Application.

We read John 6:44: no man can come to me, except the Father who has sent me draw him. The Lord Jesus is the Father's servant; he is willing to go wherever his Father says, go: behold, here am I, my God, to do your good pleasure, Psalm 40:8. He did not take that honor to himself, Hebrews 5:4. When he went out, he went to his own, who had been given him by the Father, to whom he had been promised — yet the greater part did not receive him, John 1:11. And indeed, how should a sinner be able to come? He is neither willing, nor inclined, nor able to it. What I do, he says, that I never repent of: shall I convert myself, take the road to heaven? I leave that for those who think otherwise. One might ask, were there among such people any who did in fact come? Yes — and such as had often had just such thoughts, and spoken just such words, and said, I shall never be godly; indeed there are often more such among these than among the outwardly respectable: the tax collector became the object of grace, and not the Pharisee, Luke 18:14. That godless child became the object of grace, and not the dutiful, respectable child, Luke 15. And you shall see, among just such a class of people, not only those who come, but those who run. Ah, they say, I am so glad that I may come! Ah, they say, if only my coming were genuine! I wish you would tell me, if it is not right; how glad would I be, if you warned me of it! When one now sees this, who does it, says the Lord Jesus? It is the drawing of the Father: if you ascribed it to nature, you would deny God; he would deny God, who did not acknowledge God as the author of grace. He

has made us (and not we ourselves) to be his people, and the sheep of his pasture, Psalm 100:3.

Those, then, who do come, are at the first exceedingly small; their beginning is so slight, but their end is great. What are they, at the beginning, but beset with fear, distress, and struggle? Such a coming soul comes, and does not even know it: the Lord has become his refuge in trouble and death, he can no longer live except upon God's favor in Christ, he cannot turn back to the world; and ah Lord, he says, my eye has seen something of you, my ear has heard something of you, I cannot go back. And though one be ever so small, and ever so tossed about, and beset with ever so much corruption as he pleases, whoever comes to me, says the Lord Jesus, I will in no wise cast him out, John 6:37. I do not want it to enter your thoughts that I would strike you down, little one. Ah, be not discouraged: I will nourish and preserve your grace forever — so you shall not sink in grace, or I will make you grow and ripen under the rays of the Sun of righteousness, and it shall abide forever. That the Father testifies of his servant, and he says, he shall sustain you, he shall not strike you down, however small your beginnings may be; it shall go well, my servant shall come, sent by his Father, and shall speak just as his Father has spoken of him. As soon as he came, he went and preached that very text, from Isaiah 42:3. Just as his Father spoke of him, so he goes and speaks: little ones, he said, do you think I will withdraw my hand from you? Ah no — my Father has said, I attend to it, I will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flaxwick or wick, until I have brought forth judgment unto victory; and in my name shall the Gentiles hope. And do you not believe the Father and me? And the Witness in heaven is faithful, the Spirit, Psalm 89:37 [38]. Do you not believe the three Witnesses in heaven? And do you not believe the three witnesses on earth? Ask, then, all who have been bruised reeds and smoking flaxwicks, whether they have not found it just so — whether it did not go with them just as it now goes with you. My Father has said it, and I confirm it, and you shall not meet one who was a bruised reed of whom it will not be said, so it happened with them too; and so the testimonies agree — they will tell you: if any text in the Bible is true, this one is. However small, tossed about, and beset with whatever corruption a child of God has to wrestle with, God has set him firmly, and helped him through it, so that he has brought him even to rejoicing: you will find it so.

We have shown you the bruised reed — we have shown you what a reed and what a bruised reed is, and why they are so named, and how the Lord deals with them. We are now busy showing you the smoking flaxwick — we have shown you the wick, and the smoke, and that it gives off more stench than light, and that the Lord will not quench it, and you may build on this surely and safely; it is grounded on every sound reason, against every difficulty you might bring, against all who would seek to take this from you.

The flaxwick — what is that? Here it is a rational, moral, spiritual flaxwick. Who were they? These were the people who were converted under the ministry of Christ and his apostles: mighty works were done then, signs and wonders of God happened among the people; those who had never in their hearts intended to come, came; those who had before been enemies of coming were now caught up in it. What kind of people were these? They were a poor, base sort of people — here and there a castaway; like David, who was small and was among the sheep, and yet he had to come; like Joseph, a lowly one, hated by his brothers; like the manservants and maidservants with whom David compared himself, 2 Samuel 6:22. In a word: it was the despised, the ignoble, that God had chosen — the poor of the world, who lived apart, who were reckoned by no society of people of any standing, 1 Corinthians 1:26-28. Not only were the wicks first beginners, but they had such smoke besides. What is smoke and stench meant to say? Ah, their grace shone so little, they were not yet like the burning lamps in the sanctuary, they did not shine through in knowledge, faith, sanctification, steadfastness — but they gave off more smoke than grace; there were so many sparks of corruption in them, so many loose and mistaken notions, so many erring conceptions, that people began to wonder, is there really fire in this? Can there truly be fire, that goes together with so much corruption? May one really reckon them among the converted — or merely a hypocrite? A true subject of the King? Is such a one really to be counted among the people? Talk of them began among the godly: one said, he is good; a second, he is bad; a third said, it is still too soon to tell; a fourth, I do not want to make too much of it yet; a fifth, I will nevertheless still keep a hand on it a while; a sixth, I have been deceived so often, I shall wait a while — if it is a work of God, it will come to light in due time; a last one said, could there be grace, where there is so much smoke, where nature is still so sinful, where they are so sinful in heart, mouth, and conduct — you see their smoke rising on every side. Upon all these things the Lord looks, and he says, let there be as much smoke as there will, I will nevertheless not quench it; but I will do something else instead — I will speak gently. How gently did he speak to that child of God who had had such corruptions? How was it? Peter, do you love me? That was gentle indeed.

How gently did the Lord deal with Thomas in that great fall — in his unbelief and desperate speaking? Come here, Thomas, said the Lord, where is your finger, where are your hands? Put them into my side, and be not faithless, but believing, John 20:27. Besides not quenching it, he would rather watch over the spark. How did he watch over Peter! Though Peter denied me, I will not deny him: go, tell it to Peter, said the Lord, that I am risen. Paul, that blasphemer — his spark nearly going out, he neither ate nor drank for three days and nights; go to that man, said God to Ananias, and care for him, he cannot bear this alone. The disciples and the women — how did the Lord bear with them in their weakness? I will nourish them, said the Lord, and by the breath of my Spirit blow upon them, and make it so that your graces shall be more visible than your corruptions. Moses breaks the bruised reeds without mercy, and demands perfection under the Law; I do not, says the Lord Jesus: can you not bring a perfect lamb for an offering, bring instead a pair of weeping turtledoves. The Pharisees, the Devil, and the World — they quench such people, and say, let us press them down; the careless and overbearing godly, too, strike them in the face sometimes — but, says the Lord, let the devil, and the world, and the inconsiderate godly do that; I will not.

You will say, is that safe — may I really accept it? Yes: these are matters that carry their full certainty — certainty of examples, of texts, of reason, of experience. We said in the opening address, it is good when someone goes to church so that his heart may be brought to these things — but he is far happier still who, going to church, has God bring these things to his own heart. There is certainty of this in the Word. Psalm 37:24, though the righteous fall, he is not utterly cast down. Ezekiel 34:31, you, my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, but I am your God. You are a poor, struggling little creature, the Lord would say — but I will not take away my Spirit on account of your faults, nor break my covenant. James 3:2, in many things we all stumble. There is also a certainty of examples, old and new — indeed, a whole cloud of witnesses surrounds us. Behold those bruised reeds and smoking wicks even at the very beginning of the first world: what a smoke and stench did Adam and Eve give off? Yet once they were dismayed, God went and refreshed them with the promise, but did not quench them. Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, Jeremiah — what smoke did they give off! Jonah, that hasty prophet, who thought so much of himself, Jonah 4 — the Lord did not go and quench him. Would you look at the new — behold the Lord's apostles, and mark Peter: he did not leave the hall except with his throat full of tears, after the denial. There come a pair of smoking wicks to the Lord: the one said, if you will, you can help me; and the other, if you can do anything, help me — the one doubted the Lord's will, and the other his power, Matthew 8:2 and Mark 9:22. What a smoke were they in, in the garden: can you not watch with me one hour, said the Lord, Matthew 26:40. Those wicks gave off such smoke — did he quench them? No; there was then a comforting excuse: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, verse 41. There is not only a certainty in the Word, but also a certainty by reason. When someone is first converted, and has grace in the heart, and the force of the corruptions is stirring, so that the little spark is so small that they themselves scarcely dare reckon it as grace at all — why, then, will the Lord still not quench it?

1. First, because it is a spark of God — that good gift comes from above, James 1:17. He has kindled that spark by his own Spirit — and do you think that God will begin some work, in nature or in grace, only to break it? Do you think God will kindle someone only to put him out? Do you think God will break any work of his own hands? He incites no one's heart to put out that light under a bed or a bushel. I have never yet found that God has quenched the work of his own hands — no more have you.

2. A second reason is: ah, it is to his glory that he first wrought it in you; and it is to his glory too, that he knows how to sustain it amid all that corruption. That God, upon the sea, in a storm, knew how to light a candle, and then made it keep burning — over which would you marvel the more? Would it not be over both together? That God says, let there be light in the darkness — is that not to his glory? That he says it amid all the swelling temptations — is that not to the praise of the glory of his grace? Ephesians 1:6.

3. The third reason is: there is a blessing in that smoking wick; there are still some good things in it, for the Lord's sake. As one who sees a vine-stock with a cluster of grapes on it does not destroy it, he says, for there is a blessing in it, Isaiah 65:8. However beset it is with corruptions, there is nonetheless some good in it, as in the child of Jeroboam, for the sake of the Lord God of Israel; in that spark there is something good — such sincerity in it, they are so tender, so conscientious; there is such regard for the Lord in it — destroy it not, says God. I would that you grasped this in your heart, and took note of it there. You would gladly be assured, if only you were convicted; you are indeed a spark, but you do not know it — that there is something good in you.

4. It cannot be otherwise, for it agrees with the gentle nature of the Lord Jesus: learn of me, for I am meek, Matthew 11:29. He is never hard or harsh, he is so merciful a High Priest — he cannot bear to see a multitude go hungry, and would he then see a soul perish? He would rather refresh it with his flasks and apples, and sustain it with his left hand.

5. He brings that little spark to something great. Let it become as great an oak as it will, what a small sprout it was at first! Let there yet be as great a fire as you please, what a small spark it was at the beginning! Let there yet be as great a man as you please, what a small child was he when he was born! How small and slight is God's grace often at the beginning — but at the last it shall be multiplied.

6. It cannot be otherwise, for a smoking flaxwick costs as much as a strong Christian: it costs them the bitter suffering of soul just as much as it does the strongest Christian — that text applies to both, 1 Corinthians 6:20, you are bought with a price. Do you know, smoking wicks, that you cost the bitter suffering of the soul? It cannot be otherwise.

7. The Lord Jesus is still constantly at work for them, in that prayer, Father, forgive them — it is no premeditated study; they do commit sin, but not by deliberate purpose. 1 John 2:1, 2, my little children, I write these things to you, that you sin not: but do you think you may therefore go on sinning? It is that you should not fall away. Have you sinned, you have an advocate with the Father, who has a propitiation for sin — indeed, for the sin of the whole world.

8. Finally, the Holy Spirit is pleased to dwell with such little sparks. They are God's temple; I am content, says the Spirit, to dwell amid all those corruptions in your heart, and I will break them by degrees.

Can you not grasp it now? Well, you will say, you press me so hard; I wish you would not press me so — I have so many difficulties that I cannot get through them. Well, I will help you through them as I am able.

I could believe your preaching, and the word of Christ and the promise might refresh me, if only I were a smoking wick, you will say — but what I lack is this, that I think I am no smoking wick. Would you know it? Do you know how you shall recognize it?

1. By the judgment of the world. Do you go among worldly people — what do they say of your spark? What do they think of you? Tsk, these are people who neither know nor understand their own interest; do you want to go mad too, they say, or are you already? That is a sign that you are becoming a wick. What does the world say? I had such good company in you, and I loved you so — it is a pity that we can no longer have you in our company, and now you are beginning to talk like them too.

2. You can know it by the judgment of experienced godly people, who know grace in the little ones in their beginning, in their breaking-through, and in their growth; you can know it from the great ones, once you have poured out your heart to them and unburdened yourself of it. What did they say? Did they quench you and strike you in the face, or did they say, take heart, the work has begun in you, you are on the Lord's way — it went just so with me too? If that is so, you are surely a smoking wick — for they have too much tenderness to deceive you.

3. Those are smoking wicks who speak so to God and man of their lost estate: their eye and heart are wet with tears over it, they see themselves as nothing but a sinner. Ah God, they say, my crimson sins — what shall I do with them, I am not worthy of your love! Hear this and remember it — you will find it so.

Yes, another will say, even if I am a smoking wick, I still dare not rely on it, on that little light you have given me. Ah God! At the least occasion, my whole nature is stirred up: what passion, what anger, what despondency! I forget it all again at once — should I then not be known for what I am, a seed that the Lord has blessed? I let it lie so wretchedly neglected, I am so careless in my life! I answer you:

1. If everyone saw and recognized you as a seed blessed by the Lord, then you would be no smoking wick, but a burning candle and torch, and a light that shines in a crooked and perverse generation. Do you think those sparks are recognized so, by everyone?

2. And in any case, can you complain of your defective, unholy, and unworthy walk, without having a spark of grace at all?

3. Are you willing to concede that your corruption has truly won out?

4. If you are so sinful on every occasion, how then are you? Does your heart not strike you over it? If you saw and felt someone's pulse beating in your hand, would you not thereby know that his life was in him? Would your heart, then, beat so, and have no life in it? Would you not be moved that you are so sinful? Are you not ashamed of it before God and man?

Once more, you will say, do not press me so, do not push so hard — I would gladly let your word take hold, but I must say, I dare not, for my corruption rules over me. I will answer you with two essential answers. Do you know the reign of sin, and do you know sinning out of weakness — which is which, when it reigns, and when it merely afflicts? Do you know it, or do you not wish to know it? This is what it is when it reigns: when sin reigns in you, then you will laugh at your corruptions, you will be glad when you commit sin, you cannot be checked, no one may touch you about it, you wish to persist stubbornly in sin; you are a wretched slave of the Devil, you sin with deliberate intent, you grow angry if someone tries to check or expose you; you wish you could remain so, that everyone were as you are — indeed you wish there were no godly person at all, and often you wish there were no minister nor Bible, indeed that you had no conscience, and that there were no God — and you would do your best to make sure everyone saw how terribly sinful you are, and you would grow angry if someone tried to convict you. Now — are you under that reign, or not? If that is true of you, we will not force it upon you that you are a smoking wick. A second answer: do you know, do you recognize, the sin that afflicts, that burdens, that comes of weakness? It is afflicting, when you feel it so. Galatians 5:17, ah Lord, the flesh lusts against the spirit. And Romans 7:20, what I do, I do not want to do; I give it no approval, I hate it, sin is the object of my hatred and enmity. Lord! I was carried captive, I was dragged away, I wish I were better, but my corruptions grow, they are so strong, I cannot overcome them. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? verse 24. Is it not so? At times Amalek is the stronger, and at times Israel — sometimes I am beneath, and sometimes on top. If it is so with you, it is a good sign — sin does not reign in you.

You will say, yes, but I remain too long lying in my corruption, I fall too often into the same sin. I answer: Joseph's brothers — how long did they remain in the sin of that near-murder of a brother? And what other sins were added to it besides? They had not, indeed, murdered him — they had sold him, yet in their hearts it lay as though he were dead; they had settled that so firmly, that it took perhaps twenty years before their hearts were moved over it — and that those men had grace in their hearts, surely no one dares deny? When their hearts were at last stirred, it was: now his blood is required of us, whose anguish we saw when he begged us for mercy, Genesis 42:21, 22. David — how long did he go on in that murder of Uriah, and that adultery with Bathsheba, before it came upon his heart? The murder lasted some seven or eight months, and the adultery may have gone on ten or twelve, before God made him see it — then he said, I have sinned, 2 Samuel 12:13. You say, yes, but I fall so often into the same sin — the holy men of God fell not once only, but more than once, into one and the same sin. Peter denied his Lord three times over. Abraham, in the matter of his wife, twice. Lot, in the matter of his daughters, twice. If your corruptions are often the same, I must then say this to you for your comfort: that more corruption is left in us by God than grace — more dregs than grace. Galatians 5 — you will find a greater number of corruptions than of graces, where the fruits of the flesh and of the Spirit are listed: after the works of the flesh it still says, and such like — but after the works of the Spirit, it does not say so.

You will say, there is still something weighing on my heart. You will say, could I really be a spark? I fear I shall yet fall so terribly, I so often have such occasions to come to grievous sins, I fear that God will withdraw his hand from me, and that I shall sin so dreadfully. God preserve you from that! But:

1. You are not too good to come to ungodliness and to ungodly deeds.

2. There is not one promise in the whole Bible that God will keep you from it — no child of God has a promise that he shall be kept by God from scandalous sins.

3. Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation, Matthew 26:41.

4. If you should still fall into some scandalous offense, that does not therefore take away Christ's word, that he will not quench the smoking flaxwick.

5. Then, in proportion to your offense, so must be the measure of your confession and humility.

See there, beloved — does not Christ's word still stand true, that he will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flaxwick? Well, world, what mockery you deserve, that for a little smoke you would quench a great light, where God, for much smoke, does not quench it at all. Shameful, world, that you so hate that spark of conscience, that you reckon it hypocrisy. Shameful indeed — you would gladly have everyone join together to quench it in God's children. Shameful, too, for those preachers who deal so roughly with the bruised reeds — who seek not only to break the bruised reeds, but also set a snuffer upon the smoking wicks, so that there is no life or courage left in them. Shameful for those overbearing godly folk who, because those reeds and wicks are not led exactly according to their own workings, turn against them. That the King will not have. How hard a time those preachers will have, who strengthen the hands of the wicked and grieve the godly! Ministers must themselves seek to have experience; they must not strike those little ones in the face. How fortunate is a minister who has received from God a tongue of the learned, so that, like his Master, he may know how to speak a word in season to the weary. The Lord once said, in three days is the Passover; but we say, in three days is the Lord's Supper. Let this serve you as a preparation — test yourselves by it. Judge whether you are a bruised reed, or a smoking flaxwick. If so, go to the Lord's Table in humility, and the Lord will not break you, until he shall have brought forth judgment unto victory. God bless this his Word to us and to you, for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ. Amen!

Sermon 5

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

We read 2 Corinthians 12:9, that God said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Are you weak? I have strength; I will sustain you and come to your help. Samson's strength was in his hair, but the Christian's strength is in Christ. Whoever finds grace in the eyes of God uses this text as a shield to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and as a weapon by which he wards off and withstands all the opposition that the devil, the world, and his own corrupt heart — which is the worst of all — can devise. When a person has found grace in the eyes of God, the devil, the world, and his own corrupt heart come and say, you are so great a sinner — and would you dare to think that you have found grace in the eyes of God? Well, said the Lord, answer then: I serve a God whose equal is not found in forgiving — he pardons abundantly, Isaiah 55:7. I have a Mediator whose equal is not found in saving — he is able to save completely, Hebrews 7:25. Does your heart, and the devil, say, you have no faith or love toward God? Well, do you not know how to answer, says the Lord: can I not say that I have it? I can at least say, I would wish nothing more; though I do not have it in full clarity, I nevertheless have a broken heart, and I feel a spark of the love of God in me. Yes, say the heart and the devil, if you have grace, well, it is so small that the Lord does not even take notice of it: no, says the Lord Jesus, this charge I have from my Father, that I should not break the bruised reed, and should not quench the smoking flaxwick. Yes, says the heart, would you have grace, and yet show yourself so full of corruptions every day and every hour — what a smoke and stench is in all the outpourings of your heart? Answer: I confess it, I am full of corruptions; but I have a Lord who bears all my corruption alongside my grace, who says, man, I knew that you would be so corrupt. Ezekiel 34:31, you, my sheep, sheep of my pasture — you are men, but I am the Lord your God. Then says the heart, yes, you have grace! But your grace will last only as long as such people live who deal with you now and then and sustain you, and as long as such preachers live who have a gift suited to your temper — but when they are gone, then your own eyes shall see that your spark will go out of itself, and your reed will break. Answer: the Lord Jesus, who has taken so much upon himself and carried it all through, he will make me stand — even should he take away such creatures as sustain me, and even should he take away the ministry that suits my heart, I shall not therefore perish. Well, said the Lord, my strength is made perfect in weakness. There is not one to whom I give grace, but I will bring him to triumph; whatever my cause is, whatever opposition there is, everyone shall see that I will not rest until I have overcome every obstacle that rises against my kingdom and against the workings of my Spirit, seeking to quench them. Well, Lord! says such a soul then, let me come into whatever circumstance it may be — I may then say, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen, Genesis 22:14. Trouble me not; I do not wish now to look so much at those who are against me, nor at what you threaten, but at what King Jesus has promised — trusting in this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:6.

This was the matter the Savior impressed upon them. With his coming into the world he began his Mediatorial office. His characteristic preaching differed exceedingly from that of the Jews. On the Sabbaths he made men whole; he brought no sacrifice; he showed that the sacrifices, and all their shadows, must cease, that all that must be set aside. That was unbearable for those who sat in Moses' seat, that so lowly a man should come preaching, and that such a blessing should rest on him. Who were they, those who came? A bunch of tax collectors, notorious sinners, harlots — people who could scarcely have a good name, who were seized in the heart; they were such as were infamous, or, if not infamous, then a bunch of base folk who had no standing among men, who had learned no letters. Those who were seized in heart were so small, so few, so weak and fleshly; the opponents were far more powerful — they sat in government, in church and in politics; they said, these are a pack of fools, it is a wretched lot, they will turn everything upside down — what is beginning here? All the councils were in an uproar; they said, let us oppose them and smother them at their beginning. They came together, and it was: give your word and counsel among yourselves — shall we not root out that poor lot and that poor Mediator? We have standing, learning, an ancient lineage, everything is in our hand, we hold the power at the gate. So they began to press them down; they began to think in their hearts that this people would surely come to nothing. The Son of the living God said to his people: even though they say I shall not carry it through, even though some say, what will this feeble Mediator, this feeble Jesus, accomplish — do you think that I will therefore let my way be blocked? No: before the whole world I will bring him to triumph, and you Gentiles shall see, under the whole heaven, that the devil and the world must yield, and that my cause shall stand firm, and that you shall be as conquerors and conquerors indeed. Did I speak this apart from the Word? Ah, no — it is my Father's word, and it has been so shown, for many centuries you have seen it: that the bruised reed and the smoking flaxwick, with all its smoke alongside the grace, has not been quenched.

We have seen this: the bruised reed he will not break, and the smoking flaxwick or wick he will not quench. Now we had come to those words, till he send forth judgment unto victory. This is a difficult text — let us therefore exert ourselves a little.

I. We must see where this text points. II. What it means to say. III. The truth of it.

I. Where does this text stand in the Bible? That is the first thing. We shall seek out the text: it is Isaiah 42. That chapter we must now of necessity look into somewhat. In the first verse God says, behold my servant. Who is this servant? It is the Mediator: Isaiah 49:6, it is too small a thing that you should be a servant to the Jews — I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, they too shall come to you. So there: behold my servant — give heed, behold my servant, whom I uphold. Further: I will take him by the hand. What is that? I will give him, in the work of his ministry, all the strength needed for the Mediatorial office. That is what the Lord Jesus meant when he said, John 8:29, my Father has not left me alone. He is my chosen servant, says God, I have known him long, I have chosen him from eternity for that work, I have watched over him, I have set my eye upon him. 1 Peter 1:20, I foreknew him before the foundation of the world, that he was fit for that work; I saw in him such wisdom to teach, such holiness to offer, such readiness to do my will, such kingly loftiness and godhead to reign, such compassion to save sinners, that I had to declare I had delight and the utmost satisfaction in him — I was fully content in this matter, troubled soul, says God, that I must testify to you as well. Now what shall the Lord do to him? He shall give him his Spirit. I will so overflow him with gifts, says the Father, that they shall be without measure, above all his fellows, Psalm 45:7. So that everyone who sees the matter shall say, who is like our Lord — where is there such a Shepherd as he? Now he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. That is what is meant in the fourth verse: the isles shall wait for his law. In the third verse the doctrine of grace is called the truth: he need not be ashamed of it, not even among the most godless and untamed heathen, nor even among the Jews, nor where he himself would preach it, and through the apostles whom he would send out after him in the ministry among them. There he would not cry, nor lift up his voice among them. Do you think this is to be done with authority and show? No — he shall have his holy assemblies, where he shall quietly speak and make known the word of grace; he shall make no commotion there, but the words of the wise are to be heard in quietness, Ecclesiastes 9:17. Much talk and a grand display, that is not the matter — but quiet, simple, composed, deliberate, shall the Mediator be, and he shall find such entrance, that they must cry out in wonder and conviction, Lord, what Mediator is this! But they shall be very small indeed, when he begins to lay the foundations of his Church among the heathen: they shall be a bunch of bruised reeds and smoking flaxwicks, full of wrong notions and misapprehensions — yet he shall nevertheless bring forth judgment upon the Church, so that it shall become clear he was no deceiver nor deluder; let there come as many slanderers as will, it shall nevertheless remain the truth, which has been the truth from eternity and among the forefathers, and which shall remain the truth to the end. What then? He shall not be discouraged nor broken. What is that? First, he shall not die nor suffer again — or rather, he shall make the foundations of the doctrine of grace shine like a pearl of great price, and show that it is a treasure hidden in a field. Second, he shall not fail in his Mediatorial office, but shall endure all there is to endure. Third, that is to say: my children, you may be bruised reeds and smoking flaxwicks, but he shall be as a sun, so that everyone shall have to cry out that he is innocent — the rays of innocence, righteousness, guiltlessness shall be upon his face, and it shall be as impossible for anyone to shut in the light of the sun as to shut in the light of the Mediator. Now — till he shall have brought forth judgment in the earth, these are the words of our text; it is like the parable of one who sends a messenger to accomplish some business: he is faithful in all he is sent to do, and so he comes home and says, I have settled it all — the obstacles that were there I have removed, and the work you sent me to do, that I have accomplished. That is to say: I will settle the matter so that I shall not lose it; that is to say, I go now to die in peace, and I come now to heaven — tell my Father at home, now that I am risen, that everything is extremely well arranged. Why? Well, the King lives, and he shall live forever; your servant has arranged it all well; and I will not leave you, my people, as orphans — I give you my Spirit in my place; I have arranged that there shall be a good ministry, which shall go on its course — through signs and wonders and manifold dispensations it shall go its course, right up to the judgment; I have subdued all opposition — the foolishness of God is now wiser than the world, and the weakness of God is stronger than the world, than the Gentiles who were so strong, and the Jews joined with the Romans; that foolishness of which they said, it is a foolish doctrine, that is the wisdom of God. Even should you people set yourselves against it, do you think I shall lose the matter? Come with all your might, councils, executioners, banishments, fines — you shall not be able to devise a single means to take my kingdom out of your midst: that stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, must become a kingdom, and shall grind to powder all the kingdoms of the world, Daniel 2:44, 45. Devil, world, and all are powerless to bring down my kingdom. And when that has come to pass, then the Gentiles shall hope in me. The isles, it is written, shall wait for his law. The Gentiles shall arise — one people shall come traveling, and another shall be scattered abroad, and they too shall receive grace; their hearts shall open, when they hear grace spoken of — ah, they will say, would that all our people, all our rulers, were also won over! Ah, might we all come in! Then the Lord comes, and says, I have called him in righteousness, I will give him for a covenant of the people, in verse 6. Who speaks this here? It is the Lord, who created heaven and earth, verse 5. So you see the brief summary of our text in Isaiah 42.

Now our text — till he has brought forth judgment in the earth — that is here, till he send forth judgment unto victory. What is meant here by judgment, by right? The truth, the doctrine of the truth, the truth of the gospel — that teaching and proclamation of how sinners are made blessed. That is named judgment in our text, because in that doctrine you see such great judgments. What judgments? Consider:

1. First, you have described the judgment of God and of his Son in that gospel over the Jewish nation, Matthew 3:10 — the axe is already laid at the root: every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And Matthew 23:38, behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Matthew 24:2, there shall not be left here one stone upon another of this building.

2. There is described, in that gospel or that doctrine, the judgment over the devil: that strong one, fully armed, shall be despoiled of his goods, and that mighty one shall have his prey taken from him, the captives shall escape, Isaiah 49. I will pour out my vials upon the throne of the devil, says God, and break the works of the devil.

3. The judgment that God has held over the whole world: you are lost, says God, unless I arise to help you, Jew and Gentile alike. Every mouth shall be stopped, and the whole world lies guilty before God, Romans 3:19.

4. In that gospel, God causes to be preached the judgment that would come, and has come, upon his own Son: he who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him — and so God reconciles the world to himself, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 21. I judge concerning my Son, says God, that he is the fit Mediator, the true Savior — there is no other way to come to me.

5. Then there is yet another judgment made known in that doctrine, over the whole state of the sinner: sinner, who rejects me, says God, you are already lost — it is as if you already lay in hell; it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you, who have lived under the word of grace, and have had eyes, yet not seen, and hearts, yet not understood, Matthew 11:22. Well, poor little creature, you would have been better never born.

6. Then the gospel comes and sets up yet another judgment, in the conscience — there it holds its own court. You may wish to sit unmoved under the Word, but you cannot: that Word says, do you have the marks in you, that you are born again, that you are converted, that you have faith? Do you already love the Lord Jesus? Are you weary of the war yet? Answer. Do you say no, I have no mind to it — do you know, then, what sentence I then pronounce? Whoever loves not the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed — Maranatha, 1 Corinthians 16:22. The wrath of God abides on him, John 3:36. I must then bind you hand and foot and cast you into hell, Matthew 22:13. By this Word you must die and be lost; by the Word you are eternally accursed; the Word is such a judge and discerner of your thoughts and intentions, Hebrews 4:12.

7. This Word, the gospel, uncovers not only clearly the judgment that God has held, and still holds, over sinners, but also that which he shall one day hold over the living and the dead. There, now, is the gospel — and it is called a judgment for such reasons.

That judgment, that gospel of Christ — he shall bring it forth. That is to say:

1. He shall bring it forth — he shall set that light upon the lampstand; the highest wisdom shall lift up her voice and say, you simple ones, forsake your way, and walk in the way of understanding, Proverbs 9:6. He shall proclaim God's righteousness, and what righteousness he shall proclaim to men as their true duty; he shall stand there and say, shadows, ceremonies, ancient things, the traditions of the fathers are vain, your own righteousness falls short, I alone am the foundation of salvation, you must be saved by grace, for my righteousness' sake — that he shall instill in them; and he shall ride out upon a white horse, conquering and to conquer, with a golden crown upon his head; in every age he shall go forth anew, throughout all the ages, and that he shall bring forth out of his own bosom — no one else could have explained it to you; he shall not lose the matter, but shall bring it to victory, and this he shall bring forth through the preaching of that judgment: continually people shall be born again and reached by it. Do you think the number shall die out? No — though the godly die among you, or godly ministers, others shall come in their place. And so the violent shall take the kingdom of heaven by force — by force of prayer, of crying out, of love to God, and of faith. And so it shall be taken — there shall be a storming of it: if not in this land, then in another. He who dwells in heaven — though all those ants of men set themselves against him, the political and the ecclesiastical, with their councils, their prisons, their persecutions, their pursuits — he shall laugh them to scorn, Psalm 2:4. They shall not be able to withstand the Spirit by whom he, and his own, speak. They began even then to say, we might as well give up all our commotion, it is a plague, and we cannot withstand it. All that opposition, says the Lord, I will take away.

2. I will pour out my Spirit so visibly, that it shall work mightily in ministers and members alike, so that people shall begin to say, what is this? There are small and great, poor and rich — are these people becoming godly too? What can this mean?

3. Those weak reeds you shall see brought up onto scaffolds, and they shall thank the Lord that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for his name's sake, Acts 5:41. They shall glory in tribulation, Romans 5:3. I will make heroes of them, so that no one shall say any longer, I am weak; I will bring them so fully to victory, that they shall say, we are more than conquerors, Romans 8:37. By their thousands they shall say, this is our only comfort in life and in death, that we are not our own, but belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

4. I will bring them to such a condition, that even though they have no government of their own, I will so care for them and govern them, that the political and the military shall begin to say, are not these people all becoming Christians? And that I will let go on, right up to the judgment — I will not break the bruised reeds.

Then the weak might say, Lord, what shall we do, when you go and die and depart from us? Fear not, my children, said the Lord, I will not go away or die without first showing you openly that I suffer innocently, and making you see that you shall no longer be a bruised reed. What do you think — must it not have been a support to them, when he was about to go and die, that the judge called for water and washed his hands before the whole people, and said, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man, Matthew 27:24? Must it not have been a strength to them, that King Herod sent him back to Pilate, and said, I find no fault in him either, Luke 23:15? What must that have been, for the strengthening of the Lord's beloved disciples who clung to him so, when the execution was carried out, that such things happened as no one but God could do — so that the people beat upon their breasts, and a centurion standing by cried out, with tears in his eyes, truly this was the Son of God, Matthew 27:54? Did he part from his children before he had first set them at rest? When he had lain in the grave, he came again to them and said, touch me, feel me, see, it is I myself — you are not deceived in me, Luke 24:39. How did he converse with them for forty days? He does not go away without telling them all those things concerning his kingdom; and when he had told them all, he goes out walking with them, on that last day, and when he had told them everything he had to tell them, he withdrew from their midst up to heaven, where they watched him go; and before he went, he said, remain together, and you shall see something else before long — go to the city, and wait for the promise of the Father, Acts 1 and 2 — there you shall find it, and there it all gets on its feet. I will bring you to victory, said the Lord, I will not spare myself for you: this, now, I shall do also, for as long as there are bruised reeds who are still being dealt with in this way. How shall they come out? I will bring them just as surely to victory as the others — that those sins

Think: now Gog and Magog and the like must yet come — who shall stand before that Dragon? That red beast, the Devil, he will cast into hell, so that everyone will stand and see it and say: salvation belongs to the LORD (Ps. 3:9). That is the weighty matter I had to tell you. Is that not certain? Why do you sit here, and why do I preach here at present? We have nothing else to say about it — that is proof enough, that as I preach this and you hear it, the Lord will make good his own cause. Take courage then, says the Lord: have I not, up to now, carried through the work of my hands? I will not fail to do so forever: therefore do not doubt as long as you live.

I must say something in closing. What is it? That the good cause of Christ and his people — though it still meets so much opposition, and though your grace is small, and your help not worth mentioning — you will nevertheless win it. Why?

1. You have an almighty Lord Jesus for your help; he is the strong God. When it comes to strength, he is strong, he is God above all. When you have him on your side, he is more than all who are against you; he is the God who made heaven and earth.

2. You have to deal with nothing but doomed and accursed men, who have tried their luck a thousand times but always lost. "Is Mordecai of the seed of the Jews?" they said; "then we cannot stand before him." It is remarkable — Joshua 10:24-25: there Joshua set his feet on the necks of five kings, and said, so shall the LORD do to all your enemies. And in Numbers 14:9 he said, they are bread for us — meaning: we can devour them as easily as bread.

3. Well, King Jesus is not king for a thousand years only, but forever — his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, Luke 1:33.

4. Indeed, by his coming into the world he has assured us that he will break the Devil's kingdom in us, if we are his — 1 John 3:8. And in his resurrection he has assured all his children that he will bring them through to triumph: I live, and you shall live also, John 14:19. So that they must contend against the Almighty. You can soon see on which side the defeat will fall: it is no different than watching the waves of the sea come in against a rock — they must break upon it; or watching the chaff driven against the storm — it must scatter; or dry stubble against a blazing fire — it must be consumed.

You may perhaps say in your heart, how can this be so? It seems, after all, that the victory lies with the enemies in the Palatinate and in France? You must note well that God's children generally find their victory hidden within suffering and endurance. Nor is it accomplished in a single day: Christ won the greater victory when he went forth there as a lamb led to the slaughter, as a lamb that is silent before its shearers; those doves conquer the eagles through their patient endurance, and those little lambs conquer the lions through their suffering; at first they seem to have suffered defeat, so that their victory would be all the greater. Judges 20: the tribes of Israel suffered defeat twice against Benjamin, and afterward conquered them entirely. And in any case, the whole cause of Christ does not stand or fall with the Palatinate and France: even though matters there are somewhat under a cloud, that leaven must nevertheless leaven the whole lump; all nations must bow before it — willingly or unwillingly they must say, I wish the Lord had conquered me along with everyone else. I wish that the Lord would bless this to us, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 6

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles hope."

Reading Isaiah 63:3, where the Lord shows that when he trod the winepress alone, none of the peoples were with him. The Savior shows himself there in the exercise of his mediatorial office; there he shows that he would have to drink a bitter cup, and that when that came, there would indeed be something at stake.

Now when he came into the world for this purpose, and began to preach among the people, did he have many followers? No — no one cared for it, neither Jew nor Gentile. Instead of the Jews saying, "Welcome, Son of God, welcome, Son of Abraham and Son of David"; instead of their crying out, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, lowly" (Zech. 9:9) — instead of that they cursed him, raged, and railed against him. He became the byword of many; they rejected his word and his deeds; they accepted neither him nor his teaching, and they did not rest until they had, by the hands of the unrighteous, killed and put him to death. And then, mockingly, when he said his cause would go forward, they said, where does he mean to go? Will he go to the heathen and to the Greeks? (John 7:35). Well, he will find that they are just as much enemies of his teaching and his cause as we are — they who seek wisdom, but with him there is none to be found. There he will find them like wild beasts with such false foundations; among the Greeks he will find them saying, what babbling is this? (Acts 17:18). It will be foolishness to them (1 Cor. 1:18). That teaching is unbearable, they will say; it runs straight against the foundations of our state and our religion. Will he go to the Turks then? There the Devil has a great throne; there they will commit unheard-of cruelties against that teaching. Be that as it may — if he finds no entry among his own people, he will bring it to bear among strangers; he will nevertheless carry judgment through to victory. When the Lord had gathered in those among the Jews who were the keepers in Israel, and the rest had rejected him, then God would also give him to be a light to the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6). The captives shall be taken from the mighty (v. 25). There God will so work that the word of grace gains entrance; and then that religion will find entrance there — but not among my own people, says the Lord. And let them rage as they will, it will nevertheless be openly maintained that the Gentiles shall hope in my name.

We have a wonderful matter to consider here; you may well take some pains and give it your attention. When God rejected the Jews, his own arm brought about salvation for himself, and he put them beyond any power to work against his cause. Since then not one of them has remained in any position of authority or government, in church or state, anywhere in the whole world. When his arm had thus provided him salvation, he goes into the wilderness; there they were rough and unmanageable people, and there, here and there, people were struck in the heart. Now they could not prevent those people from coming to the Lord Jesus; everyone began to say, I have no other comfort in life or in death than that I belong body and soul to the Lord Jesus; everyone confessed him with the mouth, and some believed also with the heart (Rom. 10:10). How did God do that? You Jews may be as angry as you like, says God, against my teaching and my kingdom, and however much power you still have, I will carry that teaching and that kingdom so far from you that you will have neither the power nor the courage to go after it: and thus the Lord fulfilled what he had promised, Isa. 43:6. "I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not keep back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth." Then, God said, I will arrange it so that round about there shall be such places — cliffs, valleys, crags, snow-covered mountains; and I will see to it that my people shall keep themselves in those rocks, and these shall be inaccessible, so that any power that comes against them shall be broken. There shall be a dove in the clefts of the rock (Song of Sol. 2:14). There she has been, since Christ's time, in the Alpine mountains, and there she remains to this day. Shall I now let my cause fail? No — but I will so work upon the greatest potentates in government that, even a Pilate, he shall have to say openly, I find no fault in this man (Luke 23:4); and his wife shall have to say, have thou nothing to do with that just man (Matt. 27:19). I can so work in them that they say, keep your hands off these people, for they are innocent. I can so work that a Felix trembles and quakes before a prisoner, and an Agrippa says, "almost thou persuadest me" (Acts 24:25 and 26:28). Think now — if I can grip such personages in the heart, can I not then make my whole cause triumph, and see to it that it does not lose? You may now be as small in your own eyes as you like, you may still be such a bruised reed — I will bring you to victory, I will provide for my teaching. In unknown places I will bring my word, to a people that dwells between the waters, and they shall be acquainted with the sea, and they shall carry my word as far as I command them; so that the Jewish nation shall not even be able to come near it to hinder it, and those people shall be glad that they have it. Even if now there were no one with me, says the Lord, for that work, so shall my own arm procure me salvation.

We have shown you the 20th verse across some four or five sermons. Last time we saw: "till he send forth judgment unto victory." Now we must see the effect: "and in his name shall the Gentiles hope." To understand this rightly, we must consider: I. First, from where this text is taken, and its agreement — or seeming disagreement — of that verse, of those words, with our text. II. The content of our text-verse. III. How this is true, or its fulfillment.

I. These words are taken from Isaiah 42:4, where it stands, "he shall not be discouraged nor broken, till he have set judgment in the earth," and then follow the words from which our text is taken: "the isles shall wait for his law" — here it is, "in his name shall the Gentiles hope." It cannot be denied that there is some difference here: Isaiah says one thing, and the Lord here says another — how is that? The Spirit of God does not bind himself to words, but to matters; God's Spirit does not always use the same words to express the same matter, but they are nevertheless such words that the matter itself is the same, so that you need have no doubt that Isaiah and the Lord say one and the same thing, only in different words. Isaiah says "the isles," Christ says "the Gentiles" — and what else is that? Where do the Gentiles dwell? Was it on the mainland? Was it not everywhere along the sea, up to now? But the Jews dwelt on the mainland. Isles, then, or Gentiles — that is one and the same thing. Besides that, Isaiah speaks of the teaching of Christ, and the Savior speaks of the name of Christ. But is not religion everywhere called by the name of its god? Genesis 4:26, from then on men began to call upon the name of the LORD; Micah 4:5, all peoples shall walk each in the name of its own god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God. And Matthew 28:19, go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of God. Finally, Isaiah says, the isles shall wait for his law; Christ says, in his name shall the Gentiles hope. But what is waiting other than hoping? Romans 8:24-25, for hope that is seen is not hope: but that which is not seen, therefore do we with patience wait for it.

II. Having thus seen the seeming disagreement and the underlying agreement, we can easily proceed to our point. First of all, then, you have the name "isles," "Gentiles." Why are these isles, or these Gentiles, not named? Why did the Lord not say which Gentiles he had in mind?

1. First, that was so customary in the Spirit of God according to the prophets' style, and is so usual with him. Isa. 41:5, the isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. There you have those isles and those Gentiles.

2. The Gentiles are called isles because in the isles the church of God would remain longer than in the mainland places. In Asia, in all those mainland places, the church has not lasted as long as in the isles. Where is the church in Asia and all those places now? They lie in ruins. Along the sea, in the isles, it has proven more lasting. We, in these isles, still have it today.

3. God calls them isles to show the wondrousness of that work: when his people find things too oppressive in the mainland places, God says, then I will arrange for them to find, somewhere in the sea, a hiding place, in those isles that are desolate and unknown — there I will bring them, and there it will be said, just as of Zion, this man and that man was born there (Ps. 87:5).

4. To show the safety of the church. There the dwelling place of God sits so still and so at rest; they serve him there far more peacefully than in the mainland countries; the enemies with their weapons will not be able to come against them there. I will make them dwell securely in the isles, says God.

5. It shall not be one single isle, but they shall be as it were scattered like seed, and all of them together shall make up one church; all those members, united together with the Son of God, shall make one body; as many members as there are, they shall say, Jesus is our Savior, our King.

Now, although God does not name them, and does not say which peoples — Jews, that is no concern of yours — you shall see it before your own eyes, when God scatters you throughout the world. Then he will also bring you into those isles, and you will see that the Gentiles shall hope in his name, and you will be glad that you may dwell among Christians. Why? There you still have the greatest refuge among the Christians; they still say, these are nevertheless friends for their fathers' sake; they say, there is nevertheless still a seed of God among them, a remnant according to the election of grace (Rom. 11:5). Indeed, they still always have an open prayer on their behalf, that all Israel might be saved (v. 26). I will make you see this, says God, and you shall be glad that you may live among those people, who have such longing and love for you, and say, this is nevertheless a people among whom God still has a little seed. The Lord says, not one isle, but isles — therefore, if he does not work in the one, well then, he will take the other.

Why now is this teaching of the Gospel called the name of Christ? Because in that Gospel the doctrine of grace, the name of Christ, is disclosed. How? That name is disclosed there: 1. As God. 2. As Man. 3. As Mediator. 4. As the exalted Lord. 5. In all his work that he does in the church.

1. First, how is his name disclosed as God? Is it not through this teaching? Does it not say, he is God over all, blessed forever (Rom. 9:5)? Is it not said of God, I am gracious, merciful, abundant in goodness (Exod. 34:6)? And is God not that in Christ?

2. That name as Man you see disclosed in this teaching: is he not there named the seed of Abraham, the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15)? Would we ever have known it, if not from the teaching of Christ? Was it ever unknown to anyone among the Jews? It was rather that they rejected that teaching.

3. His name as Mediator is disclosed in the Old Testament in the pledge of suretyship, and in the New Testament in the fulfillment. He is disclosed there as the Mediator, the Surety, the Redeemer, the Savior, the Strong Champion — as the one who fulfills, obeys, satisfies.

4. This teaching discloses his name as the exalted Lord. Father, he says, I have wrought so long among the elect Jews — when there was a Jew to be found — in my time and in the time of the apostles; give me now the liberty also to claim the ends of the earth for my possession (Ps. 2:8). I claim those too as my reward.

5. This teaching discloses that Christ is also the sender of the Spirit; that he is the intercessor of his people; that he is the king, the protector of the church; that he shall be the judge over his friends and his enemies, for he shall be the judge both of his people and of his people's adversaries (2 Cor. 5:10-11). Thus is the name of God glorified in Christ. John 12:28, God says, you have glorified me, and I have glorified you, and I will glorify you yet more. There, then, you have that name of Christ disclosed in this teaching.

III. Now the Spirit says, the Gentiles shall hope in his name. God had made that name known only to the believing fathers; he made that name known to Abraham, and showed him the matter, but to the Gentiles it was hidden. What preparations did God make before he made this name known to them? These:

1. First, God brought it about that they began to grow weary under government and politics; and in the religious sphere too there were a good many beasts of men, who conspired with the politicians, and the idolatrous priests had to prop up the tyrants in government: under the service of idols they could not quiet themselves, even though they had them by the thousands. Acts 17 — there they were still seeking an unknown god.

2. They stood visibly under the Devil: that began to trouble them so strangely that one could see it every day. There they had whole bands of sorcerers who dealt with the Devil — a Simon the sorcerer, an Elymas; at Ephesus there were whole companies of them, and there were masters who made money by it (Acts 16:16). And there was a chief of a synagogue who had seven sons who dealt with the Devil (Acts 19:14). So that they had to live under idols, tyrants, and the Devil: that became burdensome to them.

3. They lived among such people as said, what is the best thing among us? A little wisdom and skill in the study of nature. They had some knowledge of the stars and some crafts and arts — and is that all our treasure, they said? There they heard nothing spoken of but a number of arts, sciences, eloquence: that began to trouble them, and God began to make exceedingly vivid in them the knowledge of God; that law which was written in their hearts became exceedingly alive. There they began to tremble before the judgment, before hell, and they thought how terrible it would be when they came to die; there they began to say, how do matters stand within? Lord, they said, we are so driven; our thoughts accuse us so. That was so among great and small, down to a Felix — he stands there and trembles before a prisoner, pale because of his conscience (Acts 24:25). Their conscience stirred and terrified them so dreadfully, they could not live so, and there was not a single person who had any comfort for them. What further preparations were there?

4. This: God revealed his wrath from heaven (Rom. 1:18). There came the plague, and almost everyone died of it; enemies came upon enemies, and so they were consumed. Thus God's wrath was made manifest against them. There came the law which said, I have something against you — those who do such things are worthy of death (Rom. 1:32).

5. There lay the Jews too, who behaved just as badly as they did.

6. Their godless, Sodomite living, which was devilish, began to trouble them; their drunken carousing, their unchaste living began to trouble them so much that they spat it out in disgust; they began to brood over it.

Those, then, are the preparations that the Lord God made. Then God comes and makes them hear a report, that there is a third kind of people. You need not wonder now how God did that: the Amorites had heard what God had done at the Red Sea, and to all those nations; and what did the harlot Rahab say? We have no strength to stand against Israel, for whom God has done such wonders. The Philistines said, who shall stand before those gods who dealt so mightily in Egypt? Solomon's wisdom was heard of far away in the south. Now here they said, there is a third kind of people, and that is called Christians. Acts 2, there they came from every nation under heaven, and they see the wonder that happened there. They go home again with it, and God keeps it so vivid in their hearts, that there was a people who were Christians, whose teaching was simple, powerful, and pleasant; whose life was conscientious and godly; whose comfort was excellent; they were so exceedingly glad and cheerful, they clung to God, they held fast to their Lord Jesus: that they told to their own people when they came home, and there God began to work. Ah! said those who had stayed at home, that we too might once see such people — that such people and such servants might come to us as well! Would God grant us the happiness of seeing them for ourselves, just as it has been told to us? We are so weary here, under the Devil and idol-worship. That it was indeed so, God shows us. Acts 16:9, there stood a man of Macedonia, who cried, come over and help us. They had such longing for it. Ah, Lord, they said, would someone perhaps come to us on your behalf? And God brings it about; their longing is fulfilled; the people of God and God's servants could no longer remain among the Jews, they are scattered; there they flee across the sea, and so their desire is fulfilled: others said, there is now this one and that one, who have been heard preaching, and the whole city runs together. There they grasp the hem of a Jewish man's garment, and say, we have heard that God is among you (Zech. 8:23). Is there yet a word of comfort, they say — if so, speak (Acts 13:15). At one time it concerned all of Samaria, and at another time it was all of Athens — the whole city ran together. What kind of teaching do you have there, they said? We wait for it as for the dew. There the assembly crowded even into the windows. There it is — whether night or day, it makes no difference to us. The eminent and the lowly, they all came, and there God performed such remarkable signs and wonders and unusual powers. Is there a fever patient there — they make him whole; are there some with the bloody flux — they heal them; is there a hopeless case, a crippled person bent double — he leaps like a deer. There they stood amazed, and said, what great things are these! If there is anyone with the itch or other ailments, they are healed in a moment! That man, they said, he speaks, he prays once to God, and at once they are healed! There they came together openly, and the Lord comes and opens their heart while they stood there; through the arrows of his Word God shoots them through, and they fall down there before his feet: there they lie, and they say, now we can hold out no longer, now we are convicted — what shall become of us now? Shall we go drown in the overflow of our sins? Will God not now say, you accursed ones, I will spit you out of my mouth? Ah, no — well then, what? Well, hope now in the name of my Son, who is made known to you in this teaching.

Would you now go and say to one another, we give it up, and sit together in despair, and lay hands upon your own lives, now that I have exposed you to yourselves? Stop — no, that must not be. What then, Lord? Ah, I will overlook the times of your ignorance in you; the work shall indeed remain in you; I will grant you pardon; I will give you peace; I will bring you to rest; I will refresh you; when you come to die you shall come to me; I will set you at my right hand, and I will be your God and portion forever. Then, my Lord, they might say, how can you do that? I will do it in my name, in my Son, that Lord Jesus Christ, whom I have had preached to you. Is that for us, Lord, they said? Well, what balm is that for our wounds! Our hearts are set free; there we find a mediator for those in distress, a Mediator who is the Redeemer, the God of our salvation, who saves completely. Well, your name is like ointment poured forth — that we know him as God above all, as man and the seed of Abraham, as king, as judge. Lord, they said, you bind up our wounds and you refresh us. So along with that, gold, silver, and all else must go. We must, they said, have another foundation, namely Christ; none but Christ; he is the only foundation of our salvation; all other foundations are but broken cisterns. The Devil must go, the idols must go — and must we then still remain under the rule of tyrants? We will seek to obey them for conscience' sake, and we will then hope in his name. Lord, they said, may I then place my trust in you in all that meets me? Ah yes, said the Lord, only put the whole state of your soul and body into my hand; I will help you rightly; I will intercede for you before God, and my Father will be glorified in it, that for my sake he receives you as sons and daughters: do you entrust it to me? Ah yes, Lord, they said, we rely upon you.

Well, people, how do you find it now? Ah, Lord, we find such spaciousness, calm, and comfort in our hearts — we have never known such things in our whole life. They had to say, now we find rest in our soul, where before it was driven about; we find access to the throne; God does not turn us away; we may pray; indeed, we would gladly sing to the honor of our king, we would gladly leap for joy. Phil. 3:1, we rejoice in the Lord. We would gladly glory in tribulations, Rom. 5:3. We would count ourselves fortunate that our King should put us once to the test, to see whether we would be found faithful. We would say, that my King did me the honor of bringing me into temptation and trial! We glory in the hope of the glory of God, verse 2. Well, do you not now want to go and live godlessly? says the Lord. Oh no — what then? We want to be holy in our hearts and in our households; the saving grace teaches us that we should live righteously and godly. But how do matters stand, said the Lord, when you come to die? Is your hope then gone? No, Lord; then we shall cry out with heart and mouth that we shall soon be with the Lord; then it will be, "for your salvation I wait, O Lord!" (Gen. 49:18). In life and in death we belong to Christ, and we shall long to be with the Lord (Phil. 1:23); we have long groaned, being burdened, longing to be further clothed with our house which is from heaven (2 Cor. 5:2, 4). See, if that is so, will that not then be unto victory? Has he not indeed set judgment well in the earth? Is it not thus fulfilled — that you sit here, that I preach this and you hear it — is that not proof of it, in us who dwell here by the sea? God has here thrown up a stretch of land, and it has been made firm, and it is fortified all around with dunes: for what purpose was that? So that you should hope in the name of Christ. What is the confession here — what is your only comfort, both in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

Someone will say, if I had grace, would I also have that hope, to say, so speaks the mouth of the Lord, and so will he also fulfill it with his hand? Ah, that I had that hope! But it is not well with me: instead of hoping, I am so despondent, so hopeless. Perhaps, if God is pleased to work upon us in this, we shall speak of that again sometime. It is so sad, counted among my hopes, someone may readily say, that I shrink back at the thought of my end, now that we think we may perhaps preach on that again sometime. In any case, whether I and you hope in that name — that is what it will come down to. Are you someone who does not read much in that teaching of Christ where his name is disclosed, nor lives according to the teaching of Christ, and yet you say, I hope nonetheless in his name? Your hope is worthless, you have no ground to hope; your hope must be in keeping with that teaching, or it is worthless. Can you follow all your own desires and be so fine and easy about it? That teaching teaches something else; you are just like a skipper setting off on a long voyage, who knows there will be dreadful storms, and yet goes without rope or anchor — so you go without a good foundation; and you say, I shall have peace even though I live according to my own heart's pleasure — and that will be a lie. Do you want to have peace, and yet not live according to that teaching? It will go wrong. You will say, may I then hope that things will go well with me? I will answer you in a word, and with that we will close this.

1. First, no one may hope except him to whom it is commanded by God, to whom he sent Jesus: to whom was he sent? To poor lost Gentiles, who said, we have given ourselves up, we are utterly poor. Ah, Lord! they said, I cannot stand before you. There the Lord says in that teaching, why are you cast down, hope in God (Ps. 42:11). Come unto me, all you that are weary, I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28). Come, mourner, I see your mourning, I will restore comfort to you (Isa. 57:18). I will take away your little arguments, with which you bind yourself as with cords; hope in my name — I am sent to you.

2. O soul, says the Lord, if you will not hope in me, do you then have something better? Ah no, Lord, she says. Will you then set your trust on something else, soul? Ah no, Lord, she says, I have no one and nothing but you to hope upon: no rank, no ancestry, no goods, no virtues. It is so sweetly put, as Luther says: even if I could keep the whole law of the Ten Commandments, I would say I was still only an unprofitable servant; I would not place my trust in that. Do you go with all your helplessness to Jesus, and say, even had you still so many virtues, ah, Father! I do not point you to my tears, to my praying, to my tender frames or virtues, but only to Jesus, that only name, through whom I must be saved.

3. Your hope will show spiritual life and activity; it will be a living hope; it will grow by degrees, even though it has its shocks, weaknesses, and sicknesses; it is indeed at times like a bruised reed, but afterward it is also like a cedar of Lebanon; one clear day it is better and more active than another day: he that has this hope in him purifies himself, from all defilement of flesh and spirit (1 John 3:3 and 2 Cor. 7:1).

4. They would not give up their uncertain portion, their small glimpse of hope, for all the treasures of the world; nothing could refresh them as that small glimpse of hope does. What does your heart say? Yes indeed, such people Jesus wants to have. Says another, I would rather have the treasures of the world than such a mere glimpse of hope: well, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? (Isa. 55:2).

See, that is what it means to hope in his name. If you possess such a blessing, thank God's name, magnify it — you must do it now, if you would go on doing it forever. Now I wish that God would be pleased to make each of us worthy of this, for his Son's sake. Amen!

Sermon 7

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which some remaining questions about hoping, left over from the previous sermon, are treated — six of them in all — and then three further difficulties are resolved.

Reading 1 Corinthians 13:13: "And now abide faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." There the apostle tells of three great graces in a child of God, of which none may be lacking. A child of God can have and lack everything except these. If he lacks faith, it is impossible without it to please God (Heb. 11:6). If he lacks love, then he is nothing (1 Cor. 13:2). If he lacks hope, then he lacks his anchor in all the storms that must come upon him (Heb. 6:19). God shows this throughout the whole Word: not one of them may be lacking, if he would be happy. Do many people have them? No indeed. Not only may no one lack them, but they are such rare graces that they are found in but few: it is Levi's portion, it is the portion of the upright; you will meet but few people who possess them, and those who show that they possess them, a small child could count up. Look over the church, over its people, its families, its companies — they are so few; they are such rare people; it is a little flock (Luke 12:32). They are such graces as set an excellent crown upon a person's head. And whoever lacks them, though he were ever so great a man in the world, it makes him so unhappy; and whoever possesses them, though he were ever so lowly, it makes him so glorious — more than if he possessed the whole world. Ahasuerus and Nebuchadnezzar were not as distinguished as a Mordecai, who went about in sackcloth and yet possessed these three graces. These three graces make a man more excellent than his neighbor (Prov. 12:26); they make those who possess them to be called the fairest among women, of God (Song of Sol. 1:8).

These three graces are like a string of pearls that steals the heart of the King: "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck" (Song of Sol. 4:9). These are such graces as do not grow in the garden of natural powers; they are such graces as no preacher can work in his congregation. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit? (Matt. 7:16, 18). These three virtues are a gift of God; it is fire from heaven; it is from the God of hope; they blossom forth from God. They are nevertheless graces of which the one is greater than the other: though all the pearls on a crown are beautiful, one pearl nevertheless excels the other. Faith is the mother of hope, and hope is a consequence of faith; but love excels both faith and hope. That is not always so clearly grasped by many — love is nevertheless greater than faith and hope. Why? Because it is more enduring; love has its place in God, but faith and hope shall be done away with: love makes us more conformed to God than faith and hope do.

These are great graces — but what stirring is there against them? What trouble does one who practices faith have? What arrows does the Devil have, who assails it? There the tempter comes at times, and he shakes and sifts faith (Luke 22:31-32): "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, to sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." And what floods of water does he have to quench those fiery sparks of love? What does the Devil pour upon it in the course of a Christian's life? Song of Sol. 8:7, there he had many waters; and Rom. 8:39, there he had height, length, breadth, depth — but nothing, says the apostle, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What does he not do to make hope perish? The Devil, who is full of despair, sees no one more gladly, whether in hell or on earth, than one who is in despair — for they are, in his eyes, the most fortunate of all. If he still has any pleasure in hell, it is in dwelling there among those who despair; and on earth he seeks to bring those sparks of despair, and wherever he has brought a person to desperate thoughts, words, and deeds, there you will see him very near at hand: those who say, my strength is perished from the Lord — such people will show that the Devil goes about them as a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8). He so delights in that language, my hope is perished, it is over with me.

Beloved, these are the virtues: however much they may be tossed about, they will nevertheless remain until your death; where God has planted these three virtues, they will remain until you die; then your eyes will still be fixed upon the Lord Jesus, and you will say, you I must have; and your hope will remain until you die: shall I dare to give myself into your hand, you will say; may I wait for it, that you will rescue and help me? Your love will remain: ah, you will say, I long so to be with God.

Beloved, you know that we have spoken with you many times about these two verses, which we have read to you more than once out of Matthew, both concerning their doctrine and concerning the practical exercise of it. We said only recently, when we were treating the 21st verse and speaking of those words, "in his name shall the Gentiles hope," after we had looked it all over, that there might perhaps be some who would say, I have so many hardships, it is so hard for me to hope, I cannot hope, I have no hope. We said we would perhaps answer that another time — which we shall now do today.

There you have the name — the name of the Lord. The person is the Mediator, who had a teaching, which has also come among the Gentiles; he has brought that teaching through to victory, and put the Jews beyond the ability to do that teaching any harm, and the Gentiles he has himself gripped in the heart and drawn to himself. You and I can say, we dwell here on an island; you can say that you have the teaching of Christ; you can say that that teaching of Christ has been brought through to victory; you can say that there are people living here who hope in that name, with a hope that does not put them to shame (Rom. 5:5). I do not believe that you have any trouble saying that such people exist; but you will say, it is not clear to me whether I have such a hope: am I included in the ransom of Christ? Have I a part in that hope? I, a little islander on this little island — may I claim that for myself, may I reckon upon it, may I direct and settle my affairs by it? I dare not do so, but I count those so blessed who are so; but I, alas, poor soul, I am so unfortunate — I do not find in myself that peace, that calm; nor do I find that I have that hoping disposition, as a skipper has, who lets his anchor down into the ground, and though the wind still blows, goes and lies down quietly to sleep; or as you see a soldier with a helmet on his head, going courageously toward the battle: but I, poor soul, what I lack is — I fear there is not even a small ground on which I may hope. The Lord Jesus Christ must be the ground of hope, but dare I hope in him, whether dying or living? I fear I have not even a small ground to hope on: my heart gives a start and a shudder when I think about this, that I might steal away with an imagined hope, and when my eyes come to be tested, then my hope would prove to be but the giving up of the ghost (Job 11:20). You do not know how to settle it. Come, then, in God's name, we have some questions to put to you, and answer between God and your conscience; do not let your conscience gag your mouth, let it speak out plainly and simply; we have some real questions to put to you.

1. First, we ask you, one head to another (I ask it of myself as much as of you): is a God reconciled in Christ, is the grace of God in Christ, is groaning under your corrupt heart, is mourning over sinful deeds, is love for God and for holiness, and a desire to put to death your own sinful desires, and so to be saved by Jesus out of free grace — is that your most precious treasure? Is that your best treasure? Is that the most desirable thing, the chief and best article in your prayers? And when you read or think over these things, do you then hold still, or do they make you diligent? Are you set upon it, whatever it costs — I must have it, I must and I will have it, I am set on that; the one who possessed that would alone be happy in my eyes; Lord, I would glorify you forever if you would please to give it to me. I will say it once more: is reconciliation with God, the grace of God in Christ, love toward God and toward holiness, and groaning over your own corruptions, and a desire to put to death your own sinful desires, and so to be saved out of free grace through Jesus, and so to come to God — your highest good? Are those the articles of your prayer? Do you seek and pursue those things? Are you unable to be turned away from them? Do you say, one thing have I desired, and that will I seek after to the end (Ps. 27:4)? Am I willing to bear anything to obtain that, whatever there is in the world to bear? Do not faint — it is a sure sign that you are hoping in the name of Christ, and your hope will not deceive you, either in your life or in your death.

2. I put another question: is everything called world small to you? Do you count it merely as world, vanity, vexation of spirit? Or is the world esteemed by you — is that why your chief business is to obtain it: friends, favor, esteem, money, goods, rank, offices, pleasure, honor, gold, arts, understanding — indeed, even when you are in some difficulty, do you say, well, patience, I have done all I could? That is called "world." In the very darkest hour nothing is esteemed but God and the Lord Jesus Christ: to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life (John 6:68). And the Holy Spirit, who makes it all known to them, what God the Father and the Lord Jesus intend and apply. What does your heart say? Do you live and die with these things? Then build your case on it, that your hope will not put you to shame.

3. A third question is this: has God ever brought you into the sight of his sovereign power, so that he says, suppose I passed you by, O man, and took another — would you have anything to say? And would you have to say, oh no, Lord, I had nothing to say, but that you are a sovereign Lord; I would be silent, though I can hardly bear it in my ruin; would that it might be that in your sovereignty I too might be a vessel of mercy — do you find that in your heart? Ah, there it comes: what would you have me look upon in you? I am far too lowly, too accursed, too sinful: why should the King look upon me? I dare not look upon myself, Lord! I have made it so shameful, I am but as one untimely born, I have been the very worst enemy you have had. What does your heart say? Can you speak so before God? Have you so stood in the sovereignty of God, and so seen your own nothingness?

4. We have a fourth question to put: if you were to form some hope, and were to exercise it before God — I or you — to what would you point the Lord? To your blameless life, which you have led or still lead? To some small change that is in you? To your tears, to your imperfect prayers? Would you point the Lord God to those, and seek to move him by them? Would you point the Lord to any good frames, or to the Lord Jesus? Do you set all that aside, and say, Father, I point you to nothing else but your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ — not to anything in me, to no frames or virtues, but only to that ransom; I point you to that in my life, and I will do so also in my death, and when I come to judgment I will say, I have nothing but the Son of God. Surely your hope will not put you to shame.

5. We have a fifth question: when you would wish to be in heaven (there is not one person sitting here who would not wish to be in heaven), why do you wish it? Is it because you can no longer bear it here, out of adversity or despondency? That is not the point. Or because there is at least no torment there as in hell? That is no good ground. Or is it for a better ground than has now been named? What ground will you name? That you might know the triune God better than now, and know the Word better than now, and all God's providence better than now; that you might glorify God more than now; to be nearer to God the Father in his fellowship; to be with the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name you hope here; to be nearer to God the Holy Spirit, who works that hope in you; to be delivered from sinning; to serve, love, and magnify God perfectly, forever and ever, where all your friends will be within and your enemies without — is that the ground of your hope? That hope will then not be put to shame.

6. Sixth, I put yet another question: do you keep at that steadfastly with God? Is it not merely a morning cloud, but do you order your whole life according to it? Do all your ways show that you keep that as your ultimate aim in view? Do you know yourself that you keep that in view, in order to attain it? Is that your true interest? Do you for that reason separate yourself from the world? Do you count yourself among that people who do so? Do you say, most beloved God, I will hold with you and your people, and with your cause, as long as I can draw breath?

Those are our six questions; you ought simply to answer them. Can you do that? Then you too are a little island that hopes in his name. You will say, you say that so boldly — may you speak so boldly? Yes — Col. 1:27, which is Christ, the hope of glory. That is Bible, says Paul, I who am an apostle of that Jesus who is our hope (1 Tim. 1:1). I may say it that boldly. Read those texts once, and Ps. 115:9, Israel, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Do not be so discouraged, do not sink away into despondency: if you can lay your heart to it, God is with you and he will save you. Why are you cast down, and why are you so disquieted? Hope in God (Ps. 42:11). In the Lord Jesus is righteousness and strength; to him men shall come (Isa. 45:24). You may build upon this Word, and upon his intercession and ransom: lay yourself down on that; he will not fail you, nor will he forsake you. God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath (Heb. 6:17). I know of not one curse in the whole Bible for you, but all the promises in the whole Bible are for you. I wish very much that I could work you up to hoping.

You will say, why are you so set upon this?

1. Ah, you may perhaps still have to bear so many crosses, or perhaps you have them already, and that will make you so much more courageous: if in this life only we have hope in Christ, said Paul, we are of all men most miserable (1 Cor. 15:19); and Rom. 8:18, we reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. 1 Thess. 1:3 he speaks of the patience of hope (I cannot forget it, says the apostle) which is through Jesus Christ, before God.

2. Again, your hope will make you fight against the Devil so much more courageously; you will never in your life concede the victory to him. 1 Cor. 9:26, I so run, not as uncertainly; I so fight, not as one that beats the air — I do not labor in vain, the apostle means to say. 2 Cor. 5:5, now he that has wrought us for the same thing is God: everything will bow and yield before you; if you only have that hope, you will surely get through with it.

3. In the third place, if you possess that hope, you will feel such joy in your heart; it will give you such gladness. No person can be without joy: a sinner is glad in his sin, but a child of God in his hope; rejoice in hope, it stands there (Rom. 12:12). Indeed, you shall glory in the hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:2).

4. If you possess that hope, you will be so much the holier, for everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure (1 John 3:3). The way to glory is holiness; hope in the Lord Jesus Christ goes inseparably together with holiness.

5. Once more, you will glorify God so greatly: you will glorify the Father, that he has chosen you and given you to the Son; you will glorify the Son, that he has come into the world to help poor sinners; you will glorify the Spirit, that he has brought you over and still keeps you. If you can hope, then Christ receives such honor from you: then it is, you are my Surety, that only name who has taken suretyship upon himself for me, my ransom is sufficient; then you can so glorify the Spirit; indeed, God the Holy Spirit, you can say, if you did not grant me such a hope, I would go away in despondency; you apply to me all that God the Father and the Son have for me; you teach me to pray, and you also help my weaknesses (Rom. 8:26).

You may readily say, you want me to hope in every case, but something weighs on my heart, on my mind. Well, what is that? If we might guess it, would it perhaps be this: I have drifted so far into despair, that I think it is over with me; it is quite clear; I have no hope; I am in a sinful state of desperation: you come too late, I have no courage left, I shall never obtain it as long as I live. If that is how it is, we still have a word for you, before you sink altogether away.

1. If you want to sink away into that despair, you would have to regard God as an implacable and inexorable Judge, who neither can, nor will, nor shall ever show you grace. Note well what we are saying: can you, I ask, regard God so? Can you make yourself like the Devil? Can you make good that claim, that God is an implacable and inexorable Judge, who neither can nor will be gracious? I have never in my life read that anywhere in the Word. Would God then have forgotten his own name? Would God have forgotten his own honor, which he holds forth in the work of grace? Exod. 34:6, that is my name, says God, I am gracious and merciful, and abundant in goodness. And Ezek. 33:11, as I live, says God, I have no pleasure in the death of the dying sinner. Could God, in his infinite mercy, really not be able to look upon you as he does upon others? Would the power of Christ's ransom really not be sufficient to take away your sins just as well as another's? What did God declare, when a Cain spoke, my punishment is greater than can be forgiven by God, or as some translate it, my sin is greater than that there could be a sacrifice for it? God declares, if you do well, is there not exaltation for you? (Gen. 4:7).

2. Then you would have to set against and hold against that supposedly implacable being a dreadful hatred. Is God then so hateful in your eyes? Would you say, I hate you, I would mock your service? There you have the hatred. We lie in our sins and pine away, they said. Then God comes against them, and they said, we have the sentence of death within us: there you have that deadly hatred — the way of the Lord, they said, is not right.

3. Do not say that — or along with that hatred you would have to harbor an actual malice against God. You would then be saying that you bear a malice against him and his children, and that you would be glad to hinder and oppress his sanctified people. Is that in your heart? Ah no, you do not know it in yourself. Matt. 23:13 describes that: they themselves would not go in, and they hindered others from going in. Is that in your mind, when you say, it is over with me? You cannot have that wicked despair without that also being in your heart.

4. If you had truly sunk into that wicked despair, then there would be a persisting in sin with pleasure; you would not want to grieve over it — do you find that in yourself? Jer. 2:25, it is hopeless, they said, let us live after our own heart and our own pleasure: they had come to love strangers. We will walk after our own devices, they said (Jer. 18:12). Are you like that? Ah, bruised reeds, how could you ever be like that? Do you say, I want to remain in sin, and let everyone see it? It is far, far from that.

You may readily think, there is still something else on my heart: I wish I could guess it and lay it all fully open for you. Ah, you will say, might there not be seen, in all my despondency, at least some small ground of hope in me? Do you not see it? We can still see at least three grounds. You will say, which are they?

1. First, that you are so poor and so low. Do you see it? Ah yes, you will say. Do you not say to God, and enter not into judgment with your servant (Ps. 143:2)? Do you have nothing in yourself with which to stand before God? Must you not cry out, if you, LORD, should mark iniquities, LORD, who shall stand? (Ps. 130:3). And with Paul, that I have no righteousness of my own (Phil. 3:9); nothing good dwells in me (Rom. 7:18).

2. Do you know what else we see in you? Your inability to perform any spiritual good: that too is a ground on which you may hope — your very powerlessness. Do you not say, I cannot manage it, I am so unable to do any spiritual good (2 Cor. 3:5)? Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. Must you not say, as it stands (John 15:5), ah, dearest Lord Jesus, without you I can do nothing?

3. The third ground that we see in you is that you see you are so empty, and every creature is so empty to help you; that there is nothing but the grace of God in Christ to help you. Do you say, I am unable, and every creature is empty as far as helping me is concerned — it is all empty except the grace of God in Christ, which alone is full: and will you then not hope? Well then, hope to the end for the grace (1 Pet. 1:13).

You say, there is still something more weighing on my heart: I wish I could guess it. Indeed, someone might say, it has lasted so long, ah God! I have never in my life had hope: would not the very length of that condition put me beyond hope? Consider: when someone is in distress, a short time seems very long; when you sit for one day against your will in bad company, that one day seems like a week. Ps. 6:3, says David, and you, LORD, how long! It was only that it wearied him so; it did not even last very long; all his psalms show it, he still had so much cause for thanksgiving — it is only because it presses so hard upon your breast. David said, how long, Lord, shall I be a stranger in Meshech, and dwell among the tents of Kedar (Ps. 120:5)? Well, the man did not even dwell there very long: it presses so upon my breast, he would say. Do you say, no, it is not that with me, but it simply lasts so long. I answer you: do you have that firmly fixed? Is it perhaps not merely a gust in you, that rises up suddenly at some attack of the Devil, or at some ill turn of events, just as it was with David (1 Sam. 27:1): I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul? There came such a heavy squall that he had to flee the country; and 1 Sam. 30:6, there he strengthened himself again in the LORD his God. It was then in the face of some heavy misfortune. Lam. 3:18, the Church says, my hope is perished from the LORD. Why? Well, the city is burned, and we have lost all our goods; ah God, they said, we perish: but in verse 24 they said, the LORD is nevertheless my portion. Do you say, no, it is no sudden gust — it lasts, and has already lasted some twelve, eighteen, twenty years; it is not merely a mood or an incident, but it has become an entire settled condition; I have already gone to church with convictions for so long — since that time it may have lasted twenty years or more. If that is true, then you are indeed badly wounded; but what then? Read Psalms 38, 77, and 88 entire, and Ps. 102:5; with those men too it had become an entire settled condition: and if those men fell into such a plight, is it then any wonder that you should fall into it? May you therefore now be despondent? Well, those men have long since been in heaven, and it will go the same way with you. Finally I ask you: if it is so with you, is it not more oppressive than dominant, more vexing than ruling? Does it not weigh on you as a burden, do you not struggle against it, do you not look out for deliverance? Do you not for that reason keep on at the Lord? You say, that I cannot deny: well then, God will save you; even if you were to die in that state, it will be well.

You will say, you almost persuade me: what shall I do to come to that living hope? What must I avoid, and what must I do? We see that we cannot handle it all now — that, then, another time. I hope that the Lord will bless this. Amen.

Sermon 8

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

We read Romans 8:24, We are saved by hope. A pious man is assured that he shall be saved, though he does not yet possess it: he is assured because of God's decree; he is assured because of the ransom of his Son; he is assured because of the infallible promises of God; he is assured because of the foretaste and firstfruits which he enjoys here; he is assured because of the way which he treads and walks toward heaven; he is assured because of his expectation and hope, though he does not yet possess it. As little as a farmer, in the sowing and the plowing, possesses his harvest, so little does a pious heart possess salvation; but they do as a sailor, a farmer, a soldier does, who has his aim, his hope, set upon his goal: a sailor hopes he will make a safe voyage, a farmer that the harvest will succeed well, and a soldier hopes he will win the victory. What do these three men do?

1. First, they are each diligent toward their aim: a farmer clears his field, he sows, he plows, he tends his field; a soldier arms himself with a helmet; a sailor with his anchor and boat-hook; for if these do not stay in the ship, we cannot be saved, Acts 27:31. So does a Christian also: he has all his thoughts and desires set upon the helmet of salvation, Ephesians 6:17. They put everything to work to see how they may prosper. Psalm 27:4, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.

2. What do such men do, who would gladly make a safe voyage, win in the war, and have a good harvest? They know it, they lay it to heart that they will have as much a winter as a summer. So does a Christian too; they reckon on having as much a winter in their soul as a summer; it will not always be, they say, the whisper of a soft calm, there will not always blow a south wind; there comes now and then a hard north wind, so that everything there trembles.

3. What do such three men do? They set their store upon the harvest, upon the victory, and upon a good voyage; that they cannot get out of their hearts; seedtime and harvest, winter and summer, day and night, God has promised, and they shall not cease, Jeremiah 33:20. So one who hopes for heaven likewise holds it fast that he will arrive there; God, he says, has promised it, and he is faithful, and he will do it, Hebrews 10:23. And the Lord Jesus will not rest until he has brought his cause to its end.

4. What do such three men, of whom we have spoken, do? They wait with patience, they are not hasty, they endure with steadiness whatever there is to endure. What does a Christian do? He too endures with all patience whatever there is to endure. Romans 8:25, We wait for it with patience. Though the heat consumes them by day and the cold by night, they know they have a faithful Lord, that he will surely do what he has promised, 1 Thessalonians 5:24.

5. What do such people do, who live so much upon hope? They long exceedingly for the winter to be past, for the waters and winds to be still, that they might lay down the weapons of war. So it goes with a hoping Christian too: ah Lord, they say, for our sakes they begin at times to look out, Micah 7:7. We wait upon the Lord more than the watchmen wait for the morning, Psalm 130:6; Acts 27:20. When for many days neither sun nor stars had appeared, they wished, they said, that it would become day; so it goes with a pious soul as well: Lord, they say, let your face shine forth once more, Psalm 80:4.

6. Lastly, such people, finding such preparations that God will deliver them, are exceedingly glad over it. The pious, finding that God is making preparation to save them, are likewise exceedingly glad; they begin to say to God, delayed hope grieves the heart; but how it sustains the heart when the desire comes—it is like a tree of life, Proverbs 13:12.

It is exceedingly pleasant, in the course of one's life, to see such a hoping soul: it is a delightful person who can say, though I am not certain of my life, I dare say before God and men, concerning the grounds I have for heaven, that I believe my hope will not put me to shame, and that when I shall stand before the Lord, I shall not come out deceived; I know that faith shall be changed into sight, and my hope into possession. But we must turn it around: the pious are not always so, and those who are so are not always so; one who is so at one time may well be quite cast to the ground at another. Ah, he might say, I expect the opposite; indeed, they say too, I am wretched in despondency, I have no courage, my refreshment is in sorrow: they would as soon say, Preacher, and even God himself and the pious, do not bring it up to comfort me; all my refreshment is in sorrow, instead of my hoping in that name: should I hope that Jesus was my Savior? Should I hope in the name of the Lord? I have no ground, and I shall never get it in my life. Such souls you will see no small number of in the church of God; you will meet with more of them than of those who are lively.

The blessed and only mighty Lord had this in hand—to treat of it further in what follows—that the Lord quotes from Isaiah in that glorious twentieth and twenty-first verse of the twelfth chapter of Matthew. He would not strive or cry out, but when he found such little ones, he would not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. Those who were so small in grace, and so weak—what would he not do for them? Not break them: and what more? He would care for them still. The Lord says little and means more; he would sustain them and blow up their little spark, he would nurse them and bind them up, he would turn his hand to the little ones, Zechariah 13:7. Would he then leave them lying half-finished? Oh no; but, said the Lord, I will make my cause and theirs to triumph, until I have brought forth judgment upon the earth, and have brought forth judgment unto victory—yes, until I have brought the judgment of their soul to victory. Lord, they might say, where will you go now, will you go to the scattered Greeks? I came unto my own, the Lord might say, but my own received me not, John 1:11, 12. Yes, I will go to the Gentiles, I will take a portion of the isles there and will bring those people to the knowledge of the Gospel, so that there shall be people there who will wait upon my teaching, whose hearts shall be lifted up that they may hear from me, and they shall hope in my name, and set all their trust on me in life and in death; that sun shall rise higher, and that teaching shall break through.

Lastly we began this piece, that we sought to sustain a hopeless heart, and this we did in that we first proposed some six or seven questions, and we said, answer them. Second, that we encouraged you to hope. Third, we said, what is it that keeps you from doing it? Those were our three points last time. Do you remember what real questions we asked; and these were so many little tokens of hope. Since you may perhaps have forgotten them, would you like to know them again briefly? Answer between God and your soul.

1. We said then, first: is this clear to you—is reconciliation with God, the grace of God in Christ, wrought by God's Spirit, to be led toward heaven along the way of conversion and faith and tender godliness, the most precious thing to you? Is that what you look for in the course of your life? Would you forsake everything else for that, in order to obtain it?

2. We asked you: can you simply say before God that all that is called the world, however fair it is, you are glad to leave, and that all of it can give you no satisfaction?

3. Can you simply say before God that you know solitary places where you have stood in the fear of God—that you have said, dearest Lord, even if you passed me by and took another, what would I have to say? I should have to lay my hand upon my mouth.

4. Can you say before God, sincerely, because of my unworthiness, Lord, I am too lowly for you to cast your eye upon me, that you, O Lord Jesus, should look upon me as your child?

5. We asked you, and we said, answer sincerely, and do so now: if in your life, in sickness, health, or on your deathbed, you were to lean on something, would it be upon the Lord Jesus, or upon your own virtues?

6. We asked you, and we said, answer: if you were to be in heaven, would it be only to be released from your troubles, or in order not to come into hell? Or do you desire it because there you might know God without darkness, serve him without sin, glorify him without growing weary, and that forever and ever—was it that?

7. Finally we asked you whether you held fast to all this with God—whether you say with Jacob, I will not let you go, except you bless me, Genesis 32:26. Then we invited you to hope. Then you said, there is something weighing on my heart, I cannot do it. Then we asked what that was, as far as we were able. That matter, we said, we would still hold in reserve, and that we will now do with you—first by showing you how, in all your despondency, there are still grounds to hope; then by warning you what you must guard against; then by giving you counsel as to what you must do; and then by beginning to bring the substance of your difficulty into the open. We promise you, then,

I. To show how, in all your despondency, there are still grounds within you to hope.

II. We shall warn you concerning some things.

III. To give counsel how you are to conduct yourself in all that meets you.

IV. To make a beginning at bringing your difficulty into clarity.

I. As to the first: beloved hearers, you must know that hope in the truly pious is exceedingly small at the beginning, but that there is nevertheless something there in truth. The Lord Jesus, surveying his whole kingdom, said, it is like a grain of mustard seed, which is the least and smallest of all seeds, but oh, he said, it is so ordained that, having grown great, it becomes a great tree, Matthew 13:31, 32. So it is with the grace of God in the heart of every subject of King Jesus, of you and of me, if we have grace. In the beginning it is so small that the prophet Isaiah, and the Lord Jesus in our text, says it is not merely a reed, but a bruised reed; it is not merely a wick, but a smoking wick. When our nearest Lord wishes to express the weakness of his children, he calls it not merely a reed, but a bruised reed. Matthew 11:7, he said of John the Baptist, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? What can a reed still endure—it bends with the wind. Yet he said, you are not merely a reed, but a reed that already has a crack in it, that lies bent with its top against the ground, that could no longer withstand any storm. Sometimes he shows plants that are heroes in grace, standing there with flames of fire in their hearts, which many waters could not quench, Song of Solomon 8:6, 7; Romans 8:35–39. And then again he shows plants that are but a spark, of the weak, and that is a smoking wick, needing not much water to quench it: with the mere blowing of your nostrils you could easily blow it out. It is the likeness of a tender newborn child, of whom one wonders whether it is alive or dead, 1 Peter 2:2. Indeed the Lord said, Revelation 3:2, strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: it is the likeness, we may say, since God says it in his word, of that spiritual life which lies as it were on the very edge of death. Psalm 88:15, From my youth up I am afflicted and ready to die. Now, seeing such souls, grace is in them, though it seem as nothing; and the Savior, seeing such, goes and binds them up, he does not quench them. Now in all their smallness and heaviness of spirit you will nevertheless find none in whom the experienced pious will not still find grounds of hope. Do you know how you shall recognize it?

1. First, when you agree with them and go along with all their fancies, they seem indeed to be timid, but they are not. Well, they say in their hearts, that man does not know what, according to the Word, is nonetheless in my heart, and he does not know either what may yet be for me in God's counsel.

2. If you do not agree with them, but plainly show them that the grace of God is in their heart, then they become cross; why do you press so to comfort me, they say; they take it amiss, they grow angry and say, you are miserable comforters to me; then they become sullen: dull food, they say, are your words to me.

3. Whether you agree with them or not, whether you rebuff them or soothe them, they cannot stay away from you. What is the reason? They have, it is true, no taste for your discourse, but there is no other reason for it than that God's Spirit has laid some hope in their heart, and that God will yet again bless the ministry of one or another, that they shall yet become one of those islands that shall hope in his name, and that they shall yet again turn toward the Lord, to entreat the Lord Jesus, that they might receive salvation from his hand: there lies a heavenly hope, it will perhaps yet be blessed to me; who knows, the Lord may yet be gracious to me and give me gladness and peace.

4. You will see a clear proof of hope in them, if you pay attention to it. Those who are so downcast, and say, I am tossed to and fro—you will find no one more attentive to the means of grace than they, no one more thoughtful, no one more downcast, no one more desirous to have a blessing from God, no one more tender, no one more scrupulous; they take note of their conversations, they take note of their words and of how they conduct themselves; the least failure in their conduct, and their heart smites them; you will see no one more intent on edification when they are together with others; you will see no one more distressed when they have not been edified, indeed, when they have once given someone offense and caused a stumbling, then they are so terribly distressed; you will see no one more averse to the world—yet they fall silent when they are among worldly people. So I kept silence, even from good, said the prophet, Psalm 39:2. Yet that will not do; no one, when they must be among worldlings and keep company with them, will show more compassion toward them; no one will you see so distressed as when the pious fall into worldly ways. All these are proofs of hope, that it is in your heart; none of this could occur without hope. That is our first point.

II. Now our second point. There are those who say, I cannot get over it nonetheless, I fear he is not my Savior, and he never will be, and so I may not hope in his name. We shall warn you who speak so concerning some things.

1. Guard yourself against nourishing, in solitude, blasphemous and hopeless thoughts against God: that would be a burning poison that would drink up all your strength, Job 6:4. God, said he, I cry out, but heaven is as shut, Job 19:7. Jeremiah 4:14, How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee. If you begin to give assent to that, such souls become notoriously wretched.

2. Guard yourself against unbelieving outbursts and gestures against God, as Job did, chapter 3:6, and as David did, 1 Samuel 27:1. Guard yourself against outbursts against God in which you say, I will not believe that God has heard my voice. You will do better to say, Ah Lord, set a watch before my mouth, that I sin not with my lips, Psalm 141:3, and Psalm 39:10, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth. Psalm 19:15, Ah Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight!

3. Do you know what else you must guard against? Against casting to the wind, against God, all the comforts that God administers to you, making them fruitless. Psalm 77:2, My soul refused to be comforted. When someone deals with you, do not cast their arguments to the wind so as to make them fruitless: that will bring great distress to your spirit.

4. Guard yourself against idleness. Ah, do not look askance at your work: if you have an honest calling, do not look down upon it. The church once said, Psalm 44:17, All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely with thee.

5. Do you know what else you must guard against? Against neglecting to renew your covenant. However dark you may be, you must not neglect the Lord's Supper: let it be with you as it will, you do not come there to provoke God, nor to deceive or lie, though you come not without a wedding garment. God has so provided that this time should be observed, in both Old and New Testament, and has said, proclaim the Lord's death till he come; do this in remembrance of me. If you will not say it yourselves, the Lord will say it: what have I not done for you?

III. Let us at once give counsel as to what you must do.

1. Go alone, when you cannot hope, and say in a solitary place, what is the matter, what reason have I given God that he stands so far off? What is the greatest reason why I should think that Jesus is not my Savior? It is not enough that you are so downcast. Psalm 42:11, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and Lamentations 3:40, Let us search and try our ways; and Psalm 77:6, I communed with mine own heart in the night, upon my bed, in the still and thoughtful night. Do you suppose it is so easy to come into heaven? There are strugglings, there are combats, there is much that goes on before one comes into a settled state. Then you must examine yourself and say, what is the matter that I cannot pass over to Jesus, to hope in his name?

2. This we advise you: keep close to your duties, in solitude, in your private chamber, in your household, in public, among the pious, in gatherings; hold fast to prayer, reading, hearing, and conversing; your heart will yet catch fire at times, Luke 24:32; see Psalm 44 and 84.

3. We advise you: ask your heart in the presence of God, why are you so despondent? Has God then never wrought anything in your soul? Has he never done anything for you? Is all that is in you merely nature? Ask your heart whether you do not still prefer your heavy-hearted state to all the pleasure of the world; and we ask, have you not had solicitations to turn back, and have you not refused them? And ask then, whether you would give your uncertain portion for all that is in the world? We ask you, when God the Lord spoke to you of peace, and when he met you once in your entreaties, whether you were not so moved in your heart that you had to say, my God, I must yield to you. And must you not still say, ah, I wish I might have such an hour once more.

Do you not now see that there are grounds of hope in you? Well then, hold it fast, and say with Job, notwithstanding, the root of the matter is found in me, chapter 19:28. Let me add this besides: God gives his own time to come to you; he makes everything beautiful in its time, Ecclesiastes 3:11. He has a well-pleasing time to help, an hour of grace, 2 Corinthians 6:2. He will help in a fitting time, Hebrews 4:16. God will do it at that time in which he is most glorified: be patient, wait and be still for the salvation of the Lord, Lamentations 3:26. In your patience possess ye your souls, Luke 21:19. And in any case, let it go as it will go, take a heartfelt resolution to hold to the Lord, whether he will condemn or save you, and say in that heartfelt resolution, must I die, I will die here at your feet, but I will nonetheless look up, to see if you will hold out to me the scepter of your favor; be pleased to do it, I shall thank you for it eternally. He who has so good a resolve of heart—shall he thus be lost? Shall he not be hoping in Jesus? Indeed, he who falls down before the Lord in humble entreaties, and says, when will you come to me? Even were it the prayer of one who was overwhelmed, God will not despise it, Psalm 102:1. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path, Psalm 142:3. That little spark Jesus will not extinguish.

Seeing that we shall not be able to deal with everything, we shall for now remain with these three points, of which the first contains the grounds of hope, the second what to guard against, the third counsel as to what to pursue: the fourth, a beginning at resolving the difficulties, we shall reserve for another time; and I hope that God will bless this: Amen.

Sermon 9

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein two difficulties are resolved: I. I am not in the Book of Life. II. I have committed the sin against the Holy Spirit.

We read Ezekiel 13:22, that there were preachers who grieved the heart of the righteous and caused them pain, when God had not done so; and there were preachers who strengthened the hands of the wicked, whom God did not wish to have strengthened. That thirteenth chapter is very forceful. In the first thirteen verses you find those poor fellows: they took up that office, they let themselves be installed, and they said they would hold with God's cause; yet they did not come to preach faithfully, but plastered the people with untempered mortar, and came with things that had no substance. Then, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth verse, a heavy judgment is threatened against such. There women too came in among them; preaching seemed so fine in their eyes, they too wished to take up the office, they too went about prophesying, they preached in the same manner, verses 17, 18. And in the nineteenth verse, how did it stand among the people? It was so corrupted there, that they were so taken with such people: the people liked it well enough, they went home untroubled. This being so, God comes and looks upon that work, and says to those preachers, what are you doing? You do nothing but grieve the hearts of my children, you cause them pain, you come only to quench my children, you condemn them and threaten them with temporal and eternal evil: and what do you do with the wicked? You stiffen them, so that they become proud and bold in sin, so that it never occurs to them to turn from it—oh, they begin to grow hardened in their impenitence. Beloved, does not God care for his children, even when the preachers do not? Oh yes; even if they had no other to help them, God cares; he can care through means, but also without means.

Even if you had them all for you, said God, what would it help, if I did not spare you? And even if you had them all against you, I would still care for you. That is, in brief, the content of this thirteenth chapter. A preacher may have an ever so honorable a ministry, yet he must guard himself against two things. First, he must associate himself with the sinner, he must not let him go unwarned to hell; so that the sinner should not say in judgment, you did not warn me, and so that God should not have to say, I will require his blood at your hand. In the second place, he must guard himself against causing pain, by word or deed, to the least of God's children. Oh those, said God, to whom I wish to have given every encouragement, whom I entrust to you, will you grieve them? Those whom I wish to have comforted with the promises of grace in my Son, will you strike them in the face? Take heed, you will go astray if you do so: you shall make a distinction between one small creature and another, between the fat of the flock and the lean, you shall instruct them well, to the weak you shall be as a weak one, you shall receive them and not draw them into disputation, you shall comfort the fainthearted, you shall support the weak, 1 Thessalonians 5:14. You shall pay close heed and look well, preachers, at my Son, said God, at how he did it, how this Master went before you. Was there anywhere a spark in the soul that they themselves did not even know of, he went and fanned it into flame. Was there anywhere a bruised reed, bearing spiritual death upon its lips, that had a break and a crack in it, that said, I can stand no longer—there the Lord went, and said, my Father has sent me to you to bind up your broken heart, I have come to see what difficulties you are making, why it is that you waver so; tell me, why are you so fearful? Through such deeds of the Lord, and of all his faithful servants, the Lord's cause achieves the victory. You will say, how does God's cause come to victory? By not breaking such bruised reeds, and not quenching the smoking wicks. And when there were no more to be found among the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he did it among the Gentiles; he made them, in the same way as among the Jews, hope in his name.

Beloved, you know that we have shown you those two verses some five or six times over in their theory and their application. We said then that we could not pass it by, but that we must show you the experiential side of it as well. You must know that a preacher has received a blessed and learned gift when he receives this—that he can heal the weak in their sicknesses and weaknesses, and pour oil and wine into their wounds, so that the weak, having come home, must say, there it was spoken to my heart, whence did this come to me! Beloved, we have sought to order the matter so that we first sought to convince you that you were a bruised reed and a smoking wick, and that you were hoping in the name of the Lord Jesus, and that the marks of hope were plainly in you. We then put certain questions to you, and said, answer them before the Lord. Then we let follow those things which you had to avoid. Then we showed you those things which you must diligently pursue, and that you should then await what blessing God would give your soul in the further course of your life. Last time we said that we would seek to resolve the difficulties that lay upon the hearts even of those who hoped in his name: if you are willing to follow the resolutions, we will gladly resolve them for you, one by one—they are well worth it; and if you are willing and teachable, we know that you will be able to raise no objection against the resolution.

You will say, before we get to it: I believe in the Lord Jesus—can I then hope that I am comprehended in him, for eternity, in time, and now, that I belong to that head? See here, I cannot and dare not yet: when I come to that point, my heart fails me under it, I dare not do it; indeed I find myself in such a state that I think, I stand near to eternity, or if I do not yet stand so near, it is at any rate uncertain whether God will not soon take me out of time; and, to speak plainly, I shrink from the outcome: when the outcome of the matter shall come, then I fear that God will take away all the sweetness that I have ever enjoyed in my life, and that I shall sink into a bottomless pit of everlasting desperation. Is that how it stands with you? Yes, you will say, and listen further: in the abundance of my sorrow I have made my condition known to experienced practitioners, experienced teachers, and pious people—the best I have ever heard—and instead of being refreshed by them, it has grown worse; they have indeed faithfully sought to treat me, and spared nothing of their own to do it, but it has grown worse rather than better; and I fear, if you too are to deal with me, that it will have the very same outcome, and so I fear that you too will become discouraged in dealing with me, as have all the rest, and that you will say, I commit you to God and to time; but if you can do anything, I would say as did the parents of that child, we have brought him to your disciples, but they could not help him; but if you can do anything, be moved with compassion, Matthew 17:15, 16; be so moved with compassion toward me as well. Hear me: at the outset I must tell you this, that you must not be surprised, even if all the best preachers and the most experienced pious people had dealt with you and it had not helped. Why?

1. First, God takes great care that the means remain merely means; God takes great care of this, so that there should not be a single member who should discover that the means are above God: that throne alone, said God, will I keep higher than men.

2. Secondly, said God, I will always so lead you that you do not esteem and value the means too highly, lest you cling too much to the means or to any man, and so quietly fall away from me: if a preacher, or a pious person, or some means, were always so blessed to you, we would then act so carnally, just as Martha did—Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died, John 11:21. Then you would begin to say, had I been under the ministry of such and such a one, I would not be so sorrowful. That I cannot bear, said God, you would so quietly begin to fall away from me: one would go and say, I am of Paul; I am of Cephas, another would say; and another, I am of Apollos, and they will help me well; but the fourth sort had it best of all—what did they say? I am of my Lord Jesus Christ, he must help me.

3. The third reason is this: God well knows that preachers would readily grow proud: that I cannot bear, said God, and so he mortifies even the best preachers, by not giving too much blessing on their work, lest they should exalt themselves, but that they should say, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us, 2 Corinthians 4:7. God takes such exceeding care that his faithful servants should not become haughty: he would rather that they be somewhat downcast, he would rather that they sit with their heads between their knees out of faintheartedness, than that they should exalt themselves. I will see to it, said God, that you must say with Paul, Paul is nothing, Cephas is nothing, Apollos is nothing, God must give the increase, 1 Corinthians 3:7.

4. The fourth reason is that God should have the glory. When that man's child was helped, they had to say, Lord, you have done it. And in Song of Solomon 3, the Bride was with the watchmen, she asked after the Lord, but they could not help her: then she turned away from the watchmen, and met the Lord.

There you have the reasons: you can feel their weight. You will say, is there then nothing that you think might contribute something of my own faith or my own joy? Is there anything—do speak it out for once? Well, speak up, you people too: why then do you bow yourself down so? Why can you not hope? Explain your whole heart to us for once. Ah, you will say, I believe that once I have spoken out my whole heart, you will agree with me that I have no ground to hope. And I do not believe it: I believe that I shall not agree with you at all. You can well see that we shall not be able to deal with all the difficulties this morning: one or two, then, for now.

I. What do you say now? I am no Remonstrant, no erring spirit, but a good Reformed Christian, I believe in an Election and a Reprobation. But do you rightly understand Election and Reprobation? You will say, I know no better. What then do you understand by Election? I understand by it that free, eternal, fixed, unchangeable counsel of God, in which he has fixed a definite and certain number of people, by name and surname, in whom he will glorify himself in Christ, by granting them grace and glory. Yes, that is sound. What now do you understand by Reprobation? That free, eternal, fixed, unchangeable counsel of God, in which he has determined, concerning the greater part of mankind—and the greater part of professing Christians—to glorify himself by his righteousness, and to give them over forever to the Devil. I have nothing against that either, that too is well said. Now it is so, you will say, according to the Word, as it stands; then I ask you, if one stands enrolled in the Roll of Death, can he then be transferred into the Roll of Life? Never. Then I ask you, you will say, if I do not now stand in the Roll of Life, is it not all in vain, then, whatever I do? If I am not one of the elect, may I then hope in Jesus at all? Has not God given only the elect to his Son, that they might be redeemed through him? Yes, that we grant you fully. It is so, set it as firmly on its feet as you will. Now I think you will say that you are not one of the elect but a reprobate, and ask me, can you help me at all, in my whole life, with whatever gift you have? I am, you say, a reprobate and not one of the elect? Now I must give you an answer.

1. Do you, in the course of nature, act so entirely according to God's ordering? Do you act so when you are sick? Do you always act so according to God's decree? I well know you do not: you often go about all your affairs, day after day, week after week, without once thinking of it.

2. Are not the decrees of the great God exceedingly secret? Has anyone ever climbed up to heaven and discovered them? Does anyone live in the world who knows them? Are they not the depths of God?

3. Does God indeed wish us to search so closely into his depths? Did he not say, leave that to me, Deuteronomy 29:29: The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us—my commandment, law, will and precept, that is your rule, by which you must walk and by which I will judge you.

4. Must you not concede and acknowledge that if someone is elect in my counsel, said God, he shall be converted, receive faith, and begin to live godly, even though he does not know that he is elect: and wait then until I bring you, by degrees, through my Spirit, to clarity concerning my decrees. Luke 13:23, 24, there was such a curious person: Lord, said he, are there few that be saved? What is that to you, said the Lord, do your utmost, strive to enter in.

That we say in general: first, you do not act so in nature. Then, the decrees of God are exceedingly secret. Then, they are depths that belong to the Lord alone. Finally, God said, I do not wish you to want to know so precisely what is in my counsel; see to what you have to do, and wait until I bring you to light through my Spirit.

Yes, you will say, whether I can get past this or not, I fear that I am a reprobate; I am not the object of God's love. I say, if you have any signs at all, hold fast to them. Have you truly cared for your life? Have you truly found your life? I have found, in my life, none but two that may be held as fixed marks of a reprobate, marks that are truly divine; these are: first, when a person is careless in his heart and remains unconverted, and continues in that and dies in it. Secondly, when a person has committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. Now I ask you, must you not concede that there are no more than these? You will say, I find the first, I go on carelessly, I remain unconverted. Do you not know what more we said with that? We said, to go on carelessly to the very end, and so to die, like that one thief on the cross: and that, surely, you cannot say of yourself. You may perhaps still be hardened now, but you do not know what you may yet become. Does not the king go out even at the eleventh, the last hour? Will not God pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, and in all times of life, even upon the old, Acts 2:17? Yes, you will say, but I have committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. That we shall treat briefly as well.

II. You say, I have the marks of reprobation, and you have them not. We ask you, do you not, on the contrary, find the marks of election? There are four fixed marks of election: which shall we name? 1. The first is, that you are powerfully called by God out of the world, and that you are willing and you listen. 2. The second, that this Lord Jesus, of whom you say you do not hope in him, you nevertheless secretly cling to: you esteem him highly, you thirst after him, you will point God to no one else but him, when it comes down to it. 3. The third is, that sin appears to you as it truly is: does not the sinful life appear so to you? 4. The fourth, that you hold living a godly life to be precious.

Called, you will say, how would that have happened? Just as a father calls his child who stands among a crowd of scoundrels: as soon as the father calls, you will soon see which of the crowd is the child; he will come out from the crowd at once and follow his father. Then you received faith. Then did sin become a burden to you? Then did serving God become a joy to you? And now I say that, instead of having the marks of reprobation, you possess the marks of election.

II. You will say, I have not much to set against that; but I have committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. Did you but know what things I have done, what has gone on within me, how I have dishonored the name of God, and assailed and blasphemed it! One who has committed the sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be saved through the Lord Jesus, Hebrews 6:4–8; and 1 John 5:16, pray not for it, said the Lord, it shall not be forgiven here, there is no sacrifice for that sin. You will say, and that I have nonetheless done: I have grieved the Spirit, I have sinned against my conscience, against the light and the constraint of my conscience: I have risen up against God; you can give me no comfort, not in all the world. I answer you:

1. First, atheism, and even blasphemy, can befall a child of God, and yet that be not that sin: they may, in irritability and peevishness against God, say, all men are liars, even were an infallible prophet sent to them from God; a child of God can even go so far as to blaspheme the Father and the Son, and blaspheme the Son as well: how many a blasphemer is there among God's children whose blasphemy we know God has forgiven? You shall hear the Son himself say, even if you blasphemed the Father and me, it shall be forgiven you, Matthew 12:31, 32.

2. Secondly I answer you, it is true that atheistic thoughts can occur, but there is a great difference between atheistic thoughts in the pious and in the impious. First, the impious seek them out, they fetch them from books, they study them; a pious person says, oh God, I fight against them, they are but assaults, injections, attacks, temptations. Secondly, the wicked rejoice in them, they take their pleasure in them; the pious, on the other hand, melt away under them, they waste away, they grow lean because of them. Thirdly, the wicked seek out such company as sits and talks so blasphemously of God; the pious avoid such company, and live then in solitude. Fourthly, the wicked speak it out; the pious stifle it. Fifthly, the wicked is stubborn, he does not wish to be rid of it; but the pious is tractable, and is as glad as can be to be rid of it. Sixthly, the wicked count it as great wisdom; the pious count themselves a great beast before God for it. Seventhly, in the wicked it springs from wickedness, and they go on in wickedness; but the pious remain tender and holy, even though they be, as you may be, plagued with the most venomous thoughts from hell. Pious souls, do you see now that you have not committed the sin against the Holy Spirit, even though you have blasphemous thoughts?

3. Thirdly, you say, would God then still take hold of blasphemers by the heart? Yes, God does indeed take hold of blasphemers by the heart. Where was there ever a blasphemer like Manasseh? How many a blasphemer among the Jews has been converted? How did Paul blaspheme?

4. Fourthly, I must tell you this as well: not every atheistic thought is the sin against the Holy Spirit. So that you form no wrong notion of it, we must tell you what the sin against the Holy Spirit is, and what it is not; and then we must lay it upon your own conscience whether it is in you.

What is the sin against the Holy Spirit not?

1. It is not this, that you sin against your conscience, that you sin against your better knowledge. David's heart smote him when he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, 1 Samuel 24:6. How often a child of God's heart smites him when he sins!

2. Nor is it this, even if you sin against your enlightened conscience, a conscience enlightened by God's Spirit. David and Peter had considerable enlightenment of their consciences, and yet they sinned against it. It went so far that Paul had to rebuke Peter to his face, Galatians 2:11; he had great light, and yet he went against it.

3. Nor is it this, to fall into gross sins and remain lying in them a long time. How long did David and Solomon lie in sin?

4. To deny, in one's profession, the Godhead of the Spirit—to deny that the Holy Spirit is a person among the three divine Persons—that is not it either. Socinians and others deny that. That the craftiest fellows, who know better, commit it, is another matter; but ordinary professors, who know no better, or think it is so, do not commit it. Paul denied the Godhead of Christ before his conversion; so it is with God the Holy Spirit. Paul blasphemed the Godhead of Christ, and thus also the Spirit of Christ, because he did not acknowledge him as God; but once God had converted him, he did it no more: and can God then also take hold, by the heart, of a denier of the Godhead of Christ and of the Holy Spirit—and could he then not do the same for you? We would not dare say that in the course of our ministry we have had no examples of it.

5. Nor is it this, to sin against the spiritual convictions in your heart. Ah, poor souls, you come at times under some ministry, it strikes you so keenly, you are so moved by it, and instead of following it, you take another path, and you go and smother all that work, you begin with the Spirit and end with the flesh: as long as you were in church, you were full of emotion, and instead of following it up, you let it slip, you take another path, and you go and utterly deaden it. All that is still not the unpardonable sin. Most of the people at Jerusalem did that; the whole city was in commotion, but nothing followed from it.

6. To deny, under persecution, truths of which you are convinced that they are divine truths—that is not it either. How many a one has, under persecution, failed in confession with the tongue! What need have we to fetch other examples—let us remain in the Bible: there you will find such, remarkably so—Paul, Peter, Judas. Judas did it out of vengeance against the Lord, because he had exposed him as a thief and a traitor, in hope of some small gain he was pursuing; but he did it willingly and knowingly. With Paul it also went quite far: how willingly he bestirred himself in hope of advancement! He was a student and sought to be advanced, and so he did harm to the cause of Christ. Philippians 3:7, he said, I had gain in view. But, oh Lord, he said, however willing it may have been, I had no true knowledge; it was indeed willing, but not knowing, I did it ignorantly in unbelief, 1 Timothy 1:13. Peter did it against so much light: what light did he have? To whom shall we go, you alone have the words of eternal life; we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, John 6:68, 69. He had been on the mountain with the Lord, where his appearance was transfigured, Matthew 17:1, 2; and he had eaten and drunk with him, Matthew 26:26, 27—and did he not know him? Yet he said, I know not the man; I must be lost, I must be accursed, if I know him; I must never come before God in my life, if I know him, Matthew 26:72, 74. What does he do? He does it with knowledge, but the will was not in it: the fire grew too hot for him there, he began to see danger to his life; but he came to tears, and that too went very high, for he wept bitterly, verse 75. He did not commit it against the Spirit: had he sinned against the Father, there was a Son to make satisfaction; had he sinned against the Son, as indeed he had, there was a Spirit who gave him access again to the Lord Jesus, who convicted him of his sin; he did not sin against the Spirit—that one he followed—and so he was free of that unpardonable sin.

Now that we have considered what it is not, we must see what it indeed is: it is a dreadful sin, and it matters little to the Devil into whose hand he puts it. What, then, is that sin?

1. God convinces someone that he wishes to be the God of grace toward him in Christ, through the Spirit, as toward lost sinners: such a one then has a clear and living apprehension of it; upon this God shows him that he indeed wishes to become his, and gives him a foretaste of it in his heart, and how much peace and calm there is in it, and how this redounds to the glory of God: he receives that word with gladness, indeed he even gains from it some measure of peace and calm, so that he must concede there is in all the world no better way than to come to God through the Spirit, in the Lord Jesus.

2. That such a one then, not under any constraint, but knowingly and in wantonness, goes and denies this, seeing no gain in the denial, and in the confession little loss, without any necessity, without gain or fear, without the least reluctance about it.

3. That such as do not do so are then mocked, and it is said, it is folly and foolishness, they are fools and self-conceited pretenders, and, as they said of the Lord Jesus, he has the Devil in him: that is it.

4. Then there begins to come wickedness, hatred, opposition, against the cause of God and the work of his Spirit: then they go to hinder and draw others away from the Lord, indeed at last they stir up a bloody persecution.

5. Then they go and boast over the burnings of the Lord's people, and think, he who has fallen shall not rise again; and they are glad that they are no longer among the company of God's people; they exult in having all God's children under their feet.

6. In this they continue to the end of their life, without any reflection; then the Spirit never works in them, but they thus stifle themselves in sin.

What do you say—can you let such thoughts reign in you, you who are so troubled over this, who would so gladly have Jesus as your Savior, who esteem the pious so highly? You have not committed it, and you shall never in eternity commit it. There, now we leave it to your own judgment, whether you can still stand against this. There is no arguing it away, you must have reason: you always demand reason of us. You will perhaps say, you have preached so long on this now, and yet that is still not my state. If it is not your state, it may be another's, and it may yet become yours; or it may have been another's once, and he has since somewhat stifled it. Now you have occasion to see to the very bottom of it: the Devil has nothing on you; and therefore, bruised reeds, do hope in the name of the Lord Jesus. You will say, there you are again establishing that I am a bruised reed. We cannot always repeat what it consists of; but I believe that you, when we showed you that, went home so deeply moved that you had to say to yourself, ah, yet we have none other but you, Lord Jesus Christ; by you I live, and by you I die, and upon you I will risk myself before the Lord in the judgment.

Now the other difficulties in the time to come. I hope that the Lord will bless this to us and to you, to his glory, for his Son's sake; Amen.

Sermon 10

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein two further difficulties are resolved: I. How could I hope in his name, when I have sinned so terribly? II. I cannot so easily believe that God can become my God, or anyone's, seeing he has four such fearsome attributes.

We read 1 Thessalonians 1:3, that the Apostle speaks of the labor of love and of the work of faith; not only that, but he speaks also of the patience of hope, and there we wished to dwell a little; upon that patience of hope we wished to stand a little. A hoping soul, who longs for heaven upon the ground of God's grace in Christ, shall suffer much offense; they shall have so much affliction that they did not foresee it all at the beginning. At times they must suffer in their name, at times in their goods, at times in their blood; if it happens that they need not suffer in their body, then they have it in their soul. As soon as they set their feet upon the way, they know well that something will meet them: but what do they do? They set themselves against it, they reckon on it, they order all their affairs accordingly. Seeing Jesus without form or comeliness, and yet remaining faithful to God, they too wish to be so; seeing that the Lord Jesus was poor for his children's sake, they too are willing to suffer somewhat for his sake; they seek to be patient under affliction, and so daily to take up their cross and follow the Lord. And though they have not much of those things that are seen, they live in the expectation that they shall come to the possession of those things that are not seen: they have a well-grounded hope that all things shall not remain as they now are, but that a turn shall come at last.

Those who now laugh shall afterward mourn, and those who now mourn, hoping in the living Lord Jesus, shall afterward be glad. Paul said, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, 1 Corinthians 15:19. One may ask, why do they hope that it shall turn at last? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior. Is that their only ground, that it will turn at last? Yes, that was not the ground they once had; they had, in their own lives, no ground of hope at all: were he not there, all their hope was vain and they remained in their sins; were he not there, said a hoping soul, there was not a single promise for me, but only curses; were there no Jesus Christ, I would have no ground of hope, but now my only hope is fastened upon him, for all the promises are in him yea and amen, 2 Corinthians 1:20. Now that I am his, my hope is that he will reconcile God to me, and that God will forgive my sins, and that he will comfort me, and that he will keep me, and that he will afterward bring me into the everlasting dwellings of God's own mouth. Lord Jesus, they say, you are the sole ground of my hope; you are that one name in whom I must hope; indeed I hope so much in you that I believe you have obtained for me that you are to me a strong tower, to which I may flee for refuge and be set in a high retreat, Proverbs 18:10. You are my rock, to enter into continually, Psalm 71:3. O the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea, Psalm 65:5. You will say, is the Lord Jesus Christ so described in the Word? Yes, in two such beautiful places: 1 Timothy 1:1, according to the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Colossians 1:27, there the Apostle says that Christ is the hope of glory. What did the travelers to Emmaus say, Luke 24:21? We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. Genesis 49:18, said Jacob, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord! Job said, chapter 13:15, I will nonetheless content myself with my hope, let it go as it will—though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

Beloved, you know that we have for some time been occupied with holding forth Christ to you as our hope, out of these same two verses read to you once more. We wished to sustain a bruised reed and a smoking wick. Psalm 62:8, said David, trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Those who fear the Lord, they have put their trust in him. Psalm 115:9–11, O Israel, trust thou in the Lord; O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord; ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. Being thus occupied, we have at times asked you, why do you waver, O you of little faith: is it because there is no God in Israel? Is it because there is no Mediator? To that we said, we know you will say, I have abundant reasons. You may have brought forward some, which we have together considered; but others you thought, those reasons do not touch me: there are still some stones of difficulty upon my heart, of which we have already mentioned some. One said, why should I hope, I am a reprobate, I have no ground of hope; another said, I have committed the sin unto death; another said, it is utterly hopeless with me for all my life: all of that we have sought to resolve. But there remain still others, which are likewise worthy of our reflection, our speaking, and your hearing: which we shall now seek to address, and we shall seek to occupy you by picturing a heavy-hearted soul, presently speaking in our midst, in his heart, before God, in this manner: I, poor sinner, man or woman, out of the Gentiles, should I hope in the Lord Jesus, and should I hope that God is reconciled with me in Christ, and that God will save me? Should I hope that I have obtained, or shall obtain, God in Christ as my portion in my life? Should I hope that? Ah, poor soul, I cannot. What then ails you?

1. What ails me? Ah, my sins are so many, they are so varied, and these hinder me from this hope. What have I sinned, with such aggravating circumstances! Against my better knowledge have I sinned! Against my conscience! Against the beating of my own heart! Lord, I did it against so much light, against my resolutions, against my tears; I sinned against my vow, against my promises, against the covenant; I sinned against chastisements, against blessings, against my convictions and my awakenings; and I sinned, Lord, under everything you gave me, against so many admonitions besides; I was indeed so hemmed in, and yet I did it, against awakenings, against the offer of your grace, against your love; I do not know whether there is soon anyone like me; I know of none at all; and I think, if I speak my heart out plainly, that God's righteousness is concerned that he must punish me as an example to others, and that he must create, as it were, something new for that purpose, so that the earth may readily open its mouth to let me sink alive into hell, and that it shall be said, that befell that sinner or that sinning woman as a warning to others. Does such a stone lie upon your heart? Is that the reason for your heaviness of spirit? We must deal with you somewhat. We say then:

1. We will not minimize either your sins or our own: that would be the very way to increase your evil, and to hinder our access to your heart. Ah yes, both you and I, such sinners are we, each as scarlet, as crimson through sin. We neither may nor must minimize them; but we must say, who can understand his errors? Psalm 19:12.

2. But just as we have no authority to minimize sin, so too we have no authority to minimize the grace of God that is in Christ, nor to minimize the worthy merits of Christ. Be as loathsome as you are, and lay yourself once beside the grace of God in Christ and beside the infinite worth of the merits of Christ: which then is the heavier?

3. So we ask you, and answer between God and your heart: do you not believe, however great your sins are, that the infinite grace of God is nonetheless greater still, to blot them out? Do you not believe, however great they are, that the ransom of Christ is nonetheless sufficient to make satisfaction for your sins, and to reconcile God with you? Answer that between God and your soul.

4. I ask you: have you not read in Scripture of your equals, indeed of those who exceeded you in horrible, ugly sins? Of such as you never came near in wickedness, whom God has nonetheless graciously forgiven in his Son? Were there ever greater sinners in the world than Adam and his wife? They who were created in the image of God, who had so much, glorious and fair in every way—and yet they willfully robbed themselves of those gifts through the outward temptation of the Devil. When that pair had fallen and had humbled themselves, did God not revive them with grace in Christ? Genesis 3:15. Yes, did he not save them? How does it strike you, that God offered him his grace, if he would but humble himself? How does it strike you, that God not only offered Manasseh his grace, but gave it to him? What do you think of those harlots and tax collectors, and of that sinful woman and that thief in the time of Christ? Whom else shall we bring forward out of the Word to whom God has given his grace? Shall we bring you sorcerers—there were such too, Acts 19:19? Paul speaks of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, and others of that sort, and then says, such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, 1 Corinthians 6:10, 11.

Having now answered this, a bruised reed will come in against it and say: those answers you give do not touch me; I grant that God shows the most wicked his grace, however greatly they have sinned, provided it happened before their conviction: those who were slaves of the Devil before their conviction, and sinned so, but did not know it, that God receives such into heaven, even having been so wicked, that I am willing to believe; but with me it is altogether different, that does not apply to me, for I have done all this after I was enlightened by the Word and by God's Spirit, after I was convicted, so that I do not know where to hide myself.

1. First, you say: I have sinned against light. Do you mean by that light, convictions, true grace, conversion, or not? If you say no, then the answer we have just given applies to you as much as to the most ungodly person. But if by it you understand true grace and conversion, then you may indeed still be a slave of the Devil, and the previous answer applies to you. But if you do mean grace by that light, then you would not dare think that you are such a slave of the Devil, that sin so reigns over you. What then? Were you converted after you sinned so, or were you converted beforehand? Are you still in the state of nature, or do you possess more than nature? If you possess more, then know, for your comfort, that sin committed after receiving grace — even against ever so much light — will not cause you to be lost; it will not break the love of God. You may have some trouble over it, some blows, some faintheartedness, so that nothing in the whole world pleases you; but you will never be lost because of it. You will indeed find it bitter, but this will always remain the truth: Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:6. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance, Romans 11:29. But that you will feel the bitterness of it, that you may easily grant us — we need not prove that to you.

2. I answer you further: what godly people have ever lived who did not sin against the light of God's Spirit after receiving grace? Who did not sin against their own resolutions? who did not sin against their tears, their promises, their oaths? Romans 7:19, the Apostle said, the good that I would, I do not; and the evil which I would not, that I do — against this I protest and testify. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, Philippians 3:12.

3. I answer you: that neither you nor anyone else has a promise anywhere in the whole Word that you will be kept from scandalous sins after receiving grace; and even if you fell into one, that can still go together with grace and salvation.

4. I answer you: have not great godly men fallen? How many are recorded there, some of whom lay in it for months, others for years, others fell more than once into one and the same sin. Consider Noah, Lot, Abraham, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Peter — what heroes of grace they were! and did they not fall into scandalous sins? And some fell so soon again into the very same offenses. Abraham, hard upon one lie, committed another. David remained nine months in his sin, until Nathan the prophet said, you are the man, 2 Samuel 12:7. And Solomon for years — even in bowing before the idol.

5. I answer you: does not the great God promise his grace to all who fall down before him in fear and repentance? When they came back to him, did he not forgive them? Are they not long since before the throne? Is that not still the promise of God, even though you have played the harlot with many lovers? Return, nevertheless, Jeremiah 3:22. Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, Song of Songs 6:13. When a child of God comes and says, I cannot bear it until I have confessed and mourned my offenses, and until they are atoned for in Christ and amended by your Spirit — then, when they come so, God says, I will heal your backslidings, Jeremiah 3:22.

Now if a bruised reed should say to this: this gives a fine foothold to sin! this is only ever speaking to please the presumptuous hypocrite; this flatters the presumptuous, and the godly who live carelessly, laying soft cushions under their elbows, so that it makes them sink comfortably into carelessness — if you were to speak so, you would altogether mistake us. Far, far be it from us that we should confirm a presumptuous hypocrite or a careless soul in his state; far, far be it from us that we should make a truly godly person careless. No, no: against a presumptuous hypocrite and an ungodly person we would speak in quite another tone; but to the bruised reeds we must speak this way — it is for their sake that such things were written. They alone have part and portion in that word, Isaiah 57:15-18. You may read it once you are home, and see how the High and Lofty One speaks there, and with what purpose — namely, that he might comfort the humble: he would dwell with them — why? to revive the spirit of the contrite. Read also, once home, Isaiah 61:1-3: I have been sent, says the Lord Jesus, to comfort those who mourn, to give them beauty for ashes. Matthew 11:28, the Lord Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give rest to your soul — I have come for this, to comfort such mourners. And now I ask you: does the word not become too mighty and too strong for you? Must you not say, Ah, Lord! I cannot argue against it, but you almost persuade me to let go of my heaviness of heart?

Well, you say almost: what is troubling you then? why not go all the way? If there is such grace in Christ for those who were ungodly, even after their convictions, what still remains that keeps you from hoping in his name? Speak your whole heart out. You will perhaps think in your heart: I am indeed persuaded that the ransom of Christ is powerful enough — whether I am godly or ungodly, no matter what I have done — to pay for it; but something else lies hidden in me. What is it? This: I cannot so readily grant that God can forgive the sins of me or of anyone else. Now truly, if you cannot grant that, you must have some great reason for it. If you cannot readily grant it, tell me why not. Ah God, you will say, I cannot hope in the name of the Lord Jesus, for I see your being as it is, and it is so dreadful; you are indeed God in Christ, but you are also the God of truth; I see your truth, I see your holiness, I see your righteousness, and your unchangeableness; and now I cannot grasp how God could become my God, or anyone's God.

You ask why not? Well, I would say then, with tears and trembling: has his own mouth not spoken? Has he not said, I am the True One? Did he not say, both before the fall and after the fall, the soul that sins shall die? And after the fall: cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them, Deuteronomy 27:26 and Galatians 3:10. Is my God then not also a holy God? Can that undefiled light, that holy Being, have any dealings with me, a sinner? Can that light mix itself with darkness? Oh, how could I ever have a share in that holy Being? Habakkuk 1:12-13. Is my God then not also a righteous God? If he has holiness and righteousness, why else are they there but to exercise vengeance? How then can I so readily believe that God can become my God, or anyone's? Yet again — is God's being not also an unchangeable being? Malachi 3:6. Is there any shadow of turning with him? James 1:17. May I now think that God will not display his own being for my sake or anyone's, or that he will forget his truth, his holiness, his righteousness, his unchangeableness? May I, or anyone, think, or let it enter our heart, that God will deny himself — when he can glorify himself by those very perfections by casting me into hell? Ah Lord! when that comes upon the heart, it can cut the heart in two.

Hold fast now, and we shall answer you thus: 1. That those attributes truly are the being of God. 2. That neither I nor you ought to wish that God might change his being into some other being — then he would be no God; that would be an abomination. 3. Since God is such a Being as he is, I answer you this: first, does that great Being not have other praiseworthy qualities besides those which are dreadful to contemplate — qualities which are likewise his very being, and which are likewise unchangeable? What other pearls does God still have in his crown? His all-sufficiency and his wisdom; he has understanding enough to arrange things so that these attributes of God do not run against one another; and besides that, his love of mankind, his grace, his compassion.

Yes, you will say: but I believe also that I have forfeited that. I say: you are right, if you consider those attributes in themselves; but I answer you, secondly: must you consider those dreadful attributes in themselves, or must you regard them in the Mediator who stands between God and man? And see now, when you regard them so, whether they conflict with one another at all, and whether that Mediator cannot fully satisfy the complete demand of God's truth, holiness, righteousness, and unchangeableness. He was made a curse for us, that we might be free, Galatians 3:13. We are made righteous in him, the Son of God, whom God made to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5:21. A third reason is this: those very perfections of God which so terrify are better satisfied by the ransom of the Lord Jesus than if I or you lay eternally in hell. Why? He satisfies, and he brings it about that God is reconciled with us; if we lie in hell we do not reconcile God — then we lie under the vials of his righteousness forever.

What do you think now — can God not then become the God of grace in Christ to you and to other sinners? There they receive again a communion with God, and they love the Lord, and the perfections of God do not frighten them away, but rather move them to give God double honor, as they stand before the sight of his perfections. Now I know you must say: I readily grant it, that God can become my God and the God of others, and that he can forgive me without any injury to his perfections. Well then, lay yourself down before God and pray to him, that he would raise you up out of your misery.

There are perhaps some here who say: may a poor soul, even a heathen woman, hope in his name? If you are willing to do so, yes. There, those two difficulties are resolved; they need not hinder you. You will say: there is still more that weighs on my heart. That, at another time; I hope God will bless this: Amen.

Sermon 11

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which three further difficulties are resolved, namely: I. The first: how could I hope in the name of the Lord Jesus, when I have so many troubles in my body? II. The second: I have so many troubles in my soul, or in both body and soul together. III. The third: how could I dare to hope, seeing that no child of God is without crosses, and yet I have so much prosperity of body and soul?

We read in the second chapter of Daniel that the whole court of the king was in an uproar over a dream which the king had dreamed and had forgotten, and the outcome of that dream would set the whole world in an uproar: it lay upon him and worked in his mind, he wanted to know it. He had seen in his dream an image with a head of gold, whose arms were of silver, whose belly and thighs were of bronze, whose legs were of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay; and he saw a stone that came without hands, which struck that image and ground it to pieces, and that stone became a great mountain, so that it filled the whole earth; that stone became an everlasting kingdom — you will find that in verses 34 and 35.

We do not wish to dwell now on that image, but on that stone; on that we must hold our thoughts a while. Who is the stone but the Lord Jesus Christ? That stone came out of the mountain: the Lord Jesus came out of Judah, out of the tribe of Judah. When that stone came, the king and everyone looked on; there was not one who could save that image or hinder that stone: the Lord Jesus likewise was not brought forth by human art or power. A stone is a small thing and a hard substance: the Lord Jesus is man born of man, he was outwardly small, he had little appearance. That stone became an everlasting kingdom; the Lord Jesus likewise does not change, Hebrews 1:10-11.

Not only is the Lord Jesus shown as a stone in the Word, but as a foundation stone, on which all the stones of the whole building rest, Isaiah 28:16. He is that Rock, other than which none can be laid as a foundation, Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 3:11. Nor should your thoughts dwell only on his being called a foundation stone, but also a cornerstone, on which someone might easily be hurt, Isaiah 28:16. It is a stone that binds two separated walls together: so it is with the Son of God — if you are not in him, you strike against him, and then he becomes to you a stone of stumbling, Isaiah 8:14. There stood a chasm between the righteousness of God and the sinner: there Christ comes, as that cornerstone, and joins them together, 2 Corinthians 5:19. There stood a great chasm between Gentile and Jew: there Christ comes again and makes the two into one, Ephesians 2:14. Our thoughts must dwell not only on his being a foundation stone and a cornerstone, but he is also a headstone, that is, a capstone, a completing stone, which sits atop the building and closes and completes it, Zechariah 4:7. This the Lord Jesus is also, Colossians 2:10. In whom are his children made complete but in him? He is the first, the middle, and the last; he is all in all, Colossians 3:11.

That stone is a precious stone; none more excellent is there, Song of Songs 5:16, he is altogether desirable. He is chosen by God and foreknown before the foundation of the world, Isaiah 42:1, 1 Peter 1:20. He is not only chosen, but he is also precious, 1 Peter 2:6. He is precious with God, and precious with the angels, and precious with all the people of God. He is precious with God: God cried out from heaven, my delight and good pleasure is in him, Matthew 3:17. He is precious with the angels: they fly forth from heaven and say, glory to God in the highest over that work, Luke 2:14. He is precious to the godly: see it in Asaph, Psalm 73:26, My flesh and my heart fail; but thou art the rock of my heart, and my portion forever. It is a stone laid by God in Zion, Isaiah 28:16. Upon that stone shall be seven eyes, and I will engrave the engraving thereof, it is written, Zechariah 3:9. I have sealed him, sanctified him, and sent him into the world, said the Father, John 6:27 and 10:36.

So whoever wishes to become blessed must come to that stone, and build upon it, and rest, and go and hope in it, or he will surely fall into hell. Here it is: blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, Jeremiah 17:7. Here it is: surely in the Lord, in the Lord, are righteousness and strength, Isaiah 45:24. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, Psalm 9:10. Romans 15:12, Paul said: there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. So too our dearest Lord Jesus comes and says himself: when I shall have brought my word of grace to victory, then the Gentiles shall come and hope in me.

You know that we have pondered these things several times already. We know that every child of God has his own difficulties, and that there are those who say: may I really hope that God will give me grace here in Christ, and hereafter glory? There lies, they say, so much on my heart that I would gladly have resolved. We have already been occupied with that on several occasions. What blessing it has had, God knows, and you who have enjoyed it. You who have been attentive and have taken note — if we might ask you — did your difficulties weigh on you just as before? You feared and pondered over election and reprobation, over the sin against the Holy Ghost. Ah God, you said, what have I sinned! against so much light! I cannot so easily accept that God would become my God, or anyone else's God, in Christ, because of God's dreadful perfections. Such things we have dealt with. Must you not think: I weighed it too heavily? Must you not conclude that God, to the praise of his grace in Christ, could give you grace as well? Must you not begin to think: I will, with fresh courage and desire, go take up the means, yet without depending on the means themselves, knowing that the means without God are nothing? Must you not think, as Paul once said, except these abide in the ship, we cannot be saved — if I do not use the means, I cannot be saved, Acts 27:31. Perhaps you had to begin thinking: I will, with fresh desire, go take up the means, and see whether my difficulties too shall be resolved. We have meanwhile resolved to occupy ourselves further with that.

1. You will perhaps think: I, poor soul, may I hope in Jesus that he will make me happy? I have such a hard life in the world, my soul is sorrowful even unto death, my chastisements come every morning, I am weary of troubles, I have so many misfortunes and there is still no end — I see no end to it. Is my strength then stone? Is my flesh then brass? Am I a sea, or a whale, that you set a watch over me? Job 6:12 and 7:12. May I really hope that Jesus will make me happy? I! such an unhappy person in this life? I am weary of troubles in this world. Sometimes one must say, as it is written, your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant, my husband, feared the Lord greatly, 2 Kings 4:1. Another must say, call me no longer Naomi, but Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me, Ruth 1:20. Another: I go continually backward — should I trust that Jesus is my Savior, and yet have so many troubles? Sometimes they have less than the beasts: I must eat my bread with such sorrow, I have it worse, Lord, they say, than the heathen; you do not let me go without witness of it, but I have grief upon grief. Poor heart! is that where it fails you? is that where it catches you? there even the godly have sometimes been caught. See Job 21, and Psalm 73. I answer you:

1. First, judge for yourself: are these not common things, which God does to the godly and the ungodly alike? To friends and to enemies, blessing and judgment, God does to both. Is there a wise Solomon? there is also a wise Ahithophel. Is there a great King David? there is also a great King Ahasuerus. Is there a rich King Hezekiah? there is also a rich Nabal. Is there a Peter who is an apostle? there is also a Judas who is an apostle. Is Abel murdered by his brother? Amnon too is murdered by his brother. That, then, is our first answer: God does this to friends and enemies alike; one and the same thing happens to the righteous and to the wicked, Ecclesiastes 9:2.

2. My second answer is: But God gives neither you nor any of his children the liberty to draw conclusions from such circumstances about your spiritual and eternal state. Solomon says, no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him, Ecclesiastes 9:1. May you then safely conclude, from those outward things, that God loves you or that God hates you? You cannot decide it from such outward circumstances. How wrongly would the rich man have concluded that he stood in the love of God! how wrongly would Lazarus have concluded that his circumstances were a sign of God's hatred! Luke 16:22-23.

3. My third answer is: children of God, when you set your feet upon the way to heaven, did not the Lord Jesus warn you that the way would be narrow? Matthew 7:13-14. Did he not tell you that the righteous is scarcely saved? 1 Peter 4:18. That you must and shall enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations? Acts 14:22. Has he then deceived you? and seeing that, did you let yourself be frightened off from entering into covenant with God? Do you not say, yes, even if I must die of hunger and thirst, and even if I must undergo ever so much more, Lord, here is my heart, here is my hand — even if I must enter through many tribulations, it does not matter to me?

4. We give you a fourth answer: even if you complain that your troubles have lasted so long — were you the only one? Are there none in the Bible, now long since in heaven, who had it just as hard, or harder? Consider a Jacob: he had to go wandering off to a foreign land, and he had nothing. Joseph was exalted and then thrown into prison. Compare yourself to a Job, who became the poorest man of the whole East. Lay yourself alongside Asaph, Psalm 73, and alongside Heman, Psalm 88, and alongside David, Psalm 102 — then you will still have to say, Lord! I have it far lighter than these your children.

5. My fifth answer is: Does God nevertheless not remain faithful? Does he lay more upon you than you can bear? Is not the temptation itself common to man? Have you no experience, in all your troubles, on the one hand of God's faithfulness, and on the other of the vanity of the creature? Does God not exercise you in patience, in love, in hope, in faith? Do your graces not shine forth most brightly in that dark night of trouble? Does your love for the Lord not make everything sweet even in bitterness? Do you not sometimes come to that generous frame of mind where you say, none of these things move me, Acts 20:24? Indeed, when your affairs are somewhat resolved, does not your lament turn into a dance? Psalm 30:11. Is there not sometimes a time when you take your harp down from the willows, and, though you must weep, must you not also sometimes wipe the tears from your eyes? Job's latter end was blessed more than his beginning, Job 42:12. Does not everything work together for your good, Romans 8:28? When you sit down once, quiet and calm, must you not say, I had thought it for evil, but God meant it for good, Genesis 50:20? And indeed, would it even benefit you to be prosperous? Prosperity was not nearly so useful to Hezekiah as adversity. I say then, for your comfort: hope then in the Lord Jesus, even if your chastisement comes every morning.

II. Yes, someone will say: was that all — poverty of body? but I am so grieved, I am so bitterly afflicted in my soul, it is there that I lack; because of all the sins I have committed I have so many signs of God's wrath: and what do I do? I live so dreadfully, I am so gloomy and so dark; if I cry to God, he does not answer me; if I pray, God pays me no heed; if I cry out, God lets me stand; I have not the least refreshment; there is such turmoil in me; my pulses do not rest; I am so dead and so cast down, and besides I have all outward troubles; I think it will still end in death, and if I speak my heart out plainly: where I truly fail, amid all these troubles, it is so pitiful within, and I reckon it all to be sparks of hell, and the beginnings of my eternal torment. Well, poor heart! is that where it fails you? does that trouble you? we hope that we shall not be a worthless comforter to you, and we shall seek to answer you.

1. Poor soul! can you make no distinction between the blows of an angry Judge and the chastisements of a loving God? Micah 7:9 — there they made that distinction: I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. God himself makes that distinction, and he says, I chasten every one whom I love, Hebrews 12:6. Though God presses you in soul or body, he may nevertheless love you.

2. The chastisements of God, which he gives as a loving Father to his children, can indeed be so severe that they touch not only skin and flesh, but the very marrow, and crush the very bones, Psalm 51:8, the bones which thou hast broken, O God — heal them! Ah God, he says, I am so broken in my bones! You press hard even to the very roots of my feet, Job 13:27.

3. If that is where it fails you, I must answer you this: the Lord remains, in Christ, nevertheless a Father, and a forgiving God even amid the vengeance he exercises over the misdeeds of his children. Thus we read indeed, he was to them a God who forgave them, yet took vengeance on their inventions, Psalm 99:8; and, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, Psalm 103:13. See how gently David dealt in executing justice on Absalom — it grieved him so that he had to relent; Absalom received a half pardon, and David's heart still hung after Absalom, 2 Samuel 14.

4. I give you yet this as an answer: when God deals so harshly with you, do you give him no reason for it? You are hardly willing to look up to God: you plead against God, against the Word, against your own heart, on behalf of Baal, on behalf of the Devil — do you give God no reason for this? Whether you were in prosperity or in adversity, it never seemed enough; he could scarcely ever satisfy you, so that you have often had to say, through my own folly, not by any mischance, has all this grief come upon me. And with David: I have done very foolishly, 2 Samuel 24:10. Lord, your way is so righteous toward me; your way is in the sanctuary, Psalm 77:13.

5. I answer you further: if you are so pressed, outwardly and inwardly, could you be tamed in any other way than by such strong arrows of the Almighty? Your temperament and nature cannot be tamed otherwise than by a hard hand: your susceptibility to temptation, your peevishness against God, your discontent with God — that is what makes it necessary for God to use such a harsh medicine, just as it once was with Paul; it was so great a matter that he might have grown proud on account of it, and therefore he received buffetings, a messenger of Satan, 2 Corinthians 12:7.

6. I answer you: would it be to God's honor, if your corruptions were running wild, that he should then deal gently with you? Is it not a blemish in parents when they do not chastise their children for misbehaving? Is it not recorded as a blot upon Eli, that when his sons had brought a curse upon themselves, he never so much as looked sourly upon them? 1 Samuel 3:13. Is it to David's honor that he said, deal gently for my sake with the young man, with Absalom? 2 Samuel 18:5. Is it to David's honor that it stands recorded that he never grieved Adonijah all his days? 1 Kings 1:6. Would it then be to God's honor, that he should deal gently with you while your corruptions run so wild?

7. I give you beyond that this answer: is God's wrath not quickly turned away from you, once you begin to set yourself right? When your soul is in the midst of so many troubles, and you fall at God's feet with tears of repentance, with confession of sin, with a promise to amend under the condition of the Lord's Spirit and grace — I ask you then, is God's wrath not soon stilled, and does your heart not then find relief, and does God not then forgive you seventy times seven, and does he not sometimes say, your sins are taken away, you shall not die, you shall again find favor in my eyes? 2 Samuel 12:13.

8. I answer you once more: when God deals harshly with you in soul or body, does he not have this purpose, that you should fall down before him? Is it not fitting for the Lord that he should humble you, and would it be beneath your dignity to come before the Lord in humility and in acknowledgment of your guilt?

9. I answer you last of all: in the midst of wrath, does he not then remember mercy? Habakkuk 3:2. Is there nowhere still some small refreshment, whether for your soul, or for your body, or for both, so that you must say, this I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope, Lamentations 3:21? And Psalm 77:10, This is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. Does there not come, at times, a quarter-hour of light even in a dark day, so that you must say, why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God, Psalm 42:11? And when God should ask you, do you still hope in me? must you not answer: yes, Lord! though you slay me, and though you cast me into hell, I will nevertheless trust in you, Job 13:15? Read also 2 Kings 7, Esther 4, Jonah 3:9 — there you will find just such dispositions.

See, those are our nine answers to one who is pressed so, both outwardly and inwardly. God has already helped many who were in just such a state. Can you not now hope?

III. Yes, you will say: you have not touched me; you have preached so long there, but your whole sermon never reaches me — I have prosperity, outward and inward, I know of no trouble; that is how it has been with me until now. We must say something to you as well.

1. Do you suppose that preachers can answer everyone at once? Do you suppose that we undertake to resolve every difficulty of each and every person, especially since God's children are subject to so many changes of disposition? At one hour they will be stronger, and at another hour weaker again.

2. And if this does not touch you — there are surely some sitting here whom it does touch, and it will touch them just as it would touch you, once it does touch you; and if it does not touch you now, how do you know it will not touch you sometime yet? You are not dead yet: who knows what may still come? Job, who once washed his steps with butter — this sermon would not have suited him then, but afterward it certainly would have.

3. A third answer: if this does not touch you, there are perhaps some sitting here with much anxiety that it will soon touch them. If every heart here were cut open, one would see at once how much anxiety was in it. One would say, ah God! when my husband dies, what shall I do then? Another: when my friend who helps me is dead, what shall I do then? Another: if what I have undertaken should fail, what shall I do then with my poor children? I fear that I shall then have poverty and want.

4. When it does then touch you, you will be glad to have once heard such a sermon, and you will still seek to comfort yourself with it.

5. We answer you: if it does not come upon you, if it does not touch you — perhaps it never will touch you: have all that you wish, prosperity outward and inward. Well, you will say, can that consist with hoping in the name of the Lord Jesus? I thought that God had no child without a cross. Well then, to you we say:

First, it is not always so: consider Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Hezekiah, Job.

Second, we answer you: should you therefore not hope in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? You have such fine material for it: God as your portion in Christ, and rich in the world besides — you are a double heir, you inherit something extra above many of the congregation, you have a Benjamin's portion.

Third, we answer you: surely you do not use your prosperity as the ungodly do, who say, is not this great Babylon, that I have built? Daniel 4:30. Eat and drink, you have goods laid up for many years, Luke 12:19. Do you use it so? Ah, you will say, not I; far be that from me! Then let your prosperity not hinder your hope, if you use it in the following manner.

1. First, if you do not value that outward thing too highly, but reckon it, with Solomon, mere vanity, Ecclesiastes 1:2; count it but a broken cistern, as Moses did, who esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, Hebrews 11:26.

2. If you keep yourself detached from it amid all your prosperity, by possessing it as though you possessed it not, 1 Corinthians 7:30, by not setting your heart upon it, Psalm 62:10.

3. If you feel that you are becoming a little attached to it, then strive to become free of it again, and say, Lord, I cleave too much to the dust; quicken me according to your word, Psalm 119:25.

4. If, amid all your abundance, you do not make the creature groan through greed, pride, and oppression, Romans 8:22.

5. If it makes you so humble that you say, Lord, who makes me to differ? You make rich and you make poor, 1 Samuel 2:7; your blessing makes rich, and you add no sorrow to it, Proverbs 10:22. Why am I a prosperous man? I am less than all these your mercies and this your faithfulness, Genesis 32:10.

6. If it makes you so thankful that it makes you cry out, Psalm 116:12, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

7. If you count your spiritual treasure the highest of all treasures, and say, Lord Jesus, you surpass it all; that I have Jesus as the ground of my hope, that is my greatest treasure: had I not that, all these other treasures would be a burden to me.

Now we have resolved for you several difficulties, and in this hour three of them; in time to come we shall seek to stir you up to hope, and then go on again to resolve further difficulties. I hope the Lord will bless this to his own honor. Amen.

Sermon 12

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which, after a brief recapitulation of the content of the eleven previous sermons, the bruised reeds and smoking flax are stirred up to hope, by a very moving address of the Triune God to them.

We read Psalm 42:6, 11: Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

There you have a restless heart, troubled about its own state, tossed to and fro over it: one might well say of it, as it is written, Matthew 11:7, there you see a reed shaken with the wind to and fro. And if that is still too much — if there is still too much strength left in a reed for it — then we would say: there you see a bruised reed, bruised and crushed, that can scarcely be kept upright; there you see a soul that lets its head hang like a bulrush; there you see a heart much beset with difficulties.

What does that downcast heart do? Does it concede the battle as lost? Does that creature take flight, so as to render powerless all the comfort administered to it from God's side? No — but it takes quite another course: it goes rather to look within itself, and there it does two things: on the one hand it goes to see what reason it has given God to deal with it so; and on the other, for what reason it was so tossed about. It does as in Psalm 77:6, I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search in the night on my bed. It does as in Lamentations 3:40, Let us search and try our ways. That good heart, having conducted such an examination of itself, submits this final examination to God, and says, Psalm 26:2, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. And Psalm 139:23-24, it says: if I fail anywhere, uncover it to me, and if there be any harmful way in me, lead me in the everlasting way, and bring me back again to rights.

And by such a manner of proceeding, in that bowing down of his soul, he makes known that, after he had examined everything, he had more reason to hope than to be so cast down. Hope in God, he says, even if it be hope against hope, Romans 4:18. Give it into the hand of the Lord, and trust that he can and will save you; and when human reasons for hoping are lacking, the divine and scriptural reasons are not yet lacking. It is a wonderful thing that you read of Christ's disciples, Matthew 8:23-26. They were with him in the boat; the winds lifted up the waves, the waters rose so high that they thought they would perish; but the Lord, knowing that the scriptural reasons were not yet lacking, said, why are you so afraid? if the human reasons are lacking, well, the divine reasons are not yet lacking — and he commanded the waters to be still. Peter, sinking on the water, said, well Lord, I sink! well, said the Lord, if there are no human reasons to hope, there are divine ones; I command you, come to me, Matthew 14:28-31.

Beloved, because we find such things in the Word, we have taken the courage to deal a little with the bruised reeds, and to blow a little upon the smoking flax, and to say: why do you not hope in the name of the Lord Jesus? You may not hope in yourself, nor in your virtues or your frames of mind; but in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Beloved, you know that we have dealt with you, on several occasions, concerning these two verses which we have again read to you: before we go on to another subject, we must call back to mind for you the whole course of the matter we have treated; and at present we shall seek to occupy you by showing you the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — as standing before a bruised reed and a smoking flax, and how he addresses them and stirs them up to hope; and then we shall again go on to something else.

The course of these two treated verses is this. Here you have a bruised reed. What is that? In short, it is a person with little grace, little knowledge, little faith, little light, and with much struggle, much darkness, much deadness, and many difficulties in the heart. What is the smoking flax and wick? In short, that is a person with little grace and great corruptions, such that the corruptions seem almost to smother the little grace; they are such that you can hardly see their grace at all; their corruptions are more visible than their grace. Lord, what will you do with them? Break them? No — that Moses may do, who in the Law pronounces curse upon curse; but the Lord Jesus in the Gospel declares them blessed. What then will he do with these bruised reeds and smoking wicks? Break and quench them? No, but he will carry them along in their little grace. And what will the Lord do with his own cause? His own work, the cause of God, inward and outward, with the doctrine and with the grace in their heart — he will make it so that it shall overcome; he shall bring forth judgment unto victory. When he does this among his people and among the Gentiles, how will it then go? Why, those poor people will then come and hope in his name, and they will say: we have nothing to expect from anyone but from our Lord: Lord, we are at peace with you, we wait for some good thing from you.

Then we went on to deal a little with the bruised reeds and the smoking wicks of flax, and we showed that they were such, and we made them see, by sure signs, that even though they were in the greatest distress, there were nevertheless still sparks of grace in them. Then we came to the difficulties. They said, there is something weighing on my heart, and we said, what is it? Say it.

The first said: Ah, it presses me so, I think that I am not chosen. A second said: Oh, it presses me so, I think that I am a reprobate, a vessel of wrath and destruction. A third said: Do you know what presses me so? I have such godless thoughts of God; I think that I have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. A fourth said: Do you know what presses me so? This: when I come to consider what a monster I am in ungodliness — before my conviction and enlightenment, and after my conviction and enlightenment, what sins have I not committed! how scarlet red they are, and as crimson! I am the most loathsome creature that God has ever set before his eyes.

A fifth had this difficulty: even though I grant that Christ's righteousness is sufficient to satisfy God's righteousness for the sins of his children, and also to blot out my own sins, I still cannot so readily believe that God can become my God, or anyone's God: for I see his being as it is; he has such dreadful attributes — his righteousness, his holiness, his truth, his unchangeableness — and he will not, for my sake, nor for anyone's sake, deny his own being.

A sixth said: This lies so heavily on my heart: I have so many troubles, outward and inward, I have so much affliction of body, that I am not surprised how someone might become deranged through all this pressure; one might well drive a wise man mad through all these troubles, Ecclesiastes 7:7. My chastisement comes every morning, Psalm 73:14. My troubles are so many, so long-lasting, and so heavy.

Finally, a seventh said: This disturbs me so, that it all seems to be but sparks and foretastes of hell.

See, those were the difficulties which we sought to resolve and take away. It may well be that there are more experienced and skillful workmen than we, skillful Aarons and Hurs, who supported on the one side and the other those who were weak, Exodus 17:12. But what harm will he do, even if he is not so skillful, who likewise employs his own small talent, in dependence on God's blessing?

We ask you then a question: in the treating of these difficulties, have you now still been able to find so many difficulties, to bow yourself down as much as before? Has it not sometimes touched you? Have you not sometimes had to go apart alone and say, ah God, I am willing to concede it to you, you have become too mighty and too strong for me, you have persuaded me — why should I still bow myself down so? Have you not, alone before God, had to say, O God! thus have I spoken what I did not understand: forgive me; have I spoken, I will do so no more, I will proceed no further, Job 34:32 and 42:3.

You bruised reeds and smoking wicks of flax, who might be in such a state, we have a word for you, and would gladly seek to stir you up to hope in the name of the Lord: and this we shall seek to do by presenting to you the Triune God, and each Person shall address you — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and then we shall leave the matter there. And if there are still those who say, I have still not been touched, that is not yet my difficulty which you have raised — then, if it please God, we shall go on still to other difficulties.

Well then, downcast hearts, smoking wicks of flax and bruised reeds, imagine now that God the Father addresses you thus.

1. First, God the Father says to you: do you see my love for mankind? if you have not yet opened your eyes to it, do so now: so greatly did God love the world, that he gave his own and only-begotten Son, but delivered him up for you all, John 3:16 and Romans 8:32. So greatly did God love the world, that he set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sinners, and a demonstration of his righteousness, Romans 3:25. So greatly did God love the world, that he testified with an oath and said, I swear by myself, in the Lord Jesus, that I have no pleasure in your death, but my pleasure is that you turn and live, Ezekiel 33:11. Whether you have persisted long or not long, whether you have become a hardened sinner in sin or not, whether you have grieved the Spirit and resisted the promptings of your conscience, whether you have quenched the Spirit — even though you have grown old and gray in sin, it does not matter, so long as you are willing to have my grace in the Lord Christ.

2. God the Father says further, and take note of it: have you in your life ever paid heed to the gospel invitation, and the great offer of grace? What is that — I offer you my favor in Christ, if only you are willing to have it: whosoever will, let him come, and take the water of life freely, Revelation 22:17.

3. God the Father addresses those bruised wicks of flax and smoking wicks thus: well, poor and downcast heart, do you truly know the nature and character of the Covenant of Grace? Whatever I require of you there, you shall receive — I will give it to you. When I offer my grace there to the sinner, do I require that you must first have something of your own? Have I ever said that you must first give me something, and that you would then, by that, move me to become your God? Have I not said, in my Covenant of Grace, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price, Isaiah 55:1? And Revelation 3:18, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. Indeed, I make no mention at all of any price which you would have to give me: in all those invitations I have promised that I would give it to you freely, Romans 3:24. Even though you still needed a new heart, or another disposition — though I do require this of you — I have nevertheless promised that I myself will work it in you, Jeremiah 31:33. I will, I have said, take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and put my Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and do them, Ezekiel 36:26-27. Poor heart, I require nothing else of you in my Covenant of Grace, but that you use the means and then wait upon my blessing: only open your mouth wide, and I will fill it — only set me no limit, Psalm 81:10.

4. Once more: take heart, forlorn heart, says God the Father, do you not know my promises? comfort yourself with these: what have I said, Isaiah 57:15, Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, yet will I dwell also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit; why? to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Do you then not know that promise, Isaiah 66:1-2, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word? Do you not know that promise, Jeremiah 31:34, I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more? And Isaiah 43:25, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins? Well, Lord, they say, yes, those indeed I know; but do they hold as surely as all that? Would they not hold most surely? they are well grounded.

Grounded on what? On my goodness: truly God is good to Israel, Psalm 73:1; and Lamentations 3:25, The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. They are grounded on my power, Jeremiah 32:27, is there anything too hard for me? On my faithfulness. How often do you read of the faithfulness of God? 1 Corinthians 10:13, God is faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. How great is my faithfulness? Lamentations 3:23. Do you know it well? I do not act like a man who does not fulfill his promise, or does not actually follow through on it; but I am like a faithful man; I say nothing, nor do I undertake anything to do, but I fulfill it faithfully, Numbers 23:19. Yes, not only am I faithful in fulfilling my promises, but they are also sure and true: should I, who am the Strength of Israel, fail or lie? shall my word remain unfulfilled? No, 1 Samuel 15:29. You have ground to believe: I have come between with an oath as well, Hebrews 6:17.

Consider the experience of all the bruised reeds, of all those who were dark and tossed about — have they not each, in their own time, found by experience that my faithfulness is great? Must those testimonies not then work hope in you? Must it not work in you, so that you go and plead with it, and say, Lord, remember thy tender mercies which thou hast shown of old, Psalm 25:6? You have ground to believe, for it is the very life and activity of the Lord, the living God, who is the Savior of all men, but especially of those who believe, 1 Timothy 4:10. And if that is the life and activity of God, then believe also the promises of God.

See, thus speaks God the Father: have you not seen my love for mankind? Do you not know my gracious and friendly invitation in the Gospel? Do you not know the nature of my Covenant of Grace, and the great promises I make in it, and the grounds on which they rest, on which you can rely that I will do it?

Thereupon the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, comes and says:

1. Bruised reeds, let me deal with you a while: I would gladly have you hope in my name. Do you not then believe that I live, though I was once dead? Behold, I am alive for evermore, Revelation 1:18. I live as Mediator now, just as fully as when I was still on earth. Hebrews 7:25: he ever liveth to make intercession for us — to perform, the Apostle means to say, the work of Mediator on our behalf.

2. Bruised reeds, is my ransom not of such value as when you first believed on me? Is my blood not as fresh as when it was first shed? Would you have hoped better in me then, when I hung there on the cross, and when I spoke those words, it is finished, John 19:30? Have I not thereby prepared for you a fresh and living way to draw near even into the innermost sanctuary? Hebrews 10:20.

3. I have come to seek you, lost little sheep — that is the end of my coming, for such asking, for those small ones, for those mourning ones, Luke 19:10. Well, bruised reeds and smoking wicks, do you not see me standing there, as it were, with tears in my eyes, begging you and promising you that, if you come, it will go well with you: I assure you it is so — but why then do you wish to die? How long, then, must I still bear with you, you of little faith? What reasoning must I still use, poor lost little creature? I truly wish that you would come to me; when you come, I will bless you — only love and serve me. If you do so, can you then still complain of me — have I not sought you long? when I come to you, is it not welcome to you? do I not come to you through the knockings of your conscience, and through the proclaiming of my precious Word? Do I not sometimes bring the Word so close to your soul that you can scarcely hold it off? do you think it is not noticed, your bowing down before me? your sighs, your tears, your close attention — do these not mean something after all?

4. Further the Lord Jesus says: do you not wish then to be saved? What is lacking to you then? Shall I say it for you? Ah yes, Lord, they say; and then the Lord Jesus begins to say what they would gladly have: would you not, he says, gladly have a reconciled God, that God be at peace with you? to exercise faith in me? to be born again? to have forgiveness of sins? to live holily? to walk familiarly with God? to be comforted? to be assured? and that your work be in truth? and that I should keep you, deliver you from hell, and take you to be with me in heaven? would you not then be glad? Ah yes, Lord, they say, if I might have that, then I would count myself happy; yes, Lord, they say. Well, that I offer you, says the Lord: all that is with me, all that I can bring to you, and I alone, and no one else, and that I will give you. Are you willing then to believe in me? Are you willing then to receive me? Are you willing to cleave to me? Are you willing then to hope in me? Are you willing then to expect it from me, that I can and will give you that?

Thus the Lord Jesus, the Son of the living God, addresses them, and he says: if I stood at the very mouth of the abyss, at the gate of hell, with such a message, to the place of the damned, with what attention and joy would they not be seized? If I stood there so, with what eagerness would they not fall to the work? And will you, poor soul, withdraw yourself? Can you let me go away empty, when I draw back my hand from the latch of the door — will your very heart not be stirred? Song of Songs 5:4. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, Revelation 3:20.

5. The Lord Jesus says further: do you then still not dare to put your hand into mine? Ah no, not I, says such a soul. Will you then still give room to good counsel, says the Lord — then I would advise you this: suspend your judgment yet a while, in judging your spiritual and eternal state; suspend it at least a while yet, for indeed you do not know the outcome. Do not, indeed, be so ready to pass such hard and harsh sentences upon yourself. Have you had no ground in your life to hope? Have God's children never once said to your comfort, that there was ground of hope in you? You have, after all, no cause to say that it is beyond hope: you are still living. I say that for a sinner living under the means of grace, before the net is drawn, there are more reasons to hope than to despair. That for the devils and the damned all hope is forever cut off is certain; that they should give it up forever is necessary; but for a sinner living before the net, there is reason to hope.

See, thus speaks the Lord Jesus: this, then, is the whole course of the Word, as the Lord deals with the bruised reeds and the smoking wicks of flax. This, then, is the address of the Father and the Son.

Then we still had the address of the Holy Spirit. He says to them:

1. Tossed and downcast souls, concerning your state of grace, I ask you: is this not now the time of grace? Is it not still the well-accepted time and the day of salvation? 2 Corinthians 6:2. Is it not the time in which the Lord may yet be found, in which he is yet near? Isaiah 55:6. Is it not still the time in which I still work in the hearts of men? Do you know of any in whom I still work? Are they, by nature or in deeds, better than you are? What do you say? Must you not say: Ah, God the Holy Spirit, I confess it: it is still the time of grace, in which God may yet be found; you are still at work in men, and they are no better in nature or deeds than I.

2. In the second place I ask you: suppose you had as yet no grace, nor faith in the Lord Jesus, and you saw not even the smallest ground to hope — would it not nevertheless be better to hope, than to sink away so in despondency, seeing that you live in the time of grace, and should take up that great work in earnest, and go see whether you too might obtain grace, and go say, as in Psalm 27:4, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after? Go into your closet and say, O Lord! give me grace too; I will seek it to the very end.

3. Have you at least not received this much, that you would be exceedingly troubled if you had to remain outside of Christ and go into hell? Have you not indeed said to God, do not condemn me, Job 10:2? Have you not often said, O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, Psalm 6:1? And enter not into judgment with me, Psalm 143:2? Does your heart not grow cold, does not a shudder pass through your whole frame, at the thought of having to be lost, if you should think you must come to that?

4. Have you at least not received this — that you would wish to be converted, and that you might be somewhat more believing? Have I not given you this, that there is sometimes a little spark in you that flies upward, so that you say, ah God! I wish that my state and disposition were better! that you would make them better! I would be so bound to you, if the true work were in me! I think there would then be no happier person in the whole world than I!

5. Have you at least not this — that you sometimes lift up your eyes and your heart to pray, and look out to see whether something might not yet come? Can you at least not say this: hope deferred maketh the heart sick, Proverbs 13:12? Do you at least not have this, that you say, my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, Psalm 130:6?

6. Once more I ask you, and answer me: do you at least have this, a grief over the lack and an anxiety over sin? Do you not feel shame and distress over it? Do you at least not have some striving to be holy? Do you not have this, that you cannot let God go? that you say, well then I would be dealing unfaithfully with my covenant?

7. Do you at least have this, that you have sometimes been at home, or engaged in some means or other, in private or in public, so that you must say: why do you lie thus and mourn, o my soul? I will, with fresh desire, go take up the means, in expectation of the Lord's influence: who knows, he might yet give me grace? And have I not, when you thus went to work, sometimes poured fresh oil upon you, and stirred you up once again?

8. Do you not know this, that you indeed say, ah God, you who have wrought the willing in me, work also the doing in me; grant me too to break through; perform the good work in me, Philippians 1:6 and 2:13.

9. Lastly, have I not worked this in you, that you are resolved to keep lying at the feet of God the Father and the Son? Do so, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, Lamentations 3:26 — is there not perhaps some small spark of comfort in God's unchangeable, eternal counsel! Is it not so with you?

There will not be a single bruised reed who will not be able to say such things: and if it is so, if these things are so, what then shall the Devil, or the corrupt heart, or the world, or anyone in the whole world dare bring in against such wholesome things? Would the Devil say, all your working is in vain? Would one say, for you and your like there is never any way out? That the Devil, with all his angels, that the corrupt heart, with all its cunning and deceit, nor anyone in the whole world, will be able to prove that there is no hope for you.

Now we ask you, whether the word does not become too strong for you, so that you must say, I neither can nor will contradict it any longer. Do so, and you will do well. I conclude with the words of the Apostle, Romans 15:13: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon 13

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which this difficulty is resolved: he who is in the state of nature may not hope in the Lord Jesus; and I am still in the state of nature; therefore I may not hope in the name of the Lord Jesus.

We read Matthew 25:1-12, that the Savior gives a picture of his kingdom and church which is here on earth, and which shall end in heaven in glory. How does he depict his church and kingdom? He takes ten virgins, and divides them into two groups, five in each: five were wise, and five were foolish virgins. The foolish were in the kingdom just as much as the wise, and those five wise and those five foolish resembled one another very much: they associated with one another in the kingdom; they were all virgins, they all seemed to give their love to no one but the Lord; they had the same corruptions; they slept; they were all somewhat sluggish. Nevertheless they differed greatly: if you look at verse 8 of this twenty-fifth chapter, on which we chiefly fix our eye, you will find that the lamps, or the little lights, of the foolish went out, but the lights of the wise did not. Why? The foolish had no grace in their hearts, but the wise had grace in their hearts. The mere hangers-on, the Christians in name only, the foolish who sit in the church, exert all their strength to put out three or four lamps that are in them; and they make room, once they have put out the lamps God gave them, to get two or three others instead.

They take, I say, all pains to quench three or four lamps which they see God gives in the Church. What kind of lamps do they quench?

1. Ah, that lamp of their conscience — that they do not like: the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly, going through and searching them out, Proverbs 20:27. Then their walk would have to be far too tender; they take pains to stifle that lamp within them.

2. A second lamp is that pure and bright lamp of God's Word, which is a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path, Psalm 119:105. They will still sometimes gladly see a little piece of the pleasant part; but of the grim part that is in the Word — ah no, they say, that I do not wish to hear; they quench it as much as they can; they would gladly set that candle under a bushel, or under a bed, so that it might give light to no one, Matthew 5:15.

3. Do you know what other lamp they quench in the course of their life? The light which a godly person, a godly heart, gives out; the light which a godly and experienced teacher gives and possesses. The godly are as lights in a crooked and perverse generation, Philippians 2:15. They do their best to set snuffers upon that light. Yes, a godly servant of Christ is as a light, as a city set on a hill, Matthew 5:14. That light is too much for the foolish virgins; they cannot bear that burning candle; those Elijahs and those Micaiahs, those sons of thunder, burn sometimes so fearfully bright, that they are too much for them.

4. A fourth lamp they cannot bear: which one? The Spirit in his workings, who makes everything burn, who makes those three other lamps burn, Zechariah 4:1-6; who pours oil into those other lamps, which every one must have if it is to be able to burn: that Spirit, in his righteous workings, is against their grain.

And instead of the four lamps which they seek to quench, they make for themselves other lamps. What kind of lamps do they make instead?

They craftily make instead a false lamp of false doctrine: they forge for themselves a false religion. You will find that these foolish ones, having removed the pure grounds of religion, go and lay down false grounds for themselves: they say, I have a temporary faith, I was once enlightened, and that temporary faith is enough; I have tasted the heavenly gift, the powers of the age to come, and such things, Hebrews 6:4-5. I am that man whose eyes are opened, who has seen the visions of God, Numbers 24:15. When they have quenched the lamps that God gives, and made for themselves such a false lamp instead, they add yet a second: they go and live, as lights, in an irreproachable manner among their neighbors and friends; is that now still not enough, they say, what do I still lack? Luke 18:22. And beside those lamps of their profession and their irreproachable walk, they make yet a third false light, which is their vain hope of eternity and of the grace of God; with these two, they say, I shall surely get in — and so they feed themselves with ashes, Isaiah 44:20. They conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble, Isaiah 33:11. And God, with a single snuffer, puts out all their false lamps, and thereby it becomes clear that they are foolish virgins.

You will ask: with what snuffer does God put out their lamps? When he puts out one of their lamps, all the others go out with it: and that is, when he snuffs out the lamp of their life in black darkness. When they have used up the lamp of their time, they must appear before God, and even if they then say, Lord, let me come in on my profession, on the false light that I have; let me be admitted and enter into the kingdom of glory on my irreproachable walk; open your gate for me, let me be admitted into your fellowship — what, says the King, no one ever enters on such lamps: and then all their lamps go out at once. What does that mean? I give it up, it is finished, ah Lord! my lamps are going out.

Now, having found the foolish in such a condition, you will find the wise in a different condition: their true lamps sometimes come near to going out in the course of their life, yet nevertheless not entirely. Why not? They have grace in their hearts, light in their hearts. But the lamps of their conscience, of the Word, of the Spirit of God working in their hearts, sometimes burn so poorly that they nearly go out. I do not see it, they say, that I have grace; and if indeed I have anything, I have more corruption than clear light. Now when their lamps come so near to going out in the course of their life, what does the Lord do then? Does he snuff them out? Does he break them? Ah no: he goes rather to refresh them a little, to lift them up a little, to fan them a little, to bind them up a little, to encourage them a little, to remove difficulties out of the way, so that they may go unhindered to heaven.

You know that we have, on several occasions, expounded these our text-words to you, and laid it all open before the congregation. No one can be a bruised reed without something having gone on to bring it about. Sometimes they think: I have no grace, I fear whether things will ever go well with me, I am weary of the world nonetheless, I want no part reckoned to me there. Preachers must not be unreasonable toward such godly people: if they are bruised reeds, as indeed they are, and if the Lord Jesus is unwilling to break them, then preachers must take care that they too do not break them. The faithful servants of Christ must carefully guard against this: if the Lord Jesus does not quench them, that they too should not set a snuffer upon them. Has the Lord Jesus received the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to him that is weary? A servant of Christ has a happy gift, if he can impart something of that, to resolve the difficulties of the fainthearted.

The distresses which they raised were these. First: ah, I am not chosen — what good does it do then, whatever I do, if my name does not stand in the Book of Life? Ah, it stands in the black roll of death, I am appointed to wrath. Then their thoughts fell upon their many and great sins: would the Lord look upon me, such a monster in sin? I have sinned far too much, before and after the light I have received; I think that God's justice will take notice of it; my sins are so great, that I think God will punish me as an example to others. Then some dwelt in their thoughts upon the sin against the Holy Ghost, and they said: if I have fallen into that, then all grace is denied to me, just as to the devils, and that forever. Then we have seen that they looked upon the attributes of God — his truth, his righteousness, his holiness, his unchangeableness — and they thought all these were against them. Yes, they said finally: I see plain signs of it: what crosses I bear in body? what darkness within? in what a troubled condition do I live: what terrors are there in my heart? All these are so many tokens of God's wrath, of his pressing and striking hand. You press me, Lord, to the very roots of my feet; my chastisements come every morning: it touches not only my skin, but it is such that it reaches my flesh and my bones; my bones you have broken, said David, Psalm 51:8. What do you want from me, they say? Should I hope in the name of the Lord Jesus? I cannot. And should I hope that it will have a good outcome for me? I cannot. All that we have sought to resolve, and to encourage such people, that they should indeed hope.

You know, you who are here and have heard it, that all this has already taken place. Then it pleased God, for some months, to visit us with so many sicknesses and afflictions, that we could not continue in it. But his goodness has now again been pleased that we should today make a fresh beginning of it. What has been done heretofore was done from a good heart, so that the coal, or the little ember, of God's children might not be quenched, but, if it were possible, fanned into flame, and so that their fainthearted thoughts might be lessened: with that same purpose we shall now go on.

We read 1 Kings 14:14, that when the prophet Ahijah had faithfully discharged his commission to the wife of Jeroboam, he added this emphatic word: but what will it be now anyway? it is all in vain, the prophet means to say: and we read that God would smite Israel as a reed, verse 15. So perhaps the fainthearted will likewise say: better lay down your commission, for however faithfully you carry it out, what will it be now? I shall nevertheless be shaken like a reed. We ask you: is not the stone nevertheless rolled away a little more than before? We ask you, who may have heard the former sermons, has not your difficulty nevertheless become somewhat lessened? Have you not sometimes sought out a solitary spot, where you said, I shall yet have to give it up as lost? Or does your heart still churn all the more? Well, sigh it out, weep it out, speak it out, cry it out before God and men, wherever you may be. We are willing to hear your fainthearted troubles further, we are inclined to it: only say them. You will say, you want to hear it? Well, I would weary men and God, if I were to say it all: I would invent so much, that you would not be able to answer it all. Only make the effort to say it all, and we too shall seek to do our part, to hear it and to answer it, if it please God to spare us our lives. The Lord Jesus once said to his disciples, before you shall have gone through all the cities with me, you shall see the Son of Man in his kingdom; and we say, if God spares us, before we shall have resolved all the difficulties and brought them to an end, you will perhaps already have light in your soul.

We have then now to consider an essential point as to why one cannot hope: and what is that? This: whoever is in the state of nature may not hope in the name of the Lord Jesus; but whoever is in the state of grace alone may hope in the name of the Lord Jesus. I am not in the state of grace, but in the state of nature; therefore I may not hope in the name of the Lord Jesus. Those are two weighty and heavy propositions, and you may well have believed both of them.

I prove my first point, you will say, from the Word. Ephesians 2:12, without Christ, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. To such the chief promise of the Covenant of Grace does not belong; and to whom that chief promise does not belong, to him no promise at all belongs, but all the curses that are in the whole Bible lie to his charge: there is not a single promise in the whole Bible for one who has no part in the chief promise of the Covenant of Grace, nor in the Mediator of that covenant; such a one is without hope: even if he had hope, it would perish; his hope shall be plucked out of his tent; his hope shall be loathsome to him at the giving up of his soul.

The second proposition is: I am in the state of nature. Yes, here it will come down to whether that is so. We shall treat this in such a way that we shall first show you what the state of nature is not; then what it indeed is; then we shall put to you a heartfelt and moving question; then we shall let you see that, even if you were still in the state of nature, you might nevertheless still form some hope; finally we shall seek to establish for you that you must say in your heart, I do not find the marks of the natural state in me. I say then, as follows:

I. We shall show you what the state of nature is not. II. What the state of nature indeed is. III. We shall put to you a moving question. IV. We shall show that, even if you were in the state of nature, you need not therefore entirely cast away your hope. V. We shall give you some marks of the state of nature. Of the state of grace, that shall be a larger matter; if it please God, we shall show you that too on several occasions; for now, only these five things.

I. What is the state of nature not? It is not that state of uprightness, such as when God first created man rightly, after his own image, when he stood there adorned before God with that glorious wisdom in his understanding, and that holiness in his heart, so that he did not have to say with Paul, evil is present with me, Romans 7:21. He bore an amiable peace in his conscience, and enjoyed a continual communion with God: God associated and spoke familiarly with him too, he kissed and embraced him, and he stood also in a shining walk before God — as an Enoch and a Noah walked with God the Lord. That is not the state of nature. Nor is it this either, once one has fallen from that state and been restored again to it — that one complains of darkness, that he does not know what to make of himself; to be embattled and dull, to be sluggish, to have no desire in anything — that is not it either; to be sometimes hard in heart, sometimes to stray a little from God's ways, and then to fall more or less into sin — no, that is not it, but those are remnants of the state of nature, which show that alongside nature, and alongside its remnants, grace also goes together. Therefore this is not it either — to entertain fainthearted thoughts over this: the bruised reeds go astray there, they err; ah, they say, whenever they have a dull heart, I am still in the state of nature. You are mistaken; in its essence you must distinguish it well.

II. What is it then, you will say. This it is: it is that state in which every person is, after sin has come into the world. You will not meet a single one whom you will not find bound in one and the same state; the stamp of the image of God is worn away from them: we bear the image of the earthy, 1 Corinthians 15:49; yes, of the hellish, for we are by nature of our father the Devil, children of the Devil, John 8:44. In such a state you will find everyone, and as long as one remains in it, one is a slave of sin and a servant of that wretched tyrant. The bramble-bush is king of such people; the god of this age is their king; they serve him faithfully, they do sin from the heart. The Devil cannot charge them with being unfaithful servants who will not serve him. It is no forced game, but they do it so gladly, they do it with their whole soul; they even say, I am not in my element unless I am in your service. They serve him stubbornly; whether the sins be great or small, it does not matter to them; I shall do still more, they say, I shall go on still further into worse. And then they still do not wish to be reproved for it according to the Word: the Micaiahs, the Elijahs, the Boanerges or sons of thunder — I know no worse people, they say, they trouble the people: but if there is somewhere a flatterer, who daubs them with untempered mortar, and who knows how to praise a little, him they will readily hear.

Those who are in the state of nature serve the Devil with such exceedingly great gladness: you see them in the practice of sin, gladness lies upon their faces; they leap for joy, and they say, aha! Psalm 35:25. They serve the Devil without shame; they hold their noses up high; the perverse knows no shame, Zephaniah 3:5. They have a whore's forehead, Jeremiah 3:3. They know nothing of Ezra's frame of mind: I am ashamed and blush with shame, Ezra 9:6. They are without repentance, and have no repentance for their cursing and their pride, and for running away from church, and from God: had I not done it, they say, I would do it still. They serve sin and the Devil with deliberate intent and with careful study: they plan on their couch and in their bed what mischief they will do by day; they turn it over in their minds; they pour it into every mold; they are like an Absalom, who would spend two full years planning before carrying out his plot. He who lives in nature — if he grows afraid of something, then he runs from that fear straight to sin; he must then drive off that fear again with another sin, and from that fear he runs again to yet another sin; fear must always be dispelled by sin. They abhor and hate all who are different; indeed, they can pursue, mock, and hate them so harshly. Yes, those who live in nature flatter themselves, and say, I shall have peace, it shall go well with me, in life and in death, in death and in judgment, Deuteronomy 29:19. We are the best people, they say, the people of renown; our party is the largest, the most distinguished, the strongest.

Those who live in nature say: let us see to it that none be drawn away from among us — that would trouble us; that would bring anxiety and worry into our thoughts: if anyone among us wishes to go to God, we will make the way for him as hard, as difficult, and as impossible as we can; we ourselves are not willing to go in, and we would rather that no one of our family or of our city should go in, Matthew 23:13. Are you now in nature, or are you outside it? They are so wretched and ugly in the powers of their soul, just as Pharaoh said of those cows: I have never seen the like of them for ugliness, Genesis 41:19. In their understanding they are blind; in their will they hate the good and love the evil: they are foolish in their understanding, they do not know how to exercise hatred or love rightly; their judgment is perverted; they wish to sin because God's commandment is against it — were there no law, they say, I would not be so ungodly; they take occasion from that, Romans 7:8. They regard the excellencies of God's law as something strange, Hosea 8:12. They present all the members of their body as instruments of unrighteousness, Romans 6:13. In their affections, instead of love, you have quick temper, and if you would counsel them to composure, they would only grow hot-tempered against God and man. A man in the state of nature — you have never in your life seen an uglier creature; he has many strange motives, he is stingy and proud at the same time; if he wants to talk along with a godly person, a near-Christian, then it also becomes plain that he is a man still in nature. A man in nature is wonderfully depicted and terribly described in the Word: see Job 14:4, and Psalm 51:5, and Isaiah 48:8, where God says, I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. They are compared to a body full of festering boils and sores, from which pus runs, Isaiah 1:5-6; to a child lying loathsome in its own blood, Ezekiel 16:4-6; to a man who has an iron neck, Isaiah 48:4. As God speaks in the Old Testament, so he speaks also in the New, Colossians 1:21, Ephesians 2:12, to the end. Under such ugly comparisons they appear: a dead man, a leper, a defiled thing, a defiling thing, wild branches, an offspring of vipers, a cursed ground, and the like.

III. We said, we must put to you a moving question: and therefore, now that you and we have heard such a description, we would like to put this question to each one, and especially to the bruised reeds who make difficulty about hoping in Jesus. Speak in good conscience, let your heart speak, do not merely give lip service; dare you, in the sincerity of your heart, say, I am exactly as you have described a natural man there? We ask you, have you not experienced it otherwise, have you not had to think otherwise? Must you not say before God that you are no longer such a person? We ask you, would you dare say that you have no sweet workings of God, no sweet stirrings of the love of God, no lovely tendernesses? We ask, whether you must not confess that your heart is wonderfully moved and touched, in a plain, devout confession before God, in humble praying, beseeching, and wrestling? Let your heart speak: have you not found yourself very wonderfully moved while a godly person spoke with you, or under a sermon that was blessed to you? what sweet stirrings have there been on a sickbed, or under some little cross! Again we ask, have you not found your heart wonderfully moved and encouraged, so that you had to say, this will I now lay to heart, Lamentations 3:21? Indeed, did you not have to say, a year and a day afterward: ah God! that it were so again, that I were in such a state and disposition! We ask you, with a stirring of our own heart: has God never spoken to your heart in such a way that your heart was so overjoyed, that you had to say, there is as it were no more spirit left in me — that sweetness of it shall never depart from my heart to all eternity. That is our third point: consider it well, it is well worth it: would you not know the very spot on the ground where those tears rolled down and dried in, and on the boards and the floor where they dried up, and sank away into your bedclothes, because God gave you such tender feeling over what he had granted you?

IV. If you say, I persist in it, I say flatly, I am still in the state of nature, I may not hope — well, let it be that you do so honestly before God, he sees it. And in any case we ask you: even if you were in that state, may you then not hope in it at all? Where do you read that? Ephesians 2:12, you will say, in my first argument: but this too must be looked at with some distinction.

1. I grant that if someone lives outside the ministry of the Word, and has never heard the administration of the Covenant of Grace, and he lives and dies so — such a one may not hope: are you such a one? He who lives and dies outside the ministry, and outside of God, has nothing before him but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fiery indignation, Hebrews 10:27. God will meet such a one as a consuming fire, Hebrews 12:29.

2. A second answer: he who lives under the ministry of the Covenant of Grace may hope in the grace of God in Christ, that it will yet one day become his own: if he conscientiously and sincerely uses the means, and sets himself upon the threshing floor, before the net, where the arrows are shot, he may hope that the Lord will yet one day strike him, will visit him and bless him. Isaiah 59:21, God says, my word and my Spirit shall go together. Do you not know that he grafts wild branches in, against nature? Romans 11:17.

3. A third answer: you may look upon all those examples who have received it: you surely know some in the city where you live, and perhaps there were none wilder than they. When God says, even to a Jew or a Gentile, Lo-ammi (not my people), and Ruhamah (she that has obtained mercy) — do they then remain long in the state of nature, and do they not indeed become his people?

4. Should you not hope? Well, you are not yet in hell, you are still in time: you may not say, it is over, it is finished for me, so long as you live. Therefore a man in nature may hope; he cannot, he may not, put himself beyond hope; so long as he is not yet with the Devil, he does not yet know what will befall him: but he may not hope in the same way as those who have grace.

V. Now our last point. I believe that you are beginning to waver: now we shall give a few further reckonings, so that you might be able to say, I am not in the state of nature.

1. If you are in that state, in the state of nature, then you are a stranger to anxious and troubled thoughts: he who is in the state of nature does not gladly bear this burden on his heart. We ask you, bruised reeds, are you a stranger to it? Ah no. Is that against your inclination? No.

2. You will then also be a stranger to what such a person does — one who addresses you and says, how are you doing? how is it with you? what business is that of yours, they say. Are you, weak reeds, so vexed when someone addresses you so? No. We ask you, if someone did not do so, did you not then say, no one even spoke to me — did you not lament over that?

3. If you are in nature, then you do not gladly hear, think, or speak of election and reprobation: you would only make me foolish thereby, they say. We ask you: do you not gladly think and hear of it? and if you ever flare up against it in the corruption of your heart, must you not then be ashamed of it?

4. Change, they say, is not necessary, I have no need to be changed; who knows whether there is even such a thing as regeneration. Can you say that with sincerity? Do you reckon that no change is needed?

5. They hold to a historical and temporary faith: those are the good people, they say, that is the true crowd; the others are mere play-actors and hypocrites. Are you so? do you too reckon the godly to be hypocrites? Can you say that sincerely?

6. Nature says: the enemies of God are my friends, and that precisely because they are enemies of God. Can you say that too with sincerity?

7. The friends of God, says one who is in nature, are my enemies, and that because they are friends of God. Can you say that too with sincerity?

That, then, is your whole reckoning concerning your state of nature, bruised reeds. Now, do you still live in the state of nature? You will say, it is nevertheless so hard for me to hope. Well, may God grant that you see as clearly that you are in grace, as that you are not in nature: and that we shall then show, when we come to speak of the state of grace. Then we shall not only show who is in it, but we shall also let each one examine himself as to whether he is in it, and then give marks of the state of grace: and among these, those will find it hardest to know it who have been changed from their youth up, and who have been brought up respectably: yet we shall seek to instruct them too. The matter will be extensive; if we live, we shall consider that in time to come. I hope meanwhile that God will bless this that has been spoken to each of us, to his own honor, for his reward's sake: Amen.

Sermon 14

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which: I. It is shown what the state of grace is; for whom it is; and how one comes into it. II. A moving question is put. III. Reasons are given, whence it came that those bruised reeds could so easily see that they were not in the state of nature.

We read 2 Corinthians 13:5, that when the Apostle had stirred them up to examine themselves, he puts this moving question, know ye not your own selves? We would say: how must I regard you, gross ignoramus, or do you know yourself? It seems almost unheard of, that a person should be ignorant of himself who wishes to know so much of other things — who, with Solomon, would gladly know the way of a serpent upon a rock, and the way of an eagle in the air. People wish to know everything; they would gladly measure the height of the heavens, the depth of the sea, and the breadth of the earth — things which they nevertheless can never attain. But what a more unheard-of thing is this: to be a stranger to oneself, not to know one's own heart and state? Surely this must be true, that no one knows better what is in man than the spirit of man which is in him, 1 Corinthians 2:11. What an unheard-of evil is it, that one knows much of other people, and knows least of oneself? One must say of almost everyone, they have no knowledge of themselves. Revelation 3:17: Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Thus they showed that they did not know themselves; they knew neither their state nor their true condition; they said that they were rich and had grown wealthy and lacked nothing — and they were poor, and lacked everything. The Lord Jesus once stood before Jerusalem with tears in his eyes, and said, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes, Luke 19:42, 44. And John 9:40-41, a group of people said to the Savior, are we blind also? what do you take us for? we are learned people, educated persons. The Lord Jesus said, ah, that you were blind! If you were blind, you would soon and easily come to the knowledge of yourselves.

Now such an evil ought not to be. One must know oneself. The heathen peoples set it up as inscriptions on their temples: on the Temple of Apollo it stood written, know thyself. God desired that the Jews should display his Law upon their gates and houses. The Christians too have their inscriptions on their churches, and there you have fine inscriptions as well: on one it stands, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; on another, my house shall be called a house of prayer; on a third, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. Those inscriptions are fitting: and that heathen one is fitting too — know thyself. There once came another to ask the gods what path he should take to attain to everlasting happiness. The gods answered him: to know himself. They excused no one from it, rich or poor; they insisted much on it. Now comes God's Word, and it says the same: know you not your own selves?

When you would know yourself after the fall, you must begin here: whether you are in the state of nature, or in the state of grace. The state of nature we have already seen, what it is; and the difficulty which the bruised reeds raised concerning it we have resolved. Now we must see what the state of grace is, and who is in it; and the difficulty which they raise concerning that. Let each one either know, or seek to know, himself here. We have taken this up on the occasion of our treating these two verses from Matthew, in which state the Gentiles would hope in his name.

Last time, the bruised reeds had to say: I am not in the state of nature; that is now quite clear; but I am nevertheless not in the state of grace either; that is now the difficulty. And they construct an argument: only those who are in the state of grace may hope in the name of the Lord Jesus; but I am not in the state of grace; the conclusion then is clear and unanswerable, I may not hope. That is the argument, do you grasp it well? All who are in the state of grace may hope; I am not in it; therefore I may not hope. The first proposition I grant; but the second we shall examine a little with you, and then the conclusion will become clear.

Therefore we have this to show: first, what the state of grace is; then, to put to you a moving question; then, to show that there are many who suppose themselves to be in the state of grace, who are not in it, and miserably deceive themselves; then, that there are many who judge themselves not to be in the state of grace, and never to come into it, who nevertheless truly possess grace; then we shall show whence it comes that someone in the state of grace still has, late in life, such waverings as to whether he is in it; then, whence it comes that often old disciples, male and female, are most tossed about and least assured in grace; then, from what it flows that often those newly come into grace are most assured; then we shall stir you up to come to self-examination; then we shall set forth all those great marks which God gives in his Word; then we shall show how you must use them; and then finally we shall seek to bring it all home savingly to your heart.

You see that we have a great deal of material there: we shall not treat it all now; we shall now deal with only three or four pieces of it, and see how far the time reaches. We shall then: I. Seek to show you clearly what the state of grace is. II. Put to you a moving question. III. Show that some say, I am in the state of grace, and thereby miserably deceive themselves. IV. Show that some say, I am not in it, who are nevertheless found to be in it, even though they are not assured of it. These four things we think will now be enough, and our time will not reach further.

I. First then, what is the state of grace? Take note: it is that state of mercy, in which the Triune God, at a certain little moment appointed in his eternal counsel, brings over the elect, sovereignly, graciously, and powerfully, into another state, in heart, in disposition, and in deeds. That is the state of grace, take note: it is that state of mercy, in which the Triune God, at a certain longed-for little moment in his life appointed in his eternal counsel, brings the elect sinner over, sovereignly, graciously, and powerfully, by changing him in his state, heart, and deeds. That is the state of grace: so you shall find it, and not otherwise; so you shall find that God expresses it in the Old and New Testament.

In the Old Testament it is expressed and called a circumcising and putting away of the foreskin of the heart, Deuteronomy 30:6 and Jeremiah 4:4. It is, Isaiah 11:6, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And Isaiah 55:13, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. The Lord calls it taking away the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26. It is called a giving of the Lord's law within, and a writing of it upon the heart, Jeremiah 31:33. In the New Testament it is called putting off the old man and putting on the new man, Ephesians 4:22, 24. Being renewed after the image of God, Colossians 3:10. Becoming a new creature, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:10. Being made alive out of the death of sin, Ephesians 2:6. It is: ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, Ephesians 5:8. In all these places of Scripture, and many others in the Bible, you can see abundantly and clearly how God names it. It appears not only under such fitting names, but also under scriptural images: but we must lead you somewhat further into the description.

1. We said: those who come into that state are chosen — they alone, all of them, no others, no fewer, no more — and they surely so. Acts 13:48, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And Romans 8:30, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And 2 Timothy 1:9, he has called us according to his own purpose and grace. See, as many as believe are called according to the eternal purpose; all who are called are those who were chosen from eternity, just as with Paul, of whom God said, he is a chosen vessel unto me, Acts 9:15.

2. They are not only chosen, but God uses ways and means to bring them over to that state: there are causes by which they are brought to it — the moving, the meriting, the working, and the instrumental causes.

The moving cause — who is that? That is the great and blessed God, God the Father, and he does it so graciously. Ephesians 2:8, by grace are ye saved. And so sovereignly, Romans 9:16, 18, he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. I do it so graciously, says God, and so sovereignly; it is outside, above, and against your worthiness, little creature: I do it not for your sake — be it known to you — but that I may make myself glorious in you, Ezekiel 36:32.

The meriting cause is the Lord Jesus Christ, who became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, Hebrews 5:9; and 1 Corinthians 16:23, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. He has brought it about through his suffering, obedience, and intercession.

The working cause is God the Holy Spirit: he comes to work upon that chosen vessel; he brings them over, he makes them alive out of death, by his power he regenerates them, and takes away their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26. He pours out this his Spirit upon all flesh, Acts 2:17. And what happens then? They begin to prophesy, as soon as it comes upon them.

The instrumental cause is the word of the ministry: of this we read, 1 Peter 1:23, that the Church is the mother, in whose womb they are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. There God has servants with one talent, who have no grace and gain little profit; or if they have grace, they still gain little profit; then he has some with two talents, who gain another two; then he has some with five, who likewise gain another five. Among these he has sons of thunder and sons of consolation. These shoot their arrows, and I direct them, says God, to wherever they must go. Romans 10:17, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. My word and Spirit, says God, shall not depart from you, Isaiah 59:21.

3. There you have the causes: the Triune God as the moving, meriting, and working cause; and then the means he uses for it. Now we must also look at the state in which the Triune God finds that little creature: he finds them in the state of nature, of which we have already spoken at length. We shall not enlarge on it here, and will say only in a word: they are ungodly, careless; to all eternity they could not set themselves right, nor could any creature in the world. Living in that condition: to whom should I give my heart, he says, never to God, but far rather would I give it to sin and the Devil, to serve them with gladness. And they often make it so gross in sin, that they make for themselves a reputation in the world, in the city where they dwell. You may see that, Acts 19:19 — there were sorcerers, who were converted; and 1 Corinthians 6:10, idolaters.

4. Beyond this we must look at the state into which they are placed: that is, into communion with the Triune God; all that God does in grace for his children is for them. 1 John 1:3, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. To the Triune God they thus obtain communion, and what is that? This: they obtain communion in the reconciliation; there is reconciliation, God says, between me and you, I am your portion, Lamentations 3:24. They likewise have part in the spiritual life, in faith in the Lord Jesus, in his righteousness; indeed, all that God is, gives, and does — in that they have part: in God the Holy Spirit too they have part, in all his workings, peace, joy; he leads them, supports them, keeps them, gives them foretastes of everlasting happiness, and afterward takes them up in glory. Colossians 1:13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Galatians 2:20, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Philippians 1:21, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Into that state they are placed.

5. Further we must observe that this happens at a certain little moment in a person's life. Nowadays much is made of "periods" in the Church, although this is now somewhat outdated; but every Christian ought to be able to find, in the periods of his life, that he was brought over out of nature into the state of grace. Have you found that within the span of the course of your life? In the course of your life you must find it: from the beginning to your seventieth or eightieth year you must seek it. Did you stand in nature and pass over into grace? You have already spent many periods in that state; some might count as many as seventy or eighty years, more or less: from where would you begin to reckon that you were brought over? Go search through all the seasons of your life, in every hour: at every hour of the years God does such a work. He does it sometimes to a child even as it is born; he lays grace alongside the image of the Devil, and they show it as they grow up: see it in Timothy. God does it to a young lad, as you can see with Jeroboam's child, still only twelve or fourteen years old, 1 Kings 14:13. He does it when they are in a calling and become men, and when they grow old: Abraham was seventy-five years old. Then God also sometimes does it when he spreads out the last little bed of their life, on which they lie down and never rise again — but rarely; when that happens, it is very rare. Go, look now into your heart: this must have happened to you at a certain period of your life, that drawing out of nature and that passing over and being brought over into the state of grace. How many periods have you already gone through? where do you find it: in your childhood, or in your youth, or in your manly years, or perhaps only in your old age?

6. When God now does this, he does not do it in one single way, and this too we must observe. Do you think that everyone comes out of the state of nature into the state of grace in one and the same way? No, it happens in various ways. With one it goes harshly, and it is a harsh north wind that blows there; with another it goes gently, it is like the whisper of a gentle stillness, a lovely south wind that fans them: the one is dragged as if past hell itself; the other is led as if straight into heaven; with one it happens with much terror and dismay; with another with much cheerfulness and joy. The Lord is free in his doing: the one stands there as it were with a sword at his heart, and it goes with him as with a Paul, who for three days and nights neither ate nor drank, Acts 9 and 16. The other travels his way with joy, like the eunuch, Acts 8. The one obtains it after much seeking, and the other suddenly, who had not thought of it at all. Acts 2 — there it came so suddenly, they had not thought of it that morning, when they went out of their houses, that on that day so great a change would come over them. Another obtains it after much weeping and seeking, Matthew 7:8, they that seek me shall find me, Proverbs 8:17. And others come over without much sorrow or joy: they live under the ministry, their heart cleaves to the means, they attach themselves to them, and they are brought over so quietly, without much change of frame. That seemed to be the happy lot of those of Berea: they went diligently to search the Word, and God brought them over without much sorrow or joy, Acts 17:11.

7. Lastly we must also observe the providence which God so wonderfully maintains in doing this. In Manasseh, what a providence that was! As king he was so ungodly, and in the prison house he humbled himself before the Lord, he prayed, and God let himself be entreated by him, 2 Chronicles 33. What a providence it was with the Samaritan woman! Did she know anything of a state of grace, when she came to draw water? Not at all; but there she meets, at the well, a weary man, who addresses her — a stranger, who takes occasion, from that water, to speak of the water of life — and there she receives grace, John 4. What kind of providence was it in Zacchaeus! Did he know of a state of grace? The man is curious; his curiosity is satisfied by the ordering of God: there is a tree that he climbs, past which the Lord Jesus is to pass; while he hangs there among the branches, his time proves to be the time of love; the Lord addressed him, and there he comes into the state of grace, Luke 19. What a providence it was with the jailer! Acts 16 — we read that two prisoners in the prison had to be the means of his change. What a providence it was with Onesimus! with his godly master he does not do well, he runs away; after committing the offense, he becomes so anxious, he is so pursued, that he comes to Paul, under his ministry, and there God strikes him in the heart: you can see it in Paul's letter to Philemon. Augustine, walking past the church at Milan, hears singing — that was the first stirring he received: walking afterward in his garden, a wanton young man though he was, he heard a voice, tolle lege, that is, take up and read; he took up the Bible and read Romans 13:13; then he received breaking-through grace. God says, 1 Corinthians 14, that when you have come into your assembly, take care that you are so spiritual that they must fall upon their faces and say, truly God is in this place. The Count of Sternberg came with a stick in his hand to fetch his wife out of the meeting: when he pulled open the door, he saw such a radiance resting upon the assembly, that he might well have fallen down there; he became as a little worm, he too was converted. Junius, with his atheistic thoughts, thinks, let me nevertheless read a little; not knowing well what else to do, he opens to John 1:1; he reads, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: there the work of grace began.

That is the state of grace, and in all such ways God changes a person, his state, his heart, his deeds; they can say, I am no longer as I was before, in my heart, state, and disposition; you can judge from my deeds whether it is so. Now you see clearly the state of grace, as last time you saw the state of nature.

II. Now we must put a moving question to ourselves and to you, and see what you will answer before God. In how many states may man be considered? You will say, in four. 1. In the state of uprightness, before the fall. 2. In the state of perversity, that is, the state of nature, after the fall. 3. In the state of grace, which is also after the fall. 4. In the state of glory, that is, heaven. So then, in a state of uprightness: perversity, restoration, and perfection. Having considered these four states, I ask you: in which state are we not? You will answer: not in the state of uprightness; that no longer has any place. And in the state of glory we are not either, neither I nor you. Then I must put a third question to you, and say: so you must then be, of necessity, either in the state of perversity, that is, in the state of nature, or in the state of righteousness restored, that is, in the state of grace.

We put a fourth question: you have recently heard the state of nature described, and now the state of grace; we then put this question to you: did it not seem clearer to you that you were not in the state of nature, than it now seems to you that you are in the state of grace? Must you not say, my God, how is this with me? I am so calm, so still, so at ease, it is as though there is peace within me about it; I am not in that state of nature. Must you not say: well then I must say it in humility, though I have much corruption, I must then be in the state of grace, for there is no third option. Lord, how is this with me? how can I understand it? with so much corruption, and yet it is so peaceful, and it is so clear to me that I am not in that state of nature, as it was described there? and yet I dare not say with full assurance that I am in the state of grace — how do I understand that? How do I come to grasp it — so clear to see that I am not in nature, and yet unable to come to say with confidence, I am in grace?

If you have had any workings, bruised reeds, even though you are still so weak, has this played a part in your thoughts: how is it that I can see this so easily, and not the other? This has also occurred to our own thoughts, and do you know where it came from, that you could say, I am not in the state of nature?

1. Because those two contrary things give so much light to one another that there is no arguing against it. Take, for instance: it is now day, and you know what night is: well, even if one says nothing, the day itself says, it is now day. Take a healthy person and a sick one, set them side by side, it is easy to see who is healthy. Take a white person and a black one, set them together, the white person will have to say, I am not black. The matter is tangible: nature is a black man, grace is not black; grace says, I am not so black.

2. The reason why it fell out so easily and went so calmly, is because neither you, nor I, nor anyone in the whole world, knows a third state. The state of uprightness no longer has any place, and the state of glory we are not in either — there is no third. There is no intermediate state; in the world there may be an intermediate state between health and sickness, between riches and poverty; between day and night there can be twilight — but not here: so you had to say, that I am in grace is not indeed so clear to me; but that I am not in nature is clear to me.

3. Do you know why it went so easily? because, although you found something of nature in yourself, you found also that you were quite differently disposed toward it than those who live in nature; you found things of nature in yourself, but you were troubled about them, it grieved you, it pressed tears from your eyes: now, since I am so differently disposed about it, therefore I am not in it.

4. A fourth reason was, that conscience was on your side too. You said, my heart, do not deceive me, speak now: are you still a slave of the Devil, do you serve him faithfully, do you side with him and his cause, are you in agreement with it? You had to say, no, I cannot charge you with that. 1 John 3:20, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. Ah! my heart does not condemn me in that.

5. A fifth reason is, that you so loved that prayer of Solomon: remove far from me vanity and lies; and you made it a matter of conscience not to lie, and, according to the ninth commandment of the Law, to bear no false witness — not only concerning your neighbor, but also concerning yourself, knowing that God desires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51:6. Have you now, bruised reeds, found such dispositions as you have and possess, anywhere in the whole Bible, in those who were in the state of nature?

6. Lastly, the Word and the Spirit were also for you, they confirmed it in your heart, as it were; they were like two witnesses within you, and they made you see it secretly. You always wish to have the testimony of God's Spirit: they were there, as secret witnesses within you, to give you that free spirit, Psalm 51:12.

We have now shown you the state of grace, and put a question to you, and with reasons shown whence it sprang, that you could so easily say that you were not in the state of nature. We had thought that we would be able to deal with more. Now follows the third: a natural man will say, I have grace, and he deceives himself miserably. And then the fourth: one who is in the state of grace will say, I have heard the state of grace described, I feel that I am not in it. Those who are not in it say it so easily, and those who are in it find it so hard to come to say it. And then we shall see how it comes that old Christians are often least assured, and the young most assured. These things are too much for now; we shall then leave it here for the present. I hope that God will bless this to his own honor: Amen.

Sermon 15

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which is treated the case of how it comes about that those who are not in the state of grace, and will perhaps never come into it, can so easily hope.

We read in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13:44, that the Lord Jesus Christ said: again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. What else does the Lord Christ mean to say by this, but that it likewise goes so in the Church? It is there just as with a man who is out working in a field: he finds there a precious treasure; he cannot keep that treasure to himself; he goes away and hides it, and it works in his thoughts. Ah, had I that field, he says, I would gladly give all that I have in the world for it: I must go and see to it that I get it for my own.

Beloved, just so it goes with a Christian. He too comes onto that field under the ministry of the Word. There the Lord is longsuffering toward him, he bears with him — one for ten, another for twenty, thirty, or forty years, more or less, according as it pleases God to bear with him. There he comes under the hearing, under the ministry of the Covenant of Grace, and where the sacraments are administered; there he is occupied with hearing, with reading, and with examining himself, just as a laborer is occupied with digging and delving deeper. That laborer, who is busy digging there in that field, had no thought that he would find a treasure in that field: the natural man likewise not; I shall find no treasure there, he says; well, what is that — should I find a treasure in such small things as reading, hearing, examining myself? But what does the gracious God do in his Church? There God comes, and he makes them see a treasure amid those things: the grace of God in Christ, the spiritual gifts, the Gospel of grace, the state of grace, upon which the state of glory shall follow.

What treasure is that, says one? It is a great treasure, it is a good treasure, it alone is good; it is a treasure that alone can wholly fill a troubled heart; when everything else fails, then those who have this treasure still have, in time of need, a good that they can draw upon; it is a treasure that, even when they must part with all their other goods, still remains. They see that treasure: what do they do when God reveals it to them? They hide it; ah, they say, I will not let it be known, I do not wish to make it known: at first what do they do? they bottle it up: I would rather deny it, they say; even though it does not come out, still they have seen the treasure.

How do they do it? Just like that man in the field: ah, he says, how shall I get it into my own name! So too: I am so sick with longing for it, they say, I cannot do without it or I am lost; I would be happier to have that treasure than to have the whole world; it is the best part, my heart is set upon it. There they go and sell all they have; what is that? their own self, their virtues, their imaginings, their sinful life, their merits, their whole selfhood; I strike myself out of the reckoning, says such a one, that is gone, that is finished, I hope to give that up entirely; I have only lived for myself, but I strike that out; what have I done, that I have spent my money for that which is not bread? He sells that; it has served its time, and what then? Ah, he says, I wish that I had that treasure! and I must have it, whatever it may cost. He makes then a bold approach to the throne of grace, in solitude and quiet: Lord, he says, must I give my name for it? must I give my goods for it? must I give my blood for it? I am willing to do it; I offer all that I have and possess, even if I must undergo loss and shame for it, I am willing.

Not only that, but, my Lord, he says, even if I already began to think that I had something of it, and I began to hope a little, that cannot set me at ease: I would gladly have it brought under my own name, I would gladly be assured; say unto my soul, I am thy salvation, Psalm 35:3. Let me once taste the certainty of my salvation, through your grace, Psalm 51. Ah, bring it under my name. Then, after a tender searching and persistent wrestling, weeping, and praying, they do at last obtain it. Then they are so content, so satisfied, they cry it out: by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace, said Paul, which he has bestowed upon me, was not in vain, 1 Corinthians 15:10. See, that is how it goes in the Church: when they have that, now I can hope, they say, that the Lord will bring me safely home forever.

Beloved, you know that we have explained to you the words that have again been read in your hearing, and have treated various subjects concerning them. The last was that the bruised reeds said: you want me to hope, but I cannot; their argument is: only he who is in the state of grace may hope, but he who is in the state of nature may not hope. Their argument seemed scriptural enough — it stands in Ephesians 2:12. We have treated what the state of nature is, and thereupon also the state of grace. Now we come to that great question: am I in the state of grace, or am I not in it? This we shall seek to make plain to you, and then the conclusion will follow of itself. The first position is true: you are in the state of grace, or you are not in it — this is said of people who never had grace and never will have it, or of those who are assured of it; but the bruised reeds, who do have grace, say: I am not in it. Today we shall deal with the first: that there are people who take up the second position broadly and say, I am in the state of grace, while having no part in it at all, and never shall. This we will make plain to you, in that we shall:

I. Go on to inquire whether someone who is not in the state of grace, and never will come to be, may not rightly say, "I am in grace."
II. Show you on what grounds he says so.
III. Show how near this comes to the truth, and yet is deception.

Now note this: our first position is that there are those who hold fast that they are in the state of grace who deceive themselves miserably — they will never come into it. Then we shall show you that their grounds, however great they seem, are murky. Finally, how close this can seem to come to true grace, and yet we shall seek to distinguish it.

1. As to the first: you will say, are there people who say that they are in grace, and who are not in it, nor ever shall be? Yes indeed, and this is plain:

1. From election and reprobation: for if a man is one of the reprobate, he can never have had a state of grace, and he shall never obtain it. Romans 9:10-23 — there Paul has shown that point powerfully, that there are vessels of wrath as well as vessels of mercy. 1 Peter 2:8: they were appointed to it. Now if it is settled, as indeed it is, that no one comes into the state of grace except the elect, then it is certain that many are not in the state of grace and never shall come into it: many are called, but few chosen, Matthew 20:16.

2. A second proof is that a person can resist the Spirit so far that he commits the sin unto death, 1 John 5:16, Hebrews 6:4-6. For that there is no prayer, no grace, nor forgiveness, neither in this age nor in the age to come, Matthew 12:32.

3. A third proof is that there is chaff on the threshing floor: those who live sinfully and godlessly, and keep on living and dying so, go on unconverted in their sin to the very end. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for such chaff, Matthew 11:21. This then is clear, and admits no objection, that we say there are people who are not in the state of grace and never shall come into it.

But the question is, do such people actually profess to be in the state of grace? Yes indeed, freely and fully: they say, I am in it. You will say, that must have some reason and proof behind it. We shall try to prove it.

1. We say there are many places in the Word that show this openly. So we read: some were Jews, and yet were not of Christ, but a synagogue of Satan, Revelation 3:9. Matthew 3:9: And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham for our father. John 8:39: there they said it, we have Abraham for our father; they thought that this was as good as saying, we have God for our Father. Isaiah 57:10: there they did not even say, it is hopeless. Though they lived according to the imagination of their own hearts, they said, we shall have peace, only let us live as we see fit, Deuteronomy 29:19. There, then, lies the proof in the texts themselves.

2. We shall show it to you in living examples, which come before your eyes like so many pictures. There we meet a Paul before his conversion, who truly thought that all was well with him, and that this was how he ought to be. Consider the brother of the prodigal son — he thought he had lived well enough, Luke 15:29. Consider the Pharisee, how he gives thanks, Luke 18:11. And the young man who said, what do I still lack? Mark 10:20.

3. It is plain from the urgent calls and awakenings that God causes to sound in His Church, that each one should examine himself, Zephaniah 2:1. If people were such that there were no deception in them, such self-examination would not be necessary. 2 Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves, prove yourselves. And upon those who are not sincere, God pronounces a woe: woe unto you, hypocrites, Matthew 23:13, and Jeremiah 48:10: Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully.

4. We add to this the exposure by which God uncovers those who are insincere. Matthew 22:12: friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? — meaning: well, you are not in the state of grace — and he was speechless. Revelation 3:17: well, you do not know that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, lacking everything.

5. A further proof is that God still converts such people, who say that they are already in grace when they are not; not all who say so are reprobate — you see that in Paul, Acts 9. There God strips them of all their false grounds.

6. It also appears at times from the dreadful outcry of the sinner, as he lies upon his sickbed and God shows him that he still lacks it: then they cry out, treason, treason, like Athaliah, 2 Kings 11:14. Then they say, it was deception; then all their false grounds fall away from them, and they must say with their own mouths, it is treason. There it becomes plain that it was but a morning cloud — they began in the spirit and end in the flesh, they began well enough to run, but do not end well.

7. We prove it from the dreadful outcome in eternity. Matthew 7:23: there the Lord says, I never knew you, though you gave yourself out to be something great. Matthew 25:8: Alas, Lord, cried the foolish virgins, our lamps are going out — the oil that was in them was no oil at all, their oil was no grace.

Consider it now: have we not told you the truth, that there are many who have no grace and never shall obtain it, who nevertheless say so quite freely?

II. You will think that to say such a thing, they must have a great many grounds for it. Sit with this a while — this we must tell you. One says it more carelessly than another, one more cautiously than another. Some say it so cautiously that you must almost stand amazed, while another, when he says it, does it without any caution at all.

Those who do it carelessly and thoughtlessly do it in this way:

1. He just says it offhand: I am in grace — without ever having given a thought to the state of nature or the state of grace; it simply rolls loosely off his lips. Revelation 3:17: I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing — and it goes just as loosely as that.

2. Do you know why he says it so loosely? It is from ignorance: he knows as little of the one state as of the other; it would go badly for him were he ever to have to speak of it — the state of nature and the state of grace are hidden from his eyes; they do not know how wretched they are, Revelation 3:17.

3. He who says it so loosely says it out of empty imagination: he simply thinks it so, he takes it as settled, and holds to it, and if you ask him for his reason, he has none. John 9:40, they said, are we blind also? They have far less ground to think they have grace than King Agag had, who thought the bitterness of death was past, and so went cheerfully to meet the prophet, 1 Samuel 15:32. And even less ground than Haman had, who thought: to whom would the king delight to do honor more than to me? Esther 6:6.

4. But a fourth ground is a spirit of deep sleep: they are fast asleep — whatever is preached of hell or of heaven, they go on sleeping, they do not hear it; one must say to them as to Jonah, what meanest thou, O sleeper? Jonah 1:6. Their heart is fat and smooth, Jeremiah 5:28.

5. They know no anxious care about the state of grace — on the contrary, it scarcely once rises up in their heart their whole life long; they simply take it as settled; they are enemies of care; try once to bring them to any such concern, and they will hate you for it.

6. It springs from a lack of self-examination; they never once look within. Lamentations 3:40, there they were willing enough to say to one another, let us search and try our ways; but they will not actually do it — and if they must do it once, they are frightened, and then they go and forge a state of grace out of their own brains, rather than out of the Word.

7. Ah, they look at the faults of the godly and say, they are just like the rest — and if this or that one among the godly happens by temperament to be better than another believer, then he says, well, they are all alike anyway.

8. Finally, they never ponder their life in the light of election and reprobation, nor do they ever think of the particular death of Christ, and that there is particular grace. What should I say, they say, about dwelling on election and reprobation — those hidden things belong to the Lord, one ought not to begin there, I have something against that — and so they seek to escape the exhortation of the Apostle Peter: give diligence to make your calling and election sure, 2 Peter 1:10.

Then there are those who say it very deliberately, and who construct a whole state of grace and conversion for themselves, so that you must watch and take careful note to detect it. I am in grace, they say — and if you want to know my reasons, I will tell them to you. What is the reason?

1. No one is in grace without having knowledge; he must not be a fool. One must know the Lord, Jeremiah 9:24. There must also be knowledge of Christ, Isaiah 53:11. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent, John 17:3. I am no fool, they say; I am a friend of knowledge; I pursue inquiry; I am insatiable in it; I know how to speak of controversies and doctrines and of the household of God; I could speak on some texts of the Word; I would dare to bend my knees in company and offer a prayer; you could see for yourself that I am not lacking in knowledge. You ask, by what then could one see that this is not right? We shall say a word about each point. Do you know how these great "knowers" can be detected? By this: their heads are often turned toward error by it. Once more: they are nothing but proud and puffed up. Second, they can be detected in this, that they do not know themselves — in all that great wisdom they are never once, their whole life long, at a loss, cast down, or without an answer; they always know what to say. Third, that great wisdom concerns itself more with speculations than with the truths that touch the heart, such as regeneration, sanctification, the putting to death of the old man. As a rule they are poor practitioners of what they claim to know.

2. Now, you will say, have you taken that away from me too? Then I still have this: I say, no one can be in the state of grace unless he is converted, for without conversion and holiness no one shall see God, Hebrews 12:14. So you cannot be in it unless you are converted. Now, since I must grant that much, on what grounds will you then expose me?

a. You do say indeed that one must be converted, but you put off conversion; there is always time enough, one year passes and then the next, and you remain unconverted: it would have to go badly for me indeed, you say, if I did not have as much time before my death as the thief on the cross, or if I could not speak such words as the tax collector.

b. You say one must be converted, but it is out of self-deception; you convert only halfway, like Naaman, and say, if I must once go into the house of the idol, surely God will take that in good part — or else, you say, I will manage things so that neither the world nor the Lord shall have anything to complain of; I will give the Devil his due and God His.

3. Take that too from me, you will say — I still have this by which I prove that I am in the state of grace. And what is that? This: surely no one is in the state of grace but that grace weighs heavily with him — nothing can be compared to it; what are renown, honor, and everything else without grace? We say, you are right, that belongs to it; but you must know well that this is only appearance in you, only something said with the lips: and do you know how this shows itself?

a. When you come into circumstances such that the world and grace stand opposed to one another, everything then weighs heavier than grace; I would suffer loss, you say — and so you hold with a Demas rather than with a Moses; you are like Judas, who went away, and like that young man who went away sorrowful, Luke 18:23.

b. By this you are exposed: out of the whole treasure of grace you understand only that grace which is pleasant and comforting, such as having peace, assurance, and wisdom; out of the whole store you take only that — but you know nothing of the grace to crucify the flesh and live holily. There you are exposed again.

4. Yes, you say, have I taken that from you too? I have yet another proof: when one comes into the state of grace, one must come into it the right way and along the right road — the way of conviction, tears, anguish, struggle; what have you against that? Nothing at all — and yet you are false: these are only words; you have picked up some terms from the godly, you make yourself agreeable by them, you gain a name among them.

5. Besides, you will say, is it not something after all, that I have been so moved and afraid? But would not anyone tremble a little who lives under an earnest ministry? Would he not now and then get a shudder and a fright over his heart? How could it be otherwise — Felix, too, trembled under it, and Agrippa was almost persuaded as he lived under it; and after that you go home and say, I am not living well, I hope to live better someday — but nothing comes of it.

6. I have a sixth proof, you will say: someone who is in the state of grace must know the time of his change — must know when I was converted, the man, the text, the place: what have you against that now? Yes, when you once came under an earnest ministry, a shock went through your heart and a tear fell from your eye, and that is your new birth; I count that as such, you say, I hold to that, that is when I was converted — and this is just as little true as it was of Felix; it is as if Felix said, the time, the man, the place when I was so afraid, and Agrippa that I was so moved, and that is my change — and yet you know nothing of the change of your own heart.

7. I have one more point: can anyone be in the state of grace without having made confession of sin? Psalm 32:5: I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. But do you know what? You confess your sins alongside so many virtues, and you look at your virtues more than at your sins; someone else is always worse. You are very much on your guard that not too much comes out before God of what you have actually done: I must hold something back, you say; if all that I have done came fully out, I would be disgraced — I must conceal something.

8. Yes, you will say, I still have this: whoever is in the state of grace must have true faith. He that believeth hath everlasting life. You are right. And you add, I take the Lord Jesus Christ wholly to myself, and I have always heard that this is true faith. Yes, that is it — but essential things are lacking in your faith; it cannot be otherwise. Temporary faith also takes the whole of Jesus, and what does temporary faith say? Oh, be my Prophet, but you must teach me nothing painful, only pleasant things; be my Priest, take away my guilt but not my stain, justify me but do not sanctify me; be my King to protect and pardon me, but do not command me.

2. Once more, whoever is in the state of grace, they say, must also live godly, because faith without works is dead, James 2:20. Yes, he must let his light shine before men, Matthew 5:16. If ye know these things, says Christ, happy are ye if ye do them, John 13:17. One must, then, live godly. Well, is anything lacking there too? Oh yes, very much so... it is but a word of the lips. They are so proud of their virtues. Such a one usually despises and condemns a tenderer soul... he grounds his salvation on his virtues and duties, and does not know that, as Isaiah 64:6 says, we are all as an unclean thing. He thinks little of Matthew 5:20: except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And 2 Chronicles 30:18-19: The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. Sin is a light matter in his eyes, only a slip, a small fault, a little stumble; no one is perfect, he says, and he feels no alarm over it.

10. Finally, and lastly — and then I am at an end — this too falls away from me: whoever is in the state of grace must keep company with the godly; the best part he spends with them, Psalm 119:63: I am a companion of all them that fear thee. Is there anything wrong there too? I should think you are right — but there too something is amiss. What then? Well, what good did it do Saul that he was among the prophets! What joy was it to Judas that he was one of the twelve apostles, who always ate bread in the company of Christ! What did he not offer — and yet he was a hypocrite, a traitor. They spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, says Paul, Galatians 2:4. They watch and take note of their halting, Jeremiah 20:10, Psalm 35:15 — they were to David's face like angels, and behind his back like devils; they spoke all manner of evil of him in their hearts, and did so with the greatest caution.

III. Beloved, thus a person speaks who is not in the state of grace — one more carelessly, another more deliberately; now you will say, does counterfeit grace come so close to true grace? How then shall I find my way rightly? That is our last point: how counterfeit grace is to be distinguished from true grace.

1. Where there is but a single grain of true grace in the heart, there is the greatest sincerity: such people are enemies of hypocrisy. Psalm 32:2: in whose spirit there is no guile. Where there is only counterfeit grace, that is a friend of insincerity, having such cunning designs and motives in the pursuit of all its duties and virtues.

2. Where there is true grace in the heart, such a one thinks very little of himself: I have nothing, Lord, they say; they have such small thoughts of themselves, of their grace and their abilities. Where there is only counterfeit grace, that one cannot bear to have anything of himself belittled.

3. Where there is true grace, however small it may be — ah Lord, they say, my sinful heart, my heart gives me the most pain. Where it is only counterfeit, that one knows no pain in the heart: he knows pain everywhere else, but the pain within the heart he does not know.

4. A fourth distinction: where there is true grace, it is subject to so much change; it undergoes so many alterations of condition: ah Lord, they say, how often am I different! One can hardly ever find oneself the same twice. But where it is only counterfeit, that one is always the same — he is like a stone, he is always ready and able to pray.

5. The fifth difference is this: where there is true grace, such people set the highest value on the smallest grain of grace; wherever they see even the least trace of it, they love it, they would gladly share its lot. Where it is only counterfeit, that one could well persecute and mock the truth.

6. How close can it come — how hard it is to distinguish! How often does one who has received grace come before God and say, is this work really true in me? Will it not pass away? Shall I not yet become a dishonor to God? The other kind take it for settled once and for all that the work in them is genuine, even if they have to force themselves to believe it.

7. Where the work is genuine, ah Lord, they say, try me; they ask others, could this really be true in me? They ask themselves, what do you say of yourself — do you love a searching ministry, where the Word is set forth with discernment and false grounds are exposed? Where it is only counterfeit, they shun that; they would rather have a ministry where they can sit at ease, where no sins are touched on, where the sermon goes right over their heads, where no tests are set before them; if they come under such preaching without meaning to, or against their inclination, they twist themselves into a thousand postures, they dare not listen, they settle down to sleep, they despise such preaching and despise the setting forth of marks of grace.

8. Where it is true, that one often says before God, tell me yourself, is it well with me? Show it to me, the sooner the better: if there is grace in me, let me see it to Your honor; but if it is not there, take it from me — I do not say, not yet, Lord, but show it to me the sooner the better.

Now we would gladly ask you: you have heard the distinction now, and it is all thoroughly scriptural — where do you find yourself best? In which of these points have you recognized yourself, in which mirror do you find your reflection? Do not lie to yourself. Ah, people to whom this has simply been dropped loosely on the lips, can you bear it any longer? And you who have been closely examined on this, and think that the state of grace does not concern you, and that you are not in it — should you not rather say, I find myself better reflected in the mirror of the truly gracious than in the false?

Now we have dealt with this: that there are those who say loosely, I am in the state of grace. In what follows we shall have to see that there are those who say, I am not in it, who nevertheless do have grace. I hope the Lord will be pleased to bless this to us, to His own honor: Amen.

Sermon 16

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which it is shown that there are those who are in the state of grace and yet cannot believe it; with reasons given for why it is that old Christians are often the least assured, and young ones the most.

Reading Romans 8:17: If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Today we shall only let our thoughts play upon the inheritance that gracious people have. And what, then, is their inheritance? This:

1. All that is in the whole world, 1 Corinthians 3:21: All things are yours — ministers, rulers, the whole creation, in a sanctified and blessed right in Christ. And though they receive but a small portion of it, still, in all they have, there is such a blessing in that small portion. Psalm 37:16: The little that the righteous man has is better than the abundance of many wicked.

2. They are heirs of the great providence and government that the Lord exercises over all His creatures. Genesis 50:20, Joseph says, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. Jeremiah 24:5: good figs indeed, says God, I have sent you into Chaldea for your own good. Romans 8:28: We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

3. They are heirs of all the promises that are in the whole Bible. Not one curse lies to their charge, but to them belong the greatest and most precious promises, 2 Peter 1:4. They can say, the promise is unto me, Acts 2:39. And they can say, we are heirs of the promises of God, Hebrews 6:17. Do you know what else they are heirs of?

4. Then all the good of the Covenant of Grace. The Lord Jesus Christ says to them: do you know what is at my right hand and my left? All of that I have for you — length of days, enduring wealth and righteousness; I cause those who love me to inherit substance, and I will fill all their treasuries, Proverbs 8:18,21. And Isaiah 54:17: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn: this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me.

5. They inherit the Triune God as their blessed and all-sufficient portion. Lamentations 3:24: The Lord is my portion. Well then, said God to Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward, Genesis 15:1. Blessed is that people whose God is the Lord, that people who have God as their portion: they inherit the Triune God in the dispensation of grace — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

6. Finally God says, when I have nothing left in the world to give you, then you shall have heaven for your inheritance; then I will say to you, come, ye blessed, inherit that kingdom, Matthew 25:34. Then I will make you shout for joy and say, Colossians 1:12: giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Should one not expect of such people that they would always be singing and leaping? Should one not expect to meet them in a holy gladness, giving God the honor for what He has done for them, and crying out: bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name, Psalm 103:1? I cannot repay it, says David, what shall I render unto Thee for all Thy benefits toward me? I am Thy servant, yea, surely I am Thy servant, Psalm 116:12,16. Ah yes, so one ought to find people — as once a holy, godly soul went leaping before the Ark, 2 Samuel 6:16; they come before God at times in such a way that the world must say, what is the matter with these people? They rejoice in the Lord with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Peter 1:8. When you touch them so, it must all come out — they are, as it were, beside themselves for God. Yet you do not always meet them all so: but they are nevertheless heirs whom you will also find hanging their heads like a bulrush, their eyes full of tears, their breast full of sighs, and their mouth full of complaints; you will hear them say, my soul is cast down within me, Psalm 42:12(?), and my soul cleaveth unto the dust, Psalm 119:25. I can do no more, I cannot hold out any longer, I dare not profess or think that I have grace, or that I am an heir of that great good: I would rather deny it altogether, I would rather lie there battered against the wind, and I shall maintain that I have no grace. When it is so with them, that is a condition to be amended, and which must be amended — but they cannot bring themselves to do it. What, now, does the King do, when He meets them so? Does He withdraw His hand from them? Does He break them? Does He quench the little flickering wick? Oh no — but He sees them and their labor well enough, and He will not break it nor quench it, but He upholds and strengthens it, and instructs them. If the King does so, His servants must do so too. If we, His servants, meet such in the course of our ministry, we too must do as our King does: if our King is willing to uphold such as these, so must we. With this we have occupied some time, and have kept you occupied with it as well.

The last argument that the bruised reeds raised was: whoever is in the state of grace may hope in Christ, and whoever is not in it may not hope in Christ — and their argument was scriptural, Ephesians 2:12. But, said the bruised reeds, I am not in it, therefore I may not hope. I am not in the state of grace, they said, and so they came to the third point: I may not set my trust upon the Lord Jesus. We have dealt with those two propositions. The first kind said outright, I am in the state of grace, who nevertheless are not in it. Those were the mouth-Christians, the say-so Christians, the Christians in name only: we exposed those in the previous sermon. Then there was, we said, a second kind, who possess grace and say that there is no grace in them. Then there is a third kind, who say, I am in it, God be praised! I have light in my soul, my soul is under no cloud, I know it for certain. Today we are to look at the second kind, and at another time, which God shall be pleased to grant us, we shall look at the third.

Today, then, the second kind, who say: I am outside the state of grace, and who nevertheless do have grace. To help you understand this well, we shall first prove clearly from the Word that someone can have grace and not know it. Then we shall give reasons why someone can be so much in the dark about his own state of grace. Then, whether old, godly, gracious people, who have come far in sanctification, are not also often tossed about concerning their state of grace, and why. Finally, whether beginners in grace are not often more assured than old disciples, whether men or women? These are truly essential matters of our spiritual religion.

I. Whether someone who possesses grace can say, I have none, and whether that is scriptural.
II. Whether there are reasons why they say, I do not have it.
III. Whether an old Christian, who has come far in grace and in sanctification, is not also often in the dark.
IV. Why the beginner has more assurance than an old disciple of Christ.

I. As to the first: someone can be in the state of grace and say, I am not in it. The proofs run through the whole Word; we hope you have read it through carefully in your lifetime. What kind of souls, when you have read it through, do you meet most? Are they mostly the assured, or the unassured? Are they mostly the seeking, complaining, groaning, praying kind, or are they the assured?

1. I know for certain you will say, those who are least assured and most seeking: as in Psalm 77 and 88, and Song of Songs 3 and 5. Ah, says the Bride, I have lost him. Such you will find the most in the Bible.

2. Our second proof is that God makes such a work of distinguishing their state of grace. That they are in grace is a great blessing; but to know it is a still greater blessing. If God makes a distinction between having grace and knowing it, then there must be people who have grace and do not know it. Romans 8:15,16, Paul said, ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father: and then the Spirit came who bore witness with their spirit that they were the children of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12: First God grants them something, and then He lets them see the things that are freely given them of God. Ephesians 1:13: After that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

3. A third proof we draw from the promises themselves. To whom are these mostly given? To the assured? No, but to the fearful, who cannot hold out any longer: to weak little lambs, who cannot keep pace with the Shepherd: there the promises lie. It is remarkable — in Matthew 5 there is not one promise made to the assured, but they are all made to the little ones. Zechariah 13:7: I will turn my hand upon the little ones. Isaiah 40:11: I will gather the lambs in my arms, and carry them in my bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck.

4. A fourth proof is that we are taught throughout the whole Word that we must test ourselves, and the whole Word charges us: examine yourselves, prove yourselves — if one were always assured of one's grace, it would not be necessary to test oneself. 2 Corinthians 13:5. Zephaniah 2:1. Lamentations 3:40: everywhere it is, examine yourselves, prove yourselves, let us search and try our ways.

5. A fifth proof that someone can have grace and not know it is this: even when they have examined and tested themselves their whole life through, it is still, ah God, make it known to me! Psalm 62:6 and 139:23,24: search me, O Lord, try me, take me now into thy hand, show me if there be any wicked way in me: O God, be Thou my witness, if there is any hiding place, let it lie open before me.

6. This is also shown by all those dreadful expressions found in the Word. Did I think of God, I made a noise, Psalm 77:4[?]. My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord, Lamentations 3:18. Thou smokest against my prayer, Psalm 80:5[?]. I cry, but Thou answerest not, Psalm 22:2. I would give up my case entirely — all men are liars, there is nothing to be relied upon, Psalm 116:11. I shall now perish one day, 1 Samuel 27:1. You know these are all scriptural expressions. Only this will come into your thoughts: is this also true in the New Testament? Yes, it is so in the New Testament as well. Is it true? What did the Lord Jesus say? Matthew 9:15: The children of the bridechamber do mourn at times; however glad they may wish to be, they do fall into decline, into decay under crosses and afflictions, under the hiding of God's face; they see no light, they mourn at times. 2 Corinthians 4:8, there Paul, that great man, says, I am at times perplexed: you, who were caught up even into the third heaven? Yes, but I am nevertheless, he says, not in despair: cast down or perplexed perhaps, but not in despair. See Peter too, Matthew 26:75, how full his throat was, as he went out of the city along the streets of Jerusalem! How choked with grief was he! That is why you find in Matthew 5 all those beatitudes addressed to such as these.

Now we must ask you a question: do you not now believe that someone can have grace and not believe it? Once we have brought you this far, we move on to our second point.

II. Is it not a wonder in our eyes, that someone who has grace should deny it? What reasons, then, are there for it? Consider this.

1. The first reason is that the greatness of grace appears to them alongside their own smallness. I cannot, they say, have grace unless I am one of the elect; I must be comprehended in the counsel of peace; the Triune God must already have been at work concerning me; the Son of God must have died for me; the Spirit of God must already have applied that to me and worked it in me — and should I presume so much of myself, dead dog that I am, utterly unworthy, who have a soul scarlet with sin? There is such a depth of depravity in me, my own understanding cannot fathom it — should I have grace? That goes beyond all reason and comprehension: I would rather say with Peter, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, Luke 5:8, and Isaiah 6:5: Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I have seen the Lord of hosts.

2. A second reason is: because God, in bestowing grace, takes such strange paths with them, that they must say, is this in keeping with the state of grace? It seems rather a path against it. Is this the way to heaven, by such strange paths! What paths? They are often the poorest in body, the darkest in soul, the most burdened in both. Just as Israel said: is this the way to Canaan? The plague strikes us, we must wrestle with pestilence, it seems here as though we shall all end up in the graves. Just as Naaman the Syrian once said, 2 Kings 5. It seemed he had read his Bible well, and had studied there how it should go with lepers when they were cleansed: I thought, he said, that the prophet would surely come out to me, and strike his hand over the place, and call on the name of his God; I thought he would earnestly have prayed to God for me; but instead of that, he did not even come out himself, he had me told by his servant, go and wash in the waters of the Jordan — and off he went, sullen. So it is with the godly too, Psalm 73:2: is this the way to heaven? That seemed too strange to him, so he said, my feet were almost gone. I thought, they say, that if I had grace, I would then have light, that I would put some sin underfoot every day, and that I would live a holy life. The Lord teaches them what is written, Isaiah 55:8,9: My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways: for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.

3. The third reason is: it is no wonder that someone who has grace denies it; the gracious often have such a small grasp of God's ways and of their own religion, that the Lord Jesus had to say, O fools, and slow of heart, have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me nor my Father, Luke 24:25, and John 14:9. They are like the young Samuel: the boy did not yet know the voice of the Lord, 1 Samuel 3:7.

4. A fourth reason is: because someone who has grace must go out of himself and deny himself, and he cannot do that. Ah, that foolish, silly self-love which they carry in their hearts hinders them from quietly giving themselves over to God, in renunciation of all that is outside of Him.

5. A fifth reason: it is a matter of lacking self-examination. When have you last examined yourself? How did you find it? Where did you once go into your inner chamber to render account? Do not months sometimes go by without your once lying down beside the state of grace to see whether you are in it? And when you did once go to examine yourself, you set about the inquiry the wrong way: you set a small measure of grace beside a great one, and said, if I lack the great grace, then I have not the small either. Bruised reeds, did you not know that there are little children and infants in Christ, just as there are young men, fathers, 1 John 2:12-14?

6. It also comes from the mistaken notion you formed about grace; you said, no one can have grace unless he is assured of it. Did you not understand, then, that having grace and being assured of it are two different things? You thought that if you had grace, you would then have so much gladness, and assurances, and such great workings — and so you must go and fetch your grace at times from its fruits; then you have no answer; then it is, must I show my faith from my good works? My good works are so small they are not worth looking at; the best of them are like a garment to be thrown away.

7. Once more, they are often in an exceedingly great conflict, 1 Timothy 1:18, they receive buffetings from the Devil, he sifts them. Luke 22:31: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. And then they go to examine whether they have grace: that is the wrong time to do it, when you are in decline, in the hiding of God's face, in conflict.

8. Lastly, the great God is sometimes pleased to let them fall into a state of powerlessness, and He is pleased not to give them the strength to draw conclusions. Psalm 51:8,12. That man knew this too, and so he pleaded so earnestly for it: make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. We read that Isaac said, my father, I see the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb? that I do not see, Genesis 22:7. So it goes: it is like a man sealing a letter — the wax is burning, the sealing-wax is there, the seal is there, but how does the letter get sealed? It will not seal itself; a hand must come to press the seal into the wax. So it is here too: they have the work of grace, but something is still lacking — and what is that? That is the sealing of God's Spirit: they lack the power to draw the conclusion and make it out.

Now we have dealt with our second point. Now we ask you: do you not now believe these scriptural reasons, that there are those who are in the state of grace, to whom it is nevertheless dark?

III. Now our third point: can it really be dark to someone who has been thirty or forty years in grace, more or less, who has come far in sanctification, and is old in grace? Ah yes — and they are often even more in the dark than the young in grace: it happens to old disciples, men and women, even more than to the young. This is a riddle, you will say — how do I make sense of it? Old in grace, far along in sanctification, and still in the dark? Yes — and do you know why?

1. You will find many old believers whose transition was not as clear as that of the young, so that they cannot say with such certainty, this my soul was dead, and behold, it has become alive. There are at times old believers who had grace from their youth, and so they know of no way to speak of a change; while the young have often received it so clearly and so visibly that they do not doubt it at all.

2. It also happens that old believers have often committed some sin, before their conversion, or in the transition, or while in the state of grace, and God is pleased to keep that sin continually before their eyes, so that they begin to say, when they come to the conclusion, that hinders me — should I have grace, would God have given me that? So we find it in Job: there the offenses of his youth came into his thoughts — Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth, he says, Job 13:26. In that man David you find it too: remember not the sins of my youth, Psalm 25:7. That hinders them in reaching the conclusion; God continually sets that old sin before them.

3. You will find an old child of God, otherwise settled in the state of grace, still fast bound to this or that besetting sin of temperament — the sin of hastiness, or pride, or covetousness: and the Lord God is not pleased with that; for their humbling He lets them go without assurance: now, can those who are so fast bound to a right eye, a right hand, a right foot, and will not pluck it out or cut it off, be assured? Wherever there is a besetting sin, how often it overtakes them! Romans 7. 2 Corinthians 12: there Paul too fell short in this.

4. Yes but, you will say, you are not only far along in grace, but also far along in sanctification: and should that one not be assured? Yes, that can be so: someone can be very far advanced in humility and meekness, ready to forgive and full of love, and yet be unassured: they look at sanctification in its full breadth, and they see that, however much of it they have, they are still so far from what they ought to be — and could such a one, they say, possibly be assured? Philippians 3:12: I am not already perfect.

5. A fifth reason is: the Lord God wants to teach old Christians that assurance is His own work: you cannot give that to yourself; that honor, says God, I reserve for myself alone.

6. Lastly, God wants to teach them to reason and to search, and He wants to keep them small, and to teach them how dependent they are on Him and on all His goodness, and to make them wait with patience for the longed-for little hour of comfort that is appointed in God's counsel.

IV. Now our fourth point, which is that there are beginners who are at times more assured than old Christians. Are there such? Indeed there are — and do you know why?

1. Because God, in His sovereign freedom, is pleased to give such people more than He gives the old; He wills to make it flourish there toward rejoicing, and not so much toward sanctification.

2. Such a one is often so taken up with his own change: I cannot doubt it, he says, I know the day, the hour, the first beginning. Ah, he says, my God, I cannot deny it.

3. He is inexperienced and has little strength, and so God accommodates Himself to the pace of the work, as Jacob did, Genesis 33:13: he said to his brother, my lord knows that I have tender children, and flocks and herds giving suck to me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. So God comes too, and says, my tender child would be overdriven. He gives assurance for now, He says, it will come along in due time afterward.

4. God does it also because the Devil makes them so afraid that it will pass away, and that they will not be able to hold out.

5. The world, too, leaves them somewhat more at peace: it can tolerate a cheerful Christian well enough, but not a holy one; therefore it leaves beginners in peace.

Now we had, lastly, a word for you: how does it stand with you? God knows each of you; whether you know yourself, God knows. I say, do not be discouraged: where the work of grace has begun, it will go on. Moreover, keep your hand to the work all the same. Finally, if you were to come into heaven after all, what a blessed deception that would be — that you had said in your life, I am going to hell, and at your death, now I go to the Devil — and yet you came into heaven after all! Would that not be well repaid? Ah, it can turn out otherwise too. You think, hell is for me, and I belong to the Devil; and God says, you are mine, and heaven is for you. How you will stand and stare, when you find yourself so mistaken! What a blessed deception that will be! Then you will say, as Jacob said to Joseph: I had not thought to see thy face, but God has shown me thy seed also — so too, had I ever thought to be eternally happy? I beg you, keep your hand to the work.

So we have seen, then, that a beginner is often more assured than one further advanced in grace. And thus we have dealt not only with the first kind, who say they are in grace and are not in it, but also now with the second kind, who say they are not in it and yet are. In what follows we must deal with those who say they are assured of it: I wish that the Lord may be pleased to bless this to us, to His honor, for His Son's sake: Amen.

Sermon 17

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which is shown: I. When assurance is spoken of, what the Devil says of it, and the unrighteous, and what the godly say of it who have never yet been assured. IV. What a fair state and condition it is.

Reading in the third epistle of John, verses 1-2, where John says: well, dear Gaius, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. That beloved man did not, it seems, fare as well in body as in soul. Yet when the soul is thriving, one feels little pressure or cross; when the soul is well entertained, one lives as in paradise, even if one is beset with many hardships in the body. When does a soul fare well?

1. Then the soul fares well when it has found grace in God's eyes; when the Spirit of grace and of supplications has been poured out upon it; when it can pray through the Spirit of God. Then God gives it a token that its work is genuine, when it begins to say, I believe that Thou hast shown me mercy, I was dead, and behold, I am alive.

2. When, under those workings of the Spirit, they begin to attain quiet, settled, steady exercises of faith; when they no longer set so much store on frames and marks, but rather on coming into dealings with the Lord Jesus, so that they can say, we walk by faith, 2 Corinthians 5:7, and Habakkuk 2:4: the just shall live by his faith. If something troubles them within, they immediately take refuge in the Son of God, they lay hold of His strength and seek to be found in Him, Philippians 3:9.

3. Do you know when the soul fares well? When it comes to hold spiritual conversation with God, when it walks with Him as Enoch and Noah did, Genesis 5 and 6. That is, when they do nothing great or small without acknowledging the Lord in it; they make everything known to Him, they cannot bear it when He seems far off; it is so good for them to be near God, Psalm 73:28. When they are so dependent on God, so submissive; their will is united with the will of God, they are so melted, they conform themselves so entirely to the way God holds.

4. Then it fares well when they begin to increase in grace, in humility, in love, in faith, in hope, in thankfulness: it becomes plain that they are growing in grace. Psalm 92:13(14): Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. God, they say, You fulfill that sweet word in me — they shall grow up as calves of the stall, Malachi 4:2.

5. Then, when God says to their soul, I am your salvation, Psalm 35:3. When He takes them aside alone and says, shall I give you a glimpse of my infinite love? Shall I embrace you tenderly once more? Let me give you a kiss of my mouth — and as they begin to experience what God is doing for them, they said, I know whom I have believed, 2 Timothy 1:12. By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit, Isaiah 38:16. I wash my steps in butter, and the rock poureth me out rivers of oil, Job 29:6. So I taste and see that the Lord is good, Psalm 34:8. And they would gladly say it to anyone, even had they never known them: let me, they say, now wander in love — charge that ye stir not up nor awaken my love, until it please, Song of Songs 2:7.

6. Then it fares well when, in that abundance God grants them, they begin to say, I wish I were with Thee already, I have a desire to be dissolved, Philippians 1:23. Lord, do not delay my course too long before I obtain the crown that is laid up for me? 2 Timothy 4:8. When they say, at the very moment of their death, I fear no death, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, Acts 7:59. See, then, the soul fares well, when it meets with these six things, each in its own time.

On the occasion of preaching this text, which we have again read to you, we have sought at times to lift up somewhat a broken heart. That bruised reed and that smoking flax had so much to bring forward: with that we occupied ourselves for some time. In particular they said, should I hope? I cannot, nor may I. The argument they had was quite strong indeed: whoever is not in the state of grace may not hope, and that first proposition was scriptural, Ephesians 2:12. Their second proposition was, I am not in it. Therefore I may not hope. Now we have examined that state of grace, and there were found three kinds of people. The first, we said, who had no grace and never would obtain it, answered outright, I am in it. Then the second kind, a different sort altogether, who had true grace but did not know it: they said, we are not in the state of grace. That second kind we have dealt with. Then there was a third sort, who also answer, and what did they say? By God's great goodness I have passed from nature into grace: God is my witness, and God has done thus and so for me, He has given me assurance. This third sort we must now deal with somewhat. Those who sit here and have experienced it will know what we mean, but those who have not experienced it will not know much of it yet — though perhaps they will come to know it afterward. We have these matters before us:

I. We shall see, when assurance is spoken of, what the Devil says of it, and what the world and the unrighteous say of it, and what the godly say of it who still lack that assurance.
II. We shall show you plainly that assurance is no delusion, but a scriptural thing.
III. We shall show how it comes about, when God brings a person to assurance.
IV. We shall let you see what a fair condition it is.

See, those are our four points: pay a little attention, apply yourselves somewhat. First, when you hear of assurance, what do the Devil, the world, and the godly person who still lacks it, say of it? Then, it is a scriptural truth that one can be assured. Then we shall show you plainly how it comes about. Finally, what a fair state and condition it is.

I. As to the first, assurance of the state of grace: when people say among themselves that they are assured and mean to hold to that firmly, the ungodly rise up against it — and how do the godly who lack it stand regarding it? That is worth pondering.

But what does the Devil do? He says, I will make it as wearisome for you as I can: do you have grace, he says to some, well, you are never assured of it — and to another who is assured he says, all your assurance is mere guesswork, it is delusion, it is empty imagination, it is groundless; the joy you have is only hearsay, it will pass over again; if it were true, such and such fruits ought to follow it — and indeed there are often such poor fruits — and in this he is often right too: would you really be so assured, have so heavenly a soul, and yet be so earthly, so worldly, so sinful, so discouraged, so unbelieving? How can that be understood — would you really have so exalted a soul as to say, I am the man whose eyes are opened, who has God for my strength — how is it possible that you would not then live more heavenly, more tenderly, more fervently? And so he tries to wear them down.

What does the world do, when the ungodly join in, when the assured speak of it? I do not believe it, says he, that anyone can be assured of his election and of his grace. Or he simply says, it is a lie, it is presumption, they are a bunch of proud people: who makes you all equal to that? Have you stood in God's counsel? Have you climbed up to heaven? Has God told you so directly? And behind that lies a claw of the Devil: they do not know that they possess grace, and they do not wish to examine it either, and they give it up; they deceive and lie to themselves, they say no one can know that, I do not know it either, and if no one can know it and I do not know it either, then I may as well have it even though I do not know it.

The godly who have never experienced it — what do they say when they hear of it? They are not so unfamiliar with it. Yes, says such a one, I believe that one can be assured, I cannot contradict that, you may have received more than I; but, he says, how it comes about I do not know — yet he inquires after it, and listens when someone speaks of it; when it is once disclosed how it happens, he longs for it, he prays for it with fervent prayers; might I be met with that too, Lord, they say, I am sick with longing for it; they become teachable, they begin to possess their souls in patience, they believe that one can have it, they believe it is no falsehood but that someone can truly have it — there arises a holy impatience: let me taste it too, if it may be!

Now examine yourself, and when you hear assurance spoken of, whether you too speak as the ungodly and the world speak of that people: you have now heard what the Devil, what the world, and what the godly who have not yet experienced it, say; and see now whether you too speak as the world or as the godly speak, or whether you say: I believe that God gives assurance, and that He can make me taste it too. That is our first point.

II. Now the second, which is whether it can be proven from Scripture that a person can be assured. Does not your whole life tell you, ungodly one, that it cannot be proven? Listen, you who say that: that a person can be assured is plain from these reasons.

1. Because the Word of God so often speaks of assurance. Colossians 2:2. Hebrews 6:11 and 10:22, Paul speaks of a full assurance, and he says, Romans 8:38: I am persuaded. Are these not certain expressions! 2 Timothy 1:12: I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded.

2. The Spirit of God comes to us under such figures in the work of grace, as He works in the soul. Now He comes as an earnest, now as a seal, now as firstfruits, now as a witness, Romans 8:16, Ephesians 1:13. He comes as a witness — why? He is the ever-present Spirit, who can testify: whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Psalm 139:7. He is the all-knowing Spirit, He it is who searches the depths of man's heart. He comes as a witness, because His testimony is always true; He never deceives anyone, He never says to one who is not in the state of grace that he is in it, nor to anyone who is in it that he is not; He always testifies according to truth.

3. It appears from that earnest exhortation which God sows through the Bible, that we should examine whether we are in the state of grace: go, look, are you in it, search your own breast, examine yourselves closely, yes closely, Zephaniah 2:1. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, 2 Corinthians 13:5. A man must prove himself, 1 Corinthians 11:28. Give diligence, says Peter, to make your calling and election sure, 2 Peter 1:10. If you read such things attentively, it cannot be but that you must believe that one can be made assured.

4. That someone can be assured is plain from all the assured people you meet in the Bible. Are there many? You meet them in the streets of Zion with gladness and singing upon their heads, and they say, the Lord is my portion, Psalm 73(:26). He is my rock, Psalm 62. The Lord is my Shepherd, Psalm 23. And in the Song of Songs, my beloved is mine and I am his, I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. You meet them there in the streets of Zion, they cannot be silent, they are full, it must come out, what God has done for their soul, Psalm 66:16. Go, read the Bible, you will find it so. Are they sometimes dark, sometimes hardened — they complain and seek the Lord, until they find Him again: when they have found Him, then they give thanks and take courage again.

5. Not only is this confirmed to us by such clear examples, but you meet in the church of God those who are assured of another's state and of their great grace. Well did Paul say, I know your election, brethren, 1 Thessalonians 1:4. How often does he write to the Thessalonians, elect and beloved? I thank God that He has chosen and loved you from eternity, he says, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and 2 Timothy 1:5: the faith, Timothy, which dwelt in your mother and grandmother, dwells in you. And by such proofs — that one can be assured of another — one can be assured of oneself.

6. We prove it also by this: that the Bible is full of distinguishing marks, and it is full of them from beginning to end. You will say, what are they? Well — the brokenhearted, the contrite in spirit, the poor in spirit, the crushed, the humble and the sincere — of all these you will read in the Bible; indeed there are whole chapters and books full of marks of grace. 1 John 3:14: we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. Why would God set forth such marks, if one could not be assured?

7. Do not be unbelieving concerning assurance — there are those who obtained it through waiting and prayer, and see how they are affected when they receive the kiss of the Lord's mouth: then it is, stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me, for I am sick of love, Song of Songs 2:5,6, and Psalm 35:3: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Psalm 51:8,12: restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice, says David: he well knew why he prayed and what he prayed for; none of the godly could pray so in faith and boldness if it were not to be had...

8. Add to that all those precious promises found in the Word, and among them this: I will sup with him, and he with me, Revelation 3:20. That does not happen without light and assurance. John 14:21: I will manifest myself to him. That does not happen without assurance. And Revelation 2:17: I will give him to eat of the hidden manna, and a white stone, and a new name. That too does not happen without assurance.

9. Lastly, someone can have the very taste of heavenly joy in his heart, just as truly as the wicked have the sparks of hell. We say the godly can have the beginnings of heavenly joy in their heart while they yet live, and in that nearness, that light, that joy, that stillness, that calm, that glorifying of God, enjoy as much as the wicked enjoy the sparks of hell in those accusations, reproaches, torments, despair.

That, then, is our second point, and there is not a word to be said against it by Devil or world: the matter is clear, the Scripture is divine.

III. Lord, you will say, here is the great matter — how does that come about? That will be difficult indeed — how does it happen? To show that plainly and simply is what we now hope to do, and to that end it must be noted that there is a mediate assurance, and an immediate one... The first many of the godly will have, but the latter perhaps only a few.

It must be noted, I say, that there is a mediate assurance obtained by means of reading the Word, examining it, hearing it preached, meditating on it: and God brings His children to the Word; they see those chapters in which all those clear marks of grace are found. Do you know what charge I give you concerning grace, says God? That you should go within once, and see what is in you: are you willing to do that? Oh yes, Lord, they say, I will not be disobedient to that charge — and there they go and examine Matthew 5 and a thousand other places in the Word. There they go, unwilling to be disobedient, they look once at what poverty of spirit is, what contrition is, what mourning is: what do you think it is, my soul, I ask your own judgment, do you know it and do you have it, they say. There the soul goes within, and sets itself in a solitary place before the All-Knowing One, and says, Lord, You know my heart and my innermost parts, and she testifies before God in solitude, I would not gladly have, Lord, a mere dream of grace, I am a friend of deception, be my witness, is there anything anywhere in which I flatter myself, is there anything harmful in me, show it to me, Psalm 139:23,24. I do not want to claim grace loosely for myself, yet I do not want to deny the work of God either; I have this scruple too, that I would not gladly grieve the Spirit; I would not gladly say it otherwise than it actually is in me, more or less; I would gladly say it just as it is; I stand here speaking before Your all-seeing eyes, I will not always keep silent, I am full of words. What do you say then, says God: all those preparations are good, you are sincere. What do You say, Lord, says the soul, if this goes together with grace — and she takes some texts from the Word and says, if this goes together with grace, and Your Word is the truth as indeed it is, then I must say in humility and boldness before Your all-knowing eyes, I have for a long time now been thus, or I am still thus. Between those three things she stands: Lord, if that is grace, then I must say before You, I have for a long time, or lately, been thus, or I am still thus. If it is so, then you may rely on it: why? For this reason: the first proposition is from the Spirit of God; the second proposition is her own; the third — therefore I have grace — is again from the Spirit. Note this: the first proposition, in which the marks are contained — whoever is broken in heart and poor in spirit is in the state of grace — that is from God's Spirit in the Word; the second — I have been thus for a long time now, or I am still thus, or I have long been thus — that is her own; the third, through inward spiritual workings, is again from the Spirit, who causes her to draw the conclusion. See, thus you have the mediate assurance. Beloved, have you come to that? When we have brought you that far, so that you say you have come to it, then we say, that is what many of the godly must make do with, and with which they generally get through the journey.

But then there is nevertheless something still more wonderful, yet harder to express, which cannot be understood unless it is experienced: that is the immediate assurance. You will say, what is that then, the enthusiasm of a Quaker? Oh no, it is according to the Word: the Word and the Spirit agree here, Isaiah 59:21. There Word and Spirit do not depart from one another by a single step. Is it, then, you will say, that God speaks to them with an audible voice from heaven? No, though it resembles that a little. Is it, then, that someone receives such a heavenly light shining round about him, as happened to Paul on the road? No, though that too somewhat resembles it. Is it, then, to be caught up into the third heaven? No, though spiritually that comes a bit closer. What is it, then? Truly, this is like Samson's riddle to one who does not possess it; it is like the illegible writing of Belshazzar on the wall: how can one tell someone what a kiss is, who has never experienced one? Can one tell a blind man what the sun is, who has never seen it? Can you know the sweetness of honey and the bitterness of gall, if you have never tasted them? Can anyone know what it is to be a father or a mother of children, if you have never tasted or experienced it? No, you will say, these things must be understood through experience. And yet the possession of it is so palpable, as if God said from heaven, you have found grace in my eyes. Do you know wherein it consists?

1. In this: the soul may have been long in grace, with all its cares, fears, anguish, wavering, darkness, temptations — God then makes all of that recede from her heart, all those clouds that hindered her, and He causes her to see clearly the grace of God within her; all the clouds, I say, pass away, and she experiences what is written, Amos 5:8: He turns the shadow of death into the morning, and in Psalm 18:28: Thou dost make my darkness to be light. Not one troubled thought arises within her, her fears are stilled, unbelief lies prostrate, it is all done, as God prepares her for it; there comes such a calm, as if all that had simply ceased.

2. Then God lays everything open before her — the whole Bible, the dispensation which the Triune God maintains in the work of grace — He lays it all open to her, including the work of grace in her own heart, how it began, how it has progressed, its growth and its greatness; she sees it so clearly that she says, I see not only the sunlight of Your favor, Lord, but I also see the starlight of Your work in my heart. 2 Timothy 1:9-12. God does not merely disclose to her that she is called according to the eternal purpose of His grace, but He also makes known to her in whom she has believed, Psalm 36:7: How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God!

3. He leads her to that abyss, and then the blessed God comes and says, you have always lain there thinking, is the work of God really in me — and He gives her a discerning light to know what God's work is in her and what her own work is, what is grace and what is depravity. Romans 7. Yes, so clearly, said that man, what is my work and what is the Lord's work in me. 1 Corinthians 2:12: I see the things that are freely given me of God.

4. Then she comes into the presence of God, and God says, now I will draw near to you, and you shall draw near to me, James 4:8. But then something passes between them. Well, says God, you are my child, my chosen one, I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have given you to my Son, He has purchased you, and I have given you to Him: my child, my friend, my fair one, shall I let your soul overflow, so that you must say, what more could I want? Well, says God, let me meet with you; while I am with you I will uphold you, give you counsel, I will not leave you nor forsake you, my palace stands open to you, you may always come to me, carry nothing longer upon your heart than you wish, speak it all out.

5. Finally, then God so melts her, and she is caught up in such raptures, that she does not know whether it happens in the body or out of it, while she sits there in her room and chamber; she does not know whether she is in the world or not, she lies there as if pressed flat against the ground, she cannot express what she experiences of wonder and joy, she could almost die of wonder and joy, she becomes as one struck dumb with love: I have enough, Lord, they say, lay Your hand upon me, I can bear no more, I am now content; yes Lord, I wish for nothing more, this is it, that I have sought and longed for so long: even if I had to die at this very moment, I cannot doubt it. Psalm 4:3: Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. Psalm 27:1: He is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? And they would then even dare to challenge their fears and say, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Romans 8:33. And they then bind themselves to the Lord in the closest way; yes, even if they had to die a thousand deaths for the Lord at that moment, so beside themselves are they that they would gladly do it: You have so enlarged my heart, Lord, they say, now I will run the way of Thy commandments, Psalm 119:32. And the whole world becomes almost too much for them, and they would then wish always to speak spiritually, and they are amazed that anyone else can speak of anything else at all.

Ah Lord, they say, I feel no sin, I feel no cross. See, in such a way the Lord flows in, when He gives immediate assurance: even had they never had anything, and even if they were to receive no more, I am satisfied, they say.

IV. Now our fourth and last point: what a fair state this is, and what a lovely condition, and why?

1. Because such a soul knows not only what it is to hunger and thirst in faith, but also what it is to trust and lean and rest upon the Lord.

2. Because such people, while others stand far off, come near: they have access to grace, they enter into the inner chambers, they are brought into His house of wine.

3. Because such a soul is in so desired and blessed a state, that no arrows can strike her, nor any pressure; none of the arguments usually brought against such assurance have any force upon her.

4. Such a soul receives the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to him that is weary; she knows how to counsel each one, whatever state and condition he is in — God has taught her this. Ah, they say, little soul, bruised reed, it will go well, only hold fast.

5. What a fair condition it is! She cannot be parted from God, she cannot call her state into doubt; even if such dark clouds still come, she nevertheless holds her state fast, and when she comes under strain, she still comes through well: O God, she says, yet this You have done; I think so often of that fair, lovely music of the strings — You have indeed embraced my soul lovingly, and however it may go, she says, the root of the matter is nevertheless in me.

6. Yes, it is so sweet a condition, for when God grants it to her, such fitting texts of Scripture come upon her heart, and they know well whether these are from God; had they not been from God, they say, such impressions could not have been withheld from working on my heart as they do, nor could I work with them so; indeed, even if another should try to take them out of her hand, however heathenishly he might look at this or that, she still has her sweetness from it, and those Scripture passages remain with her.

See there, that is the sweetness, that inward assurance. Yet allow us to address you with a word. Ungodly people, you do not know it — and do not say that these are presumptuous people, for they are the humblest of all; do not say that it is a doomed and melancholy state, for when God regales His children with the pleasantness of His favor, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Peter 1:8. You think they are such downcast people, but they are not; they are like the horse of God's majesty in battle, they would gladly leap over a wall. Godly ones, who have enjoyed this or shall yet enjoy it, do not then go about in sackcloth, do not mourn, but say, ah Lord, it must come out, whether I am understood or not — I do not wish to bring an evil report upon the service of God. Ungodly ones, do not be surprised that the godly can both rejoice and tremble, that they can be sorrowful and glad at once. You cannot understand it, however much you try to observe it: for alongside the very greatest grace, depravity still goes along with it, and as long as that is so, there will be both gladness and sorrow; now Amalek and then Israel will be the stronger; and so long as now the work of grace and then the depravity is the stronger, so long there will be both rejoicing and trembling.

You may perhaps think in your heart, is that immediate assurance really divine? Could one really know whether it is from God? We notice that we shall not be able to deal with it all, and shall have to speak of it once more: and we shall then seek to do so in such a way that we show you it is distinct and from God, and that God grants this mostly to all His children; then, seeing that it is preached with such discernment, how does it come about that so few are rightly assured — on that too we shall touch a little further. That is already too much for now; when God gives us the occasion, we shall seek to make it plain to you: and we say then, it is no invention nor fancy that God gives this. Last Sunday we saw at this same place how God shall be all in all, when the subjection of Christ to His Father shall have taken place, from 1 Corinthians 15:28. Then we considered the glory that is above and shall be; and now we have been permitted to see the glory that God works in His children here below. Now, I hope the Lord will be pleased to bless this to us and to you, to His honor, for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ: Amen.

Sermon 18

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which occur these five things: I. The sorrowful complaint of those who say they are not assured. II. That there are certain times in which they must not expect this assurance. III. At what times God is accustomed to grant assurance. IV. Whether assurance is truly certain and divine. V. Since it is preached with such discernment, how it comes about that the world nevertheless remains so assured of itself.

Reading Exodus 33:12, where Moses said: Lord, Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. To have found grace in God's eyes is something great — grace before time, in eternity; grace within time; grace after time, when time shall have run its course; as elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:2. That is the greatest, the best portion there is under the sun; the most necessary of all, of which none of us may be without and still be happy. But such people are rare — it is something uncommon when you meet them, there are not many; a small child could count them: they are like a few scattered clusters of grapes left on a vine. There is no greater crown under the sun than to be so crowned with lovingkindness, Psalm 103:4. That makes a small creature, even a beggar, more excellent than a king, Proverbs 14:28(?).

But however great it is to have found grace in the eyes of God, there is yet a second grace, and that is still greater, and that is to be assured of one's grace — that is, when God says: behold, I have known thee by name, and also, thou hast found grace in my eyes. To be assured, then, is something still greater — whether mediate or immediate, or both. The mediate kind is when a child of God lays himself alongside the marks so abundantly given in the Word, and after a close searching of the heart receives, through spiritual workings, the boldness to pronounce and draw the conclusion. Of this Paul also speaks, 2 Timothy 1:1-12: God called me according to His eternal purpose and grace, and it came to such a point that I say, I know whom I have believed. This happens after a careful examination of one's state, upon which a godly life then follows: that is confirmed by James — show me thy faith by thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works, James 2:18. It is great grace to have grace; but still greater to be mediately assured of it; but greater still is it to be immediately assured, so that the things freely given by God are shown inwardly and distinctly. Romans 8:16: God's Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. But it is greater still to have both — the mediate and the immediate — when God gives the one and the other too, when He adds to the mediate such a clear, palpable assurance besides. Of that one must say, that is the secret of God's inner chamber, that is to be brought into His house of wine, that is to receive the Spirit as a seal and an earnest, both through sound reasoning and immediately. Such people are nearest to heaven, as it were with the disciples on Tabor, and nearest to what Paul experienced, 2 Corinthians 12:1-4. When God is pleased to grant this too, He fulfills what the Lord Jesus said, John 14:21,23: I and my Father will come, and make our abode with him, and manifest ourselves unto him. And we may well add, the Spirit of God too: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will come, and together will manifest themselves to you.

But when that happens, something passes between them; then they bind themselves to God; then something takes place, as the Triune God reveals Himself to such a heart. Then God the Father comes and says, well, my chosen child, you are to me a chosen vessel, are you not to me a precious son? Are you not my darling child? Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the fruit of her womb? So will I not forget you: be of good cheer, I am reconciled to you and your sins are forgiven you. Then God the Son comes, and He too reveals Himself to her: shall I speak to your heart a while, He says. You are my friend, my fair one, my perfect one; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck; my desire is toward you; now you are in my eyes as one who finds peace. Then God the Holy Spirit comes, and He too reveals Himself to her: are you now at rest, He says, now that God is reconciled with you, and I am your seal, your earnest, the firstfruits of your eternal happiness, and I comfort you so? I will lead you on a level path and remain with you: trust now that I will never leave you nor forsake you. When that comes, the heart is carried through all the cares and all the burdens of the world: let come now what will, remember, says the Triune God, what has passed between you and me, consider the days of old, Psalm 77:5. Let that lovely music of the strings never depart from your mind: when you pass through the waters and through the rivers, you are now assured that nothing shall separate you from the love of God, Romans 8:38,39.

When one sees this, and hears that such graces are to be had, one must admit that they can indeed be obtained. You see it, you hear it, you live it. Whose heart would not be stirred, even merely hearing that others have it, to say, O God, give it to me too! Ah, might I have it too! Who would not be seized with longing and say, Lord, let me stand no longer so far off, kiss me too with the kisses of Your mouth — do You have but that one blessing? Bless me with it too; I can, I may, I will not let You go, until You have blessed me too with that precious token of Your favor; I am sick with longing for it.

Beloved, when we last spoke on these words, we showed you what the Devil, the world, and a dark child of God who still lacked assurance thought of assurance. We showed that assurance existed; then we showed you the mediate kind; then the immediate: but something still remained, and that we shall show you today. We had remaining:

I. The sorrowful complaint of those who still lack assurance: it was as if such a heart cried out to heaven — ah, I lack it, and is there yet any way for me to attain it?
II. We must tell you that there are certain times in which you must not expect it.
III. We shall show you at what times God is accustomed to grant it.
IV. We shall examine whether that assurance, felt inwardly, is certain and divine.
V. And finally, whence it comes that, though it is preached with such discernment, the world nevertheless remains so assured of itself.

Those are our five points: first, it was as if a cry went up — I lack it, and is there any remedy for coming to it? Then we shall show you at what times you must not expect it. Then, at what times God is most accustomed to give it. Next, whether it is certain and divine. Finally, how it comes about that the blind world remains and stays so assured of its own salvation, while the godly remain so much in the dark about theirs.

I. As to the first: ah, I lack it, said many a dark soul: concerning that outcry we must occupy you with three or four questions.

1. Is it true that you lack it? Can you say that so boldly? Do you really know it? Would you not find some scruple in your heart, were you to deny that work altogether? If you were not so distressed about it, you would perhaps not deny it. They would not listen to Moses for anguish of spirit. Job said: though he answer me, yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice, Job 9:16.

2. We must ask you another question: if it is so that you lack it, how have you managed to stand your ground? How have you been able to endure all that the Devil, the world, and your own flesh have brought against you? Against all the mockery, scorn, and ridicule brought upon you? Nature cannot hold out so long by itself, and grace can scarcely do it either, unless there runs through it now and again so pleasant a feeling as this: the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor, Judges 6:12. And Psalm 124:1-3: if it had not been the Lord, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, they had swallowed us up quick.

3. We must ask you yet another question: if you lack it, how is it possible that you can declare so openly that nothing can satisfy you but God's favor? How is it that the Lord Jesus and His Spirit are so precious to you? How is it that you do not simply throw away your profession? How is it that you would not exchange your uncertain, contested portion for the whole world? It cannot be otherwise, but that there must have been at some time a sweet taste that the Lord is good.

4. Can you not draw some proof of your state of grace even from these very complaints? In the state of nature no one complains of lacking light or joy, or of failing to be thankful. If you wish to be thankful, you draw your thankfulness even from your complaints that you lack assurance. And suppose it were so, that you still lacked it? Yes, you will say, not merely suppose it, but it is so — and is there indeed a way by which I can come to it? What road must a soul take, which is otherwise but a cloud, to come to the light of the Lord? We answer: do you wish to have a good and holy road, at the end of which there is light?

a. Never consider it impossible, with God or with men, to attain to it. All things are possible with the Lord; He can turn the shadow of death into the morning; He can make darkness clear; this wonder is the work of His hand. Look at those who but recently went in and out of church along with you; had you heard them speak, they would have said they were just as discouraged as you; yet now they must be ashamed of having said they would never experience it in their lifetime.

b. Do not throw it so far away by saying, yes, but I shall never experience it in my life all the same. Ah, dear friend, do not fling it so to the wind before the Lord, do not look upon the work with such despair.

c. The darker it is, cry all the more strongly, hold on all the more strongly in prayer. Psalm 61:2: From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed. The Lord Jesus, being in an agony, prayed more earnestly, Luke 22:44.

d. Take careful heed every day and year of your life, and seek to live near to God, near to your own heart, near to your conscience, near the Word, near the godly: consider your ways, Haggai 1:7. In all thy ways acknowledge him, Proverbs 3:6. Accustom yourself to God, Job 22:21.

e. If you wish to have a good and safe road to it, then do not neglect your solitary duties, in your inner chamber and in solitary places. Examine and question yourself there, meditate, pray, where no one knows of it but God and you alone. Shut your doors behind you, and fall upon your knees, and so make a covenant with God, Genesis 24:63: he went out to meditate in the field alone.

f. Be very diligent in your household duties, concerning your servants and children and all who are placed under you: pray and read with them, bring up some point from a sermon, instruct them, tell them of God's dealings; so our forefathers did. Read Deuteronomy 6:7, Ephesians 6:4, and Acts 10:1,2: well, Cornelius, who prays so constantly, God says to Peter.

g. Do not neglect the public means, that your soul may be satisfied in them. Hebrews 10:25: Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

h. Do not neglect the public renewal of the covenant with God on covenant days, on communion days; do not neglect it. The Lord Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me; if you do it, says the Lord, I too will come at times and hold communion with you, and say to you, eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved, Song of Songs 5:1.

i. A private renewal of the covenant is also a good way to it. Abraham — what light he received, when he had made covenant with God — and Jacob too? Abraham once more, Genesis 17. Jacob many times. Then God sometimes comes and shows you the stake you have in Him, and He then leads you to make that simple choice, Joshua 24:15: as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

k. Set God no bounds, but possess your soul in patience before the Lord, and say, Lord, I am not worthy of grace — what should I demand light for? Yet may I not still say, everything has its season, the longed-for little hour of comfort and light must come too — Thou makest every thing beautiful in its time?

There is our first point: if you are willing to walk that road, we can promise you that, according to the Word; but however much you may groan, it is no wonder, if you do not keep to that road. Keep that road, and the light shall soon come over your tent.

II. For it is nevertheless not at all times: there are certain times in which you must not expect it. You may indeed desire it; but you must not expect it in a time of conflict; or in a time when God hides His face, whether deliberately or after some committed offense; or in a time when sin has become very much alive...

1. Do not expect it in a time of conflict, when the Tempter begins to try your faith, when Satan seeks earnestly to sift you, when he goes about you as a roaring lion, Luke 22:31, 1 Peter 5:8. That is the time to put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6:11-18. Then it is, fight the good fight of faith, put on the whole armor of God, quit you like men, 1 Timothy 6:12, 1 Corinthians 16:13.

2. Not only in a time of conflict, but also not when God, for some notable reason, hides His face, whether deliberately or for both reasons, so that one must say, Thou art wroth with us, Isaiah 64:9(?). Then the Lord withdraws so far that they must say with Job, if I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left hand where he doth work, I cannot behold him, Job 23:8,9. Or with the Bride: he had withdrawn himself, my beloved had withdrawn his hand from the hole of the door — that is a time of turmoil — my bowels were troubled for him, my soul failed when he spake, Song of Songs 5:4-6.

3. In a time of falling into sin you must not expect it either, when the power of depravity is strong, whether it has come to an act committed, or is on the verge of one. When the sin of nature is so much the master, you see so much foulness in yourself that you dare not think of assurance at all: so vile a wretch, and should he speak of assurance! Then one has no rest, until it has been confessed and mourned before the face of God the Father; one has no rest, until it has been atoned for in the blood of the Son of God, and mended by the Spirit of God; one has no rest, until the power of depravity has been lessened. In Song of Songs 5, there was something else to be done then than to think of assurance. And in Psalm 6, there was something else to be done: that was a time to pray and to groan, when his bones were so vexed.

III. Those, then, are the times in which you cannot well rely on obtaining assurance; now our third point: on what occasions is God accustomed to grant it most?

1. First, when the soul is so overwhelmed, when it begins to sink too far in self-abasement, after one has taken a good road. Then it is, ah Lord, I can bear no more; but then it is also, knowest thou not that I dwell in the high and lofty place, but also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive them, Isaiah 57:15. Now it is enough — you would be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow, 2 Corinthians 2:6,7. It is enough, when one begins to say, ah God, I can do no more, and when you have nevertheless remained on the good road. When Peter had wept so bitterly, and had remained on the right path, then it was, go, tell it to Simon. When the travelers to Emmaus could go no further, then the Lord was with them.

2. Then also, when God calls a Christian or a public figure to some heavy task. Jeremiah, says God, I will make thee a brazen wall unto this people; but what seest thou? An almond rod, Lord, he said. Thou hast well seen, said the Lord, Jeremiah 1:10-12. Moses, said God, I will send thee unto Pharaoh; what seest thou? A burning bush, Exodus 3:1. And Isaiah 6: Prophet, said God, thou shalt make the heart of this people fat and heavy: he saw the Lord of glory upon his throne.

3. Then also, when heavy temptations are at hand. Matthew 4: the Devil tempted Him. Paul did not know whether it was in the body or out of it, 2 Corinthians 12.

4. Then also, when a heavy cross is being prepared for a Christian. My disciples, said the Lord, ye shall have much to suffer — come with me up to Tabor, Matthew 17. I do not forget in all my life the voice of the Excellent Glory upon the mount, 2 Peter 1:16-18. Paul, said the Lord, thou art a chosen vessel, Acts 9. There he sees the Lord, but, thou shalt suffer many things for my name's sake, said the Lord.

5. And do you know when God grants it most of all? When someone has suffered greatly. Job 42:5: Lord, I have heard so much of Thee, said Job — but now mine eye seeth Thee.

6. Also, when someone has come forth faithfully once for the cause of God. There the Lord comes to Elijah in the wilderness, when he had been so zealous, and shows Himself to him, and says, what doest thou here, Elijah? Thou must not stay here — dost thou wish to hide in the wilderness? Go among the people, 1 Kings 19:13-15.

7. And also, when death is drawing near: the soul is then, as it were, already loosened — let me refresh you once more, says the Lord — and so He detaches them wholly from the world, and He makes them long to be dissolved; and He lets heaven descend, as it were, into their hearts already, so that they have no fear of death, as in Genesis 49:18 and Luke 2:29. The Lord has shown me, said Peter, that my earthly tabernacle shall shortly be taken down, 2 Peter 1:14.

IV. Having considered the times and occasions, now our fourth point: is it really divine? Is it not a mere fancy, a guess? It is wholly divine, it is the least guesswork of all. However it comes about, it is divine, it carries its own clear marks with it. Do you wish to see the marks? It comes, as a rule, accompanied by divine workings; by the use of divine means; it goes hand in hand with a divine light; there is a divine power beneath it that persuades; it is grounded on a divine authority; and divine fruits follow after it; indeed it is the same experience among all the godly, and the world can see it too. Consider this.

1. It comes with divine workings — that is where such light comes from. Before those divine workings come, many things generally go before. The Lord was not in the fire, not in the wind, not in the earthquake, but in the still small voice, 1 Kings 19:11,12. The Lord is often not in the north wind; but rather in the south wind, which blows sweetly through the heart, Song of Songs 4:16. Not in the spirit of bondage, but in the spirit of adoption unto children, Romans 8:15.

2. It comes, as a rule, through the use of divine means — praying, weeping, reading, crying out to God, professing, longing for it: shall I ever obtain it? Shall I ever have such a gracious encounter again? Oh, might I only know what is happening within me? It comes through struggle, wrestling, seeking.

3. It is not divine merely because it is accompanied by such divine workings and the use of divine means; but the light itself is so divine, it is no more a matter of guessing than the shining of the sun. One sees it in the prophets, in that light God gave in their hearts — the Lord speaks, they said. In thy light shall we see light, Psalm 36:9.

4. There goes with it such a divine persuasion, that the arguments raised against it now have no footing nor standing, no luster nor savor. Know this, that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself, Psalm 4:3. Now I know that the Lord is with me.

5. It rests on such a divine authority; it is not outside the Word, nor against the Word, but it is grounded in the Word.

6. It is followed by such a divine holiness: the comforting and enlightening Spirit is also a sanctifying Spirit; such souls have no wish to trample others down; they are as small in their own eyes as a little worm, there is, as it were, no pride in them on account of what God does for them.

7. The godly who possess it, or have possessed it, say it is all the same — as I have enjoyed it myself.

8. Finally, the world can see it too. Luke 1:22: they perceived that he had seen a vision.

V. Now the last point: how does it come about that, though it is preached with such discernment and each is given his own portion, the world nevertheless remains so assured of itself — even having no grace, it holds fast to its state?

1. The fault sometimes lies with the ministers: they are not all godly; those who are not, are themselves enemies of such plain, earnest preaching and of spiritual discernment — they cannot bear it themselves.

2. The fault also lies with the people: you would only trouble me, they say — where such preaching is done, they do not come, or if they do come, they let it fly right over their heads, their heart is set against it. Why? Because they would be striking their hand upon an empty place.

3. Because the common marks are taken for the true ones... temporary faith, having once had a conviction and a passing fit of feeling, they take for true grace: it is a mistake.

4. Because they see so many blemishes in God's children: they do not see that there are two natures in them, an old and a new; they do not see the humbling of God's children.

Those are our five points — lay your heart alongside them. You say, ah, I thirst for it. Do you lay this to heart out of curiosity, or to lead an easy life, or to exalt yourself? Along such roads God does not grant it; but otherwise the light will soon come in its own season: Amen.

Sermon 19

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which are found these four matters... IV. If a person's heart should indeed speak according to the marks, and he did not have the immediate assurance of God's Spirit, whether he might then rely on that.

Psalm 19:10, where the king says, Thy word is sweeter than honey, and the honeycomb. That godly heart did not have words enough, when his heart was stirred with exaltation, to express the sweetness of the Word, so as to stir every other heart too. Then it is, Thy word is as silver, tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times, Psalm 12:6(7). Then again, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, Psalm 119:105. Then again, Thy word is better than great riches, verse 72. In this psalm he calls upon the image of honey.

Honey is sweet, he says, but Thy word is far sweeter still. In Samson's riddle the men said, what is sweeter than honey, Judges 14:18. This man tells us what was sweeter: the Word of God is sweeter. One can grow weary of honey, one can trample honey underfoot, it can even bring on sickness: the Word is sweeter, more pleasant, more wholesome; God's children never grow weary of it, they never grow sick of it. The eunuch sat with that Word upon his lap, Acts 8. It is the first book they look to. Those who were at Berea sat with it in their rooms and chambers, in solitary places: they searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so, Acts 17:11. Jewish fathers and mothers kept the Bible close to their hearts, in their inner chambers, and at their table, and spoke of it with their children, and taught them out of it, Deuteronomy 6:7.

Indeed, it is like a whole flow of honey, not merely a honeycomb. 1 Samuel 14: there Jonathan comes into the field, where there was a stretch of land full of honey; he dipped the end of his staff into the honey and tasted it, whereby his eyes were enlightened: but here is a whole flood of honey; they shall not merely know, but shall press on to know, Hosea 6:3. And have you tasted something of it, you must at once have more; they forget what lies behind them, that they have tasted; they also reach forth unto those things which are before, Philippians 3:14. He has known nothing yet who is satisfied with a single taste: the wisest of all knows but in part, 1 Corinthians 13:9. It is but a small portion of the matter, Job 26:14.

We find that Samson had a piece of a honeycomb, and gave some of it to his father and his mother to eat, and they ate of it too, and their eyes were enlightened by it. So it is also with the Word: if you have a small portion of the Word, you take it in your hand, into your understanding, into your heart, you make yourself so familiar with it — and there are certain texts in God's Word that are like a honeycomb, of which a minister must himself eat, and of which he must also give his people something to eat. There are full springs of comfort in some texts: some texts weigh most heavily upon the heart; there are those that work like a cordial, a strengthening of the heart, the moment you hear them named.

We have here just such a text, which you cannot hear named without finding sweetness in it. We do not praise it too highly; you cannot read it without finding something in it. We have looked into it several times already, and still it goes on blossoming; no sooner is one thing gone than there is something more.

Last time we saw the difficulty, that the bruised reeds said: how should I dare to hope, seeing I am in the state of nature? May anyone hope who is in the state of nature? No: may only the one hope who is in the state of grace? Yes. Then we saw that there were people who said outright, I am in it, who nevertheless were not in it; and that was a kind that was rich in its own eyes, and was in truth poor, but did not know it. Then there were others, who said, I am not in the state of grace, and yet were in it; and that was a kind that was poor in its own eyes, and yet had great riches. Then there were those who said, I am in the state of grace, God be praised to all eternity for His favor, He has made me taste the certainty of my salvation, He kisses me with the kisses of His mouth, Song of Songs 1:2. Now that we have considered these three kinds, we must go on to rouse ourselves and one another, and say: come, let us with care and humility examine whether we are in the state of grace; let us seek living proofs and evidences from the Word in our hearts, by which we may show that we are in the state of grace; let us call ourselves before God to the test; and let us see, if our heart testifies that the marks are in us, but God's Spirit does not testify it to us, how far we may then rely upon our heart according to those marks. These points we must now take up.

I. We must, in all care, examine ourselves — I and you — whether we are in the state of grace or not.
II. We must set before ourselves clear and ever-abiding proofs from the Word, by which it may appear that we are in it.
III. We shall, in God's name, call ourselves before God to the test.
IV. We must see, even if we are not assured, and yet our heart testifies that the marks are in us, how far we may then rely on the testimony of our own heart.

I. As to the first: you can well perceive, and no one here will fail to grant, that I and you must examine ourselves, carefully and humbly, whether we are in the state of grace. Do you want to know the reason?

1. It is the plain command and charge of our God: it is His will, from which He will not depart until the day of judgment. Zephaniah 2:1. 2 Corinthians 13:5. 1 Corinthians 11:28,29. 2 Peter 1:10 — there you will find the texts; they are such clusters of texts that stand firm until the judgment. We shall not name them all, since otherwise we could never bring this to an end. By the force of that charge, the gracious come and say, Psalm 77:6: I communed with mine own heart; and in Lamentations 3:40 they said to one another, let us search and try our ways.

2. A person who does not examine himself gets no benefit from going to church, or going to the Lord's Supper, or hearing sermons preached: though you go to church a hundred times and do not examine whether you are in the state of grace, you can derive no benefit from it. Eliphaz says, hear this, and consider it well for yourself, Job 5:27. That is the echo of a sermon: self-examination. When God says, do this, then our heart must say, I do it, Psalm 27:8. That is the chewing over of the Word; that is the taking heed to the Word. Do you think that all who sit in a church and do not sleep, and stand upright, are truly feeding there? Oh no — only those who go within themselves are. In the sixty-second Psalm: once God spoke, and twice have I heard this, verse 11(12). There is no fruit without self-examination.

3. Why must we examine ourselves? Because the number of those who are in the state of grace within the congregation is not very great. Consider a house with five or six people in it: it would be a great deal if you found even one among them who is in grace. Consider a room full of people: it would be a great deal if you found one or two among them. The flock is so small, the number so few, Luke 12:32, Matthew 7:14 and 20:16. We must not flatter one another; it is here and there but one; go into villages, towns, and families — here and there one is scattered about.

4. Not only is the number so small — but whoever does not examine himself in the congregation is an unmanageable member, intractable, and very difficult to convert: you would sooner make an impression on an openly godless person: harlots and publicans go before you, says the Savior, Matthew 21:32. The Word often does more good to a profane and godless man.

5. We must examine ourselves, because true grace and counterfeit grace come so close to one another. A minister with one talent, or a minister with two, comes so near to the other — it can scarcely come any nearer. The wise and the foolish virgins — how close together did they come? Both were virgins, both had their lamp of profession, both slept, both knocked: it is Sibboleth or Shibboleth — the difference is but two letters; it is "is" or "seems," the difference of but a few letters and yet a difference of everything. Hebrews 6:4-6: they are enlightened, they taste the good word of God and the powers of the world to come — and yet fall away after all!

6. Yes, and why more still? Ah, how wretched it would be, in a matter of such weight, to be lost in a single moment, and to founder in a disastrous eternal delusion, for me and for you, when we die! Ah, should I and you then have to cry out, this is against all my expectation: now I stand before God, before angels, before devils, and before myself, put to shame; my lamps go out, and the false light I had — there I am cast out into an everlasting darkness, from which there is no remedy. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram raised their cry as they were sinking down, Numbers 16:34. As dreadful will it be as it was for the chief baker, and for Haman: how they stood and stared, that it turned out so contrary to their expectations! And the first world, and the Sodomites — think how they must have stood and stared! And how shall we stand and stare, if without self-examination we should fall into hell against all our expectation? How shall we then cry out, treason, treason, deceit, deceit!

7. We must examine ourselves, so that we may come to thank God for the grace He gives us. That is so great that it cannot be valued according to its worth. Dear Lord, what are life and possessions compared to it? Nothing at all. Colossians 1:12: giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. I cannot forget it, said Paul, but I must let my heart pour itself out in thanksgiving; the matter is worth falling upon my knees for, and crying it out over the whole world.

8. If you do not examine yourself, you cannot live comforted: one who examines himself — what strong comfort he often has! We are not dead yet, we do not know, I or you, what may yet befall us: once we have examined ourselves and found grace, let it go then as it will, and come what may. 2 Corinthians 12:9: Paul, said God, my grace is sufficient for thee: and that man was content with it. 1 Corinthians 15:10: by the grace of God, he said, I am what I am. To Moses God said, Exodus 33:12: thou hast found grace in my sight: now I am content, he said.

9. We must examine ourselves, because when one finds that one may enjoy it, and that God enlarges our heart, then one serves Him so gladly: such a one has nothing against the service of God, he is so strengthened. Then it is, now will I run the way of Thy commandments — not walk, but run, Psalm 119:32. I am so glad and so joyful in the Lord, Isaiah 61:10. Be steadfast, my soul, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, as one who knows that his labor is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58.

10. And then, lastly, let us examine ourselves, for you grieve the Spirit if you do not; you grieve Him, when you will not so much as look to see whether He is a Spirit of grace to you. Well, says God the Holy Spirit, are I and my work not worth your once looking after?

Those are our ten grounds, on which you and I must say: well, I must and I will examine myself.

II. Now we had our second point to consider: namely the marks, the right, true, and living marks, of the state of grace — and what are they? Do you want to hear and know them plainly? Then attend to this.

1. First: you or I passed over from the state of nature into the state of grace — when, where, and in what manner did it happen? You were a wild tree, you had to be grafted; you had to be transplanted; you had a hard heart, that had to become flesh; you were a thorn tree, and had to become a fir tree; you were dead, and had to become alive: have you ever experienced that? Can that happen at all without one's being able to say, then, there, so it happened? Can it happen, even in the natural order, that a dead Lazarus becomes alive and comes forth from the grave, without his being able to say, then, there, so it happened? Can one born blind receive his sight, without being able to say, so it came upon me? Beloved, can anyone pass from nature into grace without being able to say, then, there, so it happened? We must not flatter one another. I know well that in saying this we strike down two kinds of people at the root. Ah, says one, I do not know it: if I had to say, it happened to me from my youth up; and you say, you must know it — how, when, and where. A second kind also says, I do not know it: and these are people who have been raised quite respectably, and have lived a godly, sheltered life, and are of a gentle temperament, and have come so quietly to conversion, and have not experienced much conflict or joy. Then there is a kind who will have no objection to this, because it happened to them once they had come to years of discretion, in their youth or manhood: they can say, then, there, so it happened, and at such a time. Now we do not wish to deal here with those converted from their youth, or of a gentle temperament and good upbringing, who came to conversion without much struggle or joy; but we hope to take that up at another time. As for those converted from their youth, we hope to lift their difficulty circumstantially; and as for those of a gentle temperament and good upbringing, we do not wish to offend them either, but we shall likewise say how it stands with them; and then we shall also deal with a third kind, who, having come to years of discretion, were then converted, who can say, then and so I was moved, under such a means or under such a sermon. That was the first mark we give you: how did you come out of the state of nature? Even if you say, I do not know it, and cannot know it, that is not true: you must be able to give an account, whether it happened in your youth, or in your young manhood, or in your mature years. Only do not be confused in your thoughts — where was the line first drawn taut? Where was it, when God first set your foot firmly down?

2. You will find this too as a mark: grace always sits in the head and hovers there, it is always equally precious to them, even to their deathbed; grace, they say, must be present at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end; therefore they bend their knees, and they will not utter a single prayer in which that word does not occur at least once. Job 9:15: I would make supplication to my judge for grace. Psalm 51:1: Be merciful unto me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness. 2 Corinthians 13:14: Grace be with you all, Amen. There is nothing, they would say, so precious as grace; I will not put pen to paper without that being my mark: grace be with you; grace be with the brethren.

3. A mark that always holds is this: that the Lord God makes such a little creature known to itself, Jeremiah 31:19: Lord, when we lived in the state of nature, we were as senseless beasts; so, once grace awakens and enters in, God makes it known to itself...

...is acknowledged, Luke 15:17: "he came to himself." God makes such a one see his misery, his guilt, his pain, his powerlessness for good — the dominion of sin, the strength of his depravity. Ah Lord, they say, I am so lost, I know no counsel, I am at my wits' end. The ungodly, too, get certain discoveries, whereby they see their guilt and their pain; but they are not so at a loss over it. Indeed, the dominion of sin is not so great either: they consider their powerlessness — well, they are not so powerless. And they nurse a secret thought that they will reform themselves one day, and when they speak of their powerlessness it is only to excuse their laziness; I simply cannot convert myself, they say, and so they excuse their laziness and negligence.

4. Another mark, which always holds true, is inward, powerful, spiritual convictions, which God the Holy Spirit works in their heart. The sinner too has convictions, and sometimes even spiritual ones, but they do not hold up. Some have convictions that make more wind than substance, unlike those where it is truly present: there it goes so sweetly, so pleasantly — they remain, they increase, they grow, they break through, they come to faith and sanctification, to love for God and his cause. John 16:8: the Spirit, having come, would convict them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Let us just add it all up; you will then well know what to say about it.

5. There comes, along with all these discoveries, such a true repentance over all their misdeeds and sins. The ungodly too sometimes have remorse; but there is a great difference: consider the repentance in Peter, and consider it in Judas, and see the difference.

6. There is also the frank and willing confession of sins: whereas formerly they fought so hard against admitting that they had done such things, now they fall into them; even if it had gone rather grossly, even if it had been a notable evil, even if they knew it would be as punishable before the world as God himself knows it to be — before God it all comes out. Ps. 32; Dan. 9; Neh. 9. There comes a period in their life which is called confession; they know it is written, 1 John 1:9, that if they confess their sins before God, he is faithful and just to forgive them — and would they then not want to say it before God?

7. Yet another mark that always holds true: there comes such a holy shame. Now, holy shame is not much preached about; but wherever they look upon themselves, they must be ashamed before God; when they consider themselves in their state of nature, being what they were, what they did there; when they consider themselves after they have become convicted, and after they have often already been assured — ah Lord, they must say, I am so ashamed, I dare not lift up my eyes and face to you, Ezra 9:6.

8. Then comes this little mark besides: now they say, I have no money, I am so poor, I have nothing at all, I am so poor and so naked before God, now I must buy without money: will you not become my God for nothing, Lord, they say? Yes, says God, now you are pleasing to me.

9. Ah Lord Jesus, they say, now you are a great treasure to me, you are so precious and so costly to me, I must have you whatever it costs: Lord, they say, give me the Lord Jesus or I am dead, give me that Savior or I am dead. That is the hunger and thirst — the desire they have toward the Lord Jesus can bear no delay.

10. Then there is that inward love for the Word. What good that Word has done me, they say! How God has used that Word upon me! They kiss it, they embrace it, they are toward that book as David was in Psalm 119: "O how I love your law," verse 97.

11. Yet another little mark is that they say, I cannot live in sin: there must and shall be a holy life, whatever it costs — despised or esteemed, mocked or not, inwardly or outwardly mocked and oppressed or not. All this is not forced, but they say with Paul: abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, Rom. 12:9, 21.

12. Yet another mark: there comes a spiritual and sweet growth. Or you say, I am so pressed down; we say, pressed down or not, there must nevertheless be growth: it is there, and it must be there. Ps. 92:14: those planted in the house of the Lord shall be given to flourish. And Mal. 4:2: you shall grow up as calves of the stall.

13. Finally, our last mark is the Spirit of prayer; that too must be there: "upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem I will pour out the Spirit of grace and of supplications," Zech. 12:10.

Beloved, these are some clear marks; there will surely be many difficulties raised against them, but if it pleases God to let us live yet, we shall resolve those difficulties too. You will say, I am not there yet: even if you say this, and go through all these marks of the state of grace, ah, it is still so dark to me; I can hardly remember them all; what would I possess, and there can be such deceit in every mark. We say, if it please God to give us life still, then we shall handle each of those points separately, and seek to bring you to clarity and steadiness on each. When we shall have gone through that whole course according to the Word, and you shall have to say, I can now hold fast to my state, though

it is so gracious, yet I am going so far backward; and another, I have so little experience, and the like — if it please God, we shall seek to remove that difficulty too.

III. So I call you today, on the Lord's behalf, to the test before the Lord; and that is our third point. Imagine that the Lord passes through the midst of you and asks: do you desire to know it or not? Do you possess the marks or not? And that he says, I ask you, will you go alone to it, and run to me and wrestle with me for it, and so show that it is earnest with you and that it concerns the matter itself? Will you deal faithfully with yourself, and see once whether your hand rests on no empty place, and whether you find that inward work in your heart? Will you present me, the All-Knowing, to yourself, and will you present yourself before me, the All-Knowing? Will you allow me to speak to you through your conscience and through my Spirit? And when I do this, will you then be tender and scrupulous, so as not to claim more for yourself than you possess? And will you be reluctant to belittle that great gift I have given you? Imagine that God says: oh, I am well content that you be assured, I have nothing against it; I do not want to take away your grounds; I would rather strengthen, found, and confirm the weak; but I would also gladly expose the hypocrites, lest they perish with a lie in their right hand. Imagine that God is right there beside you, alone with you, and says to you: it is not enough that you say, so I grant it, so it must be — but do I bind it, or not? Imagine that God says: I warn you, do not be rash in claiming it for yourself; but if you possess it, be not too slow to believe either; and I warn you, if you find the marks in yourself — indeed more than one, or even all of them — do not set them up as your saviors or mediators. If you wish to deal so, then imagine that God, as it were, speaks: is it so with you? If you possess them, say yes; but if you do not possess them, say no; do it honestly, do not gloss it over, say it as it is with you.

IV. Now if your own heart must say, yes, I possess the marks, then comes our fourth point: even though we had then no assurance from God's Spirit, how far may we rely on that testimony of our own heart? If you find the marks of grace, have found them living within you, but lack the sensible assurance, and ask how far you may then rely on that testimony of your heart, since it is otherwise so deceitful — do you know how far, Christians? So far:

1. As you dare say heartily, with a deep impression and awareness, God knows it — in such and such a matter I have experienced this and that: as Joshua once said, "The God of gods, the Lord, the God of gods, the Lord, he knows, and Israel itself shall know it,"

Josh. 22:22. And as you dare to say, as Peter did, not only in that little mark of love, but in this and in that too, "Lord, you know all things; you know" whether it is so or not in me, whether I have not truly changed, and whether I have not received good spiritual convictions, whether Jesus has not become precious to me — and so they go through all the marks. And when you, with Paul, can call God to witness, Rom. 9:1: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." And 2 Cor. 11:11: "God knows it" — to him I take my refuge, let it be as dark and as disputed as it will.

2. Lord, if I am somewhere to be exposed, do it; if I have some fault somewhere, expose it to me: you are my witness that it is in truth my desire to serve you, and to have truth in my inmost being. That is Ps. 26:2: "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart." And Ps. 139:23, 24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

3. When you, having spoken such things to God, then also go to the means of grace and say: strike me, shake me, test me in every way you can, examine me, warn me, rebuke me; I declare it will be pleasing to me. Ps. 141:5: "let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness" — do with me what they will, strike and wound me if you judge it necessary, I shall count it a kindness. Then you may well rely on it, when, speaking with the means of grace, you say: as much as I love you, deal faithfully with me still, may I rely on it?

4. When you further say: ah, I find such a defect in myself, that my heart drips with sorrow over it; my breast is full of sighs; my eyes are full of tears; my mouth is full of complaints; what am I still lacking? I am not as small as I ought to be; I am not content with such a round confession; do I ever go into places that are not safe, oh how sensitive am I then over it, how sighing to be made better! I am often not content with the little that you give me. As Paul said, that body of sin — how it weighs on me! Ah how I go bowed down under it! Rom. 7.

5. Yet also, when our heart is such a fire against flattery; when there is someone who presses us too much, so that one cannot bear it; one would shun their company; and when one says, I do not want to be plastered over with false lime; that is a plague to me; away with flattery and fawning; I have such a great heart, I would rather be without such a friend than have that: when you would do that, I would rather shun you.

6. When you have searched all the corners of your heart, and you can say in such inward sincerity, I do not know it, and I

do not want to have it be otherwise than it is; I do not see that there is any deceit or hypocrisy in me. If it is so with you, go on that testimony of your heart.

Beloved, so we have passed this hour again. You must now set to work on all this. And if you have not done it, and will not do it, I cannot help it, and then you need not complain either. I have shown you that each of us must examine ourselves carefully — what the living and clear marks were; how God calls and asks you and me; what do you say to it? And finally, whether your heart might say yes; and what reliance one might place on our heart, and how far, even if one lacks the testimony of God's Spirit. So we have laid the matter open to you; and, if it please God, the next point in what is to come. I hope that the Lord will bless this to us and to you for his Son's sake, Amen.

Sermon 20

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these seven points are treated:

I. Whether one must know the time, place, and manner of his change.

II. That one who lives ungodly, and will yet be converted, has what advantage over a reprobate, even though he was ever so civil.

III. Whether one who has truly been changed in time can know it.

IV. Whether it is not exceedingly difficult to know, and why.

V. That God deals most gently with the most ungodly, and why.

VI. Some marks by which one can infallibly conclude that he is changed.

VII. How such a soul must conduct itself.

We read Ezekiel 37:1–14, that God leads the prophet to the valley of dry, dead bones, and there, standing, he addresses him and says: what think you of these bones, shall they live? The prophet answers simply and openly: I do not know, Lord, and that is beyond my knowledge and beyond my power; but you know it, it is not beyond your knowledge nor your power. God speaks to him again and says: man, will you do your duty? What, Lord, says he? Well, prophesy against them, be my mouth. He did it in his own way, however dry and dead they lay there, and he looked to the outcome: there stands the prophet, and he addresses those dry dead bones,

and he says: dry dead bones, will you hear God's word? And when he had done that, it was as if he wanted to say, Lord, there the duty is done. Then God said, now pray to the Spirit, that he come upon the ministry. He does so: oh God the Holy Spirit, he says, would you come into these dry dead bones, that they might live! And what happens? There comes a stirring and a movement among those dry dead bones; one bone runs to another, and they get a body, and they stand upon their feet, and there was a spirit of life in them, and it was an exceedingly great army. And then they were like those who dreamed, when that happened — just as Peter, when he was led by the angel out of the prison, did not even know what was happening, Acts 12:9.

You will say, what does this point to? Most immediately to the deliverance of the children of Israel out of the Babylonian captivity: they had all but given it up, and then they were like those who dreamed. It is also a picture of what shall happen on the last day of the world: when the resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous shall take place, when everyone shall come out of his grave, when the graves shall open, then every bone shall come to its bone and it shall become a body. Then God also wants to show thereby that it is so in the spiritual awakening and change of the dead, poor sinner: there it is, "awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light," Eph. 5:14. How often does one think, will that dead man, that dead woman, that dead child, that dead friend, neighbor, acquaintance, ever come alive again? The living father of the prodigal son — how often had he perhaps said, will that dead one ever live again? Abraham, how often had he said, will that dead Ishmael ever live again? And a minister, must he not sometimes think, will these dead ones live? He must do his duty and leave the outcome to God. He preaches against it, though they be dead, and he lifts up his heart to God, that the Spirit may come with the Word: and what outcome does he often get? That the very worst sometimes become alive; the worst in a city, in a house, in a family — they get the arrow through their heart, they fall down before God; of whom one must sometimes say, as Ananias said of Paul, Acts 9:13: "I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he has done to your saints, and that he persecutes your church." Yes, he may then be whoever he will, a lion becomes a lamb, and then he may hope in the name of the Lord Jesus.

They are often such bruised reeds, that they must be supported. That the Lord wants indeed, and he does it too. You go there so doubting, says God, and he takes hold of this or that piece to help lift you up, as here: the bruised reed

he shall not break, but strengthen, and the smoking flax he shall not quench, but fan into flame. So we have for some time now been occupied with the congregation. It is good, when one grows old and is dying, to gather up what one has experienced from the very beginning. We have at present, under God's blessing, such things to do, and to consider a great and troublesome matter in our religion — that no one may hope in the name of the Lord Jesus unless he has been brought out of the state of nature into the state of grace. And the bruised reed says: I have not yet passed from nature into the state of grace, my heart drips away with sorrow, I dare not hope. In the previous sermon we gave true and living marks, and we called you to the test, and we showed you how necessary the test was, and, even if you were not assured, how far you might rely on your heart.

Among the marks we gave was this first one: that one must know how he came from the state of nature into the state of grace, for the tree must be known by its fruit, and an Ethiopian cannot change his skin. Therefore we came to that first point: how did you come from nature into the state of grace? To show you this well, we shall lay down six or seven essential points here below:

I. The first shall be a question: whether one must know the time, place, and manner of his change?

II. Whether one who shall be converted, and lived ungodly before his conversion — indeed often more ungodly than a reprobate — has nevertheless some advantage over a reprobate, even though he was ever so civil?

III. Whether it is possible to know the change of one's heart?

IV. Whether it is nevertheless not exceedingly difficult, and why?

V. Whether God deals most gently with the very most ungodly, and why?

VI. We shall give some marks from which one can infallibly conclude that one is changed.

VII. The last shall be, how such a changed person must conduct himself?

I. First we have this question: must a person know the time, manner, and place of his change? There are various sorts of people. The first sort are those who have been changed from their youth; it is impossible for them to know or to be able to say that: mark well what we say — those who have received their change from God in their youth, for them it is impossible. A second sort are those who were raised quite civilly and are of a gentle, easygoing temperament, and who have not experienced much strife, nor fear, nor changes of condition, and so they come

very quietly; one must not press them on that either, but one must vividly discover that they are changed, without insisting on time or place. But if someone has become twenty, thirty, forty years old, more or less, and is then seized by God in the heart, we must put the question to them, and they can answer it. Mark what we say: those changed from youth, it is impossible for them; those raised tenderly and who have not had much strife or change, we must not put it to them either; but those who have come to years of discretion, and have lived so long in sin, to them we say, where, at what time, and how did it happen to you? The apostle Paul remembered so well that he was changed, he well knew the place, time, and manner, he dared say it to King Agrippa and the governor Festus, there and so it happened, Acts 26. The three thousand slain on that blessed Pentecost day knew it well too, Acts 2. And that troubled jailer, that night, he said, I shall never forget it in my life, Acts 16. Zacchaeus said, well, that day I shall never forget in my life, that I hung there in the branches, and that the Lord said, come down, and today salvation has come to this house, Luke 19:5, 9.

II. Our second point is: suppose a man lived ungodly before his change, indeed profanely ungodly — does he not nevertheless have some advantage over the reprobate? May he then live as ungodly as he pleases? Yes:

1. He is a chosen vessel, Acts 9:15. "You are nevertheless mine," says God, Isa. 43:1. The firm foundation stands: "I know those who are mine," 2 Tim. 2:19. You may be a curser, a castaway among men, you are nevertheless mine.

2. Even if he is still so ungodly, he is nevertheless given to the Lord Jesus by the Father to be redeemed; "and all that the Father gives me," said the Savior, "shall come to me," John 6:37. The Lord Jesus has already bought them, they are his; they are reconciled with God on his side; the sins they commit shall never be charged against them.

3. A man ungodly before his change, living ungodly, God keeps him from committing that sin for which there is no forgiveness: he may sin with such an uplifted hand, and come very close to it, but he shall never actually come to it. Yes, sometimes God even keeps them from a scandalous and ungodly life, though striving against natural theology and the light of their conscience, and keeps them to a civil walk. Paul before his conversion, how civil he was, even though he was such a horrible monster in his own eyes!

4. God brings them under the ministry of his Word, or he brings

the ministry to where they are. God will then appoint a minister for that purpose, whom they have not known all their life, or have esteemed least all their life. And it is wonderful, God bears with them so with much long-suffering.

5. They also have this advantage, that through the ministry that is there, and their interaction sometimes with the means of grace, and their good conscience, upbringing, and the wonderful providences of God in their life, wonderful things come their way at times. They receive at times knowledge of great and heavenly matters; that they impress deeply into their heart; and when they are then converted, God often brings it back to their mind, how well he had led them before. And it all serves them for the work of grace; it is wonderful how it serves to advance their faith: before they are changed, God lets them gather treasures and pearls, as it were, which they only use rightly once they are changed. Paul knew no use, before his conversion, of the fact that he was born at Tarsus; he did not know there was a treasure in that, until after his conversion; then he knew how to use it: "I am a Jew, born at Tarsus," Acts 21:39. And that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel — but after his conversion, then he could press the Jews with it, and stop their mouths: "I have lived after the most straitest sect, I am of the tribe of Benjamin," and such things, Acts 22:3 and 26:5, Phil. 3:5, 6. All that God had brought them to encounter, even to the very words, of which they must say, I do not know why that has stayed with me so, I take no trouble over it; that too comes in useful afterward.

6. That God has fitted them to be seized in the heart. When that time comes, then God says, man, woman, young man, daughter, friend, you shall lay down your weapons, and no devil shall hinder it. Luther used to say, before my conversion I could not bear to hear anything of conversion. Augustine prayed for conversion many times, and in the same prayer he said, oh Lord, do not hear me yet. So it goes; he got it nevertheless. Whether you will or not, says God, you shall lay down your weapons.

7. He also has this advantage: there comes at last the desired day and the hour; he must be at the place, and upon that person, where God wills that he shall be drawn; there the arrow strikes him in the heart; there he falls down before the Lord, and there he lays down all his weapons before him. That a reprobate does not get, however civilly he might have lived.

III. Now the third point: whether a person can know when God has shot him in the heart. Beloved, mark this a little. One can know it, that is certain. How do I prove that?

1. The Lord urges man to it. 2 Pet. 1:10: "Give diligence

to make your calling and election sure." 2 Cor. 13:5: "Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves." In the first Scripture passage, whether it says regeneration or calling, it is one and the same thing. In the second Scripture passage, if you now find the regeneration, that is not enough, but then you must also look for a second grace, and that is faith.

2. One can know it from those heartfelt thanksgivings. 1 Pet. 1:3 shows it: there you see that great man with the whole congregation lying on his knees, and he cries out, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope." And Paul, Col. 1:12, 13: "Giving thanks unto the Father, and unto our Lord Jesus Christ, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." James remembered it too: "even so it has happened to me and to you, scattered brethren," James 1:18; and 1 John 5:19: "we are born of God."

3. One might know it from another: can one have knowledge that God has shown it to another, and could one not then know it of oneself? Luke 15:24: "this my son was dead, and is alive again." Eph. 2:5: "when you were dead, he has quickened you together with him."

4. One can know it firmly, for God urges everyone to think of it, that he has given them spiritual life: "such were some of you, and now," says God, Eph. 2:2 and 5:8: "you were sometime so and so, but now you are washed," 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10: "declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

5. One can know it, when someone who has come to years of discretion and is living in nature is changed; that is visible. The wonder is too great not to be seen: to become from blind, seeing; from dead, alive; from deaf, hearing; to receive a soft heart in place of a stony one, to become a fir tree instead of a thorn — well, it is palpable. It is just as John 9:25: "one thing I know," said he, "that whereas I was blind, now I see."

6. Finally, one can know it firmly by the fruits. So one breaks the covenant with the devil, and enters into a covenant with God: he chooses the Lord and says, his cause, his interest, shall be mine; with that people who have chosen him I shall hold; they cannot hide the candle that is lit, nor do they wish to. You shall know the tree by its fruits, Matt. 7:20.

Therefore

you see our third point: that a man who has been changed in time can know it.

IV. Our fourth point is: is it not exceedingly difficult to know? Is it not hard to know the time of one's change? Yes, it is indeed. And why is it hard for such a little creature to know it?

1. Because there is so much sham without substance; mouth-Christians, temporary faith: the house is swept and cleansed with brooms, Luke 15:8. Oh Lord! one can run so well, and begin so with the Spirit, there is so much sham! God, says one, I am so anxious: the foolish virgins also had lamps; oh Lord, one can come so close!

2. A second reason why it is difficult: it happens so seldom, there are so few of them; and would it have happened to me of all people? When I look through a whole city, the church and congregation, the companies, the households, how few would I find? A small child could count them up: here and there a person in a whole city, and market, and church full of people: how much chaff there is, and how little grain!

3. The matter is so great, and I am so unworthy of it. It is so great and so wonderful — should I have been chosen from eternity, given by the Father to the Lord Jesus, changed by the Holy Spirit? How dare I apply that to myself; how dare I set myself among the children? I am not worthy of it, the chief of sinners, at best one born out of due time. See, that makes the work so difficult.

4. It is so difficult because God, in the leading which he holds with me and others, does not hold to one kind of way and manner. One he changes more slowly, another more swiftly; one more harshly, another more gently; one is full of fear, so that he must cry out; another says, I know nothing of fear; one he leads as it were past hell itself; and into another, heaven descends all at once into the heart: one he makes to appropriate grace easily; another says, I dare not appropriate it to myself, I have not been in such fears and such bitter commotions as I see in others, and over that they go doubting for a year and a day.

5. That is why it is so difficult: the enemy watches for such; he does not leave them undisturbed. Do you know, he says, what all has passed in your life? And he disputes the matter with them craftily and stubbornly: he often comes at them as with a whole sea of contrary matters. Yes, God also hides his face at times, and leads them into such strange ways, that they fear they shall yet perish in them.

V. Now our fifth point: does it not happen that the Lord God deals most gently with those who have been very ungodly? Oh yes,

indeed: sometimes he pets them and handles them gently. Luke 7 — such a great sinner, she melts away there in love before the Lord. The sorcerers at Ephesus — we do not read much of their distress: they run to the marketplace and burn their books, Acts 19:19. Matthew in the tax office — well, it was done in a moment, Matt. 9:9. Zacchaeus — it was done in a moment: "today salvation has come to this house," says Jesus, Luke 19:2. Is there reason for this, you will say? Yes, indeed.

1. There is not much work needed to convince such of their sins. The prodigal son, poor fellow, came out with it all at once. When such an ungodly one is seized in the heart, he is so inclined to come out with it, he tells the whole truth — indeed he would often say more than one wants to know, so that one must say, do not say it all.

2. Oh, the spirits would be overwhelmed by an all-too-overflowing sorrow, if the weight of all their sins came upon their heart at once; they could not bear it: such a guilt reaching to heaven, so great! So God deals thus, so as not to overwhelm the spirits which he has made.

3. So that the devil should have no advantage over them. That enemy who goes about them, if no refreshment were given them, would say, curse God and die, renounce that people. That is why Paul, 2 Cor. 2, wanted that sorrowful one to be handled gently, and that is why such often do not feel much anguish.

VI. Having understood this, we must go on and see: what marks does a person have who has been ungodly and is changed — what proof does he have? That is our sixth point.

1. The first proof is his spiritual life. You will say that is obscure, how shall I know that? It shows itself, as it comes, in convictions; it remains, it grows, it seeks to break through; and it shows itself in that holy shame, in that confession of sins, in that tenderness, in that condemning of oneself, in that humility, in prayer, in entering into a covenant with God, before whom they stand and whom they choose to keep with; and in that desire to henceforth live pleasing to God, even if no one else cared for it.

2. When someone is changed, this shall be an infallible mark, that he is such an enemy of the image of the devil, of the world, and of sin. That image is broken in him, and the image of the great God is renewed in him: he therefore does not want to be conformed to the world, and all that savors or smells of it he cannot bear; the image of the devil he cannot bear nor endure; but the image of God, of the divine nature, he becomes conformed to, 2 Pet.

2 Pet. 1:4. The image of the great God shines through in him, so that such a one must often say in his heart, oh Lord, how am I thus? It seems to me that I feel a trace of God in me, in my understanding, in my will, in my sorrow, in my love, in my hatred: formerly I was not so, nor did I have that, that I could not rest without God. A beast breeds a beast, it brings forth its like; a grain brings forth a grain; a man begets a man: as God formed man in the first creation, it was after his image; in the re-creation, again after his image, Col. 3:10.

3. The third little mark, which is likewise experienced and infallible, is that this spiritual life is the most precious and dearest thing to him of all that God has ever given him: you have given me life, nourished me, fed me, but all that does not compare to this spiritual life, 1 Pet. 2:2.

4. The fourth mark is: where spiritual life is, it also defends itself against everything that would harm and destroy it. The enemies are many and mighty, cunning, fierce, irreconcilable, unrighteous; the world, sin, the devil do not leave them undisturbed: but they stand and defend their life, and fight for it. Eph. 6:11–18, there you have the weapons with which they fight.

5. All who have spiritual life still have some remnants of the old growth, which he goes about pulling out, Rom. 13:13: "let us walk honestly, as in the day." Eph. 4:24: "and that you put on the new man, which after God is created." You put on the new man and pull out sin.

6. The sixth mark is that such a one wishes to share that life with others; it is not enough for him that he himself has that life. There you shall see a father and a mother standing for their child with tears, and saying, ah my child, could I but share that spiritual life with you: next to God you have received natural life from me, and from me you have received a sinful life; ah could I but give you spiritual life! If he is with someone, a word must fall, always something or other; they cannot be silent.

7. Oh, so a person comes to love God so. A child, even if his father and mother had grievous faults, would not want to hear it, he would stand in the breach for them; but with God, it is all holy to them; the love for God in them is so great, that if anyone says anything to God's disadvantage, hush, they say, be still about God, speak no evil of him, I love the Lord, Ps. 18:2 and 116:1.

8. The eighth mark is that they increase and grow. If someone were twenty-five years old, and were still as small as when he was ten years old, one would say, something is not right there. So it is also

in the spiritual life: when it is well, it increases, it keeps growing, they become gradually more spiritual, it comes more easily.

9. Besides this comes yet another mark, and that is the residue and remnants of the natural life, which they feel in all their members; indeed, in all their parts of the spiritual life there is such corruption, that it often makes them sigh, groan, be ashamed, and abhor themselves.

VII. Now we have the last point: since I and you have received that life, what must our business be?

1. First we must thankfully acknowledge God's almighty power. That is what Paul did, Col. 1:12, giving thanks to the Father. And also Peter and James.

2. Also God says, you shall be holy people. "This is the will of God, your sanctification," 1 Thess. 4:3. The world watches you so closely, and when they see the pious fall, they make such wicked use of it; for they do not know that there are two men, two parts, a good and an evil, in them, and that they fall according to their corrupt part; indeed, they do not know that they can nevertheless say with Paul, "I am now no more under sin"; and they do not know what an abhorrence you have of sin, nor, when you fall, do they know your humiliation over it.

3. Has God done that grace to you? Then do not grieve the Spirit, through secret sins, through cravings toward sin, or bold sins; then he would also not show himself friendly.

4. Finally, seek to gain, from that first grace of regeneration, a second grace. By your changed heart you must come to faith, to the Lord Jesus, to receive from that fullness every other grace. Do you think it would then go well, if you were truly changed? Then one must come to greater grace. Then it is, "ah, I believe, Lord, help my unbelief," Mark 9:24. Peter wanted virtue added to faith, 2 Pet. 1:5. We say, add to your regeneration faith, and all other things, and let us then live and move before God in the world.

So we have now answered that great question in the church: whether one who has come to years of discretion must know the time, place, and circumstances of his change. For the first two kinds it is not so clear, and that point remains for us to another time. I hope that the Lord will bless this to us for his honor: Amen.

Sermon 21

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which are treated those who have been born again from their youth.

We read in John 3:3, 5, that the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus: Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, of water and the Spirit, he cannot see nor enter into the kingdom of God — for he neither sees nor knows the thing he must experience.

That is the point which the Savior sets forth as a matter of weight. A minister and a member of the church must not reckon the new birth as a matter of no consequence, for it is a greater matter than all the writings of all the scholars; it is a matter double in substance and great in weight; it is so great that a minister and a member must have it, or he cannot enter the kingdom. Though I, or anyone, had gifts, and a temporary faith, standing, goods, honor, prosperity, and lacked this, we would lack everything. Whoever possesses this is eternally happy; but whoever does not possess it is eternally unhappy.

This is a matter our memory ought to be occupied with; it should never be out of our mind or out of our prayers; the change of our heart ought always to be impressed upon us; we should never make a single prayer without having thought of it and having some sense of it upon us; to think of it or speak of it must never weary us; we must never forget it either — sooner let our right hand forget itself than that we should forget this matter.

But that new birth, which the Lord Jesus there expresses so plainly to Nicodemus — for that we must do something; we must labor for it more than for our daily bread. Strange, yet true, language: labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endures unto everlasting life, John 6:27. Seek first and foremost the kingdom of God, Matthew 6:33. We must go out with this matter occupying our thoughts, and when you come home again, you must still be occupied with it. When you go to sleep, when you lie down, when you rise up — this matter must constantly be examined, whether you have a part in it. You must know the time when, the place, and the means — how you came to it. There should be no one who does not often say in his heart: ah God, perhaps I am alive, and perhaps I am still dead — have I already become a changed man, a changed woman; has that happiness already fallen to my lot; has that already befallen me? Can anyone live at ease who lacks that? Do you say: though I lack it, I can live at ease? Then you go calmly to hell. You must know where your foot is planted: if you possess this, then you may hope in the Savior, that through him you will come into heaven; but if you lack it and yet hope, then your hope will come to nothing. Shall anyone hope in this Savior without having passed out of the state of nature into the state of grace? Can anyone pass out of the state of nature into the state of grace without his heart being changed? Must not the wild branches be broken off? Must they not undergo the grafting? And does that happen without one's knowing it?

When, where, and how it happens, we showed last time. Those who are brought to a halt in full career during their lifetime — it cannot be but that this is known to them. That was what we sought to impress on the heart then. There we saw that a difficulty would arise, that there would be some who would say: must I know the time, the place, and the manner in which I was changed? More than one kind of person would find great difficulty in this. He who has come to years of discretion knows it; that was our last subject — I shall never forget that as long as I live, he said. But now there remain two more for us. Can I have been changed, says the one, I know no time, place, or how — that is the first sort, those who were changed from their youth; nothing in the world would be dearer to me, nothing in the whole world troubles me so much as that — but I know no time or hour. The second sort, who live decently, were brought up in a godly way, and are of a mild temperament, and who know of no great change in their state or condition — ah, they say, I do not know it either, and I would so gladly know it; I agree with you entirely, that I must have it.

The first of these two we must now treat, and that is a little creature who has had grace from its youth: he comes into a company where he hears people speak of conversions and how God has changed them: ah, he says, I must be silent; I see indeed that it is a beautiful thing, but I cannot join in — and there they sit alone in a corner, weeping. We must seek to support and strengthen these bruised little reeds as well. We say: God may have given it to you from your youth.

It is exceedingly sweet for a person to walk back through the periods of his life, to see what has befallen him. There are many who study the periods of the church's history, but the periods of their own lives they often never examine, to see what has happened to them there. Do you know what the periods of our life are? There you have the first period, from our first to our twelfth or fourteenth year, and those are the childhood years. You may go back sometimes and think how you were then, and in particular you ought to look whether you already had some little spark of grace bound to you then. Then from your fourteenth to your twenty-fifth year is the second period; there you will find much to consider, for often it is then, inwardly and outwardly, that the most happens to a person in that time: do you receive grace then, are you then made alive, do you begin then to break with sin — you are then like a fire. The third period is from twenty-five to fifty or fifty-five years. What a sea of matters a person meets with in those years of manhood! Then you have the fourth period, in old age, that is from fifty-five to seventy-five years — those are the gray years: he who is then old in sin — ah, would that he might be old and gray in grace, and still bearing fruit! And then there is yet one more stage, that of the deathbed; but that stage does not allow much room, for the time will finally come there when you will lie stretched out; when you then come to think whether you have the work of God in your heart, it will then be such a cramped sickbed for you that you will have little time left to search after the root of the matter. The thief on the cross could not have waited much longer, or he would have been in hell. God can still come even then. And if you die possessing it, the outcome will be everlasting gain; but if you lack it, an everlasting loss. Think often, then, of the last period of your life, and whether you will stand there in the judgment at God's right hand or his left, and whether you will be raised to eternal life and glory, or to everlasting horror and contempt, Matthew 25:33, Daniel 12:2.

You will say: have holy men done this? Oh yes: they kept a record of names, days, and events. David said, I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Psalm 37:25. He walked once through the periods of his life; he had seen much already. Acts 26:4, says Paul, my manner of life from my youth, know all the Jews. Genesis 48:15, 16, says Jacob: the God who fed me all my life long unto this day, from my youth up until now, and who has led me all the way — bless these lads, and let them be called by my name, and by the name of my fathers.

Then he was near his death; he had reviewed the periods of his life once more. Now we shall easily come of ourselves to the matter at hand.

You will say, when I look through the period of my childhood, I must ask you a question: do children, at their natural birth, also receive the new birth? I must attend to that, and so must you — go back to your childhood years, from your birth to your twelfth or fourteenth year: does God do this in children, you will ask? I answer you clearly and simply.

1. In our church, and among all the godly, it is accepted as a divine truth that God does this in children.

2. We shall go a step higher: on that ground we have taken occasion in our churches to circumcise little children in the Old Testament, and to baptize them in the New Testament. God was the God of the seed, and a child of eight days was reckoned as belonging to the seed — that God showed when he said to Abraham, I will be a God to you and to your seed after you forever, Genesis 17; and Acts 2:39, the promise is unto you and to your children. Your children are holy, 1 Corinthians 7:14. Of such is the kingdom of God, said the Lord Jesus, and he took the children up in his arms and kissed them, Mark 10:14-16.

3. A child, at its death, also goes to heaven — and would it have no grace, and not be changed? That made David forget his grief, 2 Samuel 12:20-23: my blessed child, he said, you are with the Lord; I shall go to you. That God gives it is clear: that appears in Abel, Isaac, Jacob, David, Obadiah, who dared say to so glorious a prophet, I have feared the Lord from my youth, 1 Kings 18:12. A child of Jeroboam, of whom that old prophet said, there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel, 1 Kings 14:13 — he had not yet passed out of the period of childhood into youth; he was fourteen years old. Not to mention Jeremiah, Timothy, John the Baptist, and others.

4. We see it every day: we see and hear people speak who must say, I have grace, that I cannot deny; and if I have it, then I must have received it in my youth. The Lord does not always grant the new birth once someone has come to years of discretion; there are those who must say, if I must plant my foot down anywhere, it must be in my childhood years. That is the answer to the first question.

You will say: now I am satisfied, I see that God does this in children; but now there is a second question: what does God do to such a child, when he gives it grace along with its natural life? For such a child surely is not active — how then does that come about? Listen, and apply yourselves a little further.

1. We would like to ask you: what does God do to a dry little seed that has come out of its husk and is thrown into the ground? He lays into it a power of life and growth. When such a little seed is put into the ground, one would not say that anything would come of it; but God lays into it a living and growing power, once it receives earth and rain. What does God do when he lays such fine gifts into a child? Consider: they say a person must be born a poet or an artist — as if God lays certain skills into a child? These things we see and touch: God lays life into a dead little grain, and certain fine gifts into a child. You will say, how is that? How can that be? Apply yourselves a little further.

2. What God would have brought about before the fall through ordinary generation, that he does after the fall. How would the children have been before the fall — with a sinful image? Oh no; they would have been perfect. But after the fall, Adam begat a son in his own likeness, Genesis 5:3.

3. God, as a righteous judge, now lets children be conceived and born in sin, Psalm 51:5. But as the gracious God in Christ, so God restores his image in the heart of some children. There he sets his image in the heart of such a child — in its understanding, conscience, will, in all the faculties of the soul — just as he lays in it the image of the devil; they both lie there quietly: the old man lies just as quietly in such a child as the new man; the corruption and the grace, both lie there quietly; the knowledge of God lies there, and speech lies in a child, and it is all so quiet there. With the growth of the body, and the advance of their years, they all begin to show themselves — the knowledge of God, the corruption, and also speech — and then they also begin to show the spiritual life; they show that they have the image of God in them as well as the image of the devil; so that you must often say, when you look closely at a child from its first to its fourteenth year, it goes beyond my grasp. What do you see in it then? There they begin to show certain sparks and little flashes of devotion, and such a tender and sincere love to God and to the Lord Jesus; they are so unfeigned, it comes out so simply; they dare not do what they think would displease God; such a child has at times its own little private prayers; they often know quite early what it is to go out into the field to say their private prayers to God; they say their prayers in secret, in their own house; when one hears them praying, one often would not expect it of a child; and that stays with them all the days of their life, and they draw on it when they have grown old, on what has gone on within them since; and at times they show such tender affections, and do such things,

saying in their hearts: Lord! is it so — with you I will hold, though I should be reviled for it, I will hold with God nonetheless all the days of my life; and they become, as it were, little young martyrs; they are often mocked by their own parents, and such a child often has no refuge but heaven, to which it goes; and thus it pleases God to have his praise proclaimed out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Psalm 8:2, and Matthew 21:16. One must often stand amazed at such a child: when it comes to die, it is often nothing but astonishment for all the bystanders to hear; some little examples of this have been gathered and printed for edification, of how children have shown that they had grace. There you have the first question, whether God also gives grace to a child; and the second, what God then does. Those two matters we have now dealt with.

Now the third question: does it always go so smoothly with such a child? These are again fine points that need careful attention. The answer is: it pleases God the Lord often to have it so, that as a child grows in body, it likewise proceeds in soul without coming to any marked crisis — after the example of their Head, Luke 2:40, 52: he grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom; and increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and all the people; and after the example of John the Baptist, who also had grace from his mother's womb: as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy, said Elizabeth, Luke 1:41 — and afterward he grew, and waxed strong in spirit, verse 80. And John 5:35: he was a burning and shining light, in whom for a season they were willing to rejoice. It was a pleasure to see that John; and so too that Timothy, who from a child had known the Holy Scriptures — his unfeigned faith gave such good evidence that things went so well with him, and his tears of love — what love he had for God, and for the apostle!

Yes but, someone will say, I have fallen away so much: when I was ten or twelve years old, it went well with me, but now I have grown so cold. That happens often enough — how shall we answer such people? For their support we shall answer them thus:

1. It does indeed happen, when someone has been changed in his youth, that in growing up he shows the evidences of it less than in his youth; indeed it happens that the corruptions are seen more than the grace — which is nevertheless a great grief to them. Job 13:26: ah Lord, now you make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. Psalm 25:7: ah, the sins of my youth, remember them not.

2. Through the lusts of youth and the powerful seduction of the world and the sinful company into which they often fall, the sparks of their devotion are sometimes so suppressed that they become like a coal under ashes, through all the temptations they meet; and they are in the force and vigor of their corruption, and in their heedlessness and folly, so that the grace that is in them becomes like a coal that lies under the ashes.

3. We answer further: sometimes a certain time passes in this way — it lasts weeks, months, years, in which they offer no marked resistance, and everything done for them seems fruitless; but then it does happen that they come to acknowledge what is written in Isaiah 63:17: O Lord, why have you made us to err from your ways, and hardened our heart from your fear? Return, for your servants' sake, the tribes of your inheritance. And that is then the outcome, when this comes upon their heart: ah, they then say, what have I done, that I have strayed from God's ways, and that I have not feared you?

But perhaps someone will say: that I have experienced — I have gone so far astray; but what still remained then?

1. First, accusation, and the gnawing and conviction of an awakened conscience. 2 Samuel 24:10: David's heart smote him.

2. This too, that you no longer sin with boldness: if such a young person is in sinful company, he is so ashamed — it does not sit so wholeheartedly with him.

3. There remain sluggish deliberations about breaking it off, and wishing that deliverance would come at last, and longings to be released from that company.

4. That continues so, until the Almighty begins to deliver them; then they are awakened as out of a deep sleep: I sleep, but my heart wakes, as it was with the Bride, Song of Songs 5:2.

5. Then at last comes a visible and tangible repentance. It does happen that such a one reckons the time of his new birth from there: that, he says, I will never forget as long as I live, Lord! They remember that; they draw on it: O God, they say, here I was brought to a stop.

6. Then such people go on to live tenderly before God. I cannot, I may not, live like this any longer, they say: ah Lord, how long have I been far from you! Then God comes, and he makes those sparks of grace, which for a time had lain under the ashes of their corruption, shine forth and come to light again. And then they also seek to help others; they would then do anything, take hold of another's sleeve and say, ah, would that you were as I am — then they are like a fire.

So we still have a faithful word for the sinner. If someone sits here who has not been changed, and he says: perhaps I too was changed from my youth, I was indeed convicted in my younger years, and I did have such stirrings in my mind, I was not among the worst children, perhaps I was already changed then too: I say, perhaps you were not. Well, sinner, will you let it rest on a "perhaps"? You may have experienced more conscience-work in your youth than now, and it does happen that such people become the most godless in their lives, and that they die in their sins.

Someone will say: might I indeed have it? Might God have granted it to me in my youth? I have grown so old, and I do not know where I was brought to a stop. Here we must add another six or seven clear words. If we have indeed enjoyed this — that we have possessed grace from our youth — we shall know it by this:

1. We shall always so gladly hear of the new birth; we shall reckon it so necessary; we shall have no quarrel with it. Where false grounds are exposed and things are preached with discernment, such people crave that; they long so much to hear it.

2. They will count those so fortunate who know the time of their change. Ah, poor me, they say, and I do not know it.

3. You will always find in them a strife between flesh and spirit; Romans 7 will always be familiar to them; those two men will not be unknown to them — a good and an evil man, an old and a new man.

4. They will always feel so poor before God, even though they have had no marked falls: they have nothing at all, they have no righteousness of their own, Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 5:3, blessed are the poor in spirit.

5. God will give someone whom he changed in youth strong convictions or sweet consolations, as proof that God is good to him; and with that he makes up for the rest. Though you do not know the time of your change, you do know this at least, that God came before you, that he was kind to you and cherished you, and once ravished you, and brought your mind to Jesus. If you know such things, do not speak so much of your not knowing.

6. Once more — ah, how often has your heart pounded: might I not be deceiving myself, Lord? Search me, for you know that I am in earnest about true work; if it has not yet begun, begin it now. That is what you will find stirring in such a heart.

7. Not only that, but such a little creature is like all the born-again. You are like that people; you are of one speech and one understanding with them. Neither I nor you, when we were born, knew how it happened; some never know it all their life — yet you live among people all the same; I see, you will say, I speak, I act like they do, and from that I must conclude that I am a human being, even though I do not know the how of my birth. So too, they examine themselves, confess, are ashamed before God, esteem God and Christ, seek not to grieve the Spirit — and so do I.

Only pay attention, and you will find it so. Then you must indeed say, I have been changed from my youth. And if you cannot yet say it, you will nevertheless one day say it to your refreshment; yes, God will make you say it: I have feared God from my youth, as did Obadiah. Worldling, that you cannot say.

Ah Lord, you say, I dare not think it: I seem indeed to feel grace in my heart, but there are such corruptions in me, I dare not apply it to myself. Yet if you know the things we have described, take courage — then the true work is in your heart.

If you have been converted and born again from your youth, how much have you not already been preserved from, beyond those who were changed only later in life? Psalm 71:17: O God, you have taught me from my youth. Yes, where have you not already put your little talent to use on such as afterward were often converted? Where has God not used you in your company to build others up, even if it was only by your silence and your not joining in? What do you think — will Jesus break such a one? Oh no, but support them. I hope that God will bless this to us, to his own honor; Amen.

Sermon 22

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which is resolved the difficulty concerning those changed persons who have had a godly upbringing, and are of a quiet and gentle temperament, and know of no great change, who said: I know neither time, nor place, nor how I was changed.

We read Luke 15:24: this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. The man born blind said: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see, John 9:25. It was as though the father of that lost child would say: one thing I know, my child was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. The apostle Paul said once: us, who were dead in trespasses and sins, he has made alive together with Christ, Ephesians 2. He said of himself: mercy was shown to me, though I am one of the chief of sinners; God had mercy on me, 1 Timothy 1:13, 15. It is exceedingly pleasant when a soul may live in the assurance of its state: that it may know that it has passed from nature into the state of grace.

Who has the most light in this? Such a one, in whatever way he may have been changed, whom God is pleased to embrace and kiss with the kisses of his mouth, whom he is pleased to lead into the inner chambers, to whom he testifies by his Spirit to their spirit that they are children of God, to whom he gives the earnest, and whom he seals after they have believed: the passages concerning this are numerous in the Word — as when God says to the soul, I am your salvation, and when he makes it taste the assurance of its salvation. Such people, even if they did not know that they had been changed once they came to years of discretion — as with those who lived in sin and were powerfully changed in their youth, in their manly years, or in old age — they nevertheless remember it. There are those who remember the time, the place, the manner in which God changed them, and the occasion on which it happened. Had one asked Manasseh, he would have told you, 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13. Had you met a Zacchaeus right after it happened to him, and had you asked him, he would have told you, Luke 19:1-9. Those three thousand — O blessed Pentecost! — had you asked them, they could well have told you where and how it happened, Acts 2. Could not a Paul have told you where and how it befell him? Acts 9. It can easily be known. Though there are not many changed people who cannot say the time or place, yet there are some who do not have much light on it, and also some to whom you must not put the question at all — and these are of two kinds. The first is a kind who received the Spirit from their youth, from their first to their fourteenth year. We must not ask these, for they would say: you pierce me to the very depths of my soul, I cannot tell you when, where, and how I was changed. And the second kind, to whom one must also not put the question, are those who had a tender and godly upbringing and are of a mild temperament, and were so changed by God without feeling much change of state or alteration of condition.

Those who are powerfully brought to a stop in their lifetime, they could easily know it; that we have seen before; and last, those who were changed from their youth. Now we have those decent people to consider, who live so properly in the congregation, who cannot say much of any change. To do that properly, we shall seek to lay this before you in the following way:

I. We shall show you that there are such composed Christians. II. We shall show you how they are disposed. III. We shall sincerely instruct such living souls concerning their grace. IV. We shall give them two or three warnings. V. Further, we shall seek to remove this trouble: that if I had grace, I would surely also know how and when I was changed — that trouble we shall seek to take away. VI. Finally, we shall see whether we can add one more thing: whether they are not perhaps careless, seeing they are so quiet? That trouble too, I say, we shall seek to take away — whether their peace is not a carelessness.

Those, then, are the points we must show you: when you meet such a person, all the godly and all ministers are most at a loss how to deal with them, and how to show that they have grace.

I. That is then the first point: there are people who have been well brought up from their youth; they are well-mannered and respectable through their good upbringing. Do you not think of Abraham's trained household? Do you not think of Deuteronomy 6:7, where parents were to teach their children and impress on them the ordinances of the Lord — at the table, at the hearth, on the road? Do you think such people paid no heed to that? Have you noted well what Solomon said in praise of his beloved father, Proverbs 4:3, 4: I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother. He, my father, taught me, and said to me: my son, hear my words, let your heart hold fast to them; keep my commandments, and live. Would that young man have had no good upbringing, Mark 10:20? Ah, there are children of tears and prayers, who are nurtured amid prayer, reading, and the good example of their parents. Among such God has those who are his own. It is not always the coarse and unrefined whom God calls: it was not only harlots and tax collectors who came to John the Baptist — well-mannered Pharisees came too, Matthew 3:7. Paul said that before his change he had lived after the strictest sect of his religion, and that I so lived, all the Jews know, he says, Acts 26:4, 5; and in Philippians 3:6 he says that as touching the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless. Indeed, we see such people every day before our eyes; we converse and speak with them; we hear their complaints, we see them, we meet them.

II. Now, for such a person who lives so decently and properly, we must see how far they go, and how they are disposed — that is our second point. Someone said: I am of the opinion that when a person is changed, he must be terribly shaken; he must be dragged as it were through and before hell, he must endure hellish terrors; I believe that when a person is born again, he is so violently stirred that he has no desire to eat or drink, and cannot sleep; indeed, that everything becomes a burden to him; I believe it costs such a person so much in flesh and blood, in health and strength, that he sooner looks like one who dwells in the grave than like a healthy person; I believe it goes so fiercely that his room, his house, the whole town becomes too narrow for him; I believe he must beat upon his thigh, strike his breast, wring his hands. And — do you see how far they then go, whether it is not so high-pitched? Then they must always have such changes of condition. If I read it in the Bible, it stands there; if I come among the godly, there is not a minister but says it according to the Word: that whether someone has grace will be known by this, that one day, one week, one communion differs greatly from another. And, he says, if I now examine myself, I have not had such high-pitched circumstances, nor have I had any such changes of condition; with me it is always so even, so composed, so quiet; it is always just as even and calm, one day and year like another; I think that I am like a dead person, who is always cold; the living are sometimes hot and sometimes cold, but the dead are always cold — my heart must tremble over this. Now we shall try to say a few words for your instruction, and that is this:

1. First, that the change does indeed sometimes come about with great agitation; but you are wrong to think it always comes about with such agitation. God does sometimes strike the heart so that it trembles, when he begins with a harsh north wind, and begins to show someone the terror of his guilt and the greatness of his powerlessness to save himself, and when he makes him see his deep misery and corruption, and shows him death and judgment, and that he is so dreadfully sinful, as red as scarlet because of sin. Acts 16 — that man trembled so; and the others in Acts 2 cried it out in the streets. But that does not always happen so.

2. Just as God begins terribly in some, so he does gently and sweetly in others. There are those in whom he begins with joy: then a south wind blows, a gentle breeze; he leads such a soul into that eternal covenant which is between the Triune God concerning sinners; he brings such a soul to the message of it, to the promises, to the offer which he makes to sinners, and then to the blessed goods; that softens their heart, and then he brings them to the fullness that is in the Lord Jesus, and gives them the Spirit of illumination, of comfort, of gladness, and of courage, so that they are, as it were, overwhelmed by the love and lovingkindness of God; and they are carried away with wonder, and cry out: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will you be so the God of a poor sinner? There I come to take refuge under your shadow! With you is the fountain of life, Psalm 36:9. You satisfy me with the goodness of your house, and with the holiness of your temple, Psalm 65:4. Such people have neither the desire nor the time to dwell on their sinful state.

3. We must further say for the instruction of such a soul: do you know that there are people who, on account of their temperament, are subject to strong passions, and that this stays with them even after their change? At one time they are seized with terrible fears, agitations, great sorrows, and at another time with excessive joys, out of which then arise great boldness. We do not say that these passions are altogether to be rejected — no; but they must simply be well used. Whether someone is given to such passions is not for us to judge. We also say this for your instruction, that there are also people who do not have many strong passions, but live quietly, moderately: whatever befalls them, they remain moderate, whether in joy or in trial. Aaron held his peace, and Moses was the meekest man on all the earth, Leviticus 10:3 and Numbers 12:3. They are so easy, so composed, and yet work no less for that with their understanding and will. If God the Lord leads you along such a path, do not think that you therefore have no, or less, spiritual life than those who have strong feelings. Do you think that because you have no strong passions, you therefore have less or no spiritual life? Do you think you therefore have less than another? That is a mistake; you are mistaken in your judgment.

4. The fourth is: that someone who lives very much withdrawn often does not know his own change any better than others. God the Lord makes such people keep somewhat to themselves; they do not venture to associate much with the godly, and they have no taste for the world either: if they are among the godly in company, and sit among them a while, they sit silent; if talk turns to change of heart, they know nothing of it; their heart is shut, they live quietly, and yet, when they do associate, it is still with the godly; but though they sit among them, they sit mute, and think: I understand well enough what they are saying, but I have not experienced it; they would gladly live as solitaries, and yet they weigh the arguments, they weigh the spirits; when they read, when they hear preaching, they taste, they weigh what is said, and what they read, and just as the palate tastes the food, so they weigh the arguments; they ponder, they weigh, they are like sensible people, able to judge what is said. Do you think it went differently with Lydia? There was not much commotion there, neither joy nor sorrow: what was it? She gave heed; she weighed what Paul said, Acts 16:14. Consider the congregation at Berea: what did every believer do, once they had been under the preaching? They went home, and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so, Acts 17:11. Among such people too God changes people. You will ask, how does that come about then? In this way.

First, with very great calm God leads them into an understanding of the misery of all mankind, and also into an understanding of their own miserable condition — how pitiful, poor, blind, and naked they are: in me, they say, there is nothing, I can do nothing — and that comes about quite calmly. Then God leads them, with great calm, into a view of the blessings, and of who that people is that has a part in him and in those blessings, and what a happy people that is. Psalm 33:12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. Oh how happy are they who have a part in that! Then also into the wretchedness of those who have no part in it. Ephesians 2:12: without God in the world, and without Christ, having no hope. There they stand, so calmly, and with great calm and quietness God leads them into the work of redemption and into Christ: without much agitation or joy they look over the offer and invitation of Christ, the conviction, the persistence, the pleading, the invitation to them and their like, that Christ says, Come unto me, Matthew 11:28. With great calm God makes them note how bitterly it goes with those who refuse Jesus' invitation; they all take it deeply to heart, and that God says, how shall you escape, if you neglect so great salvation, and how God shows himself against the disobedient and those who resist, Hebrews 2:3 and 10:27. And if there is a sin for which God will take vengeance with flaming fire, it is disobedience, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. Then the service of Jesus becomes wonderful to them, and they come to embrace it; and with great calm God leads them to see the reasonableness of it — how reasonable it is that he should be served, and how all his people set everything aside for the Lord Jesus and his cause. And so being led in, and so standing firm, they are gradually, and without their knowing it, changed, and thus they become obedient to the truth; they are purified through obedience to the truth. Then the Lord gives them such sweet delight in pondering and meditating on such things, and that becomes their meditation day and night, Psalm 1:2. They approve that way; it has their willing and sweet approbation; so it must be, and it may not be otherwise, they say. And God so works in them that they come as utterly poor, and go to God as wretched ones, and seek to buy without money, Isaiah 55:1. From the Lord Jesus they seek to buy everything without price, and to receive him, to give themselves over to him, and to expect everything from him in need and in trial, and also in prosperity they declare that they will hold quietly to that path, and say: Lord, I declare before you who knows all things, that I reckon it reasonable to set everything aside for the Lord Jesus and his cause.

III. Now our third point. We say for your instruction: do not think that you are one of the worst among the changed, but rather one of the best, the most steady, and the most firm; you are not so easily moved as those others who live so much by their feelings. Such people are generally very sincere, discreet, and cautious, quiet people; you are one of the quiet in the land, one of the Lord's hidden ones. They are such that one must often stand amazed at their life; they make no stir, after the example of their Head, who did not lift up his voice in the street. As to this last point, we must say that God sometimes brings about an occasion when all their treasures at last come to light: then it must at some point become apparent what is in them, but you will see that mostly on their sick- or deathbed: then their words are sometimes so full, then they speak at times to the amazement of the bystanders. In the course of my ministry I have seen such people, of whom one would not have said it, but when God brought them to a sick- or deathbed, such things came out that one had to say: I would never have thought that of that man or that woman — is that in that person? I thought he was just an ordinary, plain person, or a mere passerby. I have in my life been present, where old, experienced ministers were, who said that they had been with such people, and had to say: is that in that person? I would never have believed it. They spoke with such assurance, so humbly, and with such confidence.

IV. Now our fourth point: two or three warnings.

1. Do not trouble your life too much over the manner of your conversion or change, even though it differs from others': let it be as it will — whether a child has much labor or little before it comes into the world, it is nevertheless a child.

2. Never regulate the manner of your change according to another's: do not think, I do not experience this or that, as another does; another does not experience your calmness either. The thief on the cross was disposed quite differently from the tax collector.

3. Even if you had a manner of conversion which no one had ever experienced before, which had never been preached from a pulpit, and which you had never read in any book, do not trouble yourself over it for that reason. Do you think that all the ways of conversion have been described? I reckon that the whole world would not be able to contain the books that would have to be written to describe them. Do not, then, reject your conversion on account of the manner God has used. With some it pleases God to keep to an ordinary way, and with some an extraordinary one: the way in which God is pleased to convert people is wonderful. Always think that it will depend only on the root of the matter, not on the manner. Ananias, said God, go to Paul. Lord, he said, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints; his manner of life is not unknown to me. Let that be, said God, go to him nonetheless; he is a chosen vessel to me, Acts 9:13-15. He did not yet know the manner of his conversion; nor does that matter — neither the manner of his life before his conversion, nor the manner of his conversion.

4. God does not prescribe to you a fixed pattern of how you must be converted: he is too high and too mighty for that; he has such wonderful ways of converting a person that it sometimes goes quite beyond our guessing, as it went with Naaman the Syrian, 2 Kings 5. He thought: the prophet will surely come out, and stand before me, and wave his hand over the place, and call once on the name of his God — and he had reason to think so, it was according to Scripture, Leviticus 14. But the prophet does nothing of all that. So it is also in the conversion of a person, as in Isaiah 55:8: My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts.

V. Now we say to such a one, who does not know the manner: would you now not dare to settle it firmly? Oh no, they say, I fear that I would deceive myself; that if I did so, I would be feeding myself with ashes, being pregnant with straw, and bringing forth stubble. Listen: there are one or two marks by which you can know whether you deceive yourself in settling the matter without knowing the manner of your conversion; and one by which you can know whether you do not deceive yourself when you go to settle your state.

Do you know when you deceive yourself? When, after settling that you have grace, you rest content in yourself; when you go on to live at ease and carelessly; when you imagine that your happiness consists in earthly things; and when you occupy yourself with things that touch your understanding more than your conscience; when after this settling you begin to take more liberty instead of a tender walk; when you care more for general preaching, where everyone sits at ease and can go home unbothered, than for particular, searching preaching. If you settle it that you have grace, and you find such things in yourself, then you surely deceive yourself: that is to say, I shall have peace, though I be one way or another, though I walk after the imagination of my own heart, Deuteronomy 29:19.

Do you now want to know whether it is not deception? Then you will find this after the settling: you will not be able to live content in yourself; the exercise of your faith, hope, and love will gradually become more lively; indeed, you will walk more closely with God, and live before him in a tender walk; you will go most where the most searching means are used, where you are examined and tested; you will seek to obey the Lord, and continually think, might I not have deceived myself? In short, we will tell you briefly: if after settling it you are led on to use Christ Jesus for justification and for sanctification, and for a close walk with God — then it is no deception.

A sinner will say: perhaps I too am such a one. To you I must say: will you let a matter of such great weight rest on a "perhaps"? And others will say: might there indeed be something in me? Yes, certainly. By what could I recognize it?

1. There is in such people always such a clinging to religion; you will seldom find their place in church empty unless there have been serious mishaps; they love the fellowship gatherings.

2. You will generally find them of a uniform character in all their walk.

3. You will find that they spend many an anxious hour, day, and night.

4. Ah Lord, they often say, does not that leaven of self-righteousness still cling to me? For that is indeed the first and oldest religion there has ever been in the world.

5. They are glad to be made small, even brought down to nothing.

6. They are so glad to see the Lord Jesus greatly exalted: he is the only foundation of salvation.

7. In their very best virtues they see so much ugly sin and defect.

What do you think? Is this so in you? Do you know much of yourself in this way? Would you hold with God, with his people, with his cause?

VI. But you will say: there is still a great trouble lying on my heart: ah Lord, am I not careless? I would like to know whether my spiritual peace is not carelessness; I would like to hear that distinction; otherwise I am not to be quieted. That is the last point we still must look at, in a word.

1. First, the careless person is himself a firebrand of trouble, but you are not.

2. Carelessness is a peace arising out of ignorance: he has perhaps never examined his own ease; and if he has, it rests on false reasoning, and he stands calmly watching it happen: I see, says the careless person, that I am a sinner, I feel that I am wretched; and I see, Lord, that you have included me in Christ, and granted me his righteousness — and on that alone he has settled into ease and confidence, without ever truly searching it out.

3. A careless person supposes that he has that peace of himself; but the others say: ah Lord, if I have received that spiritual peace from you, I am as it were carried away with wonder at your goodness; I confess myself unworthy of it.

4. The careless indulge themselves in a sinful walk; but these quiet ones in the land set a garrison upon their heart; they seek to keep themselves pure; they are every day in the fear of God; they do not presume to sin, out of the fear and love of God.

A sinner will say: is there now, in all this discourse on the change of a person, not one word for us? That we shall perhaps still have in what is to come. I hope that the Lord will bless this to you and to us; Amen.

Sermon 23

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which those who are not yet converted are instructed, and it is shown: I. What God requires of such a one. II. That God employs very many ways and means to bring it home to the heart. III. That we, for our part, must use very many means. IV. What we must guard against.

We read Acts 2:37, that those who were pricked in their heart cried out: men and brethren, what shall we do, what shall we do to be saved? The truly convicted you will everywhere find with such language. Acts 9:6: there that man lies on the ground; ah Lord, he cried out, what will you have me to do? And Acts 16:30: there one lies on his knees, with tears on his cheeks, with the light in his hand, and he cried out: dear Lord, what must I do to be saved? I would so gladly be saved, said the man.

You will think in your heart: does one find that also in people who are not truly convicted, in the godless, who are but a brood of vipers? Yes: Numbers 23:10, says Balaam: let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! I see it plainly said, I wish my end were like theirs! And Luke 13:23, one said: Lord, are there few that be saved? It was as though he would say: I too would like to be saved — and yet we read of no fruit that followed. Mark 10:17 — there comes one with such great agitation that you must stand amazed: it was a young man who had great possessions, and held a fine office in the synagogue, being a ruler, and was very respectable, so he said, as it were, to the Lord: Master, this life that I live here does not seem to me the true life, though I have spent so many years, weeks, and days in it; I have longings for another life — there he falls on his knees on the road, praying: good Master, he said, how shall I come to another life, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

One might say: is there so much good in a sinful person? And yet is that still not enough? Why does he want to be saved? Alas, he said, there is so much cross and pain on the earth — and must I then go to hell besides, and miss heaven too? He seeks heaven in order to be free from hell, and to be rid of cross and pain, but not in order to serve God; if he sought it for that, he would first have to be devout here. But you will find none among the godless who are as concerned about the new birth as they are about heaven. When they live among one another, you will not find them on their knees praying for the new birth, though you might for heaven; generally you will find the opposite, that the name and matter of the new birth is a burden to them. I fear that it will go in our land as it did in the time of the Jews: the name and the matter became a burden to them, they no longer wanted to hear of the new birth, John 3. When one presses that name and matter upon them, it is: what does that chatterer want? He seems to be a preacher of strange new things; have I found you, my enemy? You prophesy nothing good, but always evil concerning me, therefore I hate you; what does that troublemaker seek to accomplish, I would rather be lost — they would say, upon hearing more of such matter, I would rather never hear you again in my life.

It must go quite hard with them before they stand trembling like Pharaoh, or put sackcloth about them and go softly like Ahab: it must go very hard indeed before they think of converting like the Ninevites; things must become quite difficult, and they must come under a wonderful constraint, before they come under a ministry that is clear and discerning, and before they begin to cry out, and we, what shall we do, Luke 3:14. A preacher would have to be like a John: otherwise they would say, we do not want to hear from you. Well, hearers — not wanting to hear it, and yet lacking it, and not being able to do without it — well, who has bewitched you? The essential thing is that you cannot do without it, neither I nor you, or else we shall be miserable for eternity.

We have, in the material we have been treating — in order to support a bruised reed, and to revive a wick that still had smoke in it — dealt with several matters. In particular, that no one may hope in the name of the Lord Jesus unless he is in the state of grace; he must be born again. So there arose for us a difficulty, that such a one must know the time, the place, and how he was born again, and that we have treated in detail. We said that there were three sorts of people. There were those who lived godlessly, and were brought to a stop in the full course of their life — they could know the time, place, and circumstance. Then there were those who said that from their youth, in their childhood, they had received grace, who, just as they had the image of the devil in them, had also received the image of God, and that came to light with the growth of their years and body: if you asked those the time, place, and circumstance of their new birth, they would say, you crucify my soul, I cannot tell you. But there were also those who throughout their life, and in their youth, were not subject to many strong passions, and were so quietly raised, who know of no great change of state or condition — the quiet ones in the land; but although they do not have many strong passions, they nevertheless work no less with their understanding and will concerning God and divine things, so that, as it were without knowing it, they become obedient to the truth; they hold to the faith, they hold to the way of virtue, they are decent Christians: if you asked those, they would say, you torment my soul, I cannot tell you.

Those who among Christians are reckoned great Christians and can speak much — we must sometimes examine them closely; and those who are not counted such, the quiet, decent ones, are often the choicest members of Christ. We appealed to all three of these sorts, and we said: I and you, where have you received grace? Were you brought to a stop in the course of your life? Or did you receive it from your youth? Or must you plant your foot among those who are very moderate in their sorrow and joy? You must seek the truth of the matter — I and you, we must obtain it in our lifetime, indeed we may not delay it. We say, we believe there are those sitting here who say: I do not have it under any of those three heads, or perhaps: I lack the new birth altogether — does not your downcast face show this? Does it not show it first of all? Your sighs, the tears that sometimes spring from your eyes?

We said last time that we would perhaps put some means into your hand, and show what you must do, if God grants us a fitting time; and that is now this. You will say, how do I come to that, to the new birth? To treat that well, we must show you this:

I. That God powerfully demands and requires the new birth of me and you. II. That along with this demand, he also employs very many ways and means to bring it home to our heart. III. That we, for our part, must and can use very many means toward it. IV. That we must guard against certain things.

First I say, God demands it of us, whether we have it or not. Then, God employs ways, on the spot here, to bring us to it. Then, God wants us also to use means. Finally, we must guard against certain things.

I. As for the first point: to show this matter to you clearly, we shall lead your thoughts along this path.

1. First, neither I nor any of you have it by nature; but we are by nature children of wrath, accursed; we do not have it, Ephesians 2:3. We live cut off from God; by nature we live without God, verse 12. We cannot by nature love God our whole life. Pay attention: we shall seek to bring you along by this line of reasoning, so that you will feel it.

2. Not only that, but we also contribute nothing toward it: it is a birth, and just as little as we have contributed to the forming of our body, to our natural birth, just as little do we contribute to the spiritual life. We contribute nothing to that act of re-creation; it is an almighty act of God, a creation, a making alive out of the dead, and a grafting of wild branches, contrary to nature, into the good olive tree. We do not have it by nature, and we contribute nothing to it.

3. But we also cannot do anything toward it — that is impossible: I say, we cannot bring ourselves to accomplish that act of God. 2 Corinthians 3:5: we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; nor do we even want to do it. Can a Moor change his skin? Can a branch bear fruit apart from the vine? Can a person who is an enemy of God submit himself to God? Can the natural man understand spiritual things? Can a blind man see? Can a dead man live? Can the lame walk, without an almighty work of God being wrought in them? Take note: we do not have it, we contribute nothing to it, we cannot bring ourselves to do it.

4. God demands it nonetheless. Ezekiel 18:31: Make yourselves a new heart. Ezekiel 33:11: Turn ye, turn ye. Ephesians 5:14: Arise from the dead. That is the clear will and command of God, and his demand, requiring it.

5. If you do not do it, says God the Lord, then I threaten you: I will punish you for it, you will perish, I will destroy you — how will you escape? Then you will be accursed, I will therefore cast you into hell for it; you neither can nor may do without it, or you will fall into hell for it.

There stands the sinner facing this: I do not have it, I contribute nothing to it, I cannot bring myself to do it, I must have it, God will punish me if I do not — and it is a work of God. How is this? To what end does God do this?

a. First, God does this because he wants to bring a person to conviction of the state from which he fell through sin. What a crown man had upon his head before he sinned! He was almost like the angels. Ecclesiastes 7:29: God made man upright.

b. I wanted to bring him to see this, says God: how have I come to such a state, that I who was like an angel have now become like a devil! The crown is fallen from our head; we have sinned against you, Lamentations 5:16.

c. God says: I wanted to bring you to shame, that you cannot serve me. If you cannot serve me, be ashamed, and blush with shame. Would you dare to speak of your inability without tears, embarrassment, and shame? I know those little evasions, that you play so with your inability throughout your life; I want to take that from you: be ashamed of it, like the prodigal son; I must eat, and I cannot, I do not have it — he had no excuse for his inability, no; but he was ashamed that he had squandered it all: I will arise, he said, and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son, Luke 15:18, 19. So then, do not toy any longer with your lips over your inability.

d. God does this so that you would say: your demand is just, I truly cannot — but shame must cover my face over that, and yours is the righteousness. Yes, God does it for this reason, that we should say: I would never in my life have seen that you would be righteous in casting me into hell, were it not for this: I could have done it, but I have willfully robbed myself of those gifts. Shall we, then, presume to claim that we have been robbed by God? Can a father say of a child whom he has raised well, and who is a rebel, I will bring you before the judge — and is that not taken as just? And shall God then not do so? So that you would say: I have never in my life seen as clearly as now that God has such a right to demand it of me, even though I am unable to do it.

e. Yes, God does this to take away all those vain excuses of your flesh: you would indeed turn the wisdom of God into foolishness; he does it to turn your wisdom into foolishness — that saying, I can do nothing toward it, well then let me just sit with my hands folded, and wait until God comes upon me: oh, be ashamed of such talk; what then have we to do with means? In the natural world you reason quite differently: if a person does not work, you say, he is a lazy man. God no longer works such miracles. Though it is my work, it does not go so exactly, says God, in the changing of a person, as it went in the changing of water into wine: the changing of a person proceeds according to the nature of the person; I address him, I convince him, I entreat him. Yes, man, said God, I do this to take away your vain excuses somewhat; I want to bind you to the use of the means. Consider those people in the Gospel who were healed — did they use no means? Well, is it then any wonder that God, in the changing of a person, also works through means — that God binds us to means?

So then, you will never in eternity be able to say against God, that it is unreasonable that he demands this of us; but you will have to sorrow instead.

II. What means does God now use? What are you doing, says God, that you will not serve me, will not forsake sin, and enter into a covenant with me? Should we not say, if it pleases the Lord, we are willing to serve him and forsake sin? Well then, what means does God use to bring a person to conversion? Pay attention to this: do you know what God has done?

1. First, God says: what pangs have I already given you in your conscience? You have a conscience within you — that was my means, while you lived in sin, of bringing you to God! Do you think that only the godly have that? No, the unconverted are burdened with it too. Romans 2:15: their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. How often has that conscience addressed you, so that you had all you could do to quiet it? You know it well. What accused Cain of his brother's murder? What drove the heart of Ahithophel so hard, over his treachery against his good king David, whom he had so oppressed? What made Judas so anguished, that he had betrayed his Master? What made Joseph's brothers cry out, now God requires the blood of our brother? What made the godless Felix tremble so? What made a Domitian crawl under a bed, when God showed him the thunder of his own guilty conscience?

2. Then, God let judgments come upon your house or land: it did not go as you wished. Then God has also followed this way, that he made you sick unto death, that you might awaken. Manasseh, said God, now you are in prison, will you not now awaken? Yes, prodigal son, now that you are without goods, will you not now awaken? You thief, there you hang now on the cross, with death on your lips — is it still not time to awaken? Ah yes, he said to his companion, do you not yet fear God? Luke 23:40.

3. God also, at times, overwhelms with blessings. All this I will give you, said God, if you will serve me, Deuteronomy 28. I have planted you on a fruitful hill, Isaiah 5:1. And he sometimes gives you no pangs unto death, Psalm 73:4. I do exceedingly well by you, said God, and will you then not fear me? I have not left myself without witness, in that I did good, and gave you from heaven, Acts 14:17. I have blessed you, and I have planted the tree on a fruitful hill: and will you not go to your house, and shut your chamber, and consider what I have already done for you? Have I ever done you any harm? Have I not led you in the riches of my lovingkindness, Romans 2:4?

4. God says: I set before you certain examples of the godless, that you might be converted from such sins — a Sodom, the first world, Korah, Dathan, Achan — whose sin was punished as a warning, that you should not have lust after their evil ways, 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11.

5. The way God took was that he set before your eyes certain godly examples. James 5 and Hebrews 12 — there you have the walk with God of an Enoch and a Noah, the strong faith of an Abraham, the meekness of a Moses, the patience of Job. God brought you to the humility and godliness that was in a David — those were all examples by which you might be drawn.

6. Once more, God says: have I not also kept this way with you, that I have set you under my Word and its ministry? Ah Lord, each text was like a battering-ram, like a hammer, to work upon our heart. Then, God says, I let this sermon be preached, then through this minister and then through that one, whom you have heard now and again in your life, who touched your heart so that you could not shake it off, so that you sometimes trembled over the terrifying things in the Word; I am a consuming fire, I am too strong for you, you dust, you chaff, you drop in the bucket, you dust on the scale — what will you do? You are so ill-armed against me; it shall be so fearful for you to fall into the hands of the living God, Hebrews 10:31. Over your sin, guilt, inability, misery, in which you are so fast bound, you are accursed. There I let my servants stand on Mount Ebal, to pronounce all the curses over you, if you do not convert; then I came with gentleness, and I say, fury is not in me, Isaiah 27:4, and I swear to you that I have no pleasure in your death, Ezekiel 33:11. There is a Mediator to save sinners who are in distress, and there is no sinner too great, none too old, none too vile, none too poor, who only finds sin a burden, who is distressed and brought low: come unto me, and you shall find rest, Matthew 11:28, 29. I stand there before you, and I let my servants plead with tears, and say, why will you die? Be reconciled to God, 2 Corinthians 5:20.

7. Finally, said God, have I not also, at times, kept this way, that I have startled you at night with dreams, showing you some of your own people, whom you thought were in heaven, or whom you thought were in hell? Then God at times lets the Judgment appear to you. You need not reckon that unscriptural: see Job 4:12-16. Do you think God cannot terrify a person in a dream, as he did Pilate's wife? This too was my way, said God: I gave you common gifts, you had some knowledge; you saw well enough what was best for you, to serve God, that rest lay there; you saw the way to heaven, that it was more reasonable than the way to hell. Then I often gave you frightening pangs in your mind, so that when you had come home, you had to fall on your knees and say: ah Lord, it cannot go on like this. Is that not true? Must you not say: yes Lord, such ways and more you have kept with me, that I might be converted, as though it truly mattered to you that I should serve you?

III. The third point: what must I now do, you will say; you have said that I can do nothing; and now we say, you can do much. Toward that almighty act of God you can do nothing; but you can nevertheless do much. What can you do, and what must you do? Listen, if this is done in earnest; but if it is only to hear it once, then you have not much to expect; but if it is done in earnest —

1. First, you may go and say before God: I am not yet changed. Let me hear it from your own mouth, says God, tell me the ground on which you conclude that; you say, ah Lord, I am not yet changed; what reason do you have to conclude that, says God? Lord, I lack it, and I have no desire for it at all, I do not long for it. Luther used to say, before his conversion, that he could not bear even to hear the word "conversion" spoken. Lord, they say, when my mind is on earthly things, then it is well with me. Lord, when I may indulge my desire, my sinful passions and lusts, then I am content, then I ask for nothing more. I do not like to be among the godly, where good things are spoken of; I would rather speak of something ordinary, or of sin, but not of God or of virtue: I would rather speak of indifferent things. And when I commit sin, then I am pleased with myself; when I walk after the lust of my eyes, and in the pride of this life, then I do not think much about you, or about being eternally happy. I occupy myself with those earthly thoughts, but seldom am I occupied with thinking about you, serving you, fearing you, and loving you; and if I still have some obedience toward you, it is only for my own interest; if my mouth should say, I fear God, I would like to go to heaven, my heart would say, you lie.

2. You may add to that: ah Lord, and I am not even disturbed or moved by that; it does not even touch me; and if I ever am moved by it, it wears off again just as quickly: if I set myself to convert, if I went to pray and read with my household — ah Lord, it felt so constraining to me, I broke it off with a sigh, and went back to my former life; I say, I would rather be lost than live so strictly here. Is that so? Tremble! What do you say? Must you not say: you are right?

3. You may add to that, saying: dear God, what a wretched creature I am! When I think of it, I am your enemy, I have provoked you; I see ruin and destruction coming from every side — you, Lord, and my own conscience, heaven and earth, will one day conspire together to make me sink; in what a pitiful state I am! The hairs of my flesh stand on end when I think of it! Could you not reason more sensibly, as you sometimes do when it comes to earthly things — ah, if I should become poor, if this or that should befall me, what would I do? Well then, consider this too: if I should die unconverted, my soul would have to go with the devil to hell. When you shall come with your soul before God, the whole countenance of the Judge will be there to terrify you; then it will be, ah Lord, now I must be condemned to eternal fire; then you will say, now hell is open before me, heaven shut; there you will stand crying out, now I am accursed forever, O God, whom I lack and must lack forever! There you will stand crying out over your pride and your lust, that they were such chains by which you were bound here; you will gnaw your own heart over it, and you will grant that your conscience is right, that it is an undying worm to you, gnawing there without rest.

4. You can also do this: say to God, I must be different, and I cannot, I cannot change myself; now it comes to this: I can no longer make excuse for my unconverted life, nor do I dare speak of it any more; I believe it myself; I will no longer, in my life, presume so much as though I could do everything; when I speak of it that way, it flies in my own face; I have willfully, willingly, and with pleasure robbed myself of that power; if I now speak of my inability, it only takes all the force out of the sermons, and I only excuse my laziness with it — I have made a false pretext out of my inability.

5. Do you know what you and I must do? Not a single day should pass, or reach its evening, without our saying: ah God, in short, am I eternally happy or unhappy, within a short time in hell or in heaven, at your right hand or your left, saved or condemned; what will come before us at the judgment will befall our soul already at death.

6. Lord, if you allowed the devil, who solicits my eternal ruin, to deal with me as he dealt with the Gadarene swine, he would plunge me into hell; if you allowed death, it would shoot its deadly arrow wherever it could strike. Consider that.

7. Lord, you will say, if I can do much, I am willing and will do much also. Yes, you can do much, says God: can you not, instead of going into sinful company, go into the company of the godly? Instead of walking about, go to church? Take an edifying tract in your hands, instead of reading a sinful book? Instead of a book of travels, history, or farce, can you not fill your memory with something substantial, as well as with vanity — you ought to fill it with substantial things. Could you not bend your knees and pray for once? Do you not have enough time in the whole day to pray for one moment? Are you so occupied with so many people that you cannot even speak with me once? May the Lord not once hear you speak? Do you not see where you are most often troubled and occupied? Do you go under such means, where the preaching is heartfelt, discerning, and searching? Have you seen to it that you come under the means? What wants to become wet must come under the rain; what wants to be changed must come under the means; when you are under the preaching, what glorious things you hear — both the sweet and the terrifying! You may not neglect that; you must come under the means: does God not open hearts there? Is not faith by hearing? Or will you cut yourself off, and altogether refuse me, says God? This you can do — never go from your house to the house of God without praying. Do you think a minister alone should do that? Say then, as you go to the means: Lord, I must still count myself as dead — might this be the little corner in your plan in which you will make me alive? Might this be the day of salvation and the hour of grace for me? Might the man now appointed be the means of my change? Might this text or this subject be the one preached, by which I would be drawn? For that God has promised, that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in the midst of them! Oh, might I be one of those who are drawn! Would you really think, if you went in this way, that God would not bless it? Then you must be so attentive, and with such eagerness to hear, as you formerly were eager to hear idle chatter and foolish talk and unseasoned speech. And then you must wait until God is gracious, and see whether there is nothing that touches you, whether you are not moved. If not yet, then complain of it, and say: ah Lord, are you still not pleased to look upon me, I wish I had some stirrings and convictions. If you receive them, then say: ah Lord, I thank you, it is not much yet, but go on with it nonetheless, work it through. If you were glad when you were once moved, go among the godly, so that you might be converted through their instruction or prayer: a cold coal must be brought near the burning coals, so that they may catch fire together; iron sharpens iron. What do you think — if you did so, would it not work? These are the things God requires; these you can and must do.

IV. Let us now guard against one or two things, and with that we shall conclude.

1. First, you must guard against delay: do not go round and round, do not shrink from the work — time runs on fast; no one can promise himself a single day of life; no one can promise himself that he will have his wits about him on his deathbed.

2. We must guard against dying on a mere guess, an idle hope and fancy, on a "perhaps I too will be saved": how terrible it will be when, in a single moment, all those soft plasters are torn away.

3. We must guard against raising quarrels against the Lord: oh it is so ugly when a child quarrels with its father or mother. What does a living soul complain of? Let a man complain for the punishment of his sins, Lamentations 3:39. See Romans 9:20, 21. Guard against saying, Lord, even if I use the means, what good will it do? You must do what God commands, even if you do not see the point of it. What a blessed outcome the children of Israel and Joshua had! They might have said, what good will it do to go around Jericho, and on the last day seven times — would it not have been better to storm the city with six hundred thousand men? But what a blessed outcome they had! Suppose Ezekiel had said, in chapter 37, what good will it do for me to prophesy over dry bones? They received life. Paul does nothing but cry: awake, you who sleep! Will I then certainly be converted? The promise is there, and the outcome is generally sure. You would not be wronged, even if you had to wait eighty years and still missed it — it would be just.

4. Guard against grieving the Spirit: do not resist him, as though you did not want to know it, once you are convicted; do not deny it or hide it. Is it too much for you? Would you wish it were gone? Do you say, I do not want to convert, and I cannot? Guard against such things. Do you say, I will just sit comfortably, I will not do anything toward it? There can be nothing heavier in hell than that. Ah, how often have you been convicted? Had you taken it to heart, you would easily have broken through and been delivered from hell.

There our subject rests; let us once run through it again: 1. God requires conversion. 2. He sets before us many ways and means toward it. 3. We ourselves have very much to do. 4. That which we must guard against. Another subject, in time to come. I hope that this will be blessed to us: Amen!

Sermon 24

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Imperfections. Love, which at times burns so hot in a person that many waters could not quench it, is at other times just as cold. Peter's love differed greatly from one time to another. At one time he said to the Lord, I will go with you unto death, and at another time he said to a servant girl, I do not know the man: what a great difference.

We find that faith too is imperfect; it is at times subject to great weaknesses. In Hebrews 11 we read, these all died in faith; through faith they quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions — yet at times it is also exceedingly weak, so much so that the Lord Jesus had to say, why have you no faith? Yes, so much so that he had to say to Thomas, be not faithless, but believing, John 20:27. Indeed, it happens that they grow slow to believe, and must cry out, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, Mark 9:24.

And as it goes with love and with faith, so it goes also with hope. There you will at times find them in hidden places wavering between hope and fear, their heart failing, so that they must say, my strength is perished, and my hope from the Lord, Lamentations 3:18. That they cannot bear; there they are put to shame, and are troubled that they had expected more than they should have. There you will at times find them not knowing which way to turn. There you will at times hear them say, I see that I have cleansed my heart in vain, Psalm 73:13. There they then lie like those dry bones of death of Ezekiel, chapter 37 — we are lost, they say, what shall we do, O Lord! And then the Lord does with them as with the travelers to Emmaus: when their hope was as good as dead, then the Lord came to them; then their heart began to burn; then, as it were, a new spirit came into them.

The Lord Jesus comes and shows to all his children the truth of this saying: the bruised reed, he says, shall I not break, and the smoking flax shall I not quench. Those who are so weak in faith, in hope, in love — he shall lift them up.

Beloved, as befits ministers, we would gladly follow after the Lord who has gone before us in this, in order that such a company might be helped along, while we here in this world live and have dealings with one another.

You once granted us, when we pressed you and said, Congregation, you must hope on the name of the Lord Jesus — you then said, then you must grant us that we open our difficulty to you: may anyone hope who has not passed from the state of nature into the state of grace? We said no. Then you said, must not those alone hope who have passed from the state of nature into the state of grace? We said yes. But when we had thus granted and clearly shown you that, then you said, what is nature, and what is the state of grace? Then we set those two states before you. Then you said, give us living and scriptural signs by which we might know whether we have passed from the state of nature into the state of grace. All this we have already done before the congregation, as your attentiveness knows. When we then took up the signs of the state of grace, you said this was the first: that one must know how he passed from the one state to the other; how he came over from the one state into the other; how, when, and on what occasion did you come over? You said that we well knew, when we said that, that we then struck two different kinds against the ground; but that someone who was changed in his time of years of discretion could say, oh yes, I know the occasion — then God opened my heart, then his Spirit crept into my heart! But there were two kinds: one in whom God had laid his image from youth, alongside the image of the devil. We said, if anyone wished to know this from such persons, that they did wrong: they torment themselves. Then there was a second kind, one who had been brought up honestly, who lived a godly life, and under the most earnest means, and of a gentle temper, who knew nothing of any fright or change of condition — of you we could not know it either. Then there was among the number a kind who said, is there not a word for us, we still lack the change? All that we have already treated.

Now we have to consider the second sign, and do you know what that is? To live on grace and by grace becomes so costly and precious that they set such a value on it that to depart from that free grace of God — when someone comes from the state of nature into the state of grace, grace becomes to him exceedingly precious; I come in on no other terms, he says. Nature has as little capacity to value grace as a child has capacity to value pearls and jewels; but the graced value grace. This we shall also do: first lay grace open before you; then show you how such people regard it; then how they examine it, whether they have a great or small portion in it; then how they esteem grace above all that is in the world; and then we shall let that weak little creature cry out and say, what do you say? may you not now hope on the name of the Lord Jesus? I say then:

I. We shall set grace in its splendor before you. II. Show how the soul stands disposed regarding that splendor. III. See her say, oh I have hoped so much of this, but do I have a share in it? IV. Finally, how they esteem and value that grace above all things.

1. Consider then: grace! You cannot hear of it without its making an impression on you, that it is a thing given for nothing, beyond all worth: there was a grace with God concerning sinful man in eternity; there is a grace in time; a grace on the deathbed; and there is a grace when time has finished serving us. Consider carefully.

There is a grace of God in eternity; that is that favorable disposition in God toward a poor creature, to do it good for nothing. Ephesians 2:8, By grace are you saved. There is an eternal grace, a grace given us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages, 2 Timothy 1:9. There is an everlasting love, Jeremiah 31:3. God said to Moses, Exodus 33:19, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. There is nothing in man that could contribute anything to the eternal favorable disposition in God: be it known to you, O man, says God, I do not do it for your sake, Ezekiel 36:32. What are you obliged to thank the Lord for, that he wrote your name in the book of life? What was there in you, why God gave you to his Son, and entered into a covenant with the Son in the counsel of the Father's peace, and the Son undertook to save you, and the Spirit undertook to work in your heart, and to apply to you in time all that God the Father and the Son have for you? It is all grace flowing from that eternal love. What are all the gifts of grace bestowed in the hour of grace on such a one who is comprehended in that eternal love? They are imparted to them, so that grace might be praised. Romans 11:29, The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Philippians 1:29, It is given of grace. Psalm 84:13 (LXXXIV), He gives grace.

What grace does God give them in time? This, that according to his eternal purpose and grace, he not only chooses them but powerfully calls them: how do you live so in the world, says God, stand still a little while, hearken, listen, incline your ears. 2 Timothy 1:9, God has called me according to his eternal purpose and grace. In that calling they begin to feel the change of their heart; I am not, they say, as I was before. There they stand in hidden places astonished at that gift of God: God, they say, has begotten me again according to his great mercy, and through his great grace, 1 Peter 1:3. I am no longer the same. Then they received that grace, true faith, that precious gift: it is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8. Then they receive that grace, that free word of God: I forgive it you altogether for nothing, says God, without the works of the law. Then they receive that grace, that God says, I will sprinkle water upon you, I wash it all away, now you become servants of God. 1 Corinthians 6:10 — such were some of you, proud, thieves, extortioners — but you are washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Then they receive that gift of grace of adoption: they are by grace received as children of God, Ephesians 1:5. Then God says, I will keep you by my power, 1 Peter 1:5. I will lead you, comfort you, cause you to enjoy grace for grace, says God.

That grace in time is now followed with grace on the deathbed. There we must all come at last, there we shall each one day lie. What grace shall God's children receive on the deathbed? There heaven at times descends more into their heart than hell, more the promise of the gospel than the sense of damnation; they are free of everything, they have no bonds, their affairs are ready for eternity. Then, they say, I was convinced; then broken through; then I was made to believe; then I began to serve God in uprightness; oh, I now have a certain and earnest expectation that my affairs shall have a good outcome. 2 Corinthians 5, Philippians 1. You will say, on the sickbed and deathbed heaven does not always descend into the heart: it does happen indeed that they lie and sweat and weep from anguish. That I well know, but then they lie with the grace of Hezekiah, Isaiah 38. He turned his face to the wall, and chattered like a swallow, and mourned like a dove, and wept, and what was it he said then? Lord, remember that I have nevertheless been upright, as far as I know, and you know it too. Had he then not been sinful? Oh yes. What then was it? Lord, be my surety.

Then, when time shall have finished serving, and their eyes shall be closed, what grace shall they then receive? In that very moment all their pains and all their darkness fall away from them, and all that so pinched them, all their cross: I am rid of all my burdens, they will say, that I carried on my back and in my heart; I see God in his favor; I enjoy him in his love; now I am near to God and Christ; roomy, glorious, joyful. Then they receive grace in the reuniting: there those two friends, soul and body, come together before God; that bond shall then never be broken; there they shall be glad, glorious, spiritual, acquitted before angels and men. There they enter in before the Triune God, among the great multitude of all the angels and the elect; there being, they shall refresh their hearts in wisdom, in gladness and holiness. There they shall eternally cry out, by the grace of God I am what I am. Through the eternal grace and appointment of God they received temporal grace, and that abides even to their deathbed, and ends in the grace of glory: temporal grace and the grace on the deathbed are the pathways to eternal grace. Romans 6:23, The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

See, these are the graces — it is all without any worth of our own; it is set against works, against guilt, boasting is here excluded, Romans 3 and 4. These graces come upon them for another's sake; they do not come upon them because they have deserved them; it is beyond all worth: if in a single day's labor you received a king's crown or throne, would that be deserved? That God brings us into heaven for so lame a service — is that deserved? 2 Chronicles 30:18, 19, You that are good, make atonement for the unholiness of holy things. It is against all worth: we are worth nothing but chaff and stubble; when we have done all that we are bound to do, we are still unprofitable servants, Luke 17:10. There you have grace.

II. Now there comes such a soul, one who has been carried over from nature into the state of grace; she beholds that splendor, and stands still awhile before it.

1. Lord, she says, how amazed have the angels been at this? Yes, the Savior himself, John 3:16. And Psalm 139:17, How great is the sum of them! the knowledge is too high for me, I cannot attain unto it. Ephesians 3:18, There are heights, depths, and lengths in it. 1 Corinthians 2:9, Eye has not seen it. One is, as it were, ravished by it. Does not such a soul then still stand before it?

2. Then those jewels, she says, may I not miss a single one of them — I lack them so by nature, I may not miss a single one, most beloved Lord. Though someone were poor and in torn clothing, yet with that grace in his heart he is better off than a rich man in splendid attire. That one may see clearly in Lazarus and the rich man.

3. Says one, Lord, that grace is so rare, one will find but few who possess it, it is nothing common. Proverbs 12:26, The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor. It is better to be grieved here for the sake of possessing it than to be without it.

4. They see it thus too, that this grace is full of honor and renown. What a splendor it brings upon its possessor! They become the glorious ones in the land, Psalm 16:3. They become lights in the land, in a crooked and perverse generation, Philippians 2:15. They are as the sun and as the moon, according to the measure of the Word. Even if it were a servant or maid who had that grace, an ungodly master or mistress would have to do violence to their own soul if they had no respect for it.

5. They regard that grace as something most delightfully pleasant, and a joy to the soul. Lord, Lord, they say, I am so well content with it; it goes so well with me then when I have it; I have the best of the world; Levi's portion is mine; the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, Psalm 16:6.

6. That grace, they say, is so useful to me, it is such a happiness and blessing to me, there is such great gain in it. I was blessed when I was born, because I was made subject to that eternal grace. I am blessed in cross, in prosperity, in my worship of God, I am blessed in everything to which I set my hand. I shall be blessed in my death, in eternity I shall be blessed.

Why do they regard that grace so? Not only for the things that are contained in it, but because, in possessing grace, they possess and have a part in the Triune God. What was grace from eternity, what was grace in time, and what was grace after time, if it did not bring them into fellowship with the Triune God, into the tasting or savoring that God is good? No creatures or gifts can fill the soul, nothing can fill the endless desires of the soul but the enjoyment of God. If there were no God, what would all grace and gifts be? What is the world, and the creature — even were it without sin — if it does not bring us to God? What is all grace, says the soul, if God is not enjoyed in it? What will you give me, Lord, she says, if you withhold yourself from me? Therefore God said to Abraham, I am your shield, your exceeding great reward, Genesis 15:1. They are not content with all that is in the world: it cannot refresh me, they say, unless you give yourself to me, Lord. Their only delightful pleasure is in this, that they shall one day live eternally with God. To have God as one's God — that includes more than all the angels and all creatures can comprehend. What does it include? This: to have God as one's God is to have a part in reconciliation with God, and to have a part in the Triune God, in each Person in particular in the work of grace; it is to have a part in all the perfections of God, and in all the goods of the covenant of grace, in the whole providence of God and his entire government, and to have such access, an open way to God, that when you are full to the throat, you may pray, cry, complain, tell God all your needs; and a share in all the good that God has promised; to be able to say to the flames, do me no harm, stand not against me, with this God, our God, I will hold fast — take your hands off me, he will guide me even beyond death. What think you — is that not worth holding that jewel to be precious and beautiful?

III. Now you will think in your heart, glorious and beautiful grace; but a weak one will say, oh that I were a partaker of it! If I possessed it, my soul would not so droop with sorrow, I would then hope on grace: my heart nevertheless goes out to it so; but are you able to give me any clear signs by which I might know whether I have found grace in the Lord's eyes, whether I have any part in that grace, great or small? Oh yes, according to the Word we can say who has a part in it.

1. In the first place, have you gone seeking grace along the way that God has appointed for it? Have you received it along the way of tears? Sweat sometimes runs down the body: a sinner who does not possess it in truth comes by it so easily; but one who possesses true grace does not come by it so easily — it costs him fear, tears, convictions, wrestlings, it is all in turmoil for him. What fear and sweat it costs him!

2. Where that grace has come, you will not always find them in one frame: now sad, now glad, now dark, now light, now discouraged, now well of heart — the one time differs so much from the other; but where there is no true grace they are always the same; they differ as much from a truly graced person as a living man from a dead one; an ungraced person is always the same; but they are now cold, now hot, now hungry, now thirsty, now as if satisfied, now sick, now well.

3. Where grace is, they become so tender: shall I now go sin against such a God, they say, against so much love? Have you shown me grace so that I would sin? Oh no, they say, and they become so tender. Oh what shall I do, sin, that evil — I would rather take hold of myself over it; you hide your face over it. It distresses my spirit, I dare not then pray, it takes away all my confidence, it takes all courage from my heart; if I have so sinned, then I give my enemy the devil a weapon in his hand, to fight against me.

4. Let it go as it will, grace remains esteemed by me: though I were scattered, and however much contended against.

5. Oh, they say, I am not to be put off with a small measure, I press on toward growth. 2 Peter 1:2, Grace must be multiplied.

6. Lord, Lord, how precious is grace to me!

IV. Now our fourth and last point: by what is it known that grace is so precious? Consider this, from the following:

1. First, if grace holds the highest price with you, then you will find that God will one day bring you before him who is the ocean, the sea, to the unsearchable riches of God's grace: that God will make you behold with attentiveness and stillness, that there are two in one bed, the one received and the other left; twins in one mother's womb, Esau and Jacob, children of one birth, the one loved and the other hated; two thieves on one cross-bed, the one received, the other left. What think you of that, says God? Oh Lord, they say, it is holy. But, says the Lord, if I came once into your house, and took the wife and not the husband, the child and not the father, your neighbor and not you, what would you say then? You say, I would be silent; what would I say, if he has mercy on whom he will? Though he passed me by, I would have to lay my hand upon my mouth.

2. Then God comes, and says, how do you feel now, can you let that go so coolly? Oh Lord, no, they say, I testify before you, knowing it, that nothing would be more precious to me than to be a subject and object of your grace: nothing would be more beautiful to me, more desirable, better; that is what I am sick for; then I would count myself the richest person in the world, if I were a partaker of your favor.

3. Says God, when you make such professions, are you then indeed worthy that I should give you grace? Oh no, she says, I am so small and so little; Lord, what am I, a dead dog? On account of my corrupt nature and deeds I deserve the opposite. What would there be in me that you should look on me? Why should the king take pleasure in me? I am far too small for it. Judge whether you know that.

4. You say, I cannot go away, I remain with you, and lie down at your feet, until you determine what I am; I will remain under the use of the means, and separate myself from the world, and hide myself among the pious, and ask at times, how did it go with you when you received grace, and seek so to learn it from them.

5. Yet once more, they cannot make one prayer without grace taking precedence in it; that comes at the beginning, in the middle, at the end; that is the first thing they wrestle for. The first known wrestler for it in the Bible is Job, chapter 9:15, I will make supplication to my judge for grace; and since then the others have followed: according to the blessing that the priests had to pronounce, The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you, Numbers 6:25. With Paul it was at the beginning and at the close of all his letters, grace and peace be with you. And likewise at the close of the Bible, Revelation 22:21, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen! All the godly, in their life and in their dying, it is all for grace that they wrestle. When they come to die, you will generally find these three or four things in them: a. What was I by nature, how unworthy was I of grace! b. But when and how did grace begin in me? c. How did I come to piety, how did I come to the Lord Jesus? d. None of them goes to die but it is, ah Lord, blot out my transgressions.

6. Do you know who else so esteems grace? No thoughts can come into their heart more grievous than to think that they should have no grace in their heart, according to Isaiah 27:11, He that made it will show it no favor, and he that formed it will show it no grace. Though all the earth were paper, and all the blades of grass pens, and all the waters ink, and all the grains of sand scribes, it would not be enough to describe my misfortune, they say — and when they can think that they do possess it, then they sometimes burst out in the praise of God, and say with Paul, giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, Colossians 1:12.

Come now, weak reeds, does it not go so? Must you not say, I know much of this? Do you not know it all already? You say, no — do you nevertheless not know enough to hope on the name of the Lord Jesus, and so to go forth relying on the grace of God in Christ, and to draw from grace in time a conclusion about grace in eternity, and beyond, unto after eternity? We shall take up another sign hereafter. Amen!

Sermon 25

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein is treated the third mark of the state of grace, which is: that all who have passed from nature into the state of grace have been made known to themselves.

We read 2 Corinthians 13:13, that Paul says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen! It is a short prayer, it is a powerful prayer, it is a beautiful prayer, it is a necessary prayer, it is a prayer that comes nearest of all to that most perfect prayer. That wish of Paul's came not only nearest to that blessing which God willed should be pronounced by the priests over the people, Numbers 6:24–26, but it came also nearest to the prayer that the Lord Jesus taught his children, Matthew 6 and Luke 11. Oh, said Paul, I foresee that you will not enjoy much love in the world, I wish you the love of God, and a great place in the heart of God. I foresee that you will not have much fellowship with one another, I wish you the communion of God the Holy Spirit, that he may have much fellowship with you. I foresee that in the world you will have little but poverty and contempt in your dealings with men, and therefore I wish you all the grace that God gives in the Lord Jesus; what more may I say? I wish you all that fullness, out of which you may receive grace for grace, John 1:16.

Grace is great and precious. Zechariah 12:10, says God, that he would pour out the Spirit of grace and of supplications. If the Lord would give something great, then he says to a man, as he said to Moses, you have found grace in my eyes, Exodus 33:12. It is heavy indeed when the grace of God is refused. Isaiah 27:11 stands a fearful text: God, who has made it, will not have mercy on it, and he that formed it will show it no grace. There he also names one Loruchama, the not-pitied, Hosea 1:6. Does anyone possess grace, he possesses something great; does he lack it, how bleak that is!

When a minister has a heart for his people, he must often lift up his heart to God, and wish them grace, favor, and the love of God. So did Paul; he opened not his mouth, and took up his pen, but when he had set it on paper, he would not lay it down, but it was, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Besides that, as soon as a man begins to know grace, he himself begins to thirst for it; he cannot then leave it to the prayer of a minister alone: I testify to you, Lord, he says, that you could give me nothing dearer and more pleasing than your favor; that is what I am sick for. Luke 18, Psalm 51 — that thing they value: create in me a new heart; I cannot be at rest, if I do not know whether I have found grace in your eyes; beloved God, I cannot rest, the whole day, if I do not know it: on that I will set my heart, I am curious about nothing else so much, or long for nothing else so much. Can I not receive the kisses of your mouth? Will you not bring it to clarity, by the testimony of your Spirit to my heart? Let me but once taste the certainty of my salvation through your grace. Then they become diligent to search in the Bible, what scriptural marks there are of grace, of which God's own mouth speaks. They can have no single day pass without this welling up in their heart, that which Moses said with his mouth: Lord, you say that I have found grace in your eyes, but by what shall I know it? Have you then not enough in God's own saying, Moses? No, Lord, he said, give me some token of it, Exodus 33:12, 13.

Beloved, two weeks ago we spoke of that good and glorious grace, how they esteem it: then we sought to bring those bruised little reeds to hope. They said, may those hope who have not passed from the state of nature into the state of grace? We said, no. Then you said, give me then some scriptural signs, by which I might come to see whether I have passed from nature into the state of grace? We have given you two scriptural proofs, and today we are here to give you the third. We said in the first sign, no one can be brought from nature to the state of grace except through the change of his heart. In the second, no one can have passed from nature into the state of grace unless grace is very highly esteemed by him; that is not to be expressed, how it is esteemed by him; it is the best thing in his eyes. Now the third sign is: no one comes from nature to the state of grace, unless God makes such a creature known to himself,

known to himself: the one child of God may receive greater grace than another, the one may come to grace in a pleasant way and the other in a shocking way, but this third sign is a general sign, which they must all have; no one is ever brought to grace except one who is made known to himself; whether someone is led pleasantly or harshly, that is general: all who receive grace are made known to themselves, otherwise it is impossible; we shall never go to the Lord, if we have not been made known and discovered to ourselves; we would never otherwise go to God; but as soon as one begins to look toward God and toward the Lord Jesus, that is a sign that one is being discovered to himself; a man must first be made to see, before he will cry out, is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Bring this now to what we must treat: we shall do it thus:

I. We shall show you that all who receive grace from God are made known to themselves. II. What God does, when he makes a man known to himself. III. What workings they then feel within themselves. IV. Then we shall bring those thus discovered to themselves before our text, and say, may you not now hope on the name of the Lord Jesus?

These then are our four points: First, there is no one to whom God gives grace, but he is made known to himself. Then, what God then does. Then, what workings has such a one over that? Then, such bruised reeds the Lord will not break; they must go to him.

I. As to the first: no one can come to grace, without being discovered to himself.

1. First, there it lies plainly commanded, from which I exempt no one, says God. Jeremiah 3:13, Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God. Jeremiah 2:23, See your way in the valley, know what you have done. From that the Lord releases no one, neither king nor beggar, neither minister nor member: that is my command and charge, he says, from which I will never depart.

2. Therefore no one can otherwise come to grace than along that way of being discovered to himself, because God in his whole Word describes and reveals the lost condition of a ruined creature: the whole Bible is well-nigh filled with this, what a hateful and loathsome creature man is. To give one place out of many, see Ezekiel 16:1–16: your father is an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite; you were as a castaway child in your blood; there you lay trampled upon in the field, no eye had pity on you. We are indeed something fine: what ugly people we are by nature!

3. Besides that, God takes it very much amiss, when one does not know himself. Revelation 3:17, You know not that you are wretched, poor, miserable, blind, and naked, and lacking in everything. 2 Corinthians 13:5, Know you not your own selves? What sort of man must you be, that you are so much a stranger to yourself, says Paul.

4. Add to that the compassion the Lord Jesus has shown. The Savior, Luke 19:42, stands there with tears on his cheeks over Jerusalem: oh that you also had known, even in this your day, the things that belong to your peace! but now they are hidden from your eyes! John 9:41, Oh that you were blind, but now you say, we see, so your sin remains, and you shall die in your sins. And Psalm 81:14 (LXXXI), God says, oh that this people had hearkened unto me, and had a heart to know themselves and me! Deuteronomy 5:29, Oh that they had such a heart, to fear me, and to keep all my commandments always!

5. The entire ministry of the living God goes hand in hand with this; the work of the Spirit is directed to this, to discover a man to himself. John 16:8, 9, the Spirit, when he shall come, shall convince the world of sin: and when he comes, he comes as a light in the heart; whatsoever makes manifest is light, Ephesians 5:13. The Spirit causes a man to go looking at himself: and what does the Spirit then say? What may I concern myself so with things outside, let me end in myself. Galatians 6:4, Let every man prove his own work, looking to himself. The Word says, set up a tribunal within yourself: how were you in that sermon? and how in that, did you notice it concerning yourself or not?

6. Finally, there is none whom God brings to grace, but he discovers them to themselves; from Adam onward God has kept to that method through all the ages, and so it shall remain to the last day of the world: then God will once more make the ungodly known to themselves, and then he will condemn them to eternal fire. Does a Manasseh come to grace? God brings him to himself: what a monster am I, he said, how he wept! 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13. See the prodigal son, Luke 15, the tax collector, Luke 18, those three thousand souls, Acts 2, and the jailer, Acts 16. There comes not one in the Bible of those who came to grace, but they acknowledge this. Jeremiah 31:19, After I was converted, I was made known to myself, and I repented, and I smote upon my thigh. God does with us to change us just as he did

with Nebuchadnezzar: at the end of seven years I came to myself, he says, and my understanding returned to me, Daniel 4:34. When God has changed a man, he can say, I remember what I once was, and what I am now; what I once was, and have now become, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians 5:8, 1 Timothy 1:12–14. What was I formerly, said Paul? Naomi once returned empty; she thought of her former and her present condition. Job was formerly in a paradise of honor, and afterward sat on a heap of misery: he remembered what he had been formerly and what he was now. The cupbearer, Genesis 41:9, I do remember my faults this day. So it is too: no one comes to grace, but he is brought to the knowledge of himself. Now you see the first point clearly: there is no one who has come from the state of nature to the state of grace, but God brings him to himself.

II. Now follows the second: what does God do, or how does that come about, what befalls such a man, who is brought to himself? Consider this:

1. God the Lord, working through his Spirit, brings him before his own eyes: you have not always been so, when they then come to look at themselves — oh no, Lord, they say. And what then, says God, how were you? What a crown I had upon my head! What a light I had in my understanding! A holiness in my heart! An ornament in my walk! I was so upright, when you made me; I lived in peace with you; in my head I conversed so familiarly with you; whatever there was, I had a rightful claim to it; I was like a morning star, like a son of the dawn; I could praise and extol God; had I stood firm, I would have had no death to fear, no sickness within, no evil; I lived in such familiarity, gladness, and joy.

2. Then God comes, and says, that you find no more: oh no, Lord, they say. Are you then changed, says God? Ah yes, Lord, they say, from better to worse: my God, how that weighs on my heart, that I have dealt so shamefully, so willfully, so unreasonably, so ungratefully toward you! God in heaven, I have now lost your image, I have lost the blessing, life, and everything; I have come to the utmost poverty, how foolish and unwise have I become! That I now see. Should I repay God so for his great goodness? Then I could once mock and despise God, that he had comprehended me in such a headship, and say, our fathers have eaten sour grapes, and our teeth are set on edge! Ezekiel 18:2. Did I not say it, I thought it. Then I could once say, why has God made me thus? Romans 9:20.

3. Then God says, how are you now by nature? Oh God! I am now earthly, natural, devilish; now I have the nature of a generation of vipers; I am now by nature a hater of God and an enemy of God, a rebel against you; I tremble before you; I cannot think of you; I labor to put you out of my thoughts, and to put something else in their place, so that nothing of you might enter: sin is exceedingly sinful in me, and nothing good dwells in me; I am like a Moor. Are you not to me as the children of the Moors, says God, Amos 9:7.

4. Yes, being so in nature, how are you now in your outworking, says God? That is so dreadful, it is after that nature: unwise, erring, living in manifold lusts; unfit for every good work, indeed incapable of any good; dead in sins and trespasses, powerless, unwilling, an enemy of God. Nature is made manifest through all its deeds; they run against God with their thick and high-raised shields, Job 15:26. In their thoughts, in their doing, in their will, in their aims, in everything, they must say, I show the aversion I have toward you: for the carnal mind is enmity against God, Romans 8:7. I am wise to do evil, but to do good I know not, Jeremiah 4:22. And then I am glad, when I have done evil, Proverbs 21:14. I set my honor and glory in my shame, Philippians 3:19. Ah Lord, when you have struck me, then I cannot bear it; when you visited me with sickness, what went on in my heart? I would have cursed God, and said, the way of the Lord is not equal, Ezekiel 18:25. Did you strike me, I felt no pain, I humbled myself not, Jeremiah 5:3. Did you spare me, I ran riot under it; the creatures groaned against me over the misuse. Did you write me your law, I said, that is unbearable, must I live so strictly, with such patience, then I would rather be lost. Did you come with the gentle gospel, I misused it; I wanted to make it right with grace and with faith, even while serving the devil; Lord, I turned my neck to you; I grieved your Spirit: what Spirit, I said? I want no Spirit, let that stay out of my heart, it makes me so uneasy; and when I came under distress, oh, I said, I want no Savior, I have no need of him, I have virtue and righteousness enough, I am fine enough as I am, I can still do without serving God.

5. When God then asks them, whose then are you? I must say it plainly, they say, the devil is my father, my God, whom I choose, my king, my lord, 2 Corinthians 4:4. He works powerfully in them, Ephesians 2:2. I stood under his power, and I was well content with it, Colossians 1:13. I shudder, Lord, when I begin to look at myself; I loved the world so; I kept company with my likes; I followed the multitude on the broad paths, along the ways of death and of ruin I went with the crowds; though you said, be not conformed to this world, or you shall miss my mercy, Romans 12:2 — I asked not after it, and it went on its own way; I walked after the course of this world, and I loved it, Ephesians 2:2. When you said, if you love the world so, I will be your enemy, I asked nothing after that, James 4:4.

6. Once more, if I would speak my heart out plainly, I did not gladly keep company with the pious! I had no taste for it, I preferred to be among the ungodly; in their assembly, in their tents and company I was to be found; had I been able, I would have promoted them, because they were ungodly. Besides that whole aversion I had toward the godly, if I once had to come where they were, I shrank from it; if they had to come where I was, I trembled at it; I hated them, I slandered them, I backbit them, I said, they are troublemakers, plagues, zealots.

7. Then says the Lord, go further still, how did you feel when someone was converted? That was one whom I mocked and pursued; was there one whom I could make waver, I would have moved heaven and earth to stop him; I myself would not go in, and I hindered others; I drew my heart even from my own child, and from my dearest friend, when God began to discover them to themselves: if anyone wanted to tell me what God does, when he discovers a man to himself, then I was dreadfully angry, I could not bear it, then I could hardly come to a standstill. Did you not then take it in, says God, when that was said? Oh no, I was full of great presumption and assurance; I shall surely come to heaven, I said, as well as any other, careless and sure of myself.

8. What does God then do? Then he sends a scroll flying after them with sighs and weeping; such a great, long, broad scroll, as Zechariah 5:2, cubits long, full of sighing and weeping, Ezekiel 2:10, and full of lamentations. It was as though someone walked beside them, who continually said, you are cursed in all that you do; it was as if someone walked beside them, who said, it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment, Hebrews 9:27. His life is as a flower of the field, Psalm 103:15. Do you see, how God brings death near you, you become sick, weak, blind, deaf; it was as if someone walked beside them, and spoke out all the thunders of the gospel: how shall you escape, if you neglect so great salvation, Hebrews 2:3. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you, Matthew 11:22. The men of Nineveh shall rise up against you, Luke 11:32. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed, Maranatha, 1 Corinthians 16:22. Do you not believe in him, God's wrath is and remains upon you, John 3:36.

9. Now, how were you in your convictions? Have my Word and Spirit not indeed touched your conscience? Yes, Lord!

Lord! How merrily did you live then? What pangs and stirrings did you feel? What did you do about them? I did not want to know them; I smothered them; I was angry, when someone spoke of them; I was even angry that I was so weak, that I let myself be moved in my anguish; I would have gone to people of an erring religion, to be plastered over with false lime; I took up this or that, to divert myself.

10. In the beginning, says the Lord, when grace began in you, how were you then? Lord, I did not believe it, and I did not want to believe it; I threw it to the wind against you; I was quarrelsome, disputatious; I said, that shall never happen to me. And when it came so far, that you said, I dare no longer deny it, but I dare not confess it either, I lean more toward denying it, how were you then? What shall yet become of me, I said, it shall not go well with my life. Why? I am far too great a sinner, and God is so holy, and I have fallen so far, and gone back so far; I used at times to have such sweet stirrings, peace, tenderness; I was at times so touched in my praying, and also at times under another's prayer; I was well affected under a sermon, but I have gone backward; I have grieved the Spirit; many pangs of my conscience I have resisted; I had at times a good intention, but nothing came of it; but how ungodly and hellish have I now become!

11. And do they come so far as to conclude that they have grace, what does God then still discover in them! Then they say, what still is lacking in me! What crooked ways are there still in me! What sins! Whether I pray, or weep to crucify my flesh with its affections, how much uncrucified flesh is there still, and how many corruptions are still in me, that are not yet put to death? Wretched man that I am! When I would do good, evil is present with me: the good that I would, I do not; I am worthless, no good dwells in me, Romans 7:18–24. When I consider myself, from head to foot, there is nothing but wounds and festering sores: if I would speak it out plainly, what stirrings and thoughts are there in me! Could that consist with grace?

See, thus they regard themselves in their original state, in their sin into which they have fallen; there they justify God in it, and condemn themselves; then they consider themselves in their godless nature, and in its outworking; in their convictions, and in the beginnings of grace, and then, when they would go on to conclude that they have grace.

III. Now our third point: how is such a soul then disposed over this — that is the great grace by which it shall appear that she has truly been discovered.

1. First she says, my God, I confess that I am so; before this I did not want to know it, I could have killed anyone who told me that I was so; but now I must say, I, I am that poor unbearable creature; I draw out my hand leprous, when I put it in my bosom, so abominable am I; indeed I need not go seeking it among the Indians, Turks, or barbarians, but I am found to be so myself.

2. Ah God, how fearful it falls upon me! it presses my spirit, how fearful it falls upon me! I am in the utmost need and anguish, and distress: no one can help me, nor can I help myself, I and everyone am at a loss to save me; if you do not stretch out your hand to help, then I must be lost forever, and I am a ruined man or woman; if your hand does not help me, and does not come between, then I have no help to expect, and then I am a lost and ruined creature, and I may well make myself ready to go to hell; I am indeed so close to it, yet the hairs of my flesh stand on end, when I think of being lost, and yet there is nothing in me but what would stir up your wrath!

3. How wonderfully great is your patience in the world toward me, in bearing so with me, who have been such a transgressor from the womb and from the cradle! If there is a miracle, this is it, that you have borne with me so long: well, what patience is this! Such a vessel you bear, and that with such great patience! How you bear the vessels of wrath! Romans 9:22. Have you borne with me having such a nature, in the church, in the street, everywhere, so ungodly a person — that is as a wonder in my eyes!

4. Then God gives them these workings: they can no longer bear it, it must all come out, whatever is in their heart; though they stood among a thousand, they would not be ashamed to weep, and to condemn themselves; it is within your knowledge, Lord, they say, that I have been so ungodly, and within my own too. There they begin to lament and to weep; they go out of the world, not without bewailing their sins. David was on his bed in tears; they are so glad when they have this, this creature does not resent it: when God once says, is it not against your breast? oh no, Lord, they say, it is to me so worthy a condition: the weaker that I am, the dearer that I have it. Then they are in distress, whether what works in them is indeed truth, whether it will not vanish, whether they shall yet come to such certainty.

5. They come crawling like a little worm on their belly before God, and they say, enter not into judgment with me, Psalm 143:2. And condemn me not, Job 10:2. And chasten me not in your wrath, Psalm 6:2 (VI). Should it please you to do so, it would be righteous, and I shall not have a single word to say, even if I must rise from my knees and go away; but should it please you to reach out to me the scepter of your grace, I shall bring you eternal praise and thanks for it, I will not be silent, but will proclaim it. Then she says, Lord Jesus, when I see you, my heart opens: what God cannot do in himself, he can do in the Mediator; what I cannot do, you can do, Lord Jesus. Then she flees to him and casts herself upon him: shall I remain by myself, she says, I would die; I come to you.

IV. Now our fourth point: will you turn from Jesus, and not hope on his name, what then will you do? Then it is over, then you have no peace to expect for your life. She must go to him, lay hold upon the promises; would you stay away from God's Son? God the Father gives him to you, so that you might come to him; he will not cast you out, however bruised. Have you ever in your life seen one die, who came to him, without being helped? Then God says, have I not stretched out my hand to the small ones? Has my Son not satisfied for all things on your behalf? Is not the whole ministry directed to that, to bring you to my Son? Now the Lord Jesus comes, and says, I am anointed and sent to seek such lost ones: will you not hope on me, who then shall do it? Hope perfectly for the grace, 1 Peter 1:13. So does Christ show that it is true, that bruised little reeds are not broken.

You see now, that no one comes to grace unless God discovers him. We have also shown you what God then does, how he lays open your whole conduct, what you have been before the fall, in the state of nature, outside of grace, in conviction, in grace: what remaining faults there still are, even as God's Spirit is at work in them. And then, now I wait that you shall hope on me: would you not trust in me, you would be lost forever, but if you hope on me, you shall be saved. Now, in what follows, another sign. I hope that the Lord will bless what has been spoken, to his glory, for his Son's sake: Amen.

Sermon 26

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein, concerning the fourth mark of the state of grace, the true spiritual convictions, it is so treated that in it is shown: I. That the true spiritual convictions are a firm mark of the state of grace.

We read Psalm 35:3, that there is a man who, as it were, lies on his knees and beseeches God, and in all earnestness of his soul says, say unto my soul, I am your salvation.

How set is a godly person on the assurance of his state! How they pray and wrestle for it! How often will you find them on their knees with that word of David in their mouth, make me to know the certainty of my salvation, Psalm 51. How often will you find them with that word of the bride, kiss me with the kisses of your mouth, Song of Songs 1:2. And when they obtain it, how glad and content they are! How well it then goes with them! That is then one of the thriving souls: then it is, I found him whom my soul loves, I held him, I would not let him go, Song of Songs 3:4. Then she not only kisses him with the kisses of his mouth, but then it is, the king has brought me into his chambers, Song of Songs 1:4. He brings me to the banqueting house, Song of Songs 2:4. And there he speaks after my own heart, as it were, so high above me.

You will say, are there such people? Yes, there are, and such must be dealt with: but that is not the only kind. There are also beginners, young little children in grace, who must also have their little portion and share. Those small ones hear it thus, when the assured speak, that is high, they say, I cannot reach that; and it happens at times, must one be so? then I must give it up; and they begin at times heartily to sigh and to say, I cannot come by that in my life; do they hear the assured speak of such great things, that I shall never get, they say; ah Lord, they say, there I came into the church, there the table was spread with the fat marrow-bones, the choicest of your kingdom, but I had nothing of it but the hearing and the sight of my eyes. That so oppresses such a soul.

Is there such a soul in the church, in whom the first beginning work is, such ones love so much to hear spoken of those things which no one can lack and yet be saved; but do you speak of things which one may lack and yet be saved, ah, they say, you must examine my foundation, I cannot think, if it was not a right work in the beginning, that it should ever become good in its progress. As we must then deal with such, according to the Word, ought not the great in grace to take this into account? Why?

1. First, well, the great have themselves formerly spoken so, and they remember well how they hungered for a little word of instruction, from a minister or a pious person. Oh how straitened they had it in the beginning!

2. You must gladly suffer it, because you were so glad in the beginning, when someone once took you in hand, and drew out your condition somewhat, and came into discourse with you over it, and dealt with you thus according to the Word: you surely still remember well, how you were under praying, reproving, admonishing, encouraging by others.

3. Then you must say: well Lord, am I negligent in my duty toward the small, then I must be glad, that there is yet another who does it, where I am unfit, or defective, or wholly negligent in it.

4. However great you are, you must from time to time go back over your beginnings again: it is impossible that anyone should be great in grace, and that he should not sometimes have to say, my God, how is it with me? have I laid a good foundation? is my state firm, to go upon it toward eternity? Do they find, yes, then it is, I thank you in humility.

5. Therefore you must gladly hear it, because, if you do not, you would then be judging the Savior himself, the Son of the living God, for he calls to everyone, I will turn my hand to the small ones, Zechariah 13:7. He calls to everyone, not only, learn of me, that I am meek and lowly in heart, Matthew 11:29, but also, the bruised reed will I not break, and the smoking flax I will not quench, in our text before us.

Beloved hearers, to consider such things, you know that we have now for some time been occupied over all sorts of matters that have been laid before the congregation. Each has been able to receive his own allotted portion, the great in grace, the ones in darkness, the ones assailed: we have thus sought to resolve all the arguments. There remained yet one matter for us: I fear that I am not in the state of grace. There we showed what the state of nature was, and set down marks of it. Then we spoke of the state of grace, and set down the marks of those who are in it; we then named the signs. We know well, that merely to name them so quickly cannot satisfy you; we have undertaken to go from sign to sign, and so to seek to work upon your mind as it lies alongside that. We said, man, how did you come into the state of grace? where? when? how did it happen? by what means did it occur? where do you set your foot fast? You must know where, and how it happened. This was the first, and when we had finished that, over several occasions, then we came to the second mark, to esteem grace highly, and to value it as very precious. And the third mark, which is always and in all cases true, was: that such are discovered to themselves; ah, you did not know yourself in nature, but as soon as you came awake in grace, was it not, oh God, how deplorably am I found! By that discovery of themselves there now came the conviction, which is the fourth mark. It is a heavy matter; we shall not be able to preach it through in two sittings; we intend to do it in three. There are so many kinds, that we may well distinguish which are the convictions of grace, and in which grace is lacking; we cannot easily pass over this lightly, because those under conviction themselves see so much difficulty in it: Lord, they say, I see so many ungodly people convicted, the conscience does its work, and what do I know whether this is indeed the Spirit's work! What do I know whether these are the true convictions of the Spirit! Dear Lord, there are those which are of the beast, and which are no good of the covenant of grace. It is on every side full of difficulty, the enemy seeks on every side to bring such into confusion. To show this we shall then do these things:

I. First we shall show you, that the true conviction is a sign that someone has passed from nature into the state of grace. II. What it is to say, to convince. III. How many kinds of convictions there are. IV. How the natural man misuses convictions. V. How the enemy of God's people would gladly have it, that the godly too should misuse their convictions.

When we can accomplish these five things, we shall then see further: first, that not all convictions are good. Then, when convictions are to be regarded as true convictions by the Word and by the minister. Then, when they are only of the conscience. Then, what convictions come by blows or judgments. Then, there are also some by blessings. Then, some by sicknesses and troubles. Then, which are to be held only as common convictions. Then, how dreadful it is for such to go on to hell. Then, which are the marks of the true ones. Then, how blessed is anyone who possesses the true ones. Then, we shall give counsel, when we have treated both. And finally speak an encouraging word.

Note this well: for the present we intend to do these five things: First, to see which are the spiritual convictions that are a true sign of the state of grace. Then, what conviction is. Then, how many kinds of it there are. Then, how the perverse wrongly employ them. Finally, how the enemy urges those who have the true ones on to misuse them as well.

I. As to the first: to be convicted is a sign of the state of grace according to Scripture. We prove it from the Word, and that thus:

1. That there never was, nor ever has lived, a truly graced person who was not convicted of his lost state. What made the difference for a Manasseh in the prison house? He was convicted, 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13. What made the difference for that tax collector, that he smote so upon his breast? He was convicted, Luke 18:13. What made the difference for those three thousand souls, that they cried out so? It was from conviction; they were pricked in their heart, Acts 2:37. What ailed that jailer, that he stood there so with the sword in his hand and with tears on his cheeks? The man was convicted, that drove him, Acts 16. You shall find no one in the state of grace, but you shall find them convicted.

2. God's Word states it plainly. John 16:8, when the Spirit should come, what would he do? Convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. You have never in your life seen it otherwise, nor have I either. Zechariah 12:10, when that Spirit of grace and of supplications should be given them, would that be without conviction, when he should make them mourn as one mourns for an only son? Isaiah 4:4, if you read of the Spirit of burning, then, when he comes, there comes with him the Spirit of judgment.

3. All who have no grace are said to be without that conviction; they are careless, hardened, stubborn: how long, says God, have I stretched out my hands to a rebellious people? Isaiah 65:2. How do you sit so still upon your dregs, Zephaniah 1:12. Will you say, I shall have peace, though I walk after the imagination of my heart! Deuteronomy 29:19.

4. We see that all who have convictions — that not all these are true convictions; we see that there are morning clouds that pass away again, Hosea 6:4. They begin with the Spirit, and they end with the flesh, Galatians 3:3. They often have such sweet stirrings: a gift for praying, for speaking; they are of a gentle, pleasant temper; and meanwhile one gradually sees them decline and fall back, so that one must say of them, is that the man? his last state is become worse than his first, 2 Peter 2:20.

5. We prove that convictions go inseparably paired with grace, because we see in the Word, that the Lord is near to such. Psalm 34:19, He is near to them that are of a broken heart. And Psalm 147:3, He binds up their wounds. And Isaiah 57:15, He will dwell with him also. Isaiah 66:2, To him will I look, who trembles at my word.

There you have now the first point; that you can now see clearly, you can have not a single word against it; the devil, that judge of hell's flames himself, cannot come between with anything against that.

II. Now the second point: what is it, to convince? One thinks that is all so easy, but when one wants to convince someone in civil matters, what does one then do? One lays the pieces of evidence before him whom one wishes to convince; having laid them down, one then goes to point them out to him, and says, you stand fast bound by this; he denies it; the other proceeds to prove it; the other comes in again against it, he seeks to make all the arguments fruitless; the first holds firm, is one argument not enough, he brings two more; the second begins to waver; upon that the first comes, and says, come, dear friend, admit yourself beaten, you are the man; upon that the other comes, and says, I admit myself beaten, I can bring nothing more against your reasons, I must declare from my whole heart, you have won me over, you have brought forward so much testimony, that it testifies more than enough. You will say, that is now in civil matters, there I now get some light on it, that I can now grasp; but what is to convince in Scripture, in the Word? What does the Word mean by that word convince? Is it indeed to be found in the Word of God? Oh, how often you read it in the Word! John 8:9, they were convicted, and verse 46, which of you convinces me of sin? Matthew 27:54, there that centurion was convinced that the Lord Jesus was truly the Son of God. That is now according to Scripture; but what is it in Scripture, according to the style of the Spirit? 1. To reprove someone. 2. To contend against someone with arguments and to press him so that one wins. 3. That one presses someone so, that one gives him a wound in the heart. 4. That it is of such consequence, that he is struck dumb.

1. First, according to the style of the Spirit it is to reprove someone. Luke 3:19, John reproved Herod. That happens first in secret. Matthew 18:15, If your brother has sinned against you, go and reprove him between you and him alone. Then, if that does not help, in public. 1 Timothy 5:20, Those who sin, reprove before all: bring the matter forward, with earnestness and boldness. Titus 2:15, Exhort and reprove with all authority: set before them that whereon they stand fast, reprove them, convince them, that you may win them. Upon that reproving there generally follows convincing. Is there no one so well known in the Word, who, when he was reproved, was convinced? You are the man, said Nathan to David: I have sinned, said David, 2 Samuel 12:7, 13.

2. When one shall win someone, there stand two disputants, both of them pressing hard, the one as strongly as the other; but each sees that the one is losing, there is no convincing in that; the one says, I press it home, he urges it on; the other says, I lose it. Acts 9:22, it stands, he convinced all the Jews who dwelt at Damascus. Acts 18:28, he convinced the Jews with great earnestness in public, proving by the Scriptures, that Jesus was the Christ. Acts 6:10, they could not resist the wisdom and the Spirit, by which Stephen spoke.

3. Where God uses the Spirit to give someone a wound through it, then that argument goes home; when the Word comes in from within into the soul, then it becomes a discerner of the thoughts, Hebrews 4:12; does someone then come into an edifying gathering, he is convinced by all, 1 Corinthians 14:24; he receives a blow upon his heart, and falls upon his face, and acknowledges that God is among them in the midst. John 8, there they come with a woman whom they had caught in adultery, and ask Jesus what should be done with her? He writes with his finger in the ground; whoever of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her: then they themselves were convinced, they received a blow to their conscience, they saw that they were guilty, verse 9.

4. And what was the consequence of that? They became mute, their voice fails them, they stand afar off, and dare not look up. Matthew 22:12, that guest without a wedding garment, he became mute. Matthew 25, the man who had received the one talent, he became mute, he had nothing to bring forward, I must go to hell, he said.

See, that is convincing according to the style of Scripture. But what does the Spirit now do, when he convinces a man? When the Spirit of God comes into the heart of a man to convince him, then such a one begins to say, I do not know what ails me. Then the Spirit comes, and says, do you indeed believe, that God shall open another door for you in the world, to bring you to heaven, other than along the way of the change of the heart, faith, and sanctification? Do you indeed believe, that you must go through the right door, or you shall fall into hell? Do you indeed believe, that God shall make you another Bible, to regulate or teach you differently by? Do you indeed believe, that there is another way to be saved for you, than through the Lord Jesus? The way of conversion, faith, and sanctification — if you do not enter upon it, you shall die in your sins. Do you believe, that the way of a drunkard, a sluggard, an ungodly person, is God's way? God will never change from his way, you must come onto God's way, God will never come onto the sinner's way. Then says the Spirit, will you be ungodly, be a sluggard, sin against the gospel? What do you answer? Methinks your voice fails you, that you have no reply: are you guilty? Do you dare not say so? Must I prove it to you? Do you know that I am able to do so? I shall prove it to you from your own company, from your own conscience, from the circumstances, from the Word. I am the All-knowing, the All-present, take heed, do not throw it to the wind against me, I lay it upon you, you are not on the way to heaven: what do you say, does your heart not begin to close up? Thereupon the Spirit begins to reprove them: be ashamed, he says, that you have so lived; what wrong have you found in me, that you are so averse to me? What harm has God ever done you? How shall that end? Do you know that I must condemn you? I sit here as a Judge of God in your heart, you go to hell if you so remain, God is not your God. One more question I must ask you: do you believe, that you alone shall be one who comes to heaven without conversion and a believing turn to Christ, and without sanctification? I repeat it, do you believe, that you alone, without conversion, without faith in Christ, and without sanctification, shall come to heaven? Consider this well. Thereupon he gives the soul a wound. God, she says, I am afraid! that goes through skin and flesh. It is no wound of head or hand, but a wound of the heart, heaven and earth become too narrow for her. Acts 2:37. Then the Spirit comes and lets the outcome be seen: what is the outcome? I am struck dumb. When they see that, it presses them down, so that the sweat breaks out of them, the tears run from their eyes, the blood even from their nose; they give a deep sigh, their countenance is downcast; that means something. There is our second point.

III. Now we must see how many kinds of convictions there are. This is a weighty matter. Lord, how many are there that are not good? There are those through the conscience, that go no further. There are those through blessings, that go no further. There are those through notable judgments, that go no further. There are those through the minister, and through the Word. There are those that are of the Spirit, with which one must nevertheless be lost. There are those by which one is saved. We may well lay these alongside ourselves.

1. There are convictions that are of the conscience. Who lives who has not at times undergone that work of conscience? When someone has sinned, he feels oppression, anguish, terror, so that you often have as much as you can hold in silently, and what does not sometimes spill out at times, that you cannot keep in? What anguish did a Cain have over his brother's murder? He could not keep it in. What anguish did Joseph's brothers stand in over what they had done to Joseph? What anguish did a Saul stand in over his forsaking of God? What anguish did an Ahithophel stand in over his treachery? What anguish did a Judas stand in over his betrayal? The distress was great. Romans 2:15, there sat those thoughts, within them, accusing them so; try as you will to divert yourself, you cannot. John 3:20, If our heart condemns us. Acts 24:25, Ah, there that man became so afraid; I know no remedy, he said, to still it. Those convictions you also find in the breast of the godly: David's heart smote him; Ezra was so ashamed; Peter wept himself to water; but in the one it is different than in the other.

2. There are convictions through sickness. One is not always in health; an ungodly man too is sometimes seized, and led to the gates of death: how he then weeps! how he then confesses! so that often the ones who stand by say, Lord, try him, spare him, perhaps some good will come of it — and meanwhile, should he recover, he becomes a thousand times worse than before. That you can see in Luke, where Christ heals ten lepers: he comes to them, in their sickness, when they were so convicted, and he heals them, and there comes back only one, of that number, to give thanks; the Lord Jesus said to him, where are the nine, are you the only one found to return and give glory? no, he said, there were ten cleansed, chapter 17:12–18. The godly have that too; you can see it in Hezekiah; he mourned like a dove; I am going to die, he said; it was not to his liking; like a crane or a swallow he chattered, Isaiah 38:14. Where else do you have that sixth and that thirty-eighth psalm, those sickness-psalms of David? When he was so convicted, he said, through my foolishness, not for any sum, has come upon me all this grief, and, Lord, greatly praised: how long shall it yet be, that I must remain so?

3. There are those through great judgments, who otherwise have no such occasion. How convicted did they stand in the first world, when the waters came? How convicted did they stand in Sodom, when the fiery blocks touched them? How convicted did Korah stand, when he sank down? And Pharaoh, how convicted he stood, often with tears in his eyes before Moses, and said, ah, I have done wickedly, God is righteous, I will not do it anymore! How often did he beseech that Moses would pray for him? How convicted were they in Nineveh? Ahab, that great man, how convicted was he, how did he humble himself? How convicted have often stood great world-mighty princes? A Belshazzar, a Nebuchadnezzar? If there is anyone who does evil against that God of Daniel, he shall be punished. Such convictions are found also among the elect: see it in a Manasseh, the prodigal son, the thief on the cross.

4. There are those through blessings, that a man says, surely God does not leave himself without witness, doing good from heaven; so that he comes into his house, and says, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits bestowed on me? He has planted me on a fat hill, shall I now bring forth stinking grapes? The goodness of God should lead me to repentance. That goes so far indeed, that a sinner says, surely God has always done well by me, from what I have been until now, how then can I be so ungodly? Those convictions the godly have as well, so that they say, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits bestowed on me? Psalm 116:12. But that goes quite differently again.

5. There are those through examples of wicked and ungodly people in their terrible end. There they receive such blows to their spirit; there one of them often dies in their presence, in their company. Remember Lot's wife, Luke 17:32. That is written for our admonition, 1 Corinthians 10:11. Then there are good examples, whom they are with, whom they see, whom they hear speak: ah Lord, they say, how has that creature become so! You have the example of chastity and purity in Joseph, you have Moses' meekness, Job's patience, David's godliness. Hebrews 11, there you have a whole cloud of witnesses. Consider Job and all the prophets.

6. Then there are those through the Word: that is a sword, those are nails and goads, those are the arrows of the King, which strike home at this or that time. Then there are those through this or that minister, whom God uses the most to strike home to some hearts; when he but often opens his mouth, it all hits the mark; the talent that he has wants indeed to go inward into their heart. One comes at times with the terror of the Word. There is a man with a heavy talent, he comes and casts from a glowing breast the coals of hell into their heart; God, he says, is a consuming fire, an eternal burning, he is so righteous, what dreadful attributes he has! how fearful it shall be to fall into the hands of the living God! There he stands on mount Ebal. Then there comes one who stands on mount Gerizim with the sweet word, and he says, God has said, fury is not in me; I beseech you, as though God did beseech by me, be reconciled with God, he forgives abundantly; there is a Mediator for sinners; there is one too for you, however distressed you are, you cannot be too poor, you cannot have too much guilt, you cannot have strayed too far or too deep: or will you not hear, how then shall you escape it? the Lord shall in flaming fire take vengeance on them that obey not the gospel, 2 Thessalonians 1:8.

7. Then there are those from God the Holy Spirit, which are common ones, not truly saving. You will say, are those also from God the Holy Spirit, which are not the true ones? It is hard to say, and it is nevertheless true and truthful? We must speak the truth. What working of the Spirit did a Balaam have, who saw the visions of God? Numbers 22. What convictions did a Saul have, who was forsaken by his God — was that not from the good Spirit? And Matthew 7:22, what convictions did those preachers have? have we not prophesied in your name, and preached, and done mighty works? Judas had become an apostle. And if that is not so, what then do you make of Hebrews 6:4, 5, to be enlightened, to taste the heavenly gift, and the powers of the age to come, if you do not make that of it? Well, the Holy Spirit gives natural, political, ecclesiastical, common gifts, which are not paired with grace. See the natural in Bezaleel and Aholiab, for making artistic works: those are not gifts with which grace always goes paired. The political, you see that in Saul: there comes a good spirit upon him to govern the people; that went unpaired with grace. Then there are ecclesiastical gifts, knowledge, tongues, healings, powers, 1 Corinthians 12:8–10. That was always unpaired with grace. Then there are yet common spiritual gifts, which are in members of the church, that is a work of the conviction of the Spirit, which is not the true work.

8. Then there are at last such convictions, which are a good of the covenant of grace, and a sign of grace. When Word and Spirit go together, then the conviction is with power, then the stony heart becomes a fleshly heart; then that heart is broken; then that heart opens; the locks and bars are then torn away from it; then it is as with Lydia, her heart was opened, so that she took heed to what was spoken by Paul, Acts 16:14.

There you have now the various convictions. Now there are frightful and great difficulties concerning this. Ah Lord, someone will say, I cannot deny it, that I am indeed convicted, but whether it is of the right kind I do not know! We thought that we would not be able to handle our five points; we cannot now go on to the others, else we should be too long. Now we would have had to say, 1. How those convictions are misused by the wicked. 2. How the devil aims at it, that those who are truly convicted should also misuse it. 3. And then we would have had to go on to the distinguishing marks. But that in what follows. I hope that the Lord will bless this that has been spoken, to us and to you, to his glory, for his Son's sake: Amen.

Sermon 27

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein, concerning the fourth mark of the state of grace, the true spiritual convictions, it is so treated, that in it: I. It is shown, how those who lack the true convictions misuse their convictions. II. It is shown, how the enemy aims at it, that those who possess the true ones should misuse theirs as well. III. Some clear scriptural rules are set down for distinguishing the true and the false convictions.

We read Exodus 33:12, 16, a wonderful conversation of Moses with God. At the end of the 12th verse he says, Lord, you have said that you know me by name, and also, you have found grace in my eyes: and at the beginning of the 16th verse he says, though you have said that, by what shall it be shown and made known? It is something wondrous, to find grace in the eyes of God; it is something wondrous, when one finds such a thing; it is something rare, and nevertheless necessary; the one who has that wondrous thing, it makes him one of the glorious ones in the land, Psalm 16:3, it makes him more excellent than his neighbor, Proverbs 12:26. Moses had heard the voice of God, which had said that to him, but that did not satisfy him, he had to have a token of it. Great God, he said, give me yet something more than your voice, by what shall it appear, by what shall I know it, that I have found grace in your eyes? And so it goes with a man who has found grace in the eyes of God, in the course of his life: I cannot rest, he said, unless I am once assured of it; by what shall it appear? Well, do you know by what it shall

surely appear, that you have found grace in the Lord's eyes?

1. First, if you can say to the Lord, that when the Lord gave you to choose, what you would ask of him, you could give me nothing dearer than grace. God once said to Solomon, choose what you wish to have: and he chose wisdom, which he so needed for his work, 1 Kings 3. So God comes also, and he says to a Christian, choose what you wish to have, and he chooses grace. What is honor, he says, what is favor, what is the pleasure of the world without grace! and what harm is poverty, reproach, contempt, if I may but possess grace. That you can see in the rich man and Lazarus: it profited the rich man nothing, all the splendor he had had; and it harmed Lazarus nothing, that he had been so poor.

2. But over what does your praying mostly run, on what does your praying mostly issue? Is it not almost always the same? Is it not, ah Lord, be gracious to me! that is, as it were, engraved in their mouth: had they even made a resolution to leave that out of their prayer, they cannot, they cannot close a prayer without it, Job 9:15, I will make supplication to my judge for grace. Luke 18:13, O God, be merciful to me a sinner. And Psalm 51:3, be gracious unto me, O God! They seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, Matthew 6:33.

3. Do you know by what it shall further appear? By this, that it makes a person exceedingly tender. Concerning what? It makes them so tender concerning God, concerning the promises, concerning the threatenings, it makes them so tender over sin. He who has grace, he becomes so tender a person concerning God; he cannot bear the least estrangement; I cannot go away from you, he says; I should be near to you. He is so tender a person concerning the promises; I tremble, he says, to appropriate them to myself, he dares not appropriate the promises to himself. He is so tender concerning the threatenings: his heart is stirred, I am afraid, he says, if I should have to think, that they were meant for me. He is so tender concerning his neighbor: ah, he says, I may not judge another, nor belittle his grace; I must rather judge in love, perhaps he is better than I know; I feel that I have grief over his wrong. He is so tender concerning sin: his heart over it is as wax, he weeps himself to water, like Joseph, should I do such wickedness, and sin against God, Genesis 39:9; they are like Ezra, chapter 9:6. If you find that, that is a good bunch of grapes in which blessing is, in which there is much of grace; destroy it not, says God, Isaiah 65:8.

4. Would you have yet another little token of grace? That you change every day, and so often. Your state remains the same, that is firm: once grace, always grace; but you shall not always have the same workings: your frames change, but your state does not. Then you will possess at one time a glad frame, and at times a sorrowful one; at times you will be so shut up, that you cannot pray, and at times you will be so stirred, that you cannot be silent; then you will be at one time wholly cast down, and then at another wholly courageous; then you will at one time give up your state, and at times you will not be able to bear it. But one who is wholly dead is always the same, a dead man is always cold and unfeeling; but a living one is now warm, and now cold, now sick, now well, now glad, now sad: and so it goes also in spiritual things.

5. The fifth little token is: that such a one can say, Lord, I did not come to grace except along the old well-trodden way, which God has kept in Paradise, and shall keep to the end of the world, to bring someone to grace, along the way of being discovered to himself. Lord, I came to see, how abominable, how vile I was before you in my nature; I saw my miserable condition, I received it along the way of fears, distresses, tears, convictions, I was made known to myself, Jeremiah 31:19: after I was made known to myself, then I came to smite upon my thigh, I stood full of convictions, and knew not where I should be delivered. When that is so, then God gives such a one grace.

We have now for some time been occupied to show the tokens by which someone may know, that he has passed from the state of nature into the state of grace. We had lately come to that matter of true spiritual convictions: that to have true spiritual convictions in one's heart is a firm mark of the state of grace. We treated, two weeks ago today, three points of that, in which we showed, first, that to have true spiritual convictions in one's heart is an infallible mark of the state of grace; then, what conviction is, and how the Spirit works it; finally, how many kinds we indeed find of it in the Word. So far had we come; now we had to consider:

I. How people, who lack the true convictions and possess false ones, misuse their convictions.

II. How the enemy aims at it, with those who possess the true ones, that they too should misuse them.

III. We shall give some scriptural rules of distinction between the true and false convictions.

With these three points we shall for the present have enough, we shall not go into more. But we say, for your warning, once for all, do not judge over the whole matter before it is entirely treated: if you would judge over the matter from every single sermon, you shall then be mistaken; but you must pay good heed, when you shall hear speak of that whole course of conviction, that you must then summon yourself before God concerning it, lay yourself alongside it, and see whether you can indeed come through it, and ask, between God and your heart, whether you lack the matter or possess it.

Three things we now have to show you, of which the first is, that there are convictions which are not of the right kind, how these are misused; the second, that the elect, who alone possess the true ones, have much trouble: the devil, who goes about them as a roaring lion, seeking to devour them, incites them to misuse their convictions as well; in the third we shall set down some clear scriptural rules of distinction between the true and the false convictions.

I. As to the first: it is not possible, when one lives in a congregation or place under a people where the ministry is, where there is a man or more who have distinct talents, that there are people of a weighty gift, who continue in season and out of season with praying, beseeching, admonishing, reproving, who seek to set their heart upon the string, and seek to know the face of their sheep, who do not leave the hearer untroubled, who preach distinctly, set down marks — it is not well possible, I say, but that the conscience and the Word do their work; there comes a stirring, there comes a trembling in the heart; he comes into the church, he can often not hear it out with dry eyes, can he even keep it dry-eyed in church without tears; coming home he can no longer restrain himself, but he must say, ah God, I do not live well, I think that my condition is not good; he goes further, he begins to promise, he shall go and amend himself somewhat, he takes it up, ah Lord, he says, make me also fit for it, and he does amend himself, he lives no more as before: what does the enemy do?

1. I grant, he says, that a man cannot be converted, unless he be convicted, and now you are convicted, what then shall still be lacking? Now you must lay that hour of conviction as a ground of your change; you must say, oh, then I was changed, under that man's ministry, in that hour, under that text, thank God, then I was converted. Ah, poor souls! and it was but something outward. If that outward improvement had been true change, how many would have been converted, who have remained unconverted? In the book of Judges, chapter 11, there the whole land trembled, and they amended themselves outwardly: had that been the true change, how many indeed would have been converted then! Had the outward change been an inward conversion, how many indeed would there not have been converted within Jerusalem? Acts 2, there three thousand were converted, and there were perhaps more than ten thousand who trembled. Yes, what must those broods of vipers have become, who came out so openly to John, if converted with their tears alone? but John said, you generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Matthew 3:7.

2. Say the devil and corruption together to such: you must not let yourself be led away from that, you must not let that be talked out of your head, you are indeed changed, you must be quite certain of that, you must not let yourself be wrested from that for any reason. That was in Judas: should I not indeed have come into the kingdom of Christ, who am called to be an apostle just as well as the others, and who lived under the preaching of Christ just as well as the others? should I trouble myself over it and take it to heart, that the Lord said, have I not chosen twelve, and one of you is a devil? My change is clear, I too am called to be an apostle.

3. Say the devil and the cunningly corrupted heart, which play together: I will hold that fast in my heart, on that I must stake my life, that was the text, then my heart was changed, that I grant, I do not care for examination; an examining ministry, an examining conscience, an examining person — stay away from that, they would only disturb you, and if you must once come under their hands, just say, I heal myself, I care for no examination of myself, and do not judge me before the time, I am content. Quite otherwise is it, where it is true; there it is as Psalm 38:19, I am troubled because of my sin.

4. Then say the devil and the corrupted heart: I see, you are at times moved and shaken, you begin to be troubled, and say, is my work indeed good? Ah God, could it indeed be true work in me? Then they come with that text of David, Psalm 42:12, why are you cast down, O my soul? why are you disquieted within me? hope in God: I shall yet praise him, give him the glory.

5. Then say the devil and their heart: now I am glad that I have not built on sand, I am built on a rock, it is no sandy ground, I shall let it go on easily from there: and they take delight in it, and go so with a lie in their right hand toward hell, they feed themselves with ashes, and go sit still upon their heart.

6. Is there anyone, who, even from a distance, casts doubt upon their state, openly or secretly, they say, shall I give him a token of my displeasure, and if they had to say it plainly, they would have to say, I am grieved and offended, that you have held me suspect. The Lord Jesus Christ was nowhere more reviled than for holding their work and state suspect: when he did that, then they said, he has a devil, and you are a Samaritan; then they took up stones to kill him.

You cannot live, I think, in this town, without having been at some time in your life convicted; lay yourself then alongside these six signs, and see whether you have so dealt with it.

II. Now our second point; just as with the false, so the enemy also works upon the true: he too wants to make something else out of it, when they come so far as to take counsel with the wicked lion. You must not trust him, take heed. Shall I tell you, he says, what you shall make of your convictions?

1. First. Friend, my friend, you cannot deny that you are convicted, I would gladly ask you a question: can you, or can a minister, or can indeed any godly person in the world say, that your conviction is good? You have indeed put yourself to the test and asked their judgment, but how have they answered you? How guarded, scrupulous, doubtful, conditional! It was all, if you believe with your whole heart, if you do not live nor walk after the flesh. What ifs there come indeed in the Bible! Has anyone ever been able to tell you that your convictions were good? What have they been able to make of it? Nothing. Now we shall give you a word of resolution. There are those who must be dealt with conditionally, but there are also those whom you can deal with directly, to whom you can say, oh yes, your work is good. If you judge, said Lydia to the apostles, that I am faithful, then you must come into my house, and they did so, Acts 16:15. You read the same too of Timothy, that Paul says of him, 2 Timothy 1:5, The faith of your grandmother and mother dwells in you; your work is good, he meant to say.

2. Then he asks a second question: can you yourself say, or can any minister or godly person say to you, that your convictions shall remain, that they shall go on? How many begin with the Spirit, and end with the flesh? They ran well at the first, but they fall away from it. Ask it of all the ministers, of all the godly, they cannot say it. What were there some, in whom were sweet stirrings and sweet emotions, they were young saints, and they became old devils. What great knowledge did they have? What gifts of prayer did they have? What zeal for religion! What joy, gladness, and enlargement of heart did they have? But look at them afterward, how poorly they let it lie! How do they deaden their conscience! They quench the Spirit, and stand against him. Must you not say, ah God, I am no longer myself, I do not live as I did before: and can anyone assure you, that it shall remain with you? Does anyone dare assure you of that? Well, hear, a short answer we give you: there can indeed come a falling away in the convictions, and yet they remain. See Song of Songs 5.

3. Further he says: you are convicted, I will not ask you further whether they shall remain, I will not ask you whether you shall turn back or not; but what common convictions are there! how near can one come! one becomes almost moved, as Agrippa, Acts 26:28: shall it not be so with you too? We shall again give you a short answer, as good as at the first and second return: say, that I do not have in my heart; I strive nonetheless to set it there.

4. Then he comes with a fourth question, and says: how dreadful it is to be convicted and to turn back! Remember Lot's wife. Ah, what anguishes shall you have, if you then turn back! To avoid that, and to escape it, cease rather in time: it is better never to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn back, 2 Peter 2:21, 22. Here again you can have a short and good answer: I will not cease; I cannot hold out — there is a God in Israel who can help, who shall help me through it; I trust, that he who has begun a good work in me will also perform it, Philippians 1:6. I shall commit that to God, and entrust myself to him; I shall roll my way upon the Lord; woe to the man who trusts and does not persevere. Then he will say indeed, how you shall then be mocked! when you then turn back, it shall be, is Saul also among the prophets? and you shall become a laughingstock to the wicked.

5. Then he says: it shall nevertheless not help at all, if your name is not written in the book of life; whether you then go to church, or pray, or read, or weep, or knock upon your thigh, it shall all not help. A little answer: have you seen it, my enemy, that my name is not there? have I seen it? have you stood in the counsel of God? have you opened that book, which the Lamb of God alone is given to open? The hidden things belong to the Lord, but the revealed things are for me! Is not praying, weeping, knocking upon the thigh, sooner a token that one's name stands in the book of life, than in the scroll of death?

6. Further, he says, I see indeed I do not prevail with you, I would still give you good counsel. What counsel? Then he seeks to make them despondent, and he says, you do not indeed believe that you shall come through it, or that your work is good; I advise you, be silent about it, hide it, keep it shut up, do not let it out. You say, I am at times so full of words, that heaven and earth are too narrow for me: go then, he says, with David into a cave, and be there like an owl or a bittern of the wilderness, or do as Isaac did, who went alone into the field, and speak it out there. Yes but, I cannot, it overtakes me at times so, that I could well cry it out: well, get yourself away then from among people, and shut your door, go into the secret place, and when you can come out again, come into no discourse with anyone about it. But my household, if they hear some sound? Do not come, he says, into conversation over it. Yes but, however much you say that, I cannot keep silent, they address me themselves; even if I hastily seek to wipe away my tears, and seek to show a glad face, they say nevertheless, what ails you? how were you so sorrowful there? Well then, deny it, he says, that you have prayed, and say that you have not wept before God, say it was for something else, lie then; or if you must say it, can you not get around it, say that it was not sincere, that it was but false. Yes, but they hold to the matter firmly? Well, dispute against it, throw it to the wind, do not believe it, though they pile up so many difficulties against it. Exodus 6:8, they did not listen to Moses for anguish of spirit. Job 9, there it was so with Job as well. See then, in what a dreadful way he deals with them.

7. Once more: if that cannot help, he says, in your anguish, go, forsake sin, do many virtuous deeds, and seek so to move God through a good life. There he seeks to make them wholly a work-saint, and he seeks to make them lie sick in the hospital of their own righteousness. Philippians 3:6, said Paul, I was blameless according to the law before my conversion. Answer that with just one word, Isaiah 64:6, all our righteousnesses are as a filthy garment, we all are as an unclean thing.

8. His last leap, which he then indeed makes, is this: do you not see, that you fall so often? how many times do you sin against your promises, against your resolve, against your baptism, the Lord's Supper, the covenant, the oath, against the blessing? Do you see, how little you progress in sanctification? Do you see, how you lose all your good frames? And, well now, like a man or a woman, you must lift up the slack hands and feeble knees, and you cannot, well, become despondent: when God says that, that you should again lift up the slack hands, then say, your reproofs are severe, who can hear them? And so he seeks to smother them in the birth-pangs: he aims at it, that nothing should ever come of the work, that they should never break through: he well knows, that when they break through, it would be to the honor of God; and when they break through, they often take up yet another blow; and so he seeks to make them live between hope and fear, and so, languishing, to make them go on to their death.

III. Now our third point: well, someone will say, one who is convicted and truly changed, ah, how you strike me, let me see it scripturally, where lies the distinction between true and false convictions? Attend then:

1. In the first place, the true convictions, which are truly wrought by God's Spirit in the heart, shall break through into a conversion of the heart and of the deeds; the false ones break through as well, but it is not into a conversion of the heart, but of the deeds only. The true always break through, they always end in a conversion of heart and deeds; the false never do. The Savior had come to seek and to save that which was lost; the Spirit comes to convert those who are lost. The false, you shall find, promise and undertake much, they shall do some deeds, but they do not come to the whole heart; so it was with Judas and Herod! See, all who are not truly convicted, they are so general, they will not come to the heart.

2. A second rule is: that with the truly convicted there goes such a great uprightness; you shall find no more upright people, than those who are first convicted; there is no guile or deceit in them; they would say it all, their whole walk, like Zacchaeus and Paul; when they were convicted, they said what they had done, what monsters they had been. Where the convictions are not true, there they are a cause of hypocrisy; the untrue ones make the church filled with the hypocritical; they run with the godly, they speak along with them, they give a fair appearance, and meanwhile bring a reproach upon Christianity.

3. The true go paired with the utmost steadfastness; sooner shall all creatures depart from them, than God let them go; be the reason ever so sour or so sweet, they do not turn back; is the reason hard, so be it. John 6:68, they do not therefore go away, he who goes, goes, they remain: where it is no deeper than the skin and the appearance, let there come something bitter, they fall away, Matthew 13:21.

4. They are exceedingly humble; ah, they are so small in their own eyes; but where the true is not, they always want to fly so high, they are like the schoolchildren who do not yet know their letters, and yet they want to read already; they always want to know the great mysteries of God; they are not content with the plain substance of the word; they do not know that word, keep off from your own understanding, Proverbs 23:7; be not wise in your own eyes, Proverbs 3:7. Where it is right, Lord, they say, I want to join myself with the humble, not to be high-minded, but to fear, Romans 11:20.

5. They cannot heal themselves, nor can any man heal or still them; they often have as much as they can hold; they lie on their bed weeping; they cannot help themselves up: but where it is not true, they can heal themselves; Ahab healed himself with a sackcloth.

6. The true are so grieved over their hidden sins, not only over those which strive against the light of nature: they take note of sin in this — to be once lukewarm, heartless, to esteem the outward too much, to be at all somewhat hypocritical or perverse in their intentions; the false know nothing of that, they count only that in their register of sins which strives against the light of nature, but that lust they do not know to be sin: but the true mourn more over their sinful heart, than over their sinful life; more over original than over actual sins; they mourn over their whole sinful state; I am, they say, in a desperate and sinful state, wholly so corrupted, understanding, will, passions, memory! Ah, how disordered am I in my love, my hatred! and all the imagination of my heart is only evil continually, from my youth. Were you once sitting in a room, where two true ones sat and one false one, the one would keep complaining only over the outward, and the two others, in me dwells no good thing, I am sold under sin, carnal.

Now these are our three points: the rest hereafter, if God so please, Amen!

Sermon 28

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein three points are treated: I. That there can be very great, loud convictions in a sinner, and very small ones in a true child of God. II. That the least convictions in a godly person are more than the greatest in an ungodly one. III. To what use this discourse serves.

We read Luke 6:47, 48, that the Savior said, against the people, I will show you to whom he is like who follows me. He who hears my words, and does the same, is like a man who wanted to build a house; he dug, he went deep, and at last he came and laid the foundation upon a rock: on that I shall build, he said, that will be able to withstand a storm.

It was as though they said to the Savior, see, there are so many who follow you, they gladly hear your sermons, but what does it come to for such a people? You must call to mind a man in whose head it lies and turns, that he wants to dwell securely, that he need not fear storms and tempests; he pictures to himself such a building; he sits down once, to consider what sort of building he shall devise for it; at last he gets the plan in his thoughts, and he says, so much preparation is needed for it, how shall I get through with it? There that man goes to weigh his strength and to consider what he has in the world, and what he might be able to accomplish with what he possesses: he lays the one thing beside the other, and he says, my God, under your blessing I see that I shall be able to master the work. Upon that you must now picture to yourself a man who sets his hand to the work; let me, says the man, always take care that my work is good in its beginning; even if my work were the costliest palace there is, says the man, and the beginning was not good, it shall at last become manifest in the further building. What does the man go and do? He goes to dig, he goes to go deep; it seems to him at first as though it shall go reasonably well; the ground, he says, is reasonably firm; at last he says, might there not be a better one? He goes deeper, he says, let me dig yet deeper still; at last he strikes upon a rock, he becomes glad; there I can go build, he says, that is as a rock of ages, and he goes to work further upon the rock-stone, and the building is completed, and at last the man comes to the use of it. The Lord Jesus, who was a wondrous man, who had a wonderful skill to make spiritual things of bodily ones, does it also in this matter. If you have pictured to yourself such a man, then picture to yourself one who follows me, and does my word.

You shall find godly people, in whose head it lies and turns, that they must have a building, in which they are secure and safe for time, in death, and in eternity. And picture to yourself then, that this man is no foolish man, who would lay down his building and all his foundations, even were it but on a sandy ground, but he wants to look to the beginning of his work. You will say, what building has he? To work out his own salvation: work out your own salvation, said the Apostle, with fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12; and the Savior, Matthew 6:33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and John 6:27, labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life. What does that mean? This, that he wants to work out such a work, while he lives, by which he shall come from the earth to heaven: he wants to lead such a life in the course of his life, in which he passes over from nature to the state of grace, and comes from the state of grace to a state of glory, and that along the way of an eternal election, and of reconciliation with God, and the change of his heart; along the way of the gracious forgiveness of his sins in Christ; along the way of a godly walk; and along the way of being kept and sealed by God the Holy Spirit, and of being comforted by God in time, so as to endure whatever befalls him even to the end. That is the building. There it lies in my head, says the man, there storms must come, floods, winds, downpours; he goes and sits down by himself, and weighs, between God and his heart, what such a work shall cost, in its beginning, in its progress, and in its completion. What think you it shall cost you, says God? Ah Lord, said he, when I go through the Bible, the cost is great, it costs comfort, pleasure, honor, friends, prosperity, delicious morsels from under the tongue! Ah Lord! it might well cost me my life! Well, says God, man, soul, that is true, that it might cost that: can you be baptized with that baptism? Can you now drink that cup? Should there come at once so many things, and many things shall surely come, having to lay down your life could well come too, what will you do? Well Lord, said the man, with your help and under your blessing I shall see it through; you can give so much fire and light in my heart, that I can hold out through it all with you; I am then resolved to be baptized with that baptism, and to drink that cup. Upon that he falls to the work, I your poor servant or handmaid, he says, shall fall to the work, to the building, and I hope that the good God shall let it prosper for me. What does now such a man or soul do? He goes to take care for a firm foundation: what if I did all the labor, and fell to building, ah God, said he, and the storm-winds then came, and the building fell down! You need two firm foundations: first for the foundation of doctrine; secondly for the foundation of salvation. The foundation of doctrine you have in Ephesians 2:20: if I do not have the foundation of the prophets and apostles, the Scripture upon which I build, then I shall not be saved. The foundation of salvation you have in 1 Corinthians 3:11: no one can lay another foundation than that which is laid, namely Christ. Even as I go on to work, I must still always say that the dear Lord Jesus Christ is the sole cause of my salvation, Hebrews 5:9. And Acts 4:12, Salvation is in no other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, than the name of Jesus. Salvation is not in me, nor in my virtues, but in Jesus alone. That man having come so far, God be praised, said he, I see that I build upon that Rock. But were I now to go build hay, straw, stubble upon that foundation, that would be burned up; my work shall be tried by fire, 1 Corinthians 3:12–15; I must not build common grace or workings upon that foundation; that is but hay, straw, and stubble, that would be burned up; but it must be such a work, that being tried by the fire, it can endure the trial of the fire, 1 Peter 1:7. The man says, I may not lay upon it, all my life, any workings or frames, unless the matter be scriptural: I must have examples of the godly before me, and I must feel that the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of my building.

Now, wishing to do this, what does the Savior say of that man? He goes to dig and to deepen. A godly person who goes to dig and to deepen — what does that mean? The man who follows me, he digs out the whole ground! What is that digging? That is the examining, every day, of one's state and frame: at every Lord's Supper, and on every occasion, he examines whether he has that foundation of doctrine and of salvation. 2 Corinthians 13:5, Examine yourselves. 1 Corinthians 11:28, Let a man examine himself. That you can feel for yourself. What now is deepening? That is, when you have already dug, that you wish to dig yet deeper still: do you know what that is? First, deepening is that narrow examination. Second, it is a constant examination. Third, deepening is to come with one's work before God. Fourth, it is to lay good and bad workings side by side, and to see which workings are of God's Spirit, and which are of ourselves.

First. Consider, the godly person who deepens, says, ah Lord, I must not merely skim over it in the examination, and merely think, I have found some little token in this or that text, that I possess it: but one must examine one's state narrowly, Lamentations 3:40, Let us search and try our ways. In the first examination he dug, but in the second it is the deepening. What is deepening? What does such a one do then? My Lord, said he, how much appearance is there! How many common workings are there, which are no true good of the covenant of grace! How far can one come! How near can one come! How many workings can a man have, and win a great name! One can even come to the wedding hall itself, and not be a guest, Matthew 22:11, 12. One can knock even at the door and gate to come in, and yet must remain outside, Matthew 25:11, 12, and Luke 13:24. That is the first: let me go examine myself narrowly, that I be no mere appearance, and that all things be naked and opened before your eyes; that you know me to my inmost being; here no flattering nor pretending avails: O God, I know that you judge according to truth, and that you will testify nothing but the truth; have I never enjoyed anything from you, tell me so, is there nothing in me, warn me of it, and tell me too, if there is something in it. That is the third: might I but once know it from your Majesty! I do not prescribe the manner, but may I indeed rely upon it?

Second. Then he says, ah God, I am so partial toward myself, I have such a love for my own, I might come to a conclusion out of self-love about that which I do not possess! There he looks about, in the city and place of his dwelling, whether there is not some devoted man or woman, of the male or the female sort — that matters not to him, whether they be rich or poor, he looks not to that, he looks to who is the most upright, who yet shows him no favor; may I speak my heart to you, he says, thus it stands with me, with my state and frame, as far as you are able, instruct me, reprove me, do so if you can, but speak the truth. Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me, it shall be as oil upon the head, it shall not break my head, Psalm 141:5. There are many, who dare not come to that deepening, but who handle it only most roughly; but this one says, speak plainly against me, deal faithfully with me; then I too must come out plainly, says such a one, yes, that I will do, he says.

Third. Ah Lord, they say, by men too I can be somewhat esteemed, who can speak according to the nature of love, and what then? Ah God, I come with my whole work before you; I know that all

Fourth. So it is, that now a child of God, who follows the Lord Jesus, lays the good workings, and those that are merely of himself, side by side against one another, and seeks to distinguish them; then he goes to possess the distinction of both, and he does not rest, until he can say before God, before himself, or before men, so it is with me, the matter is in me, I am satisfied, I see that it is no false work that is in me.

There you have the language of the Lord Jesus, of those who are like him, who do his word and follow him: the bruised reeds he will not break.

We too have been occupied with such things, and in particular, to show, by many and sure tokens, who has passed from nature into the state of grace. Among all those tokens we had come to that closely-attending token, the true conviction; that is a sign that listens very narrowly, of which we must say, the least has experienced it. To examine that well, we said, first, that there were spiritual convictions, which were found to be a right infallible sign, that someone had passed from nature to grace. Further, what conviction was. Then, how many kinds of convictions there indeed are. Then, that there were some common signs and rules of distinction between the true and the false. Then, how those who did not have the true ones misused them. Then, how the devil was at work with a child of God who had the true ones, to make an evil use of them as well: that was the last that we had; so far had we come in that closely-attending matter, the convictions. At present we shall do this, that we shall show you, that there are very great, loud, and noise-making convictions in the sinner, and very small ones in a child of God, and how the very least in a child of God far surpasses the very greatest in the sinner. Consider then: I. The sinner, we say, can have very noise-making convictions, and the godly very small ones.

II. We also say, that the least in a godly person is more than the greatest in an ungodly one.

III. We shall show you, to what use this discourse serves.

1. Consider: in the ungodly reprobates you will at times find great

...great convictions bind, so that a house, a city, and a land are put at risk — even a man so hard pressed and awakened by his conscience through the judgments, that he stands up out of it and cries out. See it in a Pharaoh: what did he do? His whole house and court were put at risk, when he had to justify God: "I have sinned this time against the Lord," he said, "who is righteous, but I and my people are wicked," Exodus 9:27. How high did it go with that king who not long before had said, "Who is the Lord?" Exodus 5:2 — yet it came to the point that his whole court was terrified because of it. See it in a Saul, who was so troubled over the departure of God that neither courtiers nor a harp could quiet him. Ahab, such a wicked man — was he convicted? He who had sold himself to do evil — what convictions did he have? So much so, that God said to Elijah, "Man, do you take note of King Ahab? It seems you do not take note of him! When you are at your prayers, you do not even speak of him — do you not take note of him then? Look at him: is he not accustomed to going about so slowly? To humbling himself so? To being so small?" 1 Kings 21:27-29. Once more, we also read in Isaiah 59:12-13: "We know our lying and our transgressing against the Lord." And in the New Testament we have it too. We will take only that one instance of Felix, Acts 24:25. There he takes that imprisoned man Paul alone into his chamber, or into the judgment hall, and says, "You are permitted to speak; say all that is in your heart, I set no limit on you." So the man comes, and he touches on such matter as stirred him thoroughly all around: he preaches there of temperance — what a virtue is that, he said! Then of righteousness — what splendor is upon it! But unrighteousness, intemperance — what an abomination that is! What shall the outcome be? God's fearful judgment. He grew so agitated in the middle of the sermon that he had to say, "Leave off, I cannot bear to hear you any longer." Does that not go far, when a man must cry out openly in the middle of a sermon? And yet they remained wicked. But we also said that there are convictions in the godly that are small, that make no great noise — is that so? Oh yes. There was King David: his heart pounded and struck him, 2 Samuel 24:10. He makes no great outward show: "My sighing," he said, "and my longing are not hidden from you," Psalm 38:9-10. Matthew, when he was seized in his heart there at the tax office, made no great show; he was convicted of his sin, but he did not cry it out much, Matthew 9:9. Lydia, when her heart was opened, made no great show: "If you judge me," she said to the apostles, "to be faithful to the Lord, then you must come into my house," Acts 16:15. And so you will find a thousand such instances in the Word. That is our first thesis.

II. The second thesis is: that the smallest conviction in a godly person is better than the very greatest in a reprobate. That we must now show you. In what?

1. First, the least conviction in a child of God is true grace: it is fine gold, good gold — hence it is written, Psalm 45:9-13, of the fine gold of Ophir in which she shall be led to the King; they are good pearls, however small they may be; though unpolished, though not yet as radiant as they shall one day appear — it is fine gold, though there still hangs much dross upon it, Romans 7. But the very greatest conviction in the sinner is only appearance; it is somewhat painted over; it is no precious stone; it is only poor material; it is something glazed and polished. "You whitewashed wall," Acts 23:3. "You are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of stench, and of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness," Matthew 23:27. Now I ask you: is a small piece of gold not better than a large piece of copper? Is a small diamond not better than a large piece of glass? Yes, you will say. What was the difference between the convictions of those three thousand, and those of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem? The difference was great, Matthew 27, Acts 2. That is the first distinction: in the one is true grace, and in the other nothing but appearance.

2. The very smallest conviction in a child of God is nonetheless utterly sincere: with their small convictions they dare come before God and men — there is no deceit in their spirit, Psalm 32:2. "God, my heart is upright," they say, "try me, prove me, examine me, search me through; if there is anything untrue in me, put me to shame," Psalm 26:2 and 139:23-24. The very greatest conviction in a sinner — let him make ever so much noise and stir — is not sincere; he dare not bring his convictions before God and before sincere men; it is close and anxious for him; if anyone were to test him, he would take it amiss; when trials are set to distinguish true convictions from false, he plasters himself over with false mortar. Now is it not better to have a small piece of gold that one dares to test and can test, than to have a great piece of copper of which one must say, "oh, you must not test it"?

3. The very smallest conviction in a child of God is a fruit and a blossom of God the Holy Spirit — insofar as he is the Spirit of promise whom the Father has promised to pour out, and insofar as he is the Spirit of grace and of prayers, and, mark well, insofar as he is the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9, the Spirit of his Son, Galatians 4:6 — insofar as he is obtained through Christ. There the Spirit of conviction comes, sent by Christ to that heart, and he works in it in such a way that the world cannot know it, for it does not receive him, inasmuch as he is, in Christ the head, and dwells and works in the believer as in his members. But the very greatest convictions in an ungodly person — though they come from the Spirit, for such men also become in some measure partakers of the Spirit, Hebrews 6:4; though they come from God and from the Spirit of God — yet that Spirit does not work in them as the Spirit of Christ. You will say, does the Spirit of God then also work in the reprobate? Yes: Psalm 94:10, "I am he who chastises the nations, and teaches mankind knowledge." The Spirit of God brings this about, that wicked men in the world are restrained, and that there is a decency in society, so that men would not live in utter licentiousness. God sees to it that the wicked and careless world is not merely a gathering of murderers and villains, but he wills there to be a decency in the world.

4. The very least convictions in a child of God go mingled with salvation; they do not exactly know this, but even were they to die, they would lift up their eyes to heaven; they are the firstfruits of the Spirit, of whom I will bring in the full harvest, says God, Romans 8:23. "My sacrifice," they say, "was a broken heart," Psalm 51:17. "To that will I look," says God, "and I will come and dwell there, and make my dwellings," Isaiah 57:15 and 66:2. But the greatest convictions may be present in a reprobate, and yet, "I will nevertheless never take him into heaven for eternity," says God; even had he cried it out along the streets, it is for him but a foretaste of hell, upon which, in a short time, an eternal desperation will follow; he shall soon experience that worm that does not die, Mark 9:44. However high the mountain, those who were outside the ark in the first world had to drown; so too those who are outside the Spirit of Christ perish, Romans 8:9.

5. The least conviction in a child of God arises from, and goes accompanied by, a true spiritual life within: even if no one had ever spoken to him about his soul in his whole life, even if he dwelt in a forest, even if he never in his life came under a single sermon, those convictions would nevertheless continually spring up like a fountain, for they proceed out of that new spirit which is within him, Ezekiel 36:26. But a sinner's convictions do not proceed from a new heart: he has some foreign wheel turning him from outside — shame or honor, or something his own heart well knows — which then shows itself at the end. What a great difference is there? As between a living man and a clock. The true is like the sun, which is always moving on its course; but the false is like a mill, which does not turn except by the wind.

6. The least conviction sees more of the evil that is in sin than the evil that comes from sin: "the evil that is in the sin itself, that pains me so," they say, and that weighs on them more than the whole of hell; sin affects them so — why? Because they have given the Lord Jesus such wounds by it. "O God the Holy Spirit," they say, "I have grieved you thereby, through my folly and rebellion against so good a God." But the greatest convictions have more pain over the evil that will follow upon sin than over the evil that is in the sin itself: those sinners who have such great convictions have more pain over the wrath of God and over hell, than over the offensiveness that is in the sin.

7. The least convictions in a child of God do not rest until they end in a change of heart and conduct, and until they are bound up by the Physician. "O Lord," they say, "I cannot rest until I have reached that end — the change of my heart and conduct, and until the Lord Jesus has bound up my broken soul." Psalm 34:18: "Oh, be near indeed, my heart is so wounded," she says. But the very greatest conviction can rest quite well without ever having reached that end, and does not seek that binding up at all.

8. Lastly, the least convictions make a child of God so devout; but the greatest do not make an ungodly man devout. Ahab thought no more of Elijah after he went about so humbly and humbled himself, than he had before; but a child of God becomes so devoted to worship — he becomes so given to prayer, alone and with his family. The godly one is as in Jeremiah 31:19: "After I was made known and discovered to myself, I repented, and struck upon my thigh." Luke 18:13: when the tax collector became so convicted, he went to God, and into the temple. Paul, when he was convicted, was upon his knees — "behold, he prays," Acts 9:11. The ungodly are therefore not made devout by it; they flee from God — their fright provokes them, and gives cause for estrangement. Cain's fright had as its result an estrangement from God. So you see, then, that the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor; the beloved of the Lord stands there in beauty, and shines like a lily among thorns.

III. You will say, what use is what has been discussed? That is our third point. It serves for discovery, for warning, for encouragement.

Well then, Christian in name and mouth only, outward professor — are you not yet discovered? With the convictions of the reprobate you may sit calmly on your dregs. Have you ever in your life had those of the elect, who go digging and searching deep? Oh no, you have by no means been such a one. You live so calm, so still, without digging or searching — how can you spend your precious time so upon uncertainty? Will you then go digging and searching only when you are about to depart? What further use does it serve? For warning. Beloved, you who are so sure — will you not join with us? You shall be lost if you remain so, and if you do not become otherwise, you go straight toward hell. I warn you.

You bruised reeds, though you have never in your life had such loud convictions, do not therefore say, "my work is worthless" — do not grieve the Spirit of God thereby: who then shall refresh you, if you set yourself against him and deny your own work? I warn you: do not lay the work of the Spirit to the credit of a good upbringing: it may be that in your whole life you never had one, or when you did have it, it may have gone against your grain; indeed, if you did have it, your parents would have been very glad to see you do the very work you now scorn; your good upbringing cannot do that work, but the blessing of God can. Timothy was blessed. Do not put it to the devil's account either, as if you would say he has turned himself into an angel of light in you. So you must dig, you bruised reeds. How did you get through it all — all those temptations, that reproach? Had it not been for me, says God, you would long ago have been gone! Besides, have you not gained by it? God knows small work as well as great; he looks as much upon the stricken as upon the assured, upon the crushed as upon those who exalt themselves in the ways of the Lord.

I close with the text of Paul, Philippians 1:6: being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Sermon 29

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these points are treated: I. That a reprobate can live under very heavy and dreadful convictions, and can have it very hard. II. That a child of God also feels very great anguish of conscience. III. The difference between the natural anguish and the spiritual anguish of a renewed conscience in a child of God.

We read Hebrews 6:4, that there are men who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit. You will say, what sort of men are these, and what will you make of that?

1. First, they are such as Balaam, Numbers 24:3-4, who said: he who hears the words of God speaks, whose eyes are opened speaks, who has seen the vision of the Almighty, who has fallen into a trance. They are such men as Saul, 1 Samuel 10:10: there came a company of prophets to meet him, and he prophesied among them. They are such as the false prophets of whom you read in Jeremiah 23:25: "I have dreamed a dream," they said, "God has revealed it to me." They are such as the false apostles were, 2 Corinthians 11:13: those apostles were deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ — indeed, they could transform themselves into angels of light, just as their king, the devil, can.

2. They are such people as also come diligently under the means, as if they were true believers; it seemed to be a people who had a desire to draw near to God — "you are a dear man," they would say; "they speak of you," says God, "the way one speaks of another, and they say, he is to us like a lovely song, he charms our hearts," Ezekiel 33:31-32.

3. They are such as, coming under the means, do get certain workings: "the word tastes so good to me," they say, "it is so wonderfully pleasant to me, I receive the word with such gladness." Luke 4:22: they stood rigid with astonishment when they saw and heard the Lord Jesus preach: "is that preaching, man," they said, "what pleasant speech is that!"

4. Nor are they only such as are so moved that they seem carried away; they also sometimes become downcast, so that they let their heads hang like a bulrush; the tears sometimes spring from their eyes; they become so sorrowful; they know not what to make of being so moved and stirred. You can see that in Agrippa, Acts 26:28: "well now, man," he said to Paul, "you almost persuade me." It goes so far that their conscience gains more boldness to do its work; they do not want their conscience to find them wanting; indeed, such people are sometimes so moved that they are stirred to what is good, and to take up an entirely different walk of life — and yet a renewed conscience is lacking in them; the saving conversion is lacking in them.

5. They are such people as have many gifts of the Spirit: they have spiritual capacity to pray, to preach, to do mighty works, Matthew 7:22. And however far they may come in that, they nevertheless perish, for they do not have the Spirit of renewal in their heart, which alone truly fits a man for faith. Judas and his like proved that. Saul, too, had the Spirit to awaken his natural conscience, but not to change it. Genesis 6:3: the Spirit strove with the inhabitants of the first world, but there was no true fruit of the Spirit there, Galatians 5:22.

A man, then, can be enlightened, and taste the heavenly gift, and have the Spirit, and yet have no grace: that, I say, he can have, and yet be without grace, for those whom the apostle described in verse 4 fall away in verse 6. Had it been true grace, they would not have fallen away. Where there is true grace, they may often stumble badly, but they never fall utterly down; they are upheld from beneath by everlasting arms, Deuteronomy 33:27; they are included in the intercessory prayer of the Lord Jesus, Luke 22:32, "I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." They shall never perish, John 10:28. Therefore do not gape at the outward show; a man can make a great outward display, and have nothing within. Do you know what to do? Do as we said in our address: examine it closely, then judge a righteous and lawful judgment, and see where you stand.

We were occupied with such matters, and in particular we had come to that close-listening subject, conviction. There are very many kinds of conviction: there are convictions of a natural conscience, and there are those of a spiritual, renewed conscience; there are convictions through judgments; there are convictions through blessings; there are convictions through the sickbed; there are those through examples; there are those through the Word; there are those through a common work of the Spirit; there are those which are a true work of the Spirit. We cannot pass this by without treating each in its own place, as God pleases and we live; and alongside each of those kinds of people we shall set ourselves too, and so pass through between the points. The convictions that come through the conscience we shall examine now, and in doing so show first, that the reprobate can live under heavy convictions of conscience, and go quite far in it; then, that a child of God also lives under heavy convictions; and finally we shall show you the difference between the one and the other.

Attend then to these three points: I. First, the reprobate can live under heavy and dreadful convictions, and have it very hard. II. That a child of God also feels the anguish of his conscience. III. We shall show you the difference between the anguish of a natural and that of a spiritual, renewed conscience.

I. As to the first point: we read often in the Word concerning the conscience. Acts 23:1: "I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day." Acts 24:16: "Herein I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and men." And Romans 9:1, says Paul: "my conscience bears me witness with the Holy Spirit." 2 Corinthians 1:12: "this is our glorying, the testimony of our conscience." 1 Corinthians 4:4: "I know nothing by myself." 1 Peter 3:16: "having a good conscience." Hebrews 10:22: "having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, by the washing of water."

You will say, the conscience — what is it? We cannot lay out our whole subject unless we come down from point to point, and so we say then: there must be a conscience in every man, and there is one — but what is in the conscience? The conscience is such a light in the soul; the conscience is as the eye of God: it is the lamp of the Lord, which walks through and searches all the inner chambers of the belly, where no one can see but God — there too the conscience sees, Proverbs 20:27. The conscience is not only the eye of the soul, but it is also the lawgiver. Will you live according to that law, it says — is that not reasonable? The conscience is one's own examiner; it is one's own judge, over all that one has done and all that one has left undone, whether one might rightly have left it or rightly have done it; it tests it and tries it. Besides that, it is one's own acquitter, when one has acted rightly: "I have nothing against you," it then says; it is then so spacious within, so cheerful, then it is such a clear conscience. But how different when something evil has occurred — then it accuses: "however highly I regard this," it says, "I must disappoint you, I accuse you, I charge you with this — you have done that, and thought that," Romans 2:15. Then it becomes the witness: "must I prove it to you," it says, "I was there, I was present at it and involved in it; you cannot keep the whole conduct and design hidden from me — shall I prove it to you by places, by company, and by deeds? I warned you, but you did not listen; now I will distress you and be your judge; you shall be full of terror and dread — in your going out and in your coming in you shall feel the yoke of God," Deuteronomy 28. Again, I will say, bind him hand and foot, I will testify the evil against you. But I am also your rouser to prayer, to crying out, to humbling yourself, and to begging for grace: do it indeed, my friend — will you then not listen to me? I am the recorder, the register, the one who brings all your deeds to mind, and I will bring it all to your mind when it will pain you most. Now though some may say the conscience is merely a co-knowing, that is not the whole of it: that is the conscience, and without it no man has ever lived his life in this world.

No one can outrun that conscience or master it, though he took ever so many boastful branding-irons to it: his heart burns within him. Were a man ever so ungodly, were he one who in his whole life came under no ministry, were he a Domitian or a Nero, they still had at times, in the midst of their wickedness, to cry the matter out; they hid themselves well in cellars, in caves, under beds, and fled from room to room, when God gave extraordinary tokens of his power in thunder and lightning. See it in Belshazzar, when God gave an extraordinary sign of his power on the wall of the royal palace, Daniel 5. See it in Adoni-bezek, when he sat there under the king's table with his thumbs and great toes cut off, gathering his food; his conscience had to bring the matter home to him and say, God is righteous: "as I have done to seventy kings, cutting off the thumbs and great toes of their hands and feet under my table, so God has repaid me," Judges 1:7. Who can doubt that the ungodly are distressed by it? That is why Paul also says, the sorrow of the world works death, 2 Corinthians 7:10. See it in Pharaoh, a man so hardened that he said, "who is the Lord," Exodus 5:2 — but when he was awakened by his conscience, these words broke from his mouth: "I have sinned against the Lord, pray earnestly for me," Exodus 9:27-28. Who can doubt that conscience did its work, if you look for a moment at a Felix? When Paul spoke of the judgment to come, how distressed was he? He preached of unrighteousness, of intemperance, what sin that was: the conscience said, you are unrighteous and intemperate, and thereupon threatened him with the judgment — how troubled he became! Acts 24:25. Believe me, just as in such monsters the conscience does its work, so it does it also in every sinner. What lives do they lead under the poundings, the pangs, the anguish, the turmoil, and the straits of their spirit, so that they think, I shall yet come to shame. What lives do they lead under anxieties, so that they have as much as they can bear, and as much as they can quiet. That distressing conscience was felt by Cain over his brother's murder; it was felt by Joseph's brothers over what they had done to Joseph; it was felt by Saul over his forsaking of the Lord; it was felt by Herod over his adultery; it was felt by that woman caught in adultery; it was felt by Judas over his betrayal; indeed, many thousands stand under that distressing conscience...

Now a reprobate can carry it far, we said: you will say, how far can a natural conscience go?

1. First, he can be convicted over sins that are not so openly manifest before the world — even a secret sin from which he had neither harm nor shame to expect: they can carry great hidden anguish within themselves, for no man can hide anything from his conscience. What does that conscience do? It always sides with God; even were one to wish to silence it, the conscience says, I have seen it, I side with God — must I not then distress you, it says, Ecclesiastes 7:21-22: your own heart has also often known that you likewise have cursed others. So far can they come, convicted of sins that no one knows but they and God alone.

2. It comes to this, that they find unsettling work of conscience over sins: "ah Lord," they say, "it is so unreasonable, so improper, it is too abominable, too ugly." I do not mean to say that they can be convicted over sin as sin, purely because it goes against the will of God, but because it is so unreasonable and so improper — not over the sin as sin, but over the consequence of the sin. Let me clarify this for you with an example. There is a great, good man, who does a sinner many kindnesses, and that one abuses them very ungratefully: will not his conscience distress him over the unreasonableness of it? It seems to me that it was so with Judas, when he said, "I have betrayed innocent blood, I have sinned, betraying innocent blood," Matthew 27:4; there it was not so much the punishment, the very pain of hell, that played on his mind, as the gross villainy itself; he thought more of that foul deed than of the punishment: "to betray my good, faithful master," he said, "who meant so well by me — my innocent master! Must one repay one's good, innocent master's kindness by betraying him with his own blood!"

3. Nor is it only over sins that go against their temperament and against nature that they have anguish, but also over sins that they love, that they nevertheless do not fare well with. Consider: a man may have a sin of pride, or of unchastity, of greed, or he may love drunkenness, gambling, playing — and yet he hears it preached against powerfully; it pains his heart, he begins to be troubled over it; he does not fare well with drunkenness or with other sins. So it went with Herod, Mark 6: he was troubled over it, though he loved the sin of unchastity. Though Ahab had a great desire for Naboth's vineyard, he was troubled over it, 1 Kings 21.

4. The conscience can bring a man so far, that he belittles himself over sin; indeed, it can happen that a reprobate at first sees more evil in a sin than a child of God. See that in Joab and David. How great was the difference in the numbering of the people? David at first saw no evil in it; Joab saw it at once, 2 Samuel 24:10. You will find that through conscience many have escaped the pollutions of the world, 2 Peter 2:20. A natural conscience is often livelier than that of a child of God.

II. Now we come to the second point: do God's children also know that convicting and anguishing work of conscience? Yes, very much so. David felt more than once the poundings of his heart; Ezra sat appalled; the prodigal son made confession before God and men; the tax collector strikes his breast, and stands afar off; those three thousand on that Pentecost day cried out; Peter wept bitterly: that is easy to prove. They feel it; it does its work in them, and it may well do so, for when it does not do its work in them, that is a bad sign. All this said, you will say, causes such frightful difficulty that I do not know which way to turn — I confess that, which makes me too say: my God, how do I know whether these are the anguishes of a natural conscience, or the anguishes of a graced conscience; whether it is the work of a natural conscience, or the work of the spiritual conscience? I confess it, and gladly grant, that it is a hard matter to distinguish the one from the other. The reasons for the difficulty are these:

1. Because there is no conviction of the renewed conscience through the Spirit without the first being present with it; because that which is through the Spirit and that of a natural conscience are mixed together — is it not difficult to separate water and wine once they are mixed together?

2. There is no one who has spiritual convictions in his conscience without the natural ones being present too; but the natural and the spiritual both display anguish outwardly that looks the same. The natural anguish also makes people sigh and weep at times; it also makes them form some resolution to improve; they make promises, they too would gladly have peace — and so do the others.

3. The third reason is: where there is the greatest sincerity, there is still always some by-motive present; there is always some pretense mixed in; that so often makes them lament, I fear that my work is only that of a merely enlightened conscience, and not one that has been cleansed by grace.

4. Because the conviction of the natural conscience comes so near to that of the spiritual conscience, that unless you look closely, you would take the one for the other. That is why the reprobate will say, I know a time of change, when my conscience once did its work — then I was changed, that I hold to be true, then I was converted.

III. Now our third point: it can nevertheless be distinguished, however close it may come; if you look at it rightly, there is as great a difference between that which is wrought by the Spirit and the natural conscience, as there is between day and night, between summer and winter, between life and death.

1. First, the natural conscience would rather it had no conscience at all: "I wish I did not have it," he says; it is too much for him; could he get rid of it and get past it, he would be glad. That lies hidden within, just as it also lies hidden within, "I wish there were no God" — so he would gladly be rid of it. Whereas the changed conscience says, "oh Lord, I would not be rid of it — it is the awakener of my soul, which keeps it so with God; I would not be rid of it for all the world; how glad I am that I have such a conscience; it is a constant preacher to me, I have such company in it, that so builds me up along my way; I would not be rid of it, I love it so, it is such a treasure to me" — they thank God so much that they have such a conscience. Do you see that distinction well now? It does not always occur to us this way, until we hear it put this way for once. But had you and I been there, would we not have wanted that same good company?

2. Those who have only the anguish of a natural conscience — "oh God," they say, "though I do wish I did not have this conscience, I still cannot get rid of it; I see that I shall have to keep it forever." So they will stop its mouth somewhat; they will take severe branding-irons to quiet it. What branding-irons? These: "I will take on so much business," they say, "that I shall have no time to listen to it; I will go distract myself with that." Cain said, could I not get rid of that? I will go build a city, and there I shall have so much to arrange, how this and that must be, that I shall have no time to listen to my anxious conscience. Then they run after sin; then they do not come under the means; then they do not pray; then they do not read; they run from sin to fear, and from fear again to grievous sin, until the conscience becomes, as it were, dulled and lost. Now how is it with a child of God? "I will never in my life stop your mouth, my dearest conscience; and when you shall be cleansed of guilt and stain, then you shall speak so freely: do I not want your anguishing work — then I must see to it that you are cleansed through the blood and Spirit of Jesus; the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin," 1 John 1:7.

3. The natural conscience, when it wishes to think of serving God, sets itself limits in its doing: one will go only so far and no further; one makes a choice among the commandments of the Lord — this commandment one will keep, and not that one. See it in Naaman the Syrian, 2 Kings 5: he determines beforehand what he will do — if I do this and that, then you must reckon this and that to my credit. How is it with the spiritual conscience? "Oh Lord," it says, "I want to serve you without limit or any reservation." Psalm 119:128: "I have esteemed all your precepts concerning all things to be right; I cannot love, serve, obey, and seek you enough — oh that my ways were directed to keep your statutes! Then I should not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all your commandments," Psalm 119:5-6. "I would gladly serve you perfectly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul, and with my whole mind," Matthew 22:37. That is the third distinction.

4. The fourth is: the natural conscience, which is not renewed by the Spirit, can live with besetting sins; those are its tasty morsels, which it holds fast to; something of the outward things may fall away, but not the besetting sins. Judas went along with his greed for so many years in the very train of the Lord Jesus; Herod loved John well enough, he had such great convictions, but his brother's wife nevertheless slept on in his bosom — that he could not part with. You may not touch that Delilah, be it what it may — pride, wrathfulness, greed — it may remain. The renewed conscience says, "oh God, it neither can nor may remain." Psalm 66:18: "if I had regarded iniquity in my heart." That is its language: should I see any iniquity in my heart? I cannot bear it. Hebrews 12:1: the sin that so easily besets us must go.

5. If you come at the natural conscience about a besetting sin, at most it will say, "I am not doing right" — that is the very utmost. But the renewed conscience says, "I cannot live with that sin; Lord, do you not have some remedy against it? It does not befit me always to have it — but rather, should it be that I never in my life overcome it, and so never get past it, then I would rather, than to have to go on living with it, that you should take me away, if that could be to your honor; but if that cannot be, then I will stand with a Paul and say, that what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, that I do — wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" Romans 7:15, 24. Do not think that comes from a natural conscience.

6. The natural conscience will urge you to outward virtues, and will be so proud and so haughty over it once you begin to improve a little: but if it is a renewed conscience, it will indeed also urge you to improve, but in doing so it will make itself so small. Paul said, "I have labored more than they all" — but what may I say, he means? "Not I, but the grace that is with me; I am the least of all," 1 Corinthians 15:10. Others are like that Pharisee: "I fast twice a week, I am glad that I am not like other men, I give tithes of all that I possess," Luke 18:11-12.

7. You will see that the natural conscience is set more on outward profession and decorum than on inward sanctification; if it has a lamp that burns just as long as it lives, then that is well enough for it, Matthew 25. The other says, "ah Lord, my meager sanctification! Ah Lord, I make no progress in sanctification! Ah Lord, sanctify me wholly and entirely, my whole soul and body," 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

8. The natural conscience wants to press straight ahead; at first it runs so eagerly, it strains itself so hard; but when it sees the trouble and the cost, it begins to slow, to stand still, to diminish, to fall back — finally it stalls altogether. But the spiritual conscience does not want to outrun another; they are so emptied of themselves; and once truly helped, they keep on going — to their deathbed they remain the same. Job 17:9: the righteous shall hold on his way. Revelation 2:19: "I know your works, and your last works are more than the first."

This was at first a very difficult subject for us, but now it is very clear, now that we have seen all these distinctions. Examine them, you may well weigh them, you will find them scriptural in every point. Are you now bruised reeds — the Lord will not break you; such distinguishing words are given for that very purpose. Now you can weigh it and examine yourself, and see whether you find the true work within you; see now, whether you find in yourself the natural or the renewed conscience. Whoever finds only the natural anguish — what does it help? They are but the beginnings of hell. But the other, God will crown with lovingkindness and mercy and compassion. You cannot be quieted except through the blood and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ; then the Lord will crown and bless your work, and he will bring you into a place where there is nothing but everlasting rest and gladness, where there will no more be any anguish of conscience. I hope that the Lord will bless this to us all, to his own honor. Amen.

Sermon 30

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which are shown: I. First, that the ungodly get very heavy convictions through judgments. II. That a child of God also gets heavy convictions under judgments. III. The difference between the two.

We read in Psalm 38 at verse 18, that David says: ah Lord, I am troubled because of my sin. The greatest in grace have indeed the most trouble over it. A Christian who is truly exercised about his spiritual condition has the most concern as to whether he is dead or alive, whether he is in grace or in the state of nature, whether he stands in God's favor or finds himself under God's wrath. Can a man in his life come to settled comfort of soul, or have settled comfort of soul, unless he knows how his affairs stand before God? You may live in the world, and I too, but we shall never in our life have settled comfort, unless we know in which of the aforementioned states our soul stands.

This is a matter of great importance, in which a poor man could easily and grievously deceive himself, if he is not watchful and on his guard. Why? Because our heart is so deceitful, and the devil a deceiver, and they continually conspire together; if one is not careful about this, our heart, which so loves to hear pleasant things, would all too readily assure us that all is well. Jeremiah 17:9: the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked — who can know it? And therefore one must distrust it. Yes, the devil, that deceiver, conspires with that heart: I must promise you something good, he says. Paul had such experience of this, he had learned it by experience, 2 Corinthians 2:11: his devices are not unknown to us. Satan's wiles are manifold. To this is added, that a man can be spiritually dead, and yet make so fair a show outwardly, that he gets a name and reputation for being alive, Revelation 3:1: they had a name that they lived, and they were dead. To this is added this: a man who displays a form of godliness makes so great a show of it, in his own eyes and those of others, that he deceives both himself and others. Matthew 22:12: there came in even such a one to the wedding hall. The apostle, who saw that, says, 2 Corinthians 11:14, the devil can transform himself into an angel of light. He did that with God concerning Job too: what, he said, do you make so much of Job? Well, it is only for his own advantage that he does it; he would have to be far purer before he served you merely because you were worthy of it, Job 1. So the devil knows how to transform himself into an angel of light. What does the apostle say — is that not something great? The devil's ministers know how to transform themselves as if they were ministers of righteousness, 2 Corinthians 11:13. On the other side there is this too: those who indeed have grace in their heart sometimes have such small grace, and are least aware of it in their own feeling and thought; the kingdom of heaven is at times like a small mustard seed, Matthew 13:31; it is at times a bruised reed, Matthew 12:20. It is sometimes so, that a man cannot perceive his own grace. To this is added, that one who possesses only a form of godliness, at his very best and finest, and a true child of God, at his very worst, come very close to one another: that makes the distinction all the harder, and makes the trouble all the greater; so that, when someone is troubled, and the trouble concerns his spiritual state, it cannot be but that he will go digging and searching deep; and you will not be rid of that trouble — as long as you live, that trouble and unrest will continue over it, until you come into possession of the outcome.

What a happy man is he who is troubled about his spiritual condition, and when there is then someone who watches over his soul, and sets his heart upon the flock, and knows how to distinguish the one thing from the other, to separate the precious from the vile, to give the perplexed a message, and to touch the deceiver without strengthening him, and not to grieve the heart of the righteous! When such troubled souls meet with such a one, whose feet must be so lovely upon the mountains, then such a one must always also be watchful and attentive. Where there is such a one, who gives each his rightful due, they must always think: ah, we must not cause sighing to those who have done nothing to deserve it from us.

We have, according to our small ability, occupied ourselves for some time now with the marks of the state of grace, and in particular with that of conviction, which a man experiences in the course of his life. Today is the fifth occasion that we, through God's great goodness, speak with you of this. Last time we said that a man can have heavy convictions through his conscience, and mistake these for convictions through the Spirit, and so deceive himself; then, that the godly too could have heavy convictions through the Spirit, and mistake these for convictions that occur only through the conscience — which was also a mistake: on that we instructed you. There remained for us: first, that the ungodly too can get heavy convictions through judgments and visitations; then, that the godly also get heavy convictions through such strokes; then, that the difference is great between the one and the other. I say, the one has convictions under the strokes, but they are not the genuine sort; the other also has convictions under the strokes, but has spiritual work along with them. What difference is there between these two? These are our three points; attend a little to these three matters.

I. An unregenerate man often receives heavy strokes, and has anguish and distress; God works heavy convictions in him. II. The elect, regenerate man also often receives heavy strokes, and has anguish and distress. III. The differing effects that the judgments produce in the one and in the other — the difference is great.

I. As to the first: many a sinner receives pangs and terrors in his heart; God sends him plagues, judgments, and visitations. Nor does it always go so easily for the ungodly, that they have no bonds even unto death — the wrath of God is at times revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, Romans 1:18. Their houses are not always joyful ones; they too have strokes; there come into the houses of the ungodly too heavy strokes and grievous judgments, upon husband, wife, children; in their trade and calling things do not go well, everything goes against them; they would well say, if you met them, "call me not Naomi, but call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me," Ruth 1:20; "he writes bitter things against me," Job 13:26. Not only that, but a village, a city, a government, a church — it too at times goes hard-pressed under strokes: there black clouds hang, which begin to pour down, dreadful visitations come. See it in the first world: after the fall the whole world became a hospital of misery; God contended with all manner of judgments, until the waters came and took them all away, Matthew 24:37-39. In the second world: look at Lot's wife, says Jesus, Luke 17:32; look at Pharaoh, at the earth swallowing Korah, Dathan, and Abiram — they were remarkably overturned by the judgments. From these things it appears that God does visit the ungodly, and God has caused this to be recorded for us as examples and for a warning, that we should not lust after their sins, 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11. "If you do not repent," says the Savior, "you shall all likewise perish," Luke 13:3. See then, God chastises the ungodly too. Now, being so situated, what does it work in them? It works convictions in them. It is not always so that God must say, they are stricken, but they have not felt any pain, as in Jeremiah 5:3 and Isaiah 1:5: to what purpose should you be stricken any more — you would only increase the revolt. Their heart is not always like a diamond, it does not always go that way. What then does it work in them?

1. They lie there weeping; tears come; you would find them weeping on their beds, going about wailing. See it in the Book of Judges 2:4-5: an angel comes there, who shows them God's judgments; they weep themselves into water, as it were, and they name the place Bochim. Jeremiah 30:15: why do you cry out over your affliction, that your sorrow is incurable? The first thing is, over the judgments you will find them in tears.

2. Those judgments work upon the heart of the ungodly so effectively, that you have no trouble convincing them of their guilt and of divine righteousness: they will readily acknowledge that it is because of their sinful conduct, and they justify God in what he does; then confession of sins follows; it would all come out, whatever is in their heart, even to their shame — indeed, then they acknowledge the righteousness of God. Pharaoh, so roused when he was struck, was pressed by his conscience to say, I and my people are wicked, but the Lord is righteous, Exodus 9:27. See it too in the great confession of Ezra, and of Nehemiah, and of Daniel; there the whole people stood and made confession along with them.

3. Wherever God strikes, they humble themselves, they weep, and make promises — as many as you like — that they will amend themselves. Psalm 80: let us live, we will no more turn back from you; only help us this once, Lord, we ask but this one deliverance, and if we do not then amend, never again. So Pharaoh did: pray earnestly to the Lord, and I will let Israel go.

4. Besides that, it works this in them too, a visible humbling: they lay aside their finery, and would even go to the very utmost extreme. See that in Ahab: he let his head hang like a bulrush in a sack, and put ashes on his head, and went about slowly — it was a great self-abasement! 1 Kings 21:27. The king of Nineveh — he rises from his throne, they put ashes on their heads, they put on sackcloth, and neither man nor beast might eat or taste anything, Jonah 3:5-8. Indeed, it goes so far, that you will not even see the like of it in God's own children.

5. It goes so high, that they themselves keep a fast day; they let a day of prayer be appointed, they have nothing against it. Zechariah 7:5: have we not afflicted our souls, one day only, but twice a year, in the fifth and in the seventh month, kept a day of prayer? Jonah 3: there a whole kingdom fasted, and they perhaps did it even better than we — the king, the great, the small, even the beasts.

6. So far do they go, that in private and in company they speak with one another about how they shall come to meet God. Micah 6:6-7: Lord, they say, what would you have — our children, our goods, our cattle? Would you have the best of the land, we will bring it to you in abundance? No, says God.

7. It works this in them too, that they enter into a covenant with God: then it is, I swear to you, that I will truly serve you, Ezra 10, Nehemiah 10, Jeremiah 34. When you get home, read that last remarkable chapter; you will find such wonderful things in it. They were pressed hard by the Chaldeans: we will enter into a covenant with you, they say to the Lord; there they take a calf and cut the pieces in two; we will amend ourselves, they say, and each will let his manservant and maidservant go free. That was done — but no sooner was the trouble past, than it was undone.

8. It works this too, even in those who had before mocked at it and said, the Lord does neither good nor evil, and who is the Lord! Then it is: this is the finger of God! This is a rod that God has appointed; this is not by chance, said the Philistines, but it is the hand of God, 1 Samuel 6. That ungodly king, when Samaria was besieged, said, this evil is from the Lord, 2 Kings 6:33.

II. You will say in your heart, do the judgments also work convictions in a child of God? God visits them too at times with judgments, but it does such a good work in them; it truly brings them to true repentance, and to such a humbled condition, that they come through it to faith and joy. Look for a moment at a Manasseh, one of the elect, so wicked a man, 2 Chronicles 33:11-13: they brought him to such repentance, that he humbled himself before the Lord. See it in the prodigal son: he came to the utmost extremity, then he knew no other counsel: I will arise, he said, and go confess what a wretched man I am, and see whether I can yet be set right, Luke 15:14-20. Look for a moment at a thief on the cross: he fell down before God there on the cross; he would not have done it for men's sake, and perhaps not even for justice's sake; and there he is convicted, by means of that sharp judgment, Luke 23:42. Look for a moment at a Job, a David, and others: their own words tell it. See it in Job: now my eye sees you, and now I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes, Job 42:5-6. How convicted was David, when he was chastened by the sickness of his child? 2 Samuel 12. How often were the godly not made small, when God pressed them? Jonah, tossed by the storm at sea and swallowed by the fish — how was he not made pliant? Paul, by that sharp thorn in the flesh — did it not work in him humility, in place of the pride he might otherwise have had? The bonds of misery work great convictions in a child of God. There you have our second point.

III. Now we must see the third point, on which everything turns: what difference is there between the one and the other? You will see an ungodly man standing beside a godly man, and the ungodly will often make a greater display than the godly — is there indeed a difference? Yes. Attend to it:

1. First, before a sinner comes under judgments, someone comes to him beforehand and says, God will visit you — be his friend now. He does not believe it, he mocks at it; it finds no entrance: that will not touch me, he says, that vision is yet for many days off, God does neither good nor evil, I shall have peace, though I walk after the imagination of my own heart, Deuteronomy 29:19. But once he is actually visited — look at him closely then, and if you say to him now, God will visit you, then he would readily press and strike you for it. Then men mock the prophets, 2 Chronicles 36:16. But how is it with a child of God, who is troubled? Someone comes and says, that will not go well for you, God will require that at home, that idol, that tasty morsel: I believe it, he says, I accept it, I already believed it before you told me, I do not set it far off. 2 Chronicles 34:19-22: there is the book of the law of Moses, said the king; he read in it: ah, he said, I believe it will come, my heart is so tender, so troubled; go and ask the prophetess whether it will come soon. 2 Samuel 24: there the prophet Gad comes to David with a hard message: what will you have — the pestilence three days, or famine in your land, or to flee before the face of your enemies? What does he do? Does he set it far off? Oh no, but it finds entrance: I believe it, ah man, it goes so hard with me. That is the first distinction.

2. The second distinction between the one and the other lies in this: when a man has a commission from a higher hand, and says, whether you like it or not, whether you mock at it or not, I know from whom I have my message, and I will nevertheless declare it to you — and when someone is faithful to that commission, then the ungodly grow angry, and would do I know not what to him, and say, hold your tongue, and let others speak who flatter us; then they hate the Micaiahs, the Elijahs, the Amoses, and their like; that man, they said of Jeremiah, chapter 38:4, does not seek the peace of this people, but their harm — we and the people cannot bear him. Such they would gladly send away; they strike him, and put him in prison, and feed him with the bread and water of affliction: away, they say, with such preaching, we will not understand it; if you speak so, it will cost you your life — and they think themselves great masters by it. Poor worms! That is then — you have killed the prophets of the Lord, whom I sent to you, Matthew 23:37: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets, and stone those whom I send to you. How is it with the godly? There comes a man of God, who says, your way is not right, and speaks as a son of thunder: I have nothing against you, they say, but I hate those who flatter with false mortar; I would distrust them, and would still ask after a faithful man, though a hundred flatterers stood there. So Jehoshaphat urged, 1 Kings 22:7-8; they have their eye on such men, and say, is there not yet a faithful, tested man here? I hate him, said Ahab, he prophesies no good concerning me; ah, king, said Jehoshaphat, do not speak so, I love such men — let him be called, I would gladly hear him speak.

3. The third distinction is: when a sinner humbles himself under the strokes, it is only feigned; let the judgments only pass, and it makes no difference to him whether God is his friend or his enemy. That is plain from the Word. Jeremiah 44:10: they had had so many visitations, and now had to go out of the land, and what did the prophet say of them? Even to this day you are not yet crushed in heart. The godly, when they humble themselves, do it so sincerely and so heartily. Joel 2:13: rend your heart, and not your garments. The prophets so often said, O my bowels, my bowels! The walls of my heart! My heart makes a noise in me, Jeremiah 4:19. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise, Psalm 51:17. Ah Lord, they say, though I weep, promise, confess — if it is without heart, then it is nothing at all. That is the third distinction.

4. Now the fourth: you may perhaps have been under visitations yourself — lay your own heart alongside this. As soon as such a one humbles himself before the Lord, no sooner do the visitations cease, than the humbling also ceases; and they would readily say, I am at liberty to do abominations again; should I go on living as befits a humbled person — that would be a burden to me; it is a dreadful thing in their eyes, they cannot resolve to be an enemy to all sin; and as for their course of life, they go right on sinning, against the checks of conscience and of the judgments, Romans 1. But how is it with a child of God, who humbles himself before the Lord? Should I turn again to folly, he says? No more bitter thing could come upon me. Should I ever repay the Lord by going back to sin, now that I have been rescued? Should I return evil for good to God? Far be it.

5. Add to this yet a fifth distinction, and it is this: that the sinner, under the visiting hand of God, says, what is the use of this loss? There is surely no profit in it — will you tear down what you have built? The way of the Lord is not right, Ezekiel 33:17. How is it with the godly? Ah Lord, they say, it seems as if you strike me, but it is no harm — at the end of the striking rod there is honey. Psalm 119:71: it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes; and verse 67: before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. It is quite different with them than with the ungodly. Jeremiah 24:5: those good figs I have sent away to the land of the Chaldeans, for their good. Though there is affliction, says a child of God, it does no harm — it is like a bitter medicine, there is a healing power in it, it purifies from sin, Romans 8:28. Look for a moment at the case of Joseph: first his brothers throw him into the pit; then they draw him out again; they sell him; then he is sold again; then slandered; then imprisoned; then he becomes second in the kingdom — what did he say to his brothers? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, Genesis 50:20.

6. The sixth distinction is: the sinner under affliction may say, God is righteous, but in his heart he rages against God, and is angry and restless. Isaiah 8:21: they shall pass through it hard pressed, and curse their God and their king. The godly, on the contrary, though their mouth often does not say so fully that God is righteous, their heart says it. It is: O my soul, be silent before God, Psalm 62:5; and Psalm 51:4, God is righteous in his speaking and pure in his judging. Nehemiah 9:33: God is righteous in all that has come upon us. Psalm 119:137: Lord, you are righteous, and every one of your judgments is right. But they say this more with their spirit than with their mouth.

7. The seventh distinction is: under judgments the ungodly complain only of the visitations — this or that visitation pains me so, that has gone so much against me, that did not turn out well for me. But the godly complain mostly of their sin. What does a living soul complain of? Let every man complain because of his own sins, Lamentations 3:39. They complain of their sinful heart, of their sinful deeds, of their sinful intentions: it is so evil and so bitter, they say, that it reaches even to my heart, Jeremiah 4:18. What do you think? Have you ever been under visitation — how did it go with you? Have you experienced the frame of the godly or of the ungodly? Micah 7:9: I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.

8. An eighth distinction is: the ungodly learn little under the visiting hand, but the godly are made wiser by it. The ungodly are like a silly dove without a heart, Hosea 7:11. Though grace is shown to the ungodly, he still does not learn righteousness, but deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, Isaiah 26:10. The godly are taught by it. What does he learn by it? Let me tell you briefly.

a) First, ah Lord, he says, I come to know so many passages of the Bible through it. Luther used to say, when I was afflicted, I came to know so many passages of the Bible; I did not know what it was to sing like a goldfinch on a dry twig — oh, what prison-singing that is, when a soul is in affliction! Then I learned to know the Bible rightly.

b) They also come to know sin rightly. On a sickbed, under the cross and under strokes, God teaches a Christian to know sin better than through ten or a hundred sermons. Sin is to them often only like a painted lion, before they are afflicted; but when the affliction comes, then sin becomes to them like a fearsome living lion; then they come to know the ugliness of sin. You can see the dreadfulness of sin best of all in the mirror of affliction.

c) They come to know themselves by it. Ah, they say, I did not know I had such a wicked heart as now, now that you lay your hand upon me! Ah Lord, I did not know my corruptions were so strong, and my grace so weak, until you wrote bitter things against me.

d) They learn by it how bound up they are with the creature, of which they should be free. Ah Lord, how many idols I have! When yet I may have no one beside you, Psalm 73:25.

e) In the cross they find a crown hanging. It has been good for me, they say, that I have been afflicted, Psalm 119:71. Does the godly one fare better before God, in his prosperity or in his adversity and affliction? They say, it has been better for me in adversity: that has been a means by which I have gone toward heaven, and by which I have remained on the way. No vessel of good gold is made without fire; no vessel of mercy is made without adversity either.

f) They learn by it too how the devil stands put to shame; indeed, in adversity they will say, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him — I will nevertheless remain with God! Job 13:15. Job 1 and 2: there stood the devil, and said, it is not for God's sake that Job serves, but for his children and his flocks; but Job showed well that it was not for the sake of the sheep, but for God's sake, that he served.

g) Finally, to say it in a word: the cross is as necessary to God's children as the pillows of his mouth, and as necessary as God's own instituted ordinances, the means of grace.

See there again the distinction. Are you troubled about your spiritual condition — lay yourself now alongside the convictions of the ungodly and of the godly, and see whether you are in the state of grace. If you are not yet in it, seek to come into it; seek to take something with you from these distinctions; keep it in mind, and see whether you can make a declaration before God. The godly are constantly occupied in seeking, digging, and searching deep, so as to be able to reach a clear distinction. A child of God can have no satisfaction, nor live with any pleasure, unless he knows how his affairs stand before God. Now I hope that God will bring me and each of you to that, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 31

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which is found: I. That God blesses the ungodly, and that this works conviction in them. II. That God also blesses the godly, and that this too works conviction in them. III. The difference between the two. IV. How one must pass between the points, and see how it is with us, so that we may know where we stand.

We read Jeremiah 5:3, that the prophet said: ah Lord, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck this people, but they have felt no pain; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; ah Lord, they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return. Lord, have you not seen that, says the prophet? Yes, said the Lord.

The ungodly, though he deserves strokes every day, and though he actually receives them every day, is not thereby improved; you cannot get him off his wicked way. Amos 4: there God recounts a whole list of strokes: I have withheld the rain, sent the plague, blight, mildew — and what came of it? Yet, said God, you have not returned to me. Jeremiah 6:29-30: ah God, said the prophet, the founder has diligently melted, the bellows are burned, the lead is consumed — but how did it go with the dross of sin? It was not removed by it; they remained a reprobate silver; and instead of becoming better, they became worse through the strokes; they even said that God was unjust when he punished — is that not a hard word, they said, Matthew 25:24. They become like that monster, 2 Chronicles 28:22: at the time when he was distressed, he trespassed yet more against the Lord — that was King Ahaz. That monster stands so depicted there. Instead of improving by it, they became like the devil, and like the damned in hell; they would even blaspheme God. Isaiah 8:21: they curse their God, and their king. What then? Then one of these things happens.

a) First, then there comes upon them what we read, Proverbs 29:1: a man who, being often reproved, hardens his neck, shall suddenly be broken, and that without remedy. Then God comes at times with judgments: sickness comes, a stroke comes, a sudden calamity comes — in a moment they are gone. There come not only temporal but spiritual and eternal judgments, which crush them; in a short while they are gone. Psalm 73:19: they are consumed as in a moment. This night, said God, you fool, your soul shall be required of you and taken away, Luke 12:20.

b) If God does not do that, then he takes another way with them. "Let me fill you up to the very throat with blessings," he says, "so that your mouth would be stopped, so that I might make you inexcusable before me. I will try you by blessings; I have determined to pour out a whole window of blessings upon you — will you then despise that? Surely you will then bow before me?" Beloved, if you or I had had an enemy on whom we did nothing but good, do you think he could always bear that? Would he not have to say of us at last, he is better than I? God said it: if you find your enemy hungry, feed him, if thirsty, give him drink; in so doing you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, Romans 12:20. Would he not have to say, I must indeed love you, I can do you no more harm; I have done you harm, and you show me your love — there is my love again in return? Now the great God comes to the sinner and says, will I return good for evil, will I bless you, will I do you good beyond measure, and let me see now what effect that will have — will you become convicted?

You know that we are occupied with the subject of convictions. Last time we saw how God convicts the ungodly, and also his own children, through judgments. Now we must consider that God also convicts them through blessings. To do this properly, we must attend to:

I. First, that God gives the ungodly great blessings in the course of their life; thereby he brings them to great convictions. II. God also brings his children along the way of blessings; that has this effect, that it convicts them. III. The difference between the convictions of the godly and of the ungodly. IV. Since there are those who are often greatly blessed, let us set ourselves between these points, and judge.

Those are the four small points we must consider: first, God uses this means of blessings to bring the sinner to stand before him; then, God takes this same means and uses it also for his children; then, the ungodly sinner being convicted, and the godly being convicted, the difference is exceedingly great; finally, let us then set ourselves between these points in solitude, and, while we hear it, say, my God, how is it with me?

1. As to the first: God brings the ungodly along the way of blessings, he shows them much favor. Do you want to see that clearly? Then attend.

1. First, he sets the blessings before them, he promises them, if they will serve him. You have that in Leviticus 26:1-12, and Deuteronomy 28:1-14. If you will serve me and be obedient, says God, all those blessings shall follow you. And in the New Testament you have the same, 1 Timothy 4:8: godliness is profitable unto all things, it has the promise of this life, and of that which is to come.

2. God takes a way of blessings with them; you can see that, how there hangs a cloud of blessings over the whole world, which stands there and drips upon every little creature in its season, and especially over the ungodly. God is good in all his works; his mercies are over all his works, Psalm 145:9, 17. The Lord Jesus said, my Father makes his sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust, Matthew 5:45. He does not leave himself without witness among us, but does us good continually from heaven, giving us rain and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness, Acts 14:17. You can grasp it with your own hands, that God does good. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, James 1:17. There hangs, as it were, a cloud of blessings the whole year through, over the world. Just as God now lets rain fall upon sand and shore and thorns, and lays the dew as much upon a little thistle as upon a lovely rose and flower: so God also does to the ungodly, he blesses them.

3. The ungodly being so blessed — to what end does God give them those blessings? That they should be led by them to conversion, Romans 2:4, and Isaiah 5:1-2: I have planted you on a fertile hill, and I have expected that you would bring forth good grapes. And God could rightly expect that, for to that end he lays manure to the tree, to make it good: I use my goodness as a means to make you good, says God.

4. You can see that, when the Lord, through faithful men, has them addressed at times, and says, now I have set before you the blessing and the curse, choose now, Deuteronomy 30:19 — what do you choose now?

5. The ungodly must themselves acknowledge and say, God does so well by me; when they are alone in their room, they must sometimes say, ah God, it goes far beyond my imagining. Malachi 3:15: we call the proud happy; even those who do wickedness are built up; even those who tempt the Lord escape.

6. God shows it, when he says, sinner, if you are not changed nor improved by all my blessings, then I will curse every one of your blessings, Malachi 2:2.

7. That they are blessed is plain, for many a saint could not bear it — Job 21, Jeremiah 12, Psalm 73, Psalm 37. They vexed their souls over it.

8. Lastly, we have examples of blessed ungodly men who were great. See it in an Ishmael; he was so blessed, that many princes and kings came forth from him. Likewise from an Esau, who dared to say to his brother, I have enough, Genesis 33:9. What a great man was Naaman? And that Nabal — how blessed was he! See it in that thriving Capernaum, exalted to heaven, Matthew 11:23. What great abundance did that rich man make? His field brought forth double, and therefore he said in his heart, surely I must make my barns larger; he knew not what to do with all his produce, Luke 12:16-18. God said, you are grown fat, you have become thick, Deuteronomy 32:15.

Does it always go so with them, that God must say, as he blesses them, an ox knows its owner, but Israel does not understand? Isaiah 1:3. No, it does not always go that way. Does it always go so, that God must say, they have hewn themselves out broken cisterns, Jeremiah 2:13? No — but the yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily favor that God shows the ungodly does sometimes have a good effect. That favor, which flows from the silver streams of blessings, that fountain of blessings, springing from those lovely sunbeams of God's benefits, makes them see who God is, who does them these kindnesses; who he is, on whom the kindnesses are bestowed; and the kindnesses themselves. Who is God, the Lord? they say — ah, he is that most perfect being, who receives nothing from me; I can bring him nothing. Who am I? A poor, small, sinful, ungrateful, unworthy creature. What kindnesses does he show me? They are so great, in the natural realm, in the civil realm, in the spiritual realm, it is all so glorious. Psalm 71:15: they are so many, that I must say I do not know the number. Psalm 139:18: I cannot count them. I would have to say, as Psalm 40:5, I cannot recount them in order. I would have to say, as Psalm 36:7, how precious is your lovingkindness, O God! I cannot value them as they deserve.

What then do those kindnesses work in the heart of the ungodly? Do you know what? This: ah God, you are so good to me; you could long ago have thrown me into hell, it could all have been over with me long ago; there are so many who were born on the same day or night as I was, who were raised with me, whom I have kept company with, who are already long gone. Ah God, how good you are! You have made me, and you have not placed me among the poor, but among the rich: why did you not place me among the poor, so that I would have had to live on the charity of others? You are so good to me. Therefore you have brought me to such a state, that the eyes of my menservants and maidservants must be on my eyes and my hands? Why must I not look upon their eyes and their hands? You are so good to me, that I find favor and regard among men, so that everyone bows before me, as it were.

God, who sets me apart? Why do you do this to me? I would never in my life have believed that I would reach such a height of blessings. Indeed, they go so far as to say, my soul is convinced that it must love you, honor you, obey you, fear you; I am convinced that I must devote myself to you; you have never done me harm, but always good; I have never found any injustice in all your dealings, I have never had to complain of your doings; but I must complain of myself, that I have grieved your Spirit, and sinned against all your blessings; I am a stinking grave, all your blessings I have buried, I have never answered them; I declare that I am not worthy to behold your heaven, much less to enter into it; I am not worthy to draw your air; I am not worthy to tread the earth on which you have set me; for my sins' sake I am cursed, and I have made myself unworthy to enjoy any of your favor toward soul or body; I deserve only to be cast out from everything, and that you should strip me naked, as on the day I was born, and that you should make me experience what it is to despise the riches of your forbearance, and to have treasured up for oneself a store of wrath, Romans 2:5-6. They can go so far as to give open thanks. Luke 18:11: God, I thank you, that I am not as other men. They can come so far, that all the good of the world cannot help them in their own eyes. Mark 10:17: that will not bring me to heaven — what shall I do, that I may come to heaven, that I may inherit eternal life? They can come so far, that when someone says to them, God has blessed you so, they stand there weeping over it. 2 Kings 8:13: there you have such an example in that Hazael: what will you become, said the prophet, and what will you do? Should I do that — I, a dead dog? Who am I, that I should do such a thing? So far can blessings bring an ungodly man. And then finally they bring it about, that thereby they come to an irreproachable outward conduct: they are outwardly exceedingly decorous, when it is at its best. We are speaking of convictions through blessings; otherwise there are ungodly men who simply let it all slide by, who are never convicted at all.

II. Now we have the second point. God's children also have blessings; it is not always affliction and adversity with them, it is sometimes honey; their rocks sometimes yield streams of oil; they hardly have a single cross; it is all so easy, so pleasant, in their house, in their children. Look for a moment at an Abraham and a Lot: those two men prospered so, that the land where they were could no longer support them; they were so blessed, that the land was not able to sustain them both with all they had; they had to separate, Genesis 13. See it in a Jacob: he lay there on his deathbed, and said, God has fed me all my life long to this day; there he goes over what he had enjoyed — Jacob on his deathbed, and he said, that angel who has been with me, I wish that he may be with these lads too, with Ephraim and Manasseh, Genesis 48; and Genesis 32: there he stands with his two great companies before the Jordan, with his wife and children, with his menservants and maidservants, and all his cattle; my God, he said, now I have become two such camps, whereas before I was such a poor man — what a matter for thanksgiving is that! I cannot get over it. We read a remarkable thing of David, 1 Chronicles 29:28, that he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor. What is that, full of days? This, that he said, Lord, I have lived long enough! I do not wish to live one day longer. What is full of riches? That is to say, what are gold and silver — they mean nothing more to me. And what is full of honor? However much honor and glory one enjoys, I am so full of it, all that bowing and scraping; I wish for no more show of honor, he said, but I must cry out, what is man, that you are mindful of him? Psalm 8:4. What is man, that you make so much of him, that you set your heart so upon him? Job 7:17. They too stand convicted over it. There you have our second point.

III. Now the third point. Here the godly are distinguished from the ungodly: the spiritual man discerns all things — this belongs there, and that belongs there, 1 Corinthians 2:15. They say, my God, I see your dealings toward the ungodly in blessings, and toward me as well; I see, Lord, that they remained ungodly, but that I cannot say of myself. Ah, what a difference there is between us! Beloved, attend yet a little further: we shall set out five or six distinctions, by which you will be able to know, when a sinner is convicted through blessings, that it is nevertheless not good. Now when a sinner is convicted through blessings, and wants to go so far, from what does it appear then that his convictions are not good?

1. First, from the secret false conclusion that he draws from it: they always draw such great false conclusions from it: it goes so well, they say, with me as to my soul, because it goes so well with me as to my body; he attaches spiritual blessings to it: would God, he says, not love me — would I go on losing eternal blessings — now that God so provides for me in all these blessings? Would God not have chosen me? Would the Lord Jesus not be my Savior? When that comes into your heart, turn back from it. Ecclesiastes 9:1-2: no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before him; all things come alike to all, to the righteous and to the wicked, to him who fears God and to him who fears him not. Indeed, it is plain that your ground is not good, for those who love God most, they indeed have the most cross, Matthew 7:13 and Psalm 73:14. That is clear.

2. Now a second distinction. Do you want to know whether your convictions are not good? They are not good, when the blessings cause you to break out into a multitude of sins, notwithstanding that you are so convicted. Proverbs 30:9: O God, said the man, I might forsake you in great prosperity, and not think of you at all. You may have your good moods, but that is only for a moment. Then comes excess, wanton pride, wantonness, arrogance; they abuse the creature, and use it against its own groaning; they stick up their heads. If it is so with you, take heed of it — then you must hold your convictions suspect.

3. You must hold them suspect, when you secretly give more honor to yourself or to others than to God: when it creeps into your heart, I have been wiser and more diligent than others; I have so many friends, and through that I have this blessing — your friends you have had to flatter, in order to keep them as your friends, overlooking their faults. Deuteronomy 8:17: say not, by our own wisdom and strength we have gotten this wealth. Habakkuk 1:16: they burned incense to their own nets. If it is so arranged with you, you must not then think that it is well with you.

4. Then your convictions are not good, when you cling more to the blessings than to God; you would sooner let God go, so as still to keep a blessing, than let a blessing go, so as to keep God. How anxious one is then, when one must part with it! Then one lies and chirps like a swallow, and moans like a dove, longing for a lengthening of life, so as to remain still in one's house, with one's wife, children, and friends. That was the fault of Hezekiah too, Isaiah 38.

5. Once more, they are not good, when you see that you obtain your blessings by a sinful way, by entering upon a course of sin: often they gain great growth alongside sin, like a bulrush beside a ditch; but it is better to be small and poor than great and sinful.

6. Then they are not good, when the blessings lull someone into a sleep of carelessness; they are like sleeping draughts, he does nothing but slumber, and that will finally bring him to a dreadful sleep of death; he has no concern over the loss of his soul — indeed, he has no more concern about anything, and he is like Moab, which has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, Jeremiah 48:11.

Now you will say, convictions through blessings — when does it appear that such convictions through blessings are of the right kind?

1. First, when such a one, with all the blessings, with lap and arm full of blessings, comes to God, and is made so humble by them. 2 Samuel 7:18: King David went in, and sat before the face of the Lord, and he said, who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far! That you should have made me king, when I was following the sheep, and now set me over such a great people, and promise that the Messiah shall come forth from me; you have so blessed my house: what more shall your servant say? Here I am; I have no words to express my humbling over it. When you come before God, you say indeed, Lord, why have you made me better off than others? Why am I not a beggar? Why do I have a cup of honey, and another a cup of wormwood? Why does another have a cup of blood, and I gladness? Indeed, most beloved Lord, another may perhaps be far better than I in grace: why then do you give me every day such a whole mountain of blessings to enjoy? That humbles them.

2. It has such a melting influence upon their soul. What kind of influence? An influence of love. Ah, how I love you, Lord, they say — many waters could not quench this love, nor could the floods drown it, Song of Songs 8:7. I will love you dearly, Lord, my strength, Psalm 18:1. I love the Lord, Psalm 116:1. I need no other token of it: Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you, John 21:17. The judgments make the godly devout, but the blessings make them love God so intimately: there they stand with tears of love in their eyes before God, just as Saul once stood before David, when he had cut off the skirt of his robe: you could have taken my head, he said — and he lifted up his voice and wept, 1 Samuel 24.

3. When the convictions are good, they make one — just as in the ungodly they make a breeding-nest of sin — fruitful in virtues: like a field, the more manure laid upon it, the more fruit it then brings forth, so, when it is well, they too are filled with the fruits of righteousness, Philippians 1:11. When they come upon the blessing of God, they say, you have given me this, and yet my foot has not departed from your path; they make themselves so tender, so careful, so sincere, so godly, so devout: I have not departed from you because of it. Those are of the right, good sort.

4. Then they are good, when such a one says, ah, I have my heart and my mouth full of praise, over all the good God gives me: they go and speak it out, they cannot keep it silent, but they tell it, and it is: this and that God has done for me; they speak of it in private, and with everyone, with their friends and neighbors — indeed, they would even speak of it to their enemies. Lord, they say, what shall I render to you for all your benefits shown to me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord, Psalm 116:12-13. It is a figure borrowed from the men of that time: when great deliverances had occurred, they would have their feast, at which they then joyfully drank the cup, and praised God for the deliverance; so they do too.

5. Ah, they say, my spirit is made so lively, so eager, and so ardent by it: I will live before God, and walk before his face in the land of the living, all my days, Psalm 116:9.

6. Lastly, they become so compassionate toward others, so full of pity: can I be of no profit to God, do you receive nothing from my hands, Lord? Then I will refresh yours; I have not eaten my morsel alone, Job 31:17. The poor members — there they will indeed do good; they weep with those who weep, and are grieved over the breaking of Joseph; they go and visit those in prison; they clothe the naked, Matthew 25:36. If my goods cannot reach God, then let them reach the saints who are on the earth, Psalm 16:2-3. Blessed is the man who shows mercy and lends, Psalm 112:5.

IV. There you have our three points; now the fourth. We have shown you that God blesses the ungodly, and also the godly, and the difference between the two, as they are convicted by it: come now between the points, go, examine yourself: here sit some, no doubt, who have had many outward blessings — I and you have had plenty of them: see whether you have had convictions along with them, and see whether they are good; test them, and judge. See whether you find yourself in the picture of the godly, or in the picture of the other. Are you melted under the blessings? Are you made humble, careful, thankful by them? Do you get more desire to live for God? Then you are blessed, and you shall remain blessed. Is it the other way — then you must draw the evil conclusion; if they raise up in you a breeding-nest of sin, and you burn incense to your own nets and yarn, and credit your own catch to yourself. Would you rather go from God than from the blessing? Would you have the blessings, even if it must be by a way of sin? That is no good. Now, next time, something else again. I hope that the Lord will bless this to us, to his own honor. Amen!

Sermon 32

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which: I. The convictions on the sickbed of those who have no grace. II. That the godly too have anguish and convictions on the sickbed. III. The difference between the two.

John 3:3 and 5. The Savior said, with such solemnity: verily, verily, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, nor enter into it. No one can have anything against that, nor can anyone argue against it. Whoever does not hold fast to that point departs from sound doctrine.

Well, Lord, must it be so? Will many receive that? No, regeneration is the good of the elect alone. We shall not enlarge on that further now, but we shall bring it only to this, that we consider the wonderful ways and providences that God so employs to bring someone to it. When God had it in mind to bring Manasseh to it, what a wonderful way was that! How many a precious prophet had he taken the life of? Yet he did not get it by the throne. The prophets were not sent to win him by kindness — instead he had to be brought into prison, in iron fetters, and beaten: that is what fell to his lot, 2 Chronicles 33:11-13. What a wonderful providence was that concerning a woman in Samaria? The Lord Jesus, being weary, goes to sit and rest by the well: there comes the woman to draw water, and she receives the water of life, John 4. What a wonderful providence was it concerning Matthew? He had never once gone to hear the word of Christ's preaching; there passes by a goodly crowd, past the tax office, following the Lord, and he may perhaps have wondered that so many followed him; the Lord sees him, but did not pass by his door without grace being poured out upon his lips: rise up, he said, and follow me; and he, rising up, followed him, Matthew 9:9. How wonderful was it with Zacchaeus? He was seized with curiosity to see the Lord: there stands a tree, which he had to pass by; he climbs up it, Luke 19. Absalom hangs on a tree, Joab thrusts three darts into his heart; but the Lord, seeing this other one in a tree, shoots other arrows into his heart, which strike him, so that his own hands must heal and bind him up, Psalm 45:5. How wonderfully did it go with Paul and Silas? After Paul had seen a man of Macedonia, and had come to Philippi, there you have that wonderful providence of the jailer: they had to be mistreated, and so they come to be with the jailer in the prison, and he was converted, Acts 16. How wonderful was it with Onesimus? He had fallen so grievously, that the law would have punished him for his crime; he flees and comes to be with Paul, and there he was seized in the heart. That thief, who had so often lain in wait to rob people, had to be arrested at just the time Jesus was arrested; he comes with him into the same judgment hall, receives the same sentence, they were to be executed at the same time: he who before was but a firebrand for hell falls down before the Lord, and there God works his work in him; it had come to the very extremity with him — had it been delayed any longer, he would have been in hell, he would have been lost, Luke 23:42.

Beloved, so it goes with the sinner: he feels and hopes indeed that he must be changed; he says indeed, I will do it, he thinks he has the strength for it; it goes well enough as long as he is healthy; but let such a man once come upon his sickbed — ah, how anxious it makes him! He goes about carelessly and without restraint, until God brings him to a sickbed; but how weary and faint is his spirit then, on the day of mortal illness? How convicted is he then indeed? At present we had this to consider. It is no strange thing that we have to preach to you on this. You will each have experienced something of it somewhere. We believe that each of you will know something of it. Each of you may perhaps already have had a serious sickbed, and those who have not yet had one — it is perhaps already being spread and prepared for you. Our subject is this:

III. The difference in the convictions of the sick: which are of God's Spirit, and which are not — where no work of the Spirit is present, and where it is.

We have to consider, I say, a man convicted on his sickbed; a godly person also in anguish; which convictions are of God's Spirit? When men are sick, they are indeed heavily convicted — by what can it be known, whether it is through God's Spirit?

1. First, one and the same thing befalls the good and the wicked; some people, both the godly and the ungodly, live long in good health by God's goodness — it often goes on for a very long time; but then there grows up a dangerous sickness for the one as for the other: they take to their bed sick, and there is no help for it, each shrugs his shoulders, it will not take much, and the tree is felled; often an incurable ill threatens, like that woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, Luke 13:11 — eighteen years it had lasted. And that woman, Luke 8:42, she had borne it twelve years. And John 5:5, there was one who had borne his infirmity thirty-eight years. And those ten leprous men, Luke 17:12 — it was as an incurable ill. Sinner, God makes you sick too, but how does it then go with the sinner? Let us show you that in a picture.

1. In the first place, there comes before him, as it were, a writing, on which all his sins stand recorded, and that comes before his eyes. Ah Lord! What have I done, he says! There his sins come before him, in their greatness and gravity, in their number, with whom committed, where, when — it all comes out before God. Besides that, there also commonly comes into his thoughts, against whom he has committed the sin: against God, who is so everywhere present, so all-knowing, so righteous, so holy, so almighty, so unchangeable; and each of those perfections of God gives such pangs to his heart. To this is added, the vengeance of God will not let you live any longer, and God says, should not my soul be avenged on such a people as this! Then such a one recalls the curses of Law and Gospel. The curses, we say, come into that house, and into the soul of an irreligious person, of a gambler, a drunkard, and into the house and soul of a vain and wanton worldling, of a proud man, of a despiser of God and of his service and of his people; they lodge there, and the curse goes like oil into their soul. When that comes upon their heart, that they are accursed, then it begins to work. Ah Lord, they would begin to cry out. There they melt, their heart grows soft — how anxious it is for them! There they take to praying, to confessing what they have done; it all gushes out before God; they mutter between their teeth, and there are others present, whom they now say: rebuke me now, awaken me now, since it is not well with me; instruct me, they say, I will take it so well from you. If there is a godly person in their family, whom they could not before bear to have bow at them, that person is now welcome to them. If there is a preacher who speaks plainly, who knows nothing of hedging, who calls sin sin and grace grace — call him now, they say — and with all the other company, with whom they committed the sin, they can now have nothing more to do. The king went to visit the sick prophet, 2 Kings 13:14. That was a sign that he wanted the prophet also when he was sick. 2 Kings 8:8: fetch now the prophet, said the king. Then it is as a Jeroboam, who said to his wife, go to the prophet Ahijah, and ask whether the child shall die, 1 Kings 14:2-3. Then it is, why do you trouble the master, Mark 5:35. Then it is, one will ask the spiritual doctor, whether there is still grace for such a one — and the physical doctor, is there still hope of recovery? I will use whatever you tell me. That is how far it goes; but then his mind knows no counsel. Now I must deal with you too, says the conscience: no one will do it so well as I, except God. How have you dealt with me? You have violated me, struck me on the mouth, seared me with branding-irons, silenced me through a habit of sinning — but now you shall no longer master me; let me now unburden myself, whether you are converted by it; let me deal faithfully with you once more, before I become in you a wound that never heals. What then does your conscience do? Do you see that good God well, it says, whom you have treated so? He has become your enemy, and he is a consuming neighbor to you; do you know now any counsel to meet him? He it is who by no means holds the guilty innocent. Do you hear the Law of God well? Do you not hear it crying out, how you have broken me so! There is not one commandment of you that has remained unbroken; because you have transgressed me, I threaten you with the yoke, I know of no comfort. Do you see the Gospel well? There it stands, that no sinner is too old, nor too great, nor too far astray, but that there is grace for him — and you have been careless and have paid no heed to so great a salvation. Hear now the blows and thunders of the Gospel, which are far heavier than all the thunders of Sinai. Matthew 11:22: it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. Do you see well how near your time has fled, and then death shall do its work upon you, and perhaps he shall do it this very night or day; upon this night no day shall follow for you; today you may perhaps expect an irrevocable eternity, and to experience the word of the great angel, that after this time there shall be time no longer, Revelation 10:6. And then all those things over which your eye now lingers shall be worth nothing more to you; with all your goods you shall not be able to hope for one grain of comfort or relief; you shall not be able to buy off so much as a quarter of an hour with them, with all your goods on which you have set so much store — you shall not be able to buy a single true conviction with them. Ah, how anxious it will be for you! Then your company, who stand there weeping beside you, with whom you committed the sin, they shall not be able to lighten your burden in the least, but shall only weigh you down the more. Then you will not wish to hear of death, and there it stood before you, that messenger of God, that king of terrors: do you not see him standing there? He stands there armed against you, and has a bow and an arrow; there he stands to strike you, as soon as God only says, cut down that tree. Then the mind begins to roar. Ah Lord, it becomes so anxious; they roar as if with their own flesh and skin caught between their teeth — why? Ah, they say, how have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, and have not listened to my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors — I have been almost in all evil, in the midst of the congregation, Proverbs 5:11-13. Then they begin to become such, that they would lay hands upon themselves: what I have seen with my own eyes, that there were those who would pinch and tear at themselves, who gnawed their tongues and gnashed their teeth, and treated themselves in such a way, that they had to be bound with cords and fetters, like that man who dwelt among the tombs. Then desperate words come too, which I have also heard and seen, so that they cried out dreadfully, in so violent a manner, that it seemed more or less as if one saw a picture of one damned in hell. Then they go to flattering themselves: they flatter with their mouth, and meanwhile in their flattery they lie so, Psalm 78:36. And what is it then? Test us just once more — I have let it lie so long, but spare me only this once; look at it once more, what I will do: I will now serve God with my household, I will amend myself; I will read and pray so; I will exercise myself in private between God and my own heart; I will separate myself from my wicked, ungodly company; first I will deal faithfully with them once more, and seek to pluck them out of the fire, and if they will not listen, then I will separate myself from them; I will go so diligently under the ministry, where the false grounds are exposed, and the good grounds are laid down; and I will no longer despise my friends or acquaintances who fear God, but rather love them; I will so amend myself, I will so much reform myself, this and that I will lay aside, and put on no more. Then they go and enumerate all that they will do and leave undone; they make a whole long list of it; I will not ask whether others mock me for it; then they say indeed, Lord, you shall be witness of it, though no one else be present; and if there are bystanders present, whom they trust, you too are witness, they say: if I do not do it, admonish me, rebuke me, stir me up to it. See how far they can come in their anguish — and yet it is not all it seems.

II. Now we must see whether there is also trouble in the godly on their sickbed. Ah yes, they too have great distresses, even if their affairs are otherwise well with them. Ah, those sick-psalms — do you know them well? Psalm 6, and especially Psalm 38 — perhaps you do not think of them. In the last-named, the king sets it down first of all, to make it remembered. This I will not forget as long as I live, he says, what heavy terrors troubled me; fear made me restless — and similar expressions. If you wish to see that sick-song and hymn of Hezekiah, then read Isaiah 38: there you have his sick-verses. Do you wish to read some sick-verses? Read Psalm 118:17-19. We shall give you, besides some scriptural instances, a few more examples of godly souls, which are recorded elsewhere in other writings. Latimer, preaching before King Edward, recounted of a godly soul, who, being on her sickbed, was so anguished, as if someone had taken a sword and thrust it into her heart. Another godly heart said, when they wished to comfort her, it is to me like a dry stone, and like a dull nail — I cannot pray, I no longer know what praying tastes like. Another godly heart there said, can you not pray — shall we pray for you? No, she said, do not pray for me, do not misuse the name of God for my sake, who am but a reprobate. Another godly heart forced herself to eat without appetite, in the hope, she said, that my damnation might yet be postponed a while, for I think indeed that as soon as my soul is separated from my body, it will fall straightway into hell. Those were examples we name to you, of persons who stood in the work of grace, laborers before God and his cause. What do you think — how anguished can God make even his own children! We see thus, that the same thing befalls the godly and the ungodly. Should each of us tell our own experience, what would come out of it! It does not always go so easily and freely; there is sometimes such trouble spoken of, that it goes hand in hand with tears. That now is our second point.

III. But how shall we know, whether our convictions are good, whether they are of God's Spirit or not? I confess, that is difficult; but where the distinction lies, the facts themselves will speak. Some sinners, convicted and lying in anguish, die — they do not recover. You will say, what do you judge of those? Nothing at all — that we leave to God, who can deal wonderfully with a person; of that we must each be silent, and be cautious. Then there are those whom God lays upon a sickbed and brings near to death, who say, Lord, try me once more for the last time, restore me once more — and the Lord does it, they recover; here sit some, no doubt, who know this — there are some among you who have lain sick and have recovered, both godly and ungodly. There are such as recover from among the ungodly, in whose whole life there had not before been the smallest trace of grace. By what shall one be able to know, that the convictions were not of the Spirit — and by what indeed? Those are our matters that we still have before us.

a) When someone recovers, who has been so anguished, by what shall one know whether that anguish was not good?

1. First, if in his health he was an enemy of convictions and of the convicting work, up to his sickbed, and remains so after his sickbed as well, so that he cannot bear to be dealt with in a convicting manner — it is a sign that nothing has moved him except that fearful messenger of death, which seemed from God so near at hand. In health before the sickness, and in and after your sickness, are you grieved if anyone wishes to convict you — it is a sign that it is not of the Spirit. When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned, and sought God early, Psalm 78:34.

2. When you recover, and someone says that you were so convicted, you do not wish to acknowledge it, you hide it; you keep silent about it, and you do not wish to hear of it either; you are ashamed that you conducted yourself so lowly; you drown out the convictions by sinning, by many idle pursuits, indeed even by occupying yourself with erroneous doctrine, or by disputations, so as to keep the work of God away from your heart: your convictions are then not good — it was only through sickness, through your conscience, which so troubled you, and the death that threatened you.

3. Which are still not good? If someone has made many promises on his sickbed, and after his sickness has recovered, comes with his thanksgiving only for himself alone, and nothing at all of it is fulfilled: the promises lie sick upon the sickbed under you, where you now lie in health; they lie beside you, those promises which you uttered in your distress, and they continually address you and say, do you not know what took place here? Will you not fulfill them? God spares you indeed, but he does not forgive you for it. Those convictions are not good.

4. Those are not good: when they have recovered, they begin to become a pain to the godly, they do them harm, they slander the little ones, they injure them in their speech and conduct, so that one must say, their last state is worse than their first; they cause the righteous to torment their souls over them.

5. It has not been good, when, having been so anguished, they go on to abuse the very same conviction: then they say, I was awakened and converted on that sickbed — and they hold fast to that, and go on wickedly into sin.

6. It is not good, when they do not want anyone to examine or hold suspect the anguish of their sickbed.

7. When, in their distress and on their sickbed, they said, ah God, if you do not spare me, I will accuse you of not having tried me; had you spared me and tried me, I might easily have been converted!

8. Once more, those are not good, who, with their anguish, seek only to still their heart. Then they begin to bring up their sins, and to play the desperate one, and then to plaster themselves over with Christ's righteousness, and so seek to still themselves. Indeed, it even goes so far, that they have a proud heart over it: I am not of the crowd, they say, who do not know the Law — I well know how I must conduct myself. Take heed of such — it is not good.

b) You will readily think in your heart, when someone as an unconverted sinner lies on the sickbed and is convicted, how could one know that the Spirit is at work in it? Then:

1. First, when God has restored them, it continually rings in their thoughts that they were so convicted; they do not go on sinning because of it: sin no more, they say, lest something worse come upon you, John 5:14. I do not wish to go on sinning as before, they say.

2. Where it is genuine, they think so often of that anguish which they had, of the frames and the words which they themselves spoke against God and men; of the promises which their own lips uttered in their distress. You see that in Psalm 38, in the title: it is to bring to remembrance.

3. Then it is good: when those convictions remain with them, so that they say, ah Lord, they are not too much for me, but it is to me a worthy and pleasant frame of mind — I may not do without them.

4. They actually separate themselves from their old company; they can no longer keep company with them, but first unburden their conscience and say, if you will not now do as I do, then I must leave you, and I will be free of you; and so they then go over to another, to godly company.

5. Once more, where will you find him? Ah, to God's house he goes: there it comes out, I have stayed away from it long enough. Hezekiah went to the temple, when he was restored. That sick man, who was healed by the Lord Jesus, was found by him in the temple.

6. Finally, now they become so much more zealous for the name and cause of God, John 9:27: will you also become his disciples, said that restored man? Would a man who is a sinner do such mighty works? And from that same cause he becomes so small, humble, and lowly in his own eyes. I have been so near to hell, Lord, and you have opened my eyes, they say — and they thank the Lord with astonishment. That I never forget, they say, and they remember it all their life, that God has so convicted them.

c) How is it with a godly person on the sickbed and in anguish? Is the Spirit in it too? Yes — you will be able to know it by this.

1. He was such a friend of convictions: you can see that in Hezekiah and David. That burden of sins, he says, is too heavy for me to bear; I am troubled because of my sins, Psalm 38:4, 18.

2. If there is anguish on their sickbed, it is on account of some notable fall, of deadness, of darkness, or on account of concern over their eternal outcome — how will it yet go with me!

3. In the third place, in their anguish and distress they are so careful; they bring up once more what the Lord has already done for them, Isaiah 38:3: remember that I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart. Lord, look upon me, not only in my present distress, but in the whole course of my walk.

4. Once more, look upon me in the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 38:14: be my surety. He chirped, moaned, and wept indeed, but that could not help him; he had to have the Lord Jesus as his surety.

5. Lastly, they seek to be so composed: I will go softly and gently all my years, and seek to remain with you, Lord, and see further what you will do with me, Isaiah 38:15.

So we think you will find it, where the Spirit is present in the conviction, in the godly and in the ungodly. There you see now the good and the bad: lay yourself, each of you, alongside it. Each of us has by now most likely already had a sickbed. Have you made promises and not fulfilled them — be ashamed of it, take courage, and set it right. Now I hope that this may be blessed to each of us. Amen!

Sermon 33

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

We read Psalm 145:14: the Lord upholds all who fall, and he raises up all who are bowed down. The godly do indeed fall into sins. James 3:2: we all stumble in many things. The godly do fall into grievous sins. Peter, David, and Solomon show that. The godly, when fallen, do not always rise up at once — it is not always at once, I have sinned, I repent; they sometimes remain lying in their fall for a long time. David remained lying in it for eight or nine months, until the prophet came from God and said, you are the man; then he fell down and said, I have sinned against the Lord, 2 Samuel 12:7, 13. Jacob remained lying in it for some time, until an angel came, who wrestled with him; then he said, at Bethel I found him, there I entreated, there I wept, Hosea 12:4-5. Nevertheless, though they fall, and fall grievously, and though they remain for a time somewhat unfeeling over it, they nevertheless rise up, and come to confession of guilt, they come to tenderness, they fall down before the Lord, they justify God, and he upholds them. If God then raises up those who have fallen, what a compassionate one must those find, who have not so fallen, but who go bowed down, stooped, and pressed, and go bent low and wavering over the state of their soul, and say, my soul bows itself down — indeed cry out, why are you cast down, O my soul? Psalm 42:11. But what burdens now make a soul hang so low? What bows the godly down so? Do you know what? Ah, pay attention to it.

1. First, sin — their sinful nature, their sinful deeds, the indwelling sin, the sin they still commit after receiving grace, Psalm 38:4: this burden is too heavy for me to bear. Do you know what else?

2. Miseries and adversities — that they are daily under the cross: Lord, they say, you write such bitter things against me every day; I am the man who has seen affliction, the hand of God has gone out against me. Do you know what else?

3. The godly often have such trouble in their life; they do not live without care. Do you know over what? Over their family, over their children, over their trade and calling, over land and market: who, they say, shall roll away that stone? Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Ah Lord, how shall I ever get through it! Do you know what else bows them down so?

4. The strife of the devil: that roaring lion, who goes about them, does not leave them unmolested; he barks and strives against them; he has his arrows full of fiery poison. When that comes (which we wish you never to have, and never wish for) it costs anguish, flesh, blood, sweat, tears. Do you know what else?

5. Ah, the hiding of God's face; it is so dark in praying, reading, going to the Lord's Supper, among the godly; it is all so flat, so lukewarm; ah Lord, they say, I meet you nowhere, it is all so dark; Lord, my soul bows itself down! What further?

6. The concern over their eternal outcome; death comes, I must prepare myself for it, my years climb, I see God's messenger standing there before me, who will soon have to do his work, the tree will fall; now it should be plain in me, whether God's work is false or true in me: Lord, you will judge according to truth — I am anxious. What further?

7. Lastly, what bows them down so is the meagerness of the marks they have of their state of grace. Ah Lord, they say, by what shall I know, whether I have passed from the state of nature into the state of grace? It is so hidden from me, it is so dark to me; the hypocrites make so fair a show of themselves; between truth and appearance, delusion and reality, seeming and being, there is not much difference to see.

If God now raises up the fallen, you may well consider whether he will not also raise up those bowed down, who have not fallen so grievously. That bruised reed he will not break, and that smoking flax he will not quench, but he will fan it into flame and bind it up. And what remedies does God give them to raise them up? A spiritual judgment of discernment — for the spiritual man discerns all things, 1 Corinthians 2:15. God brings them to self-examination, and gives them a discerning knowledge of the difference there is between seeming and being: after long searching they retain, through the Lord's peculiar grace, the good, so that they must say, I see that there is true work in me — and they lay themselves down between these points in the presence of the Lord God: do I find it false in me or not, they say; if I am to speak plainly before your face, I know no better than that I belong among the good. They sometimes say, in that self-examination, it is all over with me — and come so far as to say, I fear that I am still mistaken, and that it is over with me: but meanwhile the Lord gives them more clarity, and his encouraging Spirit into their heart, so that they gradually become more settled, so that they say, I see the difference there is between shibboleth and sibboleth, between seeming and being.

It is known to the congregation, that we have been occupied with these matters, and have kept ourselves busy with them, at various times. It is also known to the congregation, that we still have in hand that close-listening subject of conviction. If my convictions and yours are not of the right sort, we may still lack grace: therefore we have given ourselves over to examine that matter. What we have thus treated is this: that we first laid open to you the convictions that come only through the conscience; then, how the ungodly misuse those convictions; then, how the godly are tempted to do the same; then, the difference between the two; then, we laid down some common grounds of true convictions; then, we saw those which a man gets through strokes and judgments; then, those he gets through blessings; lastly, we spoke of those through the sickbed, and saw which were good and which were bad. Now there remains for us still to consider: first, that God at times works convictions through bad examples. Then, that God does it at times through good ones. Then, at times through the Word. Then, at times through the Spirit, which are however not saving. Then, those that are saving, which are such as are wrought by the Spirit of Christ. At present we have thought to occupy ourselves with convictions through bad examples, in which we shall show you:

I. How God, through examples of ungodly men, does convict the ungodly. II. That God also thereby convicts the elect. III. The difference there is between the two, between the one and the other.

First we say, God does use this means to stir the ungodly, the bold sinners. Then, he also uses it to bring in the elect, and to spur on the godly. Finally, we must show the difference between the workings in the reprobate and in the godly.

I. As to the first: our great God has a thousand means to bring a man to himself, and there he sometimes takes the means of gross sinners. What then does God do? Then he lays their wicked deeds before our eyes: a Cain's fratricide; the abominations of Sodom; the rebellion of Korah and Dathan, with its outcome; and the yoking to Baal-peor, Numbers 25. Then an Achan's sacrilege; an Ahithophel's treachery against David, and its outcome; then an Absalom's unnatural conduct against his father; a Judas's betrayal of his Master; the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira, how craftily they dealt, and how dreadfully it came upon them — and whatever else there may be of this kind. You will say, to what end has God recorded that in the Bible?

1. God does this to give each of us a jolt to our conscience. There he hangs those black Moors before us; there he hangs those crimson-dyed sinners before your eyes.

2. God comes and says: come and look for once at the anguish of these people, at the pangs, the terrors of their conscience. They may seem outwardly to be in excellent spirits, but look at them closely: the sinner flees though no one pursues him. They are often so troubled that they eat their bread in anguish and drink their water in fear. "The wicked," says my God, "have no peace," Isaiah 57:21. In a godly heart there sits, as it were, a little heaven; but in the wicked there sits, as it were, a little hell in their breast, full of terror and anguish. Sometimes he tries to distract himself — they go build a city, like Cain; sometimes they do as Ahab did, humbling themselves for a time; but sometimes they know no remedy for that gnawing worm, when God gives them over to the turmoil of their own conscience. Then a Saul falls upon his own sword; an Ahithophel hangs himself.

3. God sets before our eyes not only their wicked deeds and the anguish of such people, but also their shame; they have no reputation in the world, nor anywhere in the whole Bible, except as sinners. Proverbs 14:34: righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. When the wicked rise up, the people groan; no one respects them except under compulsion, on account of their office. "He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey" — they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! — says God of that wicked King Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 22:18-19. "Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king's daughter," said Jehu of Jezebel, 2 Kings 9:34; and in Daniel 4:33 we read of Nebuchadnezzar, his glory departed from him, and he was driven out from among men to live among the beasts.

4. Consider the divine judgments that strike them; consider it in the first world; consider it in Sodom and Gomorrah; consider it in Korah, when he rose up against Moses and Aaron. Now, says God, as surely as you do such wicked things, the flying scroll of the curse comes into that house — and where does it go? Into some mean little room somewhere? No. Will it merely pass through that house? No, it will lodge there for the night. How long? Until it has consumed the beams and the stones of that house. Will the inhabitants go free? No — the curse not only eats up that house, they themselves are consumed along with it.

5. God comes, and shows how suddenly, unexpectedly and swiftly it comes, when they have not the least thought of it: by a slight fever, or a sudden stroke, or some pain, they are swept away in a moment to desolation, Psalm 73:19. What warning did that rich man have who wanted to build his barns bigger? "This night," says God, "your soul shall be required of you," Luke 12:20. What warning did Ananias and Sapphira have? They fall down dead there before the feet of the apostles, Acts 5. What warning did Absalom have in his unnatural dealings against his father? He perishes suddenly. Poor wretch — he thought to triumph, and the Lord brings it about that he perishes in a single moment: his hair catches fast in a tree, and his father's captain of the army comes and thrusts three darts into his heart. What warning did an Amnon have? He is scarcely seated there at table with all his brothers at Absalom's feast when, as his heart was merry with wine, Absalom's servants come and murder him. Thus a sudden ruin overtakes the wicked for all their wicked deeds.

6. What does God do? He shows it to them, he says, once — as they go out of the world. If they could die like a beast, they would fall upon their bare knees and thank God for it; but instead it will be: "Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and now you are tormented," Luke 16:25. Afterward comes the heaviest part: then that patient is bound and brought before the Judge, with all his sins upon his forehead; there his sins are read out like a whole register and set in order before his eyes, Psalm 50:21. As surely as you and I will come before the Judge without grace, it will be a long, heavy register. Not only will his sins stand upon his forehead, but God will say: for all these you are cursed — for your drinking, your gambling, your unchaste dealings, and also for those sins you thought little of. Which ones? Your secret sins, of which no one knew, which you managed to hide so well, which you thought a small sin, of which you said, that is only a little bit of dirt. That register will be read out in full there, and also whatever seemed before the world to be a virtue in you: the long praying, the fasting, and the solemnity of the Pharisees, which looked like virtue. For all these things the wrath of the Lord comes; therefore they will burn in the eternal fire, gnashing their teeth, wringing their hands, in that Tophet which is kindled by the breath of the Almighty. Isaiah 30:33: Tophet is prepared of old. What does that mean? This: that the Judge has already for some time been busy preparing the execution, the exquisite punishment.

See how God thus uses brazen sinners to convict a person. Does this have an effect on the heart of the wicked and of the godly alike? Yes. Is there a difference between the one and the other? Yes. Those six things we have named there have their effect on our hearts. We are not so foolish as not to know this. We have read the Word and heard it preached. But what effect does it have? A good part of the Bible is filled with it. Do you know what effect it has on the reprobate — an effect which is no good work at all?

1. First, this: that they do stand still before it for a while, and look at those dark portraits — those ugly monsters, and how they stand depicted in the Bible: this was King Ahab, who made Israel sin; this was Absalom; this were Cozbi and Zimri, caught in the very act as they went into the harlot's chamber. Lord, they say, I must let the eyes of my understanding pass over that.

2. Lord, they say, I am glad enough to hear the wicked described for me in this way. They are not always so godless that, when sins are being described, they would walk out of the church: I am willing to hear those dreadful portraits, they say. See it in a Felix: when Paul spoke of the judgment, he does not stop him, but lets him finish speaking. The apostle Paul and all the apostles came constantly among the people with the terror of the Lord, with the dreadful judgments of God — you will find that throughout the whole New Testament.

3. In the third place, it does this work: that they sometimes go home and say, my soul, be warned; they hear it, they read it, they take note of it; that stands there as an example for you, that happened as a warning to you, they say. Indeed, if such a one has children, friends, neighbors, he speaks to them about it: do not go the same way, he says, lest something worse befall you. And they will at times sit just like the godly, with such devotion, as David did with his son Solomon, to whom he said, know the God of your father, and serve him, 1 Chronicles 28:9; and as Solomon said to his child, my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent, Proverbs 1:10. And you would rather hear them expound a proverb out of Proverbs than speak of the grace of God. I warn you, my children, and also my own soul: if you do not repent, you will all likewise perish.

4. A reprobate goes so far as to say, now I have lost my taste for sinning, sin no longer pleases me so dearly — and they make a covenant with God; they entered into the curse and the oath, Ezra 10:3, Nehemiah 10:29. Did not Solomon sin in that, they say, although he loved his God dearly? Did not our fathers sin in that, they say? And so they enter into a covenant that they will not do it. And they go so far as to cross over to the way of the young man; instead of being a brazen sinner, they would rather go about blameless, Mark 10:20: from my youth I have kept the commandments, what do I still lack?

5. They go so far as to say, oh God, I am so terrified by this, I cannot rest or sleep because of what I have seen and heard of them. That such evil examples have this effect you can see in Acts 1:18-19. Do you think it did not trouble them concerning the traitor Judas, that he perished in such a way? Do you think they did not inquire carefully how it went with him, even though they wanted nothing to do with him? When God let his bowels gush out, that became known throughout all Jerusalem; they diligently inquired into that man's end. And in Acts 5, all who heard of Ananias and Sapphira — the whole church was afraid. Along with this: when they see and hear the example of such brazen sinners, they sometimes begin to think about conversion; they resolve to do it, they think they have the strength for it; they often say, if I do not convert myself, I shall perish.

II. But how does this work upon the elect? Where God is pleased to use this means, he uses it indeed for their conversion. That business with Ananias and Sapphira God used as a means toward the conversion of many. The eleventh verse shows the fear that many had over it; the result was that a multitude came over. I have read a story of a man who had to go into a company where they meant to make merry together: when he came in, he did not pray for grace, but he did not leave until he had prayed for grace. How so, you will ask? While they sat there drinking together, God suddenly let one of them drop dead: the others were not converted, but that one man was. Lord, he said, why have I been left alive? Why did he die next to me? Why was I not left dead, and so died in my sins? That man later became a great spiritual man, who did much through God's Spirit for God's house. We read of those who were also in that company, that there was indeed great consternation, but it went no further than that. Whenever God causes them to encounter a wicked man, he says, use that as a means of your conversion. Now what effect does this have upon the godly? They look once at the house of the wicked, and also at their end; they speak with God about their great prosperity; at first they cannot bear it so easily — yet, they say, I did not choose their loftiness. "I might have sat foremost," said Job, "like a king among his troops," yet I did not choose their way. Lord, let not my soul come into their counsel! I would rather be in your house than have the enjoyment of the wicked; even if I could enjoy so much prosperity, I will not, cannot, shall not go along with them; I may not follow the multitude to do evil, Exodus 23:2.

III. You will say, that comes very close together: but how shall I distinguish the shibboleth from the sibboleth? Who shall separate that? That is the last thing we must now attend to: the work of God's Spirit in the heart of the godly.

1. This goes hand in hand with grief in the heart. Oh Lord, they say, it is such a burden to me to be this way; it torments their soul: "streams of water run down my eyes because they keep not your law," Psalm 119:136. Dearest Lord, that I am a stranger in Meshech, and dwell among the tents of Kedar — that I will weep over, Psalm 120:5; that I cannot mend it, I will mourn and sigh over; that I cannot change it, over that my eye weeps: over all that plundering of God's honor, over the ungodliness, over the gambling, the card-playing, and all such things. All those light, thoughtless sins they see, they weep over; their eye drips toward God, their breast sighs to the Lord — but not the others; the reprobate never come that far; he does not sigh over the fact that in his time things are so ungodly. You can see that in Ezekiel 9:2-4: there were six men who spoke one and the same language, but there was one among them who was told to mark the people who sigh over the abominations of the land.

2. In God's children this works as follows: when there are such crying sins, such a spirit of godlessness abroad, it works in them a spirit of prayer; they lay it before God upon their knees. What did Ezra and Nehemiah do? They worship God, that he would grant repentance, that he would spare them and not pour out his judgments upon them. That, again, the reprobate do not do; they dare not come upon their knees, and if they do come upon their knees, their iniquity stops their mouth, and God does not hear them.

3. In the godly it works this way: that they say, oh Lord, I see my own heart in the mirror; what breaks out into action in them is also in my nature; had you not restrained me, I would have done the same; let me then not say, how can they be so wicked! Why not? Because you are pleased to restrain it in me — otherwise I would do the very same thing; for that same root of bitterness sits in me, which would bring forth the same wormwood and gall, Hebrews 12:15. The wicked do not do this, nor are they at all astonished at themselves over it.

4. Lord, what a difference there is! What makes grace so beautiful in someone? What a radiance grace gives! How freely you bring it about that this one or that one is better! Is it not your grace that makes the one better than the other? How freely you pass someone by, and yet he has no complaint; if you look favorably upon someone, he has nothing to boast of, 1 Corinthians 4:7.

5. Dear God, they say, the wicked are so diligent to get themselves into hell, they rage to commit sin — what violence, then, should I not do to lay hold of the kingdom! If they do not grow weary of sin, may I not grow weary of loving and serving you; if they run so hard toward hell, let me run toward heaven; if they have Scripture, God, and their own conscience against them on their way, I have all these for me on mine — should I be any less in earnest to pursue a kingdom than they are to pursue a prison?

6. In the godly, at times, such a fire arises in their hearts, when they live in an evil age, that they take pains not to become inflamed. What a fire arose in Phinehas's heart! He ran that pair of licentious people through. Elijah put to death all the prophets of Baal. The Lord Jesus said, the zeal of your house has consumed me. Nehemiah said, I struck them, I pulled out their hair. In such a time, when things are going to ruin, they get a fire in their soul; then they make such protestations before the throne, they lodge such protests against you, sinner — they would not gladly have the land go under. But of this a reprobate knows nothing; he would rather go along with sin against the promptings of his own conscience, and would rather praise evil for once, and flatter another in it.

7. You will find this in them too — not in boasting of themselves, but in true speech: ah Lord, I thank you that I am not as other men, robbers, unjust men; yet they do not do it with the same aim as that Pharisee, nor with such a wind of self-glorying, as in Luke 18:11. They may indeed give thanks at times: if someone's house is on fire and mine is not, if someone has lost his wits and I have not, may I not give thanks for that?

8. Once more, you will find a godly soul saying this: oh Lord, is there not some good I might do? Is there not someone somewhere to be plucked out of the fire? When God gives them opportunity to save a soul, they speak to him at every opportunity; others they seek to support and stir up. Whenever they have opportunity, what do they do? They seek to put their little talent out to gain. Of this the others know nothing, and if he invests his little talent in any way at all, it is only for some outward connection — it does not touch his heart; he is at heart an enemy of it.

There, now you have the convictions that come through evil examples; in what follows we must consider those that come through good examples. Now I hope that the Lord will bless what has been spoken here, to us and to you, to his own glory, for his Son's sake: Amen.

Sermon 34

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein is shown:

I. That God portrays his godly children very gloriously in his Word, so that we would look upon them.
II. That this works upon the heart of the sinner.
III. That it also works upon the heart of the godly.
IV. The difference between the two.

We read in Luke 17:32, where the Savior, attentive to the hearts of his hearers, says: remember Lot's wife.

Lot and his wife were a remarkable pair. The man was godly, but the woman perhaps not. Husband and wife had unknowingly entertained angels; they had seen God's miracle; both were taken by the hand and led out of the city by those two men, who said: we can do nothing until you are out of it, but whatever you do, do not let your heart cling to Sodom, and do not look back — it would not go well for you. So they go out — the man, the wife, and the two daughters; the wife looks back, and God punishes her.

Remember these things, said the Savior; these things are written for you as a warning — God wills it so. Think, he says, on the sinners and their end. Why must we look at that? Because it is written beneath it: unless you repent, you shall likewise perish, Luke 13:3. God also wants us to think on the walk and end of the godly; he takes it amiss when the righteous is taken away and no one lays it to heart, Isaiah 57:2. God wants us to reflect on their upright walk, Psalm 37:37: mark the blameless man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.

God says, Hebrews 13:7: remember those who ruled over you, consider the outcome of their conduct, and imitate their faith. James 5:10-11: you have as an example the suffering and patience of the prophets who went before you; you have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. God sets forth the godly in his Word before the eyes of the world; they still speak after they are dead, Hebrews 11:4. If we must speak of the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, the crane, the stork, the turtledove, should we then not speak of the godly who are in the Bible? God said to the Devil, where do you come from? From going to and fro on the earth, said the Devil. Well, have you considered my servant Job? That will be the question when we come before God: have you paid attention to the godly? To their graces? To their frames of soul? To their experiences? To their godly walk? To their courage? To their faithfulness? To their being weaned from the world? To their patience? To their self-denial? To Abel's faith? To an Enoch and an Elijah, and a Noah, who walked with God? To a Lot, who vexed his righteous soul as he lived among the wicked in Sodom, 2 Peter 2:8? God sets forth many such in his Word — but there are also godly ones now living. How many thousands of preachers have there already been, who taught the people and made known the way of God? How many a preacher has said, with love for his congregation, with tears in his eyes: you are dear and precious to me, be as I am, be my followers. There are still more who preach through their lives. God has a great host of his servants, past counting; but a still greater one of his children — there you have a whole cloud of witnesses, Hebrews 12:1. They preach through their meekness, patience, kindness, love, peace, and all those glorious virtues; they pursue all that is honorable and of good report; so they stand there like pearls, like lilies among the thorns, like stars, like lights in a crooked and perverse generation. You will say again, God will ask us: did you pay attention to them? What effect did it have on you when you saw such a people of mine? How did it go with you then?

We had arrived at that grave, weighty, and closely-attended matter: conviction. A person is sometimes convicted by seeing the godly walk of the pious. God said, Jeremiah 24:1-3: what do you see, Jeremiah? I see two baskets, he said. What is in them? said God. In the one are very bad figs, said the prophet, but the other are very good. God explains it to him: the bad ones are the wicked, and they are very bad; the good ones still remaining, said God, are very good — you may well take note of them. I will keep my eye on them, but keep your eye on them too.

Last time we saw how a person is convicted by seeing the wicked; now we must see how a person is convicted by seeing the good. A person is indeed convicted by seeing the godly, by associating and conversing with them. To do this properly, we will show you: first, that God describes his children very gloriously in their life in the Bible, and sets them up as examples for everyone who takes the Bible in hand; then, that the godly sometimes have a great effect on the heart of a sinner; then, also on the heart of the godly; then, what difference there is between the effect it has on the heart of the wicked who remain wicked, and the effect it has on a true child of God. I say then:

I. God portrays his godly children very gloriously in his word, so that we would look upon them; God hangs them up there in his Church as ornaments, like the most beautiful paintings.
II. That works upon the heart of the sinner.
III. That also works upon the heart of the godly.
IV. There is a great difference between the two.

1. As to the first point: God the Lord — as you know — describes the godly very vividly from beginning to end. Why does God do this, that Abraham is described in his obedience, when he was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans, not knowing where he was going? Why is he described in his love, that he had to go and sacrifice his only child? God commands it of him. Why in his faith, hoping against hope, Romans 4:18? Why are those wrestlers described — a Jacob, a Moses, a Samuel, such earnest worshippers and callers upon God's name? An Elijah, a Job, a Daniel, such mighty men of prayer? Why Moses's choice, Hebrews 11:25-26 — he chose rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to have all the treasures of Egypt, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches. It was no youthful impulse; he had grown to greatness, he saw the treasures of Egypt, he saw the reproach of Christ, and he chose the latter. Why does it stand in the Bible concerning an Aaron, that when his two sons were burned, he saw it, yet it says, Aaron held his peace, Leviticus 10:3? Why the humility of a David? The tenderness of a Josiah? The tears of a Hezekiah? Does none of that mean anything? The zeal of a Nehemiah, of a Paul, and other zealous men? God thereby makes known that these are examples he sets before our eyes, so that we would make use of them. Paul said, Philippians 3:17: you have us as an example. Preachers are so fond of examples — use them, and follow them. Paul said: do not only what you have heard from us, but also what you have seen in us and from us, Philippians 4:9. Paul strove to be an example in love, in faith, and in purity; he sought to walk according to the Word. An example cannot be an example unless it carries an obligation to be followed. All those thousands of saints who stand in the Word in their golden and embroidered garments, in their inward and outward beauty — what are they doing but crying out, look upon us! Be my followers, said Paul, as beloved children, even as I am of Christ, 1 Corinthians 11:1. Could you think otherwise of that? Must you not give your assent to the matter?

II. The second point: when you see someone like that in their holy life (for the wicked read the Bible just as much as the godly do), what effect does it have on your heart? Do you not also sometimes meet such people who are not written in the Bible, whom you see and hear daily — what effect does it have on you? This sometimes has a remarkable effect on the heart of the sinner.

1. The first effect it has is this: their heart is struck, so that they must say before God in private, oh Lord, I am not like that. They live next to their neighbors, and hear them praying, reading, teaching their children; they see them go off to learn, go to God's house, they see them, they hear them; they read in the Bible, they look at the godly who are described in the Bible: where do I stand, they say in their hearts, even though they will not say it aloud; they are just like Judas — how often must he have said in his heart, I am not like Peter, I am not like John, I am not like James, I am not like them at all.

2. Not only that, but they get convictions: I ought to be like that, I too ought to be so tender and serve God, I ought to be as they are; and what they see in the godly, they see that they lack. Fear God, and keep his commandments, Ecclesiastes 12:13. That applies to me and to all men; it applies to me just as much as to my neighbor; it applies to me just as much as to Aaron, David, Abraham, and their like — what more necessity do they have to serve God than I do? They cannot come into heaven without it, but neither can I. There comes a young man, falling publicly on the road before the Lord: I hear talk of eternal life, he says, but I do not have it, I am not like those who obtain it — what must I do to obtain it? Luke 18:18. Those are the first two effects it has: first, I am not like that; then, I must be like that.

3. Now the third is this: that a great agitation arises in their hearts; they seem as if they will go along; they begin to fear God; they go and make some promises, some professions; for a time they order themselves somewhat; it seems it will go with them as in Acts 26:28, where the king stands almost persuaded — that prisoner had almost won over the royal soul: "you almost persuade me to be a Christian," he said to Paul. I would wish to God, said Paul, that whether almost or altogether, not only you but also all who hear me today would become such as I am — except for these chains. But I wish you my graces, not my bonds, verse 29. So it goes: a person is indeed moved at times; they begin in the spirit, but after some time has passed, they grow weary of it.

4. This works on the heart of a sinner so that tears might spring from their eyes; and even if it were a person who had previously railed against it, they get such pangs in their heart that they must cry out, the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, as it stands in Proverbs 12:26. We have such an example of this in King Saul, who cried out against David: you are more righteous than I; neither I nor anyone in the world is like you; is there anyone who, having found his enemy, will let him go on his way unharmed? 1 Samuel 24:18.

5. It also works this: that they must stand ashamed before the godly, especially when they have slandered their good name in Christ and then experience the opposite. How ashamed Job's wife must have stood afterward, for wanting to have her husband turn from God — that foolish woman, how ashamed she must have been! If you want to read a little book about this — for you always want your little books — read H. Witsius, The Lord's Controversy with His Vineyard, pp. 104-106. He records there, from the year 1420, that the light which shone so brightly in Bohemia seemed so intolerable to the eyes of the papists in the Netherlands, that with great force the drum was beaten and the trumpets sounded the alarm, to rouse the people of the land against those godly Christians as against heretics condemned by God and man. Whereupon they lost house, home, field, and goods to go root out those people; but when they arrived there, they stood ashamed, seeing their godly walk, and realizing that they had done such a thing against such a holy people. That is the fifth point.

6. Now, sixthly, it also works this: that when the sinner sees God's children, it stops his mouth exceedingly, and he is inwardly at a loss. The Devil had said of Job, it is only for his own advantage that he fears God, for the benefit and prosperity he finds in it; because God's light is over his tent, that is why he is so devout — but when the judgments came, and Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, then the Devil's mouth was stopped; then he had nothing more to say against God, against Job. Indeed, how humbled Nebuchadnezzar stood before Daniel and those three young men! He gave a decree that they should fear the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and speak no more evil of him. How struck dumb Haman must have stood, who had spoken so much evil of Mordecai, when afterward he had to honor him so greatly! He could not speak a single word.

7. This also works: that they say to the godly, I can do you no more harm. 1 Peter 3:13: who is he who will harm you, if you are followers of that which is good? Even in such an anxious time — who shall harm you, even if you had to live among devils?

8. It works this: that if someone were to harm the godly, the wicked themselves would grow angry over it; they will say, do not do it. We find that in Pilate's wife: she sends one of her servants to her husband — have nothing to do with that righteous man, even though you have the power, Matthew 27:19. It was as though that woman had read that very night, touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm, Psalm 105:15.

9. It also works this: that they are even at times moved to speak up on behalf of the godly. The cupbearer thought of Joseph; even though he had somewhat forgotten him, there was still something in his heart, he could not quite forget it — he spoke up for him. There come Saul's soldiers, who had seen Jonathan's conduct and walk: he shall not die, they said to Saul, 1 Samuel 14:45. There hangs a thief on the cross, who speaks up for the Lord: we suffer justly, he says, but this man is righteous, Luke 23:41. Lysias the commander wrote a letter in favor of Paul, Acts 23:25-30. Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian spoke to the king on Jeremiah's behalf, saying, he would have died there where he was — let me pull him out of the pit; ah, how gladly he wanted to help him out of the pit! Go, help him out, said the king; he pulled him out with such great compassion, Jeremiah 38:7-11. That prince of Persia said that Daniel was good, but his own people knew how to entrap him so that he had to go among the lions; the king was so grieved over it that sleep departed from him, he neither ate nor drank because of Daniel: can I not rescue that man, he said, and am I a king of Persia? Must I watch such an innocent man be thrown among the lions? Daniel 6:15.

10. It works this: that the wicked have such esteem and regard for those who have grace: I wish, they say in their need, that you would go to God on my behalf; I know that you have access to God; I wish now, in my distress, that you would pray for me for once; I wish I could always have you near me. So it went with that proud Pharaoh, otherwise as hard as a devil: pray fervently to the Lord, he said to Moses, Exodus 9:28. You have another example of this in 2 Kings 1. There the king lies sick; he hears that Elijah had met his servants: fetch him, he says, tell him that I have such a longing to speak with him once, let him come to court, tell him I am sick.

11. Yes, once more, it produces such reverence for the godly in their hearts: as it were, a master has such regard for his servant, a mistress for her maid, that they would even look after their welfare. Naaman the Syrian seems to have had such a little Israelite girl who spoke so well of the prophet; she seems to have had such love and esteem with her lord and lady, 2 Kings 5. Indeed, Herod — what regard he had for John's company! How he loved him! How he feared him! He did much on his account, Mark 6:20.

12. Once more, it works so upon their hearts that they say, all the blessing I have is on your account: that God preserves and spares us is for the sake of the ten righteous, Genesis 18:32. Zoar was spared for Lot's sake, Genesis 19:21. That holy seed, they say, is the support of the land and the church, Isaiah 6:13. Laban said to Jacob, I have observed that the Lord has blessed me for your sake, Genesis 30:27. For your sake, said Potiphar to Joseph, all that is in my house is blessed, Genesis 39:5.

13. Lastly, it works so upon those wicked who are elect, that it becomes a means of their conversion. 1 Corinthians 7:16; and 1 Peter 3:1-4 speaks of the hidden man of the heart, and of the conduct of wives, that they might thereby win others without a word. Without speaking a single word, the believing wife might thus win the unbelieving husband. See, all this works upon the heart of a wicked person.

III. But now we may see what effect it has on the heart of the godly. Godly examples work upon the hearts of the godly. Deborah, in her zeal for God, worked upon Barak, and that in turn upon Jael, to deal so with Sisera, Judges 4. One soldier spurs another on; the one runs more briskly and swiftly than the other; one creature follows another of its own kind — so it is also with the godly: when they see the godly in their walk, in the Word, what will follow? I must be as you are, I want to hold with you; I too want to have those ornaments that you have. John ran to the tomb, Peter ran after him, John 20:3-6. One hero surpasses another, yet they were both there; they did not reach those first three heroes, yet they were still counted among the thirty and their like, 2 Samuel 23:23. It will come down to this, that a separation must be made, and that is our last point.

IV. Our fourth point, then, is this: what difference is there between the effect it has on the godly and the effect it has on the wicked? Here the matter divides; here the balance and scale tip to the side where the weight is: the one is light work, the other is not. What difference is there between the convictions of the wicked, when they observe the godly, and the convictions of the gracious?

1. First, the sinner, when he is worked upon concerning the godly, as long as he is in their presence, values those convictions, wants to know them well, loves them; but once he is away from them, he can mock them, despise them, slander them — or, if he does not do it, out of some restraint in his conscience, he holds his tongue. But the godly person, in whom it works truly, says not only in their presence but also in their absence, I must conduct myself as the godly do; they do not praise them to their faces, so that they would not become proud, but away from them they say, what a fine person that is! How prudent! How upright! If anyone does them harm, they speak up for them. 1 Kings 22:7: is there not a prophet of the Lord here, said Jehoshaphat? Ahab said, yes, but he is a wicked man, I hate him, he never prophesies good concerning me, it is all wind with him. Jehoshaphat said, let not the king speak so, he is better than you think, I wish you would have him brought here. To their face they do not praise them — that they could sometimes not bear, it would become a snare to them — but when they are wronged, they take it up on their behalf.

2. Here is the difference. Where it does not work truly, the convictions do not go all the way through; in the civil and the hypocritical, as long as the convictions last, they seem to have esteem and love, but once the convictions diminish, so does their regard for the godly. So it was with Pharaoh: at the last he said, get out of my sight, to the very man he had earlier begged with tears to pray for him; if you come back, I will kill you, he said. There stands a Saul before David, saying, you are more righteous than I — yet afterward he sought his life. Take John: it is written, Herod feared John, he was so often convicted, he heard him gladly — but afterward, once the conviction had passed somewhat, it cost John his life. But it does not go that way with the godly. Even if they had received some spiritual good from a godly person, they would lay down their lives for them; they would gouge out their own eyes for them, if it could be of use, and give them to them; they would do as Rahab did for the spies — how great was her danger! The city of Jericho was under siege, she took her life in her hands for those who had done her good, who had so edified her; note it well, she hid them. Consider Paul: he who had gone out like a lion came back to Damascus like a lamb, and joined himself to the disciples; they were afraid of him, but seeing there was so much in him, after having been in his company — when the city was surrounded to seize him, the disciples took their lives in their hands, as it were, and let him down over the wall in a basket, and so he escaped.

3. Where it does not work truly on the heart of the sinner: when the godly gain the upper hand, when they become the most numerous and prominent, when it becomes fashionable to be godly too, then they also become godly — just as in David's time: when he would have none but the godly seen in his house, when he put the wicked out of his court and hall, all Jerusalem put on a show of godliness — but when David had to flee the city, it came to light; before, Ahithophel had made himself out to be godly, but once David was out of the city, he showed himself a traitor. But where it works truly, the godly say: you are our companion, however badly it may go with you; those who love one another would not be parted in prosperity or adversity, just as Ruth and Naomi. Do not urge me, said Ruth to her mother-in-law, to leave you, to turn back from following you; for wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die, I will die, Ruth 1:16-17. Consider that. Ah, poor wretches that we are, how foolish we are! We hardly ever think of such things in the course of our lives.

4. Where it does not work truly, you will find it thus: when they see a godly person to whom they would have to give something, there is suddenly nobody home. Matthew 25:42: I was hungry, and you gave me no food. 1 Samuel 25:10: Nabal said, who is David, and who are his servants, that I should give them my bread? Then it is like that widow at Zarephath, who said hastily to the prophet, man of God, what have I to do with you? She said it out of grief, 1 Kings 17:18. Where it works truly, when they see God's children in poverty, they will grant them something by every means and way, even at some risk. You have an example of this in Obadiah, that steward of Ahab's: he said to Elijah, was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, that I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in a cave, fifty at a time, and fed them with bread and water? I could not bear to see them treated so — they were all being killed — I took care of a hundred prophets, 1 Kings 18:13.

5. Where it does not work truly, they would indeed be willing to die with the good, but in their lives they have no taste for it: to have to live so godly, they say, so weaned from the world, so humble, so exemplary and devout to the very end — that does not suit me, but their end does. World, know that their end will be everlasting joy and peace, but know that your end will be everlasting misery — before that, gnashing of teeth, wringing of hands, throbbing of heart; you will be in everlasting desperation among the devils becoming your companions; and that will last forever and ever. When you then lie on your deathbed, how is it then? Then one desires, like Balaam, to die the death of the righteous; then one is willing to die with the godly who are in the city, but not to live with them. But the godly are willing to live with that; their way of life pleases them too — that, they say, is the beginning of heaven, the imperfect foretaste of heaven. At the judgment Pharaoh will wish he had been a Moses, and Judas that he had been Peter — but in life they should have wished it.

6. It does not work truly when your thoughts never once turn to that eternal life, but you simply go on living and dying in sin: you hardly ever think of that blessed, edifying company. But where it works truly, they say, I am going to Abraham's bosom, to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; I wish I were already in that edifying company; I long to be unbound and to be with Christ, among all those spirits of the righteous made perfect, an Abraham and a Paul and all the godly.

7. It does not work truly when the smallest fault found in a child of God becomes a beam for you, and you go and misuse it to justify your own carelessness and ungodliness, saying, nobody is perfect — and you cover your sins with Noah's drunkenness, Lot's unchastity, David's adultery, and so shelter behind the fault of a saint. But the righteous, seeing this, how do they use it? Lord, they say, how humble must I be? If those men fell, whom I regarded as the pillars, let me then not be proud, but fearful. And they see not only their faults, but also their humbling on account of them, Nehemiah 13, Psalm 51. How broken they were before they were comforted! If such men fell so, they think, even though I have not fallen so far, I still have such indwelling sin, Romans 7:20; I shall not be perfectly delivered from sin and the instigation of the Devil until I am dead, Romans 6:7.

There you have our four points. Now take that mirror in your right hand and in your left, and look each of you upon your own face. Sinner, if you look at the good yet follow the wicked, you will fall with the Devil into Hell. Godly one, do you not see your face reflected better in the other mirror? Do not hide it, do not silence the stirring of your conscience. What effect does it have on you when you look at the godly in the Bible, and in their life and conduct? Must you not say: the image and the inscription of the good is better than that of the wicked; do you not find yourself the better for it? Are you truly convicted by the example of the good? Then even if you are still only a bruised reed, the good God will not break you, but he will let you grow in grace from a child to a young man, from a young man to a full-grown man, and at last he will bring you into that glorious company, into that magnificent palace, above sun and moon, to glorify him there for all eternity. Amen!

Sermon 35

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein is shown:

I. How the godly and the ungodly are convicted through the Word.
II. How those convictions in the ungodly go no further, and are not good.
III. How the convictions of the godly are good, as shown by their properties.
IV. How each of us must apply this to ourselves.

We read that God said to the prophet Jeremiah: if you bring forth the precious out of the vile, you shall be as my mouth, Jeremiah 15:19. Do you know when someone will be a good prophet, God means to say? When he distinguishes true grace from counterfeit grace, when he distinguishes deceit from truth, when he knows how to distinguish knowledge from grace. A preacher must be careful not to cast pearls before swine, Matthew 7:6. He must take care not to give the children's bread to the dogs, Matthew 15:26. He must take care not to strengthen the hands of the wicked, nor grieve the heart of the righteous, Ezekiel 13:22. He must seek to expose those who have a name that they live, and yet are dead, Revelation 3:1; who have a form of godliness but deny its power, 2 Timothy 3:5. He must also not forget to give the children their proper portion, to comfort the mourning, to support the weak, Isaiah 61:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:14. Where a preacher is faithful and discerning in that last duty, then it will become evident that the first are not of the right sort; then it will appear that they are whitewashed tombs, who have built their houses on a foundation of sand; then it will appear that they have only come near, and are not within grace, that they have only burning lamps in their hands, and no oil of grace in their hearts. A preacher must know that he has both the godly and the ungodly before him, and that he must lay upon his heart these four or five matters.

1. First, he must lay upon his heart that his hearers must often and earnestly think about their eternal outcome — how matters will stand with them in death and in the judgment. Death is that which all must pass through; a preacher must seek to impress upon everyone's heart not only that he must pass through death, but that he will also have to pass through the judgment, and that there a close examination will be made whether a person has lived in nature or in grace; there a close examination of each one's state will be made; there judgment will be given according to what each one has done, 2 Corinthians 5:10.

2. A preacher must also seek to impress upon the hearts of his hearers what are the highest and greatest truths. Eternity is no dream; hell is no melancholy fancy; that worm which does not die is no mere idea; heaven is no cunningly devised tale. When someone is unbelieving in these matters, the Word works little upon his heart; then you will find it as it stands in Isaiah, chapter 53:1: who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? It does just as little work upon them as it says in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24: the Gospel was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness — but to those who believe, it is the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16. Those eternal and coming things — there is a sublimity of truth in them, even though our understanding cannot grasp it; they lie within the sight of faith.

3. He must likewise strongly impress upon the heart that everyone who lives under the Word must be on guard against deceit, against pretense and appearance, and that everyone must be diligent in the examination of his own heart, Zephaniah 2:1, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Lamentations 3:40. He must continually impress upon a person's heart that one who has the true thing cannot content himself with mere appearance. Such a person loves exceedingly that word which distinguishes appearance from reality, which uncovers deceit and holds up the truth; he willingly lets fall the veil of appearance; that right hand in which a lie lies, he willingly lets be cut off. Ah God, says such a one, what should I do with mere appearance? Give me the reality!

4. He must seek to impress upon the heart that a person ought to value nothing in this world more highly than his own soul. What one does not value, one easily parts with. Esau did not value his birthright, and so he readily gave it up.

5. He must seek to press upon the heart what an excellent, happy state it is to have grace, and what an ugly state it is to be in mere nature. He must seek to impress upon the heart the excellence of grace, and that the sinner's condition is so ugly — even though he refuses to know it, even though he seeks to gloss it over, to disguise and cover it up. It is so unreasonable, so unhappy, yet the natural man will not know it. And that grace is so excellent that not everyone has it — that too he must seek to impress upon the heart, and show, that if they are in grace, then they are happy. Everyone pretends to have it, even while lacking it; the hypocrite wants to seem the best of all.

Beloved, you see well enough what we are aiming at. If we are to be the mouth of the Lord, we too must do this: separate the precious from the vile, and seek to impress upon the heart that we should never be content with mere appearance. That is the concern of the bruised reed — that it should never mistake mere appearance for the real thing.

We have, at various times (as the congregation knows), sought to weigh the precious against the vile together, and to support the bruised reeds and remove their difficulties, so that at last we have come to that matter: convictions. They say, we are convicted, but I do not know whether my convictions are good ones. In that matter of convictions we have proceeded as follows: we first showed you that convictions exist. Further, we showed you whether your convictions are true convictions, or whether they were only somewhat better than those of an unbeliever. Then, how the Devil sets about disputing the truth, wanting them to be misused. Then, we saw that there are convictions that come through conscience — what a burden he sometimes carries under it, so that he has as much as he can bear! Then, through judgments. Then, through blessings. Then, on the sickbed — how he lies there sometimes, melting and struggling, so that he knows no remedy! Then, through evil examples. Then, through good examples: they sometimes see such fine people, and their heart says, you are not like that, and you ought to be. That we saw last time; now we must see it through the Word. Ah, what pangs one sometimes gets through preaching! Yet still they are not good ones. I see, say the godly who are so convicted, that I am not like that; I see some who cry out more than I do. Then, we shall discuss those convictions that come only from the common workings of the Spirit, as surely as we are alive and well; and then the true convictions that come through the Spirit. Now, then, we shall show:

I. First, that the godly and the ungodly are convicted under the preaching of the Word.
II. That in the ungodly it goes no further than through the Word, the preaching, and the preacher, and how it becomes evident that these are not good.
III. How it becomes evident in the godly that theirs are indeed good.
IV. Finally, we will invite you to lay your own thoughts alongside this matter.

Those, then, are our four matters. First: the ungodly are convicted in the Church through the Word and the preacher. Further: it becomes evident that in the ungodly these are not good — they have certain marks by which it appears that they are not good. Then: the godly also have certain things by which it appears that theirs are good. Lastly: we shall seek, once you have heard it, to reflect upon it, and to lay our own hearts alongside it. Judge, then, with a righteous judgment.

I. As to the first point: the godly and the ungodly are sometimes convicted through the preaching and through the preacher. At times you will find a preacher who is of your own blood or family, who has great power over your heart; the word he preaches seems to want to enter within. Again, there is sometimes a preacher in the pulpit whose gift suits our temperament, a gift that matches our own inclinations; his word wants to enter within somewhat, so that one must say, there is no one who finds so much entrance with me as that man. Again, sometimes there is a preacher in the pulpit with whom we associate in company, by which one becomes entangled with him; that word too wants to enter within. Then there is sometimes one in the pulpit through whom, when one hears him, one can gain favor, comfort, and advantage; that too often wants to enter within: one marvels at the person, one can gain favor, comfort, and advantage by him — that, I say, also often wants to enter within. Then there is sometimes one in the pulpit with weighty gifts, a son of thunder, who brings you with your thoughts before the judgment and all the terror in the Word, who from a burning breast hurls the coals of hell; then he comes at once with the most dreadful attributes of God out of the Word; then he comes with the curse of God; then with their sinful deeds; God, he says, is a consuming fire; there he climbs Mount Ebal, the mount of the curse — through that, conviction comes, they begin to be terrified and to tremble, a shudder, a chill creeps through their blood, and a coldness comes over their heart; one sees it in their downcast faces. Then again there is another, who is spiritual, gentle, pleasant; he comes with what is lovable, he sings no lamentations, but plays upon the lute, and says, there is no wrath with God, sinner; God can glorify himself by showing grace to the most wretched; he offers you pardon, he lets you pray and plead, he wants to glorify himself in grace toward you; there is a Mediator, he stands ready for the helpless, he comes to invite you — will you but go to him, he will receive you in love; he reproaches you if you will not go to him, and says, you will not come to me; there is a Spirit of God who will comfort you. He sets forth such clear and lively tests of grace, of the spiritual life, of regeneration, of faith, of temporary faith, of mere imaginings: see now, he says, whether you are truly at work; we invite you to it; answer, let your conscience speak, do not silence it, do not dispute against God: I cannot let you go, he says, answer, whether you possess or lack the work of God. Then, when it is preached in this way, the hearer feels many a pang in his soul; he sits with a downcast face, with sighs in his breast, with a pale countenance. You see that whole congregations are often struck down by this: it is a sign that something is moving under the ministry of the Word.

What convictions does an unregenerate person actually experience under this?

1. First: oh Lord, he says, I am so troubled, I have such fear in my heart. They are often not to be calmed. Adam was afraid, Genesis 3:10.

2. Along with that fear they get a longing and a desire to hear more of that preacher who works upon their heart. Ezekiel 33:32: you are a faithful preacher, with what delight they hear you, says God, what a wonder of pleasantness you are to them! It does not weary me, they say, however long you preach; yet he was no flatterer nor smooth talker; that much, at least, was well — but, God says of it, they hear your words gladly, but they do not do them.

3. Indeed it can go further still, so that under the ministry they not only take pleasure in it, but they go and do a great deal, they set themselves to work. Mark 6:20: Herod was so occupied concerning John — he did many things on his account, but he could not bring himself to give up his Delilah; if a Herodias must go, then he would rather have John go instead.

4. Indeed it can go so far that they even move against their own beloved sin. We think this can be seen in King Ahab: how his wife Jezebel egged him on and incited him to acquire Naboth's inheritance! Yet when Elijah came — who was as a burning brand to him — and told him according to the Word of God what would befall him for it, he humbled himself in sackcloth and ashes, to such a degree that God took some satisfaction in it, 1 Kings 21:29. And he did this solely on the Word of God, spoken to him by a man he hated.

5. It can go so far that a person resolves to do everything that God says, Deuteronomy 5:28-29: all is good that God has spoken, we will do it all — and yet God said that they lacked the real thing.

6. There are some who have such convictions that they are moved beyond measure, so that they must cry out in church. So it went in Acts 24: Felix had to tremble before Paul, he was afraid, verse 25. Agrippa was so moved that he scarcely knew what to say, Acts 26:28. That happens under the Word — that is what the preacher and the Word accomplish.

How does it now go with the godly — do they too sometimes have no convictions? Oh yes: when a child of God comes into church, expecting it or not, how is he indeed convicted? David said to the prophet Gad, I am in great distress, 2 Samuel 24:14. Josiah, when he heard the Book of the Law read, how tender was he? 2 Kings 23. What a discerner of thoughts the Word is! Hebrews 4:12. It is the good seed, which goes to work in the good soil. There the godly become as a little fish caught in the net. He is born, and one says of him, this and that man was born there — the Most High himself shall establish it, Psalm 87:5. It is written, Acts 2:37: when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and cried out, what shall we do? The godly could often not tell you which text was the occasion of their conviction. Lydia never forgot, as long as she lived, what Paul preached when her heart was opened, Acts 16:14. The eunuch: as I live, I will never forget that text I was reading when Philip came to me, Acts 8:30. Would those three thousand have forgotten what Peter expounded, Acts 2? You have something remarkable on this in H. Witsius, in his Controversy of the Lord with His Vineyard, page 205 — it is worth keeping in memory. The Bohemian religion began to break through, so that its adherents began to come out into the open. A certain count had a wife and a sister who were devoted to the Bohemian religion, but he himself was a papist. An unfriendly priest came to visit the count, while the wife and sister, who were devoted to the good religion, were holding a meeting of some right-minded people at the castle. That meeting, said the priest, I would not tolerate; your wife and sister deserve to be driven out of it with a stick. The man conceived a furious resolve; in a mad temper he went there, with a stick in his hand, with wild words and behavior he flew to the castle; wrenching open the door, he saw there a simple company — an old, aged preacher, somewhat raised up, addressing the gathering; and a young man sat beside him, who made room for the count, and addressed him, saying, my lord, would you please sit down here? God touched him in his heart; he went out a different man than he had come in. He related afterward: had you told me to crawl in under a penitent's bench, I would have done it, such reverence came over me — and instead of an opponent, he became a supporter. Augustine remembered Romans 13 well. Junius never forgot the Gospel of John, chapter one.

The ungodly and the godly alike received convictions through the Word and the preacher: there you have the first point.

II. Now the second thing we must examine: you may indeed have been convicted, but was it the preacher and the Word alone that did it, and are your convictions good or not? Take note: if they are not good, but only produced by the Word, you will find it as follows.

1. First: you do not want to know them, you hide them, you cover them up; indeed, you would not want others to say, how are you so convicted; you do not like them to see your tears and your distress; indeed, you are sometimes secretly angry with yourself for having shown such feeling. They are sorry that they were ever so sorrowful; when they come among people, they hold themselves more composed than they are; they go and smother it, they nurse it along, they harden themselves, they go and divert themselves in the world; indeed, they often go to people of an erring religion, so that these might heal them; indeed, in the end they would even go the way of the Devil with Saul, and cry out in despair with Cain, and seek death with Judas. That is the first: such convictions are worthless; what will become of you we do not know.

2. In the second place, it does not return much, it does not last. It is a sermon-sickness! When the sermon is over, so is the sickness; it is a Sunday conviction, a morning cloud — one often thinks it will rain, and yet, some hours later, the rain clouds have simply blown away, Hosea 6:4. It is exactly the same as with seasickness — most of you have probably felt it once — how wretched it is; and no sooner has one set foot on land than it is gone — people laugh at one another for having made such a fuss over it. It is a movement like that of a dead man who lies drifting in the water of the sea: one thinks he is alive, as he comes drifting along, but once he is ashore, one sees that he is dead. It does not last, and does not readily come back.

3. In the third place: if it comes only through the voice and the gifts of the preacher, and through the outward Word, then, while you are under conviction, you will love the preacher, but once that has passed, the substance, the urgency, the earnestness is gone. At first, that preacher is to you like an angel of God, but afterward he becomes your enemy, Galatians 4:16. Oh John, said Herod, I love you so! Yet afterward he must lose his life. Felix said, I will hear you again when I have a convenient time — yet afterward, even though it was in his power to help him, he left him imprisoned, to do the Jews a favor.

4. In the end they come to say, I want to be with such teachers as work more upon the brain and the understanding than upon the heart, who do not concern themselves with outward things, who insist more upon Christian liberty than upon a tender conscience. It seems that Ahab had for a while some liking for those who sought to work upon the heart, but afterward that too passed away. Paul said, they will heap to themselves teachers after their own hearts, after their own lusts, having itching ears, 2 Timothy 4:3.

5. Where they once received such convictions, they no longer like to go back; they no longer like to hear those who once pinned them down; that discerning kind of preaching, in which false foundations are exposed, they cannot bear to hear, nor do they wish to. John 6:66: many of them went away — Lord Jesus, they said, you no longer please us. Mark 10:22: he went away sorrowful; no doubt he went away because he was so wounded, and had received such convictions.

6. He is found where one is left undisturbed; he goes to such gatherings where the hammer of the Word is not laid so hard upon the conscience, where the sword of the Spirit is not laid upon his heart. Speak to us smooth things, they say, plaster me with loose mortar; I like it that way, it must be so.

7. He does have some agitation at times, but he is not truly broken in heart. The Word can indeed at times make even the most brazen sinner tremble, just as the devils tremble. You can see that in Acts 24:25. But that is not the trembling that God has regard to. Isaiah 66:2: they are not poor or contrite in spirit, they have no reverence for the divine Majesty, they do not make themselves as small as a little worm.

8. Lastly, they are indeed sometimes moved and made glad, but they remain like the stony ground; they rejoice over the promises of God, and not over the commandments; they are often taken with the smooth tongue and gifts of the speaker, and they seek loosely to appropriate to themselves what is pleasant, yet they remain a stony and unfruitful ground, a heart of stone; they cannot say that they are converted, how that comes about, what faith in Jesus is; whatever stirrings are still wrought in them, they do not follow through on. In hell it will be hardest for none more than for those who must say, ah God, I had such convictions, I was so moved, I ought to have followed through on it, but I did not! For them it will be the most painful thing in hell. See, these then are the convictions that are not good.

III. But now we must see which convictions are good: by what are they to be known?

1. First, by the very opposite of what we have said above. Those others do not want them, they hide them; but these do not merely refrain from hiding theirs, they cannot even do so — they cannot get rid of them; it is no Sunday-only conviction; it does not disappear by evening. If there are people who seek to convict them further, they are never angry with them their whole life long for it; they love the preacher, and love the convictions; even if it were not yet a true work, they say, I am not looking for a preacher who suits my own inclinations; rather, they come to those who make their convictions all the more numerous; how glad I am, they say, to have what I have; they do not remain a heart of stone.

2. Do you know by what they are to be known, when they are good? By this: they increase, they break through, toward faith in the Lord Jesus; they become gradually more tender, more godly in their walk. Yes Lord, they say, how grieved I am when I must go to church so lukewarm! Where I sit so untouched, it is to me a tasteless meal, I cannot bear it!

3. They are so concerned to apply to themselves what is spoken; they do not regard it as something strange, something that does not closely concern them; I must have that application, they say — one from the preacher, which I long for. Merely to have explanation is not enough; a preacher must take a subject to which application fits and follows; application is the soul of preaching; then we too must apply it, and then we must have yet another application, from the Holy Spirit himself. Ah God the Holy Spirit, apply it to me! Make known to me the gifts that have been given me by God! We must also make an application ourselves, in private: is it I, Lord? said the apostles, Matthew 26:22. Job 5:27: hear it, and know it for yourself, O Job. Set your heart on all these words, it shall be no vain word for you, Deuteronomy 32:46. They long for what comes from the preacher, especially for what comes from the Holy Spirit; and then they still go on applying it themselves — both what is to their disadvantage and what is to their advantage.

4. Prayer comes into use with them so fittingly; before and after the sermon, and often even during the sermon, they offer an earnest prayer to God, that it would please the Lord to be with them; they have convictions at times — if it is not yet deep enough, they go once more to the means; if it is still not right, they come again. David was a great example of this. Psalm 119:18: open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law!

5. Where they have found it good, they want to bring everyone else to it too: parents drag their children along to it, the husband his wife: I have found it so good here, they say. Philip said to Nathanael, I have found it so good in the Messiah, come and see for yourself.

6. Oh, then such a visible change comes over their household, their conduct, and their children; they must now go and live according to the Word, according to that rule, Galatians 6:16, so that others say, is that the same woman? is that the same man? is that what being changed looks like? In speech and conduct they are altogether different! They declare themselves for God and his cause.

7. They are so amazed at the Bible: they did not know that such things stood in the Bible; they find, like that man, a treasure in the field, which they had not known was there. My God, they say, I would not give up this Bible for all there is in the world; there is no silver or gold to weigh against it. The godly in times of persecution, how much they treasured it! Often with just a single leaf from the Bible — they sewed it into their clothes! Even if they had not a penny in the world, if they only had a leaf from the Bible, they meditated on it and learned it by heart; they fed on the Word, and it was sweeter to them than honey.

8. Where they are good, such people long so much for the Sabbath, for those dwelling places, Psalm 84:3 and Psalm 27:4: one thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. These things are plain.

IV. With this we must now go apart in private, and lay our own hearts alongside it, and declare ourselves before God, both I and you. Go, judge with a righteous judgment, and set yourselves to separate the precious from the vile.

In what follows we shall deal with those who have common convictions through God's Spirit. I hope that the Lord will bless what has been said, to us and to you, to his own glory: Amen.

Sermon 36

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein these points are treated:

I. That the reprobate indeed receive great gifts of the Spirit, which are not saving.
II. The godly also indeed receive great convictions through the Holy Spirit, which are not saving.
III. The difference between the two.

We read, 2 Kings 22:19, of King Josiah, that his heart had become tender. It is a mark of God's own children to be small, tender, and soft-hearted. They have such a broken heart, such a contrite spirit, Psalm 51:19; such a humble, crushed spirit, Isaiah 57:15; they are like wax and like water. But are the godly really so tender?

1. First, they are so tender concerning the commandments of God that they dare not reject or transgress a single one of them. It is: how could I do so great an evil and sin against God! — as Joseph said, Genesis 39:9. And with David: I esteem all your precepts concerning all things to be right, Psalm 119:128.

2. They are so tender concerning sin. What man is there who does good and does not sin? 1 Kings 8:46. But when they have sinned, their heart smites them for it. David's heart smote him for cutting off the corner of Saul's robe; his heart pounded within him: I have cut off the corner, but what if I had cut off his head! Peter wept like a child over the sin of having denied his Master.

3. They are so tender concerning the threatenings of the great God. 2 Samuel 24: there came someone with a hard message to David: let us, he said, fall into the hand of the Lord, verse 14. If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, Matthew 26:39. Exodus 32: Moses said, would you destroy this people? Rather blot me out of your book, verse 32. The Prophet lay forty days and forty nights prostrate on the ground, Deuteronomy 9:25. They are tender not only concerning the judgments, but also whenever God threatens; and when he brings to pass what he has threatened, they sit and tremble. Psalm 119:120: my flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.

4. They are tender not only concerning the threatenings and judgments of God, but also concerning the blessings of God: the blessings of the great God, those sunbeams, melt their hearts. What made David have such a melted heart? 2 Samuel 7:22. When they see the loving-kindnesses shown to their soul, you see them standing there with tears on their cheeks, and love in their heart; when God blesses, they stand like that centurion, Luke 7.

5. They are so tender concerning the Word of God; they do not dare venture into matters too high for them, Psalm 131:1; they leave the secret things to the Lord, Deuteronomy 29:29; they tremble and seek to live according to the revealed Word of God, Isaiah 66:2; they set their seal that God is true, John 3:33.

6. They are so exceedingly tender concerning the honor of God. How concerned they are whether God will be honored, by them or by another! It is a mortal blow to their very bones when God is dishonored. If there is someone who curses, reviles, lives godlessly, the zeal of God's house consumes them; they often stand with a prayer on their lips: Lord! let me not live to your dishonor, that the world should mock over it, that I should cause your children pain, and rob beginners in the faith of their courage through it.

7. They are so tender concerning the condition of the church. If it does not go well with the church, then it does not go well with them either: they weep with those who weep, Romans 12:15. I had never been sad of countenance, said Nehemiah, when I stood before the king, until I heard how things stood with Jerusalem, Nehemiah 2:1-3. How could I bear to see, said Queen Esther, the evil that shall befall my people? I cannot endure it, Esther 5.

8. They are so tender concerning the promises of God: they would not readily apply one to themselves if it did not truly belong to them; they do not appropriate any promise to themselves without warrant; they make a close examination — someone may find promises, they say, but not everyone may say, they belong to you, unless he can find in himself what God has said those must have to whom the promises belong.

9. Lastly, they are so tender concerning their own convictions, in judging whether these are genuine; they do not like to judge except on good grounds; in this regard they are bruised reeds, they need a great deal of support. It is to such tender hearts that we seek to give support.

You know that we are occupied with such matters at such times as these. Last time we were occupied with examining all those various convictions, to see which were good and which were bad. We sought to lay ourselves and the congregation down upon that point. We said, walk through it. We sought to bring ourselves and you to render a righteous judgment. Last time we spoke of those convictions that were wrought through preaching, through the preacher and the Word, in the godly and the ungodly. We saw that there was a great difference between the two. Now we must see:

I. First, that the reprobate indeed receive great gifts of the Spirit, which produce convictions, yet are not truly spiritual.
II. That the godly also receive such convictions, which are only common workings of God's Spirit.
III. That the difference is great between the one and the other.

Those are our three points, with which we must now be occupied: the first is that you find in unconverted reprobates great gifts of the Spirit, which produce stirrings, moving convictions; the second, that you find that also in the godly and the elect; the third comprises the difference between the one and the other.

I. As to the first point, take note. It cannot be denied that the Spirit is seen in his gifts and workings in a person who is perishing; and however much of the Spirit one sees in them, one cannot say that it is the Spirit of Christ. They do indeed have the Spirit of God working in them, but one cannot say that it is the Spirit of Christ. What is the Spirit of Christ, when he works in someone? This: that the third Person, by virtue of the eternal covenant of grace and the suretyship of Christ, works the work of the Spirit in the elect; by virtue of the satisfaction of Christ, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and works so in the heart of the elect that he brings them to the Lord Jesus, and makes them to be in him as a branch in the vine that bears fruit. Thus the world cannot receive him, for it sees him not, nor knows him, John 14:17. Thus the world does not partake of him. You must always keep this well in your heart, how the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9. Now the workings of the Holy Spirit are nevertheless seen in the reprobate — first, in natural gifts that he gives; secondly, in political gifts; thirdly, in ecclesiastical gifts; fourthly, in spiritual gifts. Under the ministry the Spirit of God is given, which produces common convictions; the Spirit of God is sometimes given to someone as a great ornament.

a. In natural workings: in the giving of great talents, by which a natural man becomes an ornament to a whole people and to the world. You will find this in Exodus 31 and 35. To Bezalel and Oholiab was thus given the Spirit of wisdom, to make skillful works: I will give them such a spirit, says God, by which they will adorn the world; they will be men without equal; as it is described, there was no one who could do that work as they could, they had no equal.

b. The Holy Spirit also works political gifts: what is that? God loves his people, he wants something done for them. Saul — when God made him king, the Spirit of God came upon him, 1 Samuel 16 — he received a kingly spirit, to govern God's people. Consider a Samson: the Spirit of God began at times to drive him, for something great was to come of him. Consider an Ahithophel, who through his great wisdom was held in such high regard, both by David and by Absalom: when they had asked him for counsel, it was as if one had inquired of the Word of God. That Spirit departs from them again. See that in Saul, 1 Samuel 16:14.

c. In ecclesiastical matters the Holy Spirit also works gifts. The apostle Paul lists them, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11: tongues, prophecies, gifts of healing, the working of miracles. They were such gifts that the apostle Paul did not shrink from speaking, Hebrews 6:4, of those who have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit. What sort of people are these? They are such as have once been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift. You will ask, who shall you take such people to be, and what shall you make of it? Do you know who, and what you shall make of it? In short, we will simply name them for you: do you know who? A Balaam, Numbers 24:4, who speaks as one who hears the words of God, who has ascended into the secret things of God; yet Peter testifies of him that he loved the wages of unrighteousness, 2 Peter 2:15. They are such as those in Numbers 11:26 who prophesied in the camp, Eldad and Medad. They are such as those dreaming dreamers, Jeremiah 23:25. They are such as Saul: there a company of prophets comes to meet Saul, and he prophesied along with them, 1 Samuel 10:11. Indeed he did even more than they, he stripped off his clothes and lay naked a whole night upon the ground. They are such as were called false apostles in the New Testament, like a Judas and his kind: they were ministers of Christ, but also true ministers of Satan, 2 Corinthians 11:13. They are like the Devil, who knows how to transform himself into an angel of light, verse 14. They are such as often have great talents to do signs and wonders, Matthew 7:22. They are such as have a talent which they bury, who are like that wicked servant who had to be bound hand and foot and cast out, Matthew 25:24-30. Such as have much of the Spirit, and yet remain unconsumed by grace. There were, in the time of the Lord Jesus, such as cast out devils in his name, and yet did not follow him. They are such as will boast on the day of judgment and of death, and say, such and such things have I done, let me come in. Such as will knock at the gate of heaven and say, Lord, shall I not come in on the strength of such things? Such as those from whom the Spirit departs, as from Saul, 1 Samuel 16:14. They are such as, having not the saving Spirit within them, have a lust for sinning, who commit sin with relish, and bring forth evil things, Matthew 12:35. There you have the ecclesiastical gifts.

d. Then the Spirit of God is also at work under the ministry: you will find spiritual gifts too in the heart. Genesis 6:3, under the ministry of that preacher of righteousness — how the Spirit indeed strove, and gave them some pangs and convictions, when he said, my Spirit shall not always strive, yet a hundred and twenty years shall it be; there the Spirit came to work, which afterward also ceased; the Spirit strove no more with them, because they went on stubbornly in sin, because they grieved the Spirit. You will ask, what does that work in such people? What do those common gifts do?

1. They are enlightened: they gain much understanding and become more discerning in the Word and in the true religion; they see that there is a Savior, that he is necessary, yet that he is not for everyone — it is difficult to say wherein the last or highest degree of enlightenment consists, how far someone can be enlightened and still lack the reality; and which is the first and smallest degree of grace, what small gifts of the Spirit nevertheless go along with grace. Paul said, though I had all knowledge, and had not love, and had not the work of God breaking forth, I would be nothing, 1 Corinthians 13:2.

2. They taste the heavenly gift, said Paul. What is the Spirit? It too is a good gift. In those common gifts they have a foretaste of the loveliness and moving power that is in the Lord Jesus. He is called a gift, John 4:10. They taste something, in their temporary faith, of the loveliness that is in the Lord Jesus, how willing and merciful Jesus is; they taste all the blessing of God, James 1:17; but how? As Israel tasted the manna — they soon loathed that light bread; and as Israel with the quail — they died with the meat still between their teeth.

3. Once more, what else does Paul say? He adds, the good word of God. They run to church as if mad for it, but you are to them like a lovely song, says God, Ezekiel 33:32. At one time they ran after the Lord Jesus on the road and along the streets, and were wonderfully delighted with him; and at another time they wanted to seize him. How they heard the Word with relish and joy!

4. They taste the powers of the age to come. What is that? This: from what we see with our eyes, and what meets us in temporary faith, we can know how it will go in the age to come, how the godly will go forth with gladness to the Lord; they could foresee that the elements would burn, that the heavens would pass away with a great noise; they could foresee how, at the Judgment, some would be set at God's right hand, and others at God's left hand.

5. It works in them great restraints and convictions. That sorcerer and servant of the Devil, that reprobate and braggart, that Balaam — how convicted was he! yet how his heart still itched after the wages of unrighteousness! God the Lord said to him, you shall not go with them; yet he goes anyway. There an angel meets him on the road, sent by God; ah, he said, shall I turn back! That is what the common gifts of the Spirit do: it worked so in his heart that he said, though the king gave me his house full of gold or silver, I can speak nothing other than what God gives me to speak.

6. It works so in them, too, that they esteem God's children happy — the upright, the godly, the pious. Oh, they say, might I but die with you, and come with you into the judgment and into heaven!

7. Indeed it works so, too, that they also see prophecies that are pleasant and delightful, which they long for. Balaam had to give a prophecy of the Messiah, and one concerning God's people. Thereupon he comes and says, oh, who shall live when God does this! Numbers 24:23. Indeed, he said, your eyes shall see it come to pass; I shall not see it, but others shall see it: oh, that I too might see it!

8. Once more, it works in them sweet stirrings, wonderful agitations, wavering doubts. At times they have such sweet stirrings and gifts; they are tender, so moved and cast down; one would almost think it would turn into a good work. It is the same with that young man, Mark 10:21 — the Lord Jesus loved him. And the same with that scribe, to whom he said, you are not far from the kingdom of God, Mark 12:34. Yet it was only common work, which they resist. They begin in the Spirit, but end in the flesh; they begin well, but end badly, like an Alexander and a Hymenaeus. Indeed, they can sometimes go so far as to mock the work of the Spirit; they would even persecute those who are truly spiritual people, because the saving Spirit of God is in them.

II. Now the second point: did the godly also receive common convictions, which are great ones? Yes, just as much as the reprobate: one thing happens to the righteous and to the wicked, to him who fears God and to him who does not, Ecclesiastes 9:2. What gifts of the Spirit did Moses have above the elders? What gifts did Joseph have for interpreting dreams! What gifts of the Spirit did Solomon have, for giving riddles, speaking proverbs, and composing songs! It was so great that the queen from the south came for this reason, to hear his wisdom, 1 Kings 10. What great gifts Daniel had! He read the unreadable writing, and how he interpreted the king's dreams! God also indeed gives his children great gifts of the Spirit. What gifts the apostles received! Acts 2. Paul said, I was not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles, abounding in gifts, 2 Corinthians 11:5. Did those common gifts also have an effect upon them? Yes, they too stood terrified, trembling, astonished, at what they heard. Paul said, Lord, what will you have me do? Acts 9:6. The apostles were without doubt shaken, Acts 2.

III. Now the third and last point. The difference between the gifts and workings in a reprobate and in a child of God is hard to state. Yet it will become clear if you attend to it. Ah, what a wretched thing, that someone should perish with such common gifts! Do you know what he is like? Like a richly laden ship that sinks to the bottom with all its precious cargo. He is like a costly palace with costly furnishings, in which a fire breaks out, and it all lies there in ashes. He is like a painted Jezebel, who was thrown out the window and eaten by dogs. Like the one who had a valuable talent and buried it — his hands and feet were bound and he was cast out. Ah Lord, what difference is there, then? Can one be adorned with such great gifts and yet still perish!

1. First, when someone possesses nothing more than common gifts — whether he is a preacher or a church member — he will always become proud and haughty, a braggart; you will be able to see it in the swagger of his walk, in the tilt of his head, in his arms and chest; they speak proudly, they pride themselves on their gifts; oh, how they boast that they have the Spirit, and you must believe it whether you can or not; they claim to enter into the deep things of God, like Balaam, Numbers 24:16. They would readily swear oaths; they understand the languages, the original texts; they have pored over everything; and they still preach quite spiritually in the eyes of men, they want to be praised by everyone, they would love for everyone to point them out and say, there is a learned man! Indeed, they still know how to raise cases of conscience, and thereby know how to deceive people, as if they were still so tender. So did those refined characters do in Christ's time: Master, they said, we are troubled over the certificate of divorce; over the tribute money; over the woman who had seven husbands — whose wife will she be at the resurrection? All such things: they want to go everywhere, even into the depths of God; they boast, they swagger, they strut; humility is not learning to them, and not being wise is regarded as a defect; they associate with the great, of whom they are hangers-on, they do not associate with the humble. That is the first mark: so you will find them disposed. But on the contrary, those who have the Spirit of Christ in their hearts find humility a great ornament; such a one is so glad when he is humble, then he is so content; he sighs over the pride rising in his heart, and when he feels that leaven, he watches and struggles against it; he associates with the humble.

2. Where there are only common gifts, you will find no fixed course in walking the way to heaven; they do not pursue it with steadiness. Balaam had so many gifts that he said, though Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the command of the Lord; and at another time he went to give him counsel — he counseled them toward idolatry and whoredom, so that God would then forsake them and Balak could strike them down. Saul, one day he was among the prophets, and the next day he had eighty-five priests slain; one day he stands there weeping with David, and the next day he wants to kill him with a spear. Judas — how well he could play his part when he was among the apostles, amid the prayers and preaching of the Lord Jesus! and the next day he was in the accursed council of the Jews, to betray his good Lord and Master. A child of God, you will find, is set to walk the way to heaven; they strive to enter in; they seek to be steadfast and always abounding in the work of the Lord; they strive and wrestle against their own deadness.

3. A person with only common gifts you will find like this: he takes no pleasure in praying in private or with his family; in the inward spiritual means, whether in public or private, you will not find them; even if they have occasion, ability, and freedom to pray with their family, that would be too close a bond for them; even if they have opportunity to attend the ministry of the Word, they do not go, or they go out of contentiousness, or habit, or favor, or convenience; they distinguish between one preacher and another — those who press home the truth, they do not care for, they stop listening to them, saying, this saying is hard, John 6:60. On the contrary, the others say, Lord, I love so much the quiet, ordered life, with my family, and those means that press home the truth are so pleasing to them; they so gladly hear discernment being applied; they so gladly submit themselves to examination, to find out whether there is any strange driving-wheel within them; they also seek to edify others, to stir them up, to give counsel; they seek out preachers who press home the truth — their concern is godliness itself.

4. Where it is only common, such people do not seek out those who have the Spirit of Christ for their company; to them they will not open their heart, they are not their bosom friends; but they take up with nominal Christians and smooth talkers, and to those they reveal themselves. To whom did Judas reveal himself? To the apostles of the Lord, or to the Jewish council? The genuine hold with true Christians; they would rather be oppressed along with them than be esteemed with the smooth talkers. Hebrews 11:26. There you have such a one, who despised their favor.

5. Where it is only common, such people, when someone stirs them up now and then, would fly at their face; they cannot bear to have the false distinguished from the true, and it becomes: I hate you, 1 Kings 22:8. Where it is genuine, one says, let the righteous strike me, it shall be a kindness; let him rebuke me, it shall be as oil upon my head, which shall not break my head; my prayer shall still be for him, Psalm 141:5 — that they might be even more blessed, touched more, and live long.

6. Common working knows no anguish of soul, even after committing what is nearly a monstrous crime. Judas had committed such a monstrous crime, and when he was so exposed — the Lord said, he who dips his hand with me in the dish — he rises up in cold blood and betrays his Master. But the others must often say, the troubles of my heart are enlarged, Psalm 25:17. They often have as much as they can bear; they drench their bed with tears, Psalm 6:6.

7. For the first sort, reforming is easy work; they think it all consists only in outward things — reading, praying, going to church; that they do, they sweep the house with brooms, and seven devils enter in, and they become worse than they were before; they become full of self-conceit, boasting, and delusion; they perish with many lies in their right hand. The others, where it works truly, find reforming a hard thing, in their house and in their heart; the Spirit sets them upon difficult matters — they must deny themselves, take up the cross, put to death the members that are upon the earth; the Spirit sets them upon dangerous things, to confess Jesus when there is danger in it.

8. Where it is only common, such a one says, the Spirit shall have no dominion over me; I want to drink, gamble, play; the Spirit must not always have his way, I must have my own way too; they resist and grieve the Spirit, they quench him. The others say: God the Holy Spirit, if you have dominion over me, I will not depose you from your authority; do lay my heart captive under obedience to the Lord Jesus.

9. Where it is not genuine, such a one pretends that his strength is as great as his desire. See that in Exodus 24:7: all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. But the others say, oh that my ways and my heart were directed to keep your statutes! Psalm 119:5. There dwells nothing good in me, Romans 7:18; my desire outstrips my strength.

10. Lastly, where it is not genuine, such people generally grow worse — but the others grow better.

Lay yourself alongside these things now, and go through the points, test and examine yourself: these are matters requiring close attention; God looks closely. That man questioned so closely, they said of Joseph; so it is with God too — you might be found standing there as a deceiver. Jacob said, my father might feel me, Genesis 27:12. God too will look very closely. Judge now with a righteous judgment. The rest in what follows. I hope that God will bless what has been spoken here, to his own glory! Amen.

Sermon 37

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein is shown:

I. That such true and spiritual convictions, wrought by the Spirit of God and of Christ, do indeed take place.
II. From what one may conclude that one's convictions are the true convictions, which will never pass away.

We read, Proverbs 16:2: all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits. A person's state and deeds are sometimes pure in his own eyes, but when God comes to weigh him, he is sometimes found not to be good. Proverbs 21:2: God weighs the hearts. Proverbs 24:12: it is he who weighs the hearts, and who watches over your soul. Well now, king — is it so, three times over? Yes. Why? To drive the nail all the more deeply into the heart, and to make us always think: I may judge, but God will weigh me. Does God, then, have a scale by which he weighs men? Yes, he has very great and unfailing scales; they are scales in which there is never any deceit.

1. The first scale by which God weighs men is his sovereign good pleasure, by which he says, you shall be a vessel of wrath, unto dishonor, but you a vessel unto honor and mercy — for that you are prepared according to my eternal purpose, unto my eternal glory, Romans 9:22-23.

2. The second scale by which I weigh men, says God, is the scale of my omniscience, by which I know who are mine and who are not mine; by which I know who has enough weight, and who is found wanting, Daniel 5:27.

3. God also takes up the scale of his providence, by which he weighs whole islands and cities, and the whole world besides. The mountains are moved by him as in a balance, and the hills as in a scale, and he casts forth the islands like fine dust, Isaiah 40:12-15. There he takes up potentates and princes, whose spirits are terrible to him, and he weighs them, whether they shall live longer or not, and he weighs them, whether they be found too light, Daniel 5:27; he weighs lesser notables too, who are also great. Psalm 62:9: the great are a lie, and the common people vanity — weighed together in the balance, they are lighter than a breath, altogether vanity. He weighs the small and the great together in the scale of his providence: ah, says the Lord, you are less than nothing.

4. Then God weighs them in the scale of his Word and Spirit. There people come into the church, Matthew 22:12: how much do you weigh, says God? Do you have no wedding garment on? Do you lack it, or do you have it? Is your work genuine, or is it false?

Now, since God weighs in this way, you must not think that the preacher and each church member may not also weigh you. They too must weigh, in every way. In what sort of scale do they weigh? Their scale is not as great as God's; they have the Word of God and the ministry, by which they weigh themselves and others. These, too, are unfailing scales, the two that they have: in the one they weigh your nature, and in the other your grace. They have one scale in which they lay those marks that cannot coexist with grace; and in the other they lay those that can pass muster with God. They have one in which they lay nature, and one in which they lay grace; they have one in which they lay your convictions along with all your other graces, and then they go to examine whether they are good or bad, whether they are weighty or all too light. There they go to weigh your election; they go to weigh your calling; they go to weigh your faith; they go to weigh where the work first began, whether the work was rightly begun, whether your convictions are from God's Spirit, or whether they are of a lesser sort. And once they have weighed it all, what do they then do? Then they go into the presence of God, and say, Lord! you are the all-knowing one: they take note of everything that should be noted, and they pronounce a verdict, whether they are too light or heavy enough. Job 10:7: it is in your knowledge that I am not wicked. Romans 1:9: God is my witness. 2 Corinthians 11:31: you know that I do not lie. John 21:17: Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.

Beloved! We have been occupied for some time with the congregation in weighing the marks of the state of grace, which are weighty and which are not: since God is unwilling to break the bruised reeds, and unwilling to quench the smoking flax, his servants ought not do so either, in this too. As for weighing nature and grace, we have laid the marks of the state of nature and the state of grace in the scale. Along with the marks of the state of grace comes the true change of heart. With that we went inward to weigh. Along with that came conviction. That too we have laid in the scale. Those were many, for there are many kinds of convictions. We saw that there was one through conscience; then one through blows and judgments; then one through blessings and benefits; then one through sickness — God brings a person near to death, and there great convictions arise; then there was one through seeing the life of the godly, by which they gained some love and affection for it — they had to say, those people live differently than I do; then there was one through the Word, through the terrible and the lovely aspects of the Word, where God thundered and comforted, working convictions in their heart at times; then there were those through common gifts of the Spirit, which are not the Spirit of Christ, but rather the Spirit of God in a common sense. That far we had come.

Now we must yet see one last conviction, which is the best — that is, the true conviction wrought by God's Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ, which issues in the covenant of grace, which is wrought only in the heart of the elect, the regenerate — that is, in whom God's work has begun — and which remains with them to the deathbed itself. That we must now lay upon the scale of God's sanctuary — those true convictions wrought by the Spirit of God and of Christ in the heart of the elect. First, we must see that such true, spiritual convictions do indeed occur. Second, by what could I know and conclude that those convictions which accompany me through the whole course of my life, even to my deathbed, have been wrought in me by God's and Christ's Spirit? Third, this will be a case of conscience: is it, then, so lovable, so desirable, to be so humbled and bowed down? Fourth, how happy is such a one, in whom convictions have been wrought by God's and Christ's Spirit! He shall be crowned with the glory of God. Fifth, we shall show what course such a soul must keep, and give him good counsel. Sixth, we shall make a moving appeal to sinners: how dreadful it is to lack such convictions! Seventh and lastly, we shall give faithful counsel.

You can well imagine that we cannot weigh all of that in this one little hour: we shall then lay only three small points in our scale for the present.

I. The first shall be: are such convictions known within the kingdom of grace?
II. The second: God does not leave hidden the signs from which you may conclude that God's and Christ's Spirit has wrought the convictions in you.
III. The third: is it, then, so desirable to be so convicted?

I. As to the first point: are spiritual convictions wrought by God's and Christ's Spirit — as the Spirit works within the covenant of grace — known to us? Yes, the Word says, the Spirit will come and will convict the world of sin, John 16:8. And 1 Corinthians 14:24: if an unlearned person comes into your assembly, let him be convicted by all of you. What will the Spirit then do to him? He will make him fall on his face, and confess that God is truly in your midst. Zechariah 12:10: the Spirit of grace and of supplications, and of mourning, shall be poured out. Isaiah 4:4: there you have the Spirit of burning and of judgment. What else is that but the Spirit of conviction, who wants to burn sin, the Devil, and the world out of a person? That conviction becomes, as it were, a judge in their thoughts. Indeed, Jeremiah 3:13 says, only acknowledge your iniquity. And there are many more places besides: we shall not dwell on that further.

2. When you consider the ministry of the Word, look at what images it is presented to you under, and then you will not be able to doubt but you must believe that such convictions exist. How do they appear? As sharp arrows, Psalm 45:5. And Ecclesiastes 12:11: as goads and nails, driven in deep. And Hebrews 4:12: the word is like a sword, piercing to the innermost divisions of soul and spirit, and of the joints, and of the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is a hammer, when God's arm is working with it — however small the blows it gives, it strikes to shatter, Jeremiah 23:29.

3. Who can doubt that they exist? Think of a Manasseh, 2 Chronicles — as godless as he was, how small he was made to feel! The tax collector, so ashamed, Luke 18:13, smiting his breast; Ephraim smiting his thigh, Jeremiah 31:19; souls so struck down, Acts 2:37 — what made the jailer so struck down, if there were no spiritual convictions? Acts 16:30.

4. Take yet another proof: do you not see it with your own eyes? You need not go back to Manasseh and others, you need not go back to the times of the apostles — you see it in others with whom you associate, and you see it in yourself. You sometimes see the ungodly: God makes them tender, so that often a whole city is stirred by it, so that they cry out, I can sin no more. You see the work of God entering in, and that this one and that one is born in Zion, Psalm 87:5. You see it not only in others, but you experience it in yourself: ever since you received grace, the Spirit continually stirs up alarm within you whenever your corruptions are astir. You hear of it from others, as Paul heard from the Colossians and Galatians. They too had heard how God worked through Paul. There are so many abundant proofs of this. Since the establishment of the covenant of grace, God has kept and followed no other way than the way of conviction, and that will continue until the last day of the world: he will draw no one, nor bring anyone into heaven, except by the way of convictions, tears, prayer, distress. Have you not been led along such a way? Then take note of the scale of God's sanctuary: whether one likes to hear it or not, that is the oldest and most blessed way that God has ever used.

II. Now we have to consider our second point. Now we ought to weigh the grounds and the marks by which we may conclude that the marks of the true sort are in us — the convictions wrought by God's and Christ's Spirit. Beloved, settle yourselves, apply yourselves, give God the best of your heart, your memory. Do you want to know whether your convictions are good? All of us here know something of convictions; one does not come under the ministry of the Word without sometimes feeling it as a sharp arrow — but now we must see whether our convictions are indeed of the right kind; is your work and mine well established? It cannot go otherwise but that God must still carry it on in the course of our lives. Attend, then, to these marks of conviction, which are always found in the heart of one who is elect.

1. The first mark is: a truly convicted person finds also all nine kinds of convictions mentioned before; he can say along with the rest, I find those poundings in my conscience, I find convictions through blows and through judgments, through blessings, through sickness, through the example of the godly, through the example of the wicked, through the Word, and through the common workings of the Spirit; but such a one can never say, I find no convictions through God's Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ — for in all those kinds he finds that Spirit, running through them all, and that constitutes the rule of distinction. We have set forth those rules of distinction in all the previous sermons; we cannot go over that again now, or we should take too long. Note this: am I, and are you, truly convicted? We shall all discover this together — what was of sand will only be somewhat improved in it, but what is good will be truly wrought in it.

2. When someone finds all those kinds of convictions, that is not enough for a truly convicted person: oh Lord, they say, what good would it do me to have those poundings of conscience — I can never rest in that alone, I must have the spiritual reality alongside it; what would I then be, above the rest? The Lord Jesus once said, if you greet only those who greet you, what reward have you? What do you then more than the tax collector? If I only have those eight or nine things, what have I then above Cain? Above Esau? Above Saul? Above Judas? Above the Ninevites? And if I may say so, in hell they have far heavier convictions than these. That is the second point: all those marks are not enough — I aspire to more.

3. Where it comes through the Spirit of God and of Christ, you will find such a clean and upright heart. The world always wants to insist that the godly are hypocrites; they must sometimes weep, they sometimes make a certain display, and then, all at once, they play the devotee: but as soon as God begins truly to work in them, there is no sin they shun more than that; they are great enemies of appearance without reality, that does not sit well with them at all; if anything lies hidden, Lord, they say, uncover it to me; I must, they say, truly be an Israelite in whom there is no guile, John 1:47. No hypocrisy rules in them; they dare to lay their whole heart open, and often burden themselves more than they need to.

4. There also reigns in them such an inward distress: ah Lord, might I be one of those fortunate ones! Might my convictions remain! Might they not pass away! Might they be genuine! Lord — there are so many kinds of convictions, so many bad ones — could I really have the good ones? I would love to have them, but I am so brutish: could there really be a genuine work in me? Is there truly integrity within me? Do you grant that my work is in truth?

5. They smother it as long as they can, they hold their peace; they carry it with them wherever they go and stand, they work with it, they sleep with it, and rise with it — their convictions — and that for two reasons. First, oh Lord, they say, I dare not speak of it, I fear that it will pass away again. Secondly, oh Lord, people might treat me in too human a way about it: a person is prone to gullibility and deceit, he often judges out of affection; it might lead me to say more than was truly in me — I would rather be silent, and then the work will be purer once it does come to light. Paul did not speak for three days and nights, when he was first convicted. And when they do at last go to someone, they are like Nicodemus, who came by night; they, too, do it so secretly. Do you think there was not already something stirring in Nicodemus before he went to the Lord Jesus by night? And once such a one has spoken to someone about it, he is apt to say, please, keep this quiet.

6. This everyone shall recognize: how darkly troubled and anxious they are, over whether their work is truly good. Oh Lord, they say, I embrace that convicted state, it does not weigh too heavily on me; I cannot live a single day without it; I will not distract myself away from it, even though it is somewhat burdensome, and I do not wish to go on in sin; it is not too much for me, I cannot do without it even for a day.

7. If they must go without it for even a day, they feel pain over it: I cannot live like this, so hard, they say, it is to them like a death; I do not feel your work within, oh that you would come again! and when it does return, it is: oh, that your work would remain in me! ah, that it would grow! If there is anywhere a means of conviction to be had, they seek to attend it: I shall see, they say, whether God is pleased to bless it. They would often rather have more of Boanerges, sons of thunder, than of Barnabas, sons of consolation. If a thing does not bring conviction, it is flat to them; it has neither taste nor quality, neither flavor nor fragrance; if it does not lead to conviction, they lament over it. Isaiah 63:17: Lord, why do you harden our hearts from your fear? Why do you make us wander from your ways?

8. Such people can also say: how pleasant it would be to me if I had the true convictions, or if I still received them! If I once truly knew that I had them! What fine things those would be to me! If it once broke through, and I might then come to an increase of grace — and however dark I am, I will nevertheless live tenderly and godly. There is no child of God who lives more tenderly than one who lives in the strength of their convictions: they seek to be so circumspect, so humble, so watchful, that no sin whatsoever can get through.

9. The ninth mark is: such a person likes very much to be spoken to and drawn out, whereas others would rather run away; indeed, such a person is grieved if some godly person, who once took the trouble to speak to him, then fails to do so any more; indeed, he might well say in his heart, that godly man has fallen away, or has grown lax; indeed, he will not now find fault with the godly, but rather thinks, my work must not be good, otherwise they would surely speak to me. Such a one is not like that woman of Zarephath, who said, man of God, what have I to do with you? Have you come to bring my sin to remembrance? They are not like Felix, who said, go your way for now, and when I have a convenient time, I will call for you, Acts 24:22.

10. Such a person has taken pains to smother it, but they cannot always do so, it must come out at last. Luke 24:32: did not our hearts burn within us, as he talked to us on the road, and opened the Scriptures to us? They cannot help themselves; they must speak or they must burst — even though it might be harmful to them, as with the man born blind, John 9. Their own house is often too confining for them; they often must cry it out, even in the street, like those three thousand, Acts 2. For at times their room, their city, indeed the whole world, is too narrow for them.

11. Where the convictions are a mark of the covenant of grace, they are not still, they do not merely persist, but increase; they break through, they become visible, and they end in faith in Christ, in the making of the covenant with the Lord. This brings them to a holy, tender godliness; they separate themselves from the company of the dead, and join themselves to the living; no one in the whole world, they say, shall keep me on the way of sin, and no one shall keep me from the way of God.

12. The twelfth mark is this: for a time they go about it wrongly with the Lord Jesus and with God's grace; at first they work at it so clumsily, but it does not remain so: if they got hold of a text of Scripture, they used it wrongly; their emotions, tears, prayers, confessions of sin, their observance of the ministry and their duties — they do it all wrongly at first, they work altogether apart from Jesus. But then God comes and says, person, well, from whom did you get that? From whom did you receive that ministry, those workings? Do you truly know the Mediator? How is it that the Spirit works in you? Do you truly acknowledge it? Do you truly give God the glory for it? Do you truly point to anything else, other than to the Lord Jesus? No, no, Lord, they say, I will stay with you; I see that you are an unchangeable God, and I have a changeable heart.

13. Lastly, throughout their whole life they find such a humble and bowed-down heart, even to their deathbed. Will that make their state a bad one? No; their bowing down will not separate them from God. Psalm 42:5: why are you cast down, O my soul, and disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. I am so troubled on account of my sin, they say, over the eternal, good outcome, Psalm 38:19.

III. Now we come to a matter — and that was our third point: is such a bowing down, then, so good and lovable? We see that we cannot fully deal with that now; the time would run on too far. We shall take that up another time, and leave it here for now. But take these two texts still: Psalm 145:14: the Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down; and Psalm 146:8: the Lord raises up those who are bowed down. Now the rest in what follows. I hope that the Lord will bless what has been spoken, to us and to you, to his own glory, for his Son's sake: Amen.

Sermon 38

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which three things are treated:

I. Whether a downcast, bowed-down condition is truly commendable.
II. We shall seek to refresh a child of God who goes about so cast down.
III. We shall seek to work upon you, so that you draw the conclusion and say, God the Holy Spirit has truly convinced me.

Reading Luke 10:41-42, that the Lord Jesus said to Martha, who was full of many concerns: Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful. And might we not well say, are not three things needful? In that one thing the three are enclosed. If that one is needful, the three are needful too. You will ask, what are the three?

2 Corinthians 13:13 — there they stand: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen. What are you and I without the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he has earned, which he applies, which he bestows? Then we are without God; then we are without God in the world, Ephesians 2:12. And what are you and I without being objects of the Father's everlasting love? That God the Father has such love toward his children he shows in the eternal election; they also receive a share in the Father's love in time — I have loved you with an everlasting love, says God, Jeremiah 31:3. See also 1 John 3:1 and 1 Peter 1:3. And what am I, what are you, without the Spirit of the covenant of grace? If we lack the Spirit of Christ, we lack also the grace of Christ, and we lack also the eternal love of the Father — neither of the two can then be applied to you. If you lack the Spirit, you have no share in him; then you lie dead in sin, and you can never gain life for your life so long as you remain without that Spirit. That Spirit of Christ must come into your dead heart, or you can never withstand the devil or the world; then you are without strength, without the Spirit of Christ you are fit for nothing. If you lack that Spirit you cannot believe, for that Spirit alone works true faith. If you do not have that Spirit you cannot understand the best things in church, you do not understand spiritual things, they are foolishness to you, 1 Corinthians 2:14. When something is preached spiritually you would say, well, what does this preacher mean, it is just so much chatter. If you do not have that Spirit you can never rejoice except with a foolish gladness; you can never in your life be truly comforted, for that Spirit is the Comforter, John 14:16. Then nothing saving has ever been given you by God, 1 Corinthians 2:12. Though you read, though you go to the Lord's Table, all the ordinances you observe are dead and fruitless — that Spirit is the soul of the whole Word of God. Ah, poor souls, even if a preacher had such gifts, such skillful eloquence, that can work nothing saving in us; but when the Spirit of Christ works, then contrition comes, then a fire kindles in the heart. You cannot in your whole life pray well without that Spirit, who is called a Spirit of grace and supplication, Zechariah 12:10. If you lack that Spirit it is no praying at all, however well you might speak. Romans 8:26 — the Spirit himself makes intercession in and for us. If you lack the Spirit of Christ, though you had such anguish that a whole city or village might be alarmed by it — if you lack that Spirit of conviction, though you cried out your sin before the whole church, that would not save you, nor would it profit you.

There we wished to be — at the matter of convictions. We have seen nine kinds of conviction from which that Spirit is absent. Last time we saw one in which that Spirit was present. We said there are such visible and clear marks of it. We counted twelve, and at the thirteenth we remained: that true convictions, wrought by God's Spirit and made known in the Word, often go together with much bowing down — so that one often has much distress in the heart, which distress is not to be rejected; it will not make his state worse, it will do his state no harm. Then we did what still remained to us: first, whether it is indeed commendable, in the progress of the spiritual life, to be so bowed down. Then, a moving address, counsel and support for such people. Finally, that those who are truly so convicted should, as one last point, lay their heart alongside all the things mentioned before, and we shall seek so to work upon your soul that you must say, God has truly so convinced me. We said then:

I. Is it truly commendable, so bowed down to be?
II. We shall seek to refresh a child of God who goes so bowed down.
III. We shall seek to work upon you so that you draw the conclusion and say, God the Holy Spirit has truly so convinced me.

Take pains — we have matters of great weight before us; let me and you lay our heart to it, and see what answer we can give.

I. The first point: do the godly indeed go about bowed down? Yes — Psalm 42:6 and 11, and 43:5: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Psalm 119:25: My soul cleaveth unto the dust, to the earth, I cannot get free of it. Psalm 145:14 and 146:8: the Lord raiseth up all that are bowed down. A bowed-down heart — who shall set it upright? Does distress do no harm? A child of God may indeed be troubled right up to his deathbed; the distress does no harm, but does much good. What good? It makes you bend your knees and pray that you may have a good foundation; it makes you watchful against sin; it makes you believe; the distress will never do harm, but it will make you so careful, and so tenderly to live — the distress is commendable. Beloved, though the distress is commendable, it must nevertheless not be too great; nor may it be too small; to keep the right measure here is difficult — for a preacher to define it is also difficult. We say distress and bowing-down are good — do you know when?

1. When it concerns your sin, your corruptions, your sinful conduct — when you say, O God, that goes beyond my strength, I cannot bear it any longer, Matthew 11:28 — I cannot bear my sin, my sin is too heavy for me, Psalm 38:5, and Psalm 51:5, against thee have I sinned. When it is so, then it is commendable.

2. When, besides that distress, a tender disposition comes with it — they do not want to speak amiss against God, their heart is like wax and like water, their heart weeps rather before God over their sins than that their mouth should speak ill. 2 Kings 22:19 — you know a Josiah's tenderness and disposition, and a David's disposition, Psalm 6: sometimes he had a lion's heart, but when he saw his sin he wept like a child. Matthew 26:75 — Peter, going out, wept bitterly.

3. It is good when you find distress in yourself over your eternal outcome — when you say, I find so little good in myself and so much evil, we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as a filthy garment, Isaiah 64:6, and nothing good dwelleth in me, Romans 7:18 — the good that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do — by nature I can do no good, I am unfit for it.

4. It is good when you take care not to go too far in your bowing down — when you feel movements within to go too far, and are at the same time busy reproving yourself, saying, does God deal so with you? Has he given you so much reason to be so downhearted? Do you not have a contrary reason to say to your soul, why art thou so cast down! Hope in God, thou shalt yet praise him, Psalm 42:6.

5. It is good when the bowing down makes you humble. Never say that bowing down is useless and harmful. Should someone say, I do not want that bowing down, for then I could never rejoice — well, you must not be without it without cause; that little seed must have its reason.

Now from this blossoms another matter: can I, an unhappy, condemnable creature, indeed be too low? I answer: a sinner without grace cannot be too much bowed down, but with grace you can indeed be all too much bowed down. If you are and remain without grace, then you go to hell; ah, then your misfortune is beyond your comprehension, and the whole creation is powerless to help you; then the sense of your misery in your understanding or your passions cannot be too great, for the misfortune of your state is so great, your misfortune is infinite — and may there not be proportion between your distress and your misfortune? It cannot then be too great, so long as it stops short of transgressing God's law, like a Saul who fell upon his own sword, or a Judas who ran to the noose. But if someone is in the state of grace and reconciled with God — among those who truly have spiritual convictions — can the bowing-down indeed be too great?

1. Namely, when he lays his unholy condition alongside God's grace, and says, I have no grace, and God neither can nor will forgive it me — like Cain, Genesis 4:13 — my sin is greater than that God could forgive it.

2. When, through contemplation of his misfortune, his heart is so overwhelmed that he would be swallowed up by it, 2 Corinthians 2:7 — God wishes also to be served with joy.

3. It can be too great, when you look too long and too exclusively at that alone, and not at the grace of God in Christ, in which to be lifted up and comforted.

II. There you have our first point; now follows the second. Ah, to be convicted — what a happiness it is to be permitted so to go bowed down! Something good shall follow upon it, such a blessed outcome shall follow! You will ask, what is the happiness of a child of God who is truly convicted?

1. First, even should he get nothing else, he shall not go to hell, though he should die at once. Matthew 5:4 — Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Would you believe that the tax collector would have been lost, had he, standing so far off and smiting upon his breast, died right there? Luke 18:13. Would you believe that Zacchaeus would have been lost, had he died in his convictions? I would not.

2. We also say, that is their happiness — that God keeps his hand to the work. Even were there not a single soul concerned about you, he will not forsake the work of his own hands, Psalm 138:8. God is too faithful for that, to begin a work and not finish it; he is a Master Workman whose work is perfect, Deuteronomy 32:4. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall also finish it, Zechariah 4:9. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it, Philippians 1:6.

3. That is their happiness, that they shall receive counsel — that all their knots shall be untied, their riddles uncovered, their difficulties turned away; they receive from God a fitting working, he gives them a fitting text, and their knots are loosed. Psalm 32:8 — mine eye shall be upon thee, I will guide thee with mine counsel. Isaiah 42:16 — I will lead them in a way they knew not, in paths they have not known. Isaiah 9:6 — his name is Counsellor. Is there somewhere an Ananias — I will send him to a Paul, to tell him what he must do, and another again to you.

4. The Lord will be so near you — is not a mother's heart near her child that cries in pain? Psalm 34:19 — the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; he is with them. He is near them with his ear — when they cry, he heareth the sound of their cry, verse 18. He is near them with his mouth, to answer them — before they speak, I will answer, says he, Isaiah 65:24. He is near them with his hand, to deliver them when they are in distress — he delivereth them out of all their troubles, Psalm 34:18. You shall not wait long, says the Lord: I am near you with my heart, to love you; I will dwell with you, into that lowly house I will come, Isaiah 57:15.

5. The fifth happiness of one truly convicted is this: the Lord Jesus shall draw, call, and invite you, and in his own time he shall grow so strong upon you that you shall go and cling to him.

6. God shall be so faithful to you; he knows you in your little or great strength, whichever you have — without me, says the Lord, ye can do nothing, John 15:5. I will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, 1 Corinthians 10:13. I will give you cross according to strength, and strength according to cross, and work according to Spirit, and Spirit according to work.

7. Must I say to you — you shall soon receive light, you shall be comforted; you are in that state that the Lord Jesus shall bind up your wounds; you are in that state that the Son of God shall perform his mediatorial work upon you; you are qualified for that, as one of the mourners whom he shall comfort, Isaiah 61:2. That shall be made true for you — without comfort they do not die; it is surely a truth: the seed that is cast into the earth, and lies buried in that depth of earth, shall not be cast out; yes, those truly convicted shall be helped, even though the Spirit yet plows such deep furrows — that little seed shall grow up unto refreshment. You are only in the condition to receive the comfort. But shall balm be applied where there is no pain? Shall the comfort then not come, where the Spirit has shot the arrow into the breast? The Spirit prepares you, and knows sweetly to dispose you to two things: first, to keep you from that sin, that you should not set up your own righteousness, and should not want to be your own mediator. Second, to seek the Lord Jesus. Would you be your own mediator, says the Lord? Oh no, Lord, says such a one. Would you then have the Lord Jesus as your Mediator? Oh yes, Lord — would he but come to me, I would bind myself to him with my heart and love him heartily, Psalm 18:2. Dearest Lord Jesus, says such a soul, where shall I seek and find you! I will beg for you: oh, that you were my Savior! I cannot do without you; on you alone can I set all my trust and esteem; through you alone can I come to God; I cannot go away from you; in you alone can I stand before God. John 12:20-21 — the Greeks said, we would gladly know who the Lord Jesus was; John 1:46 — Philip said it to Nathanael, who the Lord Jesus was, and Nathanael in turn to others. And so the Spirit of God works upon their heart, that when they have somewhere found the dearest Lord Jesus, they desire him and cling to him; they will accept him, they will make no conditions — that, they say, I leave to God and the Lord Jesus to determine, however it must be. Lord, they say, then I will indeed sign it; it is well considered, I have counted the cost, I do not do it lightly; methinks I feel such a full resolve in my heart to hold with you, even should you say in the terms that I must drink a cup of gall and wormwood, and be baptized with the baptism I was baptized with, that I must endure whatever is bitter — I am willing, I have not one word against it; only I beg you, that you would perfect your strength in my weakness, and that your grace may be sufficient for me, 2 Corinthians 12:9. Do with me then as it pleases you, you are the Lord; yes, I would indeed sign and swear that I desire no other condition than what pleases you. When God brings someone so far, would that end without comfort? I have never in my life seen an example of it. The one has the comfort somewhat longer, the other somewhat shorter; the one has it often, the other more rarely; for the one the goodness comes at once, the other may wait until paradise; but the Word says it — Isaiah 57:16, I will take care that the spirit be not overwhelmed; and Isaiah 66:2, I will look upon him, says the Lord. Then it is at times as if — how should I give thee up? how should I deliver thee up? my heart is turned within me, all my compassions are kindled together, Hosea 11:8. I am moved for you, says God, as it were, with what shall I comfort you? See it in examples. David, whose throat was sometimes so choked with sorrow, how glad was he at times! Peter, who wept so bitterly — how well could he then give thanks: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3.

There we have shown our second point: rest assured, God shall soon give you light, he shall visit you for good, to his glory, at one time or another.

III. Now the last, or third point: to address and stir up heartily a child of God who lives in conviction, so that he may draw the conclusion.

1. First, we ask you: all those kinds of convictions — perhaps some who are here have heard them all, and others perhaps only some — must you not say, when I heard those, I recognized myself in them, I had not so understood it in my life? Must you not say, I agree, I know and feel something of it, when I heard those? The convictions through conscience, the convictions through blessings, the convictions through blows, the convictions through a sickbed, the convictions through the examples of the wicked, the convictions through the example of the good and godly, those through the common gifts and workings of the Spirit, and then those through the true and saving one — must you not say, Lord, I have tasted something of that? And when at the last I set before you the true mark of genuine conviction, must I not say, I cannot get out of it. But the world does not know it — you say, where does this preacher get this now? I have deceived myself so long, I want to keep doing it; I shall smother my convictions and go on in my sinful life. Ah, then you are so unhappy, and the others are so happy. Yes, I do not understand it, says the world, and I do not want to understand it. But the others do understand it well — the preacher is not foreign to me, they say, and my ear is not foreign to it either.

2. Beloved, we say then secondly: weigh yourselves now, put yourselves now on the scale. I know that there has always been a looking-out for true convictions. Some are already in eternity who also looked out for it, to have it; others are elsewhere. Weigh yourselves now — or do you not dare? Ah, why do you halt so between two opinions? One morning you are as far along as the next: come, resolve to make the decision, seek to weigh it up. Why do you always sit so low? Shall we stir you to it once? Do you say, that is only to my disadvantage? Do you then say, I have reckoned it up, and it has turned out to my disadvantage, I thank you for your instruction? Do not do that too hastily.

3. We ask of you, rather hear and consider these three or four little matters. If you will do it, it might yet be a proof to you that your convictions were wrought by God's Spirit.

a. First, among what kind of people would you rather be — among those who are truly convicted, or those who are but false? Must you not say, I would rather be among the true? Well, that is a good sign.

b. Have you not found all the little marks in yourself — have you not at least found some of them; if it is not so now, let it have been so before?

c. Would you gladly have the wicked count you among the false? Would you not take it ill?

d. Finally, do you want to keep your own righteousness under cover of your convictions? Do you seek your own honor? And with whom do you associate — with the wicked? Must you not say to the one and the other, oh no?

Do you dare say another word against it now? Must you not now lay your hand upon your mouth, and say, Lord, try me, I think that true convictions are in me? Then you shall also have a share in that word, I will turn mine hand upon the little ones, Zechariah 13:7. And that I wish God may do for each of us, to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 39

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three things are treated.

Reading John 16:8: And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. When Christ promises that great promise to his church, that he would give her his Spirit, he thereby promises her the first work of the Spirit — spiritual convictions: the Spirit would come and convict them of sin. If the conviction is good, all is good; but if the conviction is bad, all is bad. It is the first way that God takes with man, to bring him to heaven. The way of conviction is the very oldest way God has followed. God dealt with Adam this way already — where art thou, says God, and he presses the point in order to convict him, Genesis 3:9. God presses this point also with Cain — what hast thou done, says God, Genesis 4:10. So God did also with Sodom and Gomorrah. He does the same with the Ninevites, with the Egyptians, and everywhere. It is not only the first way God has followed, and not only did he follow it in the Old Testament, but also in the New. So John pressed the point with the tax collectors and the soldiers, that brood of vipers — he sought to bring them all to conviction. They were struck, and that brought them, through the Spirit's cooperation, so far that they cried out, and we, what must we do? Luke 3:12-14. How did God do it at Pentecost? They were astonished, cut to the heart, struck down, so that they began to cry out, men and brethren, what must we do to be saved? Acts 2:37. That great Paul, who was the great Apostle — Acts 9:6: Man, said the Lord, what hast thou in mind? and there he goes on to expose him; whereupon he cried out, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the jailer, Acts 16:30, when God convicted him, cried out, sirs, what must I do to be saved? That is the first way God has followed from the beginning of the world, to expose a person to himself, and it shall also be the last way, to the last day of the world, right up to the judgment — then even, when it shall be too late, the sinner will still want to buy oil. Matthew 25 — the Lord gives them yet another exposure in the judgment: what have you done, says the Lord? I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink, verse 35. There the Lord gave them yet another exposure before the judgment.

We say then: if the convictions are good, all is good — you cannot go to heaven without conviction. Where they are good, as in Adam's bosom, there God lays refreshment, his refreshing gospel, the balm of his grace he bestows on such a one. Do you see a well-convicted person, you see one in whom the Lord's work is truly present, Isaiah 61:8; you see one from whom God will not withdraw his working hand — the good work begun in him he will finish, Philippians 1:6, and Psalm 138:8: God will perfect it for me. Where the work is well begun, there apply Isaiah 57:15: I dwell so high, but I dwell also low, in the heart of the contrite and the humble. There apply Isaiah 61:1-3, where the Mediator says, my office is to comfort the mourning. There apply Isaiah 66:2: I will look to the poor and to him that is of a contrite spirit. There apply, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not — I have prayed that your convictions cease not, Luke 22:31-32. There apply, godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, 2 Corinthians 7:10. If the convictions are good, all is good — then your tears are good, then your prayers are good and acceptable, then your conversion is good, then your faith is good, then your justification is good, then you cannot rest until you are in Christ, then your tenderness is good, then your joy is good, then your hope is good: have you had hope in God throughout your life, even if you never had light, when your soul has said, hope thou in God, I shall yet praise him, Psalm 42:6 — you shall not be put to shame in that hope, Romans 5:5. Then your dying shall be good, for to die shall be gain to you, Philippians 1:21. You may apply to such the word of Ecclesiastes 7:1, that the day of death is better than the day of birth. They go forth in peace — mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace, Psalm 37:37.

On the other hand, if your convictions are bad, all is bad. If the work has not been well begun in you, you shall not come out well. What did Felix have from his convictions? What did Esau have from his convictions? What did Pharaoh have from the tears on his cheeks? What did Ahab have from the sackcloth about his loins? What did the Ninevites have from their outward conversion? What have many thousands like them had from their convictions? What did Judas have from making more show of grief than Peter? Those convicted ones may imagine much, and think the best of themselves, that they and their like will come out well — but mark it well, there is no one so unhappy as they. The Apostle dares say it so plainly, that the sorrow of the world worketh death, 2 Corinthians 7:10. Yes, when death comes, they are seized with terror and dismay. John saw that pale horse, and he that sat on it, his name was Death, and what followed after him? Hell followed with him, Revelation 6:8. That pale rider comes to you with his train, hell, unless you are rightly convicted.

Beloved, we have set before you the matter of conviction in all its kinds, so far as we have been able to grasp that it had branches. We have seen these: 1. Through conscience. 2. Through blows. 3. Through blessings. 4. Through sickness. 5. Through the examples of good people. 6. Through the example of wicked people. 7. Through the common workings of God's Spirit. 8. Through the Word and the preacher. 9. The true work of God's Spirit — that was the last. We then saw where that lay, and showed who possessed it. We sought then to give them courage and counsel. There still remained to us that we might see how dreadful it is to live in conviction for those who do not have the true one. We shall now set before your thoughts the dismal condition of such a creature, which we shall now consider.

I. Those who have convictions that are not the right ones — how great is such a one's misfortune!
II. To answer a question of conscience, whether grace can indeed still be obtained for such a one — could I obtain the true convictions?
III. We shall briefly give you a word of counsel, how you may attain to it.

Those are our three matters for the present. First: is there one here who does not have the true conviction — how dreadful is it? Then, you ask, can I not be brought to the true one — that we shall seek to answer. Finally, we shall administer to you briefly a word of counsel.

I. As to the first: there is no one who lives without conviction. You live often under weighty gifts, under a ministry where there are men who seek to press God upon you, who seek to work upon the sinner's heart. You cannot live under such a ministry without being convicted of something. Of what shall you say? Of this — that you are a sinner, that you are a child of wrath; that there is a God, that this God is near you, that he sees and knows you, and that he will one day call you before him to be judged; that God would be righteous were he to condemn you; that it is his goodness that he gives you an hour's rest; that you must be converted; that man does not have this by nature. There is no one but is convicted that there is a heaven, and that there is a hell; there are few people who deny heaven, but they will deny God, and hell, and whatever else they can — but not heaven. Everyone lives in convictions. Ah, how anguished it is to live in convictions that are not of the right kind! Sigh, sigh over your miserable condition. Complaining, sighing, and weeping lodge between their breasts, until it consumes their flesh, and their anguished soul must depart to God.

1. This is your misery, that in your whole life there is not one hour of true contentment nor rest. You live harried, timid, without full or true gladness, and when you are in the midst of your gladness you must say that in the midst of your gladness you have pain. You live without any well-grounded joy, and if you have an hour of gladness you have afterward all the greater vexation over it — it goes with you as with Saul, who had to have the playing of the harp to divert him, whereby the evil spirit was then driven away; when you are troubled you again have something with which you know to divert yourself, whereby the evil spirit gives way. You eat your bread with no rest; even had you a fattened ox, you must still say that it profits me nothing, so long as I am so anguished. Would you give yourself some pleasure — it is not the pleasure of the right kind: when you have played the fool with yourself a while, you must say, what am I doing? Of laughter I said, it is mad; and of pleasure, what doeth it, Ecclesiastes 2:2. Yes, the pleasure of such a restless one does not rest on God's Word — it is against the Word, it is sinful, vain, doing me harm; indeed, all the pleasure I ever had in my life, such a one must say, is fleeting, not lasting — it left me as it came; when a time of need and adversity came, it was gone; in the time of dying it likewise left me — how weary and worn was I on the day of deadly sickness! That is the first — such a one has no contentment in his life.

2. In the second place, just as they have no contentment in their life, poor souls, they begin to be anxious about going on living — they dare not think of a long life. My God, they say, what is life to me? Oh that thou wouldst make an end of me! that thou wouldst let go thy hand! oh that I had been a stillborn child! ah, had I never seen the light! I wish that after today I should see it no more! my God, I dread to live, because my affairs do not stand well with thee, because to live long is a torment to me; it is long, so to be oppressed. The Savior said, John 12:27, now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? — it cannot be expressed. That man says too, how anxious, troubled, oppressed am I! They dread to live, they are tossed from one thing to another, from hope to dread, from dread to sin, and from sin to hopelessness. So tossed about, they sometimes fall into despair, and if God does not preserve them, they even become murderers of themselves — like a Saul, who falls on his own sword; Judas takes a rope and hangs himself upon it; Achitophel likewise. Or it sets an evil in their blood that they can never overcome, till they die. Things never go according to their wish anyway.

3. And though they dread to live, they are nevertheless also anxious about dying. Your day of death you would gladly forget, if you could: the thought presses upon your mind — how shall I die! And how soon will God strip you — then he will divest you of all those dignities, goods, standing, adornments. How soon can he send the messenger of death to you! There comes then that messenger, who does his work upon you slowly, breaking you down: you begin to decay, your strength departs, your comeliness is gone, death stares you in the face, there it comes at last, there you then lie stripped bare. There comes then the closing of all your affairs, the end of all your fortune, the end of everything that here in your anguish still diverted you — it is appointed unto men once to die, Hebrews 9:27. That weighs so heavily on their heart, that they might well die before their time, so that, to outward appearance, they do not live out half their days. It goes with them as with Nabal — his heart was as a stone, when he heard how it stood with him. It goes with them as with Belshazzar — he had, as it were, no glow left, he nearly died of fright, Daniel 5. They labor to forget death, and they cannot; they are terrified of it.

4. When, after every effort to forget death and dread of it, they still cannot — then God so ordains that those thoughts come most vividly to their mind: it is just as if someone continually walked beside them, saying, set thy house in order, thou shalt die, thou shalt not remain here long, thou shalt not be seen here much longer, unconverted one — whatever thou hast to do, do it quickly, thou hast not one hour that is sure. It is as if you heard a sound: in a moment thou shalt be gone — with a fever, with a pain, with this or that affliction, by this or that stroke thou shalt suddenly be gone, so that thou wilt have no time even to pray once, or to turn to God once. They are cut off in a moment, Psalm 73:19. It is as if someone were constantly saying, there is scarcely any grace left to be had for you; in short, it shall be so ordained with you, that to seek grace will be eternally too late.

5. This too you will find in such a convicted one: whether they hear the Word preached or read it themselves, all that is dreadful and terrible in it, such a one says, that is for me. Not only all the thunders of the Old Testament, but also those of the New, which are yet far more terrible. Those of the Old are: cursed shalt thou be in thy marrying, in thy children, in thy calling; whether you observe the means of grace, they shall have no blessing — your praying, your going to the Lord's Table, whatever you do, it is all rotten through and through: a sound of terror goes through their heart and eyes. And the thunders of the gospel are yet much heavier than those of the Old Testament: the wrath of God remains on him who does not believe — he shall be condemned; the disobedient God shall judge; whoever does not love the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed, Maranatha, 1 Corinthians 16:22.

6. Ah, Lord, is there anything in the world that can refresh me — there I see, as in a living picture, what is torment to me. Do I go to my possessions in my anguish to refresh myself — they can bring me the least refreshment, and possessions profit nothing in the day of deadly sickness, Proverbs 11:4. Do I go to my friends in anguish — they cannot help me, they cannot save their own soul. Do I go to my pleasure — that too I shall have to lose, and even in laughter there is pain. Do I go to my honor — honor will not go down with me into the grave, what then do I have from it? Unhappy, when such a person cannot go to God to refresh himself! Such a one says, I am terrified when I think of it, or even when I merely hear him named: God the Father is my terror; the Mediator is my judge; the Spirit himself shall strive against me. How often, says God the Holy Spirit, have I indeed convicted you, and you were not willing! How often have I contended with you! But I will no longer, because you are so stubborn.

7. Besides that, such a one says: what I can put out of mind, I cannot put out of mind that there is no heaven — but I must think there is one; but it is not for me, there I shall not come, that I shall never find, that place is closed to me; as often as I think of it, I must think that that work and that service I shall never do, that glorious place I shall never walk in; God, whose glory was there, when I shall wish to enter, will say, get down, this place is not for you, you shall be outside it.

8. And the more I think of hell, whatever effort I make to put it out of mind and think that it is not there, I cannot. Ah, Lord! that burning lake of sulfur is open for me! and I cannot count with certainty a single year, nor month, nor week, nor day, that I shall not come there. I shall soon be without what I now have and enjoy; what I now possess I shall soon have to feel that I no longer possess: I shall soon be turned out; all my affairs will soon here come to an end — grace and time gone.

9. When I think of the resurrection and the judgment, those thoughts I cannot bear: must I then be thrown up like a poisonous sprout? The earth shall throw me up as a burdensome load; there I shall then rise to shame, the books shall then be opened, the sentence and the execution shall then be terrible; I shall be set at God's left hand, and must hear, depart, ye cursed! It shall all be to my harm, so terribly anguishing.

10. You cannot come under any means without their being feeble; under earnest ones you cannot bear it, then you set yourself to sleep, so that you would not be moved. Let a Paul stand by Felix and preach — Felix could not bear it. Then no heed is given to so great a salvation. Then the mutual gatherings are neglected. Such a one is angry, if there is someone who becomes earnest, Amos 5:10; 1 Kings 22:8 — that they cannot bear.

11. We must pity you, because you stand on the step nearest to hell, and closest to the state of the devils and the damned: the sparks of hell you begin at times to feel in those pangs and anguishes which you often endure. God has not kept hidden in his Word how it is in heaven, and the foretastes he gives his children of it here; but neither has he kept hidden how it is in hell, in that fearfulness, faintheartedness, anguish — giving those sparks of hell here in the conscience. Beloved, there you have those eleven points.

II. Ah Lord, you will say, I do not have the right kind — but could I still indeed obtain the right kind? We say plainly, yes, but it is difficult. It is so difficult to bring people to the Lord, and away from despair — you can see that, if you consider what God did to Cain, that anxious murderer. Did not God's own mouth speak, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? It availed nothing, Genesis 4:7. See it in Saul and Judas: they were not to be got out of despair. And such a creature at times misuses his convictions — yet how should there be no true grace for one who here weeps over his sins, cries out over them, examines himself, prays for grace? Could there indeed be no grace for such a one? Yet we must say to you, you are not far from the true — only a little needs to happen to you; whoever lives in such a convicted state is not far from the kingdom of God: there is only one thing needed for you, one dart that would strike you in your heart. That young man in the gospel needed only one thing more, then he would have been within.

III. We shall then give you a brief word of counsel. You will say, I am so troubled and afraid in my life, I dread that I must die — we shall give you four or five pieces of counsel.

1. First, acknowledge your guilt, that you have resisted the Spirit too much, and say: ah, dearest God the Holy Spirit, you have I grieved, your convictions I have quenched and not followed!

2. I acknowledge now that you would be righteous, were you to say, I will have no more to do with you, I will let you live in your bitterness, I will no longer work in you through the means of your conscience and the Word, I will have no conversation with you.

3. Condemn yourself before God, pronounce sentence against yourself.

4. Wrestle for grace, and say: Lord, would you bring it only this far with me? Ah, bring it yet a step further! Give me a token of your love! I shall be so glad of it. Bring me indeed to a breakthrough, bring me to faith and to the making of the covenant.

5. And lastly, say: I give myself over to your grace, under the use of the means which you have instituted. And take heed, when you are under the means and among the godly. Say: dearest Lord, if you give me grace I shall dance before you unto eternity; yet even should you never give it me, I shall have to justify you.

If you take it so to heart, God shall bless it. But you may perhaps say, you have spoken so long of convictions, but it does not touch me, for I am so hardened — of that hardening we shall also speak once more, and I hope that God will now bless this to you. Amen.

Sermon 40

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these four matters occur:

I. The complaints of the bruised reeds concerning their hardness.
II. That this hardness lodges in the breast of one who has grace.
III. Clear marks that it is not obduracy.
IV. An exhortation to them, to judge themselves.

Reading 2 Chronicles 34:27, that there was a king who wept, and tore his garments, and had a broken heart; he had been made tender by hearing the threats that the Lord God spoke, and all the curses he had read in his Law. Tenderness of heart is a great promise; it is also a great grace; it is a particular grace; it is a necessary blessing; it is an excellent ornament. Let us bring your thoughts to these things. We say:

1. It is a great promise. Ezekiel 36:26 — there God says, I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. What does that mean? I will make you soft and pliable.

2. It is a great grace. Zechariah 12:10 — there those tender ones received the spirit of grace and of supplications, poured out upon them by God.

3. It is a particular grace: the one has it, the other lacks it. Esau's eye wept, but his heart was hard; Jacob's eye wept, but his heart was tender too. Saul had tenderness in his eyes, but his heart was hard; David had tenderness in his eyes, but his heart was tender too. Judas wept in his eyes, but his heart was hardened; Peter was tender in his eyes, and he was tender in his heart as well.

4. It is a great blessing to be tender. Jacob received that blessing from the Lord God: let me go, said the Lord — I will not let thee go, except thou bless me, he said, Genesis 32:26. He already had a blessing. What blessing? He could pray, plead, weep, cry, Hosea 12:5.

5. Tenderness is necessary; I and you must not lack it: if we should come before God without tenderness, God would say, as it stands in Jeremiah 44:10, to this day ye are not yet contrite of heart.

6. Tenderness is an excellent, beautiful ornament, and very glorious. David's golden crown did not adorn him as much as his tenderness did, whereby he was a man after God's own heart. If you have that blessing, tenderness of heart, more shall follow upon it. What shall follow? What stands in Isaiah 57:15 — I will come to dwell with you and make my dwelling with you, says God. There shall follow Isaiah 61:1-3 — I will come to you and comfort you. There shall follow what stands in Isaiah 66:2 — I will look upon you. There shall follow Psalm 34:19 — I am near to the broken and contrite of heart, there I am close, to do them good. There shall follow Psalm 147:3 — he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds — he comes to bind them up and lays upon them the balm of his grace. There shall follow Matthew 5:4 — blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. There shall follow Luke 19:9 — this day is salvation come to this house.

Just as tenderness is such a great good, so obduracy is a terrible judgment. To be hardened of heart reigns in the reprobate; and the hardness that afflicts a child of God does not reign there, but afflicts — they seek to suppress it. Never, I say, does hardness reign there, but it afflicts; but in the reprobate obduracy reigns — tenderness would be a torment to them. Beloved, you know that God does not wish the bruised reed to be broken, according to his Word; therefore we must also help it up. We have dealt with the weighty matter, conviction. We said, go now through the points and pass a righteous judgment on whether you have true convictions or not. The bruised reeds said, I am convinced, that I hold fast; but I fear a fear. What do you fear? I fear that my convictions will turn into hardness, into obduracy, and finally into stubbornness and carnal ease: I am now so tender, but that will surely not remain so; I am so troubled about it; I read of such in the Word, and I see such in the course of my life, who have been convicted — the one becomes hardened, the other becomes obdurate, another stubborn who holds his ground, another falls into carnal carelessness; and ah, Lord, what I dread is beginning to come over me. And what is that? Ah, I am so hard; I fear it will come to hardening and obduracy, and turn into stubbornness and carnal ease.

Beloved, we cannot pass over this without distinguishing all these matters clearly. As God grants us life and health, when we must preach in the weeks to come, we shall seek to lay open all these matters plainly. Today we have the matter of hardness; afterward we shall look at that judgment of obduracy, and, God willing, after that a still greater judgment, stubbornness, and then after that a still greater judgment, carnal ease. Now then we have hardness, in which you are. First, the complaint of the bruised reeds — ah, I am so hard! — and they sometimes speak the truth. Then we must tell you, no strange thing has come upon you: that hardness lodges also in the breast of one who has grace, and where true convictions have their place. Then we must give those who live in convictions clear signs that hardness has its place not only in the reprobate but also in the graced. Finally, we shall and will call out to you concerning the matter, and press upon you to hold it fast with your heart, and say, what do you say now? Judge for yourselves. Let us say then:

I. We must show you that indeed the godly at times complain of hardness, that they are indeed at times truly hard.
II. We must let you see that it is not a reigning hardness, but a tormenting one.
III. We must make plain to your heart, by signs, that it is not the hardness of the reprobate, but of the graced, in you.
IV. Finally we shall call you to account concerning this, so speak then.

I. As to the first: truly convinced souls speak at times the truth, when they say, oh God! I am so hard! I am not as I used to be! In what? Ah, I used to melt under blessings, to tremble under threats; in my prayer I was often wonderfully moved; I melted into tears, which flowed from me; under the ministry of your word I was stirred; wherever I was, under any good means, I was wonderfully affected; did I sin, I had at once misgivings of heart. How are you now then? Ah God, it is now quite different: I find that no more; I sin against light, against resolutions, against promises, against oath, against covenant-making; I fall often into the same sin; I am not moved by it, my heart does not throb over it; if I sit under the ministry, whatever gifts there may be, it works no power, I am not only not blessed under it, I become worse under it; I can sit so coolly under it, and I grieve your Spirit; if some movement still comes I want to suppress and restrain it, and I do not want to show that I am moved; I grieve your Spirit, and that grieves me again; he restrains his movements, it is as if he no longer wants to contend with me, neither through the ministry nor through conscience; if I sit under the ministry I sit there hardened, I go home just as I came. I used to be different: I could not come from under the ministry without going once into my closet, to think it over before God, how I had been there, how tender, how affected, how moved; but now I can leave all that undone, now I have a heart that is like a stone, iron, copper, and diamond. Whether I look at the godly, or at the reprobate, at others who converse with me, no one is as hard as I. Do I look at the saints in the Bible: David, who had a lion's heart, and yet sometimes wept like a child — Psalm 6, there he lies in his bed weeping. The godly man Job — I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, Job 7:20, and Job 16:20, mine eye poureth out tears unto God. Do I stand there beside an Abraham, how small he was in his own eyes before God! I am dust and ashes, he said, Genesis 18:27. Do I look at an Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, how tender they were! Do I look at Peter and go with him into the courtyard, how tender he was! Afterward it is said of him that he was moved to tears whenever the cock crowed. Do I go even among the wicked, how tender they sometimes were — a hardened Pharaoh, an Esau, a Judas! Do I note the Ninevites, what an outcry there was in the city and in the houses! And I am hardened, I scarcely know any more what convictions, or contrition, or tenderness mean. That is the complaint! Now I must ask: has ever a child of God fallen into such a plight?

II. Now we come to the second point. You must not think this a strange matter that has befallen you, unknown among the godly: we shall show you that it is known among the godly, in examples, in the distress they have had over it, in the blows, in the deliverances they have received out of it. Follow us a little, we shall not detain you too long, but shall show plainly that it has its place among the godly.

1. First, by examples of those who were tender and became hard. See it in David: how hard and how tender he indeed was, 2 Samuel 12 and 24. See it in that tender Asa: how hard he became afterward, 2 Chronicles 14 and following. See it in Peter, who was so tender, how hard he was afterward, Galatians 2:11, so that Paul withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. Would you have examples outside the Word, of spiritual, godly souls? It is related that there was once found a martyr who wavered before the truth, so that he died for it; he was so hard when he had to die, that when the Scripture passages were brought to him for comfort, he said, it is as if I were pierced through the heart with a sword, that word has no savor for me — though it stands there, thy word is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, and more desirable than gold, yea, than much fine gold, Psalm 19:10-11 — it used to be so sweet to me, but now it is as tasteless food, as flavorless to me as the white of an egg without salt. Another, who died for the truth and became a martyr, had someone come to him in the prison who said, pray once. I cannot, he said. The other said, shall we then pray together? Oh no, he said, do not call God's name in vain over me, by praying for a reprobate; even if I want to use some comforting exercises, and take refuge in them, I always come off badly. Another godly man said, I am as blunt as a nail, so dry and so hard as a stone, I cannot pray. Not to fetch examples outside the Word, we shall conclude with David, Psalm 119:83: I am become like a bottle in the smoke — so dry and hard and unfit for all spiritual exercises: I, who used to delight myself in God and in holy meditations, it now goes so badly with me. And Psalm 104:34 and 77:4 — in the one place the man says, how I used to rejoice in you, when meditations of you were sweet to me; and in the other he said, when I remembered God, I made an outcry. Are you among the godly — that affliction, hardness, comes also upon those who have grace.

2. You find their distress over it in Isaiah 63:17: O God, said the church, I am so distressed — why? I am so hard. Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? What further? We are astray — why do you make us stray from your ways? Perhaps it was in doctrine, or in life. Psalm 119:176: I have gone astray like a lost sheep, I was gone astray.

3. That this hardness befalls the godly, they prove by their prayer: they pray against it. Luther used to have in his prayer: Lord, if I must and shall sin, and if I shall have to fall into the sin of carelessness, preserve me from hardening of heart. There you have the prayer of one against it, and we may all well keep it in our prayers.

4. It appears from the reproofs they received over it. Mark 16:14: ye hardened of heart, said the Lord to his disciples after his resurrection. How often did he meet them, that he said, have you still your hardened heart? Has nothing then availed with you? What sermons have you attended? What signs, grace, and experiences have I given you?

5. God strikes over it. Did God not make David tender through blows? The child died, 2 Samuel 12:19, and 2 Samuel 24:12 — choose one for yourself, said God, of the three plagues. What do you say of that godly, tender Josiah? 2 Chronicles 35:20-22 — there comes Necho, king of Egypt, there Josiah wants to fight against him: Pharaoh said, I do not war against you, stay at home — but he hardened himself, and did not listen to Pharaoh, who spoke to him from the mouth of the Lord; God struck him down too, so that all Israel wept.

6. God does indeed deliver them from it: it is a hardness in them that comes by circumstance, as with water — in winter, when it grows cold, it stiffens, and when it grows warm again, it thaws; so it is here too — if they fall into this or that sin, they become frozen and cold; if a warmth of God's love comes again, they become tender again. See it in that hardened David: when God had delivered him, how tender he was! See it in his son Solomon: what a crust he had upon his heart! but he became tender. See it in Peter: what a crust he had upon his heart, when he denied his Master! but when the sunshine of God's grace came again, how it thawed!

There you have our second point: it has its place in godly, convicted people.

III. Now the concern is: whether that judgment of obduracy reigns in the truly convicted, or whether it is only tormenting? We shall seek to show you that in God's children it is not a reigning but a tormenting evil. We shall show it to you, first in pictures, then in living signs, by which you may feel it.

a. When you now set a godly hardened one and a reprobate obdurate one side by side, how will you find them in these pictures? The reprobate will laugh with their hardness, and the godly are troubled over it. The wicked are shameless about it, the godly ashamed. The wicked want to associate with the hardened, they take them as their bosom friends; the others — you will find them among the tender. To the reprobate, hardening seems fine, it is as if he were then a strong Christian; to the other, hardening is so ugly — oh God, they say, how ugly is hardening! Even if you gave and did so much for me, that would not help, even if you blessed me still so much in my person or house, I have no pleasure in it. The one will speak for hardening, the other detests it. The one would be sad, if delivered from it, and the other glad. That is the picture. In which picture do you find yourself — where obduracy reigns, or where hardness torments? For the one we must say, woe, it shall go ill with you; and for the other, it shall go well with you. For the obdurate we must say, you gather up wrath for yourself as a treasure; and to the other, you gather for yourself a treasure of grace. There one must say, that the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor — the one with hardening, and the neighbor with obduracy.

b. Now we must see the signs. Have you become hardened since you received grace — let us see whether it is a reigning obduracy, or a tormenting hardening, which can coexist with grace.

1. First, that hardness which can coexist with grace — those who have it complain and lament continually over their corrupt nature. I am worthless, they say, how ugly am I! Genesis 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9; Psalm 51:7; Romans 7:24. I cannot bear that wicked heart, they say.

2. They complain so bitterly, when in all their corruptions they become aware of hardness, and therein they show that they are not obdurate. Lord, why hast thou hardened our heart? It weighs so heavily on them. They complain so pitifully over it, when they become aware of such hardness.

3. Hardness is such a sin in their eyes, so ugly in their eyes: I ought, they say, to be like wax and like water — where God gives the stamp of his grace, they ought to be as wax and as water, but it is as if I were a Leviathan, in whom there is no tenderness, whose scales cling together, and in whom there is no soft place — except perhaps a tender spot at the neck, and there he cannot be pierced with lance or spear, Job 41. Even had you a heart like Leviathan, if you have but somewhere a tender spot over your sins, then it is not a reigning hardness.

4. Hardness does not reign, but torments, when you not only often bend your knees with Luther, and say, preserve me, Lord, let sin not carry me away, I am so weary of it; I am not used to being so hardened; give me a tender heart; is thy hand then shortened? take that hardness from me; awake with thy north or south wind; do with me as you will, only work in me again.

5. When with your hard heart you seek to make use of good means, and go where the hammer, the arrows, the sword of God's Word and Spirit are used, so that you might be wounded and struck.

6. When you seek to avoid all those bad means which would increase your hardness.

7. When you do not mock or despise those who are tender and weep, but esteem and value them — those who say, oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, Jeremiah 9:1; and those who esteem and treasure such sighing people, Ezekiel 9:4.

8. And you are not always equally hard: there does not pass a year, indeed, that you are not at times moved — what shall I say, not a month, indeed perhaps not even two weeks pass, but you are moved once, under your praying and reading, or under the ministry.

9. You will find that it grieves you, how you used to be. Two things you cannot forget. Which? The one, when God once refreshed you with the kisses of his mouth. The second, your first tenderness and gentleness — the godly often speak of that, they remember it long.

10. Lastly, such a one says, I cannot bear that I sin so against my resolve: sin is not a tasty morsel to me, it weighs upon me always, I am then oppressed and shut in. There is the third point.

IV. Now I would, fourthly, that you come to the point, you who complain over your hardness. What do you say now? Are these things in you? Do you feel that? Do not be troubled — judge a righteous judgment, do not be discouraged. God does not want his servants to grieve the heart of an upright one. You are so troubled, you weep, you complain, you groan, you cannot leave the Lord, you are terrified of hardness — because you are not always equally tender, should you therefore be obdurate?

There you have our four points. Next we must look at stubbornness, how that stands, and call you to account for it — and then carnal ease. We have now shown: 1. That hardness is known in the Word. 2. Wherein it consists. 3. Some signs given. 4. There we call you to account, and say, do not be discouraged with yourself. Though you are small and tender, you are so far from obduracy that you ought to encourage yourselves, and say, hope now in the name of the Lord Jesus, you shall yet praise him; God shall strengthen you to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 41

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three points occur:

I. How far this affliction, hardening, may indeed go in a child of God.
II. That it is nevertheless not obduracy, much less stubbornness.
III. Two or three pieces of counsel.

Reading Psalm 95:7-8: Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.

God the Lord gives the sinner time and means to convert him; he wants them to take heed, that on account of their hardness and unconverted heart they should not despise the riches of God's goodness and forbearance, Romans 2:4-5. The sinner, a man, a rational creature, ought not to be worse than a beast. Jeremiah 8:7: the stork, the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming — those creatures know that.

The time of a sinner's visitation, to bring him to grace, is a short time: it is an hour of grace, a day of salvation, 2 Corinthians 6:2, a year of God's good pleasure, Isaiah 61:2. It is but a short time — how quickly an hour, a day, a year passes by! The time God gives a sinner is not a future time, but a present time: that can be hidden from no one. That is, today the pardon of grace is offered you; do not take even one day to deliberate over it, lest it be said to you, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, Luke 12:20. Whether you live a short or a long time, you must not harden your heart.

There is a good hardening, which is praiseworthy, a virtue and a great grace of God; but there is also an evil hardening.

There is a good hardening. God wanted Ezekiel to harden himself, Ezekiel 3:7-9: I have made thy face, says God, strong against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their forehead. I have made thee an adamant, harder than flint; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks. There is then a good hardening. You will ask, in what does it consist? It consists in three things.

1. First, it consists in an unchangeable resolve to pursue God's will unto our death, and to let ourselves be drawn from it neither by threats nor by promises. The world calls that stubbornness, but God calls it a praiseworthy virtue.

2. It consists in this: that one is not so dismayed and faint, when there is something to do for God, that one is turned from God's work by the difficulty of the task out of self-concern; but that one is like a Joshua and a Caleb, in whom dwelt such an excellent spirit — we shall overcome the giants, they said, let us only take courage and go up. Jeremiah 1:17-18 — God says to the prophet, be not dismayed at their faces; I have made thee this day a defenced city, an iron pillar, and brasen walls against them.

3. It consists in this: that one, encouraged, betakes himself to God's work, even were there ever so many lions in the way, trusting that God will help us to a good outcome. Nehemiah 2:20: we will arise and build; the God of heaven, he will prosper us. Luther said, I will go to the Diet at Worms to defend the honor of God, even were there as many devils as there are tiles on the roofs.

Your fathers had the evil hardening, said God to the children of Israel, but do not you do so: today, while ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts. It is the very heaviest judgment that can come upon you in the course of your life; it is nearest to hell; that wall, that Tophet, is built of stone hearts, which are built up in hell; it is nearest to damnation; there is not one tender one there, but they are all hardened there, and if they are ever tender there, so that they weep, it is out of desperation. Those hard hearts make all the good seed unfruitful, Matthew 13:20. On stony ground nothing grows but sin, and it grows there most rampantly of all. They are careless concerning grace, Hebrews 2:3.

Hardening exists among both the godly and the ungodly: it oppresses a godly person, but in an ungodly person it reigns; in the godly it torments, but it does not reign there. That hardening in God's children has its various degrees; it can indeed climb to a frightful height. What is hardening in the godly is obduracy in the reprobate, from which finally stubbornness flows. In the godly that hardening can climb to a height, but in the reprobate it does not stop at obduracy — stubbornness follows upon it.

We saw last time the hardening of the godly, and the complaints of the bruised reeds, who said, ah, I am so unfeeling! so hard! how could I dare believe that Jesus is my Savior! could my convictions be good! I think it is but a morning cloud, a movement like that of Pharaoh and Nahab. We came to meet that weak one and said, you are not the only one whom this befalls in the course of life; but this has also befallen men in grace, great saints who were reckoned pillars and oaks of righteousness — they too have had their portion of it. We then showed you the signs, that it was not obduracy, much less stubbornness and carnal carelessness: healthy people also get afflictions at times; one says, it is hard, it looks ugly, it is dangerous — yet it is still a person, he still has healthy limbs. Even if a godly one is hardened, he is not a stone, he is not turned into a pillar of salt, there is still softness in him, there is still hope of healing, he shall perhaps yet thank God for the healing of that affliction. Having seen that, the hardening of the godly, we were led to speak further to you this hour on it, and so it is our purpose now to bring these three things before your eyes.

I. First, how far that affliction can indeed go in a child of God.
II. Then we must see that it is nevertheless not obduracy.
III. Finally we shall give two or three pieces of counsel.

Settle yourselves a little: I say, that affliction in a child of God can stand exceedingly severe; I add to it, it is nevertheless not obduracy, much less stubbornness; and we shall give you two or three remedies, which have always been good, and always shall be good.

1. As to the first point. I believe that there are many sitting here who complain of a hard heart, if it be perhaps not true of all; but in each it does not, nevertheless, come to such a height. They do indeed come to this:

1. First, that they lie scheming to go and commit the sin; indeed, it goes so far that the godly agree with the godly to carry it out. Consider the very greatest believers there were — who were they? Abraham and Sarah. He says, I will say she is my sister, and you shall say, he is my brother; they thought it over and planned it beforehand, Genesis 12. Rebekah, what did she do to her husband? The same. She says to Jacob, your father is going to die, and he wants to bless his children; you have obtained the blessing, but how shall it now be carried out, to obtain it? There she goes and schemes it. Jacob still resists it somewhat, he still raises objections, and says, I am a smooth man, and my brother is a hairy man; my father will feel me, and so I shall soon be found out, and instead of being blessed I shall be cursed. I will manage it, she said, that it does not come out; I know a way — I will put skins upon your hands and upon your neck, and let your father then feel you, Genesis 27.

2. They come indeed so far, that after having committed the sin, they go and scheme to cover it up and hide it. David, after he had committed the sin of adultery, went and schemed to cover it up and hide it. What does he do? He summons her husband from the army, and that with malice aforethought — he wants to have him at his own house, 2 Samuel 11 and 12. He covered it very well, and then his heart did not throb over it, as it did when he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe.

3. They come indeed to that height, that they are not to be stopped in sin: but then they go and pile evil upon evil, from bad to worse. David, after he had committed the sin with Bathsheba, came to worse — he made Uriah drunk, he did it all with malice aforethought, so that he might go to his house. What a hardening it was in Jacob, and he goes on still further in it! Art thou my very son Esau, said his father? Yes, he said. Hast thou gotten it so quickly, said his father? Yes, he said — and he even misused God's providence, he dared misuse providence: God caused this to happen to me, he said, Genesis 27:20.

4. It goes yet higher: with what shamelessness it goes hand in hand — they refuse to blush! David, after Uriah was dead, has Bathsheba fetched to his house; he was so pleased with it; he keeps her with him.

5. It climbs still higher. When someone warns them and says, it will go badly for you, they are not to be stopped. 2 Samuel 24:2-4 — there Joab said, my lord the king says, go, count the people; but why do you desire that, nothing but evil will come of it — it did not help, the king's word prevailed.

6. The sixth degree is this: when God wants to use them to come forward for his name and cause, they make excuses and pretexts. You have that in Song of Songs 5:2-3: the voice of him that knocked was, open to me. What does the Lord mean to say? There is once again a call to come forward for my cause. Dear Lord, they say, I am just now so comfortable, I have put off my robe, must I put it on again to come forth for your name and cause? I have just laid down my weapons. So it went with Jonah: I, go to Nineveh, Lord? I have no mind for it. So it went with Moses: go to Pharaoh? I have no taste for that, I cannot speak, I am not eloquent. Jeremiah said, I made an effort to be silent, I said that I would no longer speak in the name of the Lord — always to be so oppressed, he had no taste for that; he cursed his parents who had begotten and borne him: I cannot bear it, he said, Jeremiah 20.

7. The seventh degree of hardening is: a child of God can come so far, that he can easily bear the estrangement between his soul and God — whether he has God near him or not, he can bear it easily, he is not like Asaph and Heman, Psalm 73 and 88. Had David not been like that, Psalm 32 would not exist; but how much more easily could he bear it in Psalm 13, 63, and 102 — there he wrestled over the hiding and the hardening. But then they grow ever darker, and they can bear it easily, not troubled over it. That is the seventh degree, which goes high.

8. But the eighth degree goes further still. A godly person can, in that hardening, go on unfeelingly in sin, and remain lying in it without showing conversion or repentance, for a very long time. Consider Solomon, such a fine man: in his old age his wives turned his heart after strange gods, and he remained a long time in that sin.

9. The ninth degree is: that they are for a short time as if overcome by the evil. Consider a Noah, a Lot, a David: during that time it was as if they were servants of sin. Romans 12:21 — of the evil, the good is then as it were overcome. It is indeed so with them, that when a godly person who was formerly close to them sees them fallen so greatly, he hesitates to speak to them: they do not know how they shall manage it, to address them once; they do not know how they shall begin, for they hold their pet sin so fast. It is just as with David. When the child was dead, no one dared tell him — he had to learn it from the whispering; he was worse before the child's death than after it. The king had two or three prophets in his court, wise and godly, who had no equal; among others were Gad and Nathan; they dared not address the king unless they received a divine commission anew; when Nathan received it, he still did not dare do it directly — he did it by means of a parable; he first heard what the king said about the parable, and then he came to the point and thrust the sword into the king up to the hilt: thou hast wounded me there, said the king, and stabbed his own affliction.

10. The tenth degree is: when they then have power, and there is someone who addresses them, they would indeed be provoked by it and do them harm — as Asa did, so godly a king. There comes a faithful prophet, who said, king, it is not fitting for you to do so. What does he do? He became angry at the prophet, and had him put in the prison house; when that godly Hanani had so faithfully addressed him, he dealt with him as Ahab did with Micaiah — not only was the prophet imprisoned, but also the people who adhered to him; faithful prophets have their followers too, 2 Chronicles 16:7, 10. That is the tenth degree of hardness; they are not as David once said, let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head, Psalm 141.

11. The eleventh degree is: they are indeed thoroughly hardened. Whatever means or gifts God spends on them, it makes no impression; in whatever church, under whatever ministry they come, it does not matter. Ah, Lord! they come to no sweet disposition, to no tenderness, nor to any contrition; their eye is dry, and their heart is hard: they scarcely know any more what it means to pray, read, meditate with tenderness — covenant renewal, the Lord's Supper, conversation with the godly — they no longer know how that tastes.

So dry and parched are they, that their heart is not broken: like a bottle in the smoke, Psalm 119:83. They see others at times moved beside them, but I, they say, am like a stone: I used to have to go off by myself when I came out of church, but now I am not moved by the Lord's chastisement, and I do not melt with love, I do not sink away in humility and wonder, but I must say, as it stands, Isaiah 63:17: Lord, why hast thou hardened my heart, that I do not fear thee? I am not as it stands, Psalm 6:6: I water my couch with my tears; and Job 16:20: mine eye poureth out to God; and Job 30:20: I cry unto thee; and Acts 20:19: I serve the Lord with humility and many tears. That creeps upon not only the bruised reeds, but it also comes upon great saints, greatly graced ones — they may indeed sometimes have to say, I do not know whether I am not as unmoved as an Ahab, or as an Agrippa.

There you have the eleven degrees, to what hardness a godly person can come. You have now heard it — did you not feel this one or that one? Must you not say well, my God, were I to speak honestly, I have perhaps experienced six or seven degrees of it, or perhaps all of them?

II. But is that now not obduracy? No, it is not. Do you know by what you may recognize that?

1. First, such a little soul still remembers the grace of former days. God brings it up too at times: I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, Jeremiah 2:9. I too think of those days, they say, it was better for me then than now, how it tasted to me then!

2. When such godly ones come together, they tell of the grace of former days; they bring it up, what God has done for them — what tenderness, joy, wonder, and gladness they have enjoyed: they tell it to one another, and God brings it up too — I remember thee, how thou wentest after me in a land not sown, Jeremiah 2:2. By that you may see that it is not obduracy. Psalm 66:16: let us tell what God has done for our soul.

3. They protest before God, that they cannot live so, that they are not satisfied. What good does it do me, they say, if God gives me trade, honor, comfort, pleasure, children, when God stands afar off?

4. In their complaining there comes at times hope, that it will yet take another turn. Psalm 27:13: unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I would have fainted long in my distress. Ah Lord, light shall arise for the upright in the darkness, Psalm 112:4. I will yet say to my soul, my soul, return unto thy rest, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee, Psalm 116:7.

5. Lord, says such a one, I may be as hardened as I will — I would not trade it for the hardening of the world. Hebrews 11 — Moses would not exchange it for the hardening of Pharaoh; he was nevertheless already far along; he would not trade for the throne, crown, nor scepter of the king.

6. There remains in them a resolve to stay with the Lord: however they are, they want to be his people, faithful to his name and cause; they will not turn against God's name, nor his people, nor his cause — and that is from the Lord in them.

7. They cannot entirely throw away their state; the root of the matter is too deep in them: they say, I have experienced too much already, I dare not throw away my state.

8. If someone speaks of the work of God, they understand it at once, as soon as they only begin to gape and open their mouth — just like those hardened travelers to Emmaus, Luke 24:32: did not our heart burn within us, when he talked with us? They received a whole glow within. What do you think now — is that indeed obduracy? No, and it never shall become that either.

III. Now the third point: the remedies against that affliction — what are they? Do you know which?

1. First, you must take note where it began: how did you come to it? Will a doctor not ask a sick person about the cause of his illness, from what it first arose? So we too say: since when, and how did it begin? How did you become so hard? Was it through ambition, pride? Was it people's favor, people's fear? Examine your ways once, if you will, and you will indeed find it. King David had indeed noted that — he showed that in Psalm 51: how it began, before Nathan came, and how it had proceeded, and how he had become tender again: it began with Bathsheba, and it continued in the matter of Uriah. If we had an affliction, or a swelling, we would not only know well how we got it, but we would also know, and note it every day, how it proceeded. Our conscience is so tender; we often would not let it speak; and we could not bear it, that another should address us — if there was someone who wanted to address you once, you avoided him.

2. The second remedy is this: see whether you do not come out of it in great derangement — do you not lose your peace, your joy, your cheerfulness, your glow through it? Is not that ornament you had among the godly lost through it? Yes, if we want to harden ourselves against God, then he hardens himself against us. Hath any hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? Job 9:4. Have you ever known such a one? I have not. Then you would not get back that comfort you had before.

3. Do you want yet another remedy? Then lay your affliction open before God, and say, in this and that, against thee alone have I sinned.

4. Justify God, when he gives you blows. So David did in Psalm 51. Say, even if you punished me and let me perish, you would be righteous, and I could not gainsay you.

5. Lastly, avoid all places and occasions that do you harm — otherwise you would become still harder. Stay close to the Lord, and then it will go well with you. Avoid such as say, it does not matter whether it happens here or there — that is like a bad doctor, who says you may eat whatever you have a taste for. Keep rather to the safest side: it matters in everything.

Now we have seen the hardening of a godly person in two sermons. Next we must go on to see the obduracy of a reprobate, and then stubbornness, and then carnal ease, and then spiritual ease, as the Lord grants us ability. Now I hope that the Lord will bless what has been spoken to us and to you, to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 42

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these four points occur:

I. That obduracy is grounded in the Word.
II. How one comes to it.
III. What the signs of it are.
IV. That the bruised reeds must lay themselves alongside it, and see how much they differ from it.

Reading Romans 2:5, of a hardness and impenitence of heart.

1. Hardness is a great judgment: it is one of the heaviest judgments that God sends upon a person; one may always well pray, Lord, preserve me from obduracy! Was there ever a greater judgment in Egypt than the hardness of heart, especially in the king? There were ten plagues in Egypt — one teaches that to one's children, and one recites it oneself — and one forgets the eleventh, which flows through all the others, and that is obduracy: and that was followed by a twelfth, when the king with all his people was so suddenly drowned in the sea.

2. It is so perilous, when someone becomes so hardened: he stakes his life in an extraordinary manner, and he makes God take away all the tenderness, and all the pangs of his conscience, which still serve him as a bridle — God shall at times take that away, and shall say, as it stands in the rhyme of Psalm 81, verse 14: they wished that I would just let them walk unhindered, and I gave them over, says God, to the inclination of their evil heart.

3. Not only is it so perilous, bringing you into the utmost extremity, but it is entirely devastating: your cattle, your birds, your houses, your soul, your body — it touches everything unto ruin. Isaiah 1:5: why should you be stricken any more? you would revolt more and more. Jeremiah 18:7-11: ah, if a people turns from its evil, though I have spoken evil against them, I will repent of the evil, says God — but though I have spoken of doing them good, if they do not turn from their evil, I too shall repent of the good. Again, if someone becomes tender, says God, that makes me set everything right again. See that in that tender Josiah, 2 Kings 22:19-20 — the evil did not come in his days. A tender one restores everything, even were it a lost child, Luke 15. When it comes with tears, the father kisses it, even though it was a child who had said to his father, I will not go, Matthew 21:29 — afterward repenting, he went: it was nevertheless acceptable.

4. Hardness takes away all that is beautiful in a person: even were he like an Absalom, who stole the heart of all Israel, he was nevertheless an ugly one through his hardness. Ahaz, what an ugly one he was! He had sold himself to do evil: how fittingly it is said of him, 2 Chronicles 28:22 — yea, in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz! Besides that it is perilous, ugly, exceedingly devastating, and takes away all that is beautiful, I must also say of it, that a child of God at times has his share in it too. Where true convictions are, where there is penetrating work, how tender must they not be? Their conscience must be as tender as the eye of a person — that cannot bear the slightest fly or grain of sand, it is so tender, at once a little tear comes; so tender ought our conscience to be too. Do I and you find that every day? Ah, how often do we share in that hardness, which is so terrible and so devastating! Yet it is nevertheless so, that they must say, I cannot bear it, I can say that I wish it were otherwise, I am troubled over it — indeed, they pray against it. Isaiah 63:17: why hast thou hardened our heart?

5. It makes such a hardened one not only ugly, but he says, it cannot be too great, I can indeed harden myself so much toward it, they can become so unfeeling about the lack of that tenderness.

Someone hearing this will say, my soul bows down over that. Well, over what do you bow down so? Yes, I fear that my convictions are not good. Well, why? Do you say, is there hardness also with good convictions? Is that scriptural? Yes, that is scriptural. Shall we show you that clearly? I slept — that is the hardness; but my heart waked — that is the tenderness, Song of Songs 5:2. I felt, said the bride, that it was not well with me. Shall we show it to you again in that man after God's own heart? 2 Samuel 12 — how hard he was, how he fell, and how long it lasted, and how tender he was afterward? And 2 Samuel 24 — Joab, go, number Israel — whatever reasons Joab gave, he could not be turned aside: that was his hardness. Joab was hardly gone, when his heart smote him, and how tender was he when Gad the seer came, with those three plagues, of which he might choose one? I, I have sinned, he said: that was his tenderness. Do you want to see it in Peter? There stands Peter, there comes a servant girl, who says, you too are one of Christ's disciples — well, his heart ought to have opened, and he ought to have said, oh yes, in that I glory — but what did he say? I know not the man, I know not what thou sayest — that was his hardness: he went outside and wept bitterly — there you have his tenderness, Matthew 26.

Beloved! I know that a child of God who is truly convicted, when he feels hardness, is anxious over it, whether he will not come to a stubbornness, or to a complete carelessness. No gifts touch me, says such a one, whatever the subject that is treated, it is as if it does not touch me. What conclusion does he draw from that? Well, I have never in my life been truly convicted by God's Spirit. Then we have been compelled to show those bruised reeds wherein that stubbornness consists, to what height it can come, and how much they differ from it. Now we must see whether in that great hardness there can be no obduracy, and whether they are indeed stubborn. Yes, but, they will say, I do not grasp it from that side, but from the other side: after I am convicted, I have come so easily to rest, and now I am so anxious that it is carnal carelessness; and they will say, ah, tell us whether there is not carnal carelessness in me — all that we shall address, if it please God that we live, and then we shall move on to another mark of the state of grace.

At present then we shall treat obduracy, if it please God. You and we must exert ourselves somewhat, and apply ourselves to it.

I. First we must see whether obduracy and hardness can indeed have a place in someone.
II. How does one come to it?
III. The signs by which one may know whether obduracy has a place in our heart.
IV. We want the bruised reeds to lay themselves alongside it once, and speak — whether they indeed find such obduracy in themselves.

Take note: first we say, it is grounded in the Word, that there is such a thing as obduracy. Then, how do they come to it? Then, what are the signs of it? Finally we would call out to a weak one, and say, speak, are you such a one?

I. As to the first point: is there an obduracy known in Scripture as a condition? Yes.

1. Do you not see it in a Cain — was he not obdurate, when he had done harm to his brother, and when God preached pardon to him? Do you not see it in the first world? The Spirit no longer wanted to strive with men, neither with his longsuffering, nor with the means of grace, nor with the word. Why? I do not want to be grieved or quenched by you. See it in Pharaoh and in Ahab. Does not God's Word speak of it — Ephesians 4:30; Romans 2:4-5?

2. In the second place, you have God's own wishes concerning it, Psalm 81 — oh, that they had listened to me! Deuteronomy 5 — oh, that this people had a heart to fear me! God wishes against such conditions.

3. Do you not find that there are admonitions of God against such conditions? Oh that ye would hear his voice, and harden not your heart, Psalm 95:7-8.

4. Do you not find the conversion of such people? Was Manasseh not an obdurate one, who was converted, 2 Chronicles 33? Was the murderer, who was converted, not an obdurate one? One who sheds the blood of men — is that not an obdurate one? Did God not convert him? — that beast of the field the Savior still had to honor on the cross.

5. Are there not judgments of destruction that have befallen such? God said, I have raised thee up for this very purpose, Exodus 9:16, and Proverbs 28:14: he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief; and Proverbs 29:1: he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed. There then is the condition, and it is known in Scripture.

II. Now the second point: how does someone come to such things? How can a person fall so far? Take note. There is an inborn and an acquired hardness. That inborn, natural obduracy is in me and you. Oh God, we must each say, my diamond, stony, iron, copper, steel heart! That we each bring into the world. There is no stone as hard as our heart: everything glances off it, nothing can take hold in it. That I and you have by nature. But there is also an acquired hardness. We make that hard heart still harder, still more steeled. It is like iron, which is hard, and becomes still harder by hammering. Iron is naturally hard, but by striking you can make it still harder. What ways are struck into it, under God's governance, when someone is hardened, that he comes to obduracy?

1. First, a person can harden and obdurate himself by wanting to close his eyes to everything — he asks after nothing, he fears neither God nor man, Luke 18:2. Nothing exerts force on my heart, says such a one, neither blessings nor blows: what do I care for God, for preachers, for the ministry? Without any restraints — he tears them apart, and breaks them to pieces, Psalm 2:3. Besides that, he goes and sins willfully. Jeremiah 18:12: I will live so, he says, and let everyone see it.

2. That troubles me too much from within, they say, and then they go and take branding irons to sear it shut, so that I, if it be possible, might be unconcerned regarding God. 1 Timothy 4:2 — they have their conscience seared with a hot iron: as with an arm or a leg that is amputated — the blood spurts, the surgeons take a branding iron to sear it shut. What branding irons do they take? Atheistic thoughts: they deny God's omniscience, his righteousness, his providence; they take pains that never a thought of God should arise in them. If they are once troubled, what do they do then? They make delay, they take counsel with themselves somewhat, they help themselves along with God's common mercy, with a general grace, with a respectable outward conduct. Those are the branding irons they keep applying. Can a person then so harden himself? Yes, through habituation to sinning: a settled disposition begins to come. Ephesians 4:19 — through habit they make themselves unfeeling. It is with it as with a workman who first begins to work: his hands are tender, but when he is somewhat used to it, a callus comes upon them.

3. What else hardens a person? The examples of others: they want to go along with the crowd, they want to live like the rest; it has become so much the fashion, it has become the custom; they follow the multitude. Ah, that is so evil, to follow the greater number: they encourage one another in sin, they harden one another, Malachi 2:17, so they say, everyone who does evil is good — they make one another children of the devil, ten times worse than they would have been on their own.

4. They harden themselves under God's longsuffering kindness — how terrible is that! Romans 2:4-5: the riches of God's forbearance — under that they become hardened. Yes, Ecclesiastes 8:11: because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Psalm 50:21: they say, God is like us, he does not punish us; indeed they dare to say, whoever does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and he delights in such, Malachi 2:17 — it is terrible.

5. Through the very best ministry there is in the world, they become hardened. Ah Lord! what a judgment that is! It becomes so common to them, that at last they are no longer to be moved at all — indeed, they become angry, when someone addresses them about it. 1 Kings 22 — do you speak to me of Micaiah? said Ahab: then he became angry at the seer. They must often indeed flee, and it becomes, the people cannot bear your words. A man of such gifts as Isaiah — what fruit did he have from his ministry? Isaiah 6:10 — he made the heart of the people fat and gross. What fruit did the thunder on Sinai have? None. What did the mighty works of the Lord Jesus accomplish among many? They only became worse under it: they said, we do not know to what we shall compare you any longer. Where did that come from? Because he did not please to join his Spirit to the proclamation of his Word. And when it pleases the Lord at times to work some stirring, one seeks to turn it aside. If you were moved, it is as if you were ashamed, when you are moved. Are you in church, does some stirring come — you seek to shut it out. You know well that you must not act the hypocrite — that we do not preach to you, but neither should you be unmoved.

6. You become hardened not only under and through the ministry, but the devil comes in under it too, who works powerfully in the children of disobedience — and how does the devil not blind a person? 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2. How did he incite Balaam to curse Israel? He could neither sleep nor eat, when he was not permitted to curse. How did he serve him with evil counsel, that they might thereby come into their ruin? How did he enter into the heart of Judas? How did he fill the heart of Ananias and Sapphira? How did he prompt the man after God's own heart to sin? That heavenly Paul had to feel his fists, 2 Corinthians 12:7.

7. Lastly, God himself hardens — and that is a matter that is wondrous. May the Lord direct our tongue and our thoughts and our heart, to ascribe to him holiness and glory! Yet we may not fail to say, since God himself says it: I have raised up Pharaoh for this purpose, I have stirred him up for this — he had to come into the world for this, that I might show my greatness in him, Romans 9:17. Yet what is said that God does, is also said to be done by Pharaoh himself: when there was relief, he hardened his heart again, Exodus 8. What then does God do? Do we not know of that? Beloved, we shall tell you what we know of it.

a. First we say then, that in this the act of God is holy: he is far from sin, and the sinfulness that is in the hardness — he has no part in that. Job 34:10: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. In that light is no darkness, John 1:5: what fellowship has that light with darkness? The sinfulness that is in it, God is free from. Psalm 77:14 — there one must say, O God, thy way is in the sanctuary, holy are thy ways: that a hardened person must say of himself.

b. In the second place we say, that it is an extraordinary work of God, out of the ordinary course: is it not out of the ordinary course, when you see a father shut his child outside? and when you hear a father cry out against his child, I withdraw my hand from you? and when a father goes to the town hall, when the magistrate is assembled, when the jury is present, to accuse his child before the judge? So it is out of the ordinary course, when God hardens a person, and says, I cast you out of my heart, you may now do as you please.

c. Yet again, this is a very hidden dealing of God: it is rather to be experienced than to be fathomed, it is one of the depths of God, over which one must cry out, thy judgments are a great deep, Psalm 36:6. What a small portion of the matter do we grasp of it! It is but the outermost edge, Job 26:14. Paul was such an enlightened and heavenly man, and he had to cry out over it, when he considered the hardening of the fathers: O the depth of the riches! how unsearchable are thy judgments, Romans 11:33. We see here but as in a dark saying, we know and prophesy but in part in this matter, 1 Corinthians 13:9, 12. You will say, we remain with the question, do you not know anything at all about it? how does it happen? Yes, we do indeed know something of it. This God does, when he further hardens the heart of an already-hardened sinner:

1. First, he is not an idle spectator of it, he has his high, wise, holy, governing hand in it. What the false prophets and the devil did, is said to be done by God — he had his hand in it, in so directing them. Jeremiah 4 — had the false prophets and the devil said, you shall not see the sword — but what did the prophet say? Lord! thou hast greatly deceived this people, verse 10. The Lord had not prevented the false prophets from saying it. It is said, the devil incited David to number the people, and in another place, God incited David — see 1 Chronicles 21:1 and 2 Samuel 24:1. God had his governance in it, he did not prevent it. He is not an idle spectator in it.

2. God has such a hand in it, that in his holy governance he gives the devil occasion for it. 1 Kings 22 — there the Lord stands as it were on his throne, and all the heavenly host around him: so the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab to go into battle? how shall I bring it about, that it succeeds? I will do it, said the devil; it is well, said the Lord, and he let the devil loose. Who shall tempt Job once? I, said the devil; it is well, said the Lord, only spare his life. He brings him so far, that he cursed the day of his birth, and through his wife wanted to bring him so far that he cursed God — but he did not.

3. God also does this: that he gives no grace to a person who has the inborn obduracy, and then they must become ever harder. God does not owe it to them to give it: he shall be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and shall have mercy on whom he will have mercy, Exodus 33:19. We have no claim to say anything, even if we become still more obdurate. Jeremiah 16:13: I will cast you out into a land where they shall serve wood and stone — why, Lord? Because he shall show them no grace.

4. And, which is the most terrible thing, God hardens as a Judge, he does judicial work upon the sinner: and what does he do then? Then he does three things.

a. First, he punishes your sin with the sin that other sinners commit. You have sinned; God raises up others, who commit such a sin, by which your sin is punished. See it in David: how was his adultery punished through the incest and the rebellion of Absalom? If you note it well, God raises up your neighbor, who commits such a sin, whereby you are afflicted.

b. Then God does this: it is as if you had no understanding nor judgment left, as if you had no eyes of the soul; he does as a judge who has someone's eyes put out. You misuse your bodily light, all the means of grace, says God; I will blind you, and take away your light further; the light of my Spirit I will take away, and I will remove the candlestick from its place.

c. God does this: when he so hardens the heart that it is no longer to be dealt with, that it must go through with it, that it is resolved to hold out against God. Exodus 8 — God came with that judicial work upon Pharaoh; his nobles said, do you not yet see that your land is destroyed? He still wanted to follow his foolish notion, with his blind understanding, though the whole land should perish, though house and land and all should perish. So God works. See how holy it all is! Would he not have his providence in it, in letting the devil loose and withholding grace? and would he not show his judicial work? Is that not holy? Must you not grant that in all these things?

III. Now we come to our third point. Ah, that I and you might not fall under it! We shall give you some signs, whether you lie under it, or whether we are on the way to fall under it.

1. The first sign is: when you every day, every week, begin to fall into such a course of sinning — indeed, whole years you remain on the path of sin. One keeps such a course, such a settled train — one becomes vain, proud, wanton, ever more ungodly, more perverse in one's aims and purposes. Such a one shall come to obduracy, or is already in it: he exercises himself in sin. 2 Peter 2:14: they exercise themselves in covetousness. Whoever practices another sin — it becomes an easy and pleasant task for them.

2. The second sign is: that you give yourself over to lesser sins. You say, there is not so much in that, those are just gnats, splinters, mockery, mere chatter, foolishness. You keep such a course in it, you give yourself over to it. There is, or there already is, the hardness. He who takes heed of a maid, Job 31:1, he who looks on a woman to lust after her, Matthew 5:28 — the world calls those trifles; they keep such a course of lesser sins.

3. As from those lesser sins, splinters, gnats, greater sins come — from that comes shame; it goes from bad to worse; one does not become so wicked all at once, but by degrees. If you examine yourself every year, the sin grows ever greater and greater.

4. When they begin to grow restive against the ministry, under which they used to sit with sweet movements, tears, and contrition. Whereas before, when they came out of church, they went off by themselves to pray — but now, never.

5. Conscience is no longer permitted to do its work: formerly, when they were alone, it would address them and say, that is not right; now it may no longer do so, they knock it on the mouth and make it be silent.

6. Lesser judgments of God bear no fruit. It comes from this, and it comes from that — you always have your little excuses, and it never comes from God or from your sin. You have your little pastimes, like Saul: he had his harp-playing, when the evil spirit came.

7. One begins to esteem God small in one's heart: I would like to see who would prevent me from living so; above God, above all, Daniel 3:15 — who is the God that shall deliver thee out of my hands? So did Pharaoh too, Exodus 5:2.

8. When you begin to laugh and mock at your former tenderness — when you say in your company, I too used to have tears and tenderness, but I was not wiser for it. I have seen some in my life who said, I thought I too must have a humble garment, but now I see well that it is but folly and hypocrisy. You are already far gone, when you speak so; my old preachers said, it matters here, it matters there — but I see well it is not so; the new ones will not make you wiser: do not mock your former tenderness.

9. When you begin to mock the ministry and the humility and sincerity of others, and say, see how meanly they conduct themselves, they do this, they do that — and you make a mockery of it: it is a sign that you are one of the hardened.

10. When you begin to slander and forsake the means, where sound preaching is done, Hebrews 10:25. And you no longer read the Bible as you used to.

11. When your mind begins to incline to errors, like Alexander and Hymenaeus — they went over to errors. Indeed, you prefer something new that tickles and flatters your brain, rather than something that touches your conscience; you prefer that your ear be tickled, rather than that your heart be stirred.

12. Lastly, it often has such a terrible outcome. The righteous wisely considers the house of the wicked, and it is suddenly overturned: there comes a fever, a pain, an affliction — in a moment they are gone; they have no time even to pray once, to weep, or to go once to God.

IV. Examine now your heart: that is our fourth point. What do you say now, bruised reeds? Do these things apply to you? Do you feel that? Do not be troubled, judge a righteous judgment, do not be discouraged. God does not want it, that his servants should grieve the heart of one who is upright. You are so troubled, you weep, you complain, you groan, you cannot leave the Lord, you are terrified of hardness — because you are not always equally tender, should you therefore be an obdurate one?

There you have our four points. Next we must consider stubbornness, how that stands, and call you to account for it — and then carnal ease. We have now shown: 1. That obduracy is known in the Word. 2. Wherein it consists. 3. Some signs given. 4. There we call out to you, and say, do not be discouraged with yourself. Though you are small and tender, you are so far from obduracy, that you ought rather to take courage, and say, hope now in the name of the Lord Jesus, you shall yet praise him; God shall strengthen you to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 43

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which one sees:

I. That it is necessary to speak in the church of hardness.
II. That in the reprobate there is a great obstinacy and stubbornness against God.
III. That the godly share in it, more or less.
IV. The exceeding difference there is in this between the godly and the reprobate.

Reading Psalm 6:6, that David says: I cause my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

Great saints were glad over their tender disposition; they had it often too. How do they come to so much tenderness? Do you know how?

1. First, they cannot bear the threats of God. A good child cannot bear the threats of its parents; so it is also with a godly person. 2 Kings 22:19 — that godly king Josiah, when he heard the threats of God, his heart became tender.

2. Blows make them so tender. God said to the prophet Gad, go to David, and say that he must choose one of the three plagues: the king said, I am in great distress — his heart became tender through it, 2 Samuel 24:14.

3. Do you know what else makes them so tender? The promises of God: when they read a promise, on which is written, this belongs to you. 2 Samuel 7:19 — the Lord has spoken so long, and so much, concerning the house of your servant — I do not deserve it, said David.

4. The blessings make them so tender. When they come into their house, their own house, and hear of God's blessings, and enjoy them, they melt over it. Genesis 32:10 — I am too small for all these your mercies and faithfulness. There he stood, almost with tears on his cheeks.

5. Do you know what else makes them so tender? When they have sinned: they are too tender for that, they cannot bear it. Matthew 26:75 — Peter went outside and wept bitterly, he melted away in tears.

6. Do you know what else makes them so tender? The consideration of how long-suffering God is with them, they who are so terribly wicked: there is such a riches of God's kindness. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, that we do not yet lie in hell, Lamentations 3:22.

7. Do you know what else makes them so tender? The pardon and the grace which they have received, when they were but poor sinners. How gravely and how long, they say, have I sinned, grieved your Spirit, done violence to my conscience — notwithstanding all that, you have forgiven me. They cannot read that pardon with dry eyes. Luke 7 — much forgiven: that sinful woman wept.

8. Do you know what else makes them so tender? The light of God's face, which is in that unspeakable communion with God: that they may so taste and see that the Lord is good and gracious, Psalm 34:8; Isaiah 6:5 — then the man cried out, I am undone, because I have seen the Lord of hosts. Then they cry out, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, I cannot bear it, Luke 5:8.

Just as great saints have had great tendernesses, so great sinners have had great hardnesses and obduracies. Everything glances off them, whatever comes upon them does not enter in; whatever makes another take notice, of that they know nothing; above God, above all, they say; blows and blessings and whatever God spends on me, I will harden myself against it. If the convicting work of the Spirit comes, they do not work with it inwardly, they despise it and resist it; they break through everything, in order to come to the very greatest degree of obduracy and stubbornness, which borders most closely on the wickedness of the devils and of the damned who are in hell. Such a one is unshakably stubborn.

We have, in the matter of conviction, treated obduracy, and shown the misfortune of the obdurate one. There were bruised reeds who said, I thought, if I had true conviction, that I should then always be so tender, and so melted as wax, and that I now lack — I am so hard and unfeeling, that I deny that I have true conviction. We said, do not hold yourself a stranger to that: hardness and obduracy come to the godly too, indeed, even a kind of stubbornness. We have shown you those weighty matters, hardness and obduracy — how high they can go in a godly person, and how much that differs from those reigning sins in a reprobate. Now we had come to the last degree, that is an unshakable stubbornness: can this have a place in the godly? Yes — they can even have a kind of stubbornness. Those who have received grace and light must often say, ah my God, the opposite too is in me! Upon the very highest grace you shall find bound the very deepest depravity. I thought that I must lay this open before the congregation too, which is seldom done in the church of God. I know well that those who do so do not make themselves very likable. We have spoken of hardening and of obduracy; I thought that we ought also of necessity to speak of stubbornness, likable or not likable. We shall then, in setting this forth, let you see it.

I. That it is necessary to set forth the nature of obstinacy. II. That the reprobate display a dreadful obstinacy against God, and wherein it consists. III. That a godly person shares in it more or less. IV. How greatly the obstinacy of a child of God differs from that of a reprobate.

These four points we shall seek to handle in turn: first, that it is necessary in the church to speak of obstinacy; then, that the reprobate possess a great obstinacy against God; then, that the godly too have some share of the old dragon — he lifts his head every now and then; finally, the great difference there is between the obstinacy of a child of God and that of a sinner.

I. As to the first: it is necessary to speak in the church of obstinacy for four reasons. 1. For the sake of the ungodly. 2. For the sake of the godly. 3. For the sake of the weak, bruised reeds. 4. For the sake of the Word.

1. It is necessary for the sake of the ungodly: otherwise one might say, what do you mean by dealing with such hardened, godless people? Well, who knows — there may be elect among them, and by dealing with them they might be brought to the service of the Lord. They might be put to shame by it, and think: am I so hard under so many means of grace! Horror might seize them, a shudder come over their flesh, and their proud neck and sinews might yet be broken by it. Jeremiah 28:13: They broke the wooden yokes, and God said, You shall make iron yokes in place of these, and put them upon their iron neck. When God lays such an iron yoke upon a man's iron neck, how does it go? Like the young of a donkey unused to any yoke — it goes as hard for the soul as it did for the body of Eli: he broke his neck, 1 Samuel 4:18; and in Numbers 16, when God made that preparation to cast Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and their whole company into hell — they had such an iron neck; there they went and stood in the door with their wives and children, and so mocked God; but God drove an iron yoke through their iron neck; the earth split open, and they were gone.

2. It is necessary for the sake of the godly: that they might extol free grace, that they might exalt the wonder of God's grace. Have you grace, beloved? You are of the same mass, the same clay; by nature you were no better than they — indeed, you went merrily on your own way of obstinacy. Had the grace of God not come between, you might have been the most obstinate of the obstinate, you might well have been a ringleader of the band. Who came and bent your neck? Was it not God, who took the yoke from you and said, Take my easy yoke upon you? Matthew 11:29 — so that you began to say, with Lamentations 3:27, It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

3. It is necessary for the sake of the weak, bruised reeds. The devil, their adversary, is not above hurling every wickedness in their face. Yes, he says, you people lie there complaining that you have no light, that you are anxious whether you have grace at all; you dare not go to the Lord's Supper; you say you dare not draw the conclusion that you have grace: well then, he says, obstinate people that you are, you nevertheless want to hold fast to your way — you can see plainly enough that you have no grace, and yet you want to persist in it all the same; you cling so firmly to your way, your state, your frame. It is necessary, then, to strengthen such souls.

4. It is necessary to speak of it in the church for the Word's sake: were I not to speak of what the Word speaks of, I would fail in my duty. Oh Lord, let us not forget so essential a matter; let us not hold it back either, however little it endears us! Where does the Word speak of it? In five or six places in the Old Testament. Exodus 32:9: It is a stiffnecked people, Moses; let me alone, let me rise up against them to consume them, and I will give you another and better people. You have it again in Exodus 33:3,5, and in Exodus 34:9, close by; and in Deuteronomy 9:6,13, likewise close together; and in the New Testament you have one, Acts 7:51: You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. And in passages to the same effect much is said of it. Proverbs 1:21,25: I would have counselled you, I rebuked you, it did no good — you rejected all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke. You have it also in Jeremiah 5:3, and in Ezekiel 2:3,6: you are a rebellious house, says God.

God the Lord is pleased to give such likenesses in order to depict such obstinate ones. You are, says God, like an unbroken horse in battle, throwing everything into disorder, Jeremiah 8:6; like a deceitful bow — the man draws it, the arrow flies backward and strikes himself, Hosea 7:16; like an unruly cow, Hosea 4:16; like an untamed calf, Jeremiah 31:18; indeed, like great beasts that kick backward; like a beast that stiffens its neck, unwilling to bear any yoke — it kicks, it strikes, it does everything it can to keep the yoke off. That is the likeness of an obstinate child who turns his neck against father and mother: whatever you say to him or not, such a child says, I will not do it — and that without remorse; he despises the obedience owed his mother and mocks the obedience owed his father. Indeed, it is the likeness of a people making a wicked rebellion against their king; they say, we will hold out against you to the very last man, to the last drop of blood. We must speak of it, because the Word speaks of it — and so we come now to our second point.

II. So we say, then: there is an obstinacy that reigns in the reprobate, and there is one that reigns in the elect before they receive grace, and there is one that troubles and presses the godly. The obstinacy, you will say, that reigns in the reprobate and in the elect before they are born again — what is it like? You will find plenty of it in this city; even the godly share somewhat in the very worst of it, though least of all in that particular disposition. What is a hardened sinner like?

1. First, he resolves to come under no bonds whatever, even were God or men to try to bring him to it — he wants to be free of them; whether the cords be men's or bonds of love makes no difference, and so he cares no more for God than he must for fear of punishment; whether God draws him with bonds of love or with bonds of misery is all one to him; he will not even come under the bond of the covenant, and so he will not go to the Lord's Supper; indeed, he will scarcely come even under the bond of death. I will have nothing to do with God, he says; and when he must face it at last, as he comes to die, he wants it over quickly. I want to live, says such a one, as I myself understand it; I know well enough how to live; I understand my world well enough. They rise up against heaven, and if some little bond still remains, they tear it to pieces: they will not be devout, they will not be conscientious, they will not even keep up appearances — they want to do all that is in their heart; and if some little bond is still there, they would do as Samson did, who strained all his strength to break it.

2. The second is that they sell themselves to commit sin; they are for sale to whoever will pay the most — they are servant and maidservant to the highest bidder. So did Ahab, 1 Kings 21:25: there was none like him, says God — he had sold himself to do evil. So did that obstinate, ungodly one in Malachi 3:15: ah, they said, we count them happy that are proud, and they that work wickedness are built up — they count as happy those who, in favor, ease, and pleasure, outdo others in ungodliness, so that a name goes out concerning them like that of Eli's sons: what is this I hear of you? said Eli, 1 Samuel 2:23.

3. It goes higher still: they say, even were there no profit in it, even if I might be ungodly for nothing, even if it gained me nothing at all — it is sport and pleasure to me, and I can entertain others with it too; they are so utterly given over to ungodliness that they let God and men look on, and they take delight in it, doing evil vigorously with both hands and letting it be plainly seen how far advanced they are in it, Micah 7:3.

4. Even seeing that they suffer harm by it, they cannot be stopped. Farewell God, farewell Christ, farewell grace, health, welfare, in soul and body, forever — I would rather be lost than give up sin. And so that saying does not hold true in them, that when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness, Isaiah 26:9. They have made their faces like flint, and so this word is fulfilled instead, Isaiah 1:5: why should you be stricken any more? you would only add rebellion.

5. They will not be spoken to, still less rebuked. If someone addresses them: what is that to me — it is all one to them. Their heart is riveted with iron and, as it were, with steel. Were it in my power, they say, I would shut up the church, there would never be a Bible left; I would burn it, as they burned the scroll of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 36:23. Yes, they say, I dare come even before God, I do not ask God's leave; were I young again, I would begin my sinning all over, and worse; if only I still could, I would do it — they do not even hide it, Isaiah 3:9. They cannot sit together in company but they boast of the wicked tricks they have played; they commit sin with deliberation, with forethought, knowingly and willingly; how eager they are to do evil! They buy up their very time for it; they will hasten their affairs along to make room for it; whatever time they have, they will spend it doing sin; and they heap one wickedness upon another, sin upon sin, being wicked beyond all measure. If anyone urges another toward the good way and tells them of it, they will not hear: concerning that word, they say, we will not listen to you, Jeremiah 44:16. They will not go to the house of God; they live entirely by the rule of the flesh; the only trouble they take is to flatter and compliment their way into favor, standing, and every good thing; we are not such fools, they say, as to do anything against God's Word or a good conscience.

III. Do God's children share in that obstinacy too? Yes — but they share only in the least part of it. Now if the devil says to God's children, You are obstinate in this, that you say, I will not depart from God — and that for many reasons: God is unchangeable, election is eternal, the graces and callings of God are without repentance, the merits of Christ are infinite; even if God hides his face from me and withholds his workings, even if I should fall, I am not thereby cast away; if I go backward, I shall be set right again — he says, you hold your face as hard as a diamond or a rock, it is all the same to you. But is there not, even so, something of that evil obstinacy in them?

a. Mark 6:52: Their heart was hardened. And the Lord Jesus reproached his own more than once for being so unbelieving and obstinate — it resembled the most obstinate sort. Wherein, then, do God's children share in that obstinacy?

1. In the first place, they too have an obstinate little will of their own; they would often rather not lay their own will down before God — God, they feel, should rather bend for them, as with Jonah: what good is all this travelling and being at sea to me now? His anger was kindled against the Lord.

2. It also consists in refusing God something — they can hold out against God for so long. God said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh; I cannot, said Moses — he held out against God as long as he could. Jonah: go to Nineveh; I cannot, Lord, he said, and fled. Jeremiah: speak to the people; I cannot, Lord, he said, I am too young.

3. Further, it consists in their unbelief: shall there be flesh in the wilderness for six hundred thousand people! Numbers 11:13; and John 20:25: I will not believe, said Thomas, though they all told him they had seen him.

4. It also consists in giving no place to good counsel. 2 Samuel 24: O king, why do you desire such a thing? It was of no use — I will have the people numbered.

5. Once more, it consists in a stubborn disputing against the Lord, weighing the devil's arguments against one's own heart. Even were an angel to come down from heaven to persuade you, you are not of that easy sort that believes every word — no, you are of the sort that wears out God and men alike.

6. Finally, it consists in that hopelessness of Lamentations 3:18: My hope and my strength from the Lord is perished. Then they too may begin to say that the means have failed them; and if anyone comes too near them, they will give him a sharp word. 2 Chronicles 16:10: Asa was angry with the prophet.

IV. Now we come to the fourth and last point: yet the difference is nonetheless immensely great, between a godly person and an ungodly one. Do you know how great that difference is? The hardness of ice and wax differs from the hardness of a diamond or a rock. The hardness of a child of God is like that of wax and ice, but that of an ungodly person is like a rock or a diamond. If such obstinacy is in you, it is like that of a lost soul; but yours is not of the kind that wants to commit sin and refuses to serve God — that sort of sinful obstinacy is not in you.

1. They can do nothing but sin, and you can have nothing to do with that; those who would plaster over sin for you are a burden to you.

2. When a child of God sins, he takes no pleasure in it — it is a burden to him; how could it ever be a delight to him!

3. Your disputing often comes from a lack of further light, to know the things given you by God — you would not go on disputing so, had you more light; with what joy would you let that evil disposition go!

4. The obstinate ungodly you hate with a perfect hatred. 5. You count them wicked people, ungodly beyond measure. 6. Before God, angels, and men you protest that you take no pleasure in that disposition.

7. You would grieve over the ungodly for it, and be troubled and ashamed on their behalf — those who delight in it — you seek to bring them into straits. 8. You would pray for them, as Abraham did for Ishmael. 9. Finally, you do the opposite: you do not want to be rid of the Lord's yoke; you are not for sale to commit sin; you do not reckon the committing of sin a game; you do not go and sin without misery standing at the door — you are terrified of it; indeed, you are not so riveted with iron and steel that no tenderness has any place in you — it does show itself in you.

So that takes that weapon away from the devil. Or if the devil says, You are sinning, you are falling back — and still you cling fast to God? Well, that is obstinacy, he says — he lies; the difference between the ungodly and you is dreadfully great. And so we ought not to break the bruised reeds, but must support them. Others under conviction will say: it is as if it were all settled with me, I am so quiet, I fear I have fallen into fleshly carelessness — that we shall look at hereafter as well. Now I wish that this may be blessed to us all. Amen.

Sermon 44

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which the following:

I. That those under conviction have often come to great stillness. II. The concern of a bruised reed, whether its stillness is not fleshly ease. III. Ten marks by which fleshly ease may be known. IV. The difference there is between a child of God and the fleshly secure.

In our text chapter, verses 43–45, we read something remarkable: And when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. I have often wondered what the meaning of this remarkable passage might be — perhaps you too have wondered about it, and we do not know whether you have quite grasped it yet; we shall give as much light on it as we are able.

The comparison, then, is this: there is a filthy house, defiled with dung, refuse, and everything loathsome; its occupant may well have the smell of it, but because it is a dark night, he does not see it. At last light comes into that house; the occupant sees the filth; seeing that filth, he begins to be ashamed of it; he takes a broom in his hand and goes and sweeps the place a little clean, so that it might still pass tolerably before men — but he does not keep his hand to it, and he lets all the filth remain sitting in the corners; and after some time the house grows foul again, becoming even darker than it was before, and the man begins to rot and decay in his own dwelling, so that everyone turns away from him in disgust, and he is simply left to perish.

Do you know what the Lord Jesus meant by this, when he said this? This wicked generation is so, he said. Which generation? Those I am preaching among here, he means. With the mass of the Jewish nation it stood exactly so. How did it stand with them? If you view them in their forefathers, they were by nature as filthy as the heathen among whom they lived. Genesis 12: Abraham there in Ur. And Ezekiel 16:1–6. As soon as the light of grace began to shine there, Abraham went out; and as soon as the light of doctrine began to shine among Abraham's seed, they began to see that the heathen life was a devilish life. Dear Lord, they said, in the night we might have walked in that filth, but in the day we cannot do so any longer. There they became Jews, and the filth of heathenism was cut away; but they remained in the filth of their own heart, which forges such wicked thoughts — of that they were not rid. There the unclean spirit had to go and work among the heathen instead, in those dry places; those went on to serve the devil openly, where the word of doctrine did not come. But there the devil found no rest: so he said, I will return, and I will come with seven devils to storm that people among whom the doctrine of grace is found. Seven devils — that is a Hebrew manner of speaking, meaning that the unclean spirit is at work there with many manifest signs. There he finds them swept clean. Those seven devils, or unclean spirits — what are they, then? Hardening, obduracy, obstinacy. They will hold out against God and men and cast it to the wind; then pride, presumption, unbelief, despair, carelessness — they were like a filthy house left untended, growing foul; the natural branches no longer bore their fruit, God could spare them no longer; there Christians came in their place — God came with his doctrine of grace among the heathen, and they became Christians. In Abraham's time they sinned against not nearly so much light as afterward.

Among the Christians it went exactly as it had among the heathen and the Jews. There they could rest no longer among the Jews; they fled it, when the saving doctrine of grace appeared to them; there they fled it, they would be adulterers, whoremongers, drunkards, or great sinners no longer — they set about reforming, they fled those great sins; they became like washed sows, and like the dog that vomits up and returns to what it has eaten; but afterward they went and left their first love, they became worse than they had been before; they grew cool, lukewarm, sluggish, listless; they so declined in Christendom that their last state became worse than their first. See those seven churches of Asia to which all those letters were written — how many of them turned back again to ungodliness! So it went with the Jewish nation, but so it goes also now with the Christians: does it not go the same with us all? How does it fare with each of us under Christendom? It cannot be that, living under such a discerning ministry, you should not every now and then be brought under conviction; must you not sometimes say, what is this! I am not living rightly, I am disturbed? Does it not sometimes go so far that you begin to practice some virtues and leave off some sins? You make the outside of the cup a little clean and think to make yourself somewhat presentable by it — and then seven devils come, who say, I must see whether I can bring that house back under my dwelling. Which are those devils? Which are those acts by which it appears that he is working in us? Well, one under conviction begins by degrees to grow a little harder — must I always be so tender, he thinks, that does not suit a man under the gospel — and it falls out into hardening; it goes so far that he wants nothing more than the outward show. Then they come to obstinacy, and they begin to think, I am much better than another, I too am something in the kingdom, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, Revelation 3:17. Then they come to that devil who makes them say, I am blameless as touching the righteousness which is of the law, I give no offense to God or man — there they sit down upon their own righteousness, they begin to make a great show, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, 2 Timothy 3:5. They run to church and join themselves to the godly; they begin so much in the Spirit that people begin to say of them, surely some good will come of that one after all; they are with Ananias and Sapphira among the true people — outwardly they appear upright, but they are hypocrites in their heart: well, they do not keep their hand to their work. They begin by degrees to fall away, they begin to forsake the means of grace, they begin, like the dog, to return to its vomit, and like the washed sow to her wallowing in the mire, 2 Peter 2:22. They are of those who sin willfully, Hebrews 10:26 — and that, after having once been enlightened, Hebrews 6:4. So they turn back again. Then that unclean spirit comes, so that they begin to give it up altogether — they become desperate, they fall out of their hope, they begin to despair like a Cain, and to say with him, my iniquity is greater than can be forgiven, Genesis 4:13; or like the people in Jeremiah, let us pluck up our hearts, for it is past hope, Jeremiah 18:12; or like a Saul, or like a Judas — they become murderers of themselves, or they contract such an inward torment that they die of it. 2 Corinthians 7:10: the sorrow of the world worketh death. Or they are of that desperate sort who bottle it all up to the deathbed, and then they scream it out, and so breathe out their desperate souls into hell. God! they say, in a desperate way, I have listened to the desperate devil, and now I must be with him forever. Then again there comes a quiet devil, who becomes master in that house, and that darling child, smooth-talking carelessness — with that they die, and fall so sweetly asleep, so gently, into a deep sleep — and so into hell.

See there, beloved, the things you must draw from that likeness according to the Word. At present we have chosen to consider the quiet devil; and, God willing, at another time that quiet grace, which is a work of God's Spirit, and a benefit of the covenant of grace. There is such a quiet devil, who comes into a man after he has been quite heavily convicted; of that we shall now speak, and we shall do so as follows.

I. We shall show you that there are indeed those under conviction who have come to stillness. II. The concern of a child of God who has come to stillness, whether it is a stillness worked by the devil or by God's Spirit. III. We shall set forth some signs by which we shall show wherein fleshly ease consists. IV. We shall call a bruised reed to account over this and say, is your stillness of that sort? speak the truth outright.

Those, then, are our four points: first, those under conviction come to great stillness; then, the concern of God's children over their stillness; then, some signs of that unclean spirit; finally, the weak folk are to be called to it and told, judge now rightly.

I. As to the first: people who live under the Word sometimes indeed grow troubled — it cannot be otherwise for one living under the Word, for conscience does its work, so that they must often say, what can this mean! They must sometimes go alone into their chamber and say, oh God, I am so disturbed! They grow doubtful, indeed so much so that at times a tear comes from their eyes. Are there such convicted people who come to stillness? Yes, there are many of them — such make up the greater part of the church; that crowd is very large, their name is Legion — so it is with most professors: those are the secure ones you read of in Amos 6:1: Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria. God likens them to a mud puddle that has settled down — but the filth is still in it; if you stir it, how disturbed it becomes, quite thoroughly disturbed; it sits still on its dregs as though nothing were stirring, but once stirred it grows quiet again, Jeremiah 48:11. God likens them to the inhabitants of Laish, in the Book of Judges, chapter 18 — their long-lasting peace brought them to carelessness and to sin: what sin? They sat still. Do you want to see it in examples? Take Pharaoh: he came to stillness whenever there was respite. Notice Saul: when he said to David, You are more righteous than I, he came again to stillness. Consider the Pentecost hearers: how convicted they were, and to what a stillness they came! Yes, you will say, that is all in the Old Testament — but are there such in the New? Very many. See it in Herod: how convicted he was by John, and to what a stillness he came, when he did that wicked deed, having John's head cut off, and that for a harlot! Notice the crowd that followed the Lord Jesus: what commotion there was among them! One crying out, another with tears streaming from his eyes, another beating his hands toward heaven; who ever heard anyone preach so! never has anyone spoken so! they ran after him, even through the wilderness and along the shores — indeed, even the chief priests: what became of those who followed John, how convicted they were! What must we do, said some, to work the works of God? and others cried, and we, what must we do? — and in the end they quietly took their leave, John 6 and Mark 10. There came a young man who cried out along the way — the quiet devil came, and there he becomes so still, we read no more of him. You see clearly, then, that after conviction one can come to stillness. How many a one is convicted under a single sermon, and does not know whether they will hold out even two hours — let alone two days, let alone two weeks: it is like seasickness; it is as though they will loathe and be sick of it all, but they are not out of the ship, or it is gone; it is a sermon-sickness, a Sunday conversion, which they lay aside along with their Sunday clothes; it is like a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, Hosea 6:4. It is just like a dead man cast into the sea: so long as he comes drifting along on the sea, one would say he is alive, such motion he makes — but throw his body up on the beach, and then you see that he is dead. Notice the greatest crowds: God moves them for a moment, their heart is taken for a moment, but it often does not last two days.

II. Now we come to our second point. A bruised reed who has truly been convicted says, I cannot deny that I have truly been convicted, but I am not as troubled as I was before; I am so agreeable, so manageable; I am not as convicted as I was before — I have lost that, I must say the opposite: how often do I pray, that I might not be able to shed a single tear! I am not moved over my state and my work as I used to be; I used to feel it every day, but now it is weeks and months that I am not concerned about my state and my work, whether I am sick or well, whether I am close to eternity, whether I think of the uncertainty of my life — I do not call my state into question. Oh Lord, I do not think that I shall fall into hell, I am so still; I fear no death, no rebellion, no judgment; I am so trusting, so easy in mind, I do not feel much upheaval or dread; I cannot stir myself even if I wanted to. Oh Lord, where does this come from? My soul, you will say, where does it come from: do you not know whether your stillness is sinful or good? whether that stillness is from the unclean spirit or from God's Spirit? Are you so assured, then? Have you such clarity? Do you then live so near to God? I have met many such. We do not know ourselves very well: is it not perhaps all too still? This troubles us. That is our second point.

III. Now the third point is to set forth some signs by which that careless ease after conviction may be known. We shall set them out to the number of ten. Bear with us a little; we shall not burden you too much. You will find this present wherever that quiet devil is at work.

1. First, they hold on to conversion once and for all. How, they say, should I be lost? I was once so disturbed under a sermon, and since then I have been converted — I set that down as settled and hold to it. No one shall take that out of my hand, my affairs stand well, my work is genuine — that they dare say so stiffly and so boldly. No one can disturb them in it, even though they hold a lie in their right hand — they hold to it fast, even though they shall one day be roughly awakened; no one shall take it from their hand, until they must stand before God, angels, and men as deceivers; they set themselves alongside the godly at the judgment, to inherit an everlasting blessing, Matthew 25. But instead it will be an everlasting shame: those foolish virgins said, we also have lamps, we also have oil, our lamps burn also — it will surely go well with us; and see now what a deception! Hold that fast, they say — you were converted then; since then, however much you have sinned, you have reformed just as much; you received grace back then.

2. The second sign is: they boast greatly of their stillness. I am not troubled at all, they say, I am quite content, I have no concern whether my state or work is sound — and they misuse that text, Psalm 42:6,12: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? hope thou in God. They misuse the text Isaiah 54:13: Great shall be the peace of thy children. And that text where the Lord Jesus has promised that he who comes to him shall find rest for his soul, Matthew 11:28,29. That is the second sign by which that quiet devil rules: they make much boast of their stillness.

3. Where he comes to dwell, that quiet devil, there they find an extraordinarily great contentment in it. It is so well with them, their heart is so good — instead of being terrified and shrinking from themselves and from all their own corruption; they do not work much with Romans 7:14–26: In me dwelleth no good thing; the good that I would, I do not; the evil that I would not, that I do. They pay little heed to what stands written in Isaiah 64:6: We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They pay little heed to Galatians 6:3: If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

4. The fourth sign is: where that quiet unclean spirit holds sway, they will have no suspicion cast on their stillness, whether it is genuinely well with them. They settle that once and for all, they give themselves no time to test themselves or to be tested; if they come under God's providence, under a discerning ministry, where that devil holds sway, they do not listen to it. I am not suspicious, says such a one, and preachers ought not to be either, and private Christians ought not to be either. If there is such a preacher, so-called, he does not act in love, he is always ready to condemn people, he always wants to take my good name away from me. They are enemies of all who would bring them to concern, and of troublesome questions and self-examination.

5. The fifth sign is this: they come to their stillness quite easily; it costs them no praying, tears, striving, labor, trouble. What does it cost that quiet one in the Spirit, before they arrive at it! It costs them a fearful amount of effort — but the others come to it all by themselves. Luke 11:21: he keepeth his court in peace. 2 Peter 2:1: they are false apostles who say that Christ has bought them. They come to stillness so very easily.

6. The sixth sign is: when clouds and judgments come over God's house, over their house, or over the land, they remain with their stillness, they do not grow tender; they say, I shall have peace without danger — those who speak of it are but gloomy souls. Then those preachers come in handy who lay cushions under people's elbows, who know how to flatter, to stroke both great and small, and say that they should not let their hands hang slack; they do not want to disturb the people — then it goes according to their liking.

7. The seventh sign is: where that quiet devil comes, when the judgments cease, then they have peace. Now I will not take it so strictly, they say, God's anger is turned away; then they no longer say anything against laughing — you are foolish, they say — nor against merrymaking — what does this matter! Then they no longer take it so strictly whether they curse, get drunk, or the like. So they go and misuse that text, Esther 8:16,17: The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor; feasts and merry days. And Deuteronomy 28:47: they had not served the Lord with joyfulness, because of the abundance of all things, in all that plenteous prosperity — he speaks at length of all the prosperity: may I not then rejoice? may I not take it so far?

8. The eighth sign is: well, they say, I have indeed been troubled at times in my life, but I thank God, I am past it now — one need not always remain what one was; and so they misuse those texts, Philippians 3:14: I forget those things which are behind; 1 Corinthians 13:11: when I was a child, I spake as a child, I was minded as a child; Malachi 4:2: they grow up as calves of the stall; Psalm 92:14: those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. That quiet devil misuses all this.

9. The ninth sign is: their inward sinful corruptions do not weigh on them; small sins they take no notice of; when they come into company, they laugh about sin as long as they can hide it from others — it must all grow quite gross and past measure before they even notice it, so that they might suffer harm or disgrace by it; and if anyone troubles them about it too much, then they have their little excuses and evasions; they excuse it, they cover it over, they gloss it over: well, they say, it is only a weakness, that could happen to anyone — should I be so upset about it?

10. The tenth sign is: he grows angry at the godly who would restrain him, and he opens the door to every unrestraint.

You will say — could anyone sleep so soundly? Yes, so hard that God says, what ails you, you that sleep so heavily? It is a deathly sleep; when they awaken out of it, they shall be in utter ruin. Because thou art lukewarm, says God, I will spew thee out of my mouth, Revelation 3:16. Someone will say, I have never made much stir among Christians — should I then have that careless kind of peace too? Listen here! That other peace keeps your hearts and minds, Philippians 4:7 — but the devil's peace is content as long as it has plenty to eat and drink, and enjoys much good for the body; it cares nothing about the soul, so long as the body fares well.

IV. Now we would call you to account on this point; that is our fourth point. Do you have such a stillness? If you say yes, then you are to be pitied — how will you ever come right? Are you now more at ease than before? Has it become easy for you? You are in a great decline — how will you ever come right? If you say, I cannot say that I find those signs, nor can I say that I do not find them, then hear in a word two or three things from which it appears that you have no part in it.

1. First, you hate such quiet, secure people: God keep me from that, you say. 2. That concern is so dear and pleasant to you. Oh God, let me not be so still and secure in my life! I would rather be troubled than be so still and secure. 3. You always cling to the means that bring you to concern, that call out to you, what ails you, you that sleep so heavily. 4. You are very glad to have others examine you, and you test yourself so often. 5. You fear so much that you have no part in that stillness worked by God's Spirit: you say, I find such a stillness in me, but I do not know what to make of it; I cannot see that it is not the stillness of the quiet devil, and I dare not believe that it is the stillness worked by God's Spirit, which is a benefit of the covenant of grace — I dare not simply apply it to myself.

There now is our point: the rest we shall reserve for another time, God willing; then we shall attend to it. If you will pass no judgment yet, then wait until you hear those other points, when they come to be treated, and reserve your judgment that long. And I hope that God will bless what has been spoken to us and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 45

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which is shown:

I. That a child of God, after heavy anguish, does indeed come to great stillness. II. Some distinctions between the stillness of sinners and that of God's children.

It is a remarkable thing we read in Hosea 13:13: Ephraim, says God, is an unwise child; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. That is a text often mentioned but seldom explained, and yet one which the heart is inclined to understand. It seems to me we shall not spend our time unprofitably if we give you its meaning and an explanation of it. There are three kinds of birth: a natural one, a civil one, and a spiritual one. In all three of these births the child can remain stuck.

a. There is a natural birth. There is a woman who is with child; she carries her fruit; the time comes for her to give birth; the pangs and the labor come upon her and seize her; it stops again for a while, the mother and the child grow weak, and it is uncertain whether the child will be born or not.

b. There is a civil birth. One lives in a state, a republic, a polity, a church, a trade, where things are not going well; one begins to set one's heart upon it, one says, let us see whether it cannot be mended; one begins to put one's hand to it, to restore the state, the republic, the polity, the trade, the church to its former condition; one begins to labor, to reform, to amend — but then one also stops again; they are but morning clouds; one begins to grow quiet again; one went pregnant with straw and gave birth to stubble; one made a great show, but accomplishes little.

c. Then there is a spiritual birth, and that is where we would be. There is a mother, the Church, Galatians 4:26: Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all. That church has a womb; into the womb of that church the Word is cast; that church conceives; in that church are ministers, who are the means of spiritual life to some, and the means of edification to others, and God commands his blessing upon it; that church grows pregnant; she cries out to give birth; children come who must be brought forth. How does it go, then? One breaks through, another stands at the point of birth, another remains stuck there. Some do not stand still at the birth, but the work of the Spirit goes forward; they break through, they pass over to a godly walk; it all goes most prosperously with them, so that one says, this one and that one were born there, and at that time they were firmly established — the Most High himself shall establish them, Psalm 87:5. In Acts 2 you had some three thousand of them at once. So too the jailer and Zaccheus — they did not remain a moment stuck in the birth, they broke through at once. But there are also those who remain stuck in the birth. What sort of people are these? They are such people as come, in the womb, only as far as conviction. Conviction is not yet regeneration, nor spiritual life itself, but it is a beginning of it. They come into the womb of conviction, and there they remain stuck. Conviction can keep them company all the way to hell, as it did with Judas — he often had such pangs. It keeps them company until they are in hell; then come the greatest and hottest pangs of all. Just as some remain stuck in the womb of conviction, so they remain stuck there.

1. Once they have come into the womb of conviction, they do not break through; they have too much to do in the world to break through; they have too heavy a household, on which they spend all their strength and time; they must be up early and late. Matthew 22: there they remained stuck a year and a day in those excuses, in order not to come to that wedding, on account of all their business.

2. Then they remain stuck there, when they have put it off so long: it will happen yet, they say, but it does not suit me now, I cannot yet — but it will happen sometime.

3. Then they remain stuck in that birth, when they go limping between two opinions: one day they seem to hold to God's side, and the next day they want to serve two masters, God and Mammon, against Matthew 6:24.

4. They remain stuck in the birth, too, when they will not break through unless they may first lay down so many conditions to God; they have so much to say — if God will bless me, and so arrange things concerning the evil that it does not pain me, then he shall be my God, said that man in 2 Chronicles — no wait, in fact this is Jacob's vow, Genesis 28. Just as Naaman the Syrian: I am quite willing to serve God, he said to the prophet, but you must permit me also to bow myself in the house of that idol, 2 Kings 5:18. Then they remain stuck there, when they say, let me first bury my father and my mother, let me first take leave of those who are in my house, Matthew 8:21.

5. Then they remain stuck there, when, seeing the conditions and having to reckon the cost, they say, that condition is too hard: must I forsake my friends, goods, blood, name, and all, for the Lord's sake? John 6:60: they said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it! they were grieved, their heart was oppressed by it, and they went away.

6. Then they remain stuck there, when the convictions begin to lessen: they are not as often convicted as before, and in place of it there begins to come hardening and obstinacy, carelessness, fleshly ease, an accursed fleshly peace. They ran well at first, they began in the Spirit, but they end badly — they end in the flesh, they go backward by degrees.

7. Then one remains stuck there, when the labor grows heavy and one does not then break through. One cannot come to a sermon but it is woe upon woe, blow upon blow; they must say, in that sermon I was convicted of some sins, but I paid no heed to it, even though my heart was pounding; in another I was convicted that my convictions did not amount to much, but I grew resentful about it, or if someone told me they did not amount to much; at another time I was convicted that I was not yet converted, and that I must be — but I set it aside, I did not follow it up; then again I was convicted of all the deficiency of even my very best duties, that none of it could avail, however virtuous I might still be, if I were not in Christ — and I could bear that easily enough; at another time, how heavy it will be to have come only near and no further, and how scarcely the righteous is saved — I let it all lie, and to this day I am not yet broken in heart, Jeremiah 44:10.

8. Then one remains stuck in the birth when those convictions pass over. One knows no more anguish; whatever means one uses, one is no longer troubled by it; if someone cries out to such a one, what ails you that you sleep so heavily, he must take leave saying, let me sleep on now.

9. Finally, one remains stuck in the birth when, even after one is already regenerate, one still continually turns back to one's first works, when one continually says, was it rightly begun? am I truly converted? have I judged rightly? — and he does not break through, and he makes no progress.

Now the one who remains stuck in the birth is, according to God's own word, unwise; it is also dangerous and burdensome.

a. He is an unwise child, says God. Is it in the civil condition — had they carried it through, they would have come out right. In the spiritual condition: had Saul carried it through, he would have done wisely; had Judas carried it through, he would have done wisely.

b. It is also exceedingly dangerous for a child to remain stuck in the birth — it concerns both mother and child; when there is no strength to give birth, everyone stands by and weeps, for it concerns the mother, or the child, or both. And it is just as dangerous in spiritual matters: they are in peril that God will say, my soul is grieved for such a people; do I not stir you up enough? You stand in peril that his heart shall be turned away from you, and that you shall never obtain reconciliation in Christ, and that God will say, why should you longer encumber the ground uselessly?

c. It is also so burdensome to remain stuck there: there are five things that make it exceedingly burdensome. What are those five things?

1. Unpaid resolutions and promises — resolutions and promises not fulfilled. How often have you resolved and promised to break through, and yet you do not carry it out? You live and die in your debt: it is flattering with the lips, says God, Psalm 78:36. Vow, and pay, or hold your peace, says God, Psalm 76:11. It is so grievous, when one comes to die, if those resolutions and promises have not been fulfilled — oh, then one dies as a debtor.

2. Not following up convictions and resolutions will wound you most sorely at the last, it will grieve you exceedingly, Proverbs 5:11–13 — it shall be all the heavier for it in hell. Ah, it will be said then, had I but followed it, I might easily have come through.

3. This too is burdensome: when, after convictions and blows upon one's ungodliness, one grows still more ungodly, when one returns to wallowing in the mire — it were better never to have known the way of righteousness, 2 Peter 2:21,22; it were better never to have been enlightened at all, Hebrews 6:4–6.

4. Do you know what else makes it so burdensome? When labor is followed by the setting up of one's own righteousness, when those convictions are paired with virtues — then to go and say to God and man, what do I still lack? We well know that our best virtues are so imperfect, and that our vices are every day more numerous than our virtues.

5. Once more — do you know what makes it so burdensome? When one, having come to a stop, begins to grow at ease, so that there is no more disturbance in it: one grows tired of anxious thoughts, one wants to have peace.

See there, beloved, lay your heart to this. Have you been in this, or are you still stuck in it? Will these things not weigh upon you? We ought to deal with this seriously: it is not enough to say, the preacher has done well enough, or that the preacher says the congregation has been attentive. I ask you, are you such an unwise child? How does it stand with you? How do things go with you? Do you feel the pain of it? Or do you still stand in the conviction? Yes, you will say, over that last point I have the most difficulty: I used to be anxious, but now I am so still — I fear it is a sinful stillness. That sinful stillness we have already considered. Then we said that there is also a stillness belonging to God's people, to which they have come only gradually. We shall seek to lay before you, concerning that, these points in due order: first, a godly person who has already broken through, after heavy labor of soul, does he indeed come to a spiritual stillness, so that scarcely a troubled thought comes into his mind any more? Then, we shall set forth some general distinctions between a careless person and a godly one. Next, we shall bring forth for you, in order, from the Word, some marks by which you may know whether it is a stillness that is a great grace of God. Then, we shall call a weak one to account over it. Finally, if your stillness is good, do not reject it, but be anxious that it may not diminish.

All these points we cannot finish now, but we shall now occupy ourselves with the first three points, and the third only in part.

I. A child of God who has broken through can, after heavy anguish, indeed come to great stillness.

II. We shall set forth some general distinctions between the stillness of sinners and the stillness of God's children, who have grace. III. We shall give some marks by which you may see whether that gift of grace is present.

I. As to the first: can a godly person, who had great disturbances, so that he seemed as though led up before the very gate of hell, indeed come to great stillness? Yes — would you see it? See it in David, in his Psalms: there is not one of them but shows his great turmoil, and on the other hand his stillness. Simply open the Psalter, and you can see it. See it in Asaph, Psalm 73. Do you not see it also in a Hezekiah? At the start you had his tears, the man was sick unto death; rising up, he says, Lord, you have embraced me so lovingly, Isaiah 38:17. Notice the troubled bride: I sought him, but I found him not, Song of Solomon 3:2; and Song of Solomon 8:10: then was I in his eyes as one that found peace, it was so still. Psalm 116:7: return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Psalm 62:1: Truly my soul waiteth still upon God. Acts 9:31: Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and were edified. Matthew 11:28: I will give you rest, which shall be glorious. God breaks the bonds, he keeps them from falling, he wipes the tears from their eyes.

See it in Peter: the tears were wiped from his eyes after his fall — to what a stillness did he come! The comparisons God uses are also sweet: the storm wind lies down; one day the leaves are stirring, and the next the water is so smooth that one could skim it off; it is like a woman after her child is born, how still it is; it is like a laborer sitting at home, how still it is; and like a soldier who has fought bloodily, after the battle is done, sitting so quietly; it is like an uproar in a city being stilled, as you read in Acts, the town clerk stilled the crowd, Acts 19:35. You will say, must I then not be concerned about my own stillness? No — for the stillness of the godly is the salvation of the elect; it is a benefit of the covenant of grace; a token of gracious pardon; a fruit of the merit of Christ; and a work of the Holy Spirit.

1. The stillness of the godly is the very own good of the elect. Are you troubled? God says, my beloved elect, I have thoughts of peace toward you, and not of evil, I will give you an expected end, Jeremiah 29:11. My child, if I trouble you, who then can still you? but if I give quiet, who then shall trouble you? Job 34:29.

2. It is a benefit of the covenant of grace, and that is a covenant of peace, Isaiah 54:10. And what is the benefit of that covenant? The peace of thy children shall be great, verse 13. I will extend peace to her like a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea, Isaiah 48:18.

3. It is a consequence of the gracious pardon granted in free justification: can one be disturbed, then, once one possesses that pardon? Romans 5:1: being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, Matthew 9:2. That troubled David — once God had taken away his sins, did he not then have peace?

4. It is a fruit of the merits of the Lord Jesus: he is our peace, Ephesians 2:14. Is he your Mediator — and would he then give you a troubled heart? God is reconciled with you, he says, I am your peace; my peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you, John 14:27. If that is so, then all your sorrow shall soon be turned into joy, John 16:20.

5. It is also a work of the Holy Spirit. Stillness is just as much a work of God the Holy Spirit as disturbance is — he works composure, thoughtfulness, boldness of mind, stillness. Romans 14:17: righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

So you can grasp it now: they can have stillness over which you need not be concerned. This is what it comes down to now — whether it is the true stillness. I see such a stillness in sinners too, and I am so still! That shall be our second point.

II. We shall show, then, the general difference that always exists between a fleshly ease and a spiritual stillness. Let me show it to you in a comparison. Suppose I and my neighbor had a friend in a foreign land, who mattered very much to us, with whom we were on very pleasant and cordial terms; and my neighbor's friend was dead, by which he lost much — but he did not know it, he had no notice of it, nor did he inquire after it, and so he was quite cheerful and at ease; and I too had a friend there, of whom I had inquired, and I knew from it that he was still alive — so I too would be at ease: was the difference not great even so? My neighbor might perhaps sing more than I, and be more at ease — would my stillness then be carelessness? So it is here too.

1. Fleshly ease springs from ignorance. Such a one does not know what a lost creature he is; he does not work with that text, know thyself, 2 Corinthians 13:5, but with this one, Revelation 3:17: I am rich and increased with goods. They do not know that they are wretched — but the godly in their stillness are not ignorant of their lost state. Oh God, they say, what a lost creature I am! They know what their lost condition is, Romans 7:24,25.

2. The one springs from no self-examination — they have no desire to be examined; the other comes after examination — they examine how they came by their stillness. They know that self-examination is urgently pressed upon them, Lamentations 3:40; Zephaniah 2:1; 2 Corinthians 13:5 — with those passages they work much: they examine themselves in that stillness; even if they should sometimes be disturbed, they do not therefore abandon it.

3. In fleshly ease, their stillness is grounded on deceit, on mere imagination; they have no reason for it, except that they believe that it is well with them. The godly want to know reasons: have I grace? Ah Lord, shall I indeed find it? What are my arguments, from which I conclude it? How do I know that my state and my stillness are sound? Do I have true sorrow over sin? Do I find in myself hunger after grace? Am I grafted into Christ? If I am not in Christ, I am eternally lost — do I know a reason for my stillness?

4. The others are glad in their heart, and take delight in their imagined good. They are so pleased with it: I shall have no bonds until my death, they say, my way shall be prosperous — behold, what a happy condition I have, outward and inward! They take delight in their imagined good, they are glad over it, and prize it highly. But the others cannot be glad unless they can be certain. If you hide yourself, if I see no grace in myself, Lord, they say, then I cannot be still.

5. Those fleshly secure ones do not ask much after God — they are more pleasers of themselves than of God. If you are such, says Paul, then you are no servant of Christ, Galatians 1:10. The others say rather, with Peter, judge for yourselves whether one ought to obey God more than men, Acts 4:19. Such a one says, ah Lord, what is your will? I want to seek to please you. They seek to prove what is that good and acceptable will of God, and that they want to follow, Romans 12:2.

6. Those who have that fleshly peace are very indulgent in sinning. Oh, how much they can allow themselves in sin! Whether they live in disorder, such a one is so indulgent, so lax. But the others — the tenderer, the more upright, the better.

7. Just as they have false imaginings that God loves them, so they also say that they love God: they would not gladly have been at that table where it was asked, lovest thou me? John 21:16; they are not fond of a table where a round of self-examination is made. But the others say: as I in humility think that God loves me, so I can say that I too love God heartily, Psalm 18:1. Abraham was called a friend of God, James 2:23.

8. Over that stillness and peace they exalt themselves and become puffed up — but the others sink away into their own nothingness. Oh God, they say, such a pleasant stillness, to give me such honor and favor — I never would have thought it in my life, it exceeds all my expectation! They are ravished within themselves at the loving-kindnesses of God. Ah my Lord, they say, that you should day after day prepare a table for me and hide yourself for my sake, so that I must go from chamber to chamber to refresh myself — that is more than I would ever have dared ask or think.

III. See there, beloved — now we ought to come to the marks, but we see that it cannot be done, or we would go on too long. That we hope, then, to reserve for another sermon: by which one may know whether one enjoys that true rest, which is a benefit of the covenant of grace, a token of gracious pardon, and a fruit of Christ's merits, and a work of God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon 46

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which one finds:

I. Six signs from which spiritual stillness does not spring. II. Six signs that go before, ere anyone comes to that stillness. III. Seven or eight signs from which that spiritual stillness does spring.

We read in Psalm 35:20 that there are people whom Scripture calls the quiet in the land. These are such people as love to live quietly, who love to serve God quietly, who do no one any harm. These are such as that wise woman said to Joab, 2 Samuel 20:19: I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel. These are forgotten citizens, except with God. Ecclesiastes 9:15: There was a poor wise man, and when the city was in distress, he delivered it by his wisdom, and once it was delivered, he went back to living quietly. This is a people that is still. They are still in solitary places: still in serving God; still in their house; still in their calling; still in their conversation and dealings with people; still under the government and rule that God keeps over them; still under the cross that God sends them; still in dealings with people in civil life; still in spiritual matters. Let us follow this a little further: it should be our delight to look at such quiet people a while.

1. First, they are quiet people — they are sometimes in solitary spots where no one knows of it; they shut their door and go into their inner chamber, as Hezekiah said, Isaiah 38:20 (chapter, verse uncertain in the source); and Jeremiah said, chapter 13:17: I will weep in secret places. They set themselves apart sometimes, like the Lord Jesus, who went and climbed a mountain alone to pray, Matthew 14:23; Isaac went out into the field, as evening drew near, to pray, Genesis 24:63. These are called the solitary ones, Psalm 35:17.

2. Those who are quiet in the land are so quiet, in their family and household, where they move about — they are for the most part quiet, composed, and attentive; they have a meek and quiet spirit, and are like that quiet wife who conducted herself so quietly and edifyingly in her house, that she won her husband without a word, 1 Peter 3:1–4. So God wants us also to be quiet, so that even when we do not speak a word, our stillness may edify.

3. They are so quiet in their calling: they are not peevish, not quarrelsome, not angry, not grumbling, even when it is somewhat vexing that they must be bound and pressed by it; whatever God says, do this or leave that, so they do; whatever God brings them to, that they do with all their might. 1 Thessalonians 4:11: working with quietness, they seek to eat their own bread; they make no great fuss over their work.

4. They are so quiet in their conversation and dealings with people: they occupy themselves with little more than their own affairs. What should I go meddling outside for, they say, I have enough to do within. 1 Peter 4:15: they do not busy themselves much with another's doings. We would wish that this were practiced a little more in this town. What sort of people are these, who so trouble themselves with another's business? Those are true busybodies; they are like one who takes a dog by the ears, says Solomon, Proverbs 26:17.

5. They are so quiet under God's rule and governance: it is so pleasing to them; I have nothing to say, my Father, they say; my Lord, do with me as you please. Do you not delight in David, here is your servant, 2 Samuel 7:20? And Leviticus 10:3: Aaron held his peace. All that the Lord speaks is good, 1 Samuel 3:18. They are silent before God, Psalm 62:5. They commit their way unto the Lord, Psalm 37:5, and cast all their care upon him, 1 Peter 5:7. My Father, they say, does it thus, and in that I must be content: all things must work together for my good, Romans 8:28.

6. They are so quiet under the cross: when trials and blows come, they possess their souls in patience. What is there, they say, better for me to bear, than that either God should have to yield, or I?

7. They are so quiet in civil life and government: hence it is that they pray so much for those in authority, that under their government they may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty, 1 Timothy 2:2. God said, when they sat in Babylon, that they should pray for it, for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace, Jeremiah 29:7. They even pray for their enemies, so that they themselves might live quietly.

8. Finally, such quiet, composed spirits — you shall not see them much disturbed: it is in them a great grace; the south wind of grace blows through their heart, Song of Solomon 4:16. You shall find that God makes them as still as the waters of Siloam. Psalm 23:2: he leadeth me gently beside the still waters. They are so composed and steadfast, nothing disturbs them; though the earth should change its place, they do not fear, Psalm 46:2. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1.

See — those are the quiet in the land, and these are nonetheless people who, over their final stillness, sometimes have concern: they say, are we not perhaps all too still? In treating this we shall do as follows: first, we shall set forth some marks by which such stillness may be recognized as a great grace; then, we would call the bruised reeds to account over it and ask whether they find those signs; then, we shall say, do not let that stillness weary you, do not grow tired of it; finally, if you have enjoyed it and now lack it somewhat, do not remain at ease, but seek to regain it.

Those, I say, are our four points, and they are all very pleasant to a quiet mind. First, we shall give you some signs by which you may know that your stillness is good and a great grace. Then, weak one, come forward — see whether you find the little signs, speak the truth. Next, we must tell you, if you have that stillness, do not let it weary you, but esteem it as something great. Finally, if it should diminish, seek to have it restored. But these four points we shall not be able to finish now — that we do not suppose. We think that we shall now occupy ourselves with the first; so as not to let the matter drift too far, we shall confine ourselves to the signs. To make it plain to you, we shall now:

I. Set before you whence your stillness does not spring — of that we shall give you six signs. II. Give, God willing, six signs of what generally goes before, ere anyone comes to that gracious stillness. III. Point out seven or eight signs from which that stillness does spring.

I say, first we shall give six signs of what it does not spring from; then, six signs that do go before; then, seven or eight signs from which it does indeed spring.

I. As to the first. If there is here a quiet mind, not much disturbed, it does not spring —

1. First, not from the setting up of your own righteousness, thinking you are something in yourself, and being at rest upon a few little virtues of your own — you should shrink from that as from death, and say with that young man, what do I still lack? Matthew 19:20. In your life and in your dying you should work with such texts as Job 9:2,3: How should man be just with God? if he wished to contend with him, he could not answer him one of a thousand. Psalm 143:2: And enter not into judgment with thy servant. Psalm 130:3: If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? They work, even to their deathbed, with Isaiah 64:6: all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They love the language of the publican exceedingly, Luke 18:13: God be merciful to me a sinner! That stillness, then, does not spring from the setting up of one's own righteousness.

2. Nor does it spring from your being great in the world, and having everything according to your liking. If that is the ground of your stillness, then it is not worth much. That is not much found in God's children, for many are the afflictions of the righteous, Psalm 34:19. Instead of that awakening rest in a child of God, it awakens only unrest. What have I, they say, of too great prosperity? When their way is too smooth, that often only breeds concern — the Lord usually arranges it quite differently.

3. Nor does it spring from being too occupied with permissible worldly things, so that you would say, I have no time or desire to be concerned about my soul — it is my calling, I must do it, and so there is no sin in all I do; then God would say, my child, is all this labor for your own mouth — should I not be honored?

4. Does your stillness perhaps spring, as with that man who said, eat, drink, my soul, and enjoy the good, for you have much goods laid up for many years, you shall never come to want? No — instead of that, you should have heartaches even over your lawful recreations, and would even be willing to forgo them.

5. Your stillness is also not grounded on ignorance, on your not knowing what a wretched, lost creature you are. Has another had cause to shed tears over you, as the Lord Jesus did over Jerusalem, on the ground that it is hidden from you what belongs to your peace? Are you not indeed anxious over your lost condition? Do your tears not show that the confession you make is not merely words, but that in all your stillness your tears are real? Romans 7:14–26.

6. Finally, your stillness does not spring from your being so fortified with doors and bolts that, whatever befalls you, you never say, it is past hope, but always, it is peace without danger — you should even have concern over your own hope.

II. Now we had six signs, by which we shall show what generally goes before, ere one comes to that great stillness in grace.

1. First, one knows, more or less, the difference between that quietness and carelessness; one knows what it is when the devil keeps the house in peace; one knows that rest, that one scarcely complains of it, that one is unfeelingly refreshed, indeed careless under it — indeed, there is not one godly person who does not know it, more or less, what it is to be unfeeling and all too much at ease.

2. One does not wish to remain in that state for long; one wishes rather that one might simply remain still, if one were to speak plainly. Are there those who have in time been powerfully called — such a one wished that the Lord Jesus, the King, might lose the contest with them, and that the devil might win it; had he anything to do with it, he would have done it. They would travel over sea and land to ensure that there was not one restless person; if he cannot manage that, at least he wants to hear no sighing or groaning in his own house.

3. When concern comes upon another, it seems tiresome to them: should I always have that sighing and complaining, that constant lamenting, they say — it is only hypocrisy. Such people fall somewhat in our esteem and love; indeed, we may perhaps recall times when they became a burden to us, when we mocked them for it and spoke ill of them behind their back. You may perhaps recall times when you said, I used to keep company with him, but now I want no more dealings with him — and you went and grieved that sighing brother over it. So then the father rises up against the child, and the child against the parents.

4. We have also sometimes busied ourselves in refusing to use any means by which we might come to be impressed or troubled over our lost condition. We said, well, it must come, it will come in time, there is time enough — what are means! What is he that plants, and he that waters? I will wait until God does it, and will sit still. Then it is all: God must will it and accomplish it in me.

5. This too commonly goes before: if God is so good as to give someone an impression, and he is graciously made uneasy about his former ease, then he comes to acknowledge that his former rest was false; then he begins to lament and weep over his former peace as over treachery and deceit.

6. When God has thus made someone uneasy, then he becomes so small and melted; then he cries out, what a longsuffering, gracious, and merciful God you are, that you should still disturb me, who was so willfully your enemy! I am only worthy to have long been in hell, and yet you come so graciously to disturb me, and to give me grace! I cannot get over that, I cannot forget it — my right hand would sooner forget itself than that I should forget this.

III. There you have our second point; now let us go on to our third point: and that is seven or eight clear signs of such a quiet heart, by which you can see whence it springs, and of which one must say, oh God, it is a great grace!

1. First, you do not come to it easily; it costs you labor; it is not the work of a day, not of a single cry, but of repeated groaning and wrestling, of repeated praying, of often taking it up and beginning again. It takes something before one can say that our heart condemns us not, that we have boldness toward God, 1 John 3:21. It takes as much as it took with Elijah, 1 Kings 19:11–13: there came a great wind, an earthquake, a fire — but the Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the voice of the fire, but in the still small voice; when that came, then he perceived that God was in it. So you have not obtained it without labor, strife, tears, and anguish felt.

2. Does it spring from this, that your change was so clear, firm, and visible, that you could not doubt it or deny it — that perhaps you were sanctified from the womb, and are so plainly, in all your conduct, like one who was converted in time, as two eggs resemble one another? Consider: I was twenty or thirty years old when I was powerfully converted — should not a stillness follow upon that? There ought indeed to be a stillness upon it. Those three thousand, Acts 2, could not forget having been so changed, they said. Neither could Paul, nor the jailer, forget what had happened to them: we cannot doubt it, they said, doubt has no entry or place with us. Are you so? — it is a great grace. You may have been sanctified and changed from the womb, and it may be just as clear to you, if you compare yourself with one who was converted in time: you hear him speak, you sit an hour or two with him and converse, and you find in yourself the same grounds, the same language, dispositions, ends, and aims, so that you must draw the same conclusion. If it springs from that, do not be concerned — your stillness is good.

3. If your stillness springs from a discerning light that God gives you, so that you have a sound understanding of your unregenerate and regenerate part, of what is of the devil and what of grace in you: the spiritual man judgeth all things, 1 Corinthians 2:15. So to say: what I find in myself of the devil, I leave to the devil, to answer for it before him; and what I find in myself of my own, that grieves me, and I seek reconciliation over it; the holy and gracious part (which, however, I also defile through my sins, and seek to have washed before God in Christ) that has been placed in me by God the Lord — for that I seek to thank God, and that I seek to hold fast.

4. Then your stillness is good, when it comes from a composed making of covenant with the Lord. Do you think that one must make covenant only at the Lord's Supper? You ought often to give your heartfelt love to the Lord. If you do that seriously, earnestly, and often, it can have no other result than a great stillness. 2 Chronicles 15:12: they entered into a covenant and swore that they would seek and serve the Lord with all their heart, and they had such stillness over it. Joshua 24: when they had made their declaration and dedicated themselves to God, everyone went quietly to his house. Isaiah 44:5: when you write daily with your hand, I am the Lord's — there must come a stillness upon that, which is a great grace.

5. If it springs from this, that you begin to say, dearest Lord Jesus, I come to you as one burdened, I will not go from you until you have given rest to my soul; I too am willing to be reconciled with God through you, I lay hold of your strength, the offered deliverance I would embrace with my whole heart — then you shall make peace with God, and you shall be in his eyes as one that finds peace, Song of Solomon 8:10; Isaiah 27:5; Romans 5:1.

6. Then your stillness is good, when it springs from a clearing up of your state, that you have a certain share in God through Christ. There are three kinds of assurance.

a. There is one that you build up through marks. You find such and such marks in the Word, you cannot deny them in yourself — upon this you say, the Lord is my portion, Lamentations 3:24. You see this or that mark of grace in the Word, you cannot deny it in yourself, and upon that you say, I cannot deny the conclusion — if the mourner is blessed, then I cannot deny that blessing, since I am a mourner.

b. The second assurance is when God sets the seal of the sacrament upon you. Do you find the little marks required in preparation — there is the work, says God, that I am your God and portion.

c. The third assurance is when God lets you taste and experience something, of which you must say, my God, I do not know what to make of it! if I were to make anything of it, it must be the kisses of your mouth. I feel such a loving impression in my heart, such a composure and stillness, I do not know what to make of it, unless it is the peace of God which passeth all understanding, Philippians 4:7. It must be that the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, Romans 8:16. What do you think — must not a stillness follow upon that? Is that not a very great grace?

7. If your stillness springs from a familiar walk with the Triune God, and with each Person in particular. That is, such a settled course of godliness, and that you lead such a godly conduct every day, week, month, year, so continually walking with God, so continually delighting yourself in him, that you must be near him so continually that you cannot keep away from God. This has long been so in the world. Enoch, the seventh generation from the world's beginning, did it, Genesis 5:24. Noah did it too, Genesis 6:9. Abraham likewise, Genesis 17. It was already known in Job's time, who comes between Genesis and Exodus, Job 22:21: Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. So too in David's time, Psalm 139:3: Thou compassest all my paths. Asaph said, Psalm 73:23,28: It is good for me to draw near to God; he hath taken hold of my right hand — and so the man came to stillness. The prophet was given the charge to say, walk humbly before God, Micah 6:8. We read, Malachi 2:4–6: I gave to Levi my covenant, that he might fear me, and he feared me, and walked with me in peace. They received such a stillness.

8. The eighth and last is: when it springs from a ruling desire to live tenderly, uprightly, and godly before God and men. Isaiah 32:17: the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. If your heart is set on this, to live tenderly, uprightly, godly, a stillness must follow upon that. If you now have that, it is a great grace — do not let it trouble you.

You will say, I would very much like to know whether I have such a ruling desire. That is too much for us in this brief hour. We said that you should be content with this one thing for now — the rest we cannot finish now. The signs of a ruling desire to live holy before God — that shall come after. They call you now to account for all that has been said: can you stand up to it? examine yourself. Do not let it seem, being still, be trivial to you. If you fall from your stillness, seek to have it restored. That is the material for a following sermon. Lay your heart to this now. Are you one of the quiet in the land? Has your stillness sprung from wrong grounds? Does that come first? Those seven or eight things from which it springs — do you know them? I believe there is not one child of God but must say yes and amen to it — I unite myself with that. Is stillness not pleasant to you? Take strength from it, do not wish to be troubled, even though you have great grace? It is unpleasant to be in a storm; it is far more delightful to be in the harbor than at sea, when it is turbulent, than when the weather is fair, as it was yesterday. Is it not better to be in stillness? In a storm one is troubled in one's exercises, and in solitude one is so composed — everyone finds that to be so. If there are great disturbances, one cannot behold them with such stillness, nor give God such glory. If it is so in the natural realm, it is far worse yet in the spiritual: then one must say, my soul, why art thou so disquieted within me, Psalm 42:6. But if God is pleased to give stillness, then we can thank and honor him with composure. Amen.

Sermon 47

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these points occur:

I. When there is in someone a ruling desire toward godliness. II. A question to the bruised reeds, whether they have obtained their stillness along such grounds. III. An exhortation, that their stillness may not weary them. IV. Some counsel, should it diminish, on how to have it restored.

We read, Genesis 49:14,15, that there was a son of Jacob, Issachar, who saw that the land was pleasant, and that rest was good — he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. There is a civil rest, there is a family rest, and there is a rest of the mind, or spiritual rest.

1. There is civil rest, for which everyone prays, which everyone regards as a fine treasure. 1 Timothy 2:2: they even pray for tyrants, that they may lead a quiet and peaceable life under their government. God had sent the prophet Isaiah with a hard message to King Hezekiah: the word of the Lord which you have spoken is good, he said, provided that peace and truth be in my days, Isaiah 39:8. Hezekiah sold it — no wait, valued it — and preferred it to freedom: if I have freedom with trouble, he said, then I would rather serve under tribute.

2. There is also a family rest: that when you shut the door of your house, you then live in peace with your household. That rest is such a treasure, said Solomon, Proverbs 15:17: Better is a dinner of herbs and rest with it upon your table, than a house full of fattened beasts along with unrest and discord. Rest in a family is so sweet.

3. So too there is yet a spiritual stillness of mind: that stillness is beyond all price or valuation; it is above all riches, that our heart condemn us not, 1 John 3:20. A quiet spirit is precious even to God, 1 Peter 3:4; that quiet spirit has a savor of the eternal in heaven, it has a savor of that perfection which has its place in God. Exodus 31:17: God rested from that, and was refreshed. Isaiah 40:28: Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary? Genesis 2:2,3: God rested from all his work and labor. God the Lord imparts something of that perfection: to the angels, to the blessed souls above, to the godly on earth.

a. God imparts that stillness to the angels, those blessed spirits who serve him and stand before him, Daniel 7:10. They have no concern in eternity that what befell the devils should befall them, who kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, Jude verse 6. Over what befell those unblessed ones, they have no concern.

b. Then God imparts that blessing to the souls who have died in the Lord and in heaven, Revelation 14:13. They have entered into that rest which remains for the people of God, Hebrews 4:9. After death they are holy and perfected forever, so that in eternity, ever alike within themselves, they serve God day and night in that rest, Revelation 7:15.

c. God also imparts something of it to the godly on earth in his Son. Isaiah 11:10: there he stands as an ensign to the peoples, he gathers a people, they find in him an everlasting and glorious rest. Matthew 11:28,29: Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden — and what shall the result be, Lord? I will give you rest, and you shall find rest for your souls. It is such a pleasant rest, that the soul says of it, the Lord has dealt well with me, return, my soul, to your former rest, Psalm 116:7.

Since God's children must often live outside of rest, and instead of stillness have unrest — or, if they do have stillness, they are often beset with much unrest, and defiled with much sin, so that their stillness goes paired with much unrest and concern (for that often happens even to the best of the godly) — we have sought to deal with God's children a little concerning their stillness. Since they have found grace in God's eyes, they have concern over their stillness and assurance, which they have indeed enjoyed — whether it is sound, and whether they are perhaps too much at ease: how am I so sure, so still, how is it so calm and at peace within! I am anxious, whether my peace is not a false peace, whether it is indeed a spiritual peace, which is a benefit of the covenant of grace. We have sought to treat some of this with you already: then we dealt with those matters, and then one point remained over, which we shall now take up. First we had six signs from which that peace does not spring. We also had six signs showing what commonly goes before. Finally we had eight things from which that stillness comes to bloom.

We had, I say, six signs from which it does not spring — which were these? 1. It does not spring from the setting up of one's own righteousness. 2. Nor from too much prosperity, which they had. 3. Nor from too much business, so that they would say, I have no time to be concerned about myself. 4. Nor from too much pleasure, which they had — indeed, they would even willingly forgo their lawful pleasure; their heart often smote them over it. 5. Not from ignorance, that they did not know they were so lost. 6. Nor from this, that they so fortified their heart that they would give no place to reasons that might disturb or trouble them.

Then we had six signs that went before. 1. They knew that there was a false peace: you remember that you too were once ungodly. 2. You took pleasure in it, you did not want to better your life, you wished that the Lord might altogether lose the contest and the devil win it, you wished only that he would keep your house in peace. 3. You did not like to see a person or company that was troubled in conscience. 4. You would not even use a means to come to concern; you said, what are means, God must work it in me. 5. God was nonetheless so good as to give it to you, that that false peace was broken. 6. Then you began to melt, and that disposition came gradually into you.

Then we had eight reasons from which that stillness came — and these were: 1. You did not come to it easily, it cost you labor. 2. Your stillness grew because your change was so visible: you could not deny your conversion, it was too palpable. 3. It sprang from this, that God gave you a discerning light, to know what nature and what grace was in you, Romans 7. 4. It sprang from that composed making of covenant: God and you know that you have chosen to serve the Lord. 5. It sprang from that consent: when God asked you to let yourself be reconciled to him in Christ, you consented to it, 2 Corinthians 5:19,20 — oh yes, in the Lord Jesus I am willing to be reconciled with you, Lord. 6. It sprang from that felt assurance which you had: God kissed you with the kisses of his mouth and said, you are mine. 7. From that spiritual conversation which you had with God: if you were but a little apart from God, you could not bear it, you could not endure it a week, a day, an hour.

8. Finally it sprang from a ruling desire to live godly. Isaiah 32:17: the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever.

Then that last point remained over for us, for we said, we cannot deal with that fully. We said we would speak of it again, and that we shall now do. And we shall do it as follows.

I. When may we think that the desire to be godly rules in us? II. We shall call the bruised reeds to account over it, and say, speak now, have you obtained your stillness on such grounds? III. We say, do not let that stillness weary you, do not grow tired of it. IV. If it diminishes somewhat, repair and restore it.

Those are our four points. We shall not seek to draw it out long; we shall detain you only with the essential, and state the essential clearly. First, when is there in us a ruling desire toward godliness? Then, we shall call the bruised reeds to account over it and ask, how do you find yourself now? Next, if you have stillness, do not grow weary of it. Finally, if you lack it somewhat, seek to repair it, the sooner the better.

I. As to the first: there is not one godly person in whom the desire toward godliness does not rule and reign, and that will become known to himself and to others from the following things.

1. He will have said before God and men, simply and heartily, I am weary of the sinful life, I can no longer sin so against my Maker, Benefactor, and Father; I am weary of that life, which is only the life of a covenant-breaker, a fornicator, and an adulterer; it is the life of an ungrateful, unruly child; it is the life of a fool; it is a life I must call ungodliness, atheism, and all wickedness — I loathe it, Ezekiel 36:31.

2. Not only that, but I declare simply that I have the most inward aversion from it, from all sin, whatever it may be. Romans 12:9; Psalm 97:10: even from such sins as I have been accustomed to from my youth, by which I win myself into people's favor, by which I make myself agreeable, by which I profit. Oh God, I have an aversion to it. Matthew 5:29,30: that right eye, hand, and foot I would pluck out and cut off; I will have not only the beam, but the little splinters removed too, Matthew 7:5; I will strain out not only the camels, but the gnats, Matthew 23:24. I have an aversion to all sin.

3. But of a godly life I never have any aversion — rather I am in my element when I may live godly, uprightly, piously, in such a godly and loving walk with God and men; when I can say, I have esteemed all your precepts concerning all things to be right, but every false way I have hated, Psalm 119:128. It is my joy to do right, Proverbs 21:15. We are servants who take delight in fearing your name, Nehemiah 1:11.

4. They carry with their soul, every day, an inward grief over their remaining corruptions, Romans 7; they abhor themselves, they mourn and weep over it.

5. They form a new struggle every day against all sin, and all that might be called sin — not only do they strive against gross sins, but against lesser ones; they strive against the least inclination or thought that is against any commandment of God, Romans 7; Galatians 5:17. David's heart smote him as much over the cutting of the skirt as over the numbering of the people, and the murder of Uriah, and forty more men.

6. They have such a constant sorrow over their falls: when they fall into sin, or decline somewhat, they take no pleasure in it — their heart mourns over it with Peter and David. There reigns in them then a sorrow after God, 2 Corinthians 7:10. When they come to fall into sin, they do not lie there, but say, rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise, Micah 7:8. Shall one fall, and not rise again? Jeremiah 8:4. Turn, O backsliding one, turn, Song of Solomon 6:13 — no wait, this appears to be Jeremiah 3 or Hosea. Let us return to our former husband, for it was better with us then than now, Hosea 2:7.

7. They strive not only to go on from virtue to virtue and from strength to strength, Psalm 84:7, as Paul, Philippians 3:12–14: they are not perfect, but they press toward it, like a hunter after his prey; they lay hold on eternal life, 1 Timothy 6:12. If they do not have the perfection of degree, they have the perfection of parts, the perfection of comparison, and that perfection by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, in whom they are made perfect, Colossians 2:10.

8. Without godliness all their graces bear no fruit: their calling, faith, love — it all amounts to nothing; all their grace would then be but a body without a soul, James 2:26.

9. Where godliness reigns, they often go apart, and there they kneel and pray: and what is their prayer, if you were sometimes to overhear it? Ah! break the power of corruption in me; put to death all in me that grieves you and me; teach me to do all your good pleasure, Psalm 143:10. Oh, that my heart and my ways were directed to keep all your statutes! Psalm 119:5. Ah, dear Lord Jesus, I unite myself with that prayer, John 17:17: Holy Father, sanctify them in your truth! And Psalm 19:13: Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me. Such are their prayers, and the content of their petitions.

10. It consists in this: in a willingness to part company with natural, unregenerate people. I cannot, they say, keep company with you people any longer. They no longer esteem them as before, they feel pain over it, that they should be so unhappy. So did Moses, Hebrews 11:26 — court and estate, he parted from them at once. Psalm 101: such and such, he said, shall not dwell within my house. Psalm 1:1: I do not sit in the counsel of the ungodly, nor in the seat of the scornful, nor do I hold with the greater crowd — I am no longer to be counted among them.

11. Where godliness reigns, they have such an inward desire toward the saints who are on earth: their house and heart stand wide open to them, they honor those who fear the Lord, Psalm 15:4. Doves associate with doves, sheep with sheep, lions with lions, wolves with wolves; where grace is, there they say, let me have one lot with you, your God shall be my God — even death itself, they say, shall make no separation between you and me, as Ruth said, Ruth 1:16,17.

12. They guard themselves and will have neither the appearance nor the semblance of evil — neither the deed nor the show of sin. Hate even the garment spotted by the flesh, Jude verse 23. Abstain from all appearance of evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:22.

13. They will not retain in themselves even a single desire toward sin, and yet suppose, I shall be saved in Christ: no, my Lord, they say, I do not want merely one sin put to death, but all of them; I know that, even while I serve you, I must still go about with corruptions in my heart, but there is nevertheless not one of them that I wish to keep. Where godliness reigns, one says, I know well that I must carry sin with me to my very deathbed, but I do not wish to keep even one of them.

14. Godliness reigns, too, when you seek to have ungodliness removed from your house, city, family, company, and kindred; and when you cannot help remove it, then you vex and grieve your soul over it like Lot, then you have Lot's disposition — he grieved and vexed his righteous soul over their unlawful deeds, 2 Peter 2:8.

15. Finally, my God, I sometimes find corruption strong in me, sins that easily beset me; I wish you would take me into heaven, I would gladly die, to be rid of sin! There godliness reigns, in the one who finds these fifteen things.

II. Now we have our second point. Bruised reeds, who after many convictions have come to great stillness, on what grounds have you come to that stillness? on what has it grown? examine yourselves and answer before God. Is your stillness on false grounds, or on such grounds as we have set forth now in these two sermons? We call on you, before God, in the name of the Lord God, let your conscience speak, do not lie. If one must speak the truth honestly with one's neighbor, shall one not do so with God? Do yourselves no wrong. Can you indeed deny that your stillness has sprung from such grounds? We would not have you press yourselves without ground; we would have you not despise the day of small things; do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God; do not deny the grace that is in you. We would have you bring no evil report over the way to heaven, as though God were so hard, as though he never gave his children stillness. He does give them stillness now and then, he does grant them some rest, so that they may refresh themselves a little; their pulses get some rest; he lets them swallow their own spittle sometimes, so that the devil should have no occasion to do them harm. We ask again: is it a false peace, a sinful stillness, or is it a stillness that God graciously gives you in his Son, through his Spirit? Must you not believe it, confess it, and thank God for it, that he has brought you to that true stillness? Would you ever have dared think or pray for it in your life! Would you ever have expected that God would give you that peace! What shall you render to the Lord for it? We fall short in our repayment — we would gladly repay it, but we cannot.

III. Now the third point: will you repay this by letting it become too much for you? Is that a fitting repayment? Does that befit you? Have you grown weary of it? Does it befit you to go and pray to become somewhat more troubled again? Do you choose disturbance over stillness and rest? Beloved, is the peace that God has given you too much for you? Can you not bear rest and spiritual peace? With what does the Lord weary you? With this, that he comes now and then to look after you? that he speaks now and then to your heart and says, be of good cheer? that he comes to comfort you, and embraces your soul lovingly? Does that weary you? Would it not be the utmost folly, indeed unnaturalness itself, for a people who must sail the sea, and it is calm, to wish themselves in a storm instead? Who has ever hated his own flesh! Would it not be the utmost folly for a sailor, who had come out of the ocean into harbor, to say, I would rather be back in the ocean? We ask you: would you rather have your former turmoil and desperation than have God make you still? Beloved, are you still on such grounds? If you say, I have that stillness — well then, do not let it diminish, pray rather that it may increase, that you may lead a composed, thoughtful, honest, and godly life, that you may find it as those young men did in the court of Babylon, who set such worth on the stillness of their heart: they said, we would rather forgo the king's delicacies, we would rather have a dish of vegetables than unrest in our mind, Daniel 1. Is there anything as precious as rest of mind? For no reason at all should you be willing to lose it — not for anything in all the world.

IV. Someone will say: my stillness is gone, I am so troubled, I have no spiritual stillness — what shall I do? There is still counsel for you: that is our fourth point, and with it we shall conclude this matter. Someone will say, I have enjoyed it more than I do now: you can tell it quickly enough, your disposition shows it. If you lack that rest, then it is complaint and sighing; if you enjoy it, then you are glad, active, holy; if you lack it, you are full of fear; if you regain it, then you are more still before the Lord God. Would you have yet a little word of counsel? We shall not seek to burden you — take these six things with you:

1. Go apart, and ask yourself the reason why you are so troubled and no longer so still. So did David, Psalm 42:11: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? why art thou so disquieted within me? Say, how have I come to be this way! God will rarely deal with someone so as to give him such unrest without also giving him, through that very unrest, a reason for it. Let us search and try our ways, Lamentations 3:40.

2. If you say, I have examined myself before God, and I find no notable reason; I do not know that I have given God any notable offense (which rarely happens) — then pray the prayer of Job: oh Lord, he said, I do not know why you contend with me, show it to me, let me know it, Job 10:2.

3. I counsel you, go apart and declare before God and your own heart: I shall and will serve you, Lord, you deserve to be served and honored by me, even if you never gave me rest, and even if I were always as it were in hell. That is my third counsel.

4. Go and consider what sweetness God formerly gave you. Consider what God, on his side, has already shown you, and then consider, on your side, what you have already said before God. Psalm 77:5: I considered the days of old — Lord, what have you already done for me? and what have I already spoken! Oh, might I but come alive again in that way!

5. Pray those forms of prayer that God's own Spirit has dictated in the godly; when they were in unrest, God taught them certain prayers, Psalm 88 and 102. Come then with his own words: if you do not know them by heart, take the book in hand and say, Lord, you yourself dictated these, I come with your own word.

6. Wait at his feet: say, here will I die. God will not contend with you forever, but he will come in his time to bind you up, Lamentations 3:31–33.

If you do so, then you have a good stillness to wait for: then you shall find, if you use such means, that your peace shall be as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea, Isaiah 48:18. The Lord shall give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace, Psalm 29:11. So he shall bless his own work.

Now we have, by God's goodness, dealt with the first mark of the state of grace, from which you may know that you have passed from nature into grace. Now follows the second: godly sorrow over sin. The first was conviction; now we hope, God willing, to go on to the second, namely, godly sorrow, from which one may know that one has passed from nature into grace. Now I hope that God will bless all that has been said to us all. Amen.

Sermon 48

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these points are treated:

IV. Wherein the nature of true sorrow over sin consists.

We read, Song of Solomon 7:4, that the Lord Jesus said of his bride, thine eyes are like the fishpools of Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim. Heshbon was a royal city, belonging to the king of the Amorites, before the children of Israel took it; it was reckoned among those regions which the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh received. See Numbers 32:37 and Joshua 12:2. At Heshbon there were many pools, which were clear and full of water. The Lord Jesus compares his bride to that: he likens her eyes to the pools at Heshbon, on account of their clear sight and on account of their moisture.

1. On account of their clarity. Formerly, in their natural state, they were darkness, but when grace came, they became light in the Lord, Ephesians 5:8; then they received the enlightened eyes of the understanding, Ephesians 1:18, by which they behold those glorious things given them by God, and all that God has already done for them, 1 Corinthians 2:12. Their eyes then become sharp-sighted as eagles'; their eyes are likened to doves' eyes, on account of their clarity, Song of Solomon 4:1. They see thereby the invisible God, as it were, Hebrews 11:27. They see thereby not only the visible things, but also the things that are hoped for; those things that are still so far off, they set before their enlightened eyes as though they already possessed them.

2. Not only are their eyes like Heshbon's pools on account of clarity, but also on account of their moisture and abundance of water: in the eye of a godly person one finds pleasant and abundant moisture. Who comes into the world without tears? who passes through the world without weeping? who leaves the world without showing some moisture? Did you stand by the cradle of every child, would you not find it as that child in the little basket of bulrushes upon the water, Exodus 2:6: the babe wept. Will you find anyone passing through the world without tears? Psalm 126:6: they go on their way weeping. Would anyone leave the world without wetting their cheeks? Isaiah 38:2,14: there lay the king upon his sickbed, he chattered, he peeped, he wept. Is it something remarkable in a natural man — my dove, said the Lord Jesus, your eyes lack no moisture. When you come to church, in your first convictions, when you come to faith, when you come to assurance, until you obtain the end of your faith — so long you shall have no lack of such eyes, which are like the pools at Heshbon: you shall have eyes full of water, so that you must say, rivers of waters run down mine eyes, Psalm 119:136. You will often have to say, hold not thy peace at my tears, Psalm 39:12; and Jeremiah 9:1, where the man said, my head is as water, and mine eyes as a fountain of tears — you shall well experience what Jeremiah experienced, Lamentations 2:11: there he says, mine eyes do fail with tears, yea, day and night they run down upon my cheeks — as you often see with the weeping prophet.

You can well perceive where we are heading. We have shown you the first mark of the state of grace, when God makes a person known to himself — true conviction. Now follows the second mark, by which you may know whether you have passed from the natural state to the state of grace: that is, true godly sorrow over sins committed against the great God. That we shall seek to show you as follows: first, we shall seek to bring before your eyes that the godly have tears of various kinds. Then, we shall see that the tears they shed are not to be despised or disdained. Then, when sorrow in the godly is a token of grace. Then, what the nature is of true godly sorrow. Then, we shall set forth some marks by which your sorrow may stand the test. Then, we shall awaken the bruised reeds to hope in the name of the Lord Jesus. Further, we shall show that God will give them a season of comfort after that sorrow. Finally, we shall seek to deal with you a little more, and say, do not grow weary of your tears.

From these points you can well perceive that we cannot finish them in this one hour. We have proposed now to do four things, and, if we can manage it, one point of the fifth besides.

I. First, we shall see that the godly have tears of various kinds.

II. That you may not despise or disdain a godly person for much weeping.

III. That sorrow is a true mark of grace in the godly, when they weep out of sorrow of heart.

IV. What the true nature of genuine sorrow is. And, if we are able, we shall add two or three more marks of whether that sorrow is good.

I. As to the first: godly people have tears of various sorts.

1. First, they have natural tears, as much as other people. Rachel wept for her children just as much as the most ungodly woman would, Matthew 2:18. The godly too have their natural tears.

2. Besides those tears, they have the tears of their conversion. Zechariah 12:10: when the Spirit of grace and of supplications came, there came also mourning.

3. So too they have tears of helplessness: they do not know how to begin. Acts 2:37: they cried out, what must we do, men and brethren? That was not without tears in the eyes.

4. Besides that, tears of prayer. How often do they bow their knees, and speak words while their tears fall to the ground; Hosea 12:4: they made supplication with weeping. Supplication and weeping are such companions.

5. They have tears of great love. Luke 7:38: there stood that woman with the ointment in one hand, with love in her heart, and with tears in her eyes, and with her hair hanging loose, showing her love for the Lord.

6. There are also tears of assurance. There are no easier tears than those of assurance, when God lets someone taste the certainty of his salvation — those tears come of themselves. John 20:16: Mary, I am he, said the Lord; she said at once, Rabboni, my Master. You can well imagine whether tears followed upon that, and whether the tears that had been streaming down her cheeks — how she found him, whether she was rid of them then; she fell at his feet, she wanted to hold him fast.

7. Then there are tears of wonder. Genesis 16:13: well, you God who sees, have you looked after me? said Hagar, her heart overflowed. Psalm 36:7: How precious is your loving-kindness, O God! They could not do that without weeping.

8. Then there are tears of hiddenness. Then they weep bitterly, when concealment takes place; then they sit alone and weep, Psalm 102:7: like a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Then they say, for these things I weep, mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me, Lamentations 1:16.

9. Then they have their tears of compassion, Romans 12:15: they weep with them that weep, and rejoice with them that rejoice.

10. Then they have a sort of tears that are complaints. Job 30:20: I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me; I stand up, and thou regardest me not. And Job 16:20: mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

11. Then they have their tears of longing: their heart faints with longing, and their eyes look out for help; I have such a longing, they say, to go with the multitude that keeps holy day, see Psalm 42:4,5.

12. Then they have their tears of joy. When Joseph saw his brothers, and the good hand of God upon him, he could no longer restrain himself, but wept aloud, so that the house of Pharaoh heard it, Genesis 45:1,2. When Jacob saw Esau, he wept aloud, Genesis 33:4. When Jacob saw Joseph, he wept on his neck, Genesis 46:29. Though they are sorrowful, they are glad nonetheless.

13. They have a sort of tears both of faith and of unbelief. Mark 9:24: the father of the child cried out with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. On the one hand he says, I believe, and on the other, help my unbelief: with one eye he wept for joy that he had faith, and with the other he wept for sorrow over his unbelief.

14. There are tears of sorrow that is spiritual, in the heart. My spirit is bitterly afflicted, said Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:15. And the Lord Jesus said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, Matthew 26:38. Do you know such a kind of tears, which a child of God has in the course of his life?

15. Then come also the tears of humility and thanksgiving: they melt and dissolve into tears. I am less than all these your mercies and all these benefits which you have shown to your servant, said Jacob, Genesis 32:10. Would you deal so with me? said David, you know your servant, Lord, Lord, it is too great, 2 Samuel 7:20.

II. If you see the godly with tears, will you then say, that is a person without courage, that disfigures a man? That is our second point, in which we shall show that tears in a godly person are not to be disdained, but are greatly to their credit — and why?

1. First, their tears are precious to God, Psalm 56:8: there God says, I gather them into my bottle. Let no one despise them, they are precious with me; those little pearls of water that come from the eyes are far more precious to me, says God, than the pearls you buy with money, with which you adorn yourselves.

2. They accomplish so much with the Lord. You may pray and do whatever you wish, but you never accomplish more than when those little pearls of water come like rivers. How did Jacob prevail? By weeping and pleading: I will not let you go, Genesis 32:26.

3. They adorn the godly so much — they make themselves so fair and so lovely before God through them. A child of God, his soul is more adorned by them than a worldling with all the gold in the world. Ah, it makes their face to shine. We read, oil makes the face to shine, Psalm 104:15, but tears adorn the heart. When the Lord Jesus sees them with tears, my love, he says, you are fair, Song of Solomon 1:15; and Psalm 45:13: the king's daughter is all glorious within, when she has forsaken her people and her father's house — that does not happen without tears. You are all fair, my love, Song of Solomon 4:7.

4. Would you disdain and think little of them? They cleanse the heart. The dry sinner is fouler before God than such a weeping little creature. A child of God has three washbasins, two of principal importance, but the third must be there too. The first washbasin is the blood of Christ, whereby he must be justified from sin, from guilt, and from punishment: that dear fountain is opened for that purpose, Zechariah 13:1. Then there is the constant working of the Spirit — that is the second washbasin, to remove the ongoing stains, Ezekiel 36:25: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. How clean? wholly and entirely, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. The third washbasin is that with which he cleanses himself: they baptize themselves, as it were, with tears, they wash themselves with their tears, and so they cleanse themselves through their tears, not only from the filth that is in sin, but from the love of sin — when they go and weep over sin, then they cannot love it very much. Never despise tears, then; they serve as a means to rid oneself of the love of sin.

5. Would you despise tears? They are often a godly person's very food. Psalm 42:3: my tears have been my meat, said the man: if only I can weep, Lord, it is as though I had eaten and drunk. I have meat to eat, said the Lord Jesus, that you know not of; my meat is to do the will of my Father which sent me, John 6:32–34. It strengthens them too, that water, the tears, as it flows over their cheeks and down their face.

6. Tears are the words of the heart: the heart can hardly speak in any other way. Hypocrites put on a sorrowful look and countenance, and disfigure their faces, Matthew 6:16. But in the godly the sorrow sits deep down within the heart: they have a broken mind; it is a bruising and a being struck down in the heart, Acts 2:37. They do not disfigure their faces — that they shun; they would rather be undone themselves than merely put on a look of it.

7. There is not one godly person without that sorrow; there is no grace without mourning. I have never in my life known one, and you will never know one in your life either. Those who have received grace in the heart want to weep. This is the second sign that someone has passed out of nature into the state of grace: you see in him at once a sorrowful face, a sighing breast, tears on the cheeks, anguish in the heart over his condition — how will it go? In 2 Chronicles 33, that Manasseh, monstrous as he had been, when he received grace his countenance was downcast. In 2 Corinthians 2 there was a man who had fallen into a sin not even named among the heathen; he was so sorrowful when he received grace that Paul said, "it is enough" — lest he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow — and spoke courage into him. Do you have tears? Do not regret them as long as you live, but thank God for them. This is the second little sign, that you have passed over into grace.

III. Now the third point: there is not one who has been brought to grace who will not have to give himself over to tears; no one can read that pardon, after so great a crime, with dry eyes, Zechariah 12:10. You may find a person who has been changed, without wife, without money, without goods, without friends, without favor, without standing — but not without tears. And you may meet the godly, a spectacle to angels and men, but not without tears. True partakers of grace — how often, if you catch them off guard, do you find them hastily wiping their eyes, or, when they must come into company so that it will not be noticed, saying, why does your face look like that? You must have the nature of the dove in you — and would you not have her heart too, to sigh, to coo, to weep? Song of Songs 2, and Ezekiel 7:16: they shall go up to the tops of the mountains — and what will they do there? Weep, coo, and moan like the doves of the valleys, each for his own iniquity. Beloved hearers! To be softened, melted, crushed, broken, made pliable — to weep — that is a bond of the covenant of grace: it is contained in that one promise, I will take away from you the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26. The godly, even if they had a lion's heart before or after their conversion, you will often meet them weeping like a child, as David did.

David swam in his tears, Psalm 6. David, you who did not flinch before a lion, who did not flinch before Goliath, who could run through a troop and leap over a wall — can you not leap over sin? No — there he lies weeping over it like a child, and complains, I am weary with my groaning; all the night I make my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears, Psalm 6:6. My soul melteth away for heaviness, Psalm 119:28. Would it also be so in the New Testament, that the most courageous of men wept like a child? Can you find a more courageous man than Paul? He complained of nothing except for the Lord's sake and his cause. What does he testify of himself, Acts 20? I served God, he says, amid many trials, but also with humility and many tears. See then, the matter is clear. Would you say, it is too womanish, too soft-hearted? You do not know what you are saying. There is not one godly person, small or great, but you will find him weeping. There are various kinds of tears — it is not always out of dejection. No, there is no godly person whose eyes are not like the pools of Heshbon, brimming with water.

IV. Now the fourth point: the nature and character of godly sorrow. Neither you nor I may fail in this, any more than in the signs already given. First you must know its essence, and then examine the signs, to see whether you are in nature or in grace. What is the true nature of that sorrow? It will disclose itself in four things, and not one of them may be missing.

1. It discloses itself in a multitude of thoughts and deliberations: in a bowed-down heart there is much anxiety and unrest; something is going on there, something is being worked through. Such a one, who has true sorrow in the soul, says, as it stands, Psalm 38:18, I am troubled for my sin; I know of nothing under the sun so great as my anxiety over it. Psalm 42:11, my soul is cast down within me, and I am so uneasy, my thoughts multiply so within me. They have many deliberations — about what? About eternal election: Lord, can this stand with your eternal purpose and grace? 2 Timothy 2:19, the firm foundation stands — dare I apply that to myself? Then I would surely have to depart from iniquity, and I have drunk in iniquity like water. Their deliberations run over their calling: am I called, they say, and yet still living in sin? Then they have these deliberations too: is my work indeed genuine? Can that stand together with grace, that I am still so sinful? Each knows his own wretchedness; it may not show to everyone, but God and I know it well. Can sin and grace exist together? Can light and darkness coexist? Am I not deceiving myself? Is there perhaps no light, nor oil, in my poor little lamp, but only a smoking wick? Will you indeed forgive me? Will it ever be said to me, as it was said to David, be of good cheer, the Lord has taken away your sin, you shall not die, 2 Samuel 12:13? Shall I ever hear that in my life? O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! Daniel 9:19. Shall I not yet come to worse, so that your name will be dishonored and blasphemed for my sake through my conduct? Will the godly not yet be grieved through me, so that I should have to pray, build up again the walls of Jerusalem, Psalm 51:18? Would I ruin a young beginner, a weak one? Would I become a laughingstock to the world, so that they would cry out over my sins, aha, aha, our eye has seen it, Psalm 35:21? Would I become a disgrace even to myself? Proverbs 14:34, sin is a reproach to any people. Lord, will you cast me into hell? And will you not cast me into hell according to your justice? Lord, condemn me not, Job 10:2, as it stands in Psalm 6: O Lord, will you hide your face from me in anger? That is the first: when they are in distress, they will seek me early, Hosea 5:15. He who has that is fortunate — you may still lack much, but this you cannot do without.

2. "O God," says such a one, "I have a revulsion toward sin; I know of nothing in the world so contrary to me. I love you too much for this — shall I then sin against your love? And yet I do commit sin — but I can say, it is no longer I who do it, for what I do, I do not wish to do, Romans 7:14-15, Ezekiel 20:43. I feel a loathing of myself over it, and my heart turns from it within me; I can bear it no more. I see that sin is every bit as ugly as the devil — why? Because it is the devil's own offspring." Sin is as loathsome to them as leprosy was to the leper: "if you will," one cried, "you can make me clean," Matthew 8:2. They cried out, unclean! do not come near me, stand back — and of that plague of the heart they say likewise: here is an unclean thing, eye and heart are unclean, here are chambers of the devil — I loathe it, I hate it, Jude verse 23, Psalm 97:10. How often do they find that revulsion toward sin, toward the sinful heart, its nature and disposition, its own sinful offspring — the sin of city and land, over the whole body of sin, Romans 6:6.

3. Neither you nor I may do without a melted tenderness within the heart, and tears without. What good do outward tears do, if the heart is not tender? Joel 2:13, rend your heart. We must have a tenderness and a brokenness in the heart, as Josiah had, 2 Kings 22:19. See also Psalm 34:18 and Isaiah 57:15. This often rises so high that it nearly overwhelms the soul, but the Lord is near the brokenhearted: he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds, Psalm 147:3.

4. They think exceedingly much of that word of the Lord Jesus, watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, Matthew 26:41. And of that word, Haggai 1:5, consider your ways. And of that word, Proverbs 4:23, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And of that word, Ephesians 5:15, see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. And of that word, Psalm 18:23, I was upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. They cherish that prayer, create in me a clean heart, O God, Psalm 51:10. And that prayer, keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins, Psalm 19:13. And Paul's prayer, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And that word of Christ, you are made whole, sin no more, John 5:14. Ambrose said to the empress that he feared nothing so much as sin. "That Herodias begins to rage again," said Chrysostom. Another said that on the one side stood hell, and on the other side sin, and he would rather run into hell than commit sin.

We see clearly that we shall not be able to reach the fifth point today. We have then now given: 1. That a child of God has various kinds of tears. 2. That they are not to be despised. 3. That this sorrow is a sign of grace. 4. The nature of true sorrow. I hope the Lord will bless this to me and to you, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 49

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein eighteen signs of true godly sorrow are set forth.

We read 2 Corinthians 6:10: as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. God's people are a strange people: the world's laughter has pain within it, but God's children, mourning, have gladness in their sorrow. You will say, how can that go together, glad and sorrowful? It is indeed a riddle, and we shall set it so clearly before your eyes that you will say, now I can understand how it can go together.

1. First, one sees it in nature: sunshine and rain together.

2. In grace you see it in one and the same person: sorrow over sin, and gladness that he has that sorrow. Was not the sweetest singer in Israel also the most constant mourner — was that not David? We read of Heman and Asaph, how they could lament, Psalm 77 and 88 — and yet they had an office in the church of singing, 1 Chronicles 25:1, where it stands that they were skilled for the work of their service. To be sorrowful and glad, to sing and to weep, can go together. How is that, you will say? So: sorrowful over sinning, and glad that one is sorrowful over sin. To sin and to have a dry heart, that is sorrowful indeed; but when tears follow sin, that gladdens the heart, Song of Songs 5, Luke 7.

3. How does it go together further? Thus: sorrowful, in that sin will not leave us, Romans 7:14-26; glad, in that we have received grace from God to leave sin. Ecclesiastes 7:3, by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

4. Glad and sorrowful — how? Thus: glad over God's ordaining in heaven that hardness need not follow our sinning, but sorrow instead. The godly are not like the mountains of Gilboa, on which no dew or rain fell. In the days of Elijah it did not rain for three years and six months. So it is with them too: there may be a time when it does not rain, but then a time comes again when it rains abundantly. 1 Kings 18 — first a little cloud came, like a man's hand, then the sky grew black with clouds: so it is too — there will come again a time when they shall mourn. Ecclesiastes 3:4, there is a time to laugh, and a time to weep. As long as the godly carry fire, so long they also carry water; as long as the fire of sin shall be in their heart, so long they will bring waters of tears to God to quench it. To them applies in some measure what stands in James 4:9, be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.

5. Why are they glad and sorrowful? Because it is God's purpose in their mourning to make them glad and to comfort them one day. I have no other design in it, says God, than that their heart and mind should be gladdened. Isaiah 61:1-3, come, you who mourn, says God, I will comfort you, I will give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Matthew 5:4, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Psalm 51:17, says God, my children, your broken heart is so pleasing to me: gladness shall follow upon it, when I shall once wipe away your tears.

6. How again sorrowful and glad? Thus: that out of the bitterest sorrow and pain they ever had in all their life, there grows the most excellent gladness. When Hannah had wept, afterward her countenance was no longer as it had been, 1 Samuel 1. Beloved, out of those salt waters, sorrow and tears, the Savior makes the sweetest wine of comfort. There you see now the riddle: the godly grieved because of sin, and yet glad that they have that sorrow — that is then resolved.

We have lately shown the essence of that sorrow. We showed that there must be sorrow over sin. Neither you nor I can contradict that; contradicting it does not become anyone. 1 Corinthians 5:2, says Paul, why have you not rather mourned? We showed that we must set our minds on learning the nature of true sorrow, and we said that you must grant us that a soul never receives grace without that sorrow, nor can it keep grace without having that sorrow as its companion. We said also that there would be no one who would not be eager to know whether his sorrow is genuine — for who could be without that eagerness? We see that in the Word a sorrow is made known that is false, and a sorrow that is right: a sorrow of the world, which worketh death, and a sorrow after God, which worketh a repentance not to be repented of unto salvation, 2 Corinthians 7:10. This cannot be, where it is genuine, but such a one says, my God, do I have the good or the bad? We said then that we would give some signs by which you could know it. When we said that, were there not some who said, I hope I shall live to see the signs of true spiritual sorrow set forth? To that end we are here now, to do that under God's blessing, to fill your whole heart with scriptural and clear signs, by which you will be able to see whether your sorrow is after God. I do not believe there is anyone here who has never once in his life been sorrowful in soul. Nor do I believe that all such sorrow is true sorrow. Therefore we must give clear signs, whether our sorrow is the true one. We began something of this lately, but now we shall pour it all together into your lap.

1. The first sign of those mourners of Zion is when they say: O Lord, I see people in the Bible going with tears up the broad way, going with their sorrow to hell; I see people in the Bible with tears going up the narrow way, going with their sorrow to heaven. So I see then that there is a difference between sorrow and sorrow. My God, you are present with me — my heart is full of this deliberation: do I go with my sorrow to hell or to heaven? I cannot put that from me; the difference is too great, and I dread the deceit of it. I see that Pharaoh goes to hell with his tears, and Moses walks along the narrow way to heaven with his tears. I see Saul going to ruin with his sorrow, and David going with his sorrow to salvation. I see Ahab, his head hanging like a bulrush, going lost with his mourning, while Elijah goes with his sorrow to heaven. I see Judas going to perdition with his sorrow, and Peter going with his sorrow to God. Is that deliberation your first sign?

2. The second sign is: Lord, I have no rest in my spirit until I know whether I have that true sorrow which is after God; whether all the workings of true spiritual sorrow are alive in my heart. Can I be tender over sin? Do I have a revulsion toward it? Am I watchful, careful, praying against it? That I must find; that must be the daily working in the heart of all God's children — is that my daily work? Does my heart smite me when I sin? Do I grieve over it? Do I have a revulsion toward it? Am I watchful, careful, praying — can I not live otherwise? Psalm 38:5, 10, 18, Matthew 11:28.

3. The third sign is that such a one says: my Lord, I cannot deny that I have sorrow over sin, but I do not know whether it is high enough. I am thrown into doubt by certain passages in the Word, which are these: Isaiah 57:15-16, where God says, I will come and dwell with the contrite; and Isaiah 66:2, I will look to him that is afflicted; and Psalm 34:18, I am near the brokenhearted; and Matthew 5:4, I will comfort those who mourn. My God, I do not find that this quickens my spirit; I do not find that you comfort me — therefore I do not know whether my sorrow is as great as it ought to be. To this we must say a word of instruction. Just as a moment is appointed in God's counsel for your sorrow, so also one is appointed for your comfort, and that time will surely come, that you shall be glad: be still then, and wait for the salvation of the Lord, Lamentations 3:26. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart, Psalm 97:11. There will come a time to laugh spiritually, Ecclesiastes 3:4.

4. The fourth little sign is: when your sorrow is good and true, it stays with you; it is not fickle, it does not quickly pass away, it stays with you your whole life; tears, sighs, tenderness, moaning — that stays with you right up to your deathbed; in that water you shall have to swim all the way up before the throne of God, before you are rid of it, Isaiah 63:17. They are sorrowful when they are not sorrowful enough, when they find themselves hard within and stubborn.

5. The fifth sign is: you do not seek to escape that sorrow, not at all — neither by words or talk, nor do you seek to shake it off by lawful or unlawful diversions. Rather you say, oh that I might be even more broken! O Lord, they say, when I have sinned, let me feel your displeasure so, that I may be utterly crushed and ground down by it, like that man, 1 Corinthians 5:2, who had so sinned; he did not run from it. And in 2 Corinthians 2:7, he would almost have been swallowed up altogether. Psalm 51:8, those broken bones — I have nothing against that, but I would gladly also have some balm applied to them.

6. The sixth sign is: when you have that true sorrow with which you go to heaven, you will find that sorrow in your heart even in the very greatest gladness and prosperity. David, who had won a whole kingdom — how did he mourn? 2 Samuel 12. The godly are sorrowful over their sins; even if you come with all their prosperity to comfort them, it cannot help at all. Tell them, you have pleasant children, sweet company, goods, standing — ah, they would say, do not trouble me to comfort me with gold or silver; something else ails me — I must have God and Jesus. The world cannot imitate that at all: when things go well for it outwardly, it calls its friends together to tell of its standing.

7. The seventh sign, which you may well add here, is: that spiritual man, whatever else he may be, always has an inclination in him toward praying, confessing, sighing, moaning, complaining: a little tear is worth more to him than all that is in the world. If you listened to them, how often you would have to say, see, he weeps; see, he prays; see, he confesses; see, he stands in his shame; his soul melts away in sorrow. That same man says powerfully besides: there is often refreshment in sorrow, to sit in hidden places and weep; they coo like a turtledove. Hear what God says of it, Ezekiel 7:16: moaning, every one for his iniquity.

8. The eighth sign of godly sorrow is that they flee from despondency and despair: there, they say, my God is too good for that, too mighty, too merciful, too wise; he has given too great assurances of this in the Word, and in the Word too many examples of great sinners on whom he has shown mercy; I may not give it up — that would be far too sinful. Read Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 1:16. Then they work with those examples of all those great sinners, and they say to God, let me not dishonor you — you have wisdom, power, and goodness enough to forgive me; the Lord Jesus has shed blood enough; the Spirit of Christ has power enough to bring waters forth out of my rocky heart.

9. The ninth sign is: just as they must flee despair, so too they must flee carelessness. To be too much at ease, never once stirred — that would lead to carelessness, would make them complacent. In this they often work with, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, Romans 12:11. They often work with Revelation 3:16, because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. They often work with the foolish virgins who slept when the bridegroom came — what a wretched sleep that was! What a bad outcome it had! Matthew 25. They think every day, am I not too much at ease? Is it not too quiet with me? My heart, flee with all diligence insensibility, hardening, stubbornness, obstinacy. O God, they say, from whatever else you keep me, keep me at least from hardening. They work with Romans 2:5, after your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up unto yourself wrath as a treasure; and with Psalm 95:7-8, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart — harden not your heart today, when you lie down, today when you rise up, today when you leave your house. They work with Proverbs 28:14, you shall fall into mischief if you harden your heart, and Proverbs 29:1, he that hardens himself shall suddenly be broken.

10. They also shun all those people, whether they speak openly or privately, who deal gently with them — they always have a suspicion of that. A true mourner never says, deal gently with me — rather the mourner says, do not plaster me over with false mortar, speak plainly out: faithful are the wounds of a friend, better than the kisses of an enemy, Proverbs 27:6. They will have nothing to do with deceit; they would gladly have a watchman who faithfully warns them.

11. The eleventh sign is that they are sorrowful over sin as sin. You will say, that sign is often given, but it is somewhat obscure to me: what does that mean? Rightly understood, it is clear enough, and it means this: that your sorrow has no other aim, no greater object, than sin itself. Nothing is weightier to you than sin; you are more sorrowful over the sin than over what is in the sin, indeed more sorrowful over the sin than over what comes from the sin. You would be sorrowful over the sin even if you never received a blow for it, even if there were never a hell to punish it. If your sorrow is good, it will be over the sin itself, as with David, Psalm 51:3-4: against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and my sin is ever before me. God had had it declared to him, the sword shall never depart from your house — did he say, the threat of the sword is ever before me? No, but it was the sin. Even if they never received a blow from God's mouth, and even if they never received any sweetness in their life from the Lord, and even if they always received the kisses of God's mouth and every sweetness, it would still be, against thee have I sinned. Pharaoh stood there with tears on his cheeks and cried, take away these plagues — that was over the punishments; a child of God stands with tears and cries, take away this sin. Psalm 65:3, purge away my transgressions and iniquities.

12. The twelfth little sign is to be sorrowful over your sinful nature and disposition. God, they say, I have such an evil nature, I am so inconstant, without and within; I am altogether sinful; I so often neglect the good, and what I do is so defective; I have so few good manners, ends, and aims; I am hypocritical and puffed up and wandering. Oh, what strange desires, lusts, and impulses! What rising covetings against all the commandments of God! In the good that I do, I often find I cannot fully consent to it — I am altogether sin, Romans 7. That is to be sorrowful over one's sinful nature. Psalm 51:5, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. Genesis 8:21, my heart is evil from my youth. I cannot bear that I am so godless — I am like the devil's own; the heart is deceitful above all things, there is no fathoming it, Jeremiah 17:9.

13. The thirteenth little sign is this: true sorrow over sin dwells on the ugliness of sin. How ugly, they say, it is to sin against God! Pharaoh said he saw seven lean cows, and had never seen the like of such ugliness — but if you and I saw sin in its own shape, it would be uglier than the devil. The sins of the wicked provoke them to anger, but the sins of the godly pierce their heart through. Lord Jesus, had I not sinned, you would not have had to shed so much blood; you would not have needed to groan in such anguish, had I not been so wretched. But I have grieved the Spirit, I have lived dreadfully, I have sinned against warnings, against promises, against oath and covenant; there is nothing ugly that I have not thought or done. Now I stand in my shame — what do I have from those things of which I am now ashamed? The least sins that I have committed are works of the devil and an offense against that majestic, exalted, and mighty God. It is rebellion, and rebellion against the person of a king is ugly — how much more against the King of kings? It is a trampling of God's law; it is to tear God from his throne.

14. Not only that, but there is a further little sign: to mourn over one's powerlessness unto good — they carry that with them right to their deathbed. They are powerless to do any good in the future and powerless to improve or overcome the present; that body of sin, they cannot free themselves from it, Romans 7:24. That will stay with them until they die, and it grieves them that they remain so sinful; they can neither speak nor think anything good of themselves.

15. Where sorrow is genuine, they mourn over every sin in particular. They do not merely pass over all their transgressions in general, but they do as in Judges 10:10: O Lord, they said, we have sinned against you, not only in that we have forsaken God, but we have served and followed the Baalim. They go on to enumerate it, Isaiah 59:13: transgressing and lying against the Lord, departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood — they go on enumerating it like that. David, in enumerating, went from one sin to another: now he came to this, that he had changed his countenance; now that he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe; now that he had numbered the people; now to the bloodguilt, now to the sin of adultery, now to those sins that went on secretly in his heart, Psalm 19, and 32, and 51, 2 Samuel 12 and 24.

16. They can bear sin neither in themselves nor in another, whether in the wise or the unwise, rich or poor, noble or common; they are as Lot in Sodom, they vex their righteous soul, 2 Peter 2:8. They cannot bear it in their fellow citizens, neighbors, household, children, nor in their own heart: this is too much for me, they say, in the world.

17. Yet another sign. They take more care that the mourning should have its place within than outwardly. They do not disfigure their faces, as the hypocrites do, Matthew 6:16. Their sorrow is rather in their soul, as in Acts 2:37, they were pricked in their heart. This is called an afflicting of the soul, Leviticus 23:29.

18. Yet another little sign, which is to be so constantly sorrowful — not fitfully, but so that it becomes a uniform disposition. I die daily, said Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:31. A child of God says, I weep and mourn every day over sin. True eyes are as fountains, constantly flowing, always dropping something.

There you have now eighteen signs: you will not be able to remember them all, but you will have been able to understand them all, if you have been attentive, and much of it will be able to stay with you; there will not be one among you who does not have worldly sorrow, or who will not be able to identify something of this in himself. If you find them in yourself, thank God that he has made you sorrowful. There are now still four or five that are somewhat obscure, that need some clarifying: the first is, a sorrow after God — wherein it consists, which you do not yet fully understand; the second, that it works conversion; the third, that it works so that you never in your life regret it; the fourth, that it is not merely a legal sorrow; the fifth and last, that it is an evangelical, spiritual sorrow. We have proposed to make that clear to you in a following sermon, for it is not so clear yet, and we shall seek to make it clear to you. You have now heard those eighteen signs: talk with one another about them — the one will have remembered something, and the other something else; it is better that you speak together about this than about foolish and vain things; with a little wood laid together you can kindle a great heap, so that it becomes a great fire in the heart. If you only hear sermons and do not put them to use, what good does all that do? If you do not use it, you will only sink into hell with all those bundles of sermons. If you will make use of it in every such way, God will bless it; but if you would rather go rattle on about the preaching, then it all comes to nothing; but if you would sustain one another with such things, then you will edify one another and lie down at ease in the evening — that I wish for you all! Amen.

Sermon 50

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein these five signs or qualities of godly sorrow are treated:

I. That it is a sorrow after God.
II. That it works conversion.
III. That it is never to be repented of.
IV. That it is at first very legal.
V. That, as it progresses, it becomes very spiritual and evangelical.

We read, Lamentations 2:18-19, where the Prophet addresses the daughters of Zion so tenderly: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no rest, let not the apple of your eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up your hands toward him. He means to say: weep and pray. Praying among the godly must always be constant and prompt; mourning among the godly must also be constant and prompt. The godly must pray constantly: oh, they must pray so often, if they want things to go well for them. They must also pray so persistently: they must be such wrestlers, in the face of every misfortune that meets them; indeed, they must seek to maintain such devotion in their heart that, even should trouble overtake them suddenly, they might still be fit to send up a little offering of prayer to heaven. Romans 12:12 and Luke 18, there you will find those texts: in the one it stands, continuing instant in prayer, and in the other the Savior teaches that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. As the godly pray constantly, so they also pray promptly: as soon as they have received grace, they set about praying. Acts 9, Paul was no sooner converted than he lay upon his knees: behold, he prayeth, said the Lord to Ananias, verse 11. And Acts 16, the jailer, no sooner was his heart stirred than he fell upon his knees to pray. Zechariah 12:10, the Spirit of grace and of supplications goes together. Just as, the moment soul and body are united, it is a breath of life, so it is also with praying: the moment anyone is made spiritually alive, he sets about praying.

And as it stands with praying among the godly, so it stands too with mourning: they mourn constantly and promptly. As they sin constantly — for they sin daily — so their lamenting must also be daily, James 3:2. As they sin daily, I say, so they must also mourn daily over sin. A worldling's sorrow is like someone who has a vein opened: it is quickly opened and just as quickly stopped again. But the eyes of the godly are likened rather to a fountain that constantly drips; those fountains, my God, they say, I would not gladly see stopped up — I hope that as long as I live they will keep flowing. As pulse and tears in a dying child cease together, so it is with a child of God too. They have not only constant and steady tears, but prompt ones as well. Do not put off your tears to another day. Sometimes you swallow them back, but you do very wrongly — let them flow. Not only must you not put them off to another time, but you may not postpone them until you die, as though it were merely a deathbed duty: in such thoughts you fail to see that every day, every moment that you sin, it is your duty to mourn and weep. Luke 6:21, blessed are you that weep now. You may perhaps get no other hour, or day, or moment for it. Should you then wish to go seeking your blessing with tears, you will not find it. God says, your fullness and your tears — you shall not put them off; they say so too. And when someone sees you weeping, that is nothing amiss; they see your laughing well enough too — you sin more when you laugh than when you weep.

Constantly and promptly, then, you must pray and mourn: but on whom does this fall? With whom does it lodge? It lodges in both cases with those of Zion, who go about and stand with praying and mourning: and this sorrow is a genuine good of the covenant of grace, on which God sets great store. He counts the tears, and gathers them into his bottle, Psalm 56:8.

The last time, a Wednesday eight days ago, we gave some clear indications of that sorrow. We said then that there were still four or five points which were not clear enough as merely named; we said we would seek to give clarification of those in a following sermon. That is what we are here to do now. These are five points which we shall seek to help you understand better than the mere naming of them conveys. And what are they? I. Where true spiritual sorrow is, there it is a sorrow after God. II. Where true spiritual sorrow is, there it works conversion. III. Where true spiritual sorrow is, there it is one never to be repented of, until they come to heaven, to full salvation. IV. Where true spiritual sorrow is, there it is at first very legal. V. Where true spiritual sorrow is, it becomes, as it progresses, very evangelical and spiritual. Set your heart on this: first, we say, it is a sorrow after God; then, it works conversion; further, it is one never to be repented of, unto eternity; again, it is at first legal; finally, in its progress and over the course of time, it becomes spiritual and evangelical.

I. As to the first: a sorrow after God — what is that?

1. That afflicted heart gets a lifting of its eyes toward God. Ah, Lord, it says, this is beyond my strength and beyond the strength of all men; it is your almighty power that works it: God has made me tender, the Almighty has crushed me, that bowing has come from the Spirit of God, Zechariah 12:10. God once took a rib from Adam, and closed up the place with flesh; but God has taken away my heart of stone, and given me a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26.

2. They will set themselves before God with everything. As soon as they are made sorrowful by God, they set themselves before God and say: great Majesty, dreadful God, have I wounded your Majesty so through my sins? Have I abused the goodness of so dreadful a God, so misused your longsuffering, so grieved your almighty power? I have acted very foolishly, 2 Samuel 24:10. I cannot bear it — I could well fall upon myself over it: woe is me that I have so sinned, Lamentations 5:16.

3. What must I do but justify and approve, with my whole heart, all that has happened to me — indeed, how just would you have been, Lord, had you wished to punish me forever! From this come those prayers: O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, Psalm 6:1, and Psalm 143:2, enter not into judgment with your servant. Job says, I will make supplication to my judge, and say to God, condemn me not, Job 9:15 and 10:2.

4. Even if you do not cast me into hell, I still bear the knowledge in my heart that you will chastise me severely: I will then set myself to bear it. I do not know how you will strike me, but I hope I shall be subject to the Father of spirits, Hebrews 12:9. Lamentations 3:28, I will sit alone and keep silence.

5. Yet I have such a quiet longing in my heart toward God, to whom I have shown myself so: I have an insatiable desire for his fellowship; I can bear no longer delay in being satisfied in it, Psalm 42:2-3 and 63:1. I can be satisfied with nothing but you, Lord — you are the rock of my heart, and my portion forever, Psalm 73:26.

That is now the sorrow after God. 1. It comes from God. 2. It sets itself before God; it cannot bear that it has sinned so against God. 3. It justifies God, even had he wished to punish it forever. 4. It seeks to prepare itself to bear God's chastisements. 5. It has such a quiet longing after fellowship with God. Examine now your sorrow: is it after God?

II. The second was: it surely and always works conversion, when it is genuine. But not so that one who is truly sorrowful is thereby altogether done with all his sins. Ah, no — sin still remains in them as long as they live, Romans 7. Nor so, that they could never fall into the same sin more than once in a day. Ah, Lord, they often fall twenty times a day into the same sin! Peter was fearful in the courtyard, and again in Galatians 2:14 Paul rebuked him for it. So it does not mean that they are altogether rid of their besetting sins, and that they could never fall into the same sin twice in a day. But do you know how it does work? Surely thus:

1. First, where there is true sorrow over sin, one gets a greater hatred of sin. You who love the Lord, hate evil, Psalm 97:10, and Romans 12:9, abhor that which is evil. Sin no longer has so much love in their bosom.

2. Sometimes they must go apart alone, when they have fallen into the same faults, and make an unfeigned resolve, in the presence of God, that if he will grant them strength, they will do it no more; and they make, as it were, a covenant against it, as Job did: in your strength, Lord, I promise that I will do it no more, Job 34:32.

3. So it always works a daily renewal of the struggle against sin: they do not consider it won, Galatians 5:17. If it were their right eye or hand, they would pluck it out and cut it off. It is their besetting sin against which they strive most of all.

4. They are so glad that they have received it, that they have come off the path to hell and gone up the path to heaven — they are so glad and thankful for it: I can never in my life make you any recompense for this, Lord. Psalm 116:16, O Lord, truly I am your servant, I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. They do not boast until that has happened to them.

5. If anyone should wish to stop them in their conversion, he would not be able to. No one can hinder them from coming off the evil way onto the good, even were it their own father or mother, or their dearest friend.

6. They are willing to suffer something for it.

What do you say? Do you find that you have such sorrow, which works conversion in this way? 1. Do you get a greater hatred of sin? 2. Do you make a resolve, in the presence of God, to do it no more? 3. Do you daily renew the struggle against sin, so that you begin to gain ground? 4. Are you glad that you have come off the path to hell and onto the path to heaven? 5. If anyone should wish to stop you in your conversion, would he be able to? 6. Would you be willing to suffer something for it — to bear some mockery and scorn over it? Do you dare to come forward and confess it somewhat? Beloved, there you have the second sign.

III. Now the third sign, which always holds true, is that it works a conversion never to be repented of, unto salvation. Whether you find a sorrowful person at his weakest or at his strongest, you will never in your life hear him bring any complaint before God that he has been converted. You may hear a man complain that he has become a prophet, Jeremiah 20. But we have never yet heard anyone, in the Bible, nor in the church, nor in the world, complain that he has been converted. Jeremiah 31:18, there you do hear Ephraim complaining, but it was not over his conversion, but over his sins: O Lord, convert me, he said. It is a conversion never to be repented of. If anyone wished to talk them out of it, they would say, as Job said to his wife, you speak as a foolish woman, Job 2:10. They would say, I will never again in my life be reconciled to sin, the devil, the world: give up the world and sin for good, I am ready to persevere steadfast and unmoved; you will not get me back. Yes, it is a conversion never to be repented of, unto salvation. You are converted until you come into salvation itself. Ah, Lord — people think that the act of conversion is but a single moment: no, it is a continual conversion. From what? From daily stumblings and weaknesses and from grievous falls. How much there is still to be converted from, until one comes into heaven! Then it will be made perfect. Indeed, along that way they do become assured of their conversion. Let me but taste it, they say, the certainty of my salvation! Oh, might I taste it once! I cannot rest; I would gladly have the firstfruits and foretastes of it. Yes, they wait for this in their conversion: whether I taste the certainty or not, God will bring me to heaven, they say, and at the end of the road I shall await the crown, receiving the end of my faith, even the salvation of my soul, 1 Peter 1:9. That is the third sign.

IV. The fourth sign is that true sorrow is, at first, legal — very legal. Ah, poor souls! People give this a bad name, but they do not know what they are saying. God will maintain the work of the law in his church until the Judgment, as a blessed means by which he brings the elect to grace. Some will call it a bad thing, too legal, too misguided — as if, were there no law, we would never come out right. Beloved, true sorrow over sin is very legal at the outset. What does that mean?

1. First, God employs the law to make you sorrowful. Moses must strike the rock of your heart, if water is to come out of it; the law must accuse you, if you are ever to be given a blessing; the sons of thunder must thunder, if Barnabas is to comfort you. Whatever some may say to the contrary, God takes his law as a rod, and by the law is the knowledge of sin, Romans 3:20. May we then omit preaching the law? If you would understand by that only the law of the ten commandments, you must not be so foolish — the law includes all the dreadful and terrible things that stand written concerning the sinner in the Bible, in the Old and New Testament, concerning both time and eternity. And then one considers all that terror that stands written for transgressors in the Bible.

2. O Lord, he says, how dreadful it is that I have transgressed so holy a commandment, which was so good and so wise! I have kept none of all the commandments of God, and I am still inclined to all wickedness. The law says, be converted, believe, love God, love one another: I fail in this — I have not done that good which was so much to my own benefit. Hosea 8:12, the excellence of God's law was to me as something strange; I reckoned it as a foreign tongue.

3. It is legal: ah, they stand still before the law, they stand still before the terror and dreadfulness of it, they do not run at once out of that storm. What a terrifying word it is: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, Hebrews 10:31, who is a consuming fire and an everlasting burning, Isaiah 33:14. How dreadful it will be for him who does not love him! Let him be accursed, maranatha, 1 Corinthians 16:22. He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him, John 3:36. How shall I escape, if I neglect so great salvation? Hebrews 2:3. Of how much sorer punishment shall I be thought worthy, if I turn away from him that speaks from heaven? Hebrews 12:25. Then God says, cursed shall you be in your eating, drinking, clothing, sleeping, rising up: there they stand before it.

4. It is legal: then they want to go and reform according to the law, they want to start living differently; then they set about making reformation in their house, in their company; they reform according to the law; now they think, God will be with me, he will surely look upon me — and yet it profits nothing. Mark 10:21, one thing you lack.

5. They never look toward the end of the law, which is Christ; they do not grasp God's aim in the law — I wanted to lead you out of yourself to the Mediator, says God. Romans 10, Christ is the end of the law: I wanted to make you look to the physician.

I repeat it once more heartily and say: legal sorrow, first, makes them sorrowful. 2. It concerns itself only with the breaking of the law. 3. They stand before the terror of the law in time and eternity. 4. They set about reforming. 5. Through the law they do not see through to the end of the law.

V. Now the fifth little sign — that lovely and sweet sign. Upon the legal sorrow there follows an evangelical sorrow, a spiritual and sweet one, which they kiss and embrace. How is it, when they are sorrowful in an evangelical manner?

1. As foul, loathsome, ugly, and stinking as they find themselves, they set themselves before the Lord, that holy and all-knowing God, with their foul garments, like Joshua, with their Ethiopian skin and leopard's spots, with all their scarlet and crimson sins.

2. So they stand, until a holy shame comes into their heart; they stand afar off, they dare not come near, Luke 18:13 and Ezra 9:6: I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face and my eyes toward heaven; my iniquities are gone over my head, Psalm 38:4.

3. So they stand, until they sink away into their own smallness, unworthiness, worthlessness: I am worth nothing, they say, but condemnation, and that you should cast me down to the ground. They work as the prodigal son did, who said, I will arise and go to my father, and say, Father, I have come to you, though I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am not worthy to be called your son, Luke 15:18-19, and Matthew 8:8, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; Luke 5:8, I am a sinful man, depart from me; Isaiah 6:5, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. I am but as one born out of due time, said Paul, the least of all the saints, the chief of sinners, 1 Corinthians 15:8, Ephesians 3:8, 1 Timothy 1:15. Standing so before God, sinking away in their own nothingness, they say: ah Lord, my heart melts — not only that I have sinned against you and have shown you so, but that you have made me so tender; dear Lord, you are so longsuffering toward me, I am so blessed, you have applied so many means to me, you have held your hand upon me so — God and men have concerned themselves with me.

4. Even though I have made myself forever unworthy of your favor, I can nevertheless not go away from you, since I feel some breadth in my heart, since I sense some hope of reconciliation and eternal life in Christ, before I have yet experienced anything of that peace of God which passes all understanding, Philippians 4:7. There they begin further to melt: O God, they say, that you have not yet given me over to myself, nor to despair, nor to the world, as has been done to many a thousand — I melt, Lord, over your love, that I may still stand before you here, that you do not cast me away; it seems to me that I feel a sorrow in my soul, not as a slave, but as a child; it seems to me that I feel some confidence welling up in my heart, to say, hope in God, you shall yet praise him, Psalm 42:5.

5. Then it is evangelical, when you begin to say, it seems to me, I begin to feel such a love in my heart toward God; it seems to me it is like an unfeigned love. Luke 7, there stood that sinful woman with tears of love. John 21:15, there Peter had to say whether he loved Jesus — he said yes, and was grieved at the same time. That goes together: I would count it such happiness, that I might love and serve you, Lord.

6. However sweet tears are, they do not make of them any savior, nor any mediator; my sorrow is not my savior, they say, I must have you, Lord Jesus; I go through the law all the way to its end. If you come so, the Lord will not send you away — oh no, he will rather say, woman, why do you weep? You seek me? Here I am, I am sent to you.

7. When it is evangelical, then they stand and weep in spirit, even when they have not committed any notable sin. Over what, then? Over this: that they have not been as fervent as they used to be, that they have not been as steady as they ought, that they should be more faithful, that the fear of God has not been so tender, that their love to God has not burned as it used to, that they have not had as much sense of God as they used to have: ah Lord, they say, you have not flowed into me today.

Then the sorrow is evangelical. You talk so much of legal and evangelical, and yet often understand little of it: it consists in melting so, in standing in one's shame, in saying, I cannot get away from you; it is as if I feel a childlike confidence in my heart that I shall receive grace; O Lord, I stand with tears over my lukewarmness, and that I do not find your outflowing so much in my reading, in praying alone and in company — they weep, even though they have not committed any notable sin.

We gave you last time eighteen signs, which were clear enough by their naming; these are clear by their explanation. Go home with them to your heart, and see whether you find them; beware of denying your own grace. Beware of despising small things. God often begins with such small beginnings, which he afterward makes so great. Beware too of disregarding those who, on God's behalf, would support you, and saying, speak not to me, do not weary yourself with me, it is all in vain, you do not speak rightly to me, the work of God is not in me. It truly is in you, whoever recognizes this, even if not to such a great degree as you may once have had it in your life, or as others have it. If you recognize this, then pray and wait: God will appoint a season in his counsel for refreshment and comfort; God will one day comfort you who mourn so. We think that shall be the matter for the next time, God willing — how God knows how to comfort such souls in a more evangelical way, in his own time, in his favor, most tenderly. I close this discourse with prayer, that God would be pleased to bless it to us and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 51

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein it is shown:

I. That those who mourn may well hope in the name of the Lord Jesus.
II. That those who mourn shall be comforted.
III. What it is, when the Lord draws near to those who mourn.

We read, Ecclesiastes 7:3: sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. On the head of laughter stands woe, but on the head of mourning stands blessedness. Pharaoh was better adorned with the tears on his cheeks than with the royal anointing on his head. Ahab was better clothed with sackcloth than with royal splendor. The king of Nineveh was better in the dust than upon his magnificent throne. Peter was better off when he went out with tears than when he stood among the soldiers, talking and warming himself. The heathen knew how to say this too: sackcloth is better than purple — by which they meant to signify that days of mourning are better than days of luxury. What are days of mourning? 1. They are healing days. 2. They are washing days. 3. They are praying days. 4. They are days of hope. 5. They are comforting days.

1. Days of mourning — what does that mean, that they are healing days? Ah, when one is sick, one begins to think of a physician, Matthew 9:12. The sick soul then begins to say, is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Jeremiah 8:22. Ah, they begin to cry out, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you, Psalm 41:4.

2. They are washing days, days of cleansing. Sin brings such a stain upon us, Hosea 5:3, Israel has defiled itself; Titus 1:15, both their mind and conscience are defiled. A mourning soul, when it keeps its day of mourning, does with its own defiled soul as a housewife does with her soiled linen: she dips it in the water, and by the rubbing of her hands and the biting soap she applies to it, she gets it clean, and then she still lays it out in the field in the open air, wanting the very sky to purify it further. So it goes with days of mourning, Isaiah 1:16: wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings. Jeremiah 4:14: wash and cleanse your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. James 4:8: cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

3. Days of mourning are days of prayer. Can anyone mourn at all without praying? Then they bow their knees and stretch out their hands to God, who dwells in heaven. Joel 2:13, 17, they wept as they rent their hearts, and cried, spare us, and cast us not away from your presence, Psalm 51:11, and Acts 9:11, behold, he prays — that did not happen without mourning. Acts 16, there the jailer lay with tears on his knees. 2 Chronicles 33, there lay king Manasseh, like a little worm, with tears, when he had his day of mourning.

4. Days of mourning are days of hope. Ezra 10:2, when they became so sorrowful, Ezra said, there is hope concerning this, Israel shall be delivered. Speak to such a soul, and they will say, I have hope in God, I shall yet praise him, Psalm 42:5. They are not, they say, as those who have no hope, 1 Thessalonians 4:13. They are not without hope, Ephesians 2:12.

5. Days of mourning are days of comfort. That is a strange thing, you will say, to find gladness and comfort in sorrow. Strange as it may be, it is nevertheless true. Matthew 5:4, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted; and Psalm 97, in the sense of its seventh verse.

That last point is what we have something to say to you about. We have shown you what spiritual sorrow consists of. We have then shown you some true signs of it. Now we must see: I. That mourners may hope in the name of the Lord Jesus. II. That they shall be brought to comfort. III. What it is, when the Lord draws near to those who mourn. Those are our three points. We shall seek to set them before you without further preamble.

I. Sorrowful heart, you may hope in the Lord Jesus and in his name. You may think in your heart, may I hope and trust that for Christ's sake I have received grace? Yes, that you may trust.

1. You would not otherwise coo so, had the Lord not given you a dove's heart. Were it not the Spirit of God that hovered in your heart, as over the waters, your eyes would not be as fountains: oh, you would not mourn so, if you had a heart of stone; but now that your heart is as wax, your eyes are as fountains of water, Jeremiah 9:1.

2. You who are in a true day of mourning, you may flee like a cooing dove to the clefts of the rock, Song of Songs 2:14. That rock — there you can take shelter. Who is that? Paul will tell you, the rock is Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4. Asaph will tell you, you are the rock of my heart and my portion forever, Psalm 73:26. That rock, Christ, calls out to you to come to him, Matthew 11:28; he invites, he entreats, he beseeches you, he even encourages you himself; he says, I must come to you, I am for no other purpose — my Father has given me no other commission than that I should seek that which was lost, and that I should comfort those who mourn: I am sent to you, to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, Isaiah 61:1-3. You will not remain bowed down forever — I will yet make you praise the Lord.

3. You may hope and trust, it shall not always remain so; you will yet be made glad before you die. They do not die without comfort: where there is true sorrow, you have seen it turn into gladness. Have you had to hang your harp upon the willows — hope that you shall yet take it down again. God will loose your sackcloth, and he will make mourning and sorrow flee away. God will deal with you as a mother with her darling child — how tenderly does she deal with it? Jeremiah 31:20. He will comfort you and release you: see it in Esther 8:16. Among the Jews there was light and gladness and joy; that Mordecai, who went crying through the streets with a bitter outcry, was seen shortly after with gladness. Your time may come too — it cannot fail; the rain of sorrow must go before, if the gladness of heaven is to follow: the gladness does not come until the plough of the law has ploughed up your heart, and tears have gone before it. Worldly people have a banquet awaiting them in hell, where two dishes will be served: the one is weeping of eyes, and the other is gnashing of teeth. Those who truly mourn also have a banquet awaiting them in heaven, where likewise two dishes will be served: those invited will have a dish of fullness of joy in God's presence, and the second dish, pleasures at God's right hand forevermore, Psalm 16:11, Isaiah 35:10. There is our first point: you may hope, for it shall go well with you.

II. Our second point is: the mourners shall be comforted; they shall receive comfort as surely as God exists. 2 Thessalonians 2:16, it shall be an everlasting and strong consolation. It is God's own name, that he comforts the lowly, and he will give that name to no other — that name is essentially his own. Now you must consider in your heart, what does God do, when he comforts? Then he does great things. Do you know what?

1. He is continually with those who mourn, like a mother and a father beside their sick child: they do not leave the bedside, they do all they can to refresh it. Find mourning souls, and there you will find God. Where two or three of such people are, there is God, Matthew 18:20. He dwells with them, Isaiah 57:15, and Psalm 34:18, I am near the brokenhearted, says God. When you have such a sorrowful heart, you will surely feel that God is near you; you will have to say sometime, surely God is in this place, and I did not know it — as Jacob said, Genesis 28:16, God has been in my little chamber and I did not know it. God will afterward let you understand it. Ezekiel 48:35, the name of that place shall be called, the Lord is there.

2. He comforts them also with his word: now that I have given you so tender a heart, now I say, my delight is in you, Isaiah 62:4; now that you come so bruised, now I have nothing against you, your offering is pleasing to me, Psalm 51:19, and Matthew 26:13, when that woman was so contrite, it shall be spoken of her, said God, throughout the whole world. That his delight is in you, he makes you feel that in your mourning, by giving you some feelings of love and gladness: you are so much at ease, when, mourning, you have poured out your heart to God and laid it open before him, and have told him all that is on your heart.

3. God comforts them with his Son the Mediator, who, he says, is a Savior and Redeemer: go to him to be saved through him. That broken one, go make him blessed, he says to the Mediator; grasp him, take him, discover him, bind him up in his wounds, Psalm 147:3; you are that shepherd who seeks out the lost, binds up and heals, Ezekiel 34:23; for this I have anointed you, Isaiah 61:1-3.

4. He comforts them also in their day of mourning by giving his Spirit to those people. They lie there and complain that they feel no Spirit, but he gives them the Spirit of humility, meekness, discretion, compassion, of prayer, the Spirit that makes them esteem God and his fellowship. One cannot say of them, they are natural men, not having the Spirit, as is said of the world, Jude verse 19; on every side there radiates from them something of the Spirit. God comforts them not only with the Bible, but he says, the ministry of the word shall be for you: I will bring you where there is a good ministry, or I will bring the ministry to where you are. Isaiah 59:21, this is my covenant with you, that my word and my Spirit shall not depart from you — that I say first to the Mediator, and afterward also to you, that my word shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, forever: where you mourners are found, there you will find the Bible. You go so often with gladness to church, and you come out of it so often with gladness; and when you begin to be anxious that there will be no good ministry, how you mourn! But God will provide for it all.

5. God comforts them thus too. When you have the Bible in your house, even if you have no ministry, I can support you with that. When you read such and such promises, do not let that verse lie idle, says God, but consider what it says. A certain godly woman, being sorrowful, once lay reading Isaiah 57:15, where God says, I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones: that is I, she said, I am so contrite, I am so humble — so the consequence is then that the Lord will dwell with me, that he will revive me. Reading the promises, so they work with them, and especially they note to whom they belong. Acts 2:39, the promise is to you; Hebrews 6:17-18, you are heirs of the promise, and that those heirs might have strong consolation, God interposed himself there with an oath. Take note of this, says God: all the promises are for you; I have had them written down for your sake; that is your portion, you have part and lot in that word.

6. He also comforts them through encouragements: if the word of the ministry is not enough, he stirs up the leading people in the congregation — everyone is up and about to refresh them. Acts 13:15, when they had read the law, the rulers of the synagogue said, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And Acts 8, the eunuch had met no one; the Spirit sent Philip to him, and afterward he went on his way rejoicing, verse 39. Be strong and of good courage, do not lose heart, and he shall strengthen your heart, Psalm 31:24. Wait on the Lord, be strong, and he shall strengthen your heart; yes, wait on the Lord, Psalm 27:14.

7. The Lord comforts them by giving them the impression that he is the hearer of their mourning: he hears the voice of those mourning suppliants, and says, your crying out moves me deeply — just knock on my hip, I am well pleased to bear it, Jeremiah 31:19-20. A mourning heart has no one to turn to but God. I pour out my complaints, they say, my God will hear me, Micah 7:7. This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, 1 John 5:14.

8. He comforts them, by giving them such courage as evidence that he has heard them. And so they are so well at ease within, even though they do not at once receive the answers they hoped for; they are so patient, they are willing to bear the lack so, and say, in expectation of such a good hearing, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints, Psalm 85:8.

9. God comforts them by letting them see that God's hand is in everything: he lets them see the government of God in every creature, in the devils, in all creatures — God must govern it all, they say, and I live under that fatherly care. Have you looked after me, said Hagar, Genesis 16:13. Weather, wind, all creatures work for their good. Jeremiah 24:5, I have sent them away into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good. I see God's hand, they say, in everything, and the whole creation must work together for my good, Romans 8:28.

10. God comforts them with his help in their need. When their need is extraordinarily great, then he says, fear not, worm Jacob, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will also uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness, Isaiah 41:10. Though you go through the fire and through the water, your Savior and Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, is with you, Isaiah 43:1-3, and Daniel 3:25, there the fourth man comes into the furnace and comforts those young men; and Daniel 6:23, amid all those terrifying lions an angel comes. God's help is great and visible, so that everyone must stand amazed.

11. Ah, says God, I am on my way to meet you, while you cry out that I stand afar off. He meets them as a friend, Isaiah 64:5. He goes out to meet them. I have now come, says that captain of the host of the Lord, Joshua 5:14; and 1 Samuel 4, God has come into Israel's camp, he is ready to help them — woe to us!

12. He comforts them by saying, you possess the heart of God. You have ravished my heart, with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck, Song of Songs 4:9. With what kind of eye? With those eyes, which were like the pools of Heshbon, Song of Songs 7:4. You possess my love, says God, you are as the apple of my eye, Zechariah 2:8.

13. He comforts them by sending them experienced practitioners. You will find no mourning in the Bible but you will find with it some experienced Samaritan; you will find no mourning heart but you will find somewhere near it one of the experienced ones. God says, go to those who mourn and comfort them, speak courage into their heart.

14. He brings them to faith, and he brings those bruised reeds up from the very smallest steps, through all the steps, to the very highest step. First they are a bruised little reed, at the very smallest step. Then he brings them to clothing themselves. Then it becomes an esteeming reed: they esteem God and his fellowship, that is to them the very greatest treasure, Psalm 73:25; see also Philippians 3:7-8. That reed God also brings to hope, Hebrews 11:1. And then he brings that reed to boldness, to make up its case by reasoning: I can no longer deny it, the Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him, Lamentations 3:24. Then that reed begins to be assured: I know, I feel, and I find that I believe in the Lord, 2 Timothy 1:12. So the day of mourning is a day of comfort. And then they come to the very last little step, which is the very greatest: I am near you, says the Lord, Psalm 34:18.

III. We have seen that the Lord draws near to them, but not yet what that drawing near is — that nearness which we just read of in the passage cited. We must now see what it is, when the Lord draws near to those who mourn and are brokenhearted, and how that is something delightful, and how there is a strong consolation in it, to be set apart from all one's business, and to walk about in a pleasant familiarity with God, and what it is, when God makes them taste of the manna that is hidden, and they are led into the inner chambers. That contains within it the most exalted thing of all. Do you know what things it contains? We shall name them for you: those who have experienced it will recognize it; those who have not yet experienced it may still come to have it.

1. First, they no longer feel so much struggle. O God, they say, what anxiety I have had, over whether my sorrow was after the world or whether it was good; but now it seems to me, I can no longer doubt, I cannot deny that the good sorrow is in me; ah, I might deny the work of God, but it cannot be a morning cloud, it has lasted so long already, it is not over anything in the world — the sorrow that I endure, I dare not say that it is not divine.

2. I dare no longer speak, when I have once spoken too boldly from the heights; indeed I can no longer say, has God then forgotten to be gracious, Psalm 77:9, and Psalm 88:8, he has shut me up, so that I cannot come out, like a prisoner. I would rather say to my soul, why are you so cast down? Have you no reason to say the opposite? Psalm 42:11. Shall I then go on to say, my soul refuses to be comforted, Psalm 77:2? It is as if someone walked beside me, saying, God's thoughts are not as your thoughts, and his ways are not as your ways; when you speak so, you are but as a great beast before God, as the colt of a wild donkey, Isaiah 55:8, and Psalm 73:22.

3. Then God comes, and asks, who has made you tender? From whom have you received it? Have you given it to yourself? Oh no, they say. Have you got it then through upbringing? Oh no, Lord. Have you got it from the wicked? No. Have you got it from the godly? No, not that either. Have you got it then from your ministers? No, Lord. How then have you come so far — speak it out plainly? O God! I must say, the Almighty has made me tender, God has moved me and no man: before, I was angry at it, I despised it, I did not want it; I would rather never have had my life — but now I love it.

4. God makes it continue and grow in faith. Is your sorrow one never to be repented of, and your conversion one never to be repented of? Says God, my grace too is never to be repented of; I never regret having crushed you: and so they trust this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in them will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:6. The Lord will complete it for me: your mercy, Lord, endures forever, and forsake not the works of your hands, Psalm 138:8.

5. God makes them work in faith, simply and uprightly: they call upon God so often as a witness, and say, Lord, it is not for me to do this or that for some ulterior end — I do it from no perverse motives; I call upon you, and that they do so often, as a witness over my soul, 2 Corinthians 1:23. Examine me, Lord, and prove me; try my heart and my mind, Psalm 26:2. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting, Psalm 139:23-24. Yes, they call upon the godly too, to test them: deceive me not, they say — and how many have had to speak the truth of them with one mouth! And they call their conscience to witness. And when trouble and affliction come, try me, Lord, they say — let the dross be taken away, and let what is solid remain.

6. The Lord also comforts them in his nearness in this, that he works their heart to commit their soul's affairs into his hand, for time and eternity. Life and death they place in the hand of God, Psalm 31:15. They roll their way upon the Lord, and are glad once they have given it into God's hand, and say to him, you will manage it better than I or anyone else, Psalm 37:5. And so they strengthen themselves, as David did, in the Lord their God — in his being, his persons, his attributes, in the covenant of grace, 1 Samuel 30:6. All is well with me, they say, and who or what then shall be against me, if God is for me? Romans 8:31.

7. So too there comes a familiar intimacy — and where one is intimate, one is glad of the other's presence, one hides nothing from the other, not even the most secret and weightiest things. So does God: shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Genesis 18:17. Shall I hide from those who mourn how I am disposed toward them? You can gather that from that saying, you have held my right hand: you shall guide me with your counsel, Psalm 73:23-24. Then they receive experience of those things which God ever imparts to his favored ones. Then they find out what it means, I am God Almighty, Genesis 17:1. I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward, Genesis 15:1. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, Psalm 33:12. And that word, when God says to the soul, I am your salvation, Psalm 35:3; and that, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — he has brought me into his chambers, Song of Songs 1:2, 4; and that word, he brings me into the banqueting house, Song of Songs 2:4; and that word, then was I in his eyes as one that finds peace, Song of Songs 8:10; and that, his desire is toward me, Song of Songs 7:10. Then they come to experience the whole course of the twenty-third Psalm, and that word of Psalm 68:20, that God is to us a God of complete salvation, and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. Also then from Jeremiah 31:20, is Ephraim not a dear son to me? Is he not a darling child? And then, in the New Testament, that word, John 14:21, 23, my Father and I will manifest ourselves to you, and make our home with you; and that word, Revelation 2:17, you shall eat of the manna that is hidden from the world, which the blind and foolish worldling does not value. Beloved, God speaks to such a heart sometimes in this way: when you were just now weeping so over your loss, and your heart was breaking, I stood by you, and I invited my angels to come and behold it: there was joy over it in heaven, Luke 15:7. When your heart was so near to me, then my heart was near to you, and I said, come, my beloved, let me give you a token of my eternal, unsearchable love; let me embrace you and speak to your heart.

8. Finally, he comforts them, when he is near them, in this, that he says: do pleasant thoughts not rise up in you, so that you begin to say, my anxiety, fear, and deadness will all come to an end at once when I come into heaven? Yes, my Lord, I long to be with you; my heart yearns greatly within my bosom, Job 19:27. There I shall serve you perfectly, Lord! I wish that you would come — come, yes, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen, Revelation 22:20.

What do you say, world? Stay a while, you will say — do not yet make an end of your gladness, and no beginning yet of my displeasure. But a true Christian says, yes Lord, come quickly. So the Lord will comfort those who mourn.

We have then shown you before the essence of that sorrow and its signs, and now the comfort which you shall receive: your day of mourning shall be a day of comfort. When we have said all this, someone may easily say, ah, that I too were such a mourner! That shall be the matter for the time to come. Then we shall seek to stir you up to that true mourning. And now we would pray that God be pleased to bless what has been said to us and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 52

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein:

I. Everyone is stirred up to that true mourning.
II. It is shown how high that sorrow must go.

We read, Zechariah 1:8, that the Prophet saw a wondrous thing. You will say, what did the Prophet see? He saw a man riding on a red horse, standing among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom. What did the Prophet see? Myrtle trees. What were they doing in the bottom? Who was the man who sat on the red horse and stood in the midst of that depth?

What were those myrtles? The godly, converted, believing, holy people: such as had formerly been thorns and thistles, of whom God has said, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off, Isaiah 55:13. Why do the godly, mourning, believing, holy people come forward under the name of myrtles? For this reason:

1. First, a myrtle tree is a pleasant plant; a king and a beggar alike let their eye rest on it: so it is with the godly; they are pleasing to God, who lets his eye rest on them and says, I will look to that man, Isaiah 66:2. You have ravished my heart, Song of Songs 4:9. My delight is in you, Isaiah 62:4. Every righteous man is more excellent than his neighbor, Proverbs 12:26.

2. The myrtles are a fruitful plant: the godly are fruitful too. Acts 2:47, there were added daily such as should be saved. They are filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are to the glory and praise of God, Philippians 1:11.

3. The myrtles are green both summer and winter: the godly are like a green olive tree in the house of the Lord. Planted, as they are, in the courts of the Lord, they are given to flourish: they shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing, Psalm 92:13-14. Though there be winters, in which the downpours come, they will keep their grace. Jacob kept his grace in the house of Laban, and Joseph's graces remained in the house of Pharaoh, and the young men and Daniel in Babylon — their graces remained green.

4. The myrtles love the depths in valleys and by waters: the godly, too, have such an inclination toward waters. What waters? Toward the waters that flowed out of Christ's side for atonement, out of that fountain of blood, Zechariah 13:1; and toward the waters of the grace of God, Ezekiel 47:1; and toward that water of holy tears and readiness. Then he is so pleased with himself, when he can say, I cry unto you, Job 30:20.

There you have now the myrtles — but they stood in the depths. In what kind of depths? 1. In the depth of humility. 2. In the depth of poverty. 3. In the depth of the cross, affliction, persecution, and tyranny.

1. They had their depth of humility: the godly too. They seek to be as humble as Abraham, Genesis 18:27, I am but dust and ashes — may I speak to you? As David, 2 Samuel 6:22, I will make myself yet more lightly esteemed. They are like that great Paul, who said, I am but one born out of due time, the very least of all the saints, and the chief of sinners, not worthy to be called an apostle or a Christian.

2. The godly stand also in that deep poverty, outwardly for the most part, but inwardly always. They are often outwardly like the Macedonians, 2 Corinthians 8:2, and James 2:5, the poor of this world God has chosen. They often have the same word as their Lord, Matthew 8:20, I have nowhere to lay my head. Jacob had nothing but a stone to lay his head on, Genesis 28:11. But always and altogether they stand in the depth of their spiritual poverty: they have no money, no price, no penny, nor penny's worth, Isaiah 55:1. They have no righteousness of their own, Philippians 3:9. Ah, poor souls! They are poor unto their dying day.

3. Then they stand also in the depth of persecutions. What tyrannies and afflictions befall them! The apostle Paul perhaps had such things in mind too, when he said, Romans 8:35-39, nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, neither height, nor depth.

Standing there in that depth, then, a man came with a red horse, standing there in the midst of them. Who is this man? Who else can it be but the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that man who is a hiding place for that people, Isaiah 32:2. That man and hero, upon whom God has laid help, Psalm 89:19. The man of God's right hand, Psalm 80:17. The man whose name is the Branch, Zechariah 6:12. That man who is the captain of the host of the Lord, Joshua 5:14. That man who is God's companion, Zechariah 13:7. He it was who sat riding on that red horse. The Prophet saw at one time red, sorrel, and speckled horses: red signified a fearful confusion; sorrel was somewhat less; speckled meant that sometimes there was a little rest, and sometimes also affliction. But here he sees the red one, that is, when tyranny and affliction are at their height. What did this mean? The Lord meant to say: I have this horse under my command, and the tyranny and the wars as well; I give someone into the power of the wars, and I also make them cease — that I do to the ends of the earth, Psalm 46:9-10. I keep my people standing firm there; my rule is master of it; in the heat of the battle I am your helper; I have command over everything; only trust in me, I will help you, and I your helper will neither fail you nor forsake you — though you go through fire and water, I will help you.

That the Prophet saw. He did not merely dream it; the matter was real; he saw it before his own eyes. How did he see it, then — in promise and prediction, or in experience?

1. In prediction: my Lord said that it would go so with the Church in all ages: you will find myrtles standing in the depths — I sit upon the horse for their help, tell them it shall be so.

2. I saw it in experience. Zechariah 1:13, God says to the angel, speak comforting words, gracious words to that young man. Yes, dearest Lord, one might say, you stand here in our midst as our helper, and if you are for us, who or what shall be against us?

Beloved, having seen this wondrous vision, we would gladly have you and ourselves in those depths. The other two we do not wish upon you: of those we must say, as Paul said to Agrippa, my bonds I wish not upon you, but my grace and my Christianity, Acts 26:29. The outward poverty and persecutions I do not wish upon you, but these two depths I do wish upon you: spiritual poverty, humility, and godly sorrow, or the being struck down and mourning over one's sinfulness — since it is of that last depth, spiritual mourning, that we must speak with you.

Some time or two or three have we shown you that depth. Perhaps you became eager to know how far you had come. That we have sought to show you by living signs. We said then that it must not only remain legal, but must also become evangelical: you must go out from the law; you must go through it to its end — the end of the law is Christ. We then showed you that man who was in the depths, how he was near those who are broken. We said, the godly will perhaps easily say, I wish you would once stir me up to that sorrow, and then show how high it must go — can it not go too high? That we shall also show you in a word, God willing. A sinner will say, I too know how to mourn: for this reason, then, we shall also show you the sorrow of the world, and how it works death. These are four or five matters that will still occupy us, God willing. For the present we have these two things:

I. First, we shall stir every one up to mourning. Break your hearts and rend them, you godless and unconverted — how can you be so dry and hard of heart? And you godly — how can you too be so unmoved?

II. Secondly, how high must it go? That too we shall add in a word, how high it ought to go.

The world does not like to see that sorrow after God; yet it must be in you, people, or you must be lost. The world, however, has no more need of it than it thinks. We read that once it did not rain for three years and six months: we believe that there are those sitting here for whom it has been even longer since they poured out a rain of tears over their sins. Then we read that Elijah prayed and heaven gave rain: oh, that it were so also with godly and ungodly alike! Tears are all too lacking; godly and ungodly alike are all too glad without cause: they sometimes pass off ten for twenty, and twenty for thirty. Let us judge rightly: ungodly, this charge falls mostly on you.

1. Godly and ungodly, let me now stir you up to this mourning. Why, you will say, should you and I mourn so?

First, because you and I are so sinful, and every sin lies there like a worm gnawing away — indeed it is like a fire burning in the conscience, and it is more or less as though you already lay in hell. What water shall quench that fire and kill that worm? The holy water of tears, that blessed repentance. Are there known saints in the Bible, when that fire burned so, who quenched it with that water? Yes indeed. See it in David and Peter: when that fire burned so, how eagerly they poured that water upon those coals! You have also ungodly ones who did the same — Pharaoh and Ahab, when the judgments were declared to them. See how Pharaoh and Ahab, and the king of Nineveh, wept, cried out, and mourned. There is no great reason to be glad about this; it is a great mercy to weep and be sorrowful.

2. Besides that, if you can come to a melting condition, then grace is at or within the door: if you can weep heartily over your sins, then, I say, grace is at or within your door. Then God will take away your heart of stone, Ezekiel 36:26. Mourning and grace are mother and daughter. We read, Matthew 3:16, that the Spirit descended upon Christ in the shape of a dove: but in every little creature, as soon as it begins to melt, a dove's nature comes upon it, and then one might think that the Spirit had descended upon him in the shape of a dove. Would you not do this, then — mourn so? If the angels saw it with bodily eyes, they would be glad over it; and even though they do not see it with bodily eyes, they are glad over it nonetheless, Luke 15:10. The love in that sinful woman's heart, and the tears in her eyes, were better than the costly ointment, Luke 7. The Lord spoke as much of her love and tears as of anything else.

3. When someone wrestles with God, by tears and prayer they overcome him, Hosea 12:4. It is said that at Athens there were so many shrines, but there was one altar upon which they offered nothing but tears: they said that the angered gods could be appeased by nothing but tears. Let someone come with tears on his cheeks, smiting upon his breast, and the heart of God is inclined toward him, Luke 18:13-14.

4. Tears do such good, both to us and to others. Judges 2, when in that camp that was called Bochim, the angel of the Lord spoke sternly but also tenderly with them. 1 Samuel 7, when all Israel wept after the Lord, like a child that has lost its mother, it is written that God turned from the fierceness of his anger. Tears and sorrow — do you know what they are like? They are like the angel who, when Abraham lifted his hand to give the child the blow, seized the sword; and when you weep, then the anger of God is turned away from you; and when you mourn and lament, then God says, you shall not see the evil, now you are a darling child to me, now that you come with repentance, Jeremiah 31:19-20.

5. You will surely come to the joy of God's salvation, here or hereafter, if you mourn. Isaiah 57:16-18, when souls would soon be overwhelmed, God says, that I cannot see: I have seen his ways, and I will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. The greatest mourners in the Bible have been the sweetest singers: David, Heman, Asaph — I remember, they said, my music, I cannot forget it. Asaph was a man skilled for his work, therefore he was set among the singers. Hannah had prayed and wept, 1 Samuel 1, and in 1 Samuel 2 you have her song of praise: her countenance was no longer as it had been. Sorrow is the road to true gladness. The world will one day have to mourn that it had so much gladness; but God's people will one day rejoice that they mourned so here.

6. If you will not mourn here, you will one day have to do it eternally. Would you not then rather do it here? Is it not better, after all, here to shed a little of hell's own weeping, than to mourn after this life? Here comes sorrow before hell comes; hell is a place of the weeping of eyes and outer darkness: which would you choose, to weep eternally, or to weep a little here? It must happen one way or another; I think it is better here. If you and I could once hear, at the roaring gate of the abyss, the language of the damned, what would it consist of? In cursing themselves, that they had wept too late. You will say, how do you know that? I know it, and you can know it too, from Luke 16. That man, finding how bitterly repentance fell in hell, wanted someone sent to his brothers to warn them, so that they might yet have warning.

7. Should you not be sorrowful over your sins? It is the nearest and truest way to heaven. Do you think that by living respectably and being blameless, and by being a churchgoer, you will thereby come to heaven? That is quite to have missed the way to Paradise: the way to heaven is to go through the valley of tears. Well then, mourning is necessary, so that you and I may not miss the way.

8. Besides that, a person can go to heaven without money and without honor: he can do without money, do without goods, do without clothes and honor, but this he cannot do without. Sinner, you and I live in more or less hidden or visible sins, and God lays upon me and you no other burden than repentance. I listened, says God, whether you had repentance; if you do not mourn, you cannot be converted, Jeremiah 8:6.

9. You must be glad about this. Are your days of mourning your glad days? Yes, such a one is fruitful. What makes the field so fruitful as the rain and the dew? What makes a Christian so fruitful as being spiritually melted and tender? Such bear the most, and also the best, fruit. By those spiritual tears the works of the flesh are smothered.

10. And what should further move you to this? This: the devil gets little advantage from it — his fiery darts, which he shoots into that wet heart, get smothered. It is like wet gunpowder, which does not so easily catch fire. When Peter came to weeping, the devil got nothing from him there. When Paul said, I serve God with many tears, his fire got nothing from him there. When that man, fallen into incest, came to tears, the devil got nothing from him there, 1 Corinthians 5.

11. What should further spur you on? If you have no melted heart, God is not present in the ordinances for you. If you can stand with a melted heart amid the means of grace, then you can say, truly the Lord is in this place — the name of this place is, the Lord is there. Thomas wanted to see before he would believe, and you want light and comfort: if you have a tender and melted heart, then the sun of righteousness will rise in your heart, for God says, I am near the brokenhearted, Psalm 34:18.

12. Finally, you will not mourn for long. You will not believe that, you will say — how long then will it be? As long as you live, you will sin: tears and sinning will cease together. Well now, you will say, will that not take a long while? No — your days are but a handbreadth, a span of four fingers, Psalm 39:5. The lease is not large — but seventy or eighty years, Psalm 90:10. Then the tears shall be wiped from your eyes, Revelation 21:4.

You will say, in such fortunate days as we now live in, must you preach and speak so of mourning? Judge for yourself whether it ought not to have a place in your heart. God grant that it may have a place in your heart. To laugh, to be careless, self-assured, unmoved — that does not befit us.

II. Ah, Lord, someone will say, I am among the sorrowful, but is it permitted, or might it not go too high? There is no difficulty in that. There are many who come at once to quiet someone down, when he is sorrowful; they do with him as one does when hushing a child — the child would really do better to cry it out a bit more. But can it not indeed go too high? There is no such danger in it; there is help enough at hand. You will perhaps still say, can it then not go too high? I believe I have already dealt with that under the heading of conviction: we shall not take that up now, when it goes too high, but we shall see how high it ought to go.

1. First, it must go as high as over our highest and most precious possession, or our dearest friend, whom one has lost. Joseph lost his dear old father — what mourning did he hold? Such that the inhabitants of that land said, this is a great and grievous mourning of the Egyptians, Genesis 50:11. Israel, when they lost Moses, what precious possession had they lost? Deuteronomy 34:8, they held a whole month's mourning, and wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Zechariah 12:11, the mourning at Jerusalem would be great, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon. What a mourning there was, when king Josiah was dead! The whole army was in mourning, 2 Chronicles 35:24-25. There was mourning as over an only-begotten child, or a firstborn child, on whom one's heart is set. God does not speak against that. So your mourning must be over sin: I have lost my good, I have lost my salvation, and I may not be without a sense of that loss.

2. It must be greater than over any worthy possession. You weep over your husband, wife, minister, magistrate, friend, or child, whom you have lost — but it must be greater than over a friend or child that has died. 2 Samuel 12, David's sorrow was greater over his sin than over his child: see Psalm 51. Eli was more grieved over the Ark than over his two sons: when word came of his two children, he did not fall down; but when word came concerning the Ark of God, he fell from his seat and died. It must be greater over sin than over any worthy possession.

3. Since sins are great, sorrow must be great. Some sorts of sins are more unseemly than others; certain sins are indeed great — but, in proportion as the measure of the sin is great, so also must the lamenting be great. Manasseh was a great sinner; he was also a great mourner, 2 Chronicles 33. He humbled himself greatly; though he had filled Jerusalem with blood, he filled the prison with tears.

4. It must go so high that you say, whatever else I can bear in myself, sin I cannot bear in myself; whatever degree of sin it may be, sin is always a deviation from God — I would rather pluck out my right eye, and I am glad that I am so disposed.

5. It must be so weighty that you can be quieted by nothing else but God, and you say, apart from him all else is broken cisterns; I must have that spring of living water — give me God, and then I have enough. O, my soul thirsts for you, I cannot be at rest without you, Psalm 63:1.

6. Then it is high enough, when you begin to say, I must be found in Christ, or I cannot be glad; I must have you, dearest Lord Jesus, or I am not at rest. Numbers 21, there came fiery serpents that bit them: what good would it have done them to sit there nursing the wound? They would have died, had they not looked up to the bronze serpent. Weep as much as you like, you will die, if you do not come to the Lord Jesus. If you have reached that step in your sorrow, God requires no more of you: for that purpose he has sent you his Son, to comfort and bind up such as these, Isaiah 61:1-3. Bind up that heart, says God; go to the physician, he will help you.

7. Then it is high enough, when it brings you to a settled and careful life, to a godly walk, not fitful or fickle, but steadfast. Then it is high enough, when it brings you to a daily wrestling against your indwelling sin. Let it then go on as it is; you will not be swallowed up, but comfort will come to you.

There remain to us still two matters: a sinner will perhaps say, I have wept more than a child of God; and a child of God will think, I do not know whether I might not have worldly sorrow instead. Those we shall also examine, and then the fruits that follow worldly sorrow, how it works death; and with that we shall bring this sign of the state of grace to a close. Amen.

Sermon 53

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein is found:

I. That a sinner has various sorts of sorrow.
II. Why his spiritual sorrow is called a sorrow after the world.
III. What necessity there is to speak of that sorrow after the world.

We read in Nehemiah, where he says, now I had never before been sad in the king's presence, chapter 2:1. In heaven there is nothing but joy; in hell there is nothing but sorrow; on earth it is divided: there it is now joy, now sorrow, each in its own time. Solomon said, there is a time to mourn, and a time to be glad, a time to laugh and a time to weep, Ecclesiastes 3:4. However reluctant Persian kings were to see anyone in sackcloth, however unwillingly rulers generally look upon their subjects with a sorrowful countenance, and however reluctant one is to meet anyone with tear-wet cheeks, every person nevertheless shares in it: not only at their birth, but there is scarcely a day or a year one could count in which many a sigh is not sighed and many a tear is not shed; and when we take our leave of the world at our death, it happens with weeping — the clammy sweat and the tears come upon the cheeks. To be sorrowful, as it outwardly appears, is not pleasant. To speak or hear of it is not amusing; nevertheless it is needful and useful.

Might there not be some here who would have to say, I have never yet been sad or sorrowful before God's face? How sad is that! You will have to be it either here or hereafter. If you are not awakened here, you will have to mourn eternally. There is a twofold mourning, a good and an evil one. The good mourning helps, but the evil one harms. The good mourning is that cooing and moaning over sin, like the doves of the valleys, Ezekiel 7:16. But mourning after the manner of the world is evil: they think it is a tree of life, but they pluck from it the fruits of death, 2 Corinthians 7:10. If then you have not the true, but the false mourning, know that it will be followed by an eternal mourning. And how bitter that will be, sinner! Have you only mourned here in passing, then God will grant that you shall have to do it eternally.

We have shown you godly sorrow with such clarity as God has given us for it. There yet remained something for us. Even the weak themselves would say, I cannot get past this: I cannot say that God has not made me sorrowful; I cannot say that it is not the spiritual kind — it seems genuine enough to me; but I am troubled, I see that there is a mourning that is not good, and I would like to see which sort my sorrow is. We have as much need of that as you do. We shall seek to do it thus. First, we shall see that a sinner has various kinds of sorrow. Then, why his sorrow is called a sorrow after the world. Then, what necessity we have to speak of that sorrow. Then, to resolve one or two objections concerning that worldly sorrow. Then, we shall set forth some general signs by which that worldly sorrow may be known. Then, some further particular signs, to come still nearer to it. After that, we shall call upon a child of God and a worldling, and say, judge now. Further, we shall seek to stir up those who have only the sorrow after the world, to obtain the true sorrow. Then, to remove the obstacles. Finally, we shall say, if you will not hear, then by that sorrow alone you shall bring upon yourself death.

Those are the matters we still have to treat. 1. How many kinds of sorrow a sinner has in the course of his life. 2. Why his sorrow is called a sorrow after the world. 3. To resolve one or two objections with which they trouble themselves. 4. To show the necessity of why we must speak of that sorrow. 5. To set forth some general signs. 6. Then some particular ones, which will come nearer still, by which God lets it be known. 7. Then we shall call the godly and the sinner before us and say, judge now by these points, and walk through them, and say then which you possess — whether the sorrow after God, or after the world. 8. Then we shall seek to stir you up to seek to obtain more. 9. We shall seek to remove all obstacles. 10. And if you will not then hear, it will work death in you.

We cannot handle all those things at present, as you can well imagine: therefore we have resolved to treat at present these five points: I. The various sorts of sorrow that a sinner has. II. Why his spiritual sorrow is called a sorrow after the world. III. The necessity we have of treating that. IV. We shall take one objection or four out of a sinner's mouth. V. To set forth some general signs by which that sorrow of the world may be known.

I. As to the first: a man, a sinner, living without grace, has more than one kind of sorrow; he has, 1. A natural sorrow. 2. A sinful sorrow. 3. A more spiritual sort, which they suppose to be the good one, but it is bad.

1. There is not a man alive who does not have a natural sorrow. If he loses some dear creature, he cannot do without it, and yet he can no longer keep it, so he mourns. That is natural; even the unreasoning creature mourns over the misfortune of others, or over its own misfortune. Joel 1:18, oh how the cattle groan! Romans 8:22, the whole creation groans. At times the heavens mourn; at times the earth is dismayed. That natural sorrow the godly and the ungodly have in common. Samuel mourned over Saul. Jacob said, I shall die, if you take Benjamin from me. David mourned over Absalom. Rachel wept for her children.

2. There is also in them a sinful sorrow. Because others do well, who fear God, because they go the way to heaven and pursue the things that pertain to it, they are grieved over that. What a dreadful sorrow this is! Pharaoh was so heartily grieved because he had let Israel go. Judas was grieved over that woman, because she did a good deed for the Lord Jesus in anointing him. Joab was grieved because David had shown kindness to Abner. That sinful sorrow rose so high in Amnon, that he grew leaner from day to day, 2 Samuel 13. It can indeed rise so high that they cannot carry it out. Ahab took to his bed because he did not get his own way. Perhaps there are some sitting here who are heartily grieved because someone of their household fears God.

3. Then there is yet another, more spiritual sorrow. Ah, there you see a Cain sorrowful to have committed his sin, and an Esau with tears running down his cheeks, not only because he had lost the blessing, but because he had done that deed, selling the right of his birthright. Pharaoh said, I and my people are wicked. Ahab went about dejectedly. What a commotion Judas made! Perhaps he was struck less by any impression of hell than by this, that he had betrayed his good master.

We see then that there is a natural, a sinful, and a more spiritual sorrow in the sinner, and that sorrow God calls by a name which we must now uncover somewhat.

II. Why does God call the sinner's sorrow by the name of a sorrow after the world, 2 Corinthians 7:10?

1. First, it has its place in and belongs to the world. Every sinner, however godless he is, possesses it. Scripture says that there is not one sinner in the world who does not have some sorrow. The wicked bring pain upon themselves every day, Job 15:20. The wicked has many sorrows, Psalm 32:10. These are here already the very beginnings of hell, where there shall be weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth, Matthew 8:12. They have pain even in their laughter, Proverbs 14:13. They begin here what shall be carried out fully in hell, to all eternity — and how terrified they are, when they think of death and eternity.

2. It is called a sorrow after the world, because there is not one worldling who does not possess it. It is found in the multitude — it is not in some ten or twenty, but in all. The whole world lies in wickedness, 1 John 5:19. It sits in each and every one; each is filled with it according to his measure, though it may be greater in one than in another.

3. It is called so, because they make a fashion of it, they live it out so much for show. What is that showiness in a person who is sorrowful after the world? It pains them a little quietly at heart, that they are afraid of appearing at a loss; but they never have pain in their heart that they have shown themselves before God, that they have transgressed his law and defiled their soul. In that Peter and Judas differed: Judas cried out over the sin, but Peter over the fact that it had so defiled him.

4. With their diminished heart they run to the world, to see if they can be refreshed by it somewhat. Cain went off traveling and wandering; he gave himself so much to do, and afterward went and built a city, so that he might forget his distress. Saul turned to the playing of the harp, and took his pleasure in the harp and the strings to divert himself. The invited guests who would not come — the one went off to buy something, another went to build, another went to marry, and so they diverted themselves, Matthew 22.

5. It leaves you just as sinful as before. Though such a one wept until all his strength was gone, he would remain just as sinful. Esau was and remained profane, Hebrews 12. They return again to wallowing in

Like the dog and the sow, 2 Pet. 2. They weep themselves to water, but they let nothing fall of their hard way and their wicked doings. It goes with such sorrowful people just as with tears on the cheeks: the more they overflow, the muddier they become.

6. They are so named because they always keep company with the world; they do not keep company with the spiritually sorrowful.

7. They can never resolve to separate themselves from the world: they would rather separate from the godly.

8. They are always welcome among worldly people. Have they mourned once, the worldly say: it is only a weakness, it will soon pass over. Indeed, they are not opposed by worldly people, for such people go along with them, they run to the same sin. Pharaoh's courtiers had no objection to his once mourning. They loved Ahab no less for having once been sorrowful: they thought, it is only a weakness, it will soon pass over. They stay with the world, they do not rebuke a worldly person, because they themselves are guilty: they speak out of the world, and because they are of the world, therefore the world loves them, John 15:19.

III. The third point is this: is there need to speak of it, and what great need?

1. First, because God himself deals with it: may we then simply leave it be? God does so, 2 Corinthians 7:9, 10.

2. We must not regard evil as good, nor good as evil, which easily happens if it is not dealt with.

3. Because that sorrow after the world is so misused. How so? With its false arguments. It stands in the Bible: blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted, Matthew 5:4. It stands in the Bible: God dwells with the broken, Isaiah 57:15. He will comfort the mourners, Isaiah 61:3. I have been sorrowful and broken over my sins, they say, and from this they draw their conclusion: so I expect to be comforted.

4. It is necessary in order to remove the misuse made of Zechariah 12:10, where God had promised the Spirit of mourning and of grace: that mourning, they say, so I may then conclude that I have spiritual life.

5. Because not every promise of comfort is made to every mourner. That comfort and salvation do not follow for every mourner — let me give you three or four examples of that. 1 Samuel 24:17–19, King Saul — what more could he do? He weeps, he accuses himself, he confesses his crime; and in 1 Samuel 26:21 he goes so far as to say, my son, return, I will do you no more harm — yet did he not remain that same Saul, who dies in his iniquity? Look at 1 Kings 21, that account of Ahab: when he had heard the word that Elijah had spoken, he put sackcloth on his loins, he humbled himself, he showed the very greatest sorrow, indeed it went so far that he went about faint in the streets — yet did he not remain the ungodly Ahab? Look at Esau, Genesis 27: there he stands weeping and wailing, his father's whole chamber was filled with his tears — but what does Paul say of him, Hebrews 12:16, be not profane as Esau! Judas — did he not remain Judas, for all his crying out so? Must not I and you then conclude, that no one can conclude from his tears that his sorrow is good?

IV. The fourth point is to remove two or three objections. A sinner will say this very thing, when you take up that point: 1. Those were sorrowful in appearance, but I am sorrowful in truth. 2. Those were so only outwardly, but mine goes deeper. 3. Those got no comfort, but I do get comfort. Those are three weighty points.

1. First, those were so in appearance, we are not. I answer, they were not so merely in appearance. Pharaoh and Ahab — were they so merely in appearance? They were kings, they could deceive no one by it, they already had honor. Consider Judas: did he do that for appearance's sake? He sought no honor nor good name by it; he showed that he had something else in his heart, he hanged himself and lost his life over it. The others were kings.

2. If you take that argument out of their hand, then they have a second point, and they say, they did it only outwardly, they tore their garments. Do not deceive yourself — it went with them very much from the heart, and so far, that they all but fell down: they went perhaps much further than you. Jeremiah 4:18: this is your wickedness, that it is so bitter, that it reaches to your very heart.

3. If that will not do, then they have yet a third point, and they say: I feel comfort, a relief to my heavy heart; however ungodly I am, when I have prayed and wept, then I feel relief. Do you know what we answer to that?

First, that your heart is relieved by weeping and praying has a natural cause: it is like a vessel that is working; if it is not given air it will burst, but if you give it air, it comes to rest. You are so sorrowful, that you say, if I did not come to weeping, I should burst: then you flow away in tears, and thereby your heart is relieved, it gets air.

6. But we must come still closer. You say, I am somewhat more at ease, you comfort yourself even though God has not done it: when you have wept and prayed, what do you go on to do? I hope, you say, it will now go well, I am somewhat more at ease, I have done what God requires, I have sought after God's will; yes, if I dare say it, I think God has heard my prayer, and seen my tears,

and now it follows of itself, that my sins are forgiven me and pardoned, I shall not die.

See, in such snares you lie; God must help you out of them when he gives grace. We would still like to add one more, for you will say, I am sorrowful over sin as sin — but that we shall perhaps do afterward, we have enough with these three for now.

V. We were to look at some common marks. Sorrow after the world — by what is it to be known, even though it should weep itself to water?

1. First, if such people spoke their hearts outright, they would say: I wish that I were not sorrowful in my life, I would rather keep company with those who feast every day, than be every day in the house of mourning, I love a cheerful life. I will not consider whether pleasure is sinful: that weighs on me so heavily; must they not say, when they must go into eternity, that I have never in my life been able to speak of any sorrow?

2. When you look at such people closely, their sorrow is generally about worldly things: I fear this or that will befall and meet me — that loss, that disgrace; my brewery, my husband, my child, must go; that blow to my business I shall yet receive; and then sin comes trailing in with a little tail at the end of their thoughts, and one says, if there were no sins there would be no wounds: if something happens, then one would think to hire mourners and wailing women, then one knows no measure nor bound, then it is, if there were no sins there would be no wounds.

3. When you examine them thoroughly, their sorrow is generally because they cannot have their own way and will, when they are checked or hindered in it, when they or others must do good, that they cannot bear.

4. When you once see them troubled over their sins and their lost condition, and you say so, they would deny it, they do not want it known; it does not trouble me there, they say — and it troubles them there very much indeed, but they will not say so; they would gladly say, as Jeroboam said to his wife, that no one at all should know that you are Jeroboam's wife, and that we are so troubled.

5. They cannot keep it bottled up, it cannot always stay hidden, but then they would wish that no one knew it, they would wish that neither God nor man knew it. If they are once moved in church, the tears spring from their eyes, they would wish it had not happened; that should not befall me so much, they say, and it was a great weakness in them, that they were so overcome by it there.

6. You will find that sorrow after the world is so readily plastered over with false mortar. They do not seek to be dealt with rightly, but they love those who know how to talk them round and quiet them, and so heal their breach in the easiest way and lay cushions under their elbows.

7. Their sorrow comes, and it vanishes quickly again, it is no lasting good. There is a proverb that says nothing dries up faster than tears. If that is true in nature, it is true that no sorrow dries away faster than that after the world.

8. Those who are sorrowful only after the world make more commotion than those who are sincere. Judas made more commotion than Peter. Then they run from room to room, then it is, stand by me, help me.

9. It is generally feigned: they have certain aims in it before God and men.

10. It generally goes together with desperation, and is also untimely: it is all delay and bottling up, until they can do so no more, until people begin to say, you are ill — then they begin to have thoughts of dying.

Now lay your heart to that. We have now dealt with the matters we intended. If God is pleased, we shall in what follows seek to resolve this: whether that sorrow is over sin as sin? And then we shall say, judge now for yourselves. And then we shall mix in between some particular marks, by which it will appear still more clearly. Watch closely then, over your own eyes; seek, both I and you, to act carefully, for who knows how soon we shall stand there, where the eye of God, as a flaming fire, will test our hearts and reins. The things that are of the Spirit require close attention. People say, when one weighs gold, one must pay attention to the smallest amount; so too here — if you wish to find what is right, you must pay close attention, which is the true and which the false sorrow. To that end may God help us, and may he grant that none of us come out ashamed, and to that end we wish that what has been spoken may be blessed to us and to you, to God's glory, for his Son's sake! Amen.

Sermon 54

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which, I. It is examined, whether a person without grace can indeed be sorrowful over sin as sin. II. Some further and clearer marks of sorrow after the world are given. III. The godly and the ungodly are called upon to examine their sorrow by it.

We read Matthew 13:47, 48, that the Savior compares the kingdom of heaven to a net. Again, he says, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. When the fishermen are at sea, they cast out the net, and gather into it a multitude of fish, some good and some bad. Into the church too come many people; there the net of the Word is cast out; not all who come to church are good people — one does not thrive and another is good.

Someone might think, the good and the bad will easily be known and distinguished; the wheat is easily distinguished from the chaff. If that is true, why then are so many exhortations to self-examination spoken in the Word, and why is it said, examine yourselves, prove yourselves, 2 Corinthians 13:5? To what end are there such prayers as, Lord, try me, test my reins, Psalm 26:2? To what end then is it the practice of a Christian, let us search and try our ways, Lamentations 3:40? Yes, why do the ministers then draw so much distinction between the dead and the living, James 2:20–26, if they are so easily known? Why then are Christians so anxious to know whether they are a hare or a mere grain of corn? So speaks nature: whoever is nothing more than nature does not like to be closely examined. Jacob would gladly have had his father regard him only as a hairy Esau, without ever feeling him. Jeroboam's wife would gladly have had the prophet Ahijah be as blind in his soul as he was in body, so that he would not have known that she was Jeroboam's wife. The ministers who come in sheep's clothing but are wolves within would gladly be taken for sheep. Whether there be a great difference, and although the chaff is easily distinguished from the wheat, it is nevertheless not in vain that God stirs up ministers to draw a distinction between good and bad: that is no idle curiosity, and whoever is truly a grain of corn is glad that marks are set down, by which he may see whether he is a piece of chaff or a grain of corn. Why then do we draw a distinction?

1. Because the wheat sometimes has a semblance as if it were chaff, and the chaff sometimes has a semblance as if it were wheat. Peter, when he had denied his Lord, did he not then give the appearance of being merely chaff? David, when he had fallen so grievously, did he then look at all like a godly man? The chaff, too, sometimes has a semblance as if it were wheat. When Balaam spoke so grandly, did he not seem like a grain of corn? "I," he said, "am the man whose eyes are opened, who hears the words of God speaking; though Balak should give me his house full of gold and silver, I would not speak otherwise than what God gives me to speak." Would one not think of such a man that he was a grain of corn?

2. Because the chaff sometimes receives or carries the name of a grain of corn. Revelation 3:1: they had a name that they lived, and were dead. There often goes about them a great name, that they have grace, and yet they are dead.

3. Because the chaff has many false imaginings: what lack I yet, said that young man, Matthew 19:20. They can sometimes bring it so near, that the wheat looks upon them with love: the Lord Jesus beheld him, and loved him, Mark 10:21, and in Acts 26, King Agrippa was almost persuaded — what affection Paul showed toward him!

4. It is needful to take from the chaff the thought that it is a grain of corn. Yes, they say, the ministers have such a knack for it, to condemn us, against Matthew 7:1. We do not judge you, we say, but come and lay yourselves beside the marks and judge for yourselves. We wish to pass no masterly judgments over you, but go between the pieces and judge for yourselves. Along with that comes the Spirit, who says, I tell you this, judge whether you

are born of God or not, whether you find in yourself the properties of a grain of corn or of chaff. Do you find yourself in the state of grace, or in the state of nature? For that purpose is the distinction made.

We have sought to do this when we spoke of the spiritual sorrow that is after God, which works an unrepentable conversion unto salvation. We then said, that the sorrow after the world works death. So far had we come, in this matter of not breaking the bruised reed. A weak one will say, I fear that I have only false grace, therefore we must draw the distinction, and once we have drawn it we shall say, judge for yourselves. The sorrow after the world we showed you last Wednesday. Then we said: 1. What various kinds of sorrow a sinful person had. 2. Why it is called sorrow after the world. 3. Why we also had to deal with that sorrow after the world, and what reasons we had for it. 4. We resolved some objections. 5. We gave some common marks by which that sorrow of the world was to be known. Now we have these three things:

I. A great case of conscience, namely, whether a person without grace can indeed be sorrowful over sin as sin?

II. We shall give some further marks of the sorrow after the world.

III. We shall then appeal to both godly and ungodly, and say, what do you think now? How does it stand with you? Do you find that sorrow after the world in you?

There is no one here who has not had some sorrow over sin: the question is, whether an unregenerate person can indeed be sorrowful over sin as sin? We shall then lay before your heart some spiritual marks, by which you will be able to know whether you have the sorrow after the world or not. Finally we shall call upon both godly and ungodly, and say, let us examine ourselves, whether the sorrow after the world is in us or not.

1. As to the first: that is a difficult case — can an unregenerate person indeed be sorrowful over sin as sin? We must now deal with that in five or six points.

1. First we say, what is it to mourn over sin as sin? It is simply to mourn because we have sinned against the most holy nature of God, against so much love of God, against so many benefits that we have enjoyed from God, and because we have thereby made ourselves so defiled and unclean before God: that troubles a child of God, that he has such a viper's heart, that he has such a serpent's nature, that he is so leprous and so unclean and so abominable and stinking before God, that he has such

markings and such leopard's spots, and that he is so unclean, born of one unclean, that in him dwells no good thing, Isaiah 64:6, Job 14:4, Romans 7:18. And that, without their thoughts even once going out to the punishment: that troubles them so, that they are so sinful and so vile, that they have sinned so against the most holy nature of God.

2. I gladly confess that such sorrow does not fall to the unregenerate, and all the theologians say this, that that is a sorrow which is after God, which has for its fruit an unrepentable conversion unto salvation, and gives them no rest in their spirit, until they are reconciled to God in Christ. Let us indeed take heed to this, that we may not be lost.

3. Now we come a step higher. There can fall in an unregenerate person such a sorrow, that they are sorrowful over their secret sins, because God knows them. They say, will it bring it out to my eternal shame and disgrace, will he not conceal it but reveal it? He reveals what happens in secret, God will judge the most hidden counsels of the heart.

4. They go so far, that they are sorrowful over their secret sins, because their conscience knows it. Beloved, you may deceive the whole world, yet you will not deceive your conscience, nor God either. You may silence me or another, but your sins stand written on the tablets of your heart: to that sin you are bound, of that nature you are. Conscience does its work, when it is not seared: that is when our heart condemns us, those are the thoughts that accuse and excuse, 1 John 3:20, Romans 2:15. This is what Solomon says: your heart shall trouble you, when you have cursed your neighbor in secret, Ecclesiastes 7:22. You may be perhaps a fornicator, a drunkard, or a thief, in secret; you can be troubled over that, because your conscience knows it: that is why Cain was so hunted; so it was with Achan and Judas; however secretly it was done, the conscience knows it.

5. Someone can be sorrowful over his most secret sins. It has often gone so grossly that you think your neighbor knows it too; it cannot be hidden, you say, I know my neighbor must know it. Conscience is a wondrous thing, it always sides with God: I know, it says, what you do in the most secret place, and however secretly you have done it, your neighbor may well think it, he well sees it. Through that a person then betrays himself, and often blurts it out: it will be brought to light anyway, he says; he cannot smother it any longer, it must come out.

6. He goes so far, that he broods more over the sin than over the punishment, when it has gone too grossly. That is clearly seen in Judas, Matthew 27:4: I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. He was not so afraid of hell, and did not say, what hell and what pain shall I have, but, what a monster am I, to betray my innocent good Master, against so many kindnesses, against so many sermons as I have heard from him, and against so many miracles as I have seen from him? Alas, he said, I know not what counsel to give my own mind.

The case was, whether an unconverted person could be sorrowful over sin as sin? We have now answered: 1. What that consisted of. 2. That it had no place in them. 3. That they are sorrowful over their secret sins, because God knows it. 4. Also because their conscience knows it. 5. Because they assume their neighbor knows it. 6. And also, that they are more sorrowful over the sin than over the punishment.

II. Having seen this, we must now see whether your sorrow is not merely a sorrow after the world. I do not know whether there is anyone here who can say, I know that I have never had sorrow over sin: examine whether your sorrow is of the right kind or not. On a Wednesday we set before you and gave you some common marks of the sorrow after the world. We shall name them again briefly. 1. They said they had no taste for the new life. 2. It was no greater than over the loss of some dear little creature. 3. You were sorrowful, because you could not do the evil you wished, and because you had done good, you regretted it. 4. When you were troubled over sin, you bottled it up and would not let it be known. 5. You could not always bottle it up, and then you made more outward fuss than there was substance within. 6. Then you did not wish your life to be sorrowful any longer. 7. Then, if you were once sorrowful, it was only feigned. 8. Then, it was untimely, as when you were about to die. 9. Then, you held on to despair. 10. Finally, you did not walk in God's way, but plastered yourself over, and you loved to be among such people as also plastered you over with false mortar and healed your breach in the easiest way. We have ten or eleven more spiritual marks, which we shall add here.

1. The sorrow of the unregenerate is a dismal melancholy: he has many gloomy thoughts about his sins, he takes it as settled that he must be lost over them; he gives no room to reason, he simply asserts, I must be lost, he does not strive to come out of it, it is beyond hope anyway, he says, Jeremiah 18:12. They are without hope in the world, Ephesians 2:12. They have such melancholy thoughts, that they assume they will be lost.

2. When that somewhat passes, then they swing over to the other side, and become talkative and prone to laughter: so without reason they swing over to the merry side. See it in Ahab: he went about the streets so that he nearly fainted, 1 Kings 21, and afterward he was talkative again — indeed he even has Micaiah struck. So without reason do they swing over to the merry side and grow cheerful again.

3. You will find that this sorrow fills their heart with dread of dying. What does conscience do, that strange thing? It shows them their sins vividly before their eyes, and how deserving they are on that account of going to hell: through this their sleep is sometimes taken from them, so that they must sigh and complain; through that dread they cannot bear to sit under sound preaching. Pilate's wife said, I have suffered many things in a dream, Matthew 27:19. They go about seized with a fear of death: it is with them as with Felix, who could not bear it under Paul's preaching: "go your way for this time," he said, "I can hear you no more," Acts 24:25. Woe is me, what will yet become of me, sometimes I can hardly stand it!

4. When those anxieties somewhat pass, you will find that they settle it that those anxieties were the anxieties of the new birth, that they were then converted. And why not, since if you do not receive more, you are lost? Do not say that this is a sign of your change: it is no more than what Belshazzar and Felix had; indeed, even the devils in hell tremble, James 2:19.

5. Is that your sorrow, then it is only after the world, if it only arises from your seeing others sorrowful and moved who are truly sorrowful: you will scarcely find one who, seeing others who truly repent moved, is not himself moved too. In Acts 26, when Paul with such feeling recounted his conversion, Agrippa could scarcely restrain himself: Festus cried out, and Agrippa too.

6. Does your sorrow arise from this: you were perhaps once under a sermon that was very moving, so that perhaps six out of ten people fell to weeping, and you were brought, as it were, into straits by that moving preaching. If it is nothing else, then your sorrow is only a sorrow after the world. In Nehemiah 8 many believers wept there, and in Judges 2 they all wept, when the angel of God laid to their heart what they had done, and in 1 Samuel 7, when Samuel preached so powerfully, all the people wept, and they drew water and poured it out before the face of the Lord, and said, so melted are our hearts. Have you never in your life been in a church where there was a great stirring? We have

ourselves in our lifetime seen those who cried out. If your sorrow is nothing more than that, then it is mistaken.

7. You are sorrowful over your sinful conduct because it has cost you your reputation and honor and esteem, so that you must say, just as Tamar did: "and I, whither shall I cause my shame to go?" 2 Samuel 13:13. You have lost your reputation through your sinful ruin, your head hangs over it like a bulrush, and on that occasion such gloomy thoughts arise in you, that you might well lay hands on yourself, so that you would well need to be lifted up by God, as Cain was: if you do well, shall you not be accepted? Genesis 4:7. Though your sins, said God, be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, if you turn to me, Isaiah 1:18.

8. The eighth little mark is this: your sorrow arises because through your sinful life you have brought harm upon yourself: you come through your sinful conduct into hardship and poverty. Jeremiah 2:19: your own wickedness shall correct you. Jeremiah 4:18: this is your wickedness, that it is so bitter, that it reaches to your very heart. Egypt was ruined: see that king there with tears. Nineveh shall perish, the whole city was in an uproar.

9. You who are sorrowful after the world have perhaps sinned with a sin punishable before the magistrate, and you fear, if it comes out, that the sword of the authorities will punish you: examine, are they not all merely sins punishable before God?

10. It does not come unless it has gone very grossly indeed: they must have sinned dreadfully, against the light of nature, against a good upbringing, against the long-suffering of God, against the Word; that troubles them, it has gone too grossly. If you wish to build your state of grace on that, it is mistaken. Such fears the heathen have had, Romans 2:15.

11. Do you know from what else it may arise? You have perhaps through your sinful conduct brought sorrow and suffering upon your neighbor: it was perhaps some widow or orphan somewhere, and that gnaws at you. See it in Judas, Matthew 27, because he had brought his Lord into suffering.

We shall name these points once more, one by one. 1. It springs perhaps from melancholy thoughts; there is no help for me, I must be lost. 2. Then you swing over to the other side, to frivolity and vanity. 3. You live with an extreme amount of dread in your heart. 4. Upon that you then build your conversion. 5. It arises from your seeing others moved. 6. Does it arise from moving preaching? 7. Because your sinning has cost you your reputation. 8. Because you have thereby brought yourself into hardship and suffering. 9. Did it arise from this, that you have sinned

with a sin punishable before the magistrate. 10. Does it arise from this, that it went too grossly. 11. Did it arise from this, that through your sinful conduct you brought your neighbor into hardship and suffering. That is the sorrow after the world, if that is all you have.

III. Now our third point. Hearers, now we call you to the point: judge — you have perhaps once let your head hang and wept. Godly ones, we must tell you, all these things the godly too will find in their own time. To help you grasp it: a corpse has as much a mouth, hands, eyes, feet as a living person, but it works with them differently. That you should then say, I have no more than this, would be a mistake. When you say, I have nothing more than a sorrow after the world, that is a mistake. If you sat beside a corpse, would you possess much more than a corpse? In you there are other fruits — in you are the marks of a right, godly sorrow; besides what we have now named, do you also possess what we named before. The ungodly build their state on such foundations. We say, that is mistaken, they will come out deceived, unless God has mercy on them to reveal it to them before they die: how deceived will you come out, and awaken, when it is too late! We beg each of you, that you would say before the Lord, whether you possess it or not. Even if you do not possess all the marks, you perhaps possess many of them, and even if you possessed them all, you would still go lost with tears on your cheeks: that sorrow after the world would work death in you. We beg you, seek to obtain more.

Now follows: 1. That we shall seek to stir you up to obtain more. 2. We shall ask you, what hinders you from seeking more? 3. If you seek no more, we announce death to you. We say, seek more, what hinders you? If you will not sail on, it will bring you death. That is not our word, but God's word, that the sorrow after the world works death, 2 Corinthians 7:10. You could obtain more, if you sought it; it could come within your thoughts this very day; God could this evening well have bestowed it upon you. Had it this fruit, how blessed it would be! That this saying might so cling to you, and that you might go along with it a little! That you might say, Lord, it stands clearly in the Bible that the sorrow after the world works death, but it also stands clearly there that there is a sorrow after God — oh that I might obtain it! Have the mercies of God an end? Has the blood of Christ no more power? Have the workings of the Spirit an end? Can he no longer make a stony heart into flesh? Oh yes, now as much as ever. The mercies of God are not at an end, the ransom of Christ still has power, the workings of the Spirit are as great as ever:

if you do not seek that, then you must be lost. What does it help, that you have much pleasure here, you will then afterward have eternal anguish, when you think, then I was in church and I let it all pass by, I settled it that I must be lost anyway.

We shall leave it there for now, and pray God that he would be pleased to grant this and bless all that has been spoken, to his honor, for his Son's sake, Amen.

Sermon 55

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which one finds: I. A brief picture of the sorrow after the world, and of the sorrow after God. II. A question, what use has been made of this? III. If anyone must judge that he misses the right kind, he is urged to seek it. IV. The lions and hindrances that stand in the way are taken away.

We read Acts 26:28, that there a king in his company cried out, "Paul, you almost persuade me to be a Christian." A minister who preaches cannot change the heart, but he can well move it. A man who has a dead body before him can well move it, and he can roll it forward, but he cannot make it alive. When does a minister move people most?

1. First, when he comes with the terror of the Lord, when he sets before them the judgment, and how they must appear there, and what their sentence shall be, and how the goats shall be separated from the sheep, when he then says, there you shall have to appear, and who knows how short a time the light shall yet last? The apostle found this, and therefore often used that means: knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, 2 Corinthians 5:11. When does he move people still further?

2. Then, when he comes with death before their eyes: consider the terrors of dying, he says, and he brings it home to their understanding before that king of terrors. It cannot be, when that happens, but that they must be seized with the fear of death, Hebrews 2:15. Then they will sometimes say, oh, let that cup pass from me.

3. He also moves people, when he comes with the dreadful threatenings of the Word: it cannot be but that they must be moved. When Jonah preached their downfall through the streets of the Ninevites, it could not be but that the whole city and court fell into commotion. So it went with David, 2 Samuel 24: there came a minister who said that he must choose one of three judgments — David says, I am in great distress, verse 14.

4. Then they are moved, when a sinner is found under judgments, and there comes a minister who says, look at it well, why is it so bitter to you, that it reaches to your very heart? This is your wickedness, Jeremiah 2:19–24. The hard message sometimes makes them shudder, as with the wife of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 14 — how she stood and trembled, when that hard message, the death of her child and the downfall of her husband, was declared to her! Pharaoh stood with tears on his cheeks, when the judgments struck him.

5. A minister can move people, when he begins to show sinners the God of grace, when he sets before them the Mediator for reconciliation for those who desire salvation, when he says, see what promises there are, and how willing the Lord is to help; and see too, how blessed is God's people. It cannot be but that the heart is moved, and one would well say, I wish I too were as blessed as that upright man, whose end I see shall be peace, Psalm 37:37.

6. Then a minister moves people, when he sets forth vividly the conversion of someone in the congregation. The apostle Paul did that in that company from which we drew the text of our introduction, Acts 26. There he goes on to relate how God had changed him: at that Festus cried out in agitation, "Paul, you are beside yourself"; then Agrippa comes in with somewhat more composure, and says, "you almost persuade me to be a Christian, you all but seize hold of my heart." Then it goes just as in John 4, when that Samaritan woman told of her change, the whole city ran out. When Philip told of his change, Nathanael also went to the Lord Jesus, John 1.

7. Do you know when a minister moves people further still? When he relates the edifying walk of God's people. Then it would go with them as in 1 Samuel 24: the tears sprang from Saul's eyes, when he saw the good conduct of David, who heaped coals of fire upon his head; and in 1 Samuel 26 he says, is that a way to act? Who has ever seen such dealing as you show, rendering good for evil?

8. Once more, then he moves people, when God allows a minister movingly to describe the sins of the people and his own sins. A minister must not think that he need only ever vividly describe the sins of the people, but also his own, and that he must do not only in secret but also in public. Nehemiah 8: there the whole assembly falls to weeping, when Nehemiah so movingly described his own sins too. When Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh, how are you so bold? how do you sin so? — Moses stood there with tears, saying, "I and my people," he said, "are wicked," Exodus 9:27. Indeed they come to the point of making an outcry and crying out like Judas, Matthew 27:4: "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." That vivid setting before their eyes of sin moves people so, that they cry out with tears like Esau: their hearts are struck by it, they come to weeping and sighing, they look down before themselves, a tear comes out.

9. Finally, then they are moved, when it is vividly shown, what is grace and what is not grace, what it is to be near-Christians and mere name-Christians; when it is said in the liveliest way, your marks are marks of no grace at all; then they must go away sorrowful, and a cold shudder runs through their hearts. But, though they may move people, they cannot change their hearts.

With such things, preached vividly, we have been occupied for some time. We have sought to set before you the distinction in many marks, and are now still occupied with the mark of godly sorrow, and indeed with that sorrow which is after the world. People have once been moved: now they say, we believe it will go well, now I know the anguish of the new birth, now I know sorrow over sin. Do not therefore think that you have grace, even if some improvement followed upon it, even if you found some betterment from it, even if you built some faith upon it. Do not say, it is well now: weeping has this as its natural cause, that improvement and betterment sometimes follow upon it. See it in Herod. Yes, how many a powerful conviction comes to nothing! We have sought to show the mourning ones of Zion, that their sorrow was a blessing of the covenant of grace: and to those who were only once moved, we have given scriptural marks, that their sorrow could only be a sorrow after the world. Then we called you to look at it. We said, come, see it. Where did you find yourself in it? Was it in the picture of the sorrow after God, or in the picture of the world? To make it easy for you, we shall do the following today.

I. Show you in brief that great picture of the sorrow after God and after the world.

II. Ask, what use have you now made of that?

III. If you must judge that you miss the right kind, we shall then seek to move you to seek it.

IV. As many lions and hindrances as there are, we shall seek to take away.

V. Lastly we shall seek to lay upon your heart that conclusion of Paul, that the sorrow after the world works death.

Those then are our five matters, to which your thoughts shall be led. First, we shall let you see in brief that great chart: that sorrow after God and after the world which we have dealt with at length, we shall now show you in brief. Then we shall ask you, where you stand in it, how it is with you, what use you make of this? And if you must say, I have that sorrow after the world, do not therefore give it up: to that end we shall seek to stir you up, that you might obtain the other. Further, as many difficulties as there are, we shall seek to resolve. Lastly, we shall seek to lay that thunderclap upon your heart, that the sorrow after the world works death.

I. As to the first: the sorrow after God, in brief — how is it?

1. First, that sorrow is over every kind of sin, over the sin of the disposition, over the right eye, hands, and feet, over secret and open sin, over sin as sin: even if you never suffered any blow, harm, or shame from your life over it, it grieves you sorely at heart.

2. They are sorrowful over sin, because it has such effects: it estranges them from God, it makes him hide his face, and then they are terrified.

3. They remain standing so before God with their defiled soul, with all their filthy garments, until they feel that their sorrow becomes spiritual, until they are made ashamed, so that they say, I am ashamed and blush with shame, O God, over my sins, with Nehemiah and Ezra and others, Nehemiah 9, Ezra 9, Jeremiah 31.

4. They sink away in their own unworthiness and condemnableness; they dare not lift up their eyes to heaven with the publican, and say with the prodigal son, I am not worthy to be called your child, I am not worthy to receive grace.

5. They sink away in love, and say, Lord, are you so good, that you let such a vile pardon be offered — what riches of loving-kindness is that?

6. Then they seek to mourn as a child and not as a slave: they do not stop until they have believed and felt some hope of reconciliation in Christ; they are as glad as they mourn; they hope it will not pass over.

What now is the sorrow after the world, in brief? This: its movements are sudden, in fits and squalls; it comes suddenly and goes away suddenly again. When they are sorrowful, they make much outward fuss, and it is over again. They are excessively loose, vain,

wanton. They are alarmed over sin when they see the righteousness of God with all its consequences, hell and damnation. Then they are sorrowful over it, when they thereby fall into harm or shame, or when they have perhaps thereby brought harm or shame upon another: that they would gladly have prevented — that is not what they were aiming at. Finally, they do not spiritualize their sorrow.

II. Now we say, we have shown you that at length, but what use have you now made of it? What do you now judge of yourself? I believe there is no one here who does not know sorrow. Do you know how it has gone, when it was after the world?

1. You did not even pay attention to it, you let it fly right over your soul, you did not want to be touched by it, but thought, I want to come away unscathed.

2. You said, that mark fits so-and-so well, but not me.

3. Do you know how you were? If there was some good effect in your sorrow, you sought to remember it and tell it, so that you might get a name and reputation, and set it before others, as though you too were such a spiritual person.

4. If you were somewhere where you were clearly exposed, you would have become angry and irritated over it.

But on the other hand, where it works rightly, such people are glad that the Word is a judge of the thoughts. Were you once made uneasy by someone who dealt faithfully with you, did it not fester, did you begin to say, let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, I am glad that I am chastened, Psalm 141:5? Yes, did such a one say in composure before God, examine me, and lay himself so before God and say, prove me and try me, Psalm 26:2 and 139:23–24? Tell me, was David's prayer your prayer, and have you in composure said with him to God, prove me, O Lord, and try me: examine my reins and my heart. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting? Yes, if you thought, it is not yet right, did you then go to God, and say, I am not yet dead, and God lives, I shall seek it with the Lord?

III. Now the third point: what does your heart say? Have you been able to lay yourself beside that portrait? Must you say, I fear that I deceive myself, I believe that I have only the sorrow after the world? I believe that there are many here who have only that. Now a word to such. Oh, that you had a taste for it! Would you indeed wish it? We ask you, set your mind upon it once. You will say, why

do you press this so? The godly sigh and complain — is that then so good? Yes, there is more in it than you think. Why?

1. First, it is better to live than to be dead. It is not the same, whether a dead person sat beside you: your heart would recoil from it, but your heart does not recoil from a living one. It is true here, that sorrow after God is more excellent than that of the world in our neighbor, Proverbs 12:26.

2. Oh that you had a taste for it! God is still just as gracious and mighty, just as good and heartfelt, to give it to you, as he ever was to any chosen vessel. Jesus' death and blood is as precious now as when he shed it on the cross. The Spirit of God still proceeds from the Father and the Son as much as ever, he works in the vessels of mercy, and you know perhaps some in whom you see it. Can you still get no taste for it? He can break your stony heart too, he can make it flesh. We testify that God would gladly have it in you.

3. Those who have received it were no better nor worthier than you: they had a heart of diamond and of stone, they too were wallowing in their own blood. They brought as little with them as you do.

4. God requires it, he commands it, he makes as many promises as you are willing to listen to him, Joel 2, Proverbs 4. Since God commands it, how dare you displease him, and be disobedient? "Behold, I stand at the door and knock," says God — do you feel nothing then, are you not moved even now? Revelation 3:20.

IV. What hinders you! What holds you back! 1. You think perhaps, that once I am broken, the Lord will go away. Do not think that: oh no, says God, I will look to you, I will be with you, Isaiah 66:2, I will lay a good medicine upon you, I will bind up your wounds. Sinner, do you still get no taste for it? Has the Lord not sometimes come so near, that you had as much as you could hold? You began sometimes to sigh and to weep — had you followed it up, you would perhaps have come right through it. And yet the Lord says, will you still come, I will overlook your refusals, and all your vanity I will overlook. The offer may still befall you, the time is fleeting and uncertain. Now you have perhaps still some moving means, some talent suited to your temperament, that works upon your mind; make use of it; otherwise God may soon say, my Spirit shall strive with you no more, I will work upon you no more, whether or not you sit under the ministry — that hammer shall knock no more, that sword shall cut no more, those arrows shall have no more sharpness.

2. Do you know what stops you? You give it up so often. But do not give it up: God will show mercy to thousands, and who

knows, you might be one in a thousand, or of thousands? His loving-kindness reaches above the clouds, and he has never yet been put to shame in that name: the Lord is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness, Psalm 103:8. You always say, that we judge you so, but you deceive yourself in that. You often say of someone who deals rightly with you, you judge me; but that is a mistake, we would rather give you courage to seek grace.

3. You say, may we then never laugh in our lives, nor be glad, nor have joy, if one fears God? Far from it: yes, you may well be glad, but not wanton, where you have grief in and after it: but holy repentance bears holy gladness, the tears of godly sorrow purify from sin. Luke 15: they began to be merry, when the prodigal son came home. That does not mean they have no joy: it is a holy joy.

4. This holds you back: you grieve the Spirit so often, when he wishes to let all his fountains spring up in you, Psalm 87:7. You grieve and quench the Spirit, so that he is unwilling to come again, and rightly so. If you do not have the Spirit, you cannot rightly mourn, Zechariah 12:10.

5. You wish to have grace, and not to mourn: but then you must mourn; he who does not mourn has no grace; he who rightly mourns, he has grace.

6. Your sins are but splinters and gnats in your eyes, you think you need not take such little sins so seriously: but with small sins you fall into hell just as surely as with great ones. How shall you escape, if you are careless? Remember Lot's wife: in what could her sin scarcely be found? She only once looked back, to see God's righteousness upon her native city.

7. This hinders you: delay of conversion. It is too soon to put your hand to the plow — to be converted is settled as needful, but you keep putting it off. Have you ever in your life said, it is too soon to become healthy, it is too soon to become rich? Have you ever said to the devil, when you were young, it is too young to sin? And will you then say that to God? You did not renounce the devil, when he tempted you in your youth.

8. What is wrong with you? This: the judgment does not come quickly enough, Ecclesiastes 8:11. When God does not strike with judgments, the sinner does not strike much upon his hip or his breast.

9. What holds you back? This: it will do no harm, even if I lack godly sorrow; God has spared me so long, it will still do no harm, I shall have no bonds unto death. And might this month perhaps be your last month? God may soon bring you before him. Yes, it will indeed do harm.

Now we have named the hindrances, the lions in the way: you would sometimes hardly dare name them.

V. Now, sorrow after the world works death: but that we cannot finish now, we shall have that at the next opportunity, and that shall be the subject of the coming sermon. Now, I hope that the Lord will bless this to us and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake, Amen.

Sermon 56

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three things occur: I. We consider death, that dreadful thing. II. We see the influence and effect that sorrow after the world has upon death. III. An inquiry, whether the sorrow after God can also work death.

We read Romans 7:13, that the apostle says, was then that which is good made death unto me? And he answers, God forbid. What had become death to him? Sin, his sinful disposition and nature. But the law was good, holy, and righteous: there I sought, he means to say, to bring my flesh under, but sin began in me all manner of lust, which deceived me. The natural man, seeing the law, is just like a rebel who ought to lay down his arms when commanded, but instead of that becomes so much the more hostile, so that he must die: the good does not bring him death, but his own hostility does. So it is with a natural man. Isaiah had to preach, but it made the heart of the people fat and heavy — hearing they heard, but they understood not; the good ministry did not do it. Paul and others had to preach, but they were to some a savor of death unto death, and to some a savor of life unto life. It goes with the good ministry just as with good food: people sit at table, they eat and they drink, but it does not agree with them well; that is not the fault of the food, but of the corruption that is in them. It goes with the ministry just like with a good medicine: a doctor comes, he gives a good remedy, but through the corruption that is in the person, it burdens the sick person more, and increases the sickness. A child of God, who has received eyes to see, asks, has then the good become death to me? No: but my own corrupt nature.

But a natural man does not see that: he would say, when he has spruced himself up a bit, to make himself pleasing to God and men, when he has resorted to praying, reading, tears, repentance over sin, he would say, that must be a tree of life, no one can say of that, death is in the pot; I think that it can go well enough, and that I can well stand before God so; I have prayed, made confession of sins, striven after the good way, I have kept all the commandments from my youth up, and how often have these eyes wept? What emotion have I felt, and what sorrow have I not experienced? What anguish have I not had in my mind? Should such good things be death to me? Then a minister comes along, and he says, yes, praying, reading, mourning can indeed be death to you: ah, would he not say, I do not believe it, far be it, God will not judge as you do. Oh, poor souls! If one must say it, it is according to the Bible: this can be in someone, and he can yet be lost; a sinner can be sorrowful, sigh, weep, and God says of it in his Word, that it is only a sorrow after the world, which works death, 2 Corinthians 7:10. You must not believe us, but God.

We have kept the congregation occupied for some time now, speaking of that mark, godly sorrow. We first saw the sorrow which is after God in its effects. Having been occupied with that for some time, we now put the finishing touch to that mark, by showing that it is true, that the sorrow after the world works death, and in that we must:

I. First, consider death, that dreadful thing.

II. See the influence and effect that the sorrow after the world has upon death.

III. Resolve a case of conscience: the godly will say, can the sorrow after God not also work death?

With those three things we shall occupy ourselves, wishing that God would be pleased to give his blessing upon it! First, death — that we do not gladly look upon, we shall let you see it once. Then, the influence that the sorrow after the world has upon death. Finally, whether the sorrow after God works death? Pay close attention.

I. Death comes, and behold — John cried out, when death appeared, that rider on the pale horse comes, and behold, Revelation 6:8. Bodily death comes, and behold! Spiritual death comes, and behold! Eternal death comes, and behold! Look them once in the face.

1. Bodily death — what is that? We are here living together, soul and body are joined together; when we die, then that spiritual part is separated from the body. Ecclesiastes 12:7: the spirit returns to God, and the body goes to the earth. When that bond is broken, then one says, so-and-so is dead. That now is bodily death: but what is the way to it, by which one comes to that death? Grievous encounters, of which one can say what Pharaoh said, take this death away from me, Exodus 10:17. The way to it is to feel an oppression within over such encounters, Lamentations 1:20: outside is the sword, within is as death. Psalm 88:16(?): I am near death. There comes a domestic cross, one gets into such straits, one begins to say, it is as if death is coming. See, that is bodily death.

2. But what is spiritual death? That is a complete separation from God and his image, so that a complete estrangement comes between God and the soul. Ephesians 4:18: such a one is estranged from that tender, godly life; to live near to God he does not seek; he shrinks from it; he does not want it; that is to be mocked and hated, he says. The spiritually dead person begins to swarm with every kind of sin, he is so trained in it, that he amuses both himself and others with it. They are so loathsome before God and before the spiritual life of others, and their breath, throat, and mouth stink so, that you cannot sit beside them. He has no honor or decency, he offers no resistance either, he remains so, until that most horrible death comes, until he can be counted among the eternally dead.

3. Upon bodily death and upon spiritual death there follows then eternal death. First for the soul, and then for soul and body together, complete. Then such a one must bear the wrath of God in its heaviest measure; then such a one brings sin to its highest pitch. Terror! When he shall have brought it to such a height, then he shall be bound up in bundles, and then he shall have to be forever with those accursed spirits in that dreadful place, and then, having a living conscience, he shall cry out, my sins are greater than can be forgiven!

So we have then first seen bodily death, and the way to it, then spiritual death, finally eternal death.

II. Now you will think in your heart, does the sorrow of the world have its influence and effect upon all three of those deaths? Yes indeed, it works out all three of those deaths.

a. First, it has its influence upon bodily death. How so? 1. In this way, that a person who is sorrowful with a worldly sorrow goes into decline: he wastes away so, that it becomes visible; he grows thinner from day to day: you may observe it, as with Ahab's condition, who lay sick in bed, 1 Kings 21. They let their heads hang like a bulrush, they waste away, be it even a king or his child; one must say to them, why do you grow thinner from day to day? Why does your face look so sorrowful? Surely you are not ill? If he were to speak it out plainly, it is over his sins, and yet it is only a worldly sorrow: I am so oppressed because of my wicked, terrifying, condemning conscience, I am so terrified because of the righteousness of God.

2. Then, he not only wastes away and pines, but he begins to call for death: to what end shall life be to me any longer? If I think, they say, of God, of dying, of resurrection, of heaven, of hell, of grace, then I must make an outcry: I have no rest or peace in my bones. And it begins to die away on their lips, oh that I were dead! I already have the sentence of death within myself, I cannot live so, I am in continual terror: oh that you would let your hand off me, oh that you would bring me to be crushed, as Job in his misery wished — what a more miserable life do I live!

3. Through fright, agitation, melancholy, unrest, and so on, they gradually settle into a sickness and an affliction: it wounds their heart, their understanding, their memory; they cannot sleep, the bed takes away nothing of their pain; they set a disease into their body, an unhealthiness, so that they go about, as it were, dying in the streets; they must say, that will be the death of me. There are people who do not bring their days to half their span, whoremongers, drunkards: these who are sorrowful after the world also die, as it were, before their time. They bring their young or gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, and so one must say that this sorrow works death.

4. When that sorrow after the world comes, let me see, they say, whether I cannot divert myself, whether there is not some amusement somewhere? If there is some company or gathering somewhere that has invited them, they drive away that sorrow with it, and thereby they sometimes fall into an evil way, into gaming, dicing, quarreling, fighting, brawling, and so they fall into the hands of justice, like those two thieves who were crucified with Christ, and so they come to a sorrowful end. How often does it happen, that such a melancholy person falls into sins punishable before the judge, one who bears the sword to punish evildoers, and so they come to a sorrowful end.

5. If death does not come quickly enough, then the sorrow works so, in such desperate hearts, that they lay hands on their own life, and so become murderers of themselves. They think that they will then be better off, and it is a mistake. Does he think that he will then have no more pain or shame, or commit sin? He will commit a still greater sin, and have pain and shame that will be still greater. The devil puts that into their hand, but it is a mistake. So it went with Saul

and Judas: death did not come soon enough, and they laid hands on themselves.

6. Such a sorrowful person goes with the fear of death his whole life long. That he cannot get over, nor put away; he can never say, the bitterness of death has departed; it stays with him always so.

7. Finally, then it is somewhat better with him, and then somewhat worse again, until the hour of death comes, until one falls into hell.

See there, beloved, the influence that the sorrow after the world has upon death. Not only that: it causes decline, they begin to grow weary of their life, they wish they were dead, they bring upon themselves an affliction that they cannot overcome, and not only that, but they go to divert it in sinful company, after which they come to an outcry before the punishing judge, and if death does not come soon enough, they lay hands on themselves, they go about with the fright of death, and that stays with them until death has done its work.

b. Now we were to see, what influence that sorrow has upon spiritual death, how it works that.

1. First, would you have a mark of a spiritually dead person: then you must look at your sorrow. Do your best, as much as you can, you cannot raise it any higher. Among all the marks of spiritual death, one clear mark is your sorrow after the world: from your sorrow it is plain, that you are a spiritually dead person, God's Word says it itself.

2. Whoever among the spiritually living meets you never esteems or reckons you as anything else than a spiritually dead person, and no more than one who has the name that you live, and yet you are dead: you may imagine yourself, and have the name, that you live, but they think that you are dead, Revelation 3:1. You are as far from it as those five foolish virgins: the spiritually living, God and men, say that you are dead.

3. Your fellowship and inclination is toward the dead, your company is among the dead. Your inclination is toward the dead, you are separated from the living, they take their leave of you. So did Judas: I will no longer be among the living in my life, and he went away and hanged himself. That is as in John 6:66: many went away. And as with that young man, Mark 10: he went away sorrowful. You will find him among the dead and separated among the living — he cannot bear it there.

4. All that is abominable in a dead person is found in such a spiritually dead person who has that sorrow after the world: that can be seen in his whole conduct. Must they lie, speak against their conscience,

speak rotten talk, display their pride — they do not care about it: they gamble, they dice, they idle away in their rooms, and openly they are insincere, unrepentant; all that is ugly remains in them. Then they are at times desperate, then again unrestrained and vain, and all that without agitation. They are sometimes well trained to commit sin, so that they even amuse one another by it; they are trained to build their standing upon deceit, hypocrisy, false grounds.

5. It also has its influence upon spiritual death in this, that it stays with him, that he never comes to a change: he never comes to a breakthrough, to exercises of faith, or to comfort; it stays with him until his dying hour.

6. Finally, his sorrow after the world begins to end, or rather to begin, in eternal death.

c. In eternal death, I say, in that dreadful thing which we spoke of concerning eternal death in the beginning, having it always equally severe, under the tokens of God's wrath. Have you jested here, you shall do so eternally. Here you have sometimes had your recreation, but that will not be there. Ah Lord, what will that be!

III. Now there is yet something more that fell upon our heart: we thought, dear God, can a godly person, who has true sorrow, indeed say, it works death in me? We answer,

1. First, in those sinful things that are in worldly sorrow, it works for them neither spiritual nor eternal death, but the sinful things concerning bodily death. To wish, oh that I were dead, they are not free of that. When it is somewhat dark, and they see no light, and God sets their sins in the light of his countenance, then something happens there. They say plainly, concerning spiritual and eternal death, no, but concerning bodily death there is indeed something weak mixed in. But we answer,

2. Yes, it also works death there. Well, you will say, can one then be godly? We say, read Isaiah 57:16: the spirits would be overwhelmed, and would God not come to the help of such a one? Then you must think of Peter: you wept bitterly; had the Lord not appeared to him three days afterward, who knows what might have happened? Think of that man who had committed incest, he mourned and lamented over it so, that Paul had to say, it was enough, lest the devil should gain an advantage over him, 2 Corinthians 2:7. In a true child of God the sorrow can indeed go too high, so that he has no desire to eat or drink: they will not take their ease, they refuse to be comforted, they might well work themselves into such a fright and agitation, that they would even succumb to it.

3. So we must pay attention to the difference there is between the sorrow after the world and after God, which works death. When the sorrow after the world works death, then they run away from God; the others cannot get away from God, but they say, my soul thirsts after God, oh that I might have your visitation once more! Cain ran away, but Peter did not, nor did the man who had committed incest run away.

4. When the sorrow after the world works death, then they begin to become desperate, Genesis 4:13: my sins are greater than can be forgiven, says Cain: the others say, I do not give it up, why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope in God, Psalm 42:6.

5. The worldly person says, I fear death everywhere, whoever finds me shall kill me, God and man: but the others say, I long for death; welcome, death, they say, because then I shall see the war within me no more, and because then I shall sin no more.

6. God does not concern himself with the one who is after the world, he lets them go; you are Lo-ruhamah, he says, the not-pitied one. But as for the one whose sorrow after God does not work death, then God says, I dwell indeed in the high and lofty place, but also with you, Isaiah 57:15; I will look upon you, Isaiah 66:2; I will be near those who are of a broken heart, Psalm 34:19(?); I will not despise your offering, Psalm 51:19; I will bind up your wounds, Psalm 147:3; blessed are they that mourn, Matthew 5:4. You cannot deny that.

Now we have preached that, and set before your eyes what seemed so incredible to you, that this good thing, weeping over sin, works death. Believe it: just as all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose, so all things must work together for evil to you, who have nothing but worldly sorrow in your praying, your weeping, your sighing, so that, sighing and wailing, you must sink into hell with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

There you have our matters, and so we conclude that mark of the state of grace, namely godly sorrow in all its circumstances, set over against it the sorrow after the world, as far as we were able and knew how. Now we have shown you the conclusion in that dreadful truth, it works death. If it please God, we shall at another time go on to another mark. And now I wish and pray, that God would be pleased to bless all that has been said to us, for his own glory, for his Son's sake, Amen!

Sermon 57

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which it is shown: I. That one must confess one's sins to men. II. That it is the practice of the saints to confess their sins to God.

We read Proverbs 28:13: he that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Every sinner is inclined to cover his sins. That is almost as old as the world is, and as people have lived upon it. To cover sin is as old as sin has been in the world — one should not even say "almost" of it. In Genesis 3 this already takes place: the one lays it upon the other, Adam upon Eve, and Eve upon the serpent. Covering sin is a universal evil. Whatever condition of people you come among, rich and poor, everyone takes refuge in covering and hiding: everyone says that he finds no sin in all his ways. Speak to people about their sin, they do not know what you mean, just like Peter: when they said, you too were one of them, "I know not what you say," he said, Matthew 26:70. I do not know where you are getting at, they say. The look on their face would sooner betray them than their tongue would; their downcast face, their paleness, their blush, their looking down before them. You may do it, but you will have no prosperity, it will not go well. You are of that same sort that is known in the Bible.

On the contrary, the righteous person is in this more excellent than his neighbor. Whoever will not cover it shall obtain mercy. As soon as grace comes into the heart, when you then

want to speak of covering, that will not do at all — that breed is not beloved in their eyes and worthy of condemnation. You will find them with tears in their eyes, with poundings in their heart, with turmoil; they come forward with confession over their misdeeds. It is wonderful here; in the world it goes quite differently than with the Lord. In the world, if a patient is guilty, the more he confesses, the more he burdens himself, and it is all written down to his charge. With God it is not so: the more you confess and acknowledge there, the sooner you receive pardon; where there is confession of guilt, there grace lies close to the heart. John 1:9(?, likely 1 John 1:9): if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Psalm 32:5: I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin — I acknowledged them, and you forgave them.

The bruised reed has as much as it can hold together in pieces, and the smoking flax has as much as it can hold: though it be scarcely still supported, it weeps, it confesses its sin, it prays for grace, to find it in the eyes of the living God. The ministry of the living God is like a table, on which all sorts of dishes are continually set out: it is not merely a Lord's Supper table, but every act of ministry is like a table, on which God sets out all kinds of dishes. King Ahasuerus set a table with dishes for many days, a hundred and eighty days, Esther 1:4. But the ministry of the living God is so throughout all the ages, to lay this dish and that upon the table.

We have laid on that table fifty-six sermons, and among these were these: by which a bruised reed might know whether, through God's aiding and almighty power, he had passed over from the state of nature into the state of grace. That we have shown in five marks, which we have laid before your mind. The first was, whether in your life you have encountered a time, or, as one now speaks and hears spoken of so much, a "period," in which God changed you, so that you became a new creature, whether in your youth or young manhood or manly years or in your old age. The second mark was: as soon as God had brought you over, there was such an excellent esteem for grace in your heart, to be saved out of grace; you had such a longing for it, you languished and yearned for it, oh Lord be gracious to me! The third mark was: before God gave you rest, he made you known to yourself, what a loathsome, ugly, and condemnable creature you are before God: you came to yourself, as Nebuchadnezzar did, when his understanding returned to him, and as the prodigal

son and Ephraim: ah! he said, I was made known and discovered to myself, Jeremiah 31:19. The fourth mark was: God set the plow of conviction upon the heart, he drew the furrows deep, they were sharp arrows of every kind of conviction. The fifth mark was: then God lets you walk about somewhat groaning and mourning, with a sorrow over sin that is truly after God. All those marks we have dealt with, under God's blessing.

Now there follow yet some more, which we must lay upon that table, if it please God that we live. The sixth mark is that broad confession of sins: it all comes out, whatever has taken place. The seventh mark is that holy shame. The eighth mark is that deep poverty: ah, I am so poor, they say. The ninth mark is: the Mediator becomes so precious to me, that I cannot express it. The tenth mark is: there is born the true saving faith. The eleventh mark is a love to God in our hearts, that cannot be told. The twelfth mark is the love to the Lord Jesus. The thirteenth mark is a settled love to the Word of God, as a means that he uses, and that has brought them so far. Then follows the fourteenth mark: there comes a settled and tender walk in all humility, sincerity, and holiness. Finally the fifteenth mark is: there comes a spiritual growth. Those are the things that I, if God wills and we live, must still set before your face.

We begin then today the sixth mark of the state of grace, and that is that wondrous thing, the confession of sins. We shall seek to lay it before you so, that it shall be desirable for everyone who has grace. The confession of sins has two branches: the one spreads out toward men, and the other toward God. Today we shall seek to begin, and lay open before you the following points. First, must a person who has received grace confess his sins to men? Then, is it the practice of all the saints, that they have confessed their sins before God? Then, is there need for that? Then, how does that come about, when someone is moved to it by God's Spirit? Then, do the ungodly also make no confession, and yet are they not ungodly? Then, is there not a marked difference between the confession of the ungodly and that of the godly? Then we shall set down marks of true confession, and show wherein the other falls short. Finally, we shall resolve a difficulty of a child of God concerning two things, of which they say, I do not find that so much in me. What are they? On the one hand, to acknowledge and forsake sin, and on the other, that he who does that shall find mercy, and I am just as hard as ever.

That is the matter of the confession of sins, but you can well see that we have too much of it for this hour; we would not be able to finish it now: we have thought therefore for the present to bring the following before your thoughts.

I. Must men confess their sins to men? II. Is that the practice of all the godly? III. Is there need for it? IV. Wherein does it consist, and what is such a person like?

I say first, I have sinned, and so have you — must one say that to men? Then, do all the godly make confession? Then, is it needful? Finally, how does that come about?

I. As to the first: must the godly tell men their sins, when they are converted? We answer: not that we are Papists, but we are Biblical and Reformed. I say, not that we are Papists. The Papists take this for themselves, James 5:16: confess your faults one to another. They have found in the Old Testament, that the people had to come to the priests with confession and a gift. On that they base it, that they must come to the priest every year and confess to him, so that he may absolve them and say, your sins are wiped away. But it is not so: one must say of it, what blasphemy is this? Who can forgive sins but one, namely God alone? Mark 2:7. Why is it their business, if not for a piece of money? The people served, as it were, as that fish which Peter caught, in which was a piece of money, Matthew 17:27. They must be like Saul's servant: they would go to the seer — what did he find in his hand? The fourth part of a shekel of silver, 1 Samuel 9:8. What stands in James 5:16 means this, that the people had to make confession to the priests, and the priests to the people, when they were converted; it had to happen mutually, back and forth, and thus:

1. The first case is, when the wicked have sinned notoriously, so that it rang through a whole city, then they must not be ashamed of their confession either: that would not be to God's honor. If the scandal was visible, the conversion must also be visible. Manasseh, that wretch, had filled all Jerusalem with blood, and now he fills the prison house with his tears, 2 Chronicles 33. Zacchaeus had sinned openly in his manner of life; grace does not act so briskly without his confessing it openly. David, that child of God, had fallen openly, he also confessed it openly.

2. The second case is, when the godly have confessed their sins to God and do not find that longed-for relief, which they well desire and which often follows upon it. Then use this means: go to a godly friend, lay your heart open before him, if it be a friend who guards the doors of his lips: such a friend, if you obtain him, is better than gold and oil. Then one may well say, I must tell you this once, what I have done; then that text applies, James 5:16: confess your faults one to another.

3. The third case is, when a Christian has offended someone, through an evil suspicion, instigation, backbiting, then such a one is guilty, and then it is fitting that such a one go and confess it, and so be reconciled with his brother, Luke 17:4. Then such a guilty one says what Saul said to David, "you are more righteous than I," 1 Samuel 24 and 26. Then such a one says openly, as Judah said of Tamar, "she is more righteous than I; I would have had her burned, but I am worthy of it, I am the guilty one and she is righteous," Genesis 38:26.

See there then, it is necessary in those cases, that one confess one's sins to men.

II. Now our second point: is there any godly person, who has grace in his heart, who does not make confession to God? I answer, there is not a single one who does not do it: if you never do it, you may well suspend your claim to grace. A godly person cannot do otherwise, it is his very breath: if you would take that from him, that he confess before God what a poor, lost creature he is, you would smother him. For it has been the practice of all the godly in the Old and New Testament, and it will remain with them until the Lord comes. In the Old Testament the greatest and the least saints have done it. What confessions did they make! Beloved, if you have grace, you know those chapters well, and they are your very forms of prayer: Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9, Daniel 9, Psalm 48(?), 105, 106. It is quite filled with it. The children of Israel stood and made confession, Judges 10. The whole Word is filled with it. Indeed, you have had so often to come with David's words in Psalm 32, and 2 Samuel 12:13, I have sinned, and Psalm 51:4, against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. Is it so in the New Testament too? Yes indeed: many things from the Old Testament may have been abolished, but that remains so through all the passages of the ages. Those who came to John's baptism, they came with repentance and with confession of their sins. When Zacchaeus came to the Lord with confession, did the Lord contradict it? Oh no. See it too in Paul: I was a blasphemer, I persecuted the church, I did this and that, 1 Timothy 1:13. That is so the very life and breath of all who have grace in their breast.

III. But having seen that, this comes into consideration: well, God knows my sins better than I do myself, I do not even know my misdeeds in all their circumstances, I cannot confess more than I know, but he surrounds my sitting down and my rising up, my going out and coming in, it is all bare and open before the eyes of God, with whom I and everyone has to do; is it then indeed necessary, that I confess my sins before God? Yes, but not in order to make known to God an unknown matter. God wants us to know it ourselves too. He said to Adam, where are you? To Cain, what troubles you? Where is your brother? And Jeremiah 2:23: see your way in the valley, know what you have done. And Jeremiah 3:13: only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God. The confession of sins is the mother-virtue among all the virtues. Well, says God, I leave it to your own reflection, whether you have done this or that: even if it is hidden from a man, I see it; where Achan had hidden the accursed thing, that Jonah flees, that the sin of Ananias and Sapphira is revealed to Peter, Acts 5. I want to see, whether you too know it, says God. Is that to be despised? Is it to be despised, that a judge, a master, a father and mother, deal so with a patient, servant, their child? That they have wanted the offender, the servant, the child to confess their misdeeds? That they hold them to it, to confess their sins? We find that in the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings 5:25–26. "Whence comest thou, Gehazi?" he said. "Thy servant went no whither," he said! "Well, did not my heart go with you, when you took that gold and that silver?" So says God, Jeremiah 8:6: I hearkened and heard, like one who listens eagerly for something, whether you would confess, that you had sinned against me. It is such an ornament, to see a confessor; then you see a person as though with a crown upon his head; it is like a pleasant addition, like a golden chain about his neck; he stands there adorned as with precious pearls. How adorned was the prodigal son, when he came and said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son," Luke 15:18–19. It was to him an ornament about his neck. It is for such a one such an honor, it is also so pleasant: do you think that it is so melancholy a thing, to confess sins? When there is grace, then the heart will not burst, then it gets air, the tight band then loosens from his loins: as long as he does not confess, how anxious is he? But when he comes to confessing, then it is so pleasant, then the walls of his heart are somewhat expanded, then it must all come out, with the publican and the prodigal son. He must not think, that a child of God suffers any loss by it: oh no, where confession sits upon the lips, I will lay pardon in the heart, says God, Psalm 32:5. Confession is like the lancet, to lance the abscess or the vein, that draws out the blood or the pus. Confession, I say, is the lancet, that draws out

the bad blood and the pus that is in it; yes, confession is necessary, becoming, useful, and pleasant.

IV. But you will say, and there it will come down more to this, what is such a soul like, and what does he do? Whoever has the most and the least grace shall know it.

1. First, oh God, says such a one, that I am a sinner is such a burden to me; against you, you only, have I sinned, and that lies upon my heart like lead and stones and heavy loads; I am bowed down by it, it is so heavy; it comes so vividly to my mind, my youth, before and after you converted me. Have I lived as a Christian? Where have I not abused your goodness, wounded your majesty? Used your blessings to your dishonor? They go to bed with that, they rise up with that. And ah God, they say, there come to mind some Goliaths of sin, that stand like giants before my eyes: ah, had I only not done this, and that, and that! Had I only not been bound fast there and there! It comes so vividly to mind, beyond all my wickedness (were it a light matter) — so I have done this, and that, and that too.

2. Oh God! how should I have to justify you, if you drew a fiery or bloody sword through my soul! Even if you set me up as an example before all the saints of your righteous vengeance, I should have to say, you are pure in your speaking and righteous in your judging, Psalm 51:4. So it stands, Nehemiah 9:33: you are righteous in all that has come upon us. Ah Lord, you are righteous in your judgments.

3. Then comes a holy rapture and wonder, that God has not dealt with such patients according to his right. Lord, they say, how good you are, that you have let that tree stand so long, and in your patience have let so much manure be laid upon it! It is too high and too wonderful for me! Romans 9:22: God bears the vessels of wrath with much longsuffering. And me, Lord, you have borne for so many years! I have been a mocker, a proud one, a hard one: I worship you, I stand still, it is not comprehensible to me!

4. Then that little mirror begins to come closer, and they go on to appraise and accuse themselves. In the world no one is bound to accuse himself, but before God it is and must be done. Then such a one comes and says, I have been proud, careless, godless, vain, wanton: and they confess it wherever they have been bound fast to it. I have no other witness, they say, than myself. If the devil then comes to accuse them before God, you come too late, they say, I have already accused

myself. Romans 2:15: their thoughts accuse or else excuse one another. That is natural and a work of conscience, but here it is the work of grace.

5. I pass sentence, that I am worthy of condemnation, I must be lost, I am not worthy to be called your child; it is more or less as if they stood before God's judgment, and he said, I command that this evildoer be bound and delivered over to the righteous wrath of God; so I judge and sentence myself, they say, my heart condemns me; what more shall I speak or cry to the King, I am a child of death. That is the fifth act.

6. The sixth act is: I say it, and hold to this, that I am not yet without hope: I am indeed worthy to be condemned, but I cannot altogether go away so; it is as if you still uphold my heart, Lord, and in hope that you will look upon me in the Mediator; and they plead so with all that they can bring forward, they weep, they lament, ah Lord! will you not do it? Look once at your eternal counsel, is my name not written in? Am I not given to your Son? Are there no examples of such, to whom you have given grace, who were no different than I? I hope then, that it will yet go well.

7. Then comes a seventh act; I say, for I have read the Bible, that I must cast away my own righteousness and unrighteousness, and turn it toward the Redeemer. Romans 7:24–25: there he confessed, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? And immediately he steps forward and goes to the Redeemer, in Christ Jesus, there he says it shall be, and not in myself, and then he goes yet a step further and comes to giving thanks. So they come and confess their guilt: may I not go forward a step further, Lord, they say, since indeed you command it of me; and thereupon they come then to that third step, it seems to me I must thank you.

8. The last act is, to forsake sin. If I have confessed it, and yet do not forsake it, what would that be? But confessing and forsaking must go together. Though I wept every day to water, though I were ashamed still so much, what will it help, if there comes no forsaking? It must be weeping and turning, Joel 2:12, Ezekiel 14, and throughout the whole Bible. Do you name my name so, says the Lord Jesus, then depart from iniquity, 2 Timothy 2:19. Yet that forsaking will have its difficulties. Lord, that I do not do, says a child of God: even if I make a covenant, make vows, swear, where do I not still get bound fast again? How often do I weep over it, and yet sin again, sometimes more grievously than before? That forsaking then has its difficulty.

Those then are our four points. We had intended, at such a time as this, not to keep you too long at the table: make your use of it, set your heart to it, call the King. Have you been able to eat, or not? Do you wish indeed to eat? Do you wish indeed to have the food? Whoever has grace, unites himself with it, and wishes to partake of it every day. Whoever has that which is needful in his life, shall also be blessed in his end: that I wish for you and for myself! Amen.

Sermon 58

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which three things: I. Some marks of the true confession of sins. II. A case of conscience, whether one must confess all one's sins. III. A question put to the godly, whether it does not go so with them.

We read John 12:27, that the Lord Jesus Christ says, now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? He lived in that vivid apprehension and awareness of his coming suffering. Luke 12:50, he said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened! I am full of words, I cannot give myself air, how anguished I am in my soul, I am wholly straitened even unto death.

If it was so with the Head, do you then think it would go otherwise with the godly members? They have it no differently than their Mediator, though he in a greater degree. They too must often say, how troubled am I, and what shall I say? Psalm 88:8(?): I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 1 Samuel 1:15: I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit, and grieved in spirit. How often does it happen, that the godly are within as death itself? The spirit of my belly constrains me, said Elihu, Job 32:18. Indeed they are sometimes ready to burst, so that their house and the city becomes too confined for them, they must go outside to get air. Luke 24, those two anxious travelers to Emmaus, the city was too confined for them: like Isaac, he went out into the field, his tent was too confined for him. What does such a straitened soul do to get air? Do you know how he gets air? 1. Through his breast. 2. Through his eyes. 3. Through his hands. 4. Through his knees. 5. Then he gives himself air through his mouth.

6. Then he gets air by asking counsel of the godly. 7. Also through conversing with such others who are likewise straitened. 8. Finally also through confession before God and men. When the straitened are so anxious, what do they do to get air?

1. First, they give themselves air through their breast, they sigh. Psalm 38:9(?): my groaning is not hid from thee. Romans 8:26: the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 2 Corinthians 5:4: we that are burdened do groan. They do just as the Lord Jesus, he sighed deeply in his spirit, Mark 8:12.

2. They get air through their eyes, that wondrous part that is in our members: they are like fountains, that cannot be stopped up. Job 30:20: I cry unto thee. Job 16:20: mine eye poureth out tears unto God. Peter went out and wept bitterly, Matthew 26:75. Hezekiah, he wept and made supplication, Isaiah 38:3. David, who had a heart like a lion's heart, he wept like a child, Psalm 6.

3. They get air through their hands. They stretch out their hands to God, they clap them together, they lay them upon their loins, they lay the one upon their hip and the other upon their breast, Jeremiah 31, Luke 18. It is as if a little air came, when they can use their hands so.

4. They get air through their knees, by falling down once upon their knees before God. Then they sometimes even come to the ground and crawl upon the earth, unable even to speak, being in such a pitiable state. The Lord Jesus lay with his face upon the ground, Mark 14:35.

5. They get air through their mouth, they cry out once to God. Psalm 50:15: call upon me in the day of trouble, says God, and I will deliver you. Hebrews 5:7: with strong crying and tears the Lord Jesus offered up himself to God. Psalm 61:2: from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee.

6. They get air by asking counsel of a godly person. They sometimes know a godly man, to whom they say, I am so anxious, what must I do? Acts 2 and 16. So they said to John, Luke 3:14: and we, what shall we do?

7. They get air through someone who is also straitened. They find someone on their path, who is likewise straitened, they get to speak somewhat with him, and they come into conversation together. Luke 24: they went along beside one another, and spoke of their anguish.

8. Once more, they get air, when they go to make confession before men, when it is needful, and also before God. Psalm 32:5: I will acknowledge my iniquity unto thee. Proverbs 28:13: he that confesses and forsakes his sins shall obtain mercy.

Beloved! No one comes out of the state of nature into the state of

grace, without coming to know anguish, for no one has come to the state of grace, without having known anguish. We have shown you five marks of the state of grace, and last time we began the sixth: and what was that? The air that such an anxious heart gets through the confession of sins. We showed: 1. In what sense we must make confession before men, and in what sense not. 2. That all the saints have had the practice of making confession. 3. That it was so necessary. 4. Wherein it consisted. Then there still remained for us: 1. To give some marks of a true confessor, who makes confession being moved by God's Spirit. 2. To resolve a case of conscience, namely, whether all sins must be confessed. 3. Then to call upon and question the godly, does it not go so with you? Those are our three points, which we shall deal with today. And then we shall seek, in what follows, to remove some difficulties from the sincere soul. First, the wicked also confess their sins, how then shall I know whether mine is of the right kind, wrought by God's Spirit? Then, if it were of the right kind, then I would forsake it, and I do not do that. Then, if it were right, then I would find mercy, and that I do not find, I see that the wicked have more prosperity than I. Then, we wish indeed to stir up both godly and ungodly to confess their sins often before God. Today then we have

I. The marks of a true spiritual confessor.

II. A case of conscience, whether one must confess all one's sins, without concealing a single one before God.

III. We wish to call the bruised reed forward there, and say, do you not know this? Do you know nothing at all of such things?

I. As to the first: someone will say, I have so often confessed my sins, but I do not know whether I am a true confessor. Now, as far as we have been able to understand and to experience through God's Spirit, you shall find these marks.

1. First, God brings such a one, at some point in his life, sooner or later, to the confession of the greatest sin that has ever been committed in the world: I have a part in that, he says. And which is that? That is the very first sin of the world, which the perfect man committed; he went away from God to the devil, and that while he was perfect: I have as much a part in that as if I had committed it in my own person, I confess that heartily, I do not wish to be free of that wickedness by saying, why has God made me so? There, Lord, you have shown your power, you are the potter, and I the clay: shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why have you made me thus? Romans 9:20. I confess, that it is as if I had stretched out my own hand and taken of that fruit and eaten,

and so likewise sinned against the Covenant. There I confess that I have a part in it, that the whole world has fallen. Dear Lord, had my own head remained standing, would I not have confessed that I had a part in it? Then I would have confessed, that I had a part in that righteousness; now I confess, that I have a part in that unrighteousness. If you had included me in Christ, would I then have said, why have you done that? Not I. Yes, do you think that this did not weigh on the heart of people in that first world? And Job 31:33: if I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom! No, I have not covered my transgression through self-love, as Adam did; had I been guilty there, I would have acknowledged it. When God found that something of that went out from the heart, then he brought it to light. And afterward, Hosea 6, when that fell away too much, do you know how Adam has dealt, says God, he has transgressed my covenant, verse 7. And in the New Testament, Romans 5:12–21, those two heads are set over against one another, the first and the second Adam. So too 1 Corinthians 15, and 2 Corinthians 11:3, God says, take heed lest the devil deceive you, as the serpent deceived Eve through her subtlety. Lord, said such a one, I have guilt in the greatest and ugliest sin that has ever been: that sinks upon my heart, must I answer for that greatest and ugliest sin, how shall I stand?

2. God brings such a one to his heart his birth sin, that natural corruption, that corrupted inherited stain. In me and in everyone is a gathering of every kind of evil: just as a sewer, where all filth is gathered, so it is with our heart; there gathers all that is ugly, that is abominable, and all the scandals that are to be found among any nation — the seed of it is in our heart. We are filled with vanity, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, Romans 1. We are by nature earthly, worldly, devilish, godless, Genesis 8, Job 14, Psalm 51, John 8:44 — they say, there dwells no good thing in me, Romans 7:18.

3. Not only that, but the seed of all sins is in me. Oh, they confess, that they are by nature inclined to put those into practice too, had God not prevented it, and had there sometimes not been external circumstances against it. I must watch that heart so, they say, I pray against it, indeed they strive against it: I would guard my heart above all that is to be guarded, Proverbs 4:23. This troubles me so, that I find the seed of every kind of sin in myself, I must say, to what might I not come! Lord, let me not sin, that I may not wound and dishonor you, bring pain to the godly, mockery to the ungodly, a stumbling-block to beginners, for I find that inclination in me toward every evil.

4. I confess, that I am powerless to do otherwise, unless you work in me, and that I must confess, to my shame and disgrace, that it is a wicked willfulness in me: you command so often, and I do not do it, because I am powerless, 2 Corinthians 3:5. Being in my own nature, it is as impossible for me, as for a Moor to change his skin, or a leopard his spots, Jeremiah 13:23. And that is to my shame and disgrace, just like a drunkard, who through his drunkenness has broken an arm or a leg and so become powerless to work: coming to himself, he says, that I cannot use my arm, is my own sin, do not speak of it, I am ashamed that I cannot work; so it is too, I must convert or I go to hell, and I cannot, and that is my own fault.

5. They begin to confess the sins of their state of nature. It often went so grossly and so greatly: did the devil say, go, I went; did he say, do that, I did it; I have been a great sinner, and now a great confessor, like a Manasseh, Zacchaeus, and Paul, the chief of sinners, and now he was the chief of confessors, 1 Timothy 1:13–15.

6. They go on to confess their sins after their conversion, since they have been on the way, all their secret sins and their more public sins. God, they say, I must lay down before you sins that are old and sins that are new, sins long past and sins that have only just occurred, and sins that I still foresee coming. 1 Kings 8, the king even foresaw future sins, and he brings them all together in a little bundle before God.

7. They confess those sins, which are not even reckoned as sins among men: their hastiness, their pride, their irreligion, that they have somewhat neglected their praying and their reading; though they name it, they get, as it were, no dishonor with men by it; have they once been vain, have they once had a little joke or jest, though they name it, they bring no shame upon themselves by it. They even confess those sins, for which they are praised by the world: take for instance, someone knows his good manners well in his gestures, clothes, speech, he knows how to give someone his due, in cleverness he hands someone the pieces so that they feel it; the world says, that is fine, that is excellent, they may do that; but the godly, their tender conscience brings it before God in confession. You have a fine picture of that in David: he feigned madness before King Achish; the world would praise that as prudence, that he knew so well how to save his life; but his tender conscience confessed it in two psalms, Psalm 34 and 56. There is something else wonderful in the apostle Peter: the world would have praised it and said, Peter, you were quite prudent, that you knew how to save yourself from that hall; but his tender

conscience felt it quite otherwise, he went outside and wept bitterly, Matthew 26:75. The world would have praised it as prudence in Paul, when he was at Damascus, and the city was guarded to catch him, then the disciples said, let us let you down over the wall in a basket, and he so escaped their hands: he notes it, 2 Corinthians 11:30–33, that it was a weakness in him, and says, I will glory in the things which concern mine infirmities. See, such sins as these they confessed, which the world calls virtues.

8. They confess their own sins, their splinters and beams, which they find standing on the table of their heart, Jeremiah 17 and Matthew 7. Do this first, to cast the beam and the splinter out of your own eye. They confess their own sins. A person who has no grace does not gladly come to his own sins: he shifts it all onto another, he would well say as Nebuchadnezzar, the matter has escaped me. Saul said, I have sinned, in that I transgressed the commandment of the Lord and yours, but I feared the people; a true confessor says with David, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, Psalm 32:5, against thee have I sinned, Psalm 51:4. Their right eye, hands, feet — those they confess so briefly.

9. Once more, you will find that the confession of sins has five or six fine qualities: a. Willingness. b. Readiness. c. Heartfeltness. d. Orderliness. e. They particularize. f. They are often occupied with it.

a. They do it so willingly. Who compelled the prodigal son to go and confess, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your child? Luke 15. The father had told him this beforehand, but then he had not wanted to know it: who now brings it to his charge? No one but himself, and the grace which he had now received. Who brings it to the charge of the thief on the cross, that he should say, we are receiving the due reward of our deeds? That was not forced, like someone who lies on the rack; so it does not go with the godly, but it goes so of itself: I have sinned, 2 Samuel 12:13.

b. They make ready confession, they seek no delay, they do not go round and round. Achan held out as long as he could; Jonathan held out so long, until the lot found him out: they seek no hindrances, but give God the honor; the sooner the better they come to acknowledge their guilt; I have done very foolishly, said David, 2 Samuel 24:10.

c. The third quality of true confession is, they do it so heartfeltly: not feigned, like a thief in prison; were he free, he would not do it. So it is not with the godly: their heart lies upon their tongue; they do not dissemble; it is so heartfelt; it goes so feelingly;

it is to them like a burden, under which they sink down; every sin is like a wound in their soul.

d. They do it so circumstantially, so plainly: they name time, place, circumstances; I have sinned, they say, against promises, against the light of your Spirit, against judgments and blows, against all your blessings, shame on me! They confess it circumstantially and do not hide it.

e. They particularize, they name this, and that, and that. We have served the Baals and forsaken God, Judges 10:10, and 1 Samuel 12:19: beside all our sins, we have added this evil, that we have asked us a king. So the saints do, and confess, Nehemiah 9:34: we have sinned, our kings, our princes, our citizens.

f. They do it continually: confessing and praying is their daily work, they take those chapters, where confession is set forth circumstantially, to their heart, and so extend their own confession of sins.

Let me repeat it once, precisely. 1. They confess that they have a part in the greatest sin. 2. They confess their birth sin. 3. That the seed of all sins is in them. 4. That it is to their shame, that they are so powerless unto good. 5. They confess their sins from before their conversion. 6. Also their sins, after they have received grace. 7. Also those that bring no shame before men. 8. They confess their own sins: let me, they say, not concern myself much with another's, unless I must be a public person, then I must do it. 9. They wish to do it readily, and do it willingly, heartfeltly, particularly, circumstantially, continually: oh, they persevere in this until they die, and they lay it down again even upon their deathbed. Oh God, they say, what have I sinned! The devil allows God's children almost all of this, once they are converted, except this: must it all come out exactly, what you have done, he says? There is the cunning of the devil; against your sins you also have your virtues, set your virtues against them for once; if you were to confess it all so, then the secret things would indeed come out, then you would become notorious.

II. You will say, must I confess all my sins? Beloved, I answer:

1. First, yes, all that you know. Proverbs 28:13. There it stands, he who confesses his iniquities — there is not one excluded. Paul, Acts 23, when he spoke too hastily and was corrected, said, I knew not, brethren, that it was the high priest, he fell in at once, verse 5.

2. We must take trouble to bring up the sin that we do not know. I and you have forgotten so much. Why does God want us to bring it up? So that we may remember the

former time and the now. Ephesians 2 and 5, Colossians 1: formerly you were this and that, but now you are not that. You must always take the trouble, to be able to bring up the sins of your former time.

3. Then the pile will grow great, that you shall stand ashamed before God, and say, now the number is more than the hairs of my head, my guilt is up to the heavens; it is now no longer a little cloud like a man's hand, but a thick cloud, through which I cannot see; they are many in number, various in kind, there are sins that I had taken for virtues. When you bring them so, in their true magnitude, before God, then you will have to say, they are follies not to be summed up, I do not know their number.

4. Even if the number is so great, that you would say, I cannot bring them into order, seek nevertheless to bring them into order, and begin with the sins of your youth, and so go on to your manly years, and so come to your old age. Confess the sins of your solitude, the sins in your family, the sins in your calling, the sins in your dealings with people, the sins in church, in worship, and of your most sacred things. Say, Lord, thus and thus has my life been, a knotted tangle of iniquity.

5. So you must say to the devil, even if the secret things should come out, I shall not be disgraced by it, for I can say it quietly before God.

6. And if you say, that lies upon my heart and I cannot say it quietly, then seek out a solitary spot and cry it out before God, and unburden yourself, when you know that no one hears it: let the secret thing come out there, when you know that you are alone with God, if by quiet confession you cannot unburden yourself.

III. Now we wished to call a godly person forward there, and that is our third point. Do you know it? Did it go so with you, or not? Do you find no little place in the world, where it has gone so with you? Do the tears not still lie fresh in your memory? Would you have to search far indeed, for something of which you could say, my God, that is how it went with me? Does it not do you good, the sweetness and refreshment, that you had from it? Yes, is it long ago? Perhaps it is quite recent? Yes, is it not your daily work? Is it not a great part of your prayer? Do you know well, that no good prayer is made, if that is not in it? The confession of sins is no longer so much made in the church, except as it is well remembered of your old teachers: then the members often do not do it much either. Look once at your prayer-forms in the back of your Bibles, and see what a great part the confession of sins was in them. Whoever seeks to fear God, what does your heart say? Must you not say, I am a confessor, I hide my wickedness —

...is no evil in your sight, Lord — it lays me low in shame.' Well, that is a sign that you have passed out of nature into grace. Here now are great difficulties: the ungodly also confess — wherein then am I distinguished? That shall be the matter we reserve for a following sermon, and we pray God that he may be pleased to bless this to us and to you, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 59

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three things: I. How one must deal with a child of God in all his difficulties. II. How one must grant that the ungodly make broad confessions. III. However broad and moving it may be, what it lacks.

We read 1 Corinthians 2:14–15: The natural man does not understand the things that are of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one. The Apostle here sets two men against one another: one in nature, one in grace, and he portrays them both to the life.

A man in nature — when he hears something spiritual preached, or hears or reads or speaks of something spiritual — how is he disposed?

1. He does not understand it. John 3:3–10: Nicodemus, though he was a teacher, while he was still in nature, showed that he did not understand it. He did not know what to make of what the Savior said when he spoke of the new birth: "Do you not know that," said the Savior, "and are you yourself a teacher?"

2. They hold such talk to be foolish and absurd. When there is talk of election, of faith, of the change of heart, of the spiritual life, of spiritual experiences, they take it for madness. 2 Kings 9:11: when a spiritual prophet came, "What does this madman want?" they said. When the Lord Jesus came preaching, "Lay hold of him," they said, "he is out of his mind." When Paul spoke before that distinguished assembly, "The man is raving," cried Festus, "he is out of his senses, he has read too much." When he spoke of the resurrection at Athens before all those wise men, they said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Philo the Jew, reading the New Testament, said, "I have read it with attention; I find doctrines in it that are wise, but in practice it is sheer folly." 1 Corinthians 1:23–24 states plainly that they reckoned the preaching of the New Testament to be sheer foolishness — though it is the foolishness and the weakness of God. A man dead in nature cannot understand it. When the flute or the harp is played, and it gives no distinct sound, how can you understand it? It is an unknown language. Speak to a dead man of life — he cannot grasp it. How can a blind man see! How can a deaf man hear! How can a lame man walk! The natural man, hearing spiritual things, takes no interest in them; he would rather be far from them; he would say, if someone speaks of his experiences, "Whom do you make yourself equal to? What do you think, that you are more than another? Lie down beside me and see whether your shape is any different from mine."

But how does it now stand with a spiritual man, one who has been brought over out of nature into the state of grace?

1. A man who is in grace — he knows well what to make of it: he has the eyes of his understanding enlightened, Ephesians 1:18.

2. A man who is in grace, hearing spiritual things dealt with, does not reckon it foolishness; he says, it is the wisdom of God. Romans 11:33: O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!

3. A man in grace, hearing of spiritual work, says, oh that I might have it! He prays with David, Psalm 51:12, O God, create in me a clean heart. Song of Songs 4:16, Awake, north wind, and come, south wind. They discern the spiritual man and spiritual things; they search out and weigh men and matters on the scale of the sanctuary. Proverbs 12:26, the righteous, whom the world reckons a fool, they reckon more excellent than the man whom the natural man reckons wise.

4. A man in grace does not overlook his life; he wants to distinguish the one thing from the other; he also wants to test himself, how he stands in his state and in his condition. He goes to inquire whether he has a part in election. He goes to inquire whether he has a part in the calling, in the change of heart; he goes to inquire how it happened — where, when, in what manner; he examines whether his work is good: am I made known to myself? Is my work good? He goes to examine his convictions, whether they are good. He examines his sorrow: is my sorrow, my distress, godly? They examine their confession of sins, as they stand before God: is my confession of the right kind? Is it the confession I must have in order to come into heaven? They set the good over against the bad, Romans 7. So a child of God does as Abraham did, Genesis 15: he laid the pieces of the sacrifice against one another, and God came through between them with a fire. Jeremiah 34: there lies the calf, and God comes through between the pieces; so also they are not without attention, they go between the pieces. That is such a mark that it is a good work, when someone says, "In this I have a part, and in that I have none." So one does as God said in Jeremiah 24: in the one basket were very good figs, and in the other very bad. They do as Paul, Romans 7 — "and that is the new man, and that is the old man," he said, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3. A truly good man, one who is in grace, says, "I must make a distinction between seeming and being, between true and false, lie and truth, Shibboleth and Sibboleth."

We have often occupied ourselves with the congregation over this, and under this mark we have been treating the sincere confession of sins. We have already spoken of it twice. In the fifty-first sermon we had this matter: 1. In what sense we must make confession to men and in what sense not. 2. That making confession to men and to God has been the practice of all holy men. 3. Wherein it consisted. The fifty-eighth sermon was of this content: 1. True marks of the true confessor. 2. A case of conscience, whether all the sins of all men must be confessed. 3. Then we called upon the congregation concerning these points, and said, examine now. Then we had to begin the fifty-ninth sermon with a child of God who had all manner of difficulties to bring against the confession of sins. The first is: even if I do confess, there are so many ungodly who also do it — I fear that I do it only as an ungodly person would. The second is: he who covers his sins shall not prosper — I think that I do cover mine, because I am not prosperous, Proverbs 28:13. The third is: he who confesses and forsakes them, have you said with Solomon, shall obtain mercy — but though I confess them, I do not forsake them, and therefore I am not among the true confessors. If I confessed rightly, mercy would be shown me — but I fear that I am no true confessor. These are all four scriptural. The first three stand in Proverbs 28:13; the fourth runs through the whole Bible. At present we begin with the first, and that we shall now do.

I. First, in general, we shall say how a pious soul, having difficulties concerning his confession of sins, or concerning other matters, must be dealt with. II. We shall grant his difficulties and say that even the greatest sinners make a broad confession of sins. III. We shall show what it lacks.

First, we say, how a child of God must be met and dealt with in all his difficulties. Then we shall grant that the ungodly make broad confessions. Finally, however broad and moving it may be, what it lacks.

1. As to the first. I have in my own life had difficulty enough upon my heart, and I believe that grace itself is well acquainted with it — how must one deal with it? It would not always do for preachers, when one voices his difficulties to them: how must they be dealt with?

2. First and foremost one must take care not to belittle the difficulty someone raises, nor cast it to the wind — then you make yourself suspect; then you only increase the sickness of such a soul; then he thinks you do not understand him; it is as though you were unmerciful; then you must hear from such a patient: "I find no savor in your words, they are to me like tasteless food, my misery is increased by them, I shudder when you come, you are a worthless comforter to me, you are a burden to me." Take heed, remember this: you make yourself suspect and increase his pain.

3. We must also bear this in mind, that we must grant and say, yes, we too meet with much of this. When he says to you, "Now I have laid my heart open before you, is there ever a pain like this pain of mine?" then say, yes, your pain is great.

4. Indeed, you may even magnify it and say, "My friend, God's hand has gone out against you — what greater trouble is this? What a hard case is this!" 2 Corinthians 5. Then you must deal with such a one with all tenderness and affection. Job 19:21: Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.

5. When you must receive a godly person's difficulty into your bosom, you must hold back nothing of whatever could lessen or relieve or take away his difficulty; you must study it and pray over it, that the Lord may give you the tongue of the learned, to know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary, Isaiah 50:4. You must seek to discern his difficulties, you must deal with them firmly and tenderly, you must go to him in season and out of season, and if you have a heart to pray with him once, you must do it — indeed, you must seek to give him courage and heart with what God has done in former days and still does in your own time.

These are our directions. I know that if you use them, they will be blessed. God will be in your company, and he will say, "Here is my promise, that it shall go well with you: you shall part with sighing and strength, and you shall long for the little hour to come when you shall be together again and meet one another once more."

II. The second point was your difficulty over your confession of sins. You will say, I could well cry it out, there is such a burden upon my heart. What? You want me to believe that being a confessor of one's sins is a mark that someone has passed out of nature into grace, and that such a one is a bruised reed which the Lord Jesus will not break — not only will not break, but will bring forth judgment for it unto victory, and that they shall hope in his name; you do not satisfy me — this lies continually on my heart, that I should have grace because I am a confessor of sins — that cannot be. Why? Are there not the most ungodly of all, who have made confession of sins, and whom God has yet rejected? And if that is true, then you have not taught nor instructed me well. I answer you: we have indeed taught and instructed you well, and we grant you your difficulty. There are great ungodly men who have confessed their sins broadly and circumstantially, and with such display, that I and you, had we stood by, would have had to stand and stare. Let us bring you to the first world, to a Cain: he could not be brought to confess the deed at first; afterward, seeing that God knew it, he comes to such a broad confession: "I am worthy of the Judge's sword, you and the Judge may kill me" — and there lies the warm blood of his brother, crying out for vengeance, Genesis 4. Could we ourselves have put it any better? Should we not cry out, "I am a monster"? Let us bring you to the second world, to an ungodly Esau: he had lost the blessing, and when it came to the point that he was to be blessed, what does he do? He goes to weeping: "What have I done," he says, "that I have sold my birthright for such a mean mess of pottage! My father, come between us and change it!" He wept before his father — and what a broad confession! Come with us to Egypt, there you will find that hardened, obstinate, stubborn Pharaoh, Exodus 8: "I have sinned often and much against the Lord," he said; he did it more than once, and he said in what way, and it seemed as if he wanted to say, "I will not do it again in my life." Will you come with us to that proud and arrogant Balaam, Numbers 22:34: "Lord," he said, "I have sinned, and if you wish that I return home, I will do it." Go with us to the book of Judges, chapters 2 and 4: there they make such a confession of sins that God says, "My soul is grieved over you, I do not know how I shall deal with you any longer, must I go on helping you still?" Will you go with us among all the tribes of Israel? 1 Samuel 12:19: "Above all the evil that we have committed against the Lord, we have done this also, that we have desired a king for ourselves" — there they came, all that ungodly people, "we have done much evil," they said, "but this surpasses it all." Do you want to see yet another example, still more wonderful? That of Saul, 1 Samuel 15: "I have sinned and transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, prophet." Would we often get so far? Go a little further, for in 1 Samuel 24 you see that same wicked man in tears, and he says to David, "You are more righteous than I," and in 1 Samuel 26 he speaks even greater words: "I have done foolishly, and I have erred exceedingly in what I have done," verse 21. Would a king say that? Do you want to see all Israel too? Isaiah 59:13: there they confessed their turning away, their transgression and lying against the Lord. Go to the baptism of John: there come those broods of vipers confessing their sins, Matthew 3. Stand by Judas: what a display he made — "I have betrayed innocent blood!" Matthew 27:4. Would we get so far, have we made such a confession? Do you want to go into hell — there is everlasting and detailed confessing. Proverbs 5. There is the everlasting cry, "I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation." Can you not now see that an ungodly man can make a broad, detailed, particular confession, without grace, and be rejected by God? There you have our second point.

III. Now we must look at our third point. You will say, "Ah, I sink away when you say that." Yes, but see now what they lack: that bed is too short and that covering too narrow, this crooked thing will not come out straight, what is lacking here can scarcely be made whole. We shall show you this in twelve or thirteen propositions.

1. The first proposition is this: the confession the ungodly make, however broad it may be, is only out of habit, it is not conscientious. Take a preacher, for instance — what a great list of sins he recites in his prayer! Is he therefore a good confessor? Why does he do it? Because it belongs to a well-composed prayer; he can do that, and yet it may be that the weight of sin never comes home to his heart, and that it does not press upon him; he recites them merely because it belongs to a well-composed prayer. So it is with a sinner too: he says it likewise, out of habit, thinking that his prayer would otherwise not be complete. So it stood in the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel: those prophets indeed made a true confession, but how many an Israelite did it merely out of habit? Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9, Daniel 9. So a man may have a well-composed prayer in his own house, and it be mere habit.

2. An ungodly man does not confess all his sins: he confesses the small ones and covers over the great, just as in Genesis 3, Adam: "Have you done nothing else but eaten of that fruit which your wife gave you?" Well, Adam, was there not a breach of covenant? Hosea 6:7. Well, Adam, was it not a willful disobedience? Well, Adam, was it not a murdering of the whole world? And do you suppress that, and go on to name the small thing: "a wife of yours gave it to me, and I took it"? The sinner confesses the small and covers the gross.

3. Then this too is lacking: that though they sometimes confess the gross sin, they do not want their heart-sins to be known. That Pharisee said, "I thank you that I am not a thief or unjust, I thank you that I am not a murderer, nor a robber" — had he had a part in that, he would gladly have confessed it, but to acknowledge that mere self-righteousness was sin — that he would not have. Psalm 51, in the rhyme on verse 3.

4. So when they confess their sins, "God be thanked," they say, "I have many virtues to set against them," and these too they go reckoning up, and they suppose their virtues will well cancel out their vices. Mark 10: that young man had, according to the law, lived blamelessly. Luke 18: that Pharisee had so many virtues, he fasted twice a week, and with that he sought to cover his vices, verse 12.

5. The next thing they lack is this: that they usually confess only in general and say, "all men are liars, we are all great sinners, who lives that does good and does not sin?" But come to particulars — that does not suit them; that is to give each his own: one must not say, "you are the man" — that would strike too near home; uncover to him his particular sin, and he grows angry; let a preacher expose sins, and he is hated; one must not give each his own so precisely.

6. Then they say, "now you become my enemy, now I no longer love you." They hate the Micaiahs, the Elijahs are troublemakers to them; one must not pry into it so, or lay it all so open, one must not search so closely. It is with them just as with Joseph's brothers: "did we know," they said, "that this man would ask such close questions?" So it goes too, when someone meets them who touches them closely: "now," they say, "you are my enemy, you do not treat me well, you must not examine me so closely."

7. The seventh is this: they generally make confession only when they are pressed, when they know no other way out. Would Pharaoh have stood so, had he known any other counsel? Would the Ninevites have stood so, had there been no thunder-warning? Would you have heard that devil's servant Balaam say, "Lord, shall I turn back," had he not seen an angel standing to meet him? Numbers 22. So it goes with them at times: when the posts of the house shake, when there is distress and trouble, then they confess their sins.

8. The eighth is this: they make confession in the storm, but when it is over, then they are just like the sailors of Jonah: they were the same after Jonah was gone and the storm was over. They confess the sins and yet keep hold of them still. Hosea 6: look at Israel — when they had made confession, they still held fast to their sins, so that God had to say that they had drawn them to themselves with thick cart-ropes.

9. The natural man's confessing generally ends in carelessness, ungodliness, or despair. In carelessness: "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," 1 Corinthians 15:32; or in ungodliness: "they return, like the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire," 2 Peter 2:22; or in despair, Jeremiah 18:12: "yet they say, it is hopeless, we will walk after our own thoughts, and we will do, every one, the imagination of his own evil heart" — we will never come right in our life anyway.

10. Their confession is more a defense than a confession: he has so many excuses and knows how to soften it so, that his confession becomes rather an apology for himself. See it in Saul: he does indeed confess that he had acted foolishly and had greatly erred, transgressing God's command and Samuel's words, but he goes on to minimize it, and defends himself by saying, "I feared the people" — he shifts it onto the people, who wanted to spare the best and second-best sheep and oxen, 1 Samuel 15:21.

11. The eleventh point they lack is this: once they have made confession, now all is well, they think, now I have grace, now the promise of God will come upon me, that he will forgive the sins, 1 John 1:9 — "I make my sin known to God, and he forgives it me," they say, and they do not know that it has never gone worse with them than now.

12. Their whole confession is without heart, it is only with the lips and mouth: it is no burden to them, too heavy to bear, as it was to David, Psalm 38:5. They are not burdened, as in Matthew 11:28, but they say, "what do I still lack?" Matthew 19:20.

13. Finally, they have some things or other that move them to it: they want to appear pious along with the rest, and so they want to go along with the pious.

There you have our thirteen points, all told, as to the weightiest matter, when it came to the heart. Examine yourselves now. You shall have the rest hereafter. I wish that God will bless this. Amen.

Sermon 60

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which three things: I. A portrait of a prosperous ungodly man. II. That his prosperity is sheer adversity. III. That he is nevertheless a concealer of his sins — and thus the difficulty of the godly, on account of someone's prosperity, is taken away.

We read 1 Samuel 1:10, that there stood a woman in the tabernacle, or place of worship, praying and weeping, being bitterly grieved in soul; and in verse 15 she said, I am a woman troubled in spirit. She meant to say, ah, what a burden lies upon my heart! There was something heavy upon her mind. That woman was not the only one — Naomi too could well say that she had something heavy on her heart: "the Almighty," she said, "has dealt very bitterly with me," Ruth 1:20. Nor were women the only ones who could say that — men said it too. Psalm 119:28: my soul melts away for heaviness, strengthen me according to your word! The heaviness that men and women often carry in their hearts often springs from no single cause; the reasons may be many and various; what makes one weep may make another give thanks: the one might well say, "blessed is the womb that has not borne, and blessed the breasts that have not nursed," and another will weep and say, "give me children, or I die," with Rachel, Genesis 30. The godly, though they differ greatly in their difficulties, nevertheless have some difficulties in common: there are certain things that all the godly share. What are these things?

1. First, the hiding of God's face. There is not one godly person who, while living under that, is not troubled in spirit. Song of Songs 3 and 5: when he withdraws his hand from the opening of the door, their inward parts are troubled.

2. They also have this in common: there is not one who is not burdened over his sins; there is not one who does not know that well, Romans 7:24: O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death!

3. They also all have this in common: painful thorns, sharp pricks in the flesh, siftings like wheat, temptations. 2 Corinthians 12: even though Paul had been in the third heaven, he would have to confess that temptations troubled his mind.

4. They all have some matter that burdens them: "Oh God," they say, "it goes so badly with us and so well with the ungodly! We are men against whom God writes bitter things; we have hard days; our chastisements are every morning." When they look over a street full of people, they find that God deals out crosses just as he deals out rain: he rains upon one piece of land and not upon another. There is hardly a house of the godly without a cross in it: "my little house," they say, "and all the houses of the godly are like waters from a full cup, into which much wormwood and bitterness has been put: I am plagued all day long, and my chastisement is every morning," Psalm 73:14. And come to a sinner — everything smiles upon him, they have no pangs in their death; they are like a green native tree, Psalm 37:35; they are not in trouble as other men, Psalm 73:5. Great saints could not bear that. Jeremiah had to pour out his heavy heart over it, chapter 12; and Asaph, the man could not bear it, Psalm 73: "I cannot approve of this in you, Lord," he said. How does this come about? We would like to know that now: why is their pain so general? There are five or six reasons for it.

a. First, it is natural that blows arouse grief. It is natural and proper that fire warms, that water drowns, that a clear sky gives light: just as natural and proper is it that blows arouse grief. If a child gets blows from its parents, it is natural that it should be grieved.

b. "Have I found grace in your eyes, Lord, and do I get blows — may I have the greater and not the lesser? That I cannot bear," they say. "How far does grace surpass a crumb of bread! Shall a Lazarus lie there with grace and not a crumb of bread to eat?" Luke 16. "That I cannot lift nor bear: will you give me grace, and refuse a garment, with a crumb of bread —"

c. The third reason is: the best of saints is not free of envy, pride, and haughtiness; indeed, they are at times sick in the hospital of their own righteousness — they think they ought to be treated better than the ungodly. Job said, "but now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock" — that man could not bear it, Job 30:1. It is no cause for gladness, but rather for grief on account of sin, when someone prospers on the way of sin.

d. Because the devil has thereby such weapons with which to attack them: "if God loved you," he says, "he would not strike and press you so; if you stood so well with heaven, it would go otherwise; are you the Son of God, and how then do you hunger?" Matthew 4. "Are you to have grace, and not a bit of bread or a garment? Well, God treats the beasts better than you."

e. The fifth reason is: that they do not go far enough into the sanctuary, and do not look to the end of the ungodly. They look only at their beginning and middle, and not at their end. You must look to their end. Do you think, godly ones, that it is a proof of God's love that they have such prosperity? "One thing befalls the righteous and the wicked," Ecclesiastes 9:2. You must guard against judging by the outward the love or hatred of God — you shall not judge by that, God says in verse 1. If you went into my sanctuary, you would see that that prosperity was sheer adversity: they are just like the ox in the pasture — when it has become fat, the butcher comes and slaughters it; they are like a sheep in the pasture that goes seeking its food, yet once grown fat, it is slaughtered, Jeremiah 12 — or like a fattened lamb: their prosperity is adversity.

f. They cannot bear it, because they do not notice that their own adversity is prosperity. Is that hatred in your eyes, when God gives a stroke of love, without which no one has ever been? "Whom God loves, on him he keeps his hand, and him he chastens," Hebrews 12:6. If you understood it, you would say, the adversity of the sanctified is better than the prosperity of the ungodly.

Here we would stop. The matter we have been treating and have had in hand is the sixth mark of the state of grace, and that was the sincere, humble, and true confession of sins. We have shown you that this was the excellent, useful, and necessary practice of the saints. We have also seen whether we ought to make confession to men, and when, and wherein; then, how we ought to make it to God, and wherein that consists. Then we looked at the marks of true confession, and then we resolved a case of conscience, whether we must confess all our sins. Then we called upon all who had heard it, and said, judge now. Then we saw that the pious make a difficulty of this matter. Then we showed how one must deal with the difficulty of the pious, and then we resolved first their first difficulty, and that was: the ungodly make a broad confession — I am concerned whether mine is the true one. We granted you that, and said, yes, the ungodly do make a broad confession — but we showed you what it lacked. Then we said, there will arise a second concern out of Proverbs 28:13, and that is: he who covers his transgressions shall not prosper — a child of God says, I am not prosperous, so I must be covering my sins; the ungodly is prosperous, so they are not coverers of their sins; I am troubled that I am a coverer, because I am not prosperous, but an ungodly man is prosperous, so does he not cover them, and is he not better off than I? In this morning hour we wanted to take away that first thing and show that an ungodly man, though prosperous, nevertheless covers his sins: from that you cannot then conclude that he makes true confession. After that will follow: the godly are in adversity — but from that you cannot conclude that he is a coverer of his sins; he is nonetheless a true confessor. Then follows the other difficulty from the same text: he who confesses them, it says, and forsakes them — but I do not forsake them, so my confession does not hold. Then again: he shall obtain mercy — but I do not find that, so then my confession is no true confession. These are the things that remain to us from that matter. We have then now —

I. The portrait of a prosperous ungodly man. II. That his prosperity is true adversity. III. And then the difficulty of your heart must of itself fall away, and you must acknowledge that, although he is prosperous, he is nevertheless a coverer of his sins.

1. Do you want the portrait of such a prosperous man? How is a man who is prosperous according to the world and with the world? Beloved, there is a three-headed idol, a supposed and false trinity, which they serve and possess: you will find it in 1 John 2:16 — the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Of these they possess much, indeed all that their five senses can enjoy, and all that their inward corruption can delight in; they have much for their smell, for their taste, for their sight, for their hearing, for their feeling, and in all their inward corruption they swim, that is their whole pleasure. That is in general. But the Word portrays such a one also as very prosperous according to the world, Job 21:7–15: all goes well with him, in his children and in everything. See also Psalm 73:3–7, and Jeremiah 12:2–3, and Malachi 3:14–15 — they bless themselves. 1 Samuel 25: there you have that prosperous Nabal; and Esau had much, Genesis 33; and Luke 12, that man had much goods, and he mused continually with his thoughts on the future; and Luke 16, there is that rich man who lived daily in splendor and luxury. Do you want to see such a prosperous man according to the Word? He is a man of good descent, of good parents, of a noble lineage; he is of standing, he is a son of the nobility, he is one of the wise, as was boasted of Cyrus; he is of rank; his descent is not despicable but honorable; he has a wife who is the delight of his eyes, who is charming, who is strong; his marriage is crowned with pleasant children, desired young men and maidens, who all rise through the ranks of honor, position, and wealth — these shall be his heirs, he has no concern that they will diminish his goods, but rather increase them. Do you want to see one, you will find him in esteem and honor and in charge of affairs, sitting up front clothed in a fine garment, James 2. There comes one with a splendid and magnificent robe, his food and drink of the best and second-best, he has much riches and goods, precious jewels of kings, noble gems, like Herod, whose garment was so full of precious stones that no man could look upon it for the glare. You will find him thus, that he delights himself in the sun, he lives soft and delicately; he travels through lands and cities; he has wisdom, he is no blockhead; he is a friend of the great; he has no enemies, everyone bows and bends before him, as before Haman and Joseph, and if there is anyone who would not otherwise show him respect, he must do it for the sake of his office; such a one has wagons and horses and servants; he says to this one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, or, do this, and he does it; whatever he lays his hand to succeeds for him, in his house, trade, business; whatever he does seems blessed, it all flourishes for him, and he is like that man in Luke who mused about building his barns bigger, and then living soft and delicately, chapter 12. He is like Solomon, it all flourished for him; it is as though he lived in the years of abundance of Egypt; when he comes into church, he is the outward ornament, he is the man with the gold ring, one says to a poor man, "stand there," or "sit under my footstool," but the rich is set in a high place; he has charge of state and city, and he must have it in the church too, let it turn how it will, though the upright sigh over it; he has many of the church people on his side, just as Ahab and Jezebel had a good hundred on their side, and with them they do as they please, though the faithful be troubled, oppressed, mocked, and were it possible, driven away. But there are those who court them, and plaster them with smooth talk, and lay cushions under their elbows, so that such prosperous people should not sit uncomfortably; these are held in regard by them, and they know how to win over the common crowd, so that they gladly go along with it too, and become themselves masters of conscience, and begin likewise to live wantonly, to gamble and to play, and give themselves over to all their lusts and desires, and then they generally go laying false foundations, and die with a lie in their right hand. And they hope for old age too; their respite is often long, they often have little sickness or pain, their final illness is often not long either, and after their death their person is praised for the sake of appearances. Would one not say of such a person, that is a prosperous man? And yet he is an unhappy one — but that is our second point.

II. Height's lowness, gladness's pain, riches' poverty, prosperity's adversity, blessing's curse — if you can understand that riddle, then you are out of it. Your heart says, I am as in a maze, it is to me such an illegible thing; we shall now seek to make you understand it from Scripture. God from heaven gives wisdom to his servants, said Daniel, and they say, the prosperity of the ungodly is adversity. Wherein, you will ask? In this.

1. First, it is so short. Let such a prosperous man live seventy years, or, if he is strong, eighty years — how short is his prosperity! What is eighty years compared to eternity? There, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. If such a one shall have lain in hell a thousand years, that will seem to him as but a single day.

2. His prosperity is so uncertain. Many have had a taste for it, but did not get it. It is not certain that they will obtain it, once they begin to set their heart on it. It is with it as with a hungry man past whom a delicious dish of food is carried, and he gets nothing of it. "The world passes away, and all its lust," John 2:17. It is uncertain: "one generation passes away, and another generation comes," Ecclesiastes 1:4. And they often, in their lifetime, cannot even reckon that their goods will fall into the hands of their enemies. How unstable is prosperity! There lies Jezebel adorned to look beautiful, and an hour or two later she is trampled underfoot and eaten by dogs — and that a king's daughter and a king's wife. Haman was at the banquet with the queen and the king, and he was so soon led by the king to the gallows.

3. It is adversity, I say, your prosperity, because there is a curse in it. For his sins' sake, the curse is in every piece he possesses; death is in the pot, in every enjoyment. Is it not something great, that one gives a dog a fine morsel in which there is poison? What have you of the prosperity and blessing that God gives, when your blessings are cursed?

4. Prosperity is so uncomfortable. The high seats and thrones of the world are so uncomfortable to sit upon. Are your houses full of money, do you have standing — with what care are you burdened, how you shall preserve it, and to whom you shall leave it? It is your whole heaven and blessedness. Luke 6:24, woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Psalm 17:14. Ah, ungodly, people of the world, whose portion is in this life! 1 Timothy 6:9, they fall into many foolish and harmful lusts, and into temptation and a snare.

5. Such a prosperous man is an unfortunate man, because he is in so much danger of forgetting God, saying, where is the Lord? Proverbs 30:9, and Deuteronomy 32:15, with that fat Jeshurun, they kick backward, and they are in danger of losing their religion in their trade, in their house, in the church, in their company. How many become Demases, who come to love the present world, like Saul: when he was small, he was still somewhat devout, but when he had grown great, no longer. You are in danger of being lost, prosperous one; it is better that the world frown upon you than smile upon you. "Capernaum, you shall be exalted to heaven, you shall be brought down to hell," Matthew 11:23. "How hard it shall be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven!" Matthew 19:23. Such a one is in such danger of sinning: the devil, his own heart, and his company all seek to incite him to sin, James 1:13. And whoever is in such prosperity is in danger of being envied. See Esau, he cannot bear the upper hand, Genesis 25. What made Isaac so envied, but his prosperity? David had more rest when he lived among the sheep than when he was a courtier and even a king. You are in danger of not being able to give your account before God, when it shall be written, "give an account" — how have you dealt with your children, office, money, goods? Was it not for God?

6. Ah, your prosperity is adversity. Why? Because of the emptiness that is in it. A heavenly-minded person, a child of God, would rather bring his prosperity to the feet of the apostles, the nearest step to being trodden underfoot. A heavenly-minded person does not esteem the goods of the world, because they cannot fill his emptiness. World, your prosperity is so empty: when you have an anxious mind, come then with your silk and splendid garments. Adam can find no rest, in the whole of paradise, Genesis 3. Belshazzar can find no rest at his banquet, nor Saul in his whole kingdom. All your prosperity is like a crown on the head of one who has pain in his head, which shall rather increase his discomforts than lessen them. Your treasures cannot take away pain in a tooth or a nerve, and when you die, that earth is waste and empty. You are never in a better position to judge the goods of the world than when you are sick and about to die: horses, carriages, offices, there they lie, and then it is, and you would well say to the bystanders and heirs, "the estate is yours, may only my soul be for me and for God!"

7. You cannot buy real comfort with it, no conviction, no grace. You cannot buy heaven with it either. If you thought that through your goods you would be acceptable to God, he would say, "your money perish with you," as Peter spoke to Simon the sorcerer, Acts 8:20.

8. Prosperity makes dying exceedingly hard: they cannot bear to hear of death, sickness, or parting. "Must I," they say, "part from that office, from that authority, from all that finery — I cannot die." Then they are like a statue that must be hewn out of the wall, and not like a painting that one simply takes down; someone once said to death, "will you have so much money and offices? Yes, through my friends I could put you in possession of a whole kingdom." "No," said death. All those church-favorites, who have so plastered themselves over, cannot help them then. Where were all those royal guests when Ahab was shot? Nor can their authority, which they have in the church, help them, nor is it any honor to them; and those churchmen who seek only to be friends with the great may go from one call to another, from a village to a city, but having come there they are only a burden; their service is not pleasing to the saints, the pious sit sighing under them, they do not have the prayer of the upright, who prayed for Peter and not for Judas. Moreover, their offices, when they die, are given to others, and they go by heaps to hell, and there hands and feet are bound. Then it will be, "Lord, open to me, and let me enter into my office," but then the Lord will say, "I never knew you," there where you gloried in yourself, Matthew 7:22 — thus dying, all their false grounds fall away. Then Korah might well say, "oh, had I been Aaron," and Judas, "was I Peter?" That is a true adversity in his prosperity.

III. Now the last point: why are you so troubled, godly one — are they true confessors because they are prosperous? No, only true concealers. Set your heart on this and seek to remember it, repeat it, you will find it so. When they have prosperity in the church, in civil life, in politics, draw no conclusion from that, that they are fortunate, and look to their end — then they are wholly stripped bare. We shall save the other difficulty for another sermon. Amen.

Sermon 61

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which one sees: I. A godly person in an oppressed condition. II. The cross somewhat lightened from afar. III. A demonstration that his adversity is prosperity. IV. That it then appears of itself, that someone can have a cross and be a good confessor.

We read Matthew 7:16: Do men gather a grape from thorns, or figs from thistles? It is much as if you heard James ask: does a fountain send forth from the same opening both sweet water and bitter? James 3:11. It is as if one asked the Lord Jesus: if the salt has become tasteless and unsalted, wherewith shall it be made salty? Mark 9:50. So a man asks: Lord God! is there good in evil? Is there blessing in the cross? If someone answered them, yes, there is a blessing in the cross, they would say, as Mary did, how can this be? Luke 1:34; or as they said of the Lord Jesus, can anything good come out of Nazareth? John 1:47. Everything works according to its own nature, and God himself says that the cross is evil, Amos 3:6: is there evil in a city, and the Lord has not done it? And Lamentations 3:38: does not evil and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High? Could one gather grapes or figs of refreshment from a painful thorn or an aching thistle? You answer, yes. What blessing is there in it? This: is there someone who has trouble or adversity — he sees God's hand in it, by whatever way the adversity comes. The trouble is from God. Job said, not the Sabeans have taken it, nor has the devil taken it, but the Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away, Job 1:21. Naomi did not say, in that land they have made me so poor, but the hand of God has gone out against me. And it is far weightier to see the sword in the judge's hand, Romans 13, than the rod in a father's hand, Hebrews 12. Is there good in the cross? Yes, there is such a blessing in it. Moses once found bitter water, he cast in a piece of wood, and it became sweet. Elisha once found a spring that was not good, he cast salt into it, and then it became good. The sons of the prophets had gathered wild gourds; as they ate, they cried out to Elisha, "man of God, there is death in the pot" — he cast in meal, and then there was no more harm in it. So it is with the cross of God's children. It is with it as with the cup in Benjamin's sack: they thought it would do them harm, but it did good, for then Joseph revealed himself to them, and made known who he was. Judah was carried captive to Babylon, but it was for their good. "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies," even the harshest and bloodiest, Psalm 25:10. The cross and the trouble are like a bitter medicine or remedy from the Doctor: it heals, purifies, cleanses. Trouble is often as needful as the best sermon, and as the best ordinance that God gives. Many a one did not think of God until he got a blow. Psalm 119:67: before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Shall we show you a whole cloud of witnesses to this? Jacob — what a sorrowful encounter did he have? He sent his wives and children over the brook, and had to remain alone through the night; Esau was on his way, and God wrestled with him — he comes away from it lame: was that nevertheless not a blessing? He had seen God, and who would not gladly go lame to see God, and be able to say, Peniel, "for I have seen God face to face," Genesis 32:30. Consider Joseph: his brothers did not esteem him, they sold him, his feet were hurt in the stocks — being there, he was rescued, and got a longed-for marriage and pleasant children, and that was the means by which he got his family to himself. What do you think of that poor widow? "Your servant, my husband, is dead," she said to Elisha, "and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and now the creditor has come to take my two children as slaves for him," 2 Kings 4:1. She had incurred debt during her husband's life: "there comes the creditor now," she said, but the woman, once a widow, could manage better than while her husband lived — she paid her debt, and lived with her pleasant children on the remainder. See it too in Manasseh: from golden chains he is put into copper fetters, from his royal palace into the prison house; in the golden chains he blasphemed God, and in the copper fetters he prayed. Consider Job: he had lost all his goods, was full of sores and boils, a spectacle for pity — was there also a blessing in his misery? Yes indeed! His grace came to light, and it was doubly restored to him, Job 42. Paul on the road to Damascus — he became blind, and that was the way to give the light of grace into his heart. That is the beginning of salvation, that you must acknowledge with us. We pray then that one may live here on grapes of thorns and figs of thistles. The cross of the godly is like Jonathan's staff, at the end of which is honey, 1 Samuel 14. Is there then fortune in their misfortune? Yes — "many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all the Lord delivers him," Psalm 34:19.

You will say, you may say as much as you like in your introduction, you still have not persuaded me, it cannot be. We hope, before an hour is past, that you shall have been persuaded of it. We have had in hand the sixth mark of the state of grace, the confession of sins. And in it we had these difficulties. The first was: the ungodly do indeed make a broad confession — I fear that mine is not true; that we have also taken away. The second was from Proverbs 28:13: he who covers his transgressions shall not prosper — I am not prosperous, therefore no good confessor, for if I were a good confessor, I should not have so much adversity, for it says expressly, he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain prosperity and mercy — I am not prosperous, therefore not a true confessor. That we shall now lay before your heart, and we shall do it by showing that a godly one in a distressed state. Then we shall make preparation to lighten the cross somewhat. Then we shall show that the adversity of the godly is prosperity. And then we shall show that such a godly person has prosperity in his adversity. Take pains and attend now to these four points.

I. First we shall hold before your eyes a wretched godly person, a godly person with a cross, so that his soul is full of troubles. II. We shall seek from afar to lighten the cross somewhat. III. We shall show that their adversity is prosperity. IV. Then it shall appear of itself, that someone can have a cross and yet be a good confessor.

1. Do you want to see a godly one in his cross? Attend then. He is of humble birth, he is not so great in the world as another, he must often say with David, I am a poor and sorrowful man; he is like that poor wise man, Ecclesiastes 9 — no one remembered that same poor man. He is one who cannot count many friends. Of the few friends he still has, they hate him. How is it with him? In his marriage too it goes ill for him. Is it a wife — she has a Nabal for a husband. Is it a man — he has a quarrelsome wife, so that it is better for him to dwell on a corner of the roof. One speaks sooner of parting than of staying together, one dreads to see one another. "My breath is strange to my wife," said Job, "I can hardly speak in her presence." Such a one often has no pleasant children. While they are young, one sets them on the lap, and when they are old, they weigh down the heart; then father and mother are held cheap, so that they bring their gray hairs down to the grave in sorrow through their children's bad conduct. Whatever they set their hand to fails them, it all goes against them; their heart fails from fear, they dread a dread, and it comes upon them, and it strikes them. "I fear," they say, "that I shall yet have to live on the charity of others, and that I shall yet have to eat the bread of tears and drink tears as out of a jug." If it goes well in marriage, they lose their husband, wife, or children; in their house they must always be working for the doctor, it is unhealthy in their whole family, and then it still does not help; they are like that woman who had spent all she had. They may not hold any little office; they are pushed off the bench everywhere. Do they come to church, then one says, "stand there," or "sit here under my footbench." They are reviled, slandered, one puts a stain upon them, so that they must say, my chastisement is every morning. Must they have a lawsuit, and suffer in their court proceedings — there at the places of judgment lie the tears of the oppressed. They are oppressed, slandered, misjudged, hated, mocked, reviled, persecuted. They have nowhere a lasting dwelling place, they must often go to prisons, to scaffolds. And as for the soul, it is no better. As soon as they are converted, they are often led by a narrow way, they must, as it were, crawl through hell to get to heaven. They are forsaken and melted, blindness and insensibility are put far from them, they are troubled as their dying hour approaches, and the fear of death has seized them. In their village or town where they dwell, there are no men capable of instructing them, there are no teachers after their heart, but shepherds who are not leaders but misleaders, who please the heart of the ungodly and grieve the godly. They often have such as these, who do not want to seek out what is lost, and cannot see that they will ever be rid of such burdens, and get others. There you have such a portrait of an oppressed godly person. We ask then the question: does one gather grapes from those thorns? There you have our first point. Now follows our second point.

II. Now we must prepare your heart somewhat, to show you that there hang grapes upon those thorns. How shall you do that, you will ask? Thus:

1. Godly one! were you ever yet deceived by God or by any teacher? Have they ever told you that you should have prosperity? Or has everyone said that the gate is narrow and the way is strait, Matthew 7:14? Have they not told you, see what you do, the way to heaven is beset with thorns, the righteous is scarcely saved, 1 Peter 4:18, strive to enter in at the strait gate, Luke 13:24? Did God deceive you, when you were converted? Was it not told you plainly, the way is narrow? Did you not sit down and count the cost?

2. We must also say this, that God's dealings, as to the outward, are alike for the godly and the ungodly. There are ungodly who are oppressed, there are godly who are oppressed; there are ungodly who have prosperity, there are also godly who have prosperity. "One thing happens to the righteous and to the wicked," Ecclesiastes 9:2. Is a godly Job oppressed, Job 1 — there are seventy kings with their thumbs cut off, bound hand and foot, Judges 1. Is an ungodly one prosperous, a godly one is too. Does Ahab wear a golden crown, so does David. Is there a prosperous Nabal — Job too was very prosperous after he was restored. Is there a wise Ahithophel, there is also a wise Solomon.

3. From the outward you cannot draw any conclusion about God's love or hatred, and from the outward you cannot judge of your own grace, whether you have grace or not, or whether your confession is good or not. Ecclesiastes 9:1 says indeed, from the outward you cannot judge the love or the hatred of God. If God blesses the ungodly, you cannot conclude from that that he loves them; when he strikes the godly, you cannot conclude from that that God hates them. That is an argument of the devil, Matthew 4: if you were God's Son, would you hunger? That is an argument out of hell.

4. Whatever befalls you, godly one, even if you were the one with the most crosses, we ask you, will you not find that in the Word there are similar, even heavier ones? Consider a Job — has it ever happened to you what happened to him? Look at the Lord Jesus: he had not so much as a fox, which has holes, or a bird, which has a nest; he had nowhere to lay his head. Consider a Lazarus at the rich man's gate. Hear the complaints of the godly, Psalm 88. Sit down beside it, and see whether you have more cross than other godly people who have been saved.

5. Further we say, do you know that the best Christians have become the greatest cross-bearers? The greatest heroes, like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, who were gold, had to be entrusted with that. Gold endures the greatest fire.

6. I ask you, say now, with all your cross, that you have in soul or body, would you rather trade it for the most prosperous ungodly man? Would you exchange your mind for his wicked mind? Oh no, you would say, I am better off with the blessing of God in the little I have, with that access to the Lord: you would not want to miss it for any kingdom. Ungodly one, you would say, I would not trade with you; you would say as Daniel, O king, keep your gifts to yourself, and give your rewards to another, Daniel 5:17.

7. God loves his children even in the furnace, Hebrews 12:6. The goldsmith loves the gold that is in the crucible as much as that which is in the shop. The farmer loves the wheat that is in the ground as much as that which he has in the barn. My children, says God, I have loved you in the furnace, my love does not pass away, my love remains, it is unfailing, I will love you to the end.

8. Finally, when they are truly in their right frame, they would thank God for all their crosses, and say, there is something good in this, we gather grapes of thorns here, there is good in the trouble. Do you not also gain by it? Oh no! It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I have lain in the crucible, Psalm 119:71, and verse 67: before I was afflicted and chastened, I went astray. Isaiah 12:1: I will thank you, Lord, that you were angry with me, but your anger is turned away and you comfort me. When they are truly in their right frame, they shall come to see figs on those thorns, like Joseph, Genesis 50:20: you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good; and Romans 8:28: we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. That is our preparatory and instructive second point.

III. The third is that we must show you poverty's riches, adversity's prosperity, sorrow's joy, the curse's blessing. You will say, that is strange! And it is true: poverty's riches, adversity's prosperity, the curse's blessing, sorrow's joy. What kind of grapes do you pluck from those thorns? What blessing lies in it? This.

1. First, a child of God with a cross learns to understand the Word rightly. Then he can well believe what Luther used to say: I would not have understood many Psalms of the Word, had God not brought me into the cross. That I know too, they say, I would not have rightly understood many chapters and passages of the Bible, had God not brought me into adversity. Where would I have understood this — we rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, Romans 5:3–4. I would not have understood this — my soul, return to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you, Psalm 116:7. Light arises in the darkness for the upright, Psalm 112:4. They gather these grapes from those thorns, that they learn to understand the Word.

2. They learn thereby to know sin, what sin is. Can you in your life see the bitter shape of sin better than in the shape of the cross? Sin is a painted lion, when you do not taste its bitter fruits — but then one says, ah Lord! all that bitterness is from sin. Jeremiah 4:18: this is your wickedness, that it is so bitter, that it reaches to your very heart. Jeremiah 2:19: know then and see, that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken the Lord your God. A sickbed sometimes teaches more than a whole series of sermons.

3. These grapes they gather from it, that they learn to know themselves thereby: not only what sin is, but what we are. In prosperity we are sometimes strangers to ourselves; in adversity we are sometimes melted, humbled, thankful; but in prosperity we are sometimes proud, contrary. Ah, they say then, I did not know that my corruption was so strong, and my grace so weak, and my impulses so unholy and so sick. Psalm 30:7–8: I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. For, Lord, you had, by your favor, made my mountain to stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled. Adversities are like fire; put clear water on it, it makes it foam: so also their unbelief, ill-temper, contradiction, and I know not what, all comes to light.

4. The crosses make us like the Lord Jesus. Then you know how that man lived: he was a man of sorrows, Isaiah 53:3. Shall the head have a crown of thorns, and the members a crown of roses? How then should the members resemble that head?

5. The cross is good and worth gold. Why? It roots out sin so, it skims off the scum so, it purifies from the evil humors so. Jonah fled no more, once he had been in the fish. The Psalmist said, before I was afflicted, I went astray, Psalm 119:67; and Isaiah 27:9, the whole fruit shall be, says God, that I shall take away sin.

6. The cross makes them so free from the world. If vain things are then so wearisome to them, that they would well say, what do I here longer — like the mother of Augustine, who cried out of the window toward heaven, Lord! what do I any longer here! They become free even from the very dearest creature, for the most godly said, we look not at the things which are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, 2 Corinthians 4:18. The cross is such a blessed means to that end.

7. The cross exalts you. It gives you the greatest honor, it sets a crown on your head, it gives you a mark that you are a child of God. You get high esteem, when God gives you a blow. Job 7:17: what is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart upon him! Your chastisements are every morning. It is on the contrary a mark of God's disregard, when you have no cross: then you run to hell. Why, says God, would you be struck any more? You would only increase your rebellion, Isaiah 1:5.

8. It makes you so esteemed in the Word, in the world, and in heaven. In the Word they are indeed so esteemed; they are as the stars in heaven and in the firmament, Hebrews 11. They are esteemed not only in the Word and in the world, but also in heaven: these are they, says God, who come out of great tribulation, Revelation 7:14.

9. Ah! there is such fruit in the cross! It saves you and brings you to heaven and to God. What do I speak of, they say — here I stand by broken cisterns, there is no refreshment in them! I go to the spring of living water. The cross makes them like Noah's dove: it always flew back again to the ark; and like the waters of the flood: the higher the waters rose, the closer the ark came to heaven. Blessed are you, when men revile and persecute you, Matthew 5:11.

10. When they remain faithful to God, they put the devil and the whole world to shame. The devil says, is it for nothing that you fear God? Is it because you are blessed? Job 1:9. But what do you say now, devil, when their hedge is gone, and you hear them say, though he slay me, yet will I hope in him, Job 13:15? Then he stands ashamed, and the ungodly stand ashamed, when they see God's children accept the plundering of their goods with joy, Hebrews 10:34: all this has come upon us, yet our foot has not turned aside from your path, Psalm 44:18–19. Then they stand ashamed, and gain such esteem that they say, if we were as they, we would not serve God so.

11. The last is, the cross paves the way for them to the greatest glory. Those who bear the cross shall win the greatest crowns of glory, they who have set something at stake for the Lord — but not those velvet Christians. Come, child, the Lord shall say, I have washed your robe and made it white in the blood of the Lamb, you shall put on long white robes, Revelation 7:14. So that it would be true, that when God uses the cross, he leads his sincere people by it to heaven and gives them the greatest crown of glory.

IV. What do you say now? Must your difficulty not now be dissolved for you? Are you not a good confessor, because you are oppressed? Is not your adversity prosperity? Yes but, you will say, whether I am a good confessor or not, I do not forsake sin. Do as Asaph — he went into the sanctuary, and then he saw that he had been a great brute beast before God; "when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," he says, "I was ready to slip, my foot would have gone out of the path of God" — do as that godly soul, who said, you shall guide me by your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory; do as that godly soul, "as for me, it is good for me to be near God"; do as that godly soul, and say with him, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart! Psalm 73. Whether they have a cross or not, that was the third difficulty; the fourth is, such a one who confesses and forsakes them, but I do not forsake them, I fear therefore that my confession is not good — that hereafter. We hope that God will bless this to you and to my own heart, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 62

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which: I. It is granted that a true confessor of sins also forsakes his sins. II. Instruction is given wherein forsaking sin does not consist. III. It is shown what it is, according to Holy Scripture, to commit sin. IV. It is pointed out that one finds in Scripture that a person in grace does not commit sin and cannot commit it. V. It is explained how these two things stand together: to commit sin, and yet not to commit it and to forsake it.

We read 2 Timothy 2:19: Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows those who are his. Yes, God knows his own, for he has written their names in heaven, Luke 10:20; he has written their names in the book of life, Philippians 4:3; he has called his own by name, Isaiah 43:1, compare Acts 9:4; yes, I have called you by name, I have surnamed you, he says, Isaiah 45:4; he knows the place of their dwelling, and where they lodge: well, Cornelius, God says through the angel, send men to Joppa, to Peter — he lodges with one Simon the tanner, Acts 10:5–6. Yes, God knows those who are his, for he knows where they sit. "Philip called you," said the Lord Jesus to Nathanael, when he sat under the fig tree, John 1:49. Elijah — God saw him when he sat under the juniper tree: what are you doing here, Elijah, said God, 1 Kings 19:4. God knows in what streets they are, Acts 9:11, in the street called Straight, there is Paul of Tarsus, behold, he prays. Yes, God knows them by name — God knew Moses by name, Exodus 33:17; we are known by God, said Paul, Galatians 4:9, and the Lord Jesus, John 10:14, I know my sheep.

Oh God, you will say, if only I knew whether I were yours! The godly often test and examine themselves; they often hear marks laid down of the state of grace, of the calling and of the election; they lay themselves alongside these; some they find, and some they do not; and among other things they find great difficulties, which hinder them from saying that they are the Lord's, and they would not dare to call themselves by the name of the God of Jacob, nor subscribe with their hand, "I am the Lord's" — for scarcely is the one difficulty gone, than another follows straightway, so that they dare not say, I am the Lord's, Isaiah 44:5. There lies something on my heart, they say, can you take that away from me? What is it? This is it: Paul says in that same text, whoever names the name of Christ, let him depart from iniquity; and Solomon says, Proverbs 28:13, whoever confesses and forsakes his transgressions shall obtain mercy — but ah! I confess them well, but I do not forsake them. This mystery and objection we must now look into. It is one of the greatest difficulties: they say, should I have grace, and yet commit sin, when God says that they forsake it and do not commit it? To lead you into this we must say these things: first, we shall grant you that a true confessor forsakes sin. Then we shall give you instruction concerning the forsaking and the not-forsaking of sin. Then we shall show you what we find in Scripture as to what it is to commit sin. Then, that we also find in Scripture that a person in grace does not commit sin, nor can commit it. Then, how they commit sin and yet do not commit it, nor can commit it. These are five weighty points. We hope we shall be able to deal with them. I say then:

I. We grant that a true confessor forsakes sin. II. We shall give instruction wherein the forsaking does not consist. III. We must see what it is in Scripture to commit sin. IV. We shall show that the person in grace neither commits it nor can commit it. V. Finally we shall see how these two things stand together, to commit sin and yet not to commit it but to forsake it.

I. A true confessor of sin — for his confession to be good, forsaking must follow upon it. He neither will nor shall sin any longer; he flees and hates sin, like a man that which has caused him an accident; weeping and confessing go together; they go all the way to the grave weeping over sin, condemning themselves, forswearing it, sighing over it; their gray or young hairs go down to the grave in sorrow over it. Therefore we find that weeping, confessing, and forsaking sin go together, Matthew 3, confessing and repenting, Acts 2 and 3. Not only that — the confession does not avail if forsaking does not follow, but the forsaking must indeed be real. How must it be?

1. Readily, at once, without excuses. So did Zacchaeus, Luke 19.

2. The forsaking must be heartfelt. Do you forsake sin, when you do it without heart? What is that, God says? I want the heart with it — appearance is not enough, that is only a form of godliness but no power.

3. It must be a forsaking of all sins — you must retain no desire toward even a single sin: whoever still retains a desire for one sin has forsaken none. Would you say, "Lord, that one I want to keep" — that will not do; you must be able to say in general, I have hated every false way, Psalm 119:128.

4. It must be steadfast, not now and then, but to the end of your life, Jeremiah 32:40, and Proverbs 23:17, be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

5. It must be visible and appear outwardly. Those who had practiced curious arts brought their books to the marketplace and burned them, Acts 19. You must let your light shine among a crooked and perverse generation, Matthew 5:16.

That is the first point: my confession does not avail if the forsaking does not follow in this manner.

II. We said that secondly we would give instruction concerning the forsaking of sin — wherein it does not consist.

1. First, it is not to no longer regard sin as sin. No saint in the Bible ever existed thus; rather they existed such that they held sin to be sin — they held it for disobedience, for rebellion, for whatever is ugly. 1 John 3:4, whoever commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.

2. Nor is it this: to reckon sin lightly, to laugh about it and count it a trifle, and say, Jesus' blood was after all shed for it, what does it matter! No, but they reckon it worse than hell — hell God has made, but sin he has not. And worse than the devil: had there been no sin, there would have been no devil. Worse than the greatest cross; in the greatest cross the godly can still sing, like Noah when he was alone with his own in the ark, though it stormed and rained so hard there. Paul and Silas sing in the prison. God says to the afflicted, sing then with gladness in your heart, singing and making melody in a spiritual song — but in sin they cannot do that; that is not the work of God's hand.

3. It is not this: that one should think, it is past, it is done, there is no undoing it, and that one should then sit still and hopeless — no, they mourn and weep and seek to have it atoned for in Christ's blood and improved through the Spirit.

4. Nor is it this: to shift it onto God, or onto the devil, or onto another person, and so wash our hands of it. They never shift it onto God: far be it from God to do wickedness, Job 34:10. In him is no darkness at all, 1 John 1:5. The devil is indeed a tempter and an inciter, the world is indeed a seducing cause, but whoever forsakes sin reckons it his own evil. He says with Paul, "I no longer do the sin," but he adds, "the evil that I would not, that I do," Romans 7:15, 17. It is their own accident, their own leprosy.

5. Nor is this it: to say that the godly and true confessors would never again commit any sin, after they have received grace — then you and I would be badly off; experience, and sin, and observation all confirm otherwise, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Isaiah 64:6. John says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, 1 John 1:8.

6. Nor is it this: that a true confessor would never again fall into the same sin he had just confessed. You will say, how can I understand that? I will make you understand it. What does God's Word say of it? There you have examples, Abraham, Isaac, Lot, Peter. Numbers 14:22, these men have tested me ten times. Jeremiah 3:1, you have played the harlot with many lovers. Is the seed of all corruption not in a child of God, and would that seed of the same sin not be in him? Romans 7:18, in me dwells no good thing. I will make you understand it further: can they fall into other sins — why not into the same? Moreover, when God withdraws himself somewhat, and the occasions are great? And then the devil assails them, then the spiritual man is too weak, they fall into the same matter. You must understand it well, for one trifles all too much with sin. Godly one, I say, sin the same sin, and that often and continually. Now we come to the third, fourth, and fifth points — these are very weighty matters.

III. Our third point is: we find in Scripture that someone commits sin — what does that mean? It comprises these three or four points.

1. First, such a one makes sinning his work, so that it fills his whole life. That man makes sinning his trade, as a craftsman does his craft, or an official his office. This is called in Scripture, to make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, Romans 13:14.

2. It is this: to commit sin with a set purpose of heart. He commits sin with a lifted hand, he is eager to serve sin, he yields his members as weapons of unrighteousness, Romans 6:13. They present their bodies as servants of unrighteousness unto unrighteousness — that is my purpose, they say, to go and sin.

3. Then they are glad and given over to it. These also choose their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, Isaiah 66:3. They blaze with all delight in sin.

4. They declare it openly: I am a servant of sin, so that no lord is served so faithfully as they serve sin. Says one, do that, they do it; says another, go, they go; indeed they fly to sin; is there an occasion for sin, they choose it, they give themselves over to it, they carry it out with such satisfaction, they find all their pleasure in it; then they stand ready, there they must be, there they must have a part.

IV. The fourth point climbs yet higher. There are people in Scripture of whom it stands written that they do not commit sin and cannot commit it. We find such, of whom God says that they do not commit sin, 1 John 3:9: whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. John 5:18 — we know (it was an accepted article among the godly) that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who is born of God keeps himself from sin. 1 John 2:1, my little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. Paul says it plainly, Romans 7:17, I no longer commit the sin. There stands the Scripture: the godly do not sin, and they cannot sin. Ah God! you will say, practice and experience are quite otherwise — how is this? It is a heavy riddle in spiritual theology, and yet it is true: when a child of God is through it, he is through the greatest difficulty. Now we must show, the godly do not sin, and they do not come to sin, and yet they commit sin — how shall we understand that? I hope I shall make it plain to you.

1. First, they do not sin — that you must understand in the esteem and open declaration of God the Holy Spirit, and what can we say against that open declaration?

2. They do not sin in God's esteem, who says, I regard all my children as perfect in grace in their Head, Colossians 2:10. The Lord said, you are my dove, my perfect one, and yet he showed her her imperfection, for she would not rise up, Song of Songs 5:2–3. There sin is sought but not found: you can do me as it were no wrong in my eyes, in the Mediator you are perfect. Then the sixty-first question is answered, just as if I had never had nor committed sin, indeed as if I had accomplished all the righteousness of God myself, insofar as I receive such a benefit with a believing heart.

3. They do not sin in their own esteem. I dare not say that I commit sin, said Paul, but there is much of the old Adam still in me; I see that there is an old corrupt nature in me — they never set the corruption upon the spiritual nature. Romans 7:23, the sin comes not out of the new man, which God has placed in me, but out of the old man. It is just as if a man said of a good tree standing there, on which a canker has come: "that canker," he says, "does not come from the good stock." It is just like a man who has an accident, from which pus comes: the healthy part next to it does not have that pus. Paul said, the evil that I do, I do not acknowledge as regards the spiritual part, but the unregenerate part stirs up those accidents, Romans 7:15.

4. He cannot commit that unforgivable sin unto death, 1 John 5:16.

5. So he does not sin as one who draws the fruits of sin and commits the sin: there is always something damnable in sin, but the condemnation for it is not in it for them. They do not commit it in such a way as to draw the bitter fruits out of it, like the doers of sin.

6. So they do not do it, in that they can no longer live as they lived when in nature. Can you still live so, Paul? Ah no: you cannot live your former life any longer. Must you not confess that you have never seen anyone who, after receiving grace, returned to wallowing in the mire as when he was unregenerate? He can no longer commit sin so.

7. They do not sin as an ungodly person does. When you set a godly person next to an ungodly one, both sin the same sin, just as David was as proud as Nebuchadnezzar. Also, one may commit a sinful deed that others would not commit. But wherein now lies the difference, that the godly do not sin as an ungodly person? The difference lies in the manner in which they sin. What is that manner?

A. With them sin is through surprise, they are stumblings, James 3:2, and weaknesses, Galatians 6:1. It is no willfulness. But with the other it is by design: there Absalom watched two years for his chance against Amnon, 2 Samuel 13.

B. The godly, sinning the same sins, get a blow, pangs and pain over it; they are then not in their element; it is their cross; it is no delight to them, but a burden. The others are then in their element; it is no burden to them, but a delight.

C. The godly, sinning the same sin, do not remain in it: "shall one fall, and not rise again," say the godly with the prophet, Jeremiah 8:4. The ungodly remain lying in sin, but they say with Elihu, "but that which I do not see, teach me; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more," Job 34:32. Should I remain lying in sin! God forbid! Romans 6:15.

D. The godly, committing the same sin, have nevertheless no love for it. The sinner loves sin, but they abhor and despise sin. To the sinner the right eye and hand are such tasty morsels for the sake of gain and advantage; to a child of God it is such a pain — ah, he says, could I but be rid of it!

V. Now follows yet a small point, which is the conclusion of the matter: a person in grace, a true confessor, forsakes sin and lets it go. And that we must lay before your eyes in twelve or thirteen small points. It is the most spiritual thing you will find in spiritual theology concerning sin. Suppose that you and I, being children of God, were to sin today — how can you think that such a one does not commit the sin?

1. First, he does not do it without noticing it and feeling it, whether sooner or later, in the short or the long run. It may sometimes take a while, but God will not leave it unseen. Joseph's brothers had almost forgotten it, but God brought it to their heart.

2. They are not without watching and praying; they post sentries, that they may not sin. What sentries? These sentries: a. the fear of God. b. faith in Christ. c. the love of God. d. a good conscience. The fear of God, standing at the heart, says, "I dare not do that evil for fear of my God." Comes faith, that lets no sin pass: "I must show my faith by my fruits." Comes the love of God, which says, "I love God too much to let you in, sin." Comes conscience, which says, "would you commit sin and hold it broad in your mind?" They do nothing without watching or praying.

3. A person in grace does not commit sin without confessing it. Continually they pray and beg for the reconciliation of God in Christ. Their cries and sighs are not only for justification, but also for sanctification. They show that they carry the fruits in their head, in this manner: I receive my dearest Lord not only for justification, but also for sanctification, they say, and over this they weep and groan.

4. They do not commit sin — that is, they do not commit every sin, they do not lie open to all corruption. Ah Lord, they say, I may have this or that indwelling and lurking sin! There are besetting sins that you cannot get free of, which grace knows well; against these they often have little strength.

5. They do not commit sin except when that indwelling sin has some power. Ah God! they say, I am not without struggle against it, but that old part is so strong, that I cannot hold it, it carries me along continually, even though I say, I do not know it, I do not want it, I hate it, even though I make covenants against it, even though I make strong vows, I do it nonetheless not without struggle, Galatians 5:17, Romans 7:14.

6. They do not commit it so that it reigns over them, Romans 6:14. Ah Lord, they say, through your goodness I am not yet carried away, sin does not reign; sin oppresses and torments me, but it does not reign over me. There has never been one example among the godly, ever, of one who has willingly given himself over to sin, who was accepted by God in Christ.

7. When the old part gains the upper hand, they are not glad as the world is, who says, now you can indulge your heart, now you can satisfy your lusts without harm or shame — but when it gets the upper hand with them, how is it then? With heartache and grief, they pine away, they consume their life in sorrow and sighing, they mourn for fellowship with God, for peace with God; it pains them that they can no longer glorify God in their place, as David did: ah! I dare not speak of how I have sinned! Oh that it might yet go well with Zion! I have made such a breach in it, might it yet be restored! Psalm 51.

8. Through the many temptations, struggles, assaults, and manifold corruptions, they sometimes indeed become defiled, but they pine away under it, Romans 7:24, what a wretched man am I!

9. Should God, by his providence, or a person, hinder them in the carrying out of their corruption, they are not displeased over it. Ahab was displeased, but David was not: he thanked God that Abigail had hindered him from coming with bloodshed, 1 Samuel 25.

10. God preserves his children, that they do not commit this or that corruption, sometimes for a short time, sometimes long: they would well have revealed themselves, but they received the strength to break it and to mortify it.

11. They are so glad, when the spiritual part gets the upper hand, when they have been able to refuse temptations, occasions, strong assaults, and are able to lay hold of the strength of God and keep themselves close to the Lord, and they go on so gently in sanctification and in the fear of God, like Hezekiah: I shall now go softly all my days, Isaiah 38:15. See also 2 Peter 1:5–7, and Psalm 84:8. They see that they thus so gradually increase in virtues, in grace and sanctification, and seek to perfect that in the fear of God, 2 Corinthians 7:1.

12. If it pleases God to restore them from their corruption, and they fall into it again, they seek to rise up out of it again. Micah 7:8, if I fall, I shall rise again. They do not want to remain lying in it.

13. Finally, pleasant thoughts come into their hearts. Lord, they say, it is as if I see into heaven, that all my sins shall have an end — ah, were I but on that hill, where nothing unclean is! I hope it, I wait for it, I think I see with my own eyes how I shall stand unstained.

There you have that mystery of the spiritual matter: must not your difficulty now fall away of itself? Someone can be a good confessor, and commit sin, and yet not commit it, and cannot commit it. So we have sought to deal with our points. There yet remains something to us. 1. An ungodly person sometimes also forsakes sin. 2. There is a difference between the forsaking of a godly and of an ungodly person. 3. Might one perhaps think that sin does no such evil, but good, when one hates and abhors it? We end this, wishing that it may please the Lord to bless it to his honor. Amen.

Sermon 63

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these points: I. Does an unregenerate person also forsake sin? Yes. II. The difference there is between the forsaking of sin by an unregenerate person and by a godly one.

We read Romans 7:24, where the Apostle Paul speaks of the body of this death. By this he means the indwelling sin in a child of God. And this he calls a body, and not merely a body of death, but of this death. Why does he call the indwelling sin a body?

1. First, because it extends over the whole man. They are sinful in their heart, in their eye, in their hands, in their feet, Romans 3:15. It is called the old man, Colossians 3:9.

2. Because it spreads itself over all the members of the body. It is a leprosy over every member and over all the faculties: there is not one member of the body, nor one faculty of the soul, that is free. It is spread over the whole spirit and over all the members. One must say of it, there is nothing whole, nothing clean in it, Isaiah 1:6. Sinners present their members as instruments of unrighteousness, Romans 6:13.

3. It is called a body because of its heavy weight. Sin weighs. It is a cold, dead body, to which a living body is bound: whoever goes about with it goes altogether bent under it. My iniquities have gone over my head; as a heavy burden they have become too heavy for me, Psalm 38:4; and Psalm 119:25, my soul cleaves to the dust. It spreads itself over all the members, and it weighs as heavy as a heavy burden, and so it has become too heavy for them.

But it is also called a body of death, and of this death. Why is it a body of death?

1. First, because of its damaging power, and because of its greatness and terribleness. There was a certain man who bound a living and a dead body together, so that the living should die and rot from the dead one: in a child of God there is a living body and a dead one, an old and a new man, grace and nature, spirit and flesh, bound to one another; that dead thing has a great and damaging power over the living; that living body cannot commit sin, does not want to commit sin, has a desire and love to do good, but they cannot get free of that dead body. Nehemiah 1:11, we are servants who desire to fear your name — we may be as powerless as we like.

2. It is called a body of death, because sin so pictures itself to them, as a dead body pictures itself to a living one. What abhorrence they have of the stench, the rottenness, the coldness, and the loathsome shape! A dead body is utterly disgusting to a living one. So it is too with indwelling sin: it is so disgusting to the spiritual life; its pride, hardness, insensibility, is as disgusting as a dead body is to a living one. David said, Psalm 120:5, woe is me, that I am a stranger in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar. A child of God says, woe is me, that I am so sinful, when shall I leave Kedar's tents?

3. Therefore it is called a body of death, because it is so contaminating. How contaminating is a dead body! Nothing is more repugnant in the eyes of a child of God than sin, its unbelief, its rashness, its murmuring. Isaiah 64:6, we are all as an unclean thing.

4. Therefore also a body of death: the body of sin makes the godly look upon death itself so — the best of them is sometimes anxious about death because of that body of death. Isaiah 38, ah Lord! said Hezekiah, I am so terrified — and that was such a godly king.

5. Therefore: as a living body bound to a dead one, how gladly would it be released from it, how would a living body cry out, I am rotting on this dead body, who shall deliver me from it, and loose these bonds and ropes! And how would he bless the one who freed him from it! Genesis 23, Abraham had loved Sarah dearly, but he could not keep her by him once she was dead — he goes to the sons of Heth, have you not a grave for me, he said, sell it to me, my dead so pictures itself to me, let me put it out of my sight. So it is too with sin: who shall deliver me! 2 Corinthians 5:2, we groan, being burdened, being in this tabernacle, desiring to be unclothed from this body. Romans 7:24, who shall deliver me from the body of sin and of this death? Ah, you may lament over it, you may and must do it, but it shall remain bound to you until the day of your death: then God shall loosen the bonds and say, would you now be free of it? I loosen all your bonds; go now, to live among the spirits of just men made perfect. But now you must have patience, until you die, so long you must live among the imperfect.

It is not only a body of death, but of this death. That is, in this life: sin shall trouble and press you as long as you live, and however much it may trouble you, the sin that is done cannot be undone; it can be wept over, confessed, mourned, and forgiven by God, and improved by the Spirit of Christ, but never wholly taken away, Romans 7, and Hebrews 12:1, sin shall so easily beset you.

You say, that sin is never forsaken in this life troubles me: if I do not forsake it, then my confession cannot be good. I make confession every day, and manifold, and a thousand times, and it stands expressly, Proverbs 28:13, whoever confesses and forsakes his sin shall obtain mercy — but I do not forsake it, therefore I shall obtain no mercy.

Beloved! you know that we have for some time been occupied with the treatment of the marks of the state of grace. The last mark was the confession of sins. And so we showed that there was not a single saint who did not make confession of his sins, sincerely, first in general — we are all sinners — but then in particular — here, and here, and here I am guilty. Then we considered a case of conscience that lay upon a child of God's heart: he said, must I confess all my sins? That we have resolved: we said, yes, as far as we know them. A second case was: I have heard your whole treatment, but there still lie such difficulties upon my heart. Then we showed how a preacher must deal with the godly in the matter of difficulties — above all, they must not belittle it. Then we said, there was yet a further difficulty, and that was: do the ungodly not also make confession of sins? We said, yes, a broad and moving one. Then, you said, how can it then appear from my confession that I am in the state of grace? To that we answered, that the difference between the one confession and the other was great: that there was such a defect in the confession of the ungodly, but not in that of the godly. The other difficulty was: he who covers his sins shall not prosper — I believe I am a coverer, for I am not prosperous, and an ungodly one is prosperous, so must he then be a good confessor? To that we showed prosperity's adversity, and adversity's prosperity: the confession of the ungodly is bad, even though they have prosperity, and the confession of the godly is good, even though they have adversity. There stands that lofty word, said the godly, whoever confesses and forsakes his sins — that troubles me, for though I weep myself to water, it cannot help if I do not forsake them. Then we showed that a child of God can both commit sin and forsake it: he sins and he does not sin, he cannot sin. That was the last. Then there remained yet one difficulty over the forsaking of sin, and that is now our subject.

I. Do the unconverted also not forsake sin? II. Is there a difference, when a godly person forsakes sin, and when an ungodly person forsakes sin? III. If we shall then never here forsake sin, can there be, in the practice of sin, still some refreshment? Yes, but then you must beware that you do not misuse that.

Beloved! these are such intimate matters in the spiritual life, we do not know whether we shall be able to deal with it all in this hour, but we hope so; we shall see how far it pleases God to bring us to that. First, does an unregenerate person also forsake sin? Yes. Then, we shall see that there is a defect in their forsaking, and not in that of the godly. Finally, is there also yet some support in the practice of sin? Yes, but you must beware that you do not misuse it. Attend to this well, it will not deceive you.

I. As to the first: does the sinner also forsake sin? Ah yes, he can readily forsake many sins. Go, look at an Esau: he had such a purpose, when he had no occasion to harm Jacob, that he might refresh himself with it, Genesis 26:41; and when he had occasion, when he met his defenseless brother with his armed men, he fell upon his neck and kissed him, Genesis 33:4. I beg you, go with your thoughts with me to Balaam: did he not forsake sin, in which he nevertheless had so much pleasure and inclination! Numbers 22: there come the messengers of King Balak, he had indeed a longing for the glitter and glint of all the money, to fill his house with silver and gold, but against all that he lets himself say, though I might enjoy it, I would not do it — what is more reasonable, to obey God or man? Does it not go further? Indeed, did it not slip from him, said he that only when he was with the messengers? No, but he said it also at the king's side, Numbers 24. If you will, go with your thoughts to Saul: how set was he upon killing David? It was perhaps one of his greatest torments, with which the devil tormented him; and in 1 Samuel 24, there he weeps over him, and in 1 Samuel 26 he says, my child, I will do you no more harm, I have done with it — and he did indeed no more harm to his life. Go with me in your thoughts to Ahab and Jezebel: how were they filled with a terrible hatred against Elijah? When he saw him, he said, you troubler of Israel, and he had him sought throughout his whole kingdom to kill him; and when he met him, he said, have I found you, my enemy? 1 Kings 18. Yet however much he had sold himself to do evil and hungered for his death, how does it turn? He allows the prophet much, he allows him to put to death so many of Baal's servants, and to ruin their house, 1 Kings 19; and he bears his rebuke, he humbles himself to dust, so much so that God called the prophet and said, do you see how Ahab humbles himself? What blessing your words have had upon the king! 1 Kings 21. There he was so small that God had some satisfaction in it, and gave him a delay of punishment, and said that the evil would not come in his days. If you will go with me in your thoughts to the New Testament, what virtues they had! How they forsook sin, Matthew 5, how blameless they were according to the law, Mark 10. The young man dared to say before the face of the Lamb of God, all these commandments I have kept. And so that you may see the height of it, go with me to Hebrews 10:29, where they trampled underfoot the blood of the New Testament by which they were sanctified, which they now count unclean; they were free from the defilement of the world, from the vanity and fashion of the world, by which one would be enticed. There you have our first point: a sinner can forsake sin, and he can rise to a height in it, and he would even surpass the godly in it. The godly are often bound to a straw, while the ungodly get free of it.

II. Now there is care in the heart, and someone says, is there a difference in it? Yes, there is a great difference in it. Attend now.

1. First, when a sinner forsakes sin, his holy and refined life is only outward, and shows itself outwardly; his concern does not go to his sinful desires and thoughts and impulses, it is only skin-deep. The Savior said, Matthew 23:28, you appear righteous to men outwardly, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. It is so remarkable in Pilate: he has water brought, to wash his hands, and defiles his heart; he too had his hand in the murder of Christ, Matthew 27:24. He knew it well too, and said to the Lord Jesus, do you not know that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you? John 19:10, and Acts 4:27–28, for truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatever your hand and your counsel had determined beforehand to be done. The Savior said, let me show you those refined people in a parable, what they do and how they are: their hands and glasses they wash outwardly, and within they are full of stolen goods; outwardly they were refined and inwardly sinful; they were like the whitewashed graves, Matthew 23:27. Judas was outwardly holy, and inwardly a sinner; outwardly he was a disciple and an apostle, and inwardly he was a devil, John 6:70. How does it stand with the godly? In the outward they are not so exact, but they love, as it says, Psalm 24:4, clean hands and a pure heart. James 4:8, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. The holiness within is the most intimate thing: the king's daughter is all glorious within, Psalm 45:13. They cleanse their whole soul and body, and both they seek to keep blameless.

2. Climb with me yet a little further, you shall see still more. The sinner forsakes sin out of his own crooked motives and worldly ends and aims — it might sometimes hinder his credit, it is against his interest, he ends in vainglory. The Savior shows that, Matthew 6: you are so pious, he says, you fast, you pray, but you end in vain glory, you want to make such a great name, and you give not the honor to God. Hosea 10:1, Israel is an emptied vine, he brings forth fruit for himself — he wants therefore to reform: I have planted him upon a fruitful hill, he has indeed brought forth no thorny grapes, but he seeks his own honor. The godly too indeed have that result, that they get honor, but that is not their end. Godly one, does grace make you shine before men — that is sometimes indeed the result, but that is not your aim. My Father, you say, shall be glorified, when you bear much fruit, John 15:8. Should someone praise you, what do you do? God must have the honor, you say. That is the second, but the godly seek to be rid of that crooked motive.

3. The third difference climbs still higher. The sinner forsakes it, but he divides it somewhat between God and himself. God shall have some, and I must keep some too, he says, and he holds much with the talk of that woman who stood before the judgment of Solomon and said, cut the child in two, it shall be neither mine nor hers. They give God some and keep some for themselves; God should be content, they think, that he should have that alone. They give and they take somewhat, they hop between two thoughts, one day they are pious and the next slack; they want to serve two masters equally, whom they cannot serve equally, for when the one says, go, the other says, come. You find that in 2 Kings 17:33: they feared the Lord, and served also their gods, the idols — and in verse 34 it stands, they did not fear God. I hope, you and I must love God above all, or we love him not at all. The godly hold much with the talk of that other woman, who stood before the judge and said, my lord king, do not divide the child, let her keep it whole; they mark all the commandments of the Lord, Psalm 119:6. They do not want to bargain, but say, God, who says, give me your heart, must have the whole heart, Proverbs 23:26.

4. The fourth difference climbs still higher. The sinner forsakes sin now and then; he is so restless and unsteady; he is sometimes a young pious man and an old ungodly one, a young saint and an old devil, a young humble man and an old proud one, a young conscientious man and an old hardened one. It goes with it as in Judges 2: Israel was pious as long as Joshua lived. But the godly do not withdraw their hand from the plow; they are like Caleb, they persevere in following the Lord. Psalm 119:112, I have inclined my heart to keep your statutes forever, to the very end.

5. They forsake the sins that are scandalous, but not the sins of profit. They have such a distinction between sin and sin. They are exactly like Naaman: God shall be my God, but you must grant me this: when I go with the king into the house of the idol. It is, I will serve God, and the world too; scandalous sins I shall avoid, but respectable sins, like pride, vanity — that does not matter, they are only trifles. How do the godly do it? They say, I have hated every false way, Psalm 119:128. They make no distinction; they have no such division; they do not go about with cloaks of shame; wherever they are, they hate all evil branches; the one viper is as much a viper, they say, as the other; the one motion toward sin is as much sin as the other; away from the earth, they say, to the grave and to the cross.

6. The sixth difference is yet a step higher. The sinner exchanges the one sin for another. Much contributes to this: change of station, manner of life, age, sickness, an earnest word from someone, an earnest office. Simon the sorcerer exchanged his covetousness for pride and simony. Change of years brings about in them a change of sin, for an old man cannot do as a young one, he cannot go to war. Also a change of station makes another life for them: he who was a forgotten citizen and afterward becomes a person of standing must indeed live according to his station and manner. Saul, at first, how small and patient was he! But afterward, when his kingdom was established, how proud and haughty! Change of company also brings them to another life: when Saul was among the prophets, it went with him as before. Are they convicted through sickness, do they come through God's blows into a corner, or through the speaking of an earnest word, or through an earnest ministry — one must deal with them as with a sick man who has eaten some food that has disagreed with him, and has since recovered: you have become healthy, one says, go, sin no more. But how is it with the godly, when they undergo a change of station, condition, or company? Their life remains good, in their old age they still bear fruit, Psalm 92:14, and Psalm 71:9. They are so concerned about it, that they might yet fall away in their old age.

7. The seventh difference is this. A sinner, when he forsakes sin, does so because there is no occasion — the occasion is lacking. Judas was and remained a thief, even though he did not have the costly perfume of Mary — his heart was nevertheless inclined to it. The spies on Rahab's roof — their heart was set on spying out the land, but it was under alarm. The sons of Zadok had a good heart to bring David news, while they sat in the well, but Absalom's messengers sat behind them. It goes with it as with a thief: if the house is in commotion, they keep still, they often see no chance; but if this one or that one is away, then they seize their chance. It goes with it as with Gehazi: ah, he said, had I but this Syrian alone, I would surely take some of that money from him. But how does it stand with a child of God? If he has the power in the gate to oppress the multitude, he does not do it, for the fear of his God. He knows that he must not oppress the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind. Why? I hear and see it, says God. Who would have known it of Joseph, had he indulged himself in unchastity? I did not do it, he said, for fear of my God. A sinner forsakes sin not out of true grace, but out of a good upbringing, or a tender conscience, or because he has all his life heard powerful preaching in his town; then they forsake much, like a Herod. Paul — what good had it done him, that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel? Through that he had become blameless according to the law, and lived according to the strictest sect. Although a good upbringing does not always do that — the brother of the prodigal son had that blessing, but he did not benefit from it; he had gone astray. Sometimes it is blessed to one, that powerful preaching is heard in his town. But how is it with a child of God? He forsakes it out of tenderness of conscience, out of love and fear of God.

8. A sinner forsakes sin out of pride, to pave for himself a way to heaven; he wants no Mediator, he will make his own way, he seeks to be saved through his own righteousness. How do the godly do it? Their virtues do not stir them up to pride: this always remains, Lord Jesus, your righteousness must be mine, I have none — all our righteousness is as a filthy garment, Isaiah 64:6.

9. Sinners forsake sin only so long as you do not touch their favorite sin. Herod said to John, preach as much as you like, and I will listen to you — yes, until he came to his Delilah, but when he came to that inward matter, "there I am too set upon that," he said, "that strikes too much against my fleshly desire: if you come to that, it will cost you your life." The godly, on the other hand, want that gladly exposed.

10. They forsake the sins of the second table, but not those of the first. Though a curse may slip from them, though they swear, though they do not go to church, though they do not read and pray, though they love creatures above and alongside God — I thank God, they say nevertheless, my heart is as good as the rest. How does it stand with the second table of the Law? That I will keep: I will not kill, not be unchaste, not steal, nor covet nor trade dishonestly. That does no harm. But to a child of God, the commandments of the first table weigh most, and those of the second least. Matthew 22:37–38, you have heard it said, said the Savior, that to love God is the greatest commandment of the Law — you are not far from the kingdom.

11. The last is this: the ungodly, from their not forsaking sin, know how to draw nothing good but only evil; the godly draw something good from it. Well, you will say, here you would bring me into a strange path — is there good in sin? It is a perilous path; the devil is at hand to teach you to misuse it, but God is also at hand to teach you to use it well. To sin, to be unable to forsake sin — is there a wholesome medicine in that? Yes, through God's grace. It is indeed perilous, but we may not conceal it from you: it is in the counsel of God, and we may keep nothing back.

Seeing that this is far too weighty a matter for us to be able to deal with it now, we shall spare it then, and let you see hereafter whether you must not acknowledge that God's ordinance is medicine, though you must not misuse it. And the second case, which we must also see hereafter, is: I fear that I do not confess rightly, for I find no mercy with God or men. And then we shall stir each one up to a confession of sins, and we think that we shall then have dealt with this matter as nearly as may be. We wish then that the Lord will bless this to us and to you, to his honor. Amen.

Sermon 64

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Showing: I. That sin is nothing but evil. II. That through God's high and wise governance it nevertheless does good to God's children. III. That this must not be misused.

We read 1 Corinthians 13:9 and 12: We know in part, and we prophesy in part, for we now see through a glass, in a dark saying. As our thoughts fell upon that verse, we knew well that the Word is clear, that it is a light and a lamp, that it illumines and gives light, Psalm 119:105 and 19:9. But we paused a while to consider that portion which nonetheless contains dark sayings in that Word. And what are these?

1. First, those are dark sayings which speak of what shall come to pass in eternity. Whatever is told of the things that shall be in heaven in eternity, these are dark sayings. Even though eternity is no fable, and even though God's children have the beginning of it in their hearts, in that new life which they possess, in that humility, in that love, in that thankfulness, in that holy walk, in that nearness to God, in that peace of mind — even if God's children had seen heaven opened, and had been with Paul in the third heaven, if they were to speak of it, it would still be dark sayings, because eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what it shall be when Christ, who is our life, shall be revealed, and when we shall be revealed with Him in glory. When they wish to tell of it on earth, that is like seeing in a mirror, where you see only a likeness — and what a great difference there is between having the likeness and having the thing itself!

2. We thought that dark sayings were also all the depths of God, the great mysteries which God has laid up in them, of which one must say: wisdom hidden in a mystery, 1 Corinthians 2:7. One must cry out over it, as in Romans 11:33: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Paul says of it, 1 Timothy 3:16: Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh! Romans 11:25, he says: I would not have you ignorant of this mystery — how it shall go with the Jews and with the Gentiles — and still it remains a mystery. Behold, I show you a mystery, he says, how it shall go with those who shall be alive at the day of judgment and the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:51. Even though he told it, it remained a dark saying and a mystery.

3. We thought dark sayings in the Bible were also when God discloses things through proverbs and parables. So did the Savior; he opened his mouth not only in wisdom and in proverbs, but also in mysteries — Psalm 49 and 78 — when he spoke in proverbs and mysteries, he cried out through the Spirit: Hear and understand; unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but not to the others, Matthew 12, 13, 19, and everywhere. When he came with proverbs and parables, it was always: Hear yet another parable! Where there is no interpreter for the parables, they are mysteries.

4. We also thought that dark sayings in the Word were the prophecies not yet fulfilled. We know that we must pay heed to the prophetic word as to a light shining in a dark place; we know that where there are dark places in the Word, of which God as yet lets nothing be seen or experienced, where one must guess and conjecture — whoever says that is light speaks not the truth; those are dark sayings, until God makes them clear in the fulfillment.

5. We also thought that dark sayings in the Word were riddles. The word "dark saying" is in the Word translated as "riddle." What is a riddle? It is to state a matter in pleasant words, yet in quite other words, which seem to run contrary to the matter and to the truth, and yet do not actually run contrary to it, though it so appears. What was Samson's riddle? Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. The words seemed to overturn the whole matter: shall a thing be strong, and yet sweet? Shall the eater give food? One can hardly ever guess such riddles, unless it happens as with those dreams and that illegible writing before Belshazzar, that someone comes who interprets it, Genesis 41 and Daniel 5.

6. Finally, we thought that the dark sayings of the Word were the paradoxical, wonder-sayings. What are those, you will ask? Such things as seem to differ from and run contrary to the common sense of mankind. Such are things where, in a few words, great and pleasant matters are stated. Well, says the hearer, I cannot grasp that — what can that mean? How can I understand it, if there is no one to explain it to me? It is with it as with the eunuch, Acts 8: when he read that wonder-saying, He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and like a lamb, dumb and lowly, in his humiliation his judgment was taken away; who shall declare his generation? according to his eternal nature — who shall tell of his begetting? "I cannot make it out," he said, "unless someone tells me." Of such there are thousands in the Word. You have the Savior preaching such wonder-sayings on a mountain, Matthew 5. In the Old Testament, on a fearsome mountain, where there was smoke and fire as of a furnace, when the trumpet sounded, the heavens trembled and all that was there quaked and cracked, Exodus 19. On that mountain of righteousness, what dreadful terrors were there! But in the new dispensation, on the mountain of grace, what does he do there? There he preaches wonder-sayings — nothing but blessings, promises, beatitudes over the people, so that everyone stood amazed at them. "Blessed are the rich," says the world; "not so," says the King, "blessed are the poor in spirit." "Blessed are those who have a good name," says the world; "that is not what I say," says the King, "but blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely." Ah! the reckoning of the world does not agree with the reckoning of the King, and so there are a thousand such things which the Lord has spoken and set forth by parables. What the world reckons to be gain is the greatest loss; to be rich toward the world is to be poor; to gain is to lose, and to lose is to gain; to lose one's life is to find it; to be rich is to be in need of nothing, yet to have need of everything is to gain; the greatest loss is the greatest gain; prosperity is adversity, and adversity is prosperity; a curse is a blessing, and a blessing is a curse; it is settled that God's children shall do sin, and yet they do it not, and they cannot do it, 1 John 3:6. You will say, that seems to me exceedingly dark and strange. It is not without reason, but pause a while over it: once you are somewhat practiced in it, it will grow clear to you. Then you will say, is there then good even in sin? Yes — in the greatest evil is the greatest good: that is a dark saying, which we are now to look into.

We have spoken with the congregation concerning the confession of sin. In that we showed its whole character. We said that the congregation had such difficulties in its heart. They said: do not the wicked also confess? We answered, yes, at great length and in detail. "That troubles me," they said, "whether my confession then is truly good." Then we showed the defect that there is in the confession of the wicked. Then there was another difficulty: he who hides his sins shall not prosper; I am not prospering, therefore I fear that I am hiding them; the wicked prosper, I fear that their confession is better than mine. That too we resolved. Then there was yet another difficulty, that you said: one must give up sin along with confessing it, yet I do not give it up, I do it often — indwelling sin often shows its troubling power, I cannot let it go, and so my confession fails to prove itself. That too we resolved, and we said, you can both do sin and not do it; you cannot sin habitually. Yet another difficulty: the wicked both confess and forsake — can their confession then not be good? That too we resolved: we showed that there is a defect in their forsaking which is not in yours. Then you thought in your heart: where will you lead us next? Will you lead us to think that there is something good even in the sin of God's children? Yes — and then we wished to lead you further and show that there was even something good in it, when they lived among sinful people. The last difficulty was: I find no mercy, so must my confession then not be good? We shall now handle this, and shall show you.

First, there is no good in sin; even the godly do fearful evil by it — you must weigh this carefully. Second, God nevertheless puts something good into it. Finally, it must be considered that you must guard against misusing it.

I. Sin is wholly and altogether evil; there is nothing good in it. It is wholly evil: in that poison there is a deadly venom, in it there is a damnable evil; it is a stinking grave; sin is worse than the Devil — take sin out of the Devil, and he is no longer a devil. More yet: sin is worse than hell — take sin out of hell, and it is no longer a place of God's judgment, nor of torments, nor of mourning or weeping and gnashing of teeth; then hell would be as good a place as any place God ever made. Sin is worse than the Devil and worse than hell; it is wholly and altogether evil. Ah yes, it comes from the evil one — and can an evil tree bring forth good fruit? No, Matthew 7:17. Sin is of the Devil, 1 John 3:8; every sin is a step toward hell, it is a step down from heaven, it strikes us dumb before God, it is an aggravation of judgment, it will leave us without excuse before God. Sin is the evil thing, and it is evil in experience: whoever commits sin finds it evil, even were he the most godly of men. What manner of evil does one find in it? This:

1. That God says: therefore I must go away from you; then you will lose me; I must hide my face from you.

2. Every sin is a weight upon the heart, a burden too heavy to bear, under which one bows down; it is something over which shame must cover one's face, something over which one becomes troubled and restless in spirit. By every sin one hands a weapon to the Devil, who gains advantage by it — his arrows strike home, his arguments gain force. Every sin takes away your boldness: how dare you speak, plead before God, address God, expect an answer from God, when you commit sin? You have no boldness; you stand there looking down before yourself. Consider then what evil every sin does you. If you attend to it, it troubles you regarding the Lord's Supper: how dare you take the cup and the bread? It troubles you regarding death: how will you manage to die, your heart says; I fear you will have the portion of fools, that your lot will be at God's left hand. It makes your Father take up a rod in his hand, to strike and scourge you.

3. It is nothing but evil in its end. It gives sinners a fearful wage; it punishes them with death. It troubles the godly too: how shall I manage, they say, when I must one day deal with that God alone?

Such is the evil that is in sin; it is thoroughly evil — this must be weighed well. You will say: it costs me too much, my God! It takes away my peace, and what more have I? And what does it profit me, all that is in the world, if for its sake I must forfeit peace with God? Therefore it must be weighed carefully, so that you may have all the more an aversion and abhorrence of sin. That, then, is the first point: sin is evil, and this must be well considered.

II. The second point is: in the sinning of the godly, is there good in it? Yes indeed, beloved. Ah, you will say, how can that be, how shall that be? Augustine once said: God would never have permitted the evil of sin, had he not known how to bring good out of evil. That gives courage, says a child of God; it is to me a healing medicine amid all my stumblings and weaknesses. When we sin, we mean it for evil, but we may truly say of it, God meant it for good: death may lie in that pot, but God lays a blessing in it, he turns that curse into a blessing, he puts some good into it, in the sinning of his children. There are indeed several distinct benefits in it.

1. The first is this: a godly person, seeing and feeling sin, is thereby drawn to thank God for the Mediator. Have you noticed this in the prayer of the Lord's Supper liturgy, where we say that we thank God for having given us his only-begotten Son as Mediator? And not only there — have you never done it once on your own, apart from the liturgy? Do you never say: ah, I, a poor sinner, am far too small, Lord, that you should have given me your Son as Mediator, and yet you give him to me — that surpasses everything.

2. The second benefit that is in sin is this: it makes them so thankful to the Mediator. Paul once said: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 7:25. We may well say, for Jesus Christ, that he so willingly took the guilt upon himself, that he was willing to drink that bitter cup, that he was willing to bear the wrath of God, and endured the bonds of hell in my place.

3. The third benefit is that sin in the godly makes the Lord Jesus so necessary to them, so desirable and lovable to them. I cannot, they say, live without you; I know that you gladly help the sinners who come to you, so I come to you; I cannot say how precious you are to me; you are worth more to me than the dearest creature; you deliver me from sin, and that is so precious to me.

4. The fourth benefit that is in sin is this: it makes them make such use of the Lord Jesus in all their cross-bearing, in their whole walk. They desire to bear his cross. And in their walk they desire to follow in his footsteps. Indeed, when I sin, they say, Lamb of God, take away my sin, and be my advocate!

5. The fifth benefit is: sin makes them so thankful toward the Spirit of God. Break my stony heart, they say, and fill me then with the Spirit of glory! I am glad for the grace, Acts 11:23, as when they saw the grace of God, they rejoiced. Ah! I beseech you, God the Holy Spirit, for your leading and for your working, Psalm 143:10. Sanctify me wholly; it is indeed your work.

6. The sixth benefit that is in sin for the godly is that sin makes them so sorrowful; the cross does not grieve them as much as sin does. Paul was bound in chains, but how he groaned over sin, Romans 7. Sin is to him like a burden, as an ailment is to a sick man: ah, he said, that I were delivered from it!

7. The seventh benefit is: it brings them to such self-examination, to see whence their troubles spring. If a godly person is unwell and does not examine himself, that is not good. They look to see whence their discomfort arises. One would hardly think it stood in the Bible, but see Job 13:23: How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin.

8. It does this good: they do not flatter themselves, they do not make themselves out to be greater than they are — see it in Paul, Romans 7.

9. It makes them always so small and humble. When you see your stains of hypocrisy and pride in the mirror of the Word and of your own heart, those are humbling things. Better that sin should humble you than that your gifts and graces should puff you up.

10. The tenth benefit is: it makes you pray so. We know of nothing that so drives one to prayer as sin does: then it is, ah Lord! I have done wickedly, ah Lord, forgive! For that reason they often bend their knees, and stretch out their hands to God; that petition in the Lord's Prayer never leaves them: Father, forgive us our debts.

11. The eleventh good that is in sin is this: it makes one so gentle. Such a child of God is not quick to judge when another falls grievously: what happens to you now, he says, happened to me yesterday, and may easily happen to me tomorrow. Galatians 6:1: in a spirit of gentleness they seek to restore the fallen.

12. The twelfth benefit is: it makes them so modest in passing judgment on others' state. They do not readily pass sentence on their neighbor, but look to themselves, Galatians 6:3: think not of yourself more highly than you ought.

13. The thirteenth benefit is: it makes them see the unchangeableness of God's covenant, which is firm and gracious, which does not rest on anything in them; even though they break the bond through their sins, that does not break God's love. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you, Isaiah 54:10. He knew well they would sin, but it is an everlasting covenant.

14. The fourteenth benefit is that they sometimes condemn themselves before God; they pass sentence, 1 Corinthians 11:31: if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. Lord, they say, I am more foolish than anyone; I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; I am but a great brute before God; I deserve nothing but what is dreadful; I must confess that you are pure in your speech and righteous in your judgments — but I will fight and wrestle against sin. Such people are like the two children in Rebekah's womb, who struggled against one another within her; so it is also — they are like those two children who wrestled with one another until they broke forth; so it is, there are two seeds that strive against one another and fight every day, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, Galatians 5:17. I cannot fully fathom it, they say, but I will seek to keep the seed of corruption in subjection.

15. The fifteenth benefit is: because they are so sinful, they are watchful. That traitor in the heart, they say, would ambush me. They guard their heart, that it may not become master; they watch, they pray, they know there is an affliction lodged within. 1 Peter 5:8: Be sober, be vigilant.

16. The sixteenth benefit is: it makes them so patient under cross and blows. It is for my sins, they say, I have deserved it; what shall I say? — the hand upon the mouth. Let your hand be against me and against my father's house, said David, 2 Samuel 24:17. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, Micah 7:9. Shall I not drink this cup? And though I cannot wholly root out sin, I will nevertheless seek, by God's power, to amend it, and set my other foot on the path of your testimonies, Lord!

17. The seventeenth benefit is: sin is a means of loosening them from all their attachments and dearest possessions. When a child of God sins, it seems to me, they say, I am loosened from my dearest creature-comforts. Sin loosens them from goods, and kin, and reputation, and all; I am at your disposal, Lord, they say, I give it all into your hand.

18. Finally, sin makes them sigh after heaven. You have let me hear so much of that good, they say, I wish I were there already! For in this also we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, 2 Corinthians 5:2, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; for that is far better, Philippians 1:23. Ah, I wish the change would come, that I might pass over into perfection!

See, that good is present in sin — take note of it; this I would that each of us often considered. I would not only have you consider the dreadful shape of sin, but also the good that God has laid up in it for his children. Why so? So that we should not rise up in our own lives against God: our anger might well be kindled against sin, but the adorable, holy, wise, and good governance that God exercises in it, we ought to praise; and not a single thought should rise up against it in your mind, to say, would it not have been more beautiful and more to God's honor had I never sinned? And that you may glorify God for the grace you have received — it will appear such free grace in your eyes: such a hardened and godless man, you will say, have you brought over? such a lame and weak one kept standing? such a blind and sinful creature, will you take that one into heaven? Then, should a child of God's enemy have anything to answer, so that you might stop his mouth, so that you might be able to say: it is through God's goodness that this good is in it. But you must guard yourselves against misusing it: there is no more perilous matter to handle.

III. Therefore our third point is: you must not misuse this. You who are wicked, you misuse it, and that will be to your damnation. But children of God, as many as have grace, do not misuse it. How then do they act, when they do misuse it?

1. First, when you begin to grow evasive about your sins. It is God's decree, you say — that is a devilish denial, that you would no longer reckon sin to be the object of your hatred.

2. Then you misuse it, when you go about saying, when it suits you, that one sin more or less will do no harm — God has more grace, let me do the evil once, it won't remain deliberate, good will come of it. Do not misuse it: shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid! Romans 6:1 and 15. Would you say that? Ah, let it never rise in your heart — far be it from you!

3. Then you misuse it, when out of presumption and self-confidence you would put yourself in dangerous places and company where you would sin, as Peter did in the hall, or as Dinah went out to see the daughters of that land — and then you would think, God will forgive it me, I will grieve over it afterward.

Ah, then, do not misuse it. You will ask, what is at stake? This: God will make it bitter and sour for you. Let me set but one example before your eyes: do not misuse it. In his own conduct it was surely evil too — he added one sin to another, David, 2 Samuel 11; he was numb and hardened. But how bitter did God make it for him? What did he lose of that felt reconciliation and inward peace and cheerfulness? What did he get in its place? Terror — God broke his bones, Psalm 51:8 and Psalm 6:2-3; he was greatly terrified: yea, my soul, he said, is greatly troubled: and you, O Lord, how long? He could not get over it, and yet he was such an accomplished man, he had his own temperament to draw on, and how well he could play the harp before Saul, so that it brought relief — yet none of it could help him now: his royal food and drink, his royal courtiers, his friends and company, he could get no comfort from any of it; his bones were crushed and broken; the anguish, he said, is in my marrow, it goes through my bones. Ah, children of God! If you misuse this, you will surely not come to hell, but God will nevertheless make you taste a hell in this life, in your soul, in that anguish and struggle. But do not misuse it; keep courage, and see whether these good things are in you.

Beloved, we have now seen this. I hope that God will bless it to us, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 65

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Showing these three things: I. That the practice of sin does harm to the sinner himself. II. That the practice of sin of the wicked also does harm to the godly. III. That through God's mighty and wise governance it also does good to the godly.

We read, Genesis 17:1, that God said to Abraham: I am God Almighty. The omnipotence of God is a great refreshment to his people. We find of that strength of God what Samson said, Judges 14:14: out of the strong came forth sweetness. What sweetness comes forth from the omnipotence of God for his people?

1. First, that it upholds them in their affliction. When a child of God comes under the cross, how is it that they do not sink? There are everlasting arms which uphold them. Consider Jonah in the fish, a Daniel among the lions, and the young men in the furnace: was it not the power of God that made them stand firm in all their affliction, and say, your grace is sufficient for me, and your strength is made perfect in my weakness? These are arms far stronger even than those Moses had, when Aaron and Hur held up his hands on either side.

2. So there is also that sweetness in it: it upholds them in all their want. When things have come to the extremity, who refreshes them? Then there is the power of God, who creates means for them. Is the bread gone — there is manna; is there no water in the wilderness — there is the rock; is the brook dried up for Elijah — there is a widow for him; has the widow nothing — the oil does not fail, and the meal is not spent, she lives on it with her child; indeed, through an unnatural raven God provides food for Elijah.

3. There is refreshment in the power of God for his people, in the overcoming of their enemies; he shatters their enemies with an iron scepter, Psalm 2:9; he says to all their tumult, I will laugh at them, and all their scheming is vanity. There is enough malice and wickedness in the Devil and in the wicked to swallow up all God's people at once — what restrains them? The power of God restrains them: it is nothing for you to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power, said godly Asa, 2 Chronicles 14:11. Those who are with you, people of God, are more than those who are against you.

4. What further refreshment is there? There is refreshment in the subduing of their corruptions. Ah Lord! they say, what a mass of sins! I know no counsel, how shall I overcome them! That multitude troubled Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:12: in us there is no strength against this great multitude. So they also say, what a swarm of sins! I will draw you away from them, says God; I will make you pluck out your right eye, and cut off your right hand. You have so often prayed, sanctify me wholly, in soul and body, let it be presented blameless before you — that you shall obtain, says God, and what the Savior prayed for you: Holy Father, sanctify them in your truth, John 17:17.

5. There is also this refreshment in it, that sometimes there lies good where we think there is only evil: sometimes a blessing lies hidden within a curse. Sin so pictures itself to them — there is nothing that so troubles them to despair, nothing that disturbs them more. Romans 7:24: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, they say; how this dead body wearies me! How stinking and loathsome it is to me! What a blessing I should reckon it, to be once delivered from it!

We saw that lately, when we preached on this material, that there was some good lying in the sinning of God's children; but we said too that there was also some good in the sinning of the wicked, for the sake of God's children. They are so disturbed over the sinful life of the wicked, thinking how God is thereby so dishonored — their Father, whom they love so — it grieves them at heart; they would well say, as in Psalm 120:5,6: Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! As for me, I speak, they are for war. You may be as disturbed as you like, yet there lies some good in it that you do not see. My God, you will say, could there be any use in it? How can that be? To that we must answer what the blessed Savior said: the things which are impossible with men are possible with God, Luke 18:27; with God all things are possible, Matthew 19:26. So says the Lord of Hosts: because it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes? says the Lord of Hosts, Zechariah 8:6, and Jeremiah 32:27: Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? Do it, Lord, you can do things at which we can only stand still in wonder. God can do such things as we cannot resolve. Does one, as it stands, gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit? When we let all courage fail and know no counsel, God still knows counsel to bring grapes forth from that thorn-bush of sin. Of this marvelous case we must say what Paul says, 1 Corinthians 15:51: Behold, I show you a mystery; and in Romans 11, he says of another matter: I would not have you ignorant of this mystery. God likewise does not want this to be unknown to you; therefore we shall now lay it open for you, how God's omnipotence knows how to draw some good out of it for the godly. Is there a blessing, you will ask, when there are other sinners and wicked people around? Yes indeed — a great blessing. We shall proceed in such a way as to show you:

I. First, that the practice of sin does harm to the sinner himself. II. That the practice of sin of the wicked also does harm to the godly. III. That through God's wisdom and power, the practice of the wicked does good to the godly.

We shall not seek to burden you with too much; attend to this: first, the practice of sin does harm to the sinner; then, it does harm to the godly; finally, it does good to the godly.

I. As to the first — that the practice of sin does harm to the sinner — this appears from the following:

1. The practice of sin always does harm to its possessor and doer, for it brings them into hell, and brings hell into them. In short, what is hell? It is to be cut off from God and his fellowship, to be in that place where torment shall be felt eternally. Matthew 25:41: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire — that is hell. 2 Thessalonians 1:9: who shall suffer punishment, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. It stands, Matthew 7:23: Depart from me, you workers of iniquity — that is hell. Sin brings that into your heart, and it brings you into hell. Hosea 9:12: Woe to them when I depart from them!

2. Sin shuts its possessor out of heaven. In short, what is heaven? Nothing other than the blessed fellowship and eternal nearness to God on high. We read so sweetly of this, that we shall experience it forever, 1 Thessalonians 4:17: so shall we ever be with the Lord.

3. It brings the doer into constant terrors. They are so harried, so anxious, so seized, so frightened; they must often think of what stands in Lamentations 5:16: Woe unto us, that we have sinned! Genesis 41:9: I remember my sins this day, said the butler.

4. Sin troubles not only the doer alone, but everything: it troubles lands, cities, republics, households, gatherings. Joshua 7:25: Achan, how have you troubled us? The whole army was thrown into such turmoil. When you commit sin, you set everything in an uproar.

5. It brings the doer into such straits that ruin stands at the door. They are so godless that, when they at last awaken, there is no Spirit that contends with them. Come to church, says God, I will not deny you — yet there is no Spirit to pray for them; instead there is a prohibition: call not on me, for I will not hear you. That is the way by which the merchant is taken from his place, and the righteous is swept away, and all that has or could have power over her — your sins take it all away. Why then, says God, should I strike you further, or bless you? Your time is short, you fool; this night your soul shall be required of you, if you go on thus in sin. Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more, Isaiah 1:5. Harden your heart so long, until you fall into the hands of death, and into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire, until you lift up your eyes in the flame and cry out in pain. Then you will know no counsel, for there will be not one drop for your refreshment. Then you will be shut out of the church and out of heaven, into hell, where you will lie and remember the good you once had in your life. What good? You were esteemed in your life among men, you prospered — whatever you set your hand to succeeded, and thereby you were esteemed among men. God's longsuffering — how good and how great it was toward you! You had ease, pleasure, distinguished friends; it was never too much for them when you came; you had a desired marriage, you had pleasant children. I have exalted you to heaven, says God, and you shall be thrust down to hell. That is the harm sin does — it will cost you dearly. The curse will be in all your blessings, in your pleasure, honor, ease; death will be in the pot, the curse will be in everything, and it will not rest until it has consumed the stones and beams of your house — yes, and your soul and body too.

II. Our second point: the sins of the sinner and the wicked also do harm to God's children. What kind of harm?

1. First, the godly must at times leave the land along with the wicked: they at times make things so bad that God says, you shall be swept out of the land — and the godly are among them too, and fall under the same judgment. Genesis 14: there lived godly Lot in Sodom; he too was carried off; but when it was burned, he was rescued. Consider Daniel and his companions: they too had to leave the land, for their own good — good figs as well as bad, Jeremiah 24:5. God indeed says: I will cut off the righteous with the wicked, Ezekiel 21:3-4.

2. The sins of the wicked do harm to the godly. It grieves God's people so, that they must live among them; each one is like a sharp thorn to press upon them, to slander and despise them, so that the Lord as from heaven calls to them: cleanse yourselves — you stand there like a lily among thorns. It is as though they may do them harm with a kind of license.

3. The sins of the wicked contaminate them so often. Ah, you sin so often! We do not believe that the godly of these days keep themselves so pure. Being companions with the wicked, the godly become tainted. It is with it as with a man who has rust and bright metal mixed together: how does it go? The rust does not become bright; but the bright metal becomes rusty. If the Devil has some harm to do among God's children, he does much harm to them through such company. We read that under the Law they were unclean who touched a dead body; but how often is one defiled by keeping company with the dead? Even Joseph swore by the king's life. Consider Peter in that company — how was he tainted? Consider Dinah — she went out to see the daughters of the land on a festive day such as this — how was she contaminated? You will be defiled far sooner than you know, unless you are watchful and on your guard.

4. They do them this harm. Ah, they so often thwart you in your good intentions, in your promises, in your entering the covenant, in carrying it through. You have often had a good day for yourself, so that you thought to come into the covenant, but you were stopped short. It often goes with you as with Daniel: he could not pray to God without having to face the lions. Do you wish to go to church — there is a lion in the way; do you wish to pray — you are hindered and stopped in what is good, as Nehemiah was hindered in building the city and the temple. Consider that, Nehemiah 4 and 6. So it goes; the sins of others hinder their earnestness and zeal, and a thousand things conspire to hold them back.

5. They make the way to heaven as hard for them as they can. Matthew 23:13: they themselves will not go in, and they hinder others — they hinder them with arm and power, with their masculine and feminine authority, with their paternal and maternal authority, and they make the way so difficult. The righteous is scarcely saved, 1 Peter 4:18. The sin of the wicked does harm to themselves, and it does harm to the godly.

III. The third point is: is there any use in it, when others sin? The godly vex their souls over it — is there some good in it for God's people? We shall not say a single word that you will not be able to grasp. What good does the sin of the wicked do for God's children?

1. First, it stirs up a holy sorrow in their hearts, that they live in such a city and land where things are so godless: they weep over it, it grieves them so; they mourn over all the cursing, over all the ungodliness, over all the wantonness, vengefulness, wrath, and pride — that stirs up their tears. Jeremiah 11:15: they exult when they do evil, and God's children sigh over it; these are moaning doves and weeping doves, there is a true dove-nature in them, and it is proof that there is some good in them — indeed it is proof that they have a childlike heart toward God, that they cannot bear to see their Father so dishonored.

2. It is proof that they have a heart like a Christian's. Mark 3:5: the Lord Jesus looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.

3. It is proof that they have a heart pleasing to God. Ezekiel 9:4: man, go, set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the land. What must be done with them? said the man. They are so pleasing to me, says God — mark them upon their foreheads.

4. It does them this good, that it grieves them. To be grieved over the sins of others is to them a token of their grace. Psalm 119:136: they kept not your law but broke it, I weep over it, yes, rivers of water run down from my eyes. That you and I grieve over our own sins might arise from fear of hell; but that we grieve over another's sin springs from love. There is scarcely a surer proof needed of your state of grace, and see what a strong sign it is, when the two go together: those tears, says God, I gather them into my bottle, I set them down in my book, Psalm 56:8.

5. The sins of others do the godly exceeding good, for they stir up in them a spirit of prayer; it makes them pray. That the world cannot prevent — they pray against the crying sins. Crying sins make a praying people among God's people. When are there days of prayer? When sin continues, Joel 2. What a spirit of prayer is there then! What a spirit of prayer was there in Jacob, when Esau came to meet him with four hundred armed men? Genesis 32. What a spirit of prayer was there in the Lord Jesus? Isaiah 53:12: he made intercession for the transgressors: Father, forgive them, he said, Luke 23:34. See it in Stephen, Acts 7:60: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! They fall upon their knees and pray, Lord, restrain the inhabitants, restrain their company, let ungodliness go no further! Have you not experienced this in these days? When a cloud of sin rises up (and in this city it rises indeed like a pillar of smoke of sin), then a pillar of smoke of prayers ought to rise up as well. You say, I accomplish nothing by it — I assure you, your prayer shall not be lost; your prayer shall return into your own bosom.

6. Through the sins of the wicked they see the more beauty in virtue. When they see men vengeful, cursing, drunken, proud, they see the ugliness of sin, so that they say, why do you make such fools of yourselves? Seeing that ugliness of sin, they come to love virtue the more, and they say, how beautiful are gentleness, humility, and quietness! Beholding this, it gladdens their countenance. As much passion as one has against truth and godliness, so much passion do they have for it — not one foot's breadth to yield here, they say, not a claw left behind. As much ugliness as you see in sin, so much more beautiful does virtue appear in you and in your own eyes.

7. They have this benefit from it: that they become that much more fervent. Lord, they say, if they do not grow weary of sinning, I will not grow weary of praying; if they are so zealous in sin, I will not be slack in running after the Lord Jesus; are they so eager, and shall I crawl along? Do they take such pains to arrive in hell, and shall I take no pains to arrive in heaven? Are they so diligent to reach hell, against which God, Scripture, their own conscience, and everything godly stands opposed? Yes, they eat the bread of wickedness, at peril of their very life, in danger of losing both soul and body; do they serve sin with delight and gladness, even though there stands a flaming sword to keep them from the tree of life — and shall I be so slow in that service, in which no wrong was ever found? On this path is gladness, and at the end, heaven; but on the sinner's path is sorrow, and at the end, hell. Shall I then be slow to serve God, when they are so diligent to serve the Devil? My soul, be then always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58.

8. The eighth good that the sin of the wicked does them is this: that God sometimes sets them before the wicked and says, do you see your own image there? Can you see your own heart there? What were you, when you were a child and before you were converted? Were you not as bad as any of them? See your image there — by nature the imagination of your thoughts is just as wicked as theirs. Must you not say, that I have not broken out into worse comes not from nature or my own good heart, for I had the same root of bitterness in me; I would have borne devilish fruit, had you not, Lord, by your almighty and incomprehensible grace, bridled and restrained me. Galatians 6:4: let every man prove his own work; let each look to himself.

9. The ninth benefit that is in the sin of others is this: ah God, they say, how thankful am I for your grace! When you see a man born blind, or lame, or afflicted with stone or gravel, how you thank God that you are free of it! When you see a man vengeful, wrathful, and provoking God, how you thank God in humility that he has kept you, that sin is to you not a delight but a burden. Have you grasped this? When the whole city is in an uproar, you are among the quiet in the land. Do you see a curser, a drunkard — you go quietly and give thanks, not in a Pharisee's manner, but in acknowledging God's grace, saying: that is your grace, Lord, that I am not as other men are.

10. The tenth benefit is: God then gives you occasion to put your talent to use, to speak of it, and so, under God's blessing, to save a sinner from the error of his ways. Then you are like a blessed preacher, drawing a soul out of the Devil's clutches. And when you convert someone, what a blessing that is! You will then be no small lamp in God's church, but a star. Know this, that God will then also speak kindly to you and say: have you set your heart to draw someone along with you — you have done well.

11. The eleventh benefit is: with wonder they adore the almighty, particular, distinguishing, powerful grace of God; indeed, they stand so still in wonder, and say: why am I not that godless person? Two in one bed, the one taken and the other left — why am I not the one left? Why am I not a vessel of wrath, but a vessel of mercy? Why is doing sin to me not a delight but a burden? Why do they remain stuck fast in the wild olive tree, and why am I, such a wild branch, cut off from it and grafted into the Lord Jesus — and that so powerfully, so particularly, so effectually? I cannot fathom it — that is too high for me!

12. The twelfth benefit is that God sometimes says: that evil tree has stood long enough, I will now cut it down and set a righteous one in its place; the measure of their iniquity is full, I will put a better one in its place. Saul, you displease me, and you must go — I will set a righteous man, a David, in your place. Governors of the province of Babylon, you must go — who shall come in? Those desired young men. Courtiers of the king, you must go — who shall come in? Daniel, that desired man. So it goes in the church, and so it goes in the state.

13. Finally, through it there comes into you an excellent spirit, which makes them shrink from that house, and makes you carefully avoid their path, and keeps you watchful.

These are our three points, which we intended to lay before you and cast into your lap. See whether you grasp and experience it thus. Or do you take part? Do you say, I do myself and the godly harm — or are you found in the practice of the godly? Well, beloved, then God works through his Word to give you, alone, courageous grounds to hope, and to say that you are his child. It will not always be your lot to live here among the wicked: the Lord knows how to preserve and deliver the godly; though like Lot you vex your soul, you shall be delivered from the wicked, 2 Peter 2.

We still have left over the last difficulty, and that is: he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall obtain mercy — I find no mercy, and so I fear that I am no true confessor; that shall be treated hereafter. I hope that God will bless this to each of us, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 66

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Showing these four things: I. What mercy is. II. That there is mercy in men, in the Mediator, and in God. III. That he who confesses and forsakes his sins shall surely find mercy. IV. That the godly, when they complain that they find no mercy, then in fact find much mercy.

We read, when Ben-hadad had been defeated, his servants said to him: Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray you, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; peradventure he will save your life, 1 Kings 20:31. Where had these men found ground for that hope? Perhaps they had heard how David said: Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? 2 Samuel 9:1. Perhaps they had heard that Solomon showed mercy to Adonijah, when he took hold of the horns of the altar, 1 Kings 1:51,52. Perhaps they had heard, when Solomon had those two women before him, how justly he conducted himself in that matter, giving the child to the true mother — what good justice he did, 1 Kings 3. Or perhaps they had readily heard of it in the sickness and recovery of Hezekiah. In any case it was a great ornament to the kings of Israel, that such a report went out concerning them, for their mercy.

But we say: have you not heard that our God is kind, yea very merciful, and full of compassion? James 5:11.

Well then, man of God, where might we have heard that? 1. From God's own mouth. 2. From the mouth of the wicked. 3. From the deeds of God. 4. From the mouth of the godly. 5. From the outcomes that God gives to his children.

1. First, from God's own mouth, Exodus 34:6, as he there proclaimed his name: gracious and merciful. We have heard it from God's mouth, when he swore that oath, Ezekiel 33:11, when he said: as I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the dying sinner! We have heard it from God's mouth, Isaiah 27:5, when he gives the sinner good counsel: let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. We have heard it from God's mouth, when he bids us pray that we would be reconciled to God, 2 Corinthians 5:19.

2. We have heard it not only from God's mouth, but also from the mouth of the wicked. Come near one while he still lives, and in his dying he gives testimony to it: they would well say, I have known nothing else but that God is merciful; they live, and die, and sin, presuming upon divine mercy.

3. We have heard it from the deeds of God the Lord: he sometimes has mercy on the very worst of the godless. Consider a Manasseh, 2 Chronicles 33. And these sometimes tell it to others, and cannot keep silent about it. 1 Timothy 1:16, Paul says: mercy was shown to me, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

4. Have you not heard it from the mouth of the godly? What do they pray for concerning mercy? Psalm 79:8: let your tender mercies speedily come to meet us! How they give thanks for it when it happens! 1 Peter 1:3: blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Isaiah 12:1: I will praise you, O Lord, though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comforted me. Lamentations 3:22: it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, that his compassions fail not. And we hear this not only from the mouths of God's children in their asking and their thanksgiving, but we hear it also in their complaints, when they walk in darkness. Psalm 77:9: has God forgotten to be gracious? has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And Isaiah 63:15: where is your zeal and your strength, the sounding of your bowels and of your mercies? They are restrained toward me.

5. We have heard it from the outcome of things. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, James 5:11, compare Job 42. What mercy he showed in the outcomes! What great mercies did Joseph, Job, and David receive, in the end!

Beloved, the godly, not perceiving this, would sometimes call their own state into doubt, thinking, has there ever really been grace at all? Your hand, they say, is heavy upon me day and night; you have made bitter things come against me; your mercies are held back from me. And if they confess their sins, when God is not continually active in his kindness, they say, my confession is worth nothing, for I find no mercy. That they draw out and ground upon Proverbs 28:13: he that confesses and forsakes his sins shall have mercy — but I find no mercy: therefore I think that my confession is not a good work. That is the last difficulty concerning this matter.

We have resolved several of these. They said, my confession cannot be good, for the wicked also confess, and even more fully than I. That we resolved. Then there was this difficulty: he who hides his transgressions and sins shall not prosper; I am not prospering; I fear that I am hiding mine — but the wicked prosper; I believe their confession is better than mine. Then we showed that prosperity is adversity, and adversity is prosperity. Then came another difficulty, from the bruised reeds, who said: he who forsakes them shall obtain mercy, but I do not forsake them, and sinners do forsake them well enough. Then we showed the difference between the forsaking of the godly and of the wicked. Then we showed that, though the godly do commit sin, they do not do it — indeed they cannot sin habitually. Yet one more difficulty: the wicked both confess and forsake — can their confession then not be good? That too we resolved: we said, there is a defect in their forsaking which is not in yours. Then you thought in your heart: where will you lead us next? Will you lead us to think that there is something good even in the sin of God's children? Yes — and then we wished to lead you further, and to show that there was even something good in it, when they lived among sinful people. The last difficulty was: I find no mercy, so must my confession then not be good? That we shall now take up, and shall show you:

These are our four points: first, what is mercy? Then, it is found in men, in the Mediator, and in God. Then, he who confesses and forsakes sin from the heart shall surely find mercy. Finally, the godly — though you complain that you find none — you find much.

I. As to the first: mercy — if we were to give a description of it — we would have to say that it is a tender love, joined with affection, by which one is heartily moved to weeping and sighing over another's misery, and is ready to render him all the help in his power. But mercy is better felt than described. What is mercy? This: here stands one who has no misery, and there is another who has much misery; the one who has none feels love, pain, an inward drawing, a passionate sorrow in his heart toward the wretched one; he sees that he has the power to help that poor creature, and he is willing and ready to do so; I will render help in deed, he says, and he does it. Whether the misery be in an animal, or whether it be in a man, he grows tender over it, he conceives love to help, and he does it readily and gladly, whether it concerns a man or a beast — yes, even his enemy's beast, if it were about to collapse under its burden. So he is then like that merciful Samaritan, who saw the man lying there in his blood, took him up on his own animal, and did him all the good he could, Luke 10. This is mercy in a man — how much more must it be in God! Isaiah 63:15: his bowels yearned over the misery.

II. Now there is such a mercy in men, in Christ the Mediator and Son of God, and in God.

1. In men. See that in the parable of the Samaritan, Luke 10, and in that woman, 1 Kings 3, whose motherly heart broke when the king said, divide the child. When a man, having sinned against his fellow man, comes with confession of sin, it breaks the heart. When a child comes to confess his wrongdoing — even an Absalom — how it moves! Even a Micah, who had stolen — he said to his mother, I have stolen the money; are you my son, she said? Consider a servant or maid who has sinned against master and mistress — when they come with confession, it breaks the heart. When Hagar had sinned, the angel said, go and humble yourself before your mistress — and it broke her heart. How well did Paul know, by his plea for Onesimus, how to win and break the heart of Philemon? Someone comes and says, do not hold it against me — it breaks the heart, and one has compassion on him. One man comes to another and says, I am sorry — not seven times a day only, but seventy times seven, and he will forgive him, Luke 17. A godly man comes to another godly man, and says, I am sorry — he will forgive him. Colossians 3:12,13: as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any.

2. There is also a mercy in the Mediator, in the Son of God: he partakes both of human and of divine mercy. How often was he inwardly moved over the multitude! He is the merciful High Priest, who has such fitting compassion, for he was in all points tempted like as we are, Hebrews 4:15. All the affliction and misery that has come upon them has also come upon him.

3. Then there is a mercy in God. Luke 6:36: be therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. God's mercy is greater than that of men; it is more excellent and glorious than can fall to any man; in God it is eternal and perfect. Whatever is imperfect in a man's mercy is not so in the divine mercy. Human mercy is limited to this one or that; God's mercy is unbounded, from generation to generation, Luke 1. Human mercy comes with passions and stirrings of sorrow, pain, and grief; that is not so in God — in that perfect being there is no pain or grief. Human mercy is often beyond one's power to help the wretched: the king walking on the wall, when a woman cried, help, my lord, O king — but it was beyond his power, 2 Kings 6:26. God has almighty power to help the wretched; he is mighty to save, Isaiah 63:1. Human mercy is finite and not eternal; that which is in God endures to all eternity, Lamentations 3:21,22,23. God's mercy is set forth with such emphasis that it is called his inward bowels of mercy, Luke 1:78, and Ephesians 2:4, God who is rich in mercy. He is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, 2 Corinthians 1:3. Indeed, the kindness and mercy of God is exceedingly high, Psalm 57; it reaches above the clouds, above the heavens, Psalm 108; it climbs into the heavens, and it is voluntary — it has no cause but his own goodness, willingness, and free consent. Romans 9:23: they are vessels of mercy; he has mercy on whom he will, and he hardens whom he will. Having seen with such emphasis in Scripture the mercy of the great God, we must see that it extends over all his creatures, over the reprobate and the elect alike. Through sin the creature is subjected to vanity: were God not merciful, the elements would burn and the heavens would pass away with a great noise. Psalm 145:9: the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. It extends even over the reprobate and unconverted, Romans 2:4: there is a riches of God's goodness, which leads them to repentance. The divine mercy, that dew, falls as much upon the thistle of the wicked as upon the lily among thorns — the godly, his children — yet upon none so much as upon them: they have great part and portion in it. See how gracious and merciful the Lord is to them in Psalm 103.

III. Now we must see what mercy a true confessor of sin finds. Much mercy is found even before he confesses; and then, when he comes to confess from the heart, God says, my bowels are troubled for him, as when Ephraim came with confession, Jeremiah 31:20. Before they come to confess, what mercy has God already shown them, and what mercy does he show them when they come with a heartfelt confession?

1. First, that he chose them before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4. Their names are written in the book of life, their names are written in heaven, Luke 10:20.

2. God also shows them his mercy in that he gives his Son to them, and gives them to his Son. He gives his Son to them out of the inward bowels of mercy, Luke 1:78; indeed, God says to the Mediator, I give you those wretched ones as their Redeemer and Savior. God shows them this mercy, that in accordance with what he has determined in his counsel, he brings them into his well-ordained covenant. Ezekiel 20:37: he brings them under the bond of the covenant.

3. He shows them this mercy, that he gives them excellent means of grace, his Word, the ministry, every desirable gift, so that they can say, I enjoy a day of salvation, and an hour of grace. Hebrews 2:3: how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation!

4. He shows them this mercy, that he blesses them in his kindness in everything — in their calling, in their household, in all to which they put their hand: in the land and in the church where they live and dwell, they live under God's kindness.

5. Further, God shows them this mercy, that he brings them to grace and conversion, and gives them his Spirit, to live for him. 1 Peter 1:3: according to his great mercy he has begotten us again. Before this they can only stand still, and say, that is a great mercy!

6. God grants them this mercy, that he offers them to the Mediator, and says: help that creature, knock at her heart, persevere, do not desist until she has accepted you by faith.

7. Then God shows them mercy, when he forgives them all their sins. When the prodigal son came and confessed his wrongdoing, the father's heart melted, and he kissed him, Luke 15. So it goes when a soul is converted: he falls before the Lord and prays with tears, and then God forgives. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9. So it went in 2 Samuel 12:13: when David said, I have sinned against the Lord, the prophet had indeed been sent with a message of punishment, but when he confessed his sin, he was met with pardon in hand: you shall not die, he said.

8. God shows them this mercy, that he sanctifies them, and along the way of holiness brings them to salvation, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, John 17:6,7,8. In all the afflictions that meet them, they are thereby sanctified, and it is of such benefit to them: they see that God has compassion on them, as a father has compassion on his children, Psalm 103:13. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you, says God, Isaiah 49:15.

9. God sometimes lets them feel his favor so, that they are as if bathed in light by his kindness, 1 Peter 2:3, they taste his goodness: Song of Songs 1:2, he kisses them with the kisses of his mouth.

10. Further, God says, all my promises are given to you; there shall not be one but shall be made yea and amen in you, 2 Corinthians 1:20.

11. In this way they also receive such pleasant frames of heart.

12. They receive such sweet respites, so that their heart should not be overwhelmed. Isaiah 57:16: I will refresh you, says God, that you should not be overwhelmed.

13. They sometimes receive such courage. I will not fear what man can do to me, Psalm 56:11. With my God I run through a troop, and leap over a wall, Psalm 18:29.

14. God shows them this mercy, that he will take them into heaven. When heartfelt confession occurs, that shuts the door of hell and opens the door of heaven. As soon as a day dawns on which heartfelt confession occurs, that day is a day of salvation. Luke 19:9: this day is salvation come to this house. When the thief said, we suffer justly, and added, Lord, remember me, then the Lord Jesus opened his mouth and said, today you shall be with me in paradise, Luke 23:41-43. Whoever truly confesses shuts hell and opens heaven. Is that not to find mercy!

IV. Now the last is the complaint of a child of God: ah, I am not making a true confession, for I find no mercy; I fear my confession is not good; I must say, is his mercy then shut up in anger! God causes bitter things to come against me; Lord, I find no mercy with you or with men. If I go to men, I must say, have pity upon me, O my friends, as in Job 19:21. If I go to God, I must say as in Job 13:24, why do you hide your face from me? Your plagues are upon me; my veins have no rest; what wormwood is in my cup! I do not know how to get through it. If you complain of finding no mercy when you confess your sins, that has never truly been the case, unless the confession itself was no good confession. Pharaoh and Ahab bear witness to this. See how Ahab humbles himself, and the evil shall not come in his own days. The Ninevites — the judgment shall not come in Jonah's days, but in the days of the prophet Nahum. So, if you and I make confession of our sins, and complain that we find no mercy, then we do not speak the truth. God might say in reply to that complaint: wherein have I wearied you? What wrong have you found in me? Why do you complain as though I were cruel? Wherein do I shut my heart against you?

1. Is it not mercy, that you have not perished in all your afflictions? Lamentations 3:22: it is of the Lord's mercies that you are not consumed. I am unchangeable; therefore you are not consumed, Malachi 3:6.

2. Do you have hard trials? They are not above your strength. Is it not mercy, that I lay not upon you more than you can bear? 1 Corinthians 10:13. However much cross you have had, have you not been able to bear it? Is it not mercy, that God has not given you over to yourself? He has only, by it, driven you back to himself, as a father drives his child home by blows. You would sometimes have gone astray; by the blow I struck you back to myself — and were there not, in all your complaints, everlasting arms of support? Deuteronomy 33:27. And was not my strength made perfect in your weakness? 2 Corinthians 12:9. Indeed, when you once complained that God hid himself from you, did he not say: for a small moment have I hidden my face from you, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, Isaiah 54:8; yes, in the midst of wrath I remember mercy, Habakkuk 3:2.

3. Your hard days I have given you, that you should acknowledge your guilt, Hosea 5:15: you must acknowledge your guilt, before I return to you. Through the hard days the Lord came to you, and brought you to acknowledgment of guilt: thereby you form a right conception of God's mercy. What does the sinner say? That God forgives sins without punishment or any satisfaction. But you say, God forgives sin and does not punish it, yet not without satisfaction. On that ground a thousand sinners go down to hell, and millions rely presumptuously upon God's mercy. The godly say, God does not punish sin, he forgives it, but not without satisfaction in the Mediator, and that is the way to heaven. You must not go on sinning, presuming on God's mercy. If God's children misuse it, it grows dark for them. God shows mercy to thousands who love him. That is the mercy which God shows to men and most of all to his own children, and that mercy of God is so precious. Psalm 36:7: how precious is your kindness, O God! God's children long for it, they meditate upon it, they pray for it — ah, give it to me, they say. There is nothing dearer to them than to fall into the hand of God, and in all their needs they look to God, knowing that his compassions are many.

4. Finally God says: it is long enough complained of; come to your deathbed, lie down to die, come before my judgment. Paul wrote, 2 Timothy 1:16: the Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus in that day. Why do you sigh, as it were for mercy and grace? Do you appeal to the Lord so earnestly for it, and yet say, I have no mercy? Say rather: now I hope to find mercy from this very day with God, unto all eternity. They cannot depart, until they have their part in this mercy.

These are our four points: 1. What mercy is. 2. There is mercy in men, in Christ, and in God. 3. He who confesses his sins shall find mercy. 4. When the godly complain of it, they nevertheless find much mercy. You find much compassion, even up to your deathbed. Even had you nothing else, you shall at least hold God's mercy in Christ in high esteem. God will one day set you before him and say, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, Matthew 5:7. That is the way to go to heaven, Matthew 25. Ah, Lord, you will say, where have I seen you so and so! God had mercy on you without seeing anything in you: he looked upon you as one wretched, and had mercy on you in Christ. If you made true confession, would you then find no mercy? Why do we not open our eyes? But we are not so familiar with divine things as we ought to be. There is a divine mercy — you must not presume upon it to go on sinning: there your difficulty is resolved.

Now there remains one more matter for us: an exhortation to all of us always to make a heartfelt confession. That befits everyone, godly and ungodly alike. There are various things that move us to this. We do it so reluctantly, we stand so guilty in this regard — but does it not belong in your prayer? Search yourself, when confession is lacking. But it is not pleasant to the flesh to always stand acknowledging its sins. You should not make a single prayer without the confession of sins entering into it. Whoever has grace can never, and may never, picture it otherwise. If you do not see sin as it truly is, then you do not give thanks as you should for grace and deliverance. Now I hope that God will bless what has been said to us and to you all, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 67

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Showing: I. The confession of sins is made lovely, in thirteen propositions. II. The last difficulty of the godly is resolved. III. An objection of the wicked is answered.

We read, Luke 19:9, that the Lord Jesus enters the house of a man who was far from the best of men, and he said, this day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

It so happened here to a great sinner, who was curious to see the Lord Jesus. There was once a great godly man who said, ah, I wish I had seen Christ in the flesh — that was Augustine. So it was with this man too: he found a way, he satisfied his curiosity — he went outside the city and climbed a sycamore tree; he had no other means of seeing him, and he had no other thought than to go home again just as he had come, once he had seen the Lord; had someone told him, you shall be addressed by him, he would hardly have thought to satisfy his curiosity that way — but God's thoughts differed from his thoughts, as much as heaven differs from earth. God sometimes suddenly punishes a sinner, Luke 12:20: this night your soul shall be required of you. Not only that, but God also sometimes suddenly converts sinners. Acts 2:37: there stood so many thousands there, crying out, men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved? This man in the tree — his heart longed to leap out of his body, and his eyes were watching to see whether the Lord would come; at last he came. He knew what was in God's counsel; behold, his time was the time of love, it was the hour of grace for him. The Lord Jesus knew that this wolf must become a lamb, that in place of that thorn a fir tree must spring up, and instead of the brier a myrtle tree, and this should be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off, Isaiah 55:13. He knew that this was the very moment in which that man on that tree must be born to the spiritual life: that man would not go away as he had come. The Lord stood still, and spoke to him there on the tree. 1 Kings 19: Elijah was addressed by God under a tree. Nathanael was called from under a tree by the Lord Jesus, John 1. Absalom received his fatal, deadly wound as he hung in a tree, 2 Samuel 18. The Lord Jesus shot his sweet arrow of grace into the heart of this man in that tree. Here he stands still by this man, and addresses him, and calls him by his name: Zacchaeus, he said — indeed, the Lord knows those who are his, 2 Timothy 2:19. Make haste, he said, and come down, Zacchaeus; it was as if he said, wicked man, forsake your way, unrighteous man, forsake your thoughts, and turn to the Lord, Isaiah 55:7; come down quickly, he said, take no counsel, do not delay, do not waver between two opinions, come quickly, I must be in your house, and at the same time in your heart; I stand at the door — do you not feel that I am knocking? Open to me, and I will come in to you, Song of Songs 5, Revelation 3. What does the man do? He feels power going out from the Lord; the words become deeds: come down quickly, I must speak my heart to you, and you must speak your heart to me.

This day, said the Lord, salvation has come to this house — to this whole family! Fortunate and blessed, Lord! They are still in the world — and are they then saved? Yes, in the world, and yet saved. How shall I grasp that? They are saved in God's purpose. Man, I say, God's counsel toward you is unto the obtaining of salvation; you are already saved in the beginning, in that you have set your foot on the way; you are saved in your dispositions: I once sat on a mountain, where I pronounced many blessings, and I said, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, and you are one of those, Matthew 5. You are saved in your workings: I see your tears, I see your confession of sin, I see your amendment, man — these are all things that go along with salvation. You are saved in receiving me into your heart. You are saved by reason of God's faithfulness: he which has begun a good work in you will perform it, Philippians 1:6. You are kept by the power of God unto salvation, and you are already saved in hope, and therefore rejoice in hope and wait for it with patience, 1 Peter 1:5 and Romans 8:24. You are not only saved in hope, but the outcome shall not fail; when you die, you shall receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul, 1 Peter 1:9. Then they will set upon your gravestone, blessed is this dead one, he died in the Lord, Revelation 14:13. That shall apply to you and to each one of your family who follows you.

Who hears such words spoken, who would not gladly enjoy them? Ought not I in my heart, and you in yours, to say, ah, that I too were so fortunate! Are you eager to know whether that is your portion, whether God has made you fit to have part in the inheritance of the saints in light? Do you wish to know whether you possess that? See then, when the Lord Jesus spoke such words — it followed upon confession, upon acknowledgment of guilt, and upon prompt amendment. This man did more than the Law required: he not only restored fourfold, but he first gave half of his goods to the poor, and then restored fourfold what he had taken, and lived on the remainder. That man, who confesses and forsakes his iniquity, to him mercy shall be shown.

We have had in hand the sixth mark of the state of grace, which we shall now seek to bring to a close in this short space. We have seen how a penitent confesses all his sins before the Lord, plainly and sincerely — of that we have said much. Now we shall come to a close. Three matters remain for us.

I. First, we shall seek to make that duty lovely to you. We shall seek to make it pleasant to godly and ungodly alike, and stir up each one to it. II. We shall resolve a difficulty of the godly. III. We shall answer an objection of the wicked. These are our three points: I and you have sinned, we are all real sinners, we have sinned dreadfully and gravely — confess it, acknowledge it, own your guilt: that will make you acceptable to God in the Lord Jesus — that is our first point. The second is that we shall resolve a last difficulty of the godly. The third is that we shall also address a word to the unconverted concerning their objection.

1. First, let us then be diligent in the confession of sins. Is there really so much in it? Indeed there is.

1. When one confesses one's sins, one exalts and glorifies God: and do you and I not gladly want God to be honored? Those who honor me, I will honor, says God, 1 Samuel 2:30. You seem glad to have it so; you pray every day, hallowed be your name — that is to say, I pray that God may be glorified. The creatures go before you in this. You would perhaps therefore gladly be in heaven. Well then, confess your sins abundantly. What! is God then glorified, when one confesses one's sins? Yes: then God is glorified in his omniscience — we say, that is a pearl in your divine crown. God is glorified in his omnipresence, and one says, you were with me when I sinned, you compassed my sitting down and my rising up, Psalm 139. God is glorified in his longsuffering, and one says, how great is your patience, to spare a sinner! God is glorified in his grace, that he shows favor to such a sinful creature: I am amazed, says the confessor, that you do not judge me out of my own mouth, that you do not say, what further witnesses do I need — hear it, his own mouth condemns him. Finally, they glorify God also in his righteousness — indeed, they cannot glorify God at all unless they confess their sins.

2. The confession of sins is so directed as to make us small in our own eyes; it presses down every height in us. When one confesses, one leans more toward humility than toward pride, one has more taste for sackcloth than for purple, one abases oneself to dust and ashes. When such a confessor prays, how he prays against pride! Psalm 19:13: keep back your servant from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me! What an aversion God has to pride! What promises God makes to the humble! When one confesses one's sins, one becomes as small as Abraham, Genesis 18:27: may I yet speak to you, who am but dust and ashes! I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which you have shown, said Jacob, Genesis 32:10, and Isaiah 6:5: I am a man of unclean lips. Luke 5:8: depart from me, what would you do with me? I am a sinful man. Ephesians 3:8: I am less than the least of all saints, I am not worthy to be called an Apostle. Thus does confession make them so small. Do you wish to be humble? God will show you his grace, for he resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, James 4:6.

3. It befits us to confess our sins. Why? Ah, it brings such quiet to the heart: committing sin disturbs the heart, but you cannot obtain quiet unless you confess your sins; as long as you do not confess, how your conscience throbs! Psalm 32:3: when I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long; but when he confessed, he found relief, verse 5. I have sinned, he said, 2 Samuel 12; and when he said, I have done foolishly, his anguish departed, chapter 24. Luke 18: the tax collector comes confessing — there was grace in his heart. Luke 15: the prodigal son comes with confession — the father comes to meet him and kisses him.

4. Confession purifies the heart. Come confess every day, if you wish to have your heart clean: sin is the festering matter in an ailment, confession is the lancet that lances out the sin, and so purifies the heart. Proverbs 28:13: though you weep yourself into water, you must not only acknowledge the sin, but also forsake it. Indeed, confessing and forsaking go together, Psalm 80.

5. When you confess, the wound in your heart heals. Do you gladly desire healing? Psalm 41:4: heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. When you go to make confession, the physician comes to lay a dressing on it, Psalm 147:3: it is, I will make you live, I will heal you, I will still and heal you, now that you speak out your confession in tears, on your knees, with mouth and heart. Sin is the splinter in the eye, confession draws it out; sin is the beam, confession removes it; sin is the knife in the heart and in the wound, confession draws it out painfully — as long as the splinter, the beam, the knife remains, the wound does not heal; but once it is out, it heals, then they come to quietness, and it gradually closes up and heals, then they receive peace from God.

6. Why must one make confession of sins? How else should the Lord Jesus become precious to one? If you do not do it, you have little desire for the Lord Jesus; but when someone confesses sin, how precious the Mediator must become to him, how precious the Mediator's blood must be to him! Romans 7:24,25: O wretched man that I am, says Paul, who shall deliver me? I thank God, he adds, it shall come to pass through Jesus Christ the Mediator, that desired man, the desire of the nations — all that is in him is altogether lovely, Song of Songs 5:16.

7. Confession — how lovely it is! It is generally a means not only of fleeing to the Lord Jesus, but it also unites the soul with him. Through the acknowledgment of guilt one obtains forgiveness of guilt. Even if you were to do it in hell forever, it would not suffice; but now she comes and lays herself down like one burdened, and the Lord fulfills his promise, who offers himself to the burdened one: it is to me, he says, dear and pleasing that you come to me so; now I will help you too — let your heart fly to me, my heart flies to you. They say, Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life, John 6:68. They cling to the Lord and remain with him, whether he saves them or not; I will remain with you, they say, whether you condemn me or make me happy, I will cling to you, even though I have no such clarity in it.

8. Confession must become dear to you, for it gives birth to the true way to forgiveness. Would you and I not gladly have forgiveness? Do we not pray for that reason, forgive us our debts? David cried out so for it — and is not all happiness in that? Psalm 32. What a blessed man is that! Paul could not forget that David had already done and testified this, Romans 4:6. Have you sinned, and do you confess? There is forgiveness, 1 John 1:9. Have you sinned, and do you confess? said the father of the prodigal son — there is my favor, and he falls upon his neck, Luke 15. Have you sinned, and do you confess? God says to the wicked, there is pardon, it is offered to you.

9. You may go confidently on what we say — when you confess your sins, you need not take it as merely maybe. 1 John 1:9: if you confess, God is faithful and just to forgive it. What a marvelous text that is in the Bible! John, why do you not say, God is merciful? Why is he just? Does justice, then, also plead for forgiveness? Yes — justice pleads for forgiveness too; when you confess, the faithfulness of God pleads for it also: I will forgive you, I am no better than my word. You will say, that is somewhat obscure — how does justice plead? It would become an injustice, says God, were I to punish twice — once in the Mediator, and again in the sinner; I demand no double punishment; it stands in my contract, that all who truly confess shall not perish: God cannot bear a breach of covenant. Again, it stands in my contract, says God, that all who are in need should be the wages of my Son's labor — and should I withhold from my holy child Jesus his wages? I myself cannot bear it, that a laborer working on a rich man's land should have his wages withheld from him, James 5. My justice says, you must forgive, or you would be withholding the Mediator's wages. Now you may rejoice over divine justice.

10. Is it not a reasonable and lovely duty? Is there any unreasonableness in this, that when we have sinned, we should fall down before God every day, and say, I am sorry, forgive me? We ask, if you sin every day, and you come and confess before God that you have erred, with heart and tongue and company, have you then found any wrong in God? Has he ever wearied you with anything? When he requires of you only confession, must you not say that the Lord's yoke is easy and his burden light? The Lord requires only confession — that you can do easily enough.

11. Besides being so reasonable, see how easy, how lovely it is. In the first covenant, God says, if you commit sin, you shall die; the covenant of grace says, if you confess, it is done, then it is forgiven you. In the first covenant God allows no surety, but in the second there is a surety: do you come with confession, do you weep for the Mediator's sake — I will forgive you, says God, and we assure you, blessed forgiveness is prepared for you, when your confession is followed by a sighing to obtain fellowship with the Mediator. God says, Jeremiah 3:13: only acknowledge your iniquity, and I will forgive it you; acknowledge your guilt, and then it is done; I desire neither the fruit of your body nor your riches, but that you acknowledge your guilt, and then it is done.

12. If you will not, you shall suffer harm, for you shall have no prosperity, you shall have no mercy, but you shall have to live with a troubled and trembling heart, and think of God with trembling; you shall seek counsel and remedy, but you shall not be able to get free of it, you shall not be able to put away that you have sinned; in eternity you will want to go and confess it, but it shall not relieve you, though you cry it out — it shall be without relief; to confess it once here in this life is of more use than to confess it forever in hell.

13. You cannot make a good and pleasing prayer, unless two things enter into it, namely the confession of our transgressions and of God's benefits. Daniel 9: there he recounts the benefits, and adds the transgressions to them. Nehemiah does the same in his chapter 9. What do you think — is it not a lovely thing to confess your sins, for such thirteen reasons? You may not be able to remember them all, but several will surely stay with you.

II. Now there is one more difficulty from a godly person. Do you wish to bring them to confession? Some live so tenderly, so carefully — they are at times an example in godliness — what should they bring before God? They seek rather to cleanse themselves within and without, they seek to live so tenderly. Do not be too easily satisfied: there are sins which you must bring before God every day. Which ones, you ask? Ah, those sins which David brought before God, that sin of nature, in which he was conceived and born, Psalm 51:5. Which further? Those sins committed before conversion: ah, says Paul, in confessing that I could not, on any single occasion, leave off — it came out so often, Acts 22 and 26, Galatians 1, 1 Timothy 1. Then, indwelling sin: see Romans 7:24. How tenderly Paul lived! At the stirring of sin his heart throbbed; the stirring of sin and the throbbing of the pulse will cease together. There is much evil in the good of the godly: confess that, and say, all our righteousnesses are as a filthy garment, Isaiah 64:6, and 2 Chronicles 30 — there is so much sin even in holy things. Godly one! Do you know what you are confessing? All your vain thoughts, for even in the best of us there is such a swarm of them, Jeremiah 4:14. How often are you scattered in heart, in the deliberations of your mind? It goes with your thoughts as with the vermin that was in Pharaoh's palace; it goes with them as with that unclean creeping thing Peter saw in that linen sheet. But once more: whoever falls behind in confession also falls behind in prayer, in the exercise of faith, in love toward God. When you were first converted, there were such holy stirrings and passions in you; God watches you, whether you do not grow faint in your love and have left your first love, Revelation 2:4. There was once a time when I was scarcely out of your heart and mouth; I do not know how it is with me now, God then says, it all goes so cool and faint; you grow so like the world in your speech, gestures, clothing, ornaments — do not be conformed to it, Romans 12:2, and 1 Timothy 2:9: adorn yourselves with godliness and good works, and 1 Peter 5:5: be clothed with humility, let that be your ornament. But now it can all pass unnoticed — one begins with a small thing, and does not stop, and it grows and grows. Finally, if you do not confess, you will not put your talent to profit. Would you not gladly address, stir up, and convince someone else? Confess daily your forgetfulness of your promises, as Jacob did: go up to Bethel, says God, Genesis 35. A vow incurs a debt, Numbers 30. Confess before the Lord your God your ingratitude for all the blessings received, that you have not used them so as to honor God, that you do not say every day, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits! You can have no objection to this, that you must make confession daily.

III. Now there is one more objection from the wicked. The ungodly say, that is only work for the sickbed, that is only deathbed work? I answer you.

1. What do you know, whether you shall have a sickbed at all? You may perhaps have but an hour or two or three upon a bed, and die with that: not everyone is sick for thirty-eight years; when that messenger comes, he sometimes passes swiftly through with it. Luke 12:20: this night your soul shall be required of you, and you shall be like a little flower and blade of grass that is mown down.

2. Who knows whether you will be in a state to make confession — for many people then become delirious? Do it now, lest you be found bereft of sound mind at that time.

3. In any case, were you to have a sickbed, you would have less time for anything than for confessing your sins, for you are often not fit to make a prayer. James 5:14: then it is, call for the elders of the church — for then you yourself will not be fit for it, nor will you have any appetite for it. The sickbed is only fit for practicing patience.

4. If you had a hard heart in your health, how can you think that you shall have a soft heart on your sickbed? If God has knocked, and you have not opened, then you too shall call, but the Lord will not answer, Proverbs 1:24-32.

5. If you put off confession until the sickbed, you will say, I will go and be converted then, I shall then be so humble. Paul once said to Timothy, my son, make haste to come to me before winter — the winter season is not fit for traveling, 2 Timothy 4:21. God the Lord calls, seek yet to make confession of sins before the approaching sickness or deathbed. Otherwise, if you wish to travel when it is winter, it will go hard for you; if you wish to confess when you must come before God, how distressing that will be!

These are our three points, thus laid in your lap and heart. We think that both godly and ungodly have each received their proper portion. Now, by God's great goodness, the sixth mark of the state of grace has been completed — the whole matter of the confession of sins. If it please God, we shall now move on to another mark. Now I hope that the Lord will be pleased to bless all that has been spoken, to his own honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 68

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which, treating of holy shame as the seventh mark of the state of grace, it is shown: I. What shame is.

We read, Romans 6:21: What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed?

There is nothing in the world that can more forcefully move a man to begin or to leave off a matter than to weigh three things. 1. That what he does is fruitless. 2. That it is impossible. 3. That it will end in his shame. When a man labors fruitlessly, that soon makes him give it up: they looked for much, but got little, Haggai 1. When a man sees that what he intended to do is impossible, that makes him stop and cease the work. Solomon said, I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know all society, but this too was vanity, I despaired of all my labor. And when someone sees that shame and disgrace will come of it in the end, that too makes him cease. Jeremiah 2:13: trust not in Egypt, that broken reed — you shall be ashamed; nor trust in Assyria either, but cast away your confidence in him, or you shall be ashamed.

If this is true, as indeed it is, so it is also with the all-wise God concerning the sinner. Sinner, he says, do not go on sinning like this, for all your work is fruitless; whatever you undertake against me shall be brought to nothing; struggle against me as much as you like — deny my being, reject the Mediator, silence your conscience, despise the riches of God's forbearance — in the end it shall be as in Isaiah 55:2: why do you spend money for that which is not bread? Psalm 2:4: their plotting is vain, God from heaven laughs them to scorn and mocks them. Jeremiah 2:13: you have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and you sit by broken cisterns, through which all the water that might comfort you flows away, and the mire of sin that troubles you remains within. The second thing God does is this. Cease, sinner, he says, from sinning; you shall never get anywhere with it, you shall never gain by it: whatever you build I will tear down, and whatever you plant I will uproot; do you bless yourself, I will curse your blessings; do you set yourself in heaven, I will shut you up in hell. Sinner! Do you suppose that along the way of sin you shall come to heaven? That will fail you, for without regeneration and sanctification no one shall enter heaven nor see God, John 3:5 and Hebrews 12:14; it is impossible that you should be saved on the broad way, Matthew 7. And what else does God say? Though you go on sinning so, it is not only fruitless and impossible, but what will you reap from it but disgrace and shame? You shall come off in disgrace. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people, Proverbs 14:34. Righteousness is an ornament and an honor. Galatians 3:4 asks: have you then suffered so many things in vain? If it be indeed in vain. When you have committed sin for fifty or sixty years, then God will say, there stands that creature, who built his house upon the sand — see that fool standing there in his everlasting shame, he is covered over with disgrace. Ah, when all your evil branches shall come to light, in death and in judgment, when it shall all be set before your eyes, you may well think whether you will not have to go away with your hands upon your head, saying, here I stand in my shame, and my disgrace covers me over.

How fortunate is the man who, in the course of his life, grasps this and comes to understand such things — who is put to shame in good time, before it is too late! Ashamed you and I must be — without that we cannot enter heaven. Fortunate is he who is put to shame in good time, and not too late. It must happen to each of us, either now or hereafter.

Beloved hearers, it may be known to you that on the table of ministration, whenever we have served you from this text, we have laid before you material of every sort and kind, until at last we came to the point where we said, someone will say, ah God! I dare not hope in the name of Christ, I do not know whether I am in a state of grace. We said, you are right, I and you, we must consider this — but, we said, that will take work for both of us, to judge whether you have passed over from nature into grace. Do you think that there is nothing to be done in Christianity but to be glad, to be assured, and to be kissed with the kisses of God's mouth? Then we laid before you plainly and simply, from the Word, in your lap and on the table of ministration, several genuine marks, by which you may know whether you have passed over from nature to grace. We have dealt with six of them. Do you know which? Ah, you will say, it tasted good to me when I heard it, but now I have already forgotten them. That would be sad — then you would be no different from children, or servants and maids, sent to market to buy something, along whose way a thief comes and steals it before they get home. I fear it is so with many a hearer, that they hear something in church, and along the way a thief comes and steals it, and coming home they have nothing at all. We shall tell it to you in a word.

The first is: that God the Lord lets you meet with a certain moment in the course of your life, in which your heart is changed. Those who received it in youth or in mature years know a moment, a time, and a place. Those who have had it from childhood do not know that; they can tell you no place or moment — you must not ask them about it — but those who were changed later in time do know it.

The second was: as soon as someone is changed, he receives the very highest esteem for the grace of God. That he cannot produce from himself; he lies upon his knees continually saying, be merciful to me!

The third was: that God said, you must be uncovered and made known to yourself. There the Lord strips you quite bare. Jeremiah 31:19: ah, I have been uncovered to myself. Here you lie all covered up, but then you shall be laid quite bare. The man came to himself, Luke 15.

The fourth was: ah, then they come into such full conviction. In nature they thought, I shall hold out well enough against God and men; but grace never comes so vigorously without their falling down before the King.

The fifth was: then the heart runs full of sorrow toward God, then they grow so tender, they cannot hold back their tears. Even had they a lion's heart like David, the tears must come out, and they are glad of it.

The sixth mark was: they bring before God every day what they have done all their life. There you find that plain and particular confession. Out of a full heart they come to confession in tears; they cannot put it off, but are glad when they can do it. It goes with them as with that woman, Luke 7. She told him all the truth, Mark 5:33.

These six marks we have laid out for you in detail. Out of this now arises a seventh. When they have been made known to themselves, are convinced, and come to confession, what else grows and springs from that but a holy shame? That is the seventh mark of the state of grace. Then such a holy shame comes into the heart and upon the countenance. That we would now like to examine. To that end we shall first see: what is shame? Then, in whom is it not found? Then, on what occasions is it obtained? Then, how is such a one disposed, who stands in his shame before God? We cannot deal with everything belonging to this mark now, but we think we shall manage to cover this much. Hereafter then we shall show that no one who has received grace is without this shame, and that not all shame is holy shame; then we shall also examine whether that holy shame is in us; then we shall, on the Lord's behalf, stir one another up to it and say, be ashamed and blush for your ways. I know well, if you wish to speak of shame, that is no pleasant food for nature — but for one who has grace, it is indeed: he stands from head to foot in his shame, and must not think that this is merely a state he imagines for himself — rather, they are glad when they possess it. We think then that we shall be able to deal with these four things.

I. What is shame? II. Where has it no place? III. On what occasions does one fall into it? IV. In what does that holy shame consist?

I. First, what is shame? It is a very becoming hue, a pleasing color, that comes upon the countenance out of an overflowing working of the heart. There comes a paleness, there comes a blush, there comes a shifting — now pale, now red, now mingling together — it springs from an overflowing working of the heart. It springs from the heart, for there sits something that is perhaps not altogether glorious; it makes their faces turn pale. There comes a blush, the colors alternate, they mingle together. It is a pleasing hue — there is no hue so universal; it is first in the heart, then it comes upon the cheeks, it comes upon the forehead, it shoots into the bosom, it passes over the whole body, so that such a one must sometimes say, my shirt clings to my body, the sweat breaks out on every side. That pleasing color, shame, is seen — but in whom do you find it, and in whom not? That we shall now go on to see.

II. Our second point is: in whom you do not find this shame.

1. First, it is not found in the blessed God. He does nothing sinful, nor anything that is unclean or that arouses shame. Far be it from God to have any ungodliness. Whatever is in his counsel he has thoughtfully ordained, and he carries it out along holy ways and means to his own glory.

2. It is not in the good angels; if there is anything like it in them, it would be reverence toward God, but shame, as with men — that is impossible: they have never committed any dishonorable act; if you wished to bring them to shame, it would have to be reverence for God instead. Isaiah 6:2,3: there they stand with their six wings, with two they cover their faces, with two they cover their feet, and with two they fly. What does that mean, with two they fly? That expresses their swiftness and readiness in God's service; with two they cover their feet — by that they mean to signify that our holiness and splendor differs infinitely from God's holiness; with two they cover their faces — that expresses the great reverence they have for God; that they do out of reverence for God.

3. Nor does it have any place in the holy souls of those who have died: they had shame here, but there they no longer have any to eternity; there they have, besides sin and the cross, also laid aside shame. If they have anything, it is this: that they lay their crowns down at the feet of God. What crowns? That crown of God's kindness and grace, which was already set upon them in the world; that crown of justification, that God has adorned them with the righteousness of God in Christ; that crown of holy glorying and praise unto eternal life, that God bestows that honor on them; then that crown of glory, the degree and measure that God gives to each there. You must know that holy shame is one of those graces which are in part, and which must be done away: its perfection consists in its vanishing, its ceasing; when God takes the soul before the throne, then it vanishes.

4. In whom is holy shame not found? I may say — not in the devils and the damned. They are not ashamed, for they speak out their sins freely before God. Nor do they wish to be able to be ashamed; but on account of their pain, do you know what they will say? What the Devil has here taught and instilled in them: the way of the Lord is not equal, Ezekiel 33:17. Do you know what else? Why have you made me thus? Romans 9:20. Do you know what else? Who has resisted his will? verse 19. Now you have what you wanted. And so they shall be without shame to all eternity. Beloved, it is dreadful to think of — what then shall it be to experience it!

5. Once more, in whom is it not found? It is not in unreasoning animals or creatures. There a kind of gratitude may have place, and by human skill and power they may be tamed, and they may know how to seize their opportunity, but they know nothing of shame. Balaam's donkey could be brought to fear, as any unreasoning creature can, but not to shame.

6. When did it have no place? When Adam lived in the garment of his innocence, in his perfect beauty, Genesis 1:26. As long as the whiteness of the lily had place in him, so he did not have the blush of the rose — so shame had no place.

III. Now the third: on what occasions does it come upon a man?

1. First, it comes when such a natural modesty arises in the heart, in a man, woman, or child, great or small. Genesis 24:65: who is that man walking in the field to meet us, she said to Eliezer? That is my master, he said; knowing that he was to be her husband, she alighted from the camel, she wrapped herself in the veil. God commends this, 1 Timothy 2:9, that women should adorn themselves in modest apparel and with shamefacedness. Shame is seen in men and in women. 2 Samuel 10: when David's ambassadors had been so mistreated, those men were ashamed.

2. Then shame comes, when one knows one's duty and delays it to the point of shame. So we find in the Book of Judges, chapter 3, those men waited to open the door, to look for their lord, until it was shameful. 2 Kings 8: there stands Hazael, who was to become king, before the prophet Elisha, and he stares at him so fixedly that the prophet himself became ashamed.

3. When does that shame come? When he takes something in hand hastily and rashly, and cannot carry it through: there he stands halfway through the work, at a loss and ashamed. Therefore it stands, 1 Peter 2:6: he that believes on him shall not be ashamed — that is said, he shall not make haste, Isaiah 28:16. There you see a man, he has begun to build a tower, he has not counted the cost, he gets stuck in it, he is put to shame.

4. Shame comes upon a man when he professes that a matter will turn out this way or that, and it is not so, it turns out quite differently. Shame comes upon someone also when he stands revealed as a deceiver of himself; he professes to have grace, he shall enter heaven — and it goes quite otherwise. God, he says, is with me; our fathers trusted in you, and you helped them, their faces were not ashamed; when someone acts deceitfully, and says God is his God, he shall stand ashamed, when it turns out otherwise.

5. When someone exalts himself above another, he shall be put to shame. The Savior expressed this so: when you are invited to a wedding, do not sit down in the first and highest seat, lest, when the host comes, he say, give this man place, and you have to take with shame the lowest place, Luke 14:8,9. If you exalt yourself in church, the King comes and says, you must sit lower down: many that are first shall be last, and the last first.

6. When you maintain sinful conduct: it has gone sinfully and grossly, it has continued long, it becomes plain that God's hand is heavy upon them. Ezekiel 36:32: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Proverbs 13:5: the wicked makes himself odious, and brings shame upon himself.

7. When a child of God sins, shame follows. Shame is never more beautiful than in a saint. There you have the redness of the rose and the paleness of the lily. The temple of her head is compared to it, Song of Songs 4:3: your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within your locks. It is nowhere more becoming than in a child of God. Daniel 9:8: to us belongs confusion of face.

IV. Now, you will say, we must come to the mark itself: how is a child of God disposed, when he stands before God in that holy shame?

1. First, holy Majesty, he says, I am in a living sight of all the ugliness I have thought or done, both in my nature and since receiving grace. How ugly I am in my understanding! In my sorrow! In my gladness! What is there not, Lord, that is not good, that is sinful! Those swarms of sin are so many! What blemishes, what filth, what abomination! In the light of his own countenance he comes to think of nothing else — all his sins come before his eyes.

2. Then God comes, and says: lay yourself alongside me, you come constantly under my eye, you come before me, you are a creature — who am I? Is there a blemish in me? No, Lord, it is I who am dark, you are a pure light. And so they stand in their shame, just like a man with filthy clothes and filthy limbs, coming into a house that is clean. Lord, they say, how different are you and I! You so pure, and I so filthy; you a pure light, holy, holy, and I unclean, unclean. There they stand then in their filthy garments before God, like Joshua, Zechariah 3.

3. Standing there, they lay themselves alongside God's holy Word. How do you differ from my Word, says God, that pure mirror of Law and Gospel! My God, they say, that light reveals to me how filthy I am; I must cry out, stand back, here is an unclean one. You do not live according to my Word, says God.

4. God also says: that I already know; I know you through and through, your intentions and all; you need not cover yourself so — not one thing is hidden from me; I know your whole life from your youth, I know you in your entire conduct; you are naked before my eyes, even to your very inmost parts. Then you also know that I am upon you everywhere; I am a holy being, and I am with you everywhere: you sometimes say, now no one sees—

man, there is no one with me. I do fill heaven, but I also fill the earth; when you are in your darkest place, where no one could or would dare come to you, there I stand by you — I fill that place.

5. Then God brings this before her: I must also be your judge; you too must come before me; I will be your judge, and what will it be when I open the books? Then I will bring it all up and set it before you — things you were never troubled about by any man; then the book of my omniscience will open, and the book of your conscience.

6. God stirs up in her a terrible dismay, because everything that was hidden will come to light. God's own people cannot bear it, nor are they willing to, but they say: if all this must become known, then I would not dare come before any man's eye, nor before yours; I would be afraid, if I could not come before your eye once everything is revealed. There they stand before God as though there were no one in the world but themselves and God; yet they do not go away, but remain standing with shame in their heart, pale and dismayed. There you see it: grace makes them so ashamed — their soul is scarlet with sin, their face is crimson with shame. Lord, they say, I am troubled because of my sins; how will it go in death and judgment — will you bring it all up then, and cast it in my face as my burden? I would be terrified, and my heart would fail me: would God do that to his children? That is what troubles me. What need is there — he will not bring it up to your shame. Lord, they say, still I fear that you will bring it up. Why? Because the failings of God's children are brought up in the Bible, because it is written there that God will bring every deed into judgment, Eccles. 12:14. To this God answers: I have let you find grace in my eyes in Christ; if I then bring it up, what purpose would it serve? To glorify the riches of God's grace. What purpose would it serve, were I to do it, but to bring to light the power and worth of Christ's ransom — that it had the capacity to reconcile me with you, and to show that I was able to forgive so much? To this they say: very well, Lord, whether you bring it up or not, I stand in my shame before you; it shall not be my everlasting disgrace. Oh God, I can hardly speak; my eye sinks down, my face grows pale, I feel a glow of shame over my whole body, within and without.

That is holy shame! Do you know it? You ought to know it. Where grace is, there it is known. We see that we cannot get away from this mark; we will save the rest for another time. I wish that God may bless what has been spoken, to his honor. Amen.

Sermon 69

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which the following: I. There is not one saint who is not ashamed before God. II. There are sinners who are unashamed. III. Not all shame is holy shame, for there are sinners who also stand in shame. IV. There is a difference between the shame of the godly and the ungodly.

Reading: 1 Peter 2:6. Whoever believes in him shall not be ashamed.

If someone wishes to follow a campaign, or put his hand to some very heavy task, in order to carry through what he has begun, one ought to lay three things upon his heart.

1. That his labor will not be fruitless — how else would you get runners on the racetrack to run, if there were not some prize hanging at the end?

2. You ought to lay upon his heart that it is not impossible to obtain it, just as Joshua and Caleb once did: the others said, it is impossible that we should win that land; but they said, let us go up, it is not impossible to win it, even though we have seen giants and the children of Anak there.

3. One must lay upon his heart: you shall not come to shame. The Apostle Paul says once: do you think that I am reluctant to come to Rome, to proclaim the gospel in that wise city? Oh no, all that is in me is ready for it, Rom. 1:15. Why? Well — I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, verse 16.

If anyone wishes to come to heaven, the all-wise God likewise takes such a course with him, so that he who has begun the work may carry it through.

1. Carry it through, says God, and you shall not labor in vain. To work out salvation — would that be in vain? The godless may say that: he who does evil is called good, and he who does good is called evil, but there is no truth in their mouth, Rom. 3. The godly may sometimes say, I have cleansed my hands in vain, but then they are in no good frame of mind; then it is as in Ps. 73: my feet had almost slipped — and before he finished, he had to confess that he had spoken like a great beast. God says, there is a reward for your labor; be assured of this, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. 15:58. Then God comes with every encouraging promise, and says: there is not one promise or blessing in the whole Bible but you may apply it to yourself; you are an heir of it — children of God, the promise belongs to you! Acts 2.

2. God also says: if you wish to go to heaven, then I must lay this upon your heart — you undertake no impossible work; you will not get stuck partway through it. Looking at yourself, you must say: in us there is no strength, we are not capable of doing or thinking anything good — how then shall we ever come through! But looking to that great and awesome Lord God, who is your helper, he will not leave you alone: I will perfect my strength, he says, in your weakness, 2 Cor. 12:9. What is impossible with men is possible with God — indeed, all things are possible with him: believe this and trust this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it, Phil. 1:6. He will not forsake the works of his hands, Ps. 138:8. We may here say what Nehemiah once said: we will arise and build, and God will make it prosper for us according to his good hand upon us.

3. If you wish to go to heaven, lay this upon your heart: should you draw back your hand? Do not do it — you will not be found deceived; what you have expected will come, and you will find that you had neither imagined nor expected it, but far less than what you shall then receive; your hope of heaven will hold, you will not be put to shame in it — indeed, all who wait for the Lord shall not be put to shame, Ps. 25:3 and Ps. 34:6. They cried out to him as a flood of waters, and were not put to shame, Ps. 22:5. Our fathers trusted in you; they trusted, and they were not put to shame.

But even though they are not put to shame in the outcome of their labor and in their race toward heaven, shame nevertheless has its place in the Church. Not in eternity, but in time it often happens to them, with the flush of shame and paleness in the face. That white and red makes them lovely before the Lord. It is an ornament, when they stand thus before God in their shame. That holy redness, that holy shame, is known to all the saints who shall come into heaven, and there is not one of them but has been ashamed here. Sin is, after all, a disgraceful act; they cannot bear the thought of that ingratitude and dishonor any less — it stirs the blood in their heart, and brings that holy and pleasing redness into their face: that evil deed brings so fair an ornament upon them, and makes them appear as fair as the dawn and as bright as the sun.

We began the seventh mark of the state of grace: we first showed you what that holy shame was. Further, in whom it cannot be found. Also, on what occasions they stand ashamed. Finally, how a saint is disposed in his soul when he stands ashamed before God. Now we have again three or four matters before us. First, there is not one godly person who is not ashamed. Then, are there godless people who are affected by no shame at all? Then, are the ungodly also sometimes ashamed, and yet it is not of the right kind? Finally, is there a difference between the shame of the unregenerate and that of the regenerate? These are our four matters, which we must now take up.

I. Is there no saint who does not stand ashamed before God? None — not one. II. Are there sinners who are unashamed? Yes. III. Is all shame holy shame, and are there sinners who also stand in their shame? IV. Is there a difference between the shame of the godly and the ungodly? Indeed there is.

These four things we would gladly lay upon your heart, and upon ours as well. Then afterward we shall seek to stir your heart, and say: let each of you be ashamed because of your ways. And then we shall give some ten or twelve marks by which you may be able to see whether that holy shame is in you. And then we shall call to the bruised reeds as well, and say: if you find yourself so — instead of concluding that you must go away lost, you shall see, on the contrary, that there are tokens of God's grace in you.

1. As to the first: that holy hue, that holy redness, lies upon the heart of every saint, and upon the face of every child of God — that rare, spiritual redness. Yes, upon the heart of the greatest and of the least, of the strongest and of the weakest. Take away that lovely beauty from them, and you take away all their loveliness. God had scarcely begun to work in the heart of Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, before you find that shame — so quickly, once they had fallen, that God, it seems to us, thereby showed he had prepared them for grace and glory; afterward, once they had been well humbled, God gave them the promise of the seed of the woman. How did it stand with that shame in Abraham, so great a man — how did he stand before the Lord? Gen. 18: he scarcely dared to speak: what have I undertaken, to speak to you? How bold I am, seeing you are so great a Judge! He stands in his shame. Consider Ezra: he had so humbled himself that he says, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens, Ezra 9. Go now from Ezra to that holy Nehemiah: he says, to us belongs shame of face, and he speaks thus in the name of all God's children on that great day of humiliation, Neh. 9. Go from there to Daniel in that great confession, Dan. 9:18. Oh Lord, he says, to us belongs shame of face. You find not only that they did this in the name of all, but also individually, for themselves, and then also on behalf of others. Jer. 31: Ephraim, and all who belonged under him, when they became known to themselves — how ashamed were they! He struck upon his thigh, and was ashamed, indeed also confounded, verse 19. Isaiah says: woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, Isa. 6:5. Paul asks, Rom. 6:21, what fruit did you then have from those things of which you are now ashamed? Every converted person must stand ashamed over that along with me. 1 Tim. 2:9, he says to the women: adorn yourselves with shamefacedness and moderation. So did the holy women of old, says Paul, and so did the holy men too, says the word — and that is the meek and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God, 1 Pet. 3:4.

Nowadays even holy women look more to the outward, and it is as though that inward adornment is no ornament any longer. This great men and women experience — those reckoned to be pillars and everlasting foundations, who were as cedars and as oaks of righteousness — the further they are advanced in grace, the further they are advanced in holy shame. The small and the weak are not deprived of it either. You will find it in the bruised reeds, in the little children in grace, just as well as in the grown men. What will you say of the prodigal son, when he resolved to go to his father — how ashamed he was! What will you say of one from the company of tax collectors — was that not a bruised reed? He dared not lift up his eyes, and stood far off, Luke 15 and 18. What will you think of those three thousand on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 — they cried out, what shall we do! What do you think of Peter in his weak state, Luke 5: depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. What will you think of that great Apostle, who said, I am one born out of due time, the least of the apostles, 1 Cor. 15:8, 9 — can you think otherwise than that this came out of holy shame? We read that David's ambassadors were greatly ashamed, 2 Sam. 10. Go among all the holy men and women, among the weak and the strong — these people are greatly ashamed. What do you think of that whole company, Jer. 3:22 — behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God. How were they disposed? We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us, verse 25.

There you have the first point. You see, beloved, that it is in every saint; so go now into your own heart, and see whether you recognize it, whether you have a holy shame.

II. The second point is: are there people who are not ashamed? This is a matter that touches the heart. I thought, you will say, that shame was a common hue found in everyone. That is true of natural, decent shame, which is in everyone. Are there, then, people in whom that holy hue, that ornament, is not found? Yes — and do you know who they are?

1. First, where the devil so rules in the heart that he has stolen the veil, shame, from off their face. See it in Ananias and Sapphira, before that assembly of the holy Apostles: the devil had so filled their heart that they lied so shamelessly; one might well say, how did they dare hold out so! See it in Gehazi, where he knew that his master was a prophet, who did not ask in vain: where have you been, Gehazi? He said, your servant went nowhere at all. Consider Judas: the devil had taken away all shame from him, for he knew that his Master was good and holy, and that he knew his character. Mark also Achan: he had stolen, lied, and hidden it, but he held out through it all, until the lot fell on him, Josh. 7.

2. That shame is absent where the heart is so possessed with such an inclination toward sin: he has such a desire for sin, he must do it, without asking after shame or honor — indeed, he is without shame even after he has committed the sin, Jer. 7 and Zeph. 3:5: the holy Lord was in the midst of them, but the perverse know nothing of shame; they refuse to be ashamed.

3. Those live without shame who, through the habit of sinning, have so hardened their heart that they feel no blows, and they scarcely know they are sinning; these God calls rock and flint faces, and he says of them: you have a whore's forehead, you refuse to be ashamed, Jer. 3:3.

4. Those are without shame who belong to that number of whom it is said: whose glory is in their shame, Phil. 3:19. Who declare their sin freely, like Sodom, Isa. 3:9 — the more shamelessly, the bolder; the more brazen, the finer they think themselves. That is God's great judgment: there are people who set their glory in cursing — that is not ornament enough, oaths must go along with it too; there are those who set their glory not only in drinking, but must be champions at it, Isa. 5:22.

5. Those are not ashamed who are careless and unconcerned, but always well content: they must eat and drink and live in splendor, they must drink wine by the bowlful, they must have the fat of the lambs and of the olive tree; they are enemies of shame, people who never have an anxious thought.

6. Finally, those are without shame who come so far that they are without hope, as Paul says, Eph. 2:12. They give it up: there is no grace for us, they say; we shall never come right, it is beyond hope, Jer. 18:12.

III. Now the third: are there godless people, morally upright ones without grace, who are sometimes ashamed? Yes, there are such too. One who lives in unchastity, or a thief, is indeed ashamed: he fears he will be caught by the court, because he has done wrong and has made himself liable to punishment before the judge; he is ashamed because he will be jeered at. They are indeed ashamed, because they have committed so many crimes punishable before the supreme Judge. You see that in Ahab: he went about so slowly, as though he could not walk on his own feet, as though his feet were bound, and as though he moped about; and he strewed ashes on his head, and put on sackcloth. So you will find countless kinds of people who are indeed at times ashamed over their misconduct.

IV. Now comes the fourth and last point: is all shame holy shame? Is there a difference between the shame of the godly and that of natural men? Yes, there is a great difference, as great as that between rouge and natural beauty. Esth. 2: every one had herself painted in order to come before the king, but not Esther — she sought no cosmetic. Spiritual shame surpasses all natural shame. You will say: in what respect is the shame of the godly before God distinguished from that of natural men? We will tell you.

1. First, shame is so much against the grain for a natural man; he thinks it would be to his hurt and disgrace — he would rather choose the way of sin. Why, he says, this loss! I would lose all my reputation by it entirely; why should I make myself appear so strange before God and men — what would they think of me? That is why God so often says in his Word: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel, as in Ezek. 36:32. How is it now with the godly? It is dear to them; when they are brought so far, it is never too much for them: so long as they find traces of sin in themselves, they are like Ephraim and like Daniel. Welcome, they say, such a grace; Lord, they say, do not take this away, it is a dear friend to me — let me keep it as long as I find myself unclean, Isa. 64:6.

2. For a sinner, shame is not only against the grain, but he seeks to overcome it; he seeks to live in such a way that instead of shame he has boldness, and when he has overcome some of it, he would gladly keep a day of thanksgiving over it, like that Pharisee, Luke 18:11: I thank you, Lord, he said, that I am not as other men are, and not even as this tax collector. Do you think he only gave thanks that he was not so wicked? He also gave thanks that he did not need to stand so far off, and that he dared lift up his eyes. But a child of God — if that shame recedes somewhat and he loses some ground in it, in proportion to that loss he is troubled; if they have lost ground in it, then they say, as in Rev. 3:2, strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die.

3. Unrenewed people, who have no grace — how perverse their shame is: they are ashamed of the very thing that is the crown of their glory! You will say, why do you speak so? But you would see them ashamed if you found them once upon their knees, or with an edifying book, or once moved under a stirring sermon, like Saul — he too was among the prophets. If you found them once in tears, or in edifying conversation, they would be ashamed of it; but not the godly. Would they be ashamed if you once heard them pray, or if they once went to church, or once spoke with the godly? No — that is a glorious work. You strike me to the heart, said a child of God; I am so ashamed when I am in company, or when I am about to pray and speak — my shirt clings to my body, the sweat breaks out on me on every side. Ah, that is a great defect and fault; seek to overcome it, you have no reason to be ashamed of it. Break through, get past it, put your hand to it; let the sweat break out on you if it must — are you a bruised and weak reed, and a smoking flaxen wick? The Lord will not break you, nor quench you, but God will be with you.

4. When the sinner is ashamed, he has so much covering and so much varnish for his disgrace; he has some little garment for it, he will think something up. 2 Sam. 17: they glossed over the things that were not right. The godly have no coverings for their disgrace; they are so naked; they say: you see through me through and through, Lord — with what should I cover myself? You would find any covering of mine far too small.

5. Yet a great difference is this: even though the sinner is ashamed, he does not follow the counsel of the Lord Jesus, Rev. 3:18: I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, white garments, and eye salve. They do not come to buy garments to be covered before God and men, nor eye salve so that they might see. The godly say: that is good counsel for my naked soul. Lord, what garments have you for sale? The garment, says the Lord, of my innocence, of my holy conception and birth, which is fit to cover your unholy conception and birth; the garment of my satisfaction for your guilt — buy that garment of salvation, the garment of my righteousness, be clothed with it wholly and entirely; put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 13:14. What further? The garment of thanksgiving and gladness, the garment of praise for a heavy spirit, Isa. 61:3. What further? The garment of the new man — put that on, and come forth as a changed man. And once more: put on the little coat of armor which I give to all my children, the whole armor of God, Eph. 6:13. Then there will follow the garment of glory. Do not rest until, when you fall asleep, you may put on white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Then you shall be clothed over with that garment of glory, so that you may not be found naked, 2 Cor. 5:3. We should indeed wish to be clothed with that glorious overgarment. Beloved, it is just like the High Priest, who was arrayed with his undergarments, and then received besides a splendid outer robe. Follow that counsel, buy those garments, and then you shall never in eternity be put to shame, before devils, nor before men, nor before God.

6. A sinful man may stand in his shame one week, and the next week comes and he has already gotten over it — then he is merry again, jesting, vain, he lets his whole spirit loose. Consider Ahab: how ashamed he stood before Elijah! Yet presently he is jesting again and wants to march off to war; he rises up to eat and drink, and returns to his careless life. But once a godly man has been ashamed, he is quiet, he is neither merry nor jesting; he does not say, once ashamed is enough. A child of God so gladly remains in his shame; he seeks to keep such a frame of mind right up to his deathbed.

There you have our four points, which we thought to lay in your lap; you may make your use of them, as you please. How far short God's children fall of what we preach! Amend yourselves, shut the door of your inner chamber, and humble yourselves before the Lord. Do you say, I dare not apply grace to myself, still less glory — I am a wretched, filthy creature: even so, your life does not consist in that; amend yourself, be ashamed. That is what we intended to stir you up to; and next we shall give you ten or twelve living marks, by which you will be able to see whether that holy shame is in you. I hope that the Lord will bless this to me and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 70

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which: I. An exhortation to the godly and the ungodly toward that holy shame. II. A question to the godly and the ungodly: do you possess that spiritual, evangelical shame? III. Two remedies for those who say they lack it. IV. A heartfelt word to the bruised reeds.

Reading concerning the leper, Lev. 13.

What was a leper? A filthy, loathsome, ugly creature: their limbs were as though rotted away by dry or festering scurf; they had to be brought before the priest, who had to examine what ailed them; and when the priest had examined them, what happened then, once he had declared them leprous?

1. First, they had to go about with torn clothes, so that everyone could see what ailed them.

2. So too they had to go bareheaded, so that they could not hide their scurf, but everyone saw their ugly face.

3. They had to dwell alone; they were not allowed to live in any town or village, even if it were a king like Uzziah, 2 Chron. 26. And Miriam had to remain outside the camp, Num. 12 — just like those lepers who were outside the gate of Samaria, 2 Kings 7.

4. If anyone came too near them, they had to cry out: unclean, unclean! Keep away, here is an unclean one, do not come too close to me, lest you be infected.

5. They had to stay away from worship. 2 Chron. 26: the king was cut off from the house of the Lord.

6. They had to cover their upper lip, and put a covering over it, as a sign of their plague, and so that everyone would see it. What did they mean to signify by this? I am mute, I have nothing to say for myself, I may not speak.

Why did God want them to do these six things? 1. So that others would recognize them. 2. So that they would avoid them. 3. So that they would lay their hand upon their mouth, and show mourning before God and men.

When God reveals a man to himself, and leads him into a sight of his own spiritual leprosy, then all these things happen to him. Oh, how well it goes with him then!

1. He would gladly dwell alone; he chooses a solitary place; he would gladly say to others, as in Matt. 8:8, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof — much as we sang there, by God's providence, from Ps. 102:5, 6.

2. He is indeed not forbidden to remain in the assembly, but when he comes into it, there is in his own eyes no uglier creature than himself. If others said, sit here at my footstool, or go stand here or there in a corner, he would do it.

3. He goes about as it were with torn clothes; he has no eye for finery — no, he will do just as well, even if dressed a bit more poorly than others. Though he does not tear his garments, he tears his heart, Joel 2:13. Though he does not exactly tear his clothes, he clothes himself with lesser garments.

4. The lepers went bareheaded: so it is here too — they do not want to hide their leprosy either, but say, as in Ps. 32:5, I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I do not hide; for he who covers his transgressions shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy, Prov. 27:13.

5. They would gladly warn everyone and say: what do you come to me for, who am so infected with flesh and blood? What do you come to me for, sinful man, in whom no good thing dwells, Rom. 7:18? I might perhaps do you harm.

6. The lepers had a sign of mourning, showing that they could not get rid of their leprosy: these too say, I am so grieved that I am so spiritually leprous. They are so willing to remain continually in spiritual shame; they do it without delay and promptly. When they are grieved after a godly manner, it is no forced labor, they are no tears wrung out by force, but tears that come so willingly, just as water flows from a fountain, 2 Cor. 7:10. They are exceedingly sorrowful, because they have lost God through sin: over every sin it stands as though written, they have taken away my Lord, John 20:13, and Song 5:6, my beloved had withdrawn himself, he was gone. The loss of a friend cannot be recovered again by tears, but if you lose God — a holy sorrow makes God's presence return; then the Lord comes back again, Song 3 and 5. Absalom had no rest until he saw his father's face; so it is here too. Oh, says such a soul, your face must go with me, to set me at rest, Exod. 33:14. Yes, they mourn promptly. They do not say, that holy shame must be put off until I make my will, or until I come to die; but they fear that then, even if like Esau they sought the blessing, they would not find it; and they say, as in Luke 6:21, blessed are you that weep now. They will not put it off a single day, for I do not know, they say, whether I shall live to see the day to which I would postpone it. In short, it is so continual a mourning: they say, as in Lam. 2:18, let tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no rest, let not the apple of your eye cease. Without tenderness and godly sorrow, they say, I cannot live. Not a single day is well lived, unless it is lived in that holy shame; they do not live well when they are without it.

And once more: the lepers had to cover their upper lip, and stand ashamed and mute, as ones who had nothing to say for themselves; so it also goes with a soul, when God reveals it to itself, and it stands in its shame before God, before that holy Being. Lord, they say, I am so filthy a man. Whether it be a cedar tree or a bruised reed, you will find every saint marked with this.

That is where we would be, this morning, and with this third sermon on the subject we shall close that mark of holy shame. In it we shall first seek to stir up the godly and the ungodly to that holy shame. Then we shall call upon the godly, and ask, do you possess it? And to the ungodly, do you enjoy it — is it spiritual and evangelical? Then, if someone should say, I do not have it, we would give him one or two remedies. Finally, we shall speak a heartfelt word to the bruised reeds. I say:

I. First we would call on everyone to that shame. II. We would ask the godly, do you rightly possess it — and the ungodly too. III. We shall put a pair of little remedies into your hand, for your guidance, on how to obtain it. IV. We shall speak a heartfelt word to the bruised reeds, and put a question or two to them.

I. As to the first: you will say, why do you press so hard toward shame? Well, we have several reasons for it.

1. First, do you not know that it is God's command? He says not only, repent, believe, rejoice, but this too is my command from high heaven: be ashamed and blush, Ezek. 36:32. Would you and I, poor little worm, insignificant little man, dare rise up against that? This command is surely not grievous, 1 John 5:3. Is it not fitting? Yes, it becomes all men, and one must say of it — whether they be godless or godly — that it is their ornament. To obey is better than sacrifice; it is better than all outward religion, 1 Sam. 15:22. What a disgrace is disobedience — as when a child says, I will not go! It is the sin of idolatry and image-worship; for it stands there expressly: rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, 1 Sam. 15:23. What a dreadful consequence does it have? The wrath of God remains upon the disobedient, John 3:36, and 2 Thess. 1:8: the Lord shall take vengeance in flaming fire on those who are disobedient to the gospel. Dare then a godly or an ungodly person be disobedient? He may not — not even in thought.

2. Would you not gladly have that holy shame — where it is, is it not a mark of grace? The Apostle says, adorn yourselves with shamefacedness, with which the holy women of old adorned themselves, 1 Tim. 2:9. And we may well add, all the holy men too. Ephraim had scarcely any grace at all, but he was ashamed and confounded, Jer. 31:19.

3. How gladly would you wish to have some little token of grace on your sickbed and deathbed! I believe you would gasp after it. Well, children of God, if you are ashamed before God, it is a sign that you have grace. Hezekiah — how he sought after some token of his grace, when he received the news that he would die, and again, when he received the news that he would recover, he sought to have a sign of it. How eager is a man to have some sign that he has won his lawsuit!

4. If you become shameless, so that you care neither for honor nor disgrace, what a scum of a man are you then? Hear what God says, Jer. 6:15: were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall stumble, says the Lord. And then you belong to that people who set their glory in their shame — in not praying, not reading, not being ashamed, Phil. 3:19. You set your disgrace in the very thing that would make you glorious — that is, in taking up a book in your hand and once mourning.

5. Whoever seeks to be ashamed before God — it is so lovely a beauty; and then God says, you are to me a darling child, Jer. 31:20. God acts like a father and mother: would they not have compassion on their child, who sank down in his shame before their knees? Then God calls you Ruchama, that is, one who has obtained mercy, Hos. 2. Then he says, you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, Song 4:9. Would you not then gladly stand well with the Lord?

6. It is so profitable. How that grips the heart of the Lord, when a people on a fast and prayer day stand so ashamed, as in Ezra 9, Neh. 9, Dan. 9. I say again, it is so profitable. Ah, says the Lord Jesus, now you need not look to yourself, and there is no one to offer you help — now I will do it. In him is the fullness for all your lack. It is so profitable, as is evident in the tax collector; for that man went down to his house justified, Luke 18:14.

7. Shame makes the devil flee: then he says, I am rid of this soul, let me just give it up, I can gain no more advantage over it; as with that man, when he lay in his shame, 1 Cor. 5 and 2 Cor. 2. The devil can then make no further headway with it.

8. If you stand here in your shame, you shall not stand ashamed in the judgment: the more ashamed here, the less hereafter. That holy shame is here only in part, and its perfecting shall consist in its very vanishing away. Then the most beloved Lord himself will say, now you may lift up your heads; you have already had your share and portion in the world; therefore you shall not now stand ashamed.

9. God calls you to shame. If you do not obtain it in your life, you shall not obtain it afterward; and no one shall stand with such red cheeks in the judgment as those who lack that holy shame here. He who dwells in heaven shall then laugh you to scorn, and then God will say: there now stands that creature, who laid so many false foundations; and then you will want to enter in, but will not be able; indeed, then the Lord will laugh when your dread comes, and say: you thought to go in with a lamp of profession, without grace in your heart; you were careless, you refused to blush — but now you shall stand ashamed forever.

10. In sin there is enough to make one stand ashamed. What makes a man ashamed in the world? That he is a thief, a spendthrift, a beggar, an ingrate — all that is in sin: it fills him with guilt, it plunges him into poverty, it makes you a thief and steals from God the honor of his omniscience, his holiness, and the like.

Beloved, these ten things ought to grip you; lay all ten of them upon your heart, and see whether you recognize them.

II. Now we come to the second point. Children of God, what do you say of yourselves — have you ever felt it so? We have instructed you above that you shall not be at rest unless you have stood in your shame, and that it must be genuine, spiritual, and evangelical. Do you say, I have indeed been ashamed before the Lord, and I still am? I ask you: has it been truly holy, spiritual, and evangelical? Do you say, I do not understand that? We shall make you understand it. When is it an evangelical, spiritual shame?

1. First, then, when God places you in your shame, so that you nevertheless appear in your filthy garments before his face, so that you say, Lord, I cannot stay away from you; I present myself in my ugliness before your holy eye — as in Zech. 3:1-3, where that man Joshua stood in his filthy garments before God. That is the first: they remain standing before God.

2. They also examine themselves inwardly somewhat, and they say to their soul, does shame indeed rise up in you? And then your sin and your ugliness come before you so particularly, as if someone had told it to you. Then you go into your own heart, and you say: do you find that you are ashamed over your understanding, over your will, over your memory, over the sins of your speaking, your silence, your company, your solitude? Take it all up within you, so that you see yourself very loathsome; do you feel that you become ashamed over it?

3. I still cannot go away, Lord, even though I feel it sink upon my heart that I am the most unworthy creature. There they stand before God, as in Matt. 8:8, I am not worthy that you should come in to me; and Luke 18:13, ah, I stand far off; and Luke 5:8, what would you do with me, Lord? Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.

4. They remain standing before God, until they begin to melt in love. I am, they say, such an unworthy and sinful creature, I deserve only everlasting shame, I am not worthy that you should show me any kindness — yet what have you done for me all the same, I cannot count it! Luke 7: that woman loved much; she stood behind Christ.

5. They remain standing before God, seeing God with the pardon in his hand, while they stand with the sentence of death in their heart and in their hand, and with tears in their eyes. Oh Lord, they say, should you cast me away from your presence, you would be justified when you speak, and clear when you judge, Ps. 51:6. You would be entirely just, should you say to me in my distress, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, Matt. 25:41.

6. If blows come, they justify God in it, and say: ah Lord, how anxious it makes me and how heavy — but it is entirely just. Micah 7:9, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.

7. Oh Lord, they say, I am struck dumb, I will not open my mouth, I will be silent, Ps. 39:10. Do you say, Lord, I have no delight in such an ugly creature; here I am, it will go hard for me, but it will be just on your side; if it serves to gain you honor — here I am, what more shall I say or cry out to the king? I and my father's house are but men worthy of death.

8. Then they say: ah Lord, let me not stand here in my shame like a criminal before his judge, but like a child before his parents. That makes a great difference — the shame of a criminal or that of a child: a child has hope of obtaining favor. There they stand then in their shame as a child, and they say, it is as though some hope of mercy is coming.

9. Finally, they cannot go away without feeling some hope of reconciliation in Christ; they cannot depart until they feel in their mind and conscience some little token of reconciliation.

See, then it is spiritual and evangelical. What does your conscience say now? You have heard the matters — the drive toward that holy shame, and when it is evangelical — but what does your heart say? Do you recognize it? You must not keep silent; when you come before God, lay your heart bare then. Do you remember it — where, and how? Do you recognize the marks, and do you know what has gone on, and what still goes on?

III. Ah, someone will say, I do not have it, I wish I had it — I see it as though it were something behind a veil, but how do I come by it? That is our third point: to put a pair of remedies into your hand for obtaining that spiritual, holy, evangelical shame.

1. First, dwell much on the sight of your ugliness in your doing and refraining, in your speaking and your silence, like David, Ps. 51:5, my sin is ever before me. We can find no name adequate to express the ugliness of sin; God's Word has many expressions for it — serpents, and broods of vipers, and the like.

2. The second remedy is: pray to God to stand in your shame, to become ashamed. I do not know whether you have ever prayed for this. You pray indeed for conversion, for faith, for assurance — but do you also pray for this grace? A man is too proud for that. If anyone needs wisdom, let him ask it of God; if someone's child needs a fish or bread, the father does not refuse it; if you prayed for that shame, God would surely give it to you.

I repeat it and say: 1. Live every day in the sight of your own ugliness. 2. Pray every day for that holy shame. We shall not burden you with too much — these are two remedies.

IV. Now the last point. We have a heartfelt word for the bruised reeds. What do you say, you who have only lately come upon the way? Does it not work so in you? I believe you cannot deny it. The very smallest child of God is often the most practiced in it. The tax collector was no strong child of God, and yet he was no stranger to it. If the strong get some taste of it, it is sweet to them. Bruised reeds, who so often doubt — must you not say, I am ashamed? What else would that signify — your standing far off, your laying your hands upon your face to cover it, your laying your head as it were between your knees? What does it mean, that paleness and that redness seen mingled together, that alternating with one another, and that so unexpectedly? That standing far off, and that pleading with the words of Ezra, I dare not lift up my eyes? Do not speak, then, against your own heart — you did not have that by nature. We must speak to you from the heart, and say that it is a sign that you have passed from nature into grace. It is a sign that the Lord Jesus keeps his hand upon you, that he does not break the bruised reed, that he will bring you to this — that you shall hope in his name. Believe it, that it is a sign that you shall overcome in death and in judgment; and go forward, and be of good courage.

With your attention we have now finished the seventh mark, that holy shame. There our subject for this year lies concluded. It is drawing to its end. We have today finished the seventieth sermon. If we live, we shall begin another mark again in time to come. I hope that the Lord will bless this to me and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

END OF VOLUME ONE.

The Bruised Reed

Or, One Hundred and Forty-Five Sermons on Matthew 12:20, 21, by the blessed Bernardus Smytegelt. Second Edition.

The Hague: Pieter van Thol, and the Widow O. van Thol and Son. Middelburg: the Widow A. L. Callenfels and Son, and the Widow M. H. Callenfels.

Sermon 71

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which is treated the eighth mark of the state of grace, hatred against sin, comprising these points: I. What is hatred? II. Is hating sin a mark of the state of grace? III. What is there in sin that is to be hated? IV. Wherein does hatred against sin consist?

We read in Amos 5:10, They hate him that rebuketh in the gate. Ministers are, with respect to their love and their inward affections and tenderness, fathers; and with respect to their office, they are physicians.

They must tell people, concerning the things of the spirit, what their sickness is, and the cause of their sickness, and they must prescribe the remedies, and they must sometimes give people an answer that does not please them. They must sometimes speak a word of rebuke; they must not only speak cordials and encouragements, but they must also apply corrosives, and speak the reproving word to them. Titus 1:13, Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. Never is it more dismal than when that judgment is pronounced upon someone, that God says: rebuke him not. Even if a doctor says that corrosives must be applied, one would still be willing to spend all one's goods on the physicians, like that woman, Luke 8:43. Such physicians are your ministers, who are your best and most faithful friends. So they act, out of devotion to your eternal welfare. Whoever, then, is rightly disposed must receive this with thanks. It is for the healing of your soul. David saw this too, in the 141st Psalm: let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me,

it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head, verse 5. It went well for him with Nathan, 2 Samuel 12, and with Gad, 2 Samuel 24. Many people cannot bear rebuke: they take it in no good part when they are told what they must do. What are the reasons that they hate, in the gate, the one who rebukes them? There are three great reasons for this. 1. The sinner rages after sin. 2. He does not see that it is done out of love. 3. It is because he has such a love for sin.

1. First, he rages after sin, Jer. 50:38, they rage after the dreadful idols. So it was with Ahab: hast thou found me, O mine enemy? he said to Elijah, 1 Kings 21:20; art thou he that troubleth Israel? 1 Kings 18:17. They hate, with Ahab, Micaiah, 1 Kings 22:8. When a doctor comes into the room where there lies a raving patient, and he speaks of cutting and lancing, the patient cannot bear the sight of him — he would fly at him. So it is also with the sinner: expose him, and he says, you desire my dying day. That is the first reason.

2. The second reason he cannot bear it is that he does not see that it is done out of love for his spiritual and eternal welfare, out of the affection of the heart. Whoever notices that, of him Solomon's proverb holds true: rebuke a wise man, and it will gain entrance, and he will love thee, Prov. 9:8. Such people would rather be rebuked than perish in the sickness of their souls.

3. The third is: if there is someone who rebukes them, they are angry at him because of their love for sin. Prov. 1:22, how long will ye love simplicity, ye simple ones? Sin is poison to the soul, and yet how it is embraced and kissed by the thousands! Sin is the evil that they commit, but the love of sin is worse still: the love of sin is worse than the deed. Those who love sin hate the rebuke. It would be better for a person to turn his hatred against sin than against the one who rebukes him. Sin is the cause of God's punishment, and of the rebuke of God's faithful servants. Let your hatred turn against sin, against yourself, and against your corrupt inclinations. You will say, what will I gain by that? This: it will be a small token to you that you have passed over from nature into grace.

Through God's great kindness and grace we have now sought to set before you seven marks of the state of grace. The first was: the change within and without. The second: grace became precious in their eyes; it was to them a pearl of great value, and they did not know what they would not give for it. The third: God had brought them to themselves, and revealed to them how vile they were. The fourth: God had opened the sluices of their heart, and poured them full of godly sorrow. The

fifth was that God, alongside that sorrow, gave so many convictions, so many persuasions. The sixth: they might begin to speak — the mouth began to speak, and to make plain confession; the more heartfelt, the more open before God, the more welcome. The seventh: shame was in their heart, which also showed itself outwardly.

Now follows the eighth mark: a hatred which they have conceived against sin — I do not love it, they say, but I hate what is evil. This eighth mark we now begin to lay before you, and we shall seek to do so by showing: First, what is hatred, and is there indeed such a hatred against sin? Then, is hatred against sin a scriptural and living mark that someone is in a state of grace? Then, what is there in sin that is to be hated? Following that, we shall see wherein that hatred lies — how does it show itself? Then we shall give some tokens of true hatred, for one may profess to hate sin and yet not hate it. Then we shall consider whether there is not a certain sin which people call the beloved sin, one to which they have an appetite and inclination. Then we shall show you how that sin is to be recognized. Then, whether they do not, after all, hate that sin too. These are the points concerning hatred of sin which we shall, God willing, set before your attention. But we cannot deal with all of this in a single hour. We shall begin it now, then, and for the present we intend to take up this much:

I. What is hatred?
II. Is hating sin a mark of grace?
III. What is there in sin that is to be hated?
IV. Wherein does that hatred against sin consist?
V. If we have time, we shall name a token or two by which it may be known whether you hate sin.

I. The first is: what is hatred? People speak a great deal about it, but what is hatred? In short, it is a settled anger which you will find in the heart. Some offense has been given, great or small, real or imagined; that displeasure stirs up in the heart anger against the one who has given it. Asa became angry with the seer, 2 Chron. 16. The sinner has such an anger too, of which God says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, give it no place in your bed, do not go to sleep with it, Eph. 4:26. In hatred you will find that, once the anger comes to settle, there arises such an aversion toward the one whom one hates: even if he had loved him ever so much before, even if he had been sick with longing to enjoy his company, once he hates him, he says, I cannot bear the sight of him. So it was with Joseph's brothers: they hated him for his dreams, and he had to go away. So it was with Ahab: he hated Micaiah, and he had to go away. So it was with Amnon and Tamar: once he was sated in his foul lust, she had to go away. Not only is there in hatred anger and aversion, but they want to avenge it, however long afterward, whenever the occasion arises — and then they avenge it fiercely and terribly. So it was with Absalom and Amnon: he had an aversion toward him, but he had hidden it for two full years; then, when he had him as a guest at his table, he avenged it. Revenge is devilish; it keeps company with aversion; hatred keeps company in the heart with a lust for vengeance, which, when there is opportunity, is thoroughly carried out.

II. Our second point is: is it a mark of grace when I hate sin — when I find toward sin what I have just described as belonging to hatred? Yes: but this needs some proof.

1. It cannot possibly be that there is grace present where one loves sin. The proof is this: God, in his Word, places the whole nature and entire being of the state of grace in this. Prov. 8:13, the fear of the LORD is to hate evil: every evil way, and the mouth that speaketh perverse things. The fear of the Lord is in no one unless he hates what is evil, all that is proud or perverse in speech or deeds.

2. The second proof is that the image of God consists in this; it is a mark of the image of God, it is a part of his holy being. What is the holiness of God but to hate sin, and to love all that resembles him? These six things doth the LORD hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto his soul: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood; a heart that deviseth wicked thoughts, feet that be swift in running to mischief; a false witness that speaketh lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren, Prov. 6:16-19. Indeed, we may well say that he hates all the legions of sin: he cannot bear evil, Hab. 1:13. He commended certain churches, and said, thou hatest the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, Rev. 2 and 3. He hates all workers of iniquity, Ps. 5:6. That the image of God consists in this you may see in those who have passed over from nature into grace: they seek to be holy as God is holy; they love what God loves, and they hate what God hates.

3. The third proof is that all who are in a state of grace confess it so plainly and from the heart: you will find it in yourself too. You have three verses in Psalm 119, verses 104, 113, and 128. In all three of these verses that devout heart bursts out with this: I hate every false way; I hate vain thoughts; every false path have I hated. They cannot help but say that they hate sin: God knows it, and their own heart knows it.

4. The fourth proof is: well, my children, says God, I require it of you, I lay this charge upon you. Ps. 97:10, ye that love the LORD,

hate evil. Amos 5:15, hate the evil. Rom. 12:9, abhor that which is evil.

5. Lastly, you may see clearly that hatred against sin is a mark of grace from its opposite in the sinner. How does it stand with him in the state of nature? He too has a hatred: the works of the flesh are manifest in him, Gal. 5:19. What is his hatred? He is a hater of God, and a hater of the Lord Jesus, who says, John 15:24-25, they have hated me without a cause; they have hated both me and my Father. He has a hatred against the Spirit of God, Acts 7:51: they will have nothing to do with the Spirit of God or with his work, but resist him. I hate my own mind and conscience, they say — I am not at ease when it does its work; and if it will not be silent, I sear it shut, 1 Tim. 4:2; compare John 3:20. They have a hatred against the Word; if I were to read or hear the Word every day, they say, I would soon grow weary of it. Moreover, they hate those whom the Lord has chosen out of the world, John 15:19. I have no greater hatred, they say, than against those preachers who always trouble me so — I never come to church in my life but I get one wound or another.

Now there is not one who must not admit that hatred against sin is a living proof of grace, and that whoever has that hatred against sin does not have the hatred of nature.

III. The third point is: why should I hate sin, says the sinner — what, then, is there in sin that is to be hated? Children of God, you will see it and grasp it; but the sinner will hear well enough the sound of the words, yet not grasp their meaning.

1. Every sin is the greatest, ugliest, most accursed monster: it is an accursed thing before God, it curses us; it is the ugliest and most accursed monster in all the world that there is. Sin is worse than the devil, and worse than hell, and worse than all the crosses that anyone meets with in the world. Sin makes the devil a devil and hell a hell — and what makes the crosses so bitter? Is it not sin? My God! a devout soul must say, every sin makes me so accursed before you; were it not that grace came in between, the curse would be in everything, on my table, in my bed, and in everything to which I put my hand, Deut. 28, from verse 16 to the last verse. One must shudder and be terrified when one sees all that the curse can consume — houses and lands and all.

2. What makes sin so terrible? Its origin. God may have his hand in it in a holy way, in ordaining, ordering, and permitting it, but every sinner is a devil in carrying it out. How hateful it must be to do the devil's own work! There is not one sin in us that is not the work of the devil and of our corruption: in it one does the devil's own work; indeed, it makes us like the devil, John 8:44. One need not be a Judas for it to be said, you resemble a devil.

3. The nature and essence of sin — what is that? To provoke God, to dishonor God, Rom. 2:23. Neither I nor you sin a moment of our lives without dishonoring God. It wearies God: is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also, Isa. 7:13. Moreover, sin is, as it were, to oppress God, to trouble God, and to break the heart of God; indeed, the very nature of sin is to crucify the Lord — in his cause, in his children, in his servants — and were the person of the Mediator on earth, one would do it to him in his own person too, Heb. 6:6. All sin is hateful: if you look at sin in its consequences, what consequences it has! Your entrance into the world is already amid crying, your sojourn in it amid sighing, and your departure from the world is a parting — and what does it part? It parts the soul from the body, which you so dread, and sin digs our grave: for that as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, Rom. 5:12.

It separates you from all your dear friends, it separates your soul from God, it separates you from the light of God's countenance, in whose sight and enjoyment alone is fulness of joy, Ps. 16:11. God declares this himself, Isa. 59:2, your iniquities have separated between you and your God — as a man separates from a wife because of her misconduct, and as a father separates from a child. Matt. 25:41, that you must depart from me as one accursed, is because you are a worker of iniquity. If you sin against God, you will find his clouds and darkness round about you, Ps. 97:2. Then God says: I must withdraw my love somewhat; you have not much love to expect, for there is something hateful in you. We said in our preface, and you would do well to take it to heart and carry it with you: are you converted to God, and also turned inward toward yourself? People are so readily converted to God — they enter into covenant with God, it all sounds so fine and fair, they have a little scripture text, they are a little glad, they come into company and can talk about it so well — but as for turning inward into themselves and looking within, there they often do not get around to much. When you look within yourself, you will indeed find something hateful in you; then sin will become such a terror to you. God gives scarcely any mark of grace but you must carry it both to yourself and to God; then you become a steadfast person. See then that sin is such an accursed thing, such a wicked deed; it breaks the heart of God, and fills you with terror, fear, and trembling: if sin is hateful to you, that is a mark of grace.

IV. Now the fourth point: how is such a soul disposed that hates sin? We shall add this, and then, since the time has already run far along, conclude.

1. First, such a soul is full of fright and trembling at committing sin, and once it has been committed, it is Magor-missabib — terror on every side. Even though it is not outwardly disclosed, they sit secretly trembling in their heart. See it in David: when he had cut off the skirt of the king's robe, his heart smote him — I might well have killed the king, and oh, what would that have been! 1 Sam. 24:6. My countenance is changed, my heart is terrified, Ps. 34:1. I have numbered Israel, my heart smites and trembles, 2 Sam. 24:10. When the Lord makes them see it, after the sin has been committed, then there is, as it were, no peace.

2. Whoever truly hates sin with a perfect hatred shows it even toward all that has given, or once gave, occasion to fall into sin. Our anger, they say, is justly kindled — woe is me, that I have sinned so! They could almost lay hands upon themselves. When they look into that inner chamber of their heart's corruption, they are disposed as the Lord Jesus was, Mark 3:5, he looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the same time that they had such a chamber of sin within them.

3. There comes such a holy aversion; it is: I cannot bear you — I am not free of you, but I cannot bear you. Rom. 12:9, I have an abhorrence of what is evil. The Apostle expresses it with the word abhorrence, like the heathen who had an aversion to the black river which they called hell. It is with it as with a medicine: a person says, I cannot take it, such an aversion do I have against it. Oh, they say, I have such an aversion to sin, as to a food for which nature has a revulsion — even were it ever so well prepared, and even were such a pleasant sauce made over it, take it away from me, it does not please me. Such a one, of whom he was fond before his conversion, he says of it after his conversion, I have no appetite for it; he is sickened by it — I hate it, he says. Then all those things and deeds that border upon that sin, of these he has an aversion.

4. When you truly hate sin, you will cut it off wherever you find it; you will not even want to come into its company. Amnon, when he hated Tamar, how did he show his hatred? He made her go away; she said, do not do this, it will be worse than the first wrong — but he drove her out, and called a servant or lackey, who put her out. If there is someone in our company who commits that sin, one drives him out. So they do also with sin: they watch over and guard their heart, and set a watch upon it, Prov. 4:23; they keep themselves from their iniquity, Ps. 18:23. It is: put it off, Eph. 4:25; put it away, Col. 3:9. That is true hatred.

5. Lastly, such a one says: could I but once avenge myself upon you, I would gladly do it, for you have grieved me exceedingly. 2 Cor. 7:11, what has godly sorrow wrought in you? Indignation, fear, vehement desire, zeal, revenge — in such a manner. Samson said, I will avenge myself upon the Philistines: how do they do it? They mortify their members which are upon the earth, Col. 3:5. They crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, Gal. 5:24. They keep their bodies under, 1 Cor. 9:27.

In these five points, these five essential matters, consists spiritual hatred against sin. Beloved hearers, what does your heart say now? Turn once inward to yourselves. When sin comes into your heart or your company, does your heart not recoil at it? Do you not look upon it with displeasure? Would you not gladly avenge yourself upon it? Do you confess it? Do you resolve to turn to God, and also to yourself? Let it not be toward God alone, but also toward yourself. To make vows, to separate yourself somewhat, to go to God, to make a covenant — this is good; but you must do it toward yourself as well.

The fifth point, which we had intended to take up if time remained, was to give some tokens by which it might appear whether the true hatred against sin is in us, and whether there is not also a hatred present in the reprobate. But of this hereafter; and then we shall also go on to see whether a child of God does not have a beloved sin, a besetting sin. Then we shall further see whether they do not also hate that sin which so easily besets them. We shall leave it here for now, and pray God that he would be pleased to bless what has been spoken. Amen.

Sermon 72

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which are these two things: I. That there is also a hatred against sin in the sinner. II. Some tokens by which spiritual hatred against sin is to be recognized.

We read Ps. 73:24, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Oh, that this last were true of us all! The first part is true of both the devout and the ungodly. God guides each according to his counsel — the reprobate and the elect race, the vessels of wrath and of mercy: but the guidance of the vessels of wrath is not of the same kind as that of the vessels of mercy.

How does God guide the vessels of wrath? Just as a man guides his slave, as compared with his beloved child: it is proper to a slave to be guided by blows. Of this the Savior gives an indication when he says, that servant, who knew his lord's will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, Luke 12:47. But it is proper to a child to be guided by love. When a child asks his father for bread, will he give him a stone? and if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? Matt. 7:9-10. It stirs the father's inward affections, and he gives the child what it asks. So God does too: it is proper to the sinner to be guided by blows, and to a child of God by love. God does not strike the sinner at once, but comes to it by degrees. At first God guides him through longsuffering. Rom. 9:22, with much longsuffering God endures the vessels of wrath, so that that rejected creature should have nothing to say — so that he could not say to God, you took me by surprise and gave me no time; had you given me time, I would have repented. To that longsuffering God adds kindness, Rom. 2:4. Now he leads them

in the riches of his forbearance and kindness, so that he might convince that little creature that he has despised the riches of his kindness, and thereby heaps up for himself a treasure of wrath. Then God comes and leads them through great blessings, so that they themselves must say of it, I feel it. Luke 12:18, I must build greater barns, for mine are too small. Then God may even exalt them, as with Capernaum, to heaven, Matt. 11:23. But though thus led by all these blessings, longsufferings, and kindnesses, it does not go well with him; instead he sins all the more, and sells himself to do evil — one may not even trouble him about God's ways, like that prosperous Nabal, 1 Sam. 25. Then God says: it is proper to slaves to be guided by blows, and then God comes and deals with them as with horses, to bridle them — he puts a bit in their mouth. God guides them so that he leads them as it were on a chain, so that he himself stands over against them with a drawn sword. By this they sometimes become somewhat better, and it goes with them as it happened to Balaam's donkey, before which the angel stood with his drawn sword. And out of regard for the blows they sometimes go along slowly and humbly, like Ahab: it was as if he could scarcely walk, he went so slowly, that God called the prophet and said, seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself? And likewise in the time of Jeroboam, when he was struck in his child, the whole court became somewhat better. One must not think, when we say this, that we thereby wish the ungodly ill: it is plain that their own deeds and words make them known. Matt. 25:24, I knew that thou wast a hard man, and I was afraid, and therefore I went and hid my talent, and kept it safe. Mark it well: such dealings he receives, and he is only hardened under them, just as Ahaz was — the more he was struck, the more he increased in apostasy. Lord, says Jeremiah, thou hast stricken them, but they have felt no pain, Jer. 5:3. Then God guides that race according to his counsel so that a sudden breaking comes, and they are no longer wished for again, except by their own kind. The ungodly are glad when they are gone: they had, indeed, some compassion for them in their lifetime, but now that they are dead, they are all glad of it. The Apostle Paul once said that they were sorrowing most of all over that word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more; whereas, of the vessels of wrath, people are glad no longer to see their face.

God guides the elect race also according to his counsel. That race, too, he does not spare — and in not sparing them he shows his love. Heb. 12:6, he chastens every son whom he loveth.

Ps. 99:8, thou wast to them a forgiving God, though thou tookest vengeance of their misdeeds. I have loved you from the first, and I have loved you freely, says God — indeed I have loved you as a mother loves her nursing child, or as a father his only child. When they perceive that love, that fire kindles a flame in them; they can testify so before the Lord in truth and sincerity: even if you gave me no blow for transgression, nor any blessing for well-doing — even if there were no rod for transgression, nor any blessing for love toward you — I would serve you nonetheless, because you are worthy of it; indeed, even if there were neither heaven nor hell to expect for sin or virtue, I would love you nonetheless. God's children are so led by love that they say, I love the Lord. I could well wish, they say, that you would ask me: do you love me? I can answer so joyfully: yes, Lord! The love of Christ constrains me. Such is the language in the Bible of that elect race. God, thus leading them under all things and tokens of love, thereby brings about two things: 1. They partake so much of the holiness of God that of whatever bears even the faintest trace of God they can heartily say, I love all the virtues alike. 2. They hate all that is sin with a great hatred, with a hatred of their very soul.

Of this they can say, as David said, 2 Sam. 5:8, the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. They can say of it what Delilah once said, with an evil intent, against Samson: you hate me — that they may rightly say of sin: you hate me, says sin to them. That is, they say: I love God too much to break the heart of God by sinning, and to weary the Lord, and to trouble the heart of God. Beloved, that guidance will go paired with glory; the other with destruction. Therefore do not merely think, oh, that my end were glorious! but think also, oh, that my heart were holy!

We began the eighth mark last time — namely, hatred against sin. This we did by: 1. Showing what hatred is. 2. Proving that it is a true mark of grace when there is hatred against sin in the heart. 3. Wherein that true, spiritual, and mortal hatred consists. 4. What it is that makes sin so hateful in the eyes of a gracious heart. Then some things still remained for us, and there will remain still more once we have gotten through this hour. Now we must take up whether there is also a hatred against sin in a natural man, and then we shall give some tokens by which the true, godly, and right hatred against sin is to be recognized. Then it will remain for us to see how the devout deal with the appearance of evil, and their godly conduct regarding it. Then, how a devout person's hatred stands regarding sin. Then we shall see how they are disposed regarding that sin which they call the beloved or besetting sin: God willing, we shall give some account of that as well. And then we shall move on again to something else. The one is the womb of the other: in all these excellencies there is no end. Then that heart will stand so judged, so broken, humbled, contrite. Then we shall see that the one in grace is so utterly poor in spirit. Then God will be shown to you in his preciousness. Then we shall show you the preciousness that they see in the Lord Jesus. Then, the passing over to the Lord Jesus. Then we shall come to all manner of exercises of faith. Then we shall come to dealing with the Lord Jesus. Then, that they come to a most intimate union and exercise of communion with Christ. From this then blossoms the fountain of love to God, to the Lord Jesus, to the Spirit, to the Word, which is so useful and so dear to them. And then we shall see the growth and increase. Then, that their heart feels pain over falling away. Those would be the things that still remain for us to consider, God willing that we live.

For the present we shall set before you two things: 1. First, you will say, if hatred against sin is a mark of grace, is it then not also found in a natural man? II. We shall set before you the tokens by which godly hatred is to be recognized.

I. As to the first: everyone who has grace hates sin, but not everyone who hates sin therefore has grace. Mark well: there is no one who has grace who does not hate sin, but there are indeed some who hate it and yet have no grace. We shall be able to make you understand this riddle by setting these things before your eyes: in the sinner too there can be a hatred against sin — but from what does it spring?

1. From shame or disgrace, which the deed would bring upon him or his own: were it not for that, they would speak of sin quite freely. Some indeed do so — they do not hide it, they sit in the council and seat of the scornful, they place their glory in their shame, so far does it go with some; but others among them are somewhat more modest, and hate sin because of the shame and disgrace it brings upon them. Were that removed, they would just as soon commit fornication, gamble, play, dance, and leap about. So it stood with Absalom: he saw the incest in Amnon and hated it; why? Because it brought such shame upon him and his sister.

2. He can hate it at one time and yet do the very same thing at another. They are like Potiphar's wife, who at one moment cried out so loudly against unchastity, and yet would have been just as glad to have committed it herself. So it was with Absalom: he cried out against Amnon's unchastity, and afterward did something himself far more dreadful — before the eye of the sun he went in to his father's wives.

3. He hates it in another, but not in himself; he sees the splinter in his neighbor's eye, but does not notice the beam in his own eye, Matt. 7:3. He hates drunkenness in another, but not in himself. A liar cannot bear falsehood in his neighbor, yet excuses it in himself. Backbiting — of which he says, it is so ugly, he cannot bear it in another — he does himself. They teach that one may not steal, and they steal themselves. Those who hate sin out of true grace hate it more in themselves than in others. Rom. 7:15, what I do, I hate: he saw indeed the sin of others, but had the greatest aversion to himself. In the ungodly there is a war between sin and sin, as there was between Jacob and Esau, both in and outside their mother's womb. But this is what makes grace lovely: that there is a sweet accord between one grace and another. Sorrow over sin does not war against joy in God. Love does not war against hope, nor hope against faith. Faith does not war against prayer, nor prayer against thanksgiving, nor thanksgiving again against the fear of God. This is what makes the life of grace sweet, that all the graces go together in such harmony. But in the sinner you find that among all his sins there is such discord. If he wants to commit one sin, another strives against it. They have not only manifold lusts, but lusts that contend against one another.

Shall we clarify this a little? Suppose you find a person who has an appetite for excess, sinful lusts, pride — he likes to make a show of himself — but there lies in his heart covetousness too, which is also a great evil. Now there is a conflict between the one sin and the other. Covetousness says, one may not be extravagant or proud. If covetousness now gets the upper hand, one hates pride. But if pride gets the upper hand, one hates covetousness. This makes the life of sin exceedingly bitter and uncomfortable. One lust strikes at the other. A sinner can hate sin — indeed, even the sin he formerly loved — but what is the reason? Either it did not go well for him, or he hears it preached against so powerfully that he cannot help but show an aversion. This can also simply be a natural temperament in him. So it was with Herod: he fell away much from his relations with Herodias on account of John's preaching; John was a man dear to him, and he sought him out too. So they hear powerful preaching against injustice and similar sins: even though I love that sin, they say, I nevertheless cannot presently bring myself to it. Indeed they can go so far as to show an aversion even to little sins at which the world only laughs.

The Apostle Peter shows this: he says that they had escaped the pollutions of the world, 2 Pet. 2:20. They no longer wished to join in — I would get a stain and a blemish, they said — and they had an aversion to it. Why? Perhaps they had made a profession of faith, or they were under instruction to be admitted. Do you think it went any differently then than now? They studied; they gained a fine measure of knowledge; they made their trial, their profession; they said, we must show an aversion, it does not suit our present station and condition; they were accepted and sweetly advanced in knowledge, and now they showed an aversion even to the smallest spot and blemish. There you have the first case: one can have an aversion to sin without having grace.

II. Now we have the second thing to consider: what will true hatred be, when it is wrought by God's Spirit? These tokens too we shall set before you, and I hope God will give you clarity and willingness to form a good judgment about your state.

1. First, if a true hatred has taken root in your heart as a mark of grace, you cannot bear to see sin, either in yourself or in others: it is there, and you must indeed see it, but it is as if you had come into a room where someone sits whom you cannot bear the sight of — you have an aversion to him. Even if there hung there only a painting of his likeness, his image and portrait, you would have such an aversion to it, and you would hate it. So it is also here: whatever affection Abel had for his brother Cain, he could not bear the sight of him. They have such an inward aversion to sin.

2. If they are not free of that sin, they are nonetheless always free of the love of sin. Paul was not free of sin, but he was free of the will to sin; if he committed it, it was not done gladly, Rom. 7. Whoever does not hate sin, and is not free of the love of sin, feels a secret sweetness in it. Such people hate the good and love the evil; sin is to them a tasty morsel. But the devout are free of the will and the desire for sin.

3. Whoever hates sin hates the whole race of sin, the entire structure and confederacy of iniquity. Whoever hates one adder hates all adders. Ps. 119:128, I hate every false way. Ps. 97:10, ye that love the LORD, hate evil. Why? One cannot say that one hates a sin unless one hates the whole race of sins, Rom. 12:19, abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good, without naming any one in particular. Even the rising lusts, the stirrings of the flesh — they do not want them, they hate them, Rom. 7.

4. Whoever rightly hates a snake or an adder hates it for its fangs and its venom: whoever hates sin hates it for hell — he hates it for hell, and for the curse, and for the guilt, and for the stain; he hates it also in view of the punishment and the defilement it brings.

5. There comes an implacable resentment; it is such a hatred as Paul spoke of when he said they were implacable — nothing could come between by any mediation of peace, Rom. 1:31. Amalek you shall utterly destroy, God said, 1 Sam. 15. It was taken ill that some were spared, and it cost the man his crown, 1 Kings 14. There was war between the house of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

6. They avoid every occasion and opportunity for sin. Jude v.23, they hate even the garment spotted by the flesh. They pray, lead us not into temptation. So it has been since Christ's own time. A true hater says, let me not deceive myself, lest I fall into guilt. Gal. 6, if a man is overtaken in a fault, it must not be your own fault. Peter was overtaken in the courtyard. Dinah was overtaken; yet they were not thereby without fault.

7. You will also find this: they guard most of all against and watch for that sin which, in their own time, is fashionable and most common. Whether it is pride, or contempt of God and his Word, or hatred of his children, or gambling and gaming, or drunkenness — they hate it all. Oh, they say, I must not follow the multitude in evil things; if I did, I should lose ground, and I would not enjoy as much freedom and gladness as I would like. See Eph. 2, Rom. 12, Exod. 23. They do not follow the multitude in fashions and dress, in bowing and scraping, in manner of speech, in doing as the rest do; for then, they say, I should fall back, and God would withdraw, and say, what do ye more than others? Matt. 5:47. You would be just like the rest — did I not set you apart from the common run for this very purpose, and give you a heart to fear me?

8. When they find sins that often and easily beset them — for indeed no one is free of sin, neither you nor I; the Philistines lie in wait against us — when these break out, they bring the sin before that hatred, which must then be increased. They bring it before the judgment seat of God: would you be willing to stand there, they say, to answer for it and plead it as good? They bring it before death, and say: you do not know the day of your death — would you wish to die in the very act of that sin? Would that be well, if God found you so doing? They bring it before hell, and ask themselves: are you content, for the commission of that sin, to lift up your eyes in hell like that rich man, Luke 16, and to enjoy that evil for a short time by doing the sin? They bring it before what they themselves once were: were you not then, they say, more tender? Rev. 3:2, strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. Then they bring it before the exemplary and godly conduct of others: do you resemble that? they say — does not their holy conduct make you jealous? They bring it before the love of God, which they enjoy, and then that hatred kindles a flame of love toward God. Then before the end of the wicked, Luke 12:20 and chapter 17:32. Remember Lot's wife.

9. Then they say: I must live among people, I cannot go out of the world — but are the people of the world your bosom friends? Oh, no! I do not love them more than necessity requires; then I can say, I hate them with a perfect hatred, Ps. 139:22. May you rightly do that? Yes, Lord — because of the great aversion they bear toward you, but not as they are creatures of God, nor because of any personal harm done to me.

There you have now some tokens of that hatred. Hereafter we must consider their godly conduct regarding the appearance of evil. Then we shall also see how they ought to conduct themselves regarding their beloved sin — though there is properly no such thing — and in what sense one nevertheless calls it a beloved sin: of this too we shall then have to give some account. We shall leave it here for now, and pray God that he would be pleased to bless what has been spoken to each one of us, to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 73

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which are found twelve rules by which the appearance of evil is to be recognized.

We read a wonderful case in the prophecy of Haggai, 2:12-14. What was the case? Man of God, ask the priests the law once — ask them: if a clean man carries clean flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with that skirt touches bread, or any other food, will it become holy? A second case was: if one that is unclean touches any of these things, will it become unclean? The Law answered on the first, no; and on the second, yes. So it is with this nation: whatever they do is unclean. Oh, Lord, what a text this is! The prophet stood there among those who had returned from Babylon; they came into their land, each wanting to go gather riches there, and instead of receiving blessings they received curses. That nation — Mal. 2 and Hag. 1 — their clothes did not warm them, and their food did not satisfy them. They said, what is lacking? We are only just now in the land, and such judgments strike us? Mal. 2 and 3: when you offer something, you bring what is blind or lame, and you let the service of God fall into such decay that there is no proper provision for it, and you live in a godless way. Haggai said, you are outwardly religious, you have the altar of burnt offering, but that is not what is lacking; what is lacking is that you bring something unclean — you do not cleanse your hearts, and your unclean hearts, though you still bring a clean offering, defile all your clean offerings. They might have said, well, man, you are but a messenger, you are not called upon to judge in this: therefore he referred them to the priests, and says, thus saith the LORD of hosts, ask now the priests concerning the law, verse 12.

What is the case? A clean man, carrying clean flesh in the skirt of his garment, touches something unclean — does that make him unclean? Yes: a person can be outwardly virtuous, and yet if the heart is not sound, the outward part is not sound either. When the heart is not sound,

when it is defiled, then it is as Paul says, Tit. 1:15, unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. That is what the Savior said, Matt. 23: you wash your cups, dishes, and vessels — I have nothing against that — but first cleanse your hearts, for your heart is full of extortion and wickedness. The second case is: I see that you are people who have set up the altar of burnt offering, and you come to sacrifice on it, but it is with a thoroughly hypocritical heart; if that is how you are, it is worthless, however clean the outside may still be. What does this now signify?

1. That outward holiness does not confer inward holiness.

2. If someone is pure in heart, that is good — even if he makes little display of it, it is nevertheless pleasing to God. 1 Sam. 1, Hannah's heart was right, though she made little display.

3. What is sinful has more power than the outward part. Rom. 7, it defiles your flesh and spirit.

4. What good does the outward do, if one does not care for the inward? Then it is worth nothing: he is not a Jew who is not one inwardly, Rom. 2:29.

5. It shows that the way to heaven is narrow. How hard it will be for anyone to enter heaven! It is impossible with all men — it is as impossible as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. People now take it so loosely: it is like Adam and Eve, Gen. 3 — however narrow a commission they had, they knew how to talk their way out of it. God says, I will make it strict. Do you want to know how strict? Even if you are already elect and born again and have faith in the Lord Jesus, you must still demonstrate that in your walk. First you must indeed care for your soul, and labor chiefly for the food that endures unto everlasting life, John 6:27. But then you must also mortify your members which are upon the earth, Col. 3:5. It is here as the prophet said, 1 Kings 17:13: you must first make provision for me, and then for yourself, or you have no blessing to expect.

6. Whatever you do, if your heart stays at home, it comes to nothing: all the outward is worth nothing without the inward. Prov. 23:26, my son, give me thine heart — and not only your prayers and your tears, or else none of it is any good.

7. One must not think that if one is just virtuous enough to show one's faith by one's works, that is then sufficient: oh, no! One must abound in the work of the Lord, 1 Cor. 15:58, and be filled with the fruits of righteousness, Phil. 1:11. You must add one virtue to another, 2 Pet. 1:6-7. One must go from strength to strength, Ps. 84:7. God sets it so strictly that he says: you shall live as the best that ever lived in the world and in the church has lived; you shall live as the angels in heaven; you shall live as the Savior; indeed, you shall live as God, Heb. 12. Such examples the Lord sets before us in his Word — 1 Thess. 5:23, Heb. 12:1-2, 1 Pet. 2:21, Matt. 5:48. You shall not offer a single prayer, but you must set before yourself that you must be like the angels, like the Lord Jesus, like God: be ye therefore followers of God, Eph. 5:1.

8. So strictly does God set it: the dearest sin you have, which pleases you and profits you, your bosom sin — you may not look upon it with pleasure; you must mortify that sin with its affections and lusts, you must crucify it and give it pain, Gal. 5:24, Col. 3:5, Matt. 5:29-30. You must pluck out your right eye, however painful that may be to you, and even should it make you appear ever so disfigured in the eyes of the world.

9. So strictly does God set it that you must even give up what is lawful, if it does not edify: then it is not fitting, nor is it profitable, 1 Cor. 10:23. The Apostle says this not once but two or three times in that letter: if it does not edify, it is not profitable. I have not so taught you the Lord Jesus. I know you can be overtaken by some fault, but you must not bring it upon yourself, Gal. 6. Avoid the occasion, and hate also the garment spotted by the flesh, whereby you can get a stain in the flesh, Jude v. 23.

10. Finally, God sets it so strictly that you must guard yourself even from the mere appearance, from everything that even bears a resemblance to evil: abstain from all appearance of evil, 1 Thess. 5:22.

Beloved, however it may be, each of us must stand judged and appear before God, and yet each of us must still be faithful before the Lord God. Concerning hatred against sin, we have now dealt with it twice. In the first sermon we saw: 1. What hatred is. 2. That there is no saint in whom there is not such a hatred. 3. What it is that makes sin so hateful. 4. Wherein that hatred consists. In the second sermon we had: 1. The question, whether a sinner who has no grace may also have a hatred against sin. 2. Some tokens of the true hatred that is in the heart of everyone who has grace. Now we had to consider: 1. What the appearance of evil is. 2. How a hater of sin who has grace in his heart also continually shows his hatred against that appearance. 3. A heartfelt exhortation together with guidance for God's people — we shall seek to stir you up to hate sin even when it has only an appearance of it, and give guidance as to how you must conduct yourselves in order to be happy.

These are three points so weighty and substantial that we cannot see how we could deal with them all as they deserve within a single hour. We shall at least begin it, and shall seek to set before you what the appearance of evil is; and, if we can, go on to give a token or two or three of how a hater who hates sin also hates that very appearance.

We find in the Word that mention is made of appearance and form. Luke 3:22, the Spirit descended in a bodily shape upon the Lord Jesus. And Luke 9:29, as the Lord Jesus prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered. And John 5:37, ye have neither heard the Father's voice at any time, nor seen his shape. We read of the appearance and outward form both of sin and of godliness, 1 Thess. 5:22 and 2 Tim. 3:5. And that is the appearance of evil. Sin is such a thing that it has a form, a semblance, a likeness, an appearance. You can grasp that. You know there is a form of godliness. Those who possess godliness are enemies both of the mere form of godliness without the substance, and of the mere appearance of sin. When the godly considered this, they said, what is the appearance of evil? I confess that it is difficult and well-nigh impossible to name every appearance of evil, because the Word does not express and name them all, and because they reveal themselves according to the various occasions and circumstances. It can even occur in things that are lawful: there can be an appearance of evil in them. Take, for instance — we read in Num. 6 that the Nazirites let their hair grow long: this was permitted them, but it was not for vanity but for humility, since they did that against nature, 1 Cor. 11:14. What is lawful is now indeed misused — as also when Absalom had his head shorn once a year.

You will say, how shall we get through this? And yet we must get through it. I admit that you are right. For this, one needs people of exercised senses, who know how to discern between good and evil. Here one needs to have spiritual eyes and to be a spiritual person, discerning all things, 1 Cor. 2:15. Those who have had such exercised senses — what have they done? They have set down some scriptural, Christian, and spiritual rules, which served as keys to unlock this matter; whoever wished to use them, if he were attentive, could easily perceive what an appearance of evil was, especially if he were an observant person accustomed to conversing with his own conscience — so a person can easily perceive it in that way. You will say, what are these scriptural and spiritual rules by which an appearance of evil may be known? They are eleven or twelve in number. We shall name them for you in order.

1. The first rule is: that is an appearance of evil, they said, when someone goes to places and gatherings where more evil than good is done. For example, at fairs and markets in the company of worthless people, where there is gambling and gaming, in taverns and inns: there is an appearance of evil in going to such places, where riffraff of the marketplace gather, Acts 17:5, where people are given over to gambling, gaming, drinking, and the like. Solomon said, my son, enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men, in the street of thieves, Prov. 4:14. Job says, I looked not covetously at my neighbor's door, I did not lie in wait at twilight for my neighbor's wife, Job 31:9. If a master finds his servant in such back streets, or a father his child in such company or places, that is not good, he says.

2. The second rule is this: when devout ministers, and those who have spiritual eyes, reckon something an appearance of evil. They have generally reckoned certain things evil, and if you do them nonetheless, that is an appearance of evil. Take, for instance, following the fashions, wearing strange clothing, and the like. 1 Cor. 10:28, Paul said: if anyone tells you, this meat has been offered to idols, eat it not — why not? For the sake of him who told you, and for conscience's sake; otherwise you may eat any meat. Lev. 14: when they said, there is an appearance of leprosy, they went to the priest, and if he judged it so, they accepted his judgment as well.

3. A third rule is: when even a godless man, who lives an outwardly respectable life, says, I don't know, it is not good that you should do that — and you do it nonetheless, there is an appearance of evil in it. See it in that godless Joab: when David said, go, number the people, Joab said, why do you do this? You do not do well — yet you must do it nonetheless, said David; and thereby he gave an appearance of evil, 2 Sam. 24. When even respectable, worldly people begin to say, that will not go well for you, devout one — that is the appearance of evil.

4. The fourth rule is: when the devout do something that conflicts more with the Word than agrees with it. Examine your conduct: you have no text, no example, no ground on which to justify unwholesome toasting and drinking of healths, or gambling and casting of lots; you have no text to justify anyone who does that, and no examples of devout people in the Word, nor any foundation to justify it. One must walk according to the rule of the Word, Gal. 6:16. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, Isa. 8:20. You must be able to say, it is written, Matt. 4:4. You must have the sword of the Spirit ready before you, Eph. 6:17.

5. The fifth rule is: when you go and do what you do in secret, and with such company that, if you were discovered by your parents or friends, you would turn pale and red and would sink away in shame, not knowing how to make yourself scarce. It is as Paul once said, it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret, Eph. 5:12. Just as Peter did, who withdrew himself when those from Jerusalem came, Gal. 2:12. It is like Gehazi: he was so secretive, for his master must not know of it, 2 Kings 5. That friend of Judah, the Adullamite: his heart had to trouble him for keeping him as his confidant; when it came out, he would surely have been ashamed of it.

6. A sixth rule was: when you gave offense to someone weak, grieved them, and made them go about ailing — they carried a sigh over you in their heart. Be without offense, 1 Cor. 10:32. If they saw someone in an idol's temple, against the law of God, what are you doing, they said? You make the weak sigh, and you destroy that soul for whom Christ died, Rom. 14 and 15. You will say, it is a weakness to take offense at something that is indifferent. You are right — Paul reckoned it so too. But is it not also a weakness, not to refrain from giving offense? The Apostle might well have eaten meat, had he not thereby offended his brother: I will, he said, rather never eat meat while the world stands, than offend my brother, 1 Cor. 8:13. Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. Have you liberty to do a thing? Do not think you must display it through your works — keep it to yourself, until God gives you the time and occasion.

7. A seventh rule is: if there is something to be done in which you are placed in danger, avoid it — as the young men did, Dan. 1: we will not have a single piece of meat from the king's table, because it is from a heathen king. So Joseph did: he would not remain in the room with Potiphar's wife, but fled away, Gen. 39.

8. An eighth rule they gave for the appearance of evil was this: when what someone does springs from the flesh and not from the Spirit. Rom. 12:2, be not conformed to this world. It is notable, what is found in Hosea 2: thou shalt call me no more Baali, but thou shalt call me Ishi. What does Baal mean? Lord/master. You shall call me no more by that name, but my husband — because the heathen idolaters called their idol Baal. Our forefathers used to receive the Lord's Supper kneeling, but because they saw that the papists also did it kneeling, they rightly changed the practice.

9. A ninth rule was: when no distinction is seen between the devout and the ungodly. If one is in company where there is laughing, one is witty, jocular, full of jokes and jests — and the devout excel at it so remarkably and cleverly. Indeed, if there is someone in the company who does not join in and the company turns against him, that then the devout too fall in line to keep their standing — when they ought always to have kept in their heart what stands in Prov. 12:26, that the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, and Matt. 5:47, what do ye more than others?

10. A tenth rule they gave: when the devout esteem the ungodly all too highly, and love them too much, and are too much in their company, and converse too much with them, and make them their bosom friends — even as in Neh. 6:19, they spoke so much good of Tobiah, and spoke so highly of his good deeds, but it was not fitting. Gen. 38, Judah had a friend, the Adullamite, but it stands recorded to his shame. It is more fitting that they say, as in Ps. 139:22, I hate them with a perfect hatred, they are counted mine enemies. It is more fitting that they say, I cannot be in that company, as in Ps. 1 and 101.

11. An eleventh rule was given by those experienced in the spiritual life: when you do something that quietly leads your heart away from God, and from a strict life, and from a tender, exact walk, so that you gradually begin to fall away, and God begins to say, how is it that you decline so, that you are no longer as eager as before, that you are so lukewarm, that you have so fallen from your first love — now it is amiss, Rev. 2:4. Then you begin to realize that you have grown cold.

12. The twelfth and last rule is this: when you do such things, when you go into such company, that you are sure to come out defiled: you are already sinning simply by being in it — you are in the utmost difficulty to preserve yourself. Rom. 13:13, walk not in chambering and wantonness. This, then, passes from appearance into deed, from the form into the act.

Judge now, and see whether it applies to you. If you are accustomed to reasoning with your own conscience, you will recognize it once we set out such rules, provided you give room for goodwill. They are, in brief, these: 1. When someone goes to places that are not good. 2. When devout ministers reckon it evil. 3. When even the ungodly see it and say, do not do that, as with Joab. 4. When something is done that conflicts with the Word, that does not agree with good examples, scripture texts, and sound foundations. 5. When you go and do what you do secretly, in a stealthy manner. 6. When you give offense to the weak. 7. When you fail to avoid what is dangerous. 8. When you sin in the company of the worldly, and go along with the rest, being witty and showy. 9. When what you do springs more from the flesh than from the Spirit, and more from yourself than from God. 10. When you are too fond of, and associate too much with, the ungodly and the wicked. 11. When you are quietly led away from the Bible. 12. When, whatever you do, you defile it all. Let us lay these rules to heart, and you will find they can all be grasped, that there is an appearance of evil in them, of which Paul says one must abstain, 1 Thess. 5:22 — so that you will have to acknowledge it before God. Remember it.

Now we would need to go on to see how such a soul is disposed that guards itself against every appearance of evil, and what tokens God gives of that. And hereafter we shall seek to stir up the devout to this, and give some guidance. We shall leave it here for now, and pray that God would be pleased to bless it, to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 74

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

We read in the holy general epistle of Jude, at the 23rd verse: hate also the garment spotted by the flesh. The man of God here speaks of the flesh, and calls it a garment, and says that one must hate it.

Flesh, in Scripture, according to what the Apostle says, is corruption, Rom. 8:7, the carnal mind is enmity against God. If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. This flesh is the corrupt part that still remains in a child of God after he has received grace. That corruption reigns in a sinner, but in a child of God it only presses/oppresses, Rom. 7:18, I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. In the sinner it reigns, Rom. 6:12, let not sin reign in your mortal body. Sin is fruitful; there is no tree so fruitful as sin, Gal. 5:19-21: when the Apostle had listed six or seven fruits of it, he still says, and such like. This one must hate, Ps. 97:10, ye that love the LORD, hate evil — and that with a perfect hatred, Ps. 139:22. That flesh one must seek to crucify with its affections and lusts, Gal. 5:24.

In Jude's language it is a garment, one that would make itself master. We wondered what the Apostle had in mind here when he said, hate also the garment spotted by the flesh. We saw that it came down to nothing other than these four things.

1. First, with reference to all the things that were ceremonial in the Old Testament. What were they to avoid? Places, vessels, garments, Lev. 11. All these things they had to avoid. God said, Lev. 15, that they might not touch anything on which an unclean person had sat or lain, or they would become unclean themselves.

2. Not only might they not touch it, nor taste it, nor touch anything of the kind, but they might not associate with people who had the plague of pestilence or leprosy, lest they be infected. The unclean person cried, make way, here is an unclean one. They might not put their body into a plague-infected garment. Lev. 14. There you had those laws concerning garments and concerning people: if you find sores upon people, shun them, God said.

3. He is playing on this thought when it concerns associating in company where one is in danger of becoming infected in one's soul. What were they then to do? Flee that company — not even touch its garment. So did that devout Joseph, Gen. 39: he left his garment with his mistress and fled the chamber; he did not want to be in her room, so that he would not become defiled. They will not associate in chambering and wantonness, Rom. 13:13. So it was with Joseph: he would not remain in the room. When there is danger, one must either cry out or flee. So the prophet said to the one who was to anoint the king: when you have done it, flee, and tarry not, 2 Kings 9:3. Jude was playing in his thought upon such company, where one gets stains.

4. He also plays in his thought upon a very tidy person who must associate with a filthy, dirty one. How careful he is, how well he knows to keep his garment from soiling! Zech. 3:3, there stands the high priest Joshua in his filthy garments. A tidy person, standing near a dog in its vomit, or a sow wallowing in the mire, shuns them: so it is here too — they shun such company, where they would get a wound to their soul. These are virgins, they have not defiled their garments, Rev. 14:4. What is a virgin? Something hidden, solitary, chaste, full of love. She must be a virgin, and therefore, cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7:1. It is a manner of speaking, from which we may understand that we must all agree that the soiling of that garment with the flesh must be carefully guarded against.

Indeed, the Apostle climbs even higher, and says that one must have an aversion even to touching anything that would defile us — just as a person, meeting on a road a venomous snake spitting its poison, steps back and says, here I would be in danger; or as one likens it to someone meeting a lion's whelp, who flees away. So we too must do: when we are in danger of sin, we must hate it as well, so that we recoil from it. Indeed, one must hate sin just as one would hate the devil, indeed as hell itself: such a fright and aversion we must have of sin as of the devil and of hell — indeed more, for sin is worse than the devil and worse than hell; were there no sin, the place of hell would be like any other place.

Indeed, he climbs still higher: hating, he says — that is to say, you must not merely be able to say, I have hated it in times past, or I shall hate it in time to come, or, I will first go see whether so-and-so hates it — but hating that garment must be your daily work. You must not simply point the finger at one another, but it is a hating in which the whole church, great and small alike, takes one side together.

When he had said this, he gave us to understand three or four things by it.

1. First, how narrow the way to heaven is: so much comes upon that way, there are so many mountains to cross, there is fighting with the devil, there are hidings of God's countenance, and there is fighting against sin. It is a narrow way, but for whoever is on it — though it is narrow at the beginning, the further along he goes the wider it becomes; but the broad way, the further one goes, the narrower it becomes, until they are in the greatest anguish of all when they come to die. The Apostle says that the narrow way is not very wide at the beginning, but widest of all at the end.

2. It also shows how infectious sin is — so infectious is the company one keeps, once one is with a defiler. Joseph said, when Potiphar's wife sought to seduce him, how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Gen. 39:9. He might have said the same when he later swore by the life of Pharaoh — then indeed he had become somewhat tainted by it.

3. Thirdly, it shows how cautiously one must live. Here comes into play the prudence of the just, Luke 1:17. Be ye as sincere as doves, but also as wise as serpents, Matt. 10:16.

4. Finally, it shows that one must avoid all company, places, occasions, and encounters that would lead to evil. That is the holy rule which Paul expresses thus, 1 Thess. 5:22, abstain from all appearance of evil — not only from the deed, but also from the form and the appearance. There is a form of godliness: had the text not stood in the Bible, one would scarcely dare believe it, and yet it stands, 2 Tim. 3:5. And here, 1 Thess. 5:22, abstain from all appearance of evil. It is such an abstaining as one uses to restrain oneself from enemies who would kill one, 1 Pet. 2:11, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, said the Apostles, that you abstain from fornication, Acts 15:29. Yet it is not such an abstaining as the Papists practice, forbidding to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving, 1 Tim. 4:3. Nor is it like the runners: they too had a desire to eat and drink, but they kept themselves from everything, so that they might obtain the prize, 1 Cor. 9:25.

Beloved, it will come down to this: it is easy enough to tell one another, you have grace — but it is not so easily proven. We have kept the congregation occupied with this matter for some time, and we have shown from the Word who it is that has passed over from nature into grace. We have now come to the eighth mark, which was to have a heartfelt hatred and aversion toward sin. In that we first showed that there is no one in a state of grace who does not have hatred against sin; then, what there is in sin that makes it so hateful; then, wherein it consists. In a following sermon we saw whether that hatred was found only in the saint, or whether natural men too might not say that they hate sin — and we said, yes, but that it is not a right hatred. Then we gave some tokens of the true hatred. At that time there still remained for us how a person in grace is disposed regarding the appearance of evil, and regarding the beloved bosom, or besetting, sin. We had gotten so far as to lay open what the appearance of evil was. We said it was a difficult matter, because it is not expressly named as such in the Word, and because there is a frightful amount of the appearance of evil. For this one needed exercised senses, in order to distinguish between good and evil — one needed to be a great, gracious soul who lived a holy life, or else it would be a troublesome task. We said, we must nevertheless get to the bottom of it. We said then that the theologians had given some scriptural, reasonable rules concerning it, which they brought home to everyone's conscience, in order to detect that appearance of evil. There were some ten or twelve of them.

The first rule was: going to places where more evil than good is done. The second was: that the devout, who have eyes in their heads, hold it to be evil. The third was: that even natural, godless men consider it so. The fourth was: where you find no text in the Bible for it, nor any example of such license. The fifth was: when what you do, you do so stealthily, in such company that you dare not let others know, and if there is someone among the company who will not join in, he becomes a spoilsport. The sixth was: when by it you give offense to the weak — for though a strong person might say, let the weak take offense if they will, it is a greater evil to offend the weak than for them to take offense. Paul says, I would rather never eat meat while the world stands, than offend my brother, 1 Cor. 8:13; all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient, nor do all things edify, 1 Cor. 10:23. The seventh rule was: going to such places where there is peril of exposing ourselves to danger. The eighth rule was: when what we do has its origin more in the world and the flesh than in God. The ninth rule was: when the devout and the ungodly are together, and the devout go along just as the rest do. The tenth rule was: when one is led away from a quiet, conscientious, and tender life — when you are led away from strict obedience to God, when that begins to slip. The eleventh rule was: when the devout begin to fawn upon the ungodly, and take them as their bosom friends. The twelfth and last was: when, whatever you do, you defile it all. We grasped this well, and expounded upon it at that time.

Then there still remained for us to show when a child of God rightly conducts himself regarding the appearance of evil. And then we must offer you an exhortation to conduct yourselves well, and give some further guidance, two or three points, and see how we must conduct ourselves regarding the darling, or beloved, sin. For the present, then, we shall see how a devout person will rightly conduct himself regarding the appearance of evil. We shall do so as follows.

1. First, it seems to them so reasonable, so profitable, and so edifying, that they guard themselves against it. See it in a father and a mother, in a master and a farmer: does it not seem reasonable to them that a child should guard itself against thievery, and a manservant and maidservant against uncleanness? So it is with a child of God: it seems so reasonable to them that they should guard themselves against every appearance of evil. I do not want to give occasion, Lord, they say, for sinning against you; I do not want to give any cause for slander; I do not want to live under your displeasure. That devout Boaz took care to prevent this: a woman had come onto the threshing floor, and he let her go before it was light, Ruth 3. So it is with a child of God: when they are careful about themselves, the matter of sanctification becomes so dear to them; they say of it, this is the duty of all men, Eccl. 12:13. It befits me as much to remove the splinter as the beam, Matt. 7:3.

2. Such a one is disposed thus: must I live in such a way, knowing that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing? How much occasion I have to sin! The devil goes about me, and it makes no difference to him how he attacks me: he was once an angel in heaven, and has become a devil in hell — it makes no difference to him whether he presents himself as an angel or as a devil; I am not equal to it, I need extraordinary grace, that this enemy may gain no advantage over me, for his devices are not unknown to us, 2 Cor. 2:11.

3. When the devout have some hankering after things in which there is an appearance of evil, their heart pounds. David's heart smote him when he had cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, 1 Sam. 24:6; and when he had numbered Israel — there was an appearance of evil in that — his heart smote him: I am in great distress, he said, 2 Sam. 24:10, 14. Indeed, they even fall upon their knees and beg their Judge for mercy, with Job, chapter 9:15. Over such things they dare not lift up their eyes to heaven, like the publican, Luke 18:13. Indeed, they confess it before God: Lord, they say, what a legion there is in my heart! Ps. 19: those hidden wanderings are a whole body of sin.

4. A devout person, when he has acquitted himself well and restrained himself in a moment of temptation, thanks God for the courage he had to come through it for God's sake. He sets himself against the very beginnings of the appearance of sin. If he is in company where sin would have become manifest, that is of the Lord, he says, were one person or another convicted by it — and he thanks God for the blessing. David danced with all his might, when he had been given such courage to acquit himself so, 2 Sam. 6:14.

5. Yet they do not exalt themselves over it when they manage to guard against the appearance of evil. If pride should arise in them over it, they suppress it, knowing that such people are a smoke in the nostrils of the Lord, Isa. 65:5. If that rises up in them, they do not go along with it.

6. When they have restrained themselves, the Lord Jesus becomes no less necessary to them. They are not thereby made righteous in their own eyes: even though I am, they say, conscious of nothing against myself, the Lord Jesus is nevertheless precious to me.

7. If they must bear mockery for being so scrupulous, they bear it with patience — indeed, even if others should curse them over it and say, I used to love you, but now I cannot stand you, you are so squeamish, that I cannot bear it at all. They are righteous in their own generation; the world says they are a bunch of gnat-strainers, splinter-spotters, monstrous people, stiff-necked prudes. But they take pity on those who curse them, and would say with David, let him curse, God has bidden it; God shall turn the curse into a blessing, 2 Sam. 16:10.

8. Those who conduct themselves well — even those more scrupulous than the ones others mock — the devout esteem all the more highly for it: you are better, they say, and holier than I, and they love them all the more for it, saying, you are ahead of me in the matter of sanctification.

9. Besides this, those who conduct themselves well guard against small things too. It always lies in their heart that no sin is more to be feared than the one that is thought little of. When Goliath thought little of David, he was soon felled. A small spark can kindle so great a fire; a tiny seed becomes so great a tree that the birds of the air nest in its branches; where a snake gets its head through, it will soon draw its whole body through as well. They never reckon sin a trifle; they keep no advocate's tongue in defense of sin; they will hold no dispute about it, even though they might think up some excuse. Rom. 14 and 15: when you meet a weak brother, do not enter into quarrelsome disputation with him about it — it will gradually come right; they did not abandon the ceremonial law all at once. If Baal is God, let him plead for himself. If there is an appearance of evil in anything, they want no advocate's tongue pleading on its behalf.

10. They abstain not only when there is no occasion and no desire for it, but they abstain even when they do have occasion and desire and inclination for it — just as a runner restrains himself in everything, so that he may obtain the prize, 1 Cor. 9:25. Why does he restrain himself? Because, he says, otherwise I would not be fit for my race.

11. Then they conduct themselves well when they always seek to avoid it — not just now and then, as when it is the Lord's Supper, or a fast day is at hand, or under some affliction or blessing, only at certain times — as we have indeed known people say: it is a Sunday, a Communion Sunday, now we may not play cards; or, it has just been a Communion Sunday, and there is a fast day coming. 1 Cor. 15:58, Paul says, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Solomon says, be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long, Prov. 23:17. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged, says Christ, Luke 21:34.

12. Not only do they, out of compassion, warn others and tell them to guard themselves against the appearance of evil, but they also watch over themselves: here each must be on his own guard. Consider thyself, says Paul, Gal. 6:1. Take heed unto thyself, 1 Tim. 4:16. If there is even a small splinter or gnat, they remove it, Matt. 7:4.

13. Then they conduct themselves very devoutly: they do not wait for others to speak to them about it, or to see how this or that person will behave, but they want to be the first — even if not all the devout do it, they say, that need not be the rule. Solomon sinned greatly in this, although he loved his God dearly.

14. Lastly, they seek no excuses — neither pleading their rank, nor their office, nor that they are rich or weak or poor, nor that they sit in such a council, or have such friends. It went quite differently with Naaman the Syrian, 2 Kings 5:18: behold, he said, there is no God but the God of Israel, I promise that I will serve him — only you must excuse me in this: when I go into the house of the idol in the course of my office, so that the king may lean on my hand there. The devout make no such stipulation. 1 Cor. 10:28, if any man says unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat it not.

What do you say, sinner? Must you not be exposed, when you hear this? Is your conduct like this? Oh, no: why should you restrain yourself? On the contrary, sinning is your delight; it is your food, your drink, your clothing; you would rather make sport of it, and set your glory in your shame, for you proclaim your sin openly, like Sodom; it grieves you when you can sin no more, and when you are not a master at it; indeed, you become angry if anyone wants to stop you — then you are like waters which, when a dam is set against them, swell all the higher; you draw sin toward yourself, or sin draws you toward it. Are you found out?

If you who fear God are also found out, you need not fear it — you have no reason to be ashamed of being occupied with this. If you have sinned in some matter, fall down before God. Well, you will say, then I shall be despised, and I shall not be welcome in any company. Well then, God will nonetheless be with you, and the love you lack from men, God will repay to you: he will see to it that your state of grace becomes all the clearer, and you shall at last come to be able to say with Hezekiah on his sickbed, remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight, Isa. 38:3.

Now we still need an exhortation to guard oneself against the appearance of evil, and some guidance, two or three points. And then we must move on to the bosom sin: how a child of God ought to conduct himself regarding it. But of this, hereafter, if the Lord pleases. I close, and hope that the Lord will bless this to us all, to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 75

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which occur these two things: I. A heartfelt exhortation to guard oneself against the appearance of evil. II. A counsel or two or three, what course to take in order to overcome it.

We find, 2 Tim. 2:15, a heartfelt lesson which Paul gave to Timothy, and through Timothy to all ministers: study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. When we considered this expression, we thought, what does it point to? And we thought it was the picture of a father who rightly carves the meat for his household; and the picture of a nurse who gives each child its proper portion; and the picture of the priests in the Old Testament, who with their skill and expertise had to rightly cut up and divide the sacrificial animal — one part for God, another for the priests, and another for the common people. Lev. 9: there you will find that ordinance, how they had to cut and lay it out skillfully and correctly. What, then, does this rightly dividing involve? Four or five things.

1. First, to hold back nothing at all of the whole Word, but to lay upon the table of the ministry all the food that is in the Word — the whole doctrine of grace. Acts 20:27, I have kept back nothing, says Paul, that I should not have declared unto you all the counsel of God. He had only been there three years, and yet he had set before them the whole doctrine of grace. But who is as diligent, night and day, as Paul was? Whoever rightly divides the Word must, like Apollos, be mighty in the scriptures, Acts 18:24; he must be able to bring forth out of the good treasure of his heart things both old and new, Matt. 13:52.

2. This includes: setting upon the table of the ministry nothing outside the Word, nothing above the Word, nothing against the Word, but only what is in it. They seek not to falsify the Word, 2 Cor. 4:2. They seek not to walk in things too high and too wonderful for them, Ps. 131:1, and in so many other places of Scripture. Such things they seek to lay upon the heart, that they neither twist nor falsify the Word.

3. Once more, it involves paying close attention to the hearers, to what their understanding can bear, and not simply plunging in and saying, let him that hath ears hear, let him that can profit, profit — that may do well enough among a crowd of the ungodly, but not among God's children; therefore you find in the Word that milk is spoken of for children, and solid food for young men and grown men — just as at a table you have small children, and those further along, and old people, each receiving there their own proper portion, 1 Pet. 2:2, Heb. 5 and 6.

4. Whoever rightly divides the Word will handle his hearers wisely: he will note, when someone falls into sin, whether it is out of weakness, or whether it is bold, presumptuous sin. If he finds a bold and hardened sinner, he will treat him harshly; but if he finds someone who sins out of weakness, he will treat him gently. You see this in the epistle of Jude: there the Apostle makes a distinction — one he seeks to save by love, another by fear, and so had compassion on all, yet making a distinction, verses 22-23. And in 2 Cor. 5:11, Paul set before them the terror of the Lord. The Romans used to carry before their magistrates a bundle with rods and one with axes: the rods were for lesser offenders, the axes for the graver ones. Paul said, 1 Cor. 4:21, what will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? The elder men, Paul tells Timothy, you must treat differently from the young and vigorous: rebuke not an elder harshly, but exhort him as a father; the younger as brethren, 1 Tim. 5:1.

5. Finally, this too belongs to rightly dividing the Word: that one cuts the spiritual food into pieces and portions, and so gives each their proper share. The world calls that nitpicking, but it is easy to give a good thing a bad name — the good thing is not thereby made bad. When you sit at your table with food, you do not serve a whole piece as it is, but you cut and carve it all up: shall it then not be permitted in spiritual things too, that one cuts that food into convenient pieces, so that it may be more easily used, for nourishment and for adornment? Such fussiness belongs at a decent table. The Savior had five loaves and some fish; he broke them into pieces and gave each his portion, John 6. At the table of the covenant, he broke the bread, and then took the cup, and divided it and gave it to them among themselves, Luke 22. That is the learning, wisdom, and orderliness of a good minister — that he divides the spiritual food and gives each their proper portion of it. In this he shows that he has a longing, a heart, and a desire to satisfy each one out of the Word. When a faithful minister comes to the table of the ministry, he cannot help but cut the Word into some pieces and portions, or else the hearers would go hungry. Job 5:27, hear it, and know thou it for thy good — here too you come to the table for your own sake. Job 12:11, doth not the ear try words, as the mouth tastes food? Let the hearing, then, try the arguments. One must not say, it was all mine — no, it is not all yours. So does a good householder: he gives each their proper portion. So the Savior speaks of it, and that you must not despise. One must not say, I only want great chunks out of the Bible. Look at your own table, and the table of a decent household: how small the food is cut, and how much smaller still it is then chewed, so that it may taste the sweeter, and go down more easily, and so bring us the better nourishment.

We have laid before you many things concerning this verse, which we have again read to you out of Matthew. You must not say, will this food go on much longer? You would not think that wisely. The more the food of the Word is set before us, the more each can go on his way with his own little portion, and pray and thank God. We were, in our carving of the Word, occupied with sustaining the bruised reeds, in showing them that they might hope in the name of Christ. The eighth mark of the state of grace we cut up into these pieces. We showed what hatred against sin is; that there is no saint without this hatred against sin; what such a hatred is, and wherein it consists. Then we saw well that something more would follow — it kept occurring to us, and it may well have occurred to your own heart too, if it had not already; it can happen now. Therefore we asked: is all hatred genuine? No — a sinner too can hate sin. Then we showed the true hatred, and on that occasion we came down to the least sin, to the smallest evil — and that is the appearance of evil. We said, this too is a matter in the Bible that neither you nor I had ever properly gone into. We nevertheless led you into it, by showing you the rules by which it might be known. The last point was how a hater of sin must conduct himself regarding the appearance of evil. Then there still remained for us a heartfelt exhortation to guard oneself against every appearance of evil, and, should it already have gained some entrance into the heart, what counsel and course to take in order to guard against it. And then there also remained for us how a child of God is disposed regarding the bosom sin. For the present we shall take up only these two things.

I. A heartfelt exhortation to me and to us all: hate, then, the appearance of evil. II. And if we may prevail somewhat upon your heart, so that you would say, please tell me, what course should I take — we shall show it to you plainly, and point out a way or two upon which you shall walk both holily and safely.

I. First we say: hate, then, every appearance of evil.

1. God is pleased to take this so seriously that he sets it down as a matter in the Bible. Read the Word of the Lord, and you will find it there. Yes, God says, I need give you no other reason for it: if you are unwilling to do it, God says, consider then — when you entered into covenant with me, what did you say then? It was: say what you please, I am your servant and handmaid, only tell me what I must do and what I must leave undone. Now I tell you plainly, 1 Thess. 5:22, abstain from all appearance of evil. That removes every exception; that now includes everything. What do you say — I am your servant and your handmaid — and yet you say, hold me only to my first word? How often have you asked me, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? How often did you go out of your house saying, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? Abstain from all appearance of evil. If you will not do that, then lay aside, on my part, the name of Lord, and on your part, the name of servant and handmaid. Why then do you call me Lord, if you do not do what I command you? Do you not fear the fire and flame with which I shall punish the disobedient? Do you not fear the curse that comes upon the disobedient? Is not the blessing of the obedient dear to you? I exempt no one from this, rich or poor: if you will do it, I will bless you; but if you will not do it, you shall have my displeasure. That is the first: does that not grip your heart and mine?

2. We must guard ourselves against the appearance of evil, for the appearance breeds the thought that one is attached to the evil of that sin. When you associate with unchaste people and adopt their manner of speech, does that not give the appearance that your heart is attached to such sins? Do you believe the truth of Scripture? Then you must hold firmly to its words, or you make yourself suspect. If you come into a house where immodest books lie about, where you see indecent pictures hanging, where you see people decked out as if they had come from, or were going to, a house of ill repute, will you not be bound to conclude that they are guilty of such sins? Therefore God says, come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, that ye may have no fellowship with their sins, Hos. 4:15. Sit not, Paul says, at table in the house of an idolater, 1 Cor. 5:11.

3. This must press us: that we have a weak nature. Ah, Lord, how easily we are brought to sin! Even the very best must note this, Rom. 7:21, evil is present with me; and, I am ready to halt, Ps. 38:17; my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped, Ps. 73:2. The appearance of evil is like a live coal laid upon a dead one — it kindles it at once into flame. You are already, as it were, in the act, the moment you come merely into the appearance of it. Whoever keeps too close company with someone who has the plague, or cancer, or any contagious disease, runs a real risk of becoming infected.

4. This must press you: the devil goes about with you everywhere, he walks up and down the earth, and watches what our temperament is. Do you think you go unnoticed by your enemy? Hast thou considered my servant Job? said the Lord. Yes, said the devil, he had indeed considered him, and a thousand more besides, Job 1:8. It was the devil who incited David. The devil filled the heart of Ananias and Sapphira. Simon, Simon, said the Savior, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, Luke 22:31. The Philistines were upon you, Samson: he did not restrain himself, and so he fell into their hands. The devil is like a well-mannered guest — he waits to be invited in: if you would be rid of him, abstain from the appearance of evil, and he will flee from you.

5. This must press you to restrain yourself: through mere appearance you lose your good name, and a good name is better than ointment, than perfume, and than silver. Caesar once said of his wife, whom he had put away, that she must be not only free of the deed, but also of the appearance. The speech and adornment of a harlot must be far from an honorable woman; honorable women adorn themselves with modesty and sobriety, 1 Tim. 2:9. See also 1 Pet. 3:3-5. Now alas, there is so much of this among Christians — they are now so far from even being free of the appearance of unchastity. This is not fitting: this must press you.

6. Whoever abstains from the appearance of evil acquires such a good name. What does it accomplish? It gladdens the devout, and the ungodly can then say nothing evil of you: your walk will convince them, and they would well stand there with tears and say, as Saul said to David, thou art more righteous than I, 1 Sam. 24:17. Free yourself from the appearance of evil, and you will be useful in the community, in the church, and in your household, as you see in Zacharias and Elizabeth: they were blameless, Luke 1:6.

7. But something else that must move you is that there are weak ones in the church whom you would grieve and wound. Would it not be unreasonable for a healthy person to wound a sick one, or a strong one a weak one? And would you wound a sickly soul? Shall a seeing person lay a stumbling-block before the blind? I will never do that in my life, says Paul; I would rather give up everything I have a taste for, than that I should grieve a child of God, 1 Cor. 8:13.

8. The conduct of the ungodly must also press you. As soon as they see you in some appearance of evil, that gnat becomes a camel, that straw a beam — and then they use the failings of the godly to cover and hide themselves behind. Therefore Paul says that they should walk honestly and prudently and with wisdom toward them that are without, Col. 4:5 and 1 Thess. 4:12.

9. Be free not only of the sin, but also of the appearance. The histories relate of a certain man that when he got a drop of water on his garment from a heathen priest, he cut off that piece of his garment, so that no one should think he had any fellowship with it. See then that ye walk circumspectly, Eph. 5:15, and hate also the garment spotted by the flesh, Jude v. 23.

10. When you abstain, that is a fine proof of great godliness: to restrain oneself is more than ordinary, it is to excel above others — of which the Savior says, what do ye more than others? Matt. 5:47.

11. It is a token of excellent obedience. When a child gives not even the slightest appearance of evil, that is a token of excellent obedience. Was it not an excellent token of obedience, that those young men would not eat of what came from the king's table? Dan. 1. They might easily have obtained something in which they would not have sinned. Think of Balaam, who had such gifts: he said to the messengers, I will not speak with you either good or evil, unless I first bring it to God; he would not give even the slightest appearance of evil — and yet in his heart he still loved the wages of unrighteousness.

12. It is a sign that such a one is strong in grace. For one can think that of no one more than of the one who guards himself against the appearance of evil. The Apostle said, let your heart be established with grace amid so many temptations, Heb. 13:9.

13. If you abstain from appearance, that will be a means by which others too will be kept from it. If they see you doing as the rest do, it will be your fault if they too fall into it; but if they see that you abstain, you will prevent others from falling into it as well. Heb. 12:1, let us lay aside the sin that so easily besets us.

14. If you can so live, you will live as in the very foretaste of heaven, where the appearance of evil no longer has any place; then you will live as the angels and the blessed, who are made perfect.

15. Then you will imitate the greatest of the godly; indeed, you will follow the holy God himself. There God stands and openly declares, be ye followers of God, as dear children, Eph. 5:1. In me is no darkness — walk then in the light, 1 John 1:7. There the Lord Jesus stands, and calls to you, I have given you an example, that as I have done, ye should do also, John 13:15; and 1 John 2:6, walk even as he walked. The very greatest of the godly have so practiced it.

16. Then you shall live quiet and at rest. Oh God, you shall then say, with Paul, I know nothing by myself, 1 Cor. 4:4. If you are in company where people whisper to one another, you think no evil. If there is someone who wrongs you, you bear it in silence, and appeal to God. Job 10:7, thou knowest that I am not wicked. 1 Cor. 4:4, he that judgeth me is the Lord.

17. It is a token of a tender conscience, and there is no more living token that someone's inner life is sound. What is a good conscience? In short, a peaceable conscience, a believing conscience, a holy conscience: I have always sought to have and to keep a conscience void of offense toward God and men, said Paul, Acts 23:1. This I recommend, said Peter: have a good conscience, 1 Pet. 3:16. If we do not keep it — even the devout — where then does it lead? Then there is no stopping or saving it. That is the pressure and constraint that God lays upon us; you can feel that it must be so.

II. Do we now prevail somewhat upon your heart? You say, no, you make no headway with us: we have nonetheless done our part; the tending of it, but not the curing, is committed to us. You say, yes — and you add, oh, but I am in so many circumstances, what course shall I take to guard myself against every appearance of evil? Hear then: there are two or three courses that will be blessed, if you take them.

1. The first course is: there stands a text in the Bible which you should often make your prayer, Ps. 141:3-4, set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips; incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works. Go on praying so, and God will bless it: let not your providence work so as to let me fall into the appearance of evil; hinder me whenever there is occasion. To that text we add Ps. 119:29, 37, remove from me the way of lying, and turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Quick eyes — how fast they are! What great chambers they are, that can take in so many pictures! Why did David say that? I have learned it, he might well say, from how, when my eyes so wandered upon the roof, that stroller overtook me, 2 Sam. 11 and 12. Had Eve not so gazed with her eyes upon the forbidden fruit, she would perhaps not have come into such familiar conversation with the devil about that desirable fruit, nor taken it. There was once a man greatly desirous of visiting a certain place; he journeyed there, but hearing how corrupted the city was, and how many people were ruined there, he traveled there nonetheless with this resolve: that he would keep his eyes shut and open them only to look upon a certain church that stood before him there — and when he arrived at it he opened them; otherwise he could not be persuaded to open them at all.

2. A second course is: remember Lot's wife, Luke 17:32. What does this mean? How gravely God takes, and at the same time punishes, matters in which you can hardly see any evil at all. She may perhaps have been born in Sodom; perhaps she only wanted to see once more the fearful scourge with which God was punishing the transgressors — it might well be put that way. It happened that a prophet came out of Judah who so faithfully carried out his commission; he did not spare Jeroboam, and got away unscathed; but then came an old prophet, a man well along in years, who said, come back with me — God has said so, said that old liar; and the man was killed for it, 1 Kings 13. Consider it — what evil would you find in that? I say again: remember Lot's wife.

3. Think often that the holy Lord is with us, and that the majesty of God present with us will be an awe to us. Do as Job did: I could well have concealed it, he says, and might still have been well thought of — but no, the majesty of God lay upon my heart; I made a covenant with mine eyes, Job 31:1. Do it with your whole soul and body, and say: I am bought with a price, therefore must I glorify God in body and spirit, which are God's, 1 Cor. 6:20. Lay that text upon your heart, and you shall have a blessing.

These are the things concerning this matter which must press us toward it. Examine yourself now, and see whether you taste its power and sweetness therein. It befits me and you to be as David: Abigail comes to meet him, and speaks to him earnestly — what does he say? Blessed be thou, and blessed be this thy counsel, and I thank God that thou hast come to meet me, 1 Sam. 25. So we hope that you too may say, and add to it, I will seek, in the Lord's strength, to follow the counsel you have given me. If you do so, it will not lead to any wavering of heart, and you will have no regret of it on your deathbed. We shall leave it here for now, and hereafter go on to the bosom sin. I hope that God will bless what has been spoken, to us and to you, to his glory, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 76

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which we find:

I. A question resolved: may one indeed say that there is a sin the godly love? II. That there is nothing in sin, nor anything in the godly, to make sin lovable to them. III. Whether it is not an article of the Word, and of Theology in the Church, that every godly person has his beloved sins? IV. What expressions the Word gives of this. V. What these beloved sins generally are.

Solomon said in his Proverbs, chapter 4:23: Keep your heart above all else that is to be kept, for out of it are the issues of life. He does not say, keep another's heart, but keep your own. A man guards very carefully his health, his treasure, his goods, his good name; but the most precious thing of all, the thing that most needs watching, is the heart. Whoever guards it will not give himself over to whatever pertains to any sin. There are four things against which he who guards his heart must be very carefully on watch: 1. Sins that are and remain secret and hidden. 2. Sins of profit, by which one may grow great. 3. Sins that the world reckons small and trifling. 4. Beloved sins.

1. First, he who guards his heart will not give himself over to any hidden evil that can be done secretly and kept secret, even to the day of his death. In this he will be like Joseph. Who would ever have reproached him, had he overpowered his brothers? His own conscience would not allow it. Who would have reproached him for adultery? But he said, should I do such a great evil, and sin against God? Genesis 39:9. Who would have reproached David, had he not looked after Mephibosheth? But instead, he set him at his own table. When he made the covenant with Jonathan, that had happened only out in the field between the two of them; but he asks, is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show him the kindness of God? 2 Samuel 9:3. Who would ever have reproached Job, had he oppressed widows and orphans, seeing that his power was felt at the gate? Who would have reproached him for oppressing his manservant or his maidservants? He could have done it, but he did not wish to; he had regard to God's majesty, and that held him back — for the destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure, Job 31:23. A sinner will sometimes still shrink from sinning openly. Why? Because it might harm his reputation. But if they can do it secretly, then it does not trouble them. Saul wished to do it secretly, when he went to the witch. Ezekiel 8:12: have you seen, son of man, what they do in the dark? But a godly man says: God sees even into the darkness — he who forms the eye, shall he not see? Psalm 94:9. Even the darkness hides nothing from you, Psalm 139:11. All things are naked and opened before the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Hebrews 4:13.

2. He who guards his heart does not give himself over to sins by which he might grow great, out of love of gain. That was the last temptation the Devil brought to the Lord Jesus, Matthew 4:9: all these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. How many thousands he catches in that golden net! Gehazi could be brought to it only through a gift. Achan was driven to it by gain. How many a person is captivated by another for the sake of profit? The sins of such a one he must then call virtue — and that for a poor and paltry gain; and it is indeed a poor and wretched gain, if for that outward profit he loses the peace of his conscience, heaven, and his access to God. A godly man says, your money perish with you, as the apostle Peter said to Simon the sorcerer, Acts 8:20; and Matthew 16:26: what would it profit a man, if he gained the whole world, and lost his own soul? That gain I count but dung, if for it I must lose Christ, Philippians 3:8. And in Hebrews 11 Moses too was of this mind, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward, verses 25, 26. And Daniel said to Belshazzar, let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another, Daniel 5:17.

3. He who guards his heart will not give himself over to a sin that the world calls small. One can choke as readily on a gnat as on a camel; they would as gladly strain out the gnat as the camel. Who would have thought there was much harm in numbering the people, or in cutting off the corner of Saul's cloak? A small sin, says a godly man, is enough to rob a man's conscience of its comfort; a small sin is enough to cast me into hell and bring death and damnation upon me. A small fire — what a great heap of wood it can set ablaze! A small sin in the heart — what great corruptions it can kindle! That, too, the godly are unwilling to allow.

4. They do not give themselves over to a beloved sin, even though they have grace in their heart from the Lord. That it should sit there quietly in the heart — that they will not have; there must be, they say, a constant contention with it. There must be a struggle in their heart against that sin; they must not rest until it is brought under. How long must this struggle last in them? Until they are released from it by death — until death they must remain constantly watchful over it.

We have shown you, under the eighth mark of the state of grace, how one who has received grace comes to a hatred of sin. Then we went on to show how one who has received grace is disposed toward the very appearance of evil, and that this too is scriptural — there is an express command of God: abstain from all appearance of evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:22. On this occasion we were bound to descend to the matter of the beloved sin, which every child of God carries in his heart as long as he lives; and this is what we shall seek to do. First, we shall resolve the question: can a godly person indeed have a sin that he loves? Then we shall see that there is nothing in sin, nor in him — by reason of the grace of God that is in his heart — to make him fall in love with sin. Then, whether it is an article of the Word and of Theology, that a godly person, after having received grace, might still have beloved sins. Then, if so, by what expressions these are named in the Word. Then we shall say in general what these are in God's children. Then, by what each of us may know that we ourselves are bound to such a sin, and by what each of us for himself may know whether he indeed is so bound. Then, the proper and godly conduct that the godly must maintain with regard to it. Then we shall give means and directions for being rid of it, in the strength of God. Then we shall consider the holy strife there is between flesh and spirit, and with that we shall conclude that eighth mark.

Take note, then. 1. We shall resolve a question: can a godly person indeed have a beloved sin? 2. Is there anything in sin, or in the godly person, to make him fall in love with sin? 3. Is it an article of Theology, in the Word and in the church, that every godly person indeed has a beloved sin? 4. What expressions does the Word give of this, to confirm that such sins exist? 5. We shall show in general what this pet sin generally is. 6. By what each may know his own beloved sins. 7. The godly conduct of the godly with regard to it. 8. We shall give counsel and directions. 9. Between that beloved sin and grace there is a spiritual condition — the spirit strives against the flesh.

I. We shall begin with the first. Here is a great case, and a great question: can one be godly and love sin? Can one love sin and have grace?

1. First, if you look back at the past, before they had grace, what beloved sins such a one has had — what Goliaths, which reigned over them like great lords! Sin reigns in our mortal bodies, Romans 6:14. They draw sin after them as with thick cords and cart-ropes, Isaiah 5:18. What right eyes, hands, and feet has such a one had — sins as convenient, as comfortable, as useful and necessary to him, and as precious, as his own right eye, hand, or foot! What pet darlings has he had, in which he took his delight in those days, which were to him like his one little ewe lamb, which slept in his bosom and ate of his own morsel. There is not a single godly person who can deny this. Even one converted from his youth will have shown that same nature and that same disposition, in these sins or in others.

2. I answer you: as soon as grace comes, the love of all these perishes. See Psalm 119:22, Amos 5:15, Romans 12:9. He has no grace who loves a single sin: grace produces an aversion to all sin. He who does not hate all the serpents, hates not one of them.

3. Must I grant this — that grace and sin nevertheless go together in a person, Romans 7? But grace and the love of sin never pair together, no more than light pairs with darkness.

II. The second was: in good conscience, what could there be in any sin, to make one fall in love with it, or be drawn to it, so that you should love it? Go into your own heart — is there anything in it upon which you should exalt yourself, or that should make it seem pleasing to you? Or is there something in him — in the godly person himself? That is impossible.

a. There is nothing in sin for which one should fall in love with it, whether before or after grace: for,

1. First, in every sin there is a guilt, which binds us to receive a blow of God's justice. Should anyone be able to bear living under such guilt? No — it is better to say, Matthew 6:12: forgive us our debts.

2. In every sin there is a sickness. Isaiah 1:5: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. It is such a sickness, as the sin in

3. In every sin there is a foulness, a deformity. Could you love a misshapen monster? Sin is a serpent's venom, an adder's poison, a dog's vomit, James 1:21: it is all filthiness — and who can love that which so greatly separates us from God!

4. In every sin there is a heavy toll exacted, whether it is committed before or after grace: it stings like a serpent, it bites like an adder, Proverbs 23:32. It carries such stings that there is not one of them but must make you shudder. It has three or four such stings: 1. Shame — who is glad to be put to shame! 2. Guilt — I am worthy of death. 3. Terror — ah, Lord, I have lost my peace! 4. Death and hell. Can anyone love that? Terrors in the soul? Surely he must be miserably bewitched who could have any love for such a thing: there is nothing in sin that makes it lovable.

b. There is likewise nothing in a child of God that could make him love sin. When you consider the divine life, it is not as with the bodily life: when you and I are dead, the worms will have their way with us, but as long as anyone lives, he wishes to keep himself apart from that. So it is with the spiritual life: say to it, concerning sin, what will this do for you? Indeed there is nothing in it — I cannot bear the sight of it — such a love of God dwells in my heart that it kills all love of sin. Just as ardently as a man and a woman come to love one another, so that kills all love for other lovers: when the love of God is poured out in the heart by the Holy Spirit, that kills all love for that which God calls whoredom. What have you to do with this or that, says God, if you love me? If you love me, then let this go. Love is a wondrous grace; it is the first that lives, and the last that lives. When a person is converted, he at once gives all his love and esteem to God, and when every other grace has finished its service, love remains. In heaven no one will be converted — why? There will be no sin there. In heaven patience will have no place — why? There will be no cross there. In heaven there will be no place for faith or hope — why? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, Hebrews 11:1. But there we shall see face to face, 1 Corinthians 13:12. There will be no place for hope, for then it will be the full harvest. What then shall have its place there? The love of God, which shall reign there in the heart, 1 Corinthians 13:13.

III. Well then, you will say, now that you have settled this — whether there is indeed nothing lovable in sin, and nothing in a child of God that would make him love sin — what then becomes of the third matter? Is it not a point from the Word itself that there is not one child of God who nevertheless has some beloved sin? We shall seek to make this so plain to you that you will not have a word left to say against it.

1. First, with respect to the past, in their state of nature, there is no denying that they had many beloved sins — indeed they loved every sin; though, as regards its outworking, they sometimes hated certain sins and sometimes loved certain virtues, yet that love was never genuine.

2. Nor does the grace they have received argue against it — for in one who has received grace there remains both an old man and a new man: there are two persons in one person, in one who has received grace. When they have received grace, they never wholly put off the old man, nor ever wholly put on the new. "Why am I thus?" said Rebekah — you have twins in your womb, Genesis 25:22-23. "Why am I thus?" said Paul, in effect — he had twins within him, flesh and spirit, Romans 7. From that old man you will not be discharged until you die.

3. That old man, by God's goodness, grows weaker as the new man grows up, and the nearer he draws to heaven, the more it fades, and so it dwindles by degrees, until by death it is fully destroyed and brought to nothing. That new man, the further he advances in grace, and the more the old man fades, the more he grows, increases, and becomes stronger, so that he gains the mastery by degrees — especially when it goes well with someone in grace, as with a Gaius and his like, whose soul prospers — yet he is not fully master of it until after death.

4. That unregenerate part, the old man, retains such a love for sin as though it were still fully master. If, before their new birth, they had some particular sin which they loved dearly, that corrupted part goes on loving it as though it were still master, though it is not so: but the new man hates those remnants of the old man; he cannot bear them, neither wholly nor in part — they are no pleasure to him but a burden. Romans 7: that body of sin, I hate it. Just as Esau hated Jacob on account of that blessing, Genesis 27:41, so Jacob hated Esau for his godlessness. So it is here too: the old man hates the new man for his godliness, and the new man hates the old man for his sin and ungodliness.

5. Since the actions that they perform are actions of the whole man and of the one person, that hatred which the new man bears against the remnants of sin, and that love which the old man bears toward sin, are both ascribed to the whole person. Paul distinguishes them well, but he does not separate them from one another, for the actions of both these men are the actions of one and the same person. Paul says, Romans 7:17, "It is no more I that do it" — that was an act of the person, but according to the new man; for in another verse he says, "evil is present with me," "it is in my body of sin" — that evil, too, is an act of that same person, but according to the old man. So the love for the remaining corruption, and the hatred against that corruption, are both ascribed to the whole person, the whole man. The remnants of the old man love that which is called a pet and a beloved sin, though the new man hates it. Keep this for your comfort. The Bible will give you such expressions of it — and that was our fourth point.

IV. Does the Word give such expressions, from which one must conclude and say that a child of God also has beloved sins? Yes indeed, and that abundantly, in both Testaments of God.

1. In the Old Testament you see that in a child of God there lodge desires toward sin. In 2 Samuel 24 the army commander Joab says, why does my lord the king have a desire for this thing? He had a certain itch and inclination to number the people, which was also carried through in the deed. In 2 Samuel 12 a prophet comes to the king and says, a traveler came to you, who was well entertained by you; he found entrance into your bosom, he found his ease with you. And hear even the king himself speak of his sin, Psalm 18:23, I kept myself from mine iniquity. Psalm 38:17, I am ready to halt. And Asaph, Psalm 73:2, my feet were almost gone — that is to say, so nearly stumbling that I had almost fallen. 1 Kings 8:38, when they shall know every man the plague of his own heart.

2. You will say, is this also to be found in the New Testament? Yes indeed, abundantly. What does God call it there? Galatians 6:1, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one — that is, as with a healthy man who suffers a sudden seizure. Romans 7:21, there Paul speaks of an evil lying close at hand, that sin was working in him beyond measure. Galatians 5:17, there you have flesh and spirit, the one wanting to be loved and the other to be hated. Galatians 5:24, there are movements and lusts toward sin: there are members which are upon the earth, Colossians 3:5. There are sins which so easily beset us, Hebrews 12:1. James 3:2, we all stumble in many things.

Now I believe that this fourth point is clear to you, so that you must say, I must accept this as a doctrine along the way to heaven.

V. Now what is the fifth point? What, generally speaking, are the beloved sins? Beloved, it is difficult to say, and yet it is necessary to say what hidden failings the godly carry: one sleeps in this Delilah's lap, another in that one's. Would you like a general mark or two laid down first? Then we shall proceed to the particular ones.

1. First, the sin which, before grace was received, had the greatest power over a chosen vessel. Alas, poor soul, how often it remains just as powerful after his calling! Peter, before his calling, was already somewhat rash, and after his calling he kept a good deal of that still: at one time he wanted fire to come down from heaven; at another he carried a sword, with which he cut off the ear of the High Priest's servant; then he leaps into the water to swim to the Lord; then he says, I will not forsake you, though all others forsake you; then he says, Lord, spare yourself, this shall never happen to you — so that the Lord Jesus had to say, get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, Matthew 16:22-23. Grace does not take away the whole of nature; it only bridles it, exercises it, and shapes it somewhat. Paul says, 1 Corinthians 9:27, but I keep under my body. Some hold that the force of the word there means that he beats it black and blue.

2. A second general mark is that you generally seek out the company of those whose beloved sins agree with your own. Why do you tolerate one another? Because you have nothing to reproach each other with. Therefore you can make allowances for one another. Or else grace should be so at work in you that you say, we are no longer of use to one another, it is time we parted — as with Lot and Abraham, when those men went their separate ways. Or your corruption grows so strong that you can no longer bear another's corruption. That was the case with Paul and Barnabas, such good friends: such great corruptions arose, and such great bitterness through that corruption, that they parted. You will say, do you have another example of that in the Bible? Yes, a clear example in Aaron and Miriam, Numbers 12. The man Moses did his work in simplicity, while his brother and sister banded together against him. Mark this now: with whom do you keep company? With those who have such sins of the heart as you have? Does grace work so in you that you say, we are no longer of use to one another?

Now we must proceed to the particular disclosure of what the besetting sins generally are. After that, by what marks they are to be known. Then, how the godly must conduct themselves regarding them. Then we shall give counsel as to what we must do against them. And then we shall seek to close this mark with the conflict that exists between flesh and spirit. We shall leave it there for now. I hope that God will bless what has been spoken, to us and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 77

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

Wherein these two things are handled: I. Which are the beloved sins, or pets, of God's people. II. By what means each may know his own beloved sin.

Text: Proverbs 4:23. Keep thy heart with all diligence.

The heart must always be well guarded, but at what times must it be guarded most of all? There are certain times when one must be most on one's watch. At what times? Above all, when one is alone. Also, when one is in company. Also, when one has acquitted oneself well before God. Also, in time of poverty. And also, when the beloved sin stirs most within. Beloved, let us presently keep watch before the Lord.

1. We must guard our heart above all when we are alone. When Eve was assailed, she was alone. When David was alone on the roof, he saw Bathsheba, and a traveler came upon him. The Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan when he was alone in the wilderness, Matthew 4. Paul does not wish anyone to be alone too long, lest the devil gain an advantage over him, 1 Corinthians 7:5.

2. You must guard your heart closely when you are in company. One is not always in good company, but sometimes in disorderly company, where the fellowship is none too respectable. When Joseph failed to stay on his guard in Pharaoh's court, he was led into swearing by Pharaoh's life. Solomon said, my son, do not consent when sinners entice you, Proverbs 1:10. Peter, standing in bad company where the Lord Jesus was being denied, followed along: it is only a man, he said, I do not know him, Matthew 26:72.

3. One must guard one's heart even when one is in good company. When one is in good company, one is often watching one another, and one must say of it what was said of Judah — that even so there were still some good things in Judah — and one must say of it what stands in 1 Kings 14, there is something good found in the young man. There is often in a company someone good, in whom there is something good; guard your heart even then. The devil does not always come as a wolf to tear, but sometimes in the shape of a sheep. If he cannot do harm through a wicked man, he will use a good one for it. King Jeroboam could do nothing against the good prophet, so he made use of the old prophet who led him astray, 1 Kings 13. The Lord Jesus did not suffer as much harm through Judas as the devil thought to do to him through Peter: he crept into that dove, so that the Lord Jesus had to say, get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, Matthew 16:23.

4. Guard your heart above all when you have acquitted yourself well, when you have prayed well and have been well at the Lord's Supper. When at the Lord Jesus there came such a voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son, hear him, then came the devil, and tempted him. When Simon Peter had declared himself and said, I will not forsake you, then Jesus said to him, watch and pray, Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, Luke 22:31-32. That godly high priest Joshua, when he had acquitted himself so well in Babylon, then the devil stood at his right hand, so that the Lord had to come to his aid and say, leave that man alone — who has acquitted himself so well through that seventy years' storm; do not trouble him now, now that he is about to do the work of God, Zechariah 3. Noah, in the first world, had conducted himself so well that by faith he built an ark, yet after the flood he did not conduct himself so well — while he was that year in the ark he had built, he had conducted himself very well indeed. Elijah conducted himself better on Mount Carmel than in the wilderness: in 1 Kings 18 he is zealous for God, and in 1 Kings 19 he sits despondent. Lot, who had conducted himself so well within Sodom — ah, how he falls once he is out of it! Once out, he falls miserably, Genesis 19.

5. Then you must guard your heart above all when a storm comes, when adversity, oppression, and the cross come. Job 2:9, do you still hold fast to your integrity? Well, man, you have been so damaged in your children, your goods, your health — do you still want to pray, praise, and serve God? What madness is this? Give it up, for God has given up blessing you. When King Solomon had grown great through God's blessing, what lay upon his heart? "I fear," he said, "that if you should bring about a change, I should fall by it." What change? Poverty. King, that surely does not seem to be in view — but what would you do then? Perhaps steal, and profane the name of my God. Or, if you bless me, I fear that I shall grow proud again. When did that begin to go so smoothly — Psalm 73? It did not go so smoothly: I do not know, he said, whether you know all that is going on. In Jeremiah 12, God had to say, must I give you an account?

6. Guard your heart when prosperity is at its very greatest and running its fullest course, when you can say, I wash my steps in butter, and the lamp of God shines over my tent, I have neither bonds nor cross, outwardly. Then that same king came and said, oh Lord, I fear my heart grows so wicked in prosperity. Why? I fear that my heart would say, where has God gone? Proverbs 30:9. Samson fell asleep in prosperity, in Delilah's lap, Judges 16:19. When Jeshurun grew fat, he kicked, Deuteronomy 32:15.

7. Lastly, guard your heart above all when the beloved sin grows strong. I was upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity, Psalm 18:23. When one begins to be ready to halt, and daily begins to stumble in many things, and the right eyes, hands, and feet get the upper hand, then take heed: it is easier to keep sin out before it has entered than to get it out once it has entered; when the old failings begin to flourish again, be alert and active, so that they do not grow worse.

You know that we have dealt with the seventh mark of the state of grace, and that we are now occupied with the eighth. I know well that it is a difficult matter — but not, if you are sincere: for then one is just as glad to have that taken in hand as anything else. The eighth mark is hatred against sin. I must think nothing good either of myself or of yourselves, except what we actually find there. You recall that we said this hatred had four parts: 1. They are the enemy of all sin. 2. They take care how they conduct themselves regarding scandalous sin. 3. The third is godly conduct regarding the besetting sin. 4. The last is the spiritual conflict in the strength of God. We had come to the third part. We proceeded thus: we asked, does a child of God then hate all sin? And we said, yes. Then, whether there are nevertheless not some sins in them that one might call beloved sins, and whether the Word gives us occasion for that? Then we saw this: even though they were difficult to discern, they nonetheless could not remain wholly hidden — it became evident somehow. Now we must see what those pets are among God's people.

I. What, generally speaking, are the beloved sins commonly found in those who have grace? II. By what can I know what my own beloved sin is? III. How does a godly person conduct himself in regard to it? IV. What path must we take to overcome it? These are weighty matters. First, every godly person has, as it were, his own pet sins, and we shall list some of them. Then we shall see what each one is bound to. Then we shall examine the godly conduct of the godly in this regard. Finally, what path must I keep to and take in order to overcome it? We shall carry this as far as we can, and perhaps continue further still on a following Sunday.

As to the first point: every godly person has such a pet sin, indeed he is fortunate who has only one, and is bound to no more than one. But you must note this, that there is a Captain among them — one that stands above the others. It is difficult to lay the heart open. A hearer will say, you can certainly do that for your own case: but that too is, under God's blessing, for the refreshment of a preacher, when he has the Word before him, that he can then also creep into the hearts of his hearers. Shall we list a few of them? Then attend:

1. First, pride. That is truly, as it were, the captain of them all. You do not know yourself; unless you sometimes pray, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me, Psalm 19:13.

2. If that will not do, then faintheartedness comes alongside it. One becomes despondent, one groans or sighs as though one would sink into the earth: then it is, I am not better than my fathers, take away my soul, 1 Kings 19:4. Then it is, my soul is cast down within me, Psalm 42:11.

3. If it is not that, then there is man-pleasing, courting someone's favor even at the cost of injuring one's own conscience, even if it meant calling their vices virtues. Paul could not bear that: do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ, Galatians 1:10. If you are men-pleasers, he says, then you are not servants of Christ. The Savior rebuked that just as sharply: do not seek to be men-pleasers, he said. When you stand in the favor of men, it is as if you had heaven itself.

4. If it is not that, then fearfulness creeps upon a child of God — a sin of which Paul said to Timothy, you have not received the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Timothy 1:7. Would you be rid of it, there would need at times to come a voice from heaven: fear not, why did you doubt?

5. You cannot bear to see anyone beside you or above you, you would gladly have the highest place, you cannot bear to see anyone else enjoy any affection but yourself — and that is envy, of which Solomon says that it is rottenness of the bones, Proverbs 14:30.

6. Not only that, but then there reign hypocrisy and affectation. What sort of affectation? In gestures, eyes, speech — they know how to roll their eyes so that they make themselves quite disgusting, and they are full of pretenses. They are still at times sincere before God, but not before their neighbor. Where one once dealt with another in trust, there one can no longer speak a heartfelt word without being deceived.

7. Covetousness. Oh, how many a heart is beset with covetousness! Covetousness is a root of all evil: it makes the soul go in want.

8. Extravagance. They must have their delicacies, finery and adornment must have its way, whether it can be afforded or not.

9. Then vanity. When one comes among people, one sits and jests along, one is full of all kinds of foolish talk, jesting, and coarse words, which are not fitting, Ephesians 5:4. Oh God, remove vanity far from me, prayed Agur, Proverbs 30:8.

10. Lying speech. They often speak untruths, to the wounding of their own conscience, or to extricate themselves from difficulties. Lie not one to another, Colossians 3:9.

11. Backbiting. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people, Leviticus 19:16: do not walk in backbiting against your neighbor.

12. Praising oneself, even though God says, let another do that. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips, Proverbs 27:2.

13. Being quick-tempered, angry, and ill-natured without cause, and, when cause is given, letting the sun go down upon their wrath, against Paul's counsel and command, Ephesians 4:26.

14. Vindictiveness, and other things, such as cravings for strong drink and other drink, and stirrings in the heart that are abominable: to these things the godly are often bound.

You will perhaps say in your heart, my pet sin is still hidden. Well, who can understand all his own wanderings? Do not rejoice at that — you know them, and God knows them. Or have you said, no, I am not bound to any beloved sin? If you speak the truth, you are fortunate, and it is a great grace. Examine whether you speak the truth. There has never yet been a single godly person who has been free of this, and there never shall be one who does not have such failings. David says, you desired a heart wholly upright and good, which I have not had — in the language of Psalm 51. You will have spots, one leopard's spot or another, and the blackness of the Moor's skin, to which you have grown so accustomed that you embrace it as your own.

II. You will say, by what shall I know which is my beloved sin? That is now our second point. We hope presently to disclose it to you so plainly that you will not have a word left to say against it, but will have to say, that is mine.

1. First, it is to be known by this: it is your and my besetting sin on which your and my thoughts dwell and turn the most. When one person loves another, he cannot get his thoughts off them. Everyone has some sin on which his thoughts most turn and play — that is proof that this sin has formerly reigned in you and still remains too much in you. You go to sleep with it, and you rise with it. Baruch! how you turn it over in your mind, to grow rich! Would you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. The Lord's apostles sometimes had a dispute over who should be the greatest: that was their sin, they dwelt on it too much.

2. You shall know it by this: it takes you and holds you captive so easily. Some sins you can resist with ease, but this one has too great a power over you. The young man had overcome many sins, but not covetousness. Gehazi, the servant of so holy a prophet, had overcome many sins, but when Naaman came and made that offer, he could not resist it. Paul said, evil is present with me, Romans 7:21.

3. It is known by this: one has such an eloquent, smooth tongue for it. You put up a defense as soon as anyone attacks it, you embrace and plead for that sin. Are you rightly angry, Jonah, over the gourd? Yes Lord, he says, I am rightly angry, even unto death — he was as an advocate for it, Jonah 4:9. It will do harm, says Joab, that you number the people; it will do no harm, says David, 2 Samuel 24.

4. It is known by this: it seems so slight in your own eyes, even between God and your heart. You would not want to let it pass as sin at all, you would almost force God and man, if it could be, to call that evil good. How is it with the matter of divorce, they asked — they were adulterers, yet they still take Scripture for themselves: Moses commanded it, they said, that we might give a bill of divorcement, Matthew 19. So it is with anyone who twists Romans 12:2, and be not conformed to this world — that, they say, no longer applies, that referred to the Ceremonial Law — even those to whom it applies least say so. But with Ephesians 2:2, walk not according to the course of this world, they know not what to do. Such interpreters of the Word know just how to arrange it so, and the people are glad enough to have it so, for they are plastered over with loose mortar.

5. It is chiefly to be known by this: it disturbs us most, it flies most in our face, especially when we are ill — then it begins to grip us, when we think of coming before God. Genesis 42:21, then they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. When one falls into certain circumstances, then conscience comes and troubles us over it. There it is, as in the language of Psalm 38:5 and 8: sorely broken, feeble, and sick.

6. It is known by this: one does not like to have that sin exposed, or to be reproved for it. Then a secret malice reveals itself; then you can see how Herod was disposed when John came too close to him, and how King Asa was disposed when he was dealt with so faithfully. It was otherwise with David: let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head, Psalm 141:5. There you have two examples of it, one in David in the Old Testament, the other in Peter in the New Testament. Paul had rebuked him openly, Galatians 2:11 — that had not broken his love. Our beloved brother Paul, he says, according to the wisdom given him, 2 Peter 3:15: he is a wise man, a beloved man, and he is my brother.

7. You shall know it by this: it is so bearable a sin, you can put up with it best of all. Many sins you can easily let go, but when you would have to part with your besetting sin, you would say as Jacob did — Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and now you would take Benjamin away, all these things are against me. Then you would say, my God, must I then die of melancholy, and lie down in bed like an Ahab? May I not, after all, live after the Stoic manner, or in wanton Epicurean fashion?

8. So bearable is it, this besetting sin, that when the godly who keep company with you speak to you about it and want it rooted out, you set yourself against them and say, God bears with it in me, and yet my brother will not — against exhort one another daily, Hebrews 3:13. That they cannot bear; then you are no true friend of theirs, it is as though you always have something to pick at. In Acts 15 you see this in Paul and Barnabas: Paul wanted that stubbornness out of Barnabas, and rather chose to break the friendship. You will say, was Paul the least to blame? That is plain from the text: the congregation falls on Paul's neck, they commend him to the grace of God, but they did not do so for Barnabas.

9. It is known by this: you do it so secretly. The heart is like a deep well; you cover that root as with a garment, you cover it with your name and reputation.

10. It is also known by this: however secretly you commit it, God brings it to light by his providence. Then even your enemy grows disgusted with you; then they say, as those two fighting men said when Moses tried to make peace, will you kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, Exodus 2:14? There is something hiding in you, they say, and they throw your besetting sin in your face. Your enemy, I say, turns away from you, just as that Hebrew did who said to Moses, you have slain the Egyptian, and as Shimei said against David, you man of blood, you have killed Uriah and thirty men, 2 Samuel 16:7-8. See how God so arranges it that it comes out to your shame.

11. That is our besetting sin, with which the devil attacks us most. Will you do that, he says, and still have grace? Even when they have mourned it, confessed it, and received sensible forgiveness, he knows how to hold it so vividly before their eyes.

12. That is the sin from which you cannot break free, even though experienced godly people set themselves against it, and though you thereby inflict pain on weak hearts, and the world is lulled to sleep by it, and through it remains unconverted, living and dying so. Peter would not give up his dissembling, though he thereby offended and grieved many; it does not help, he goes on with it, Galatians 2. Many eyes are upon you who bear the name of Christian: when other godly people see your careless walk, they readily follow the example.

13. Lastly, it is known by this: when the ungodly themselves begin to praise you for it. You do not always keep company with the godly, but sometimes also with the ungodly: when they begin to say, you can still join with us, but those nitpickers, those perfectionists, no — we do not want them in our company.

There you now have thirteen marks. Consider now, whether you will not soon find your own besetting sin, and whether anyone at all is free of that affliction. There the matter now lies. What do you think now? Would you say, like that woman of Zarephath, man of God, what have I to do with you? Or would you say, physician, look to yourself and heal yourself? If it please God, under his blessing, we are ready and willing to do so. Or do you say, the arrows are sharp, you have wounded me, I am seized with a desire to know how I must conduct myself in order to overcome it? You must maintain a godly conduct in this regard until the day of your death: you must pursue that, and under God's blessing you will then overcome it. If you will do so, God will bless it.

Those are the matters that remain for us: 1. How a child of God must conduct himself godly regarding it. 2. What path to take in order to overcome it. We shall seek to do that on the coming Sunday, with the wish that God may be pleased to bless this, to us and to you, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 78

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three things are treated: I. When a child of God hears his beloved sin spoken of, while he is not conducting himself well. II. When, on the contrary, he is conducting himself well. III. The godly conduct of the godly toward their beloved sin.

Text: Isaiah 1:5, 6. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, but wounds, and bruises, and festering sores, which have not been pressed out, nor bound up, nor softened with oil.

What a pitiful sight that was! What a pitiful sight it was, that man who had fallen into the hands of murderers and lay there by the road! Luke 10. What a pitiful sight it is, when you see Job struck from head to foot with grievous boils! Job 1 and 2. But what a still more pitiful sight it is, when you see a soul so full of wounds through sin as a leopard is full of spots! Sin makes our houses, and the whole world, into a hospital for us. How many are sick in body — but how many are also sick in soul, in the whole world and in this church? Do not say in your heart, "what does it matter if I am sick in soul, so long as my body fares well" — you would not say that wisely, for it is worse to be sick in soul than in body. In these matters, sickness of soul is worse than sickness of body.

1. Someone may be sick in body and yet have a quiet conscience; someone may lie sick in bed and remain full of good peace — grace is then often abundant. You see this in Jacob, Genesis 49:18: "I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!" One may be healthy in body, yet be sick within, so that he has no peace within, but a troubled conscience: he may fall into such a fire that it can be quenched nowhere. Isaiah says, "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21). So even though one were ever so healthy in body, one can be so sick in soul that he must cry out, like Judas, "What have I done!"

2. One can be sick in body and yet be loved by God. 1 Kings 15 — Asa was diseased in his feet, and yet he was a favorite of the Lord. Though someone is sick in body, God does not therefore part from him; but from him who is sick in soul, God does part. Isaiah 59:2: "Your sins have made a separation between you and your God." How Saul cried out, once he had sinned: "God has departed from me!"

3. The worst bodily disease, even a contagious one, only separates us from other people. Numbers 12:14 — God said, "Shut Miriam out of the camp." Leviticus 13:46 — God said that lepers should live alone in a separate house. But he who is sick in soul, if he remains so, is shut out of heaven — for nothing that defiles shall enter it (Revelation 21:27). And then he must remain forever separated from God, from his holy angels, and from the fellowship of the perfectly righteous — he cannot stand in that assembly (Psalm 1:5). Indeed, there is no physician for him in all eternity, to treat or heal him.

You see, then, that being sick in soul is far worse than being sick in body — and you may say, is there then no balm in Gilead, is there no physician? Yes, there is one. If you want him, there is a chief physician, who has many under-physicians serving beneath him, through whom he dispenses many remedies. There is a Healer who can cure all your diseases (Isaiah 53:4 and Malachi 4:2 — "in his wings is healing"). This Healer has under-physicians, whom he sends out in the ministry of the Word. He says to them: when you go to preach, you will find that my people have various sicknesses and many defects, but do your best to heal them and set them right. It is true that it is not in our hand to heal even one of them, no more than it is in the hand of a doctor to keep a mortal from dying — so it is also with ministers, they have no power for it. We find in the Gospel of Mark that a man came to the apostles with his child, but they could not heal him; he had to be brought to the chief Physician, Jesus. The apostles asked, why could we not help him? No, said the Lord Jesus, that honor I keep for myself; you must always be but under-physicians. A minister would sooner preach himself to death than make one sick person well. Philippians 2:27 — Epaphroditus nearly died from that work. When ministers do their best, God must bless it, or it does no good. But when the Lord Jesus accompanies their work with power, then it goes well, then it cannot fail.

Then such a sick soul is taken in hand, and that is the blessing God gives it — he makes it see that it is sick, he makes it long to become well. "Oh," says such a one, "if only I might live differently!" That is their blessing, that they come to prize grace and say, "Oh, Lord, would you give me grace — my heart is breaking, I am in such distress!" They confess that they have brought their own sickness upon themselves; they stand in their shame and say, "Oh, I am so distressed, now I hate the sin, I can no longer go along with it." And once they have that blessing, is the soul then wholly healed? No, they are never fully healed in this life. Here a patient may say, "I am not as sick as I have been" — but he is not therefore wholly healed. So it is also with sickness of soul: you may easily say, "I am not as sick as I was a year ago" — but are you therefore entirely well? What, then, is still amiss? Most people have somewhere a beloved sin. Everyone has, as it were, his pet, his little lamb, which is his most pleasing sin.

This is a subject that is not much spoken of nor heard of. Why? People do not like to hear it spoken of, and ministers, too, often do not like to speak of it, for they themselves easily have their own little lamb which they do not like to have uncovered: both people and ministers each have such a little lamb, and it does not make ministers popular, and it exposes their own corrupt heart. It is a grace in a minister to be honest about this.

Last Wednesday we took up this subject; we did not finish it then. Now we have three things to consider: I. When does it work badly in a godly person, when he hears his beloved sin spoken of? II. When does it work well? III. How is a godly person disposed, when he conducts himself devoutly in regard to it? These are our three points. First: when you hear of your beloved sin, when are you badly disposed? Second: when are you well disposed? Third: how does a godly person conduct himself devoutly toward his beloved sin, and how does he show his grace in that godly conduct?

I. As to the first: when you hear your beloved sin spoken of, do you want to know when it works for ill?

1. First, when you become angry when it is spoken of — just as Asa became so angry at the seer. 2 Chronicles 16:10. When you begin to grow indignant, and begin to say with that widow, 1 Kings 17:18, "Man of God, what have I to do with you? Have you come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance, and to kill my son?" When you begin to say to such a person, if you go on like this you will become a burden to me, if you keep preaching this way — before, you were to me like an angel, indeed like Christ Jesus himself, I would have plucked out my own eyes for you; but now you become my enemy, I no longer love you.

2. It works for ill when you begin to say, "Physician, look to yourself, heal yourself"; and, "he who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone" (John 8:7), and "first take the beam out of your own eye" (Matthew 7:3).

3. It works for ill when you say, "you cut and slash at me so — you ought to let me hear gentler things," and when you belong to that sort of people who like to be handled more gently.

4. Then, when someone wants to take it from you, it is as though, "you are stealing my gods" — as though all the pleasure of my life were gone, as though I should have to take to my sickbed from melancholy, and, like that young man, must part from you in sorrow.

5. It works for ill when you begin to say, "must Barnabas die? — him I would gladly keep alive." They would sooner have Christ give way. "Must I kill your king?" said Pilate. So they say, like David, "deal gently for my sake with the young man" (2 Samuel 18:5); "shall Jonathan die?" said all the people (1 Samuel 14:45).

6. It works for ill when you begin to say, "if you wanted me to be like that, it would be as though I were no longer human — you disturb and torment me beyond measure; this saying is hard, who can hear it?" (John 6:60). "Who can bear that from you?" For it must show somewhere that I am a sinful man, that I have a corrupt heart and am imperfect.

II. The second case is: when does it work well? Do you know when?

1. First, when you hear it preached or read of, that you then say in your heart: I see that all the saints of the highest rank — an Elijah, a Moses, and all the apostles, the very best there are — are men of like passions as I am.

2. Then, when you say: I see that all the saints want to know it thoroughly.

3. Then, when you say: I see that the ministers do not exclude themselves, even the best of them. Those who preach this duty also preach it here for themselves, and teach themselves even while teaching others, according to Romans 2:21. And they say, "my soul, you must take heed not only to yourself but to the whole congregation" (Acts 20:28). What teacher, sincere of heart, would exclude himself from this duty? Galatians 6 — God pressed that so deeply on Paul's heart.

4. It works well when you begin to say: I see indeed that there is defect in the minister who seeks to lay this on my heart, but even if he would not put his own hand to the work, must I therefore let my own affliction fester?

5. Then, when one begins to hear them say: this does not take away my love when you touch that affliction — rather it increases it. Ah, how fortunate I am, that there is still someone who looks after me, and deals faithfully with me about my hidden defect, with a good heart, who cannot bear the evil in me but earnestly seeks to address it! "Let the righteous strike me, it shall be a kindness; and let him rebuke me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be for them in their calamities" (Psalm 141:5). We said one Wednesday that this was wonderfully seen at work in Peter, that Paul had rebuked him so sharply, for even shortly before his death Peter records, in his letter, the great esteem he had for him, when he calls him "our beloved brother Paul" (2 Peter 3:15).

6. Then, when you hear the failings of the saints listed, that you say: my wound too is laid bare, the one I am bound to; the arrow has become sharp for me, and it has struck me; now I must say that the Word has become to me, as Hebrews 4:12 says, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow — it goes through my bones, the marrow shrinks within my bones; now I know what it means, Acts 16:14, to give heed to what is preached.

7. Once more: I become as though stirred, movements arise within me! I become eager for you to tell me — oh, if only I knew, if only I knew, how my grace might be made evident, even while I am bound and guilty in a beloved sin! And that is our third point.

III. Settle yourselves a little; we shall show you the conduct of the godly regarding that little lamb which they carry in their heart, which eats of their morsel and drinks of their cup and sleeps in their bosom. How do they conduct themselves devoutly in regard to it?

1. First, they never dismiss their physician, but keep the remedy at hand. Like a person subject to some bodily complaint that visits him monthly or yearly, who has a household remedy he uses, or a doctor to whom he goes. So too: if there is someone who gives them counsel about the ill that dwells in them, they thank him, and they thank God for having granted them that means. "Him," they say, "I count as a father to me — he has authority to command me; his mouth and tongue may be sharp toward me, but his heart is full of compassion. A surgeon must cut and lance, yet his heart is good, even though his hand is hard." In this you show your godly conduct, and in this your grace appears — that such a one is your best friend.

2. Then you show your godly conduct when that beloved sin repeatedly humbles and abases you. It is like a beautiful woman with a lovely form, who is afflicted with a cancer in her breast — will she not be restrained from pride in her beauty? "My love," says the Lord, "you are the fairest, you are my dove, my perfect one — but you are afflicted with a cancer in the breast; humble yourself, be clothed with humility, do not think too highly of yourself; you have a plague in your heart, loathe it and humble yourself." When it humbles you so, what then does it do? Then the godly humble themselves and glorify God. Genesis 18:27: "may I speak to you, I who am but dust and ashes?" and Isaiah 6:5: "I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips." There is nothing that so humbles a child of God as the beloved sin. Luke 5:8: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." The devil, with all his onslaughts, cannot make Paul so humble as that indwelling evil can, Romans 7:21. That is the second point.

3. The third is: never to be indifferent or careless about one's beloved sin. It is the captain of all sins; if you are indifferent toward it, it could easily lead you into capital sins. Psalm 13:3: "lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." There is no sin over which the godly groan so much, when they are rightly disposed — they cannot bear it; they are glad when its power somewhat diminishes, but never unbowed by it. The godly would not be rightly disposed if they were not afraid of it: they never mistake that adder for a dove — no, the godly are wary of the beloved sin; they pass a different judgment on it than the world does. Paul did not regard corruption as a dove; "it is sin that dwells within me," he said, Romans 7:21. Not everyone is rightly disposed who regards it as a little dove, but they are rightly disposed who regard that pet as an adder.

4. A godly person does not feed his beloved sin: he who feeds his own defect feeds his enemy. When you and I are sick, we avoid such food as would increase the sickness. Oh, if you are sick with a beloved evil, do not feed it: if you do, God will send a leanness into your soul. If your heart looks fondly on a beloved evil, God will not listen to you. If your sin is pride, do not listen to it; or if your sin is flattering others, or if your sin is quick temper, do not keep company with an irritable man, or it will utterly overthrow you.

5. However often that beloved sin returns, the godly can never grow used to it — there is never a convenient day to welcome it: it is in their eyes the ugliest, the boldest, the most improper, the most dishonoring to God, the most ruinous to them. "Beyond all my other evil," they say, "I have added this to it," and it remains to them the most loathsome — they can never reconcile themselves to it.

6. One seeks to conduct oneself devoutly in this regard. As the soul sickens through sins, it seeks healing from the Lord. When you and I have once been sick, we longed for health. That woman in Luke 8:43 gave all her goods and living to the physicians in order to be made well. So it is also with a sick soul: "I said, O Lord, be merciful to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." Why does a sick person seek to become well? A sick person cannot work, he has no desire for anything. So it is also with the soul: "Lord," they say, "I cannot work to your honor, I am so sluggish, lazy, and idle, I cannot rise from the bed of my ease" (Song of Songs 5:3). No one can be a true child of God who does not delight to work for God's honor. Ah, said that man of his evil sickness, Psalm 19:13: "keep back your servant from presumptuous sins." He put it just so, showing where his trouble lay, and said, that must go, of that I must be healed — oh, break the power of my corruption!

7. The seventh godly conduct lies in this: they seek to train themselves in doing the opposite. If their sin is quick temper, oh, they say, let me be longsuffering! If their sin is quarrelsomeness, oh Lord, they say, let me keep peace! If their sin is vindictiveness, Lord, they say, let me gladly forgive! They go and do just the opposite. "My flesh," they say, "whether you like it or not, I shall do the contrary." If it is willfulness, they say, in humility let each esteem the other better than himself. If their sin is quarrelsomeness, they say, the church of God has no such custom. This, and what we mentioned one Wednesday — they go and do the opposite of it.

8. The eighth godly conduct is this: "Oh God," they say, "how gladly would I die, for two reasons! One, to glorify you; and the other, to be rid of my little lamb." It was already a great deal in Paul that he said, 2 Corinthians 5:1: "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." But it was even more that he said, "we groan, being burdened, longing to be further clothed with our habitation which is from heaven" (verses 2 and 4). But it was still more when he said, 2 Timothy 4:7, 8: "I am glad that my path is at its end, the fight is over — I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."

9. The ninth godly conduct is: I should very much like to know which is the nearest and best way to overcome my corruption; what benefit shall come to me, once I have, by God's blessing, brought it under control, and once I have strength of mind against it! And they do not give up, even knowing that they will not be able to overcome it fully before their death: "I shall nonetheless fight against it," they say, "even though I cannot win outright — should I let it go its careless way? No, I must win; Amalek must not remain the strongest; God is able to strengthen you and keep you from stumbling. Lord," they say, "you have power, please perfect your strength in my weakness! Lord, it is nothing to you to help the mighty or the powerless — O Lord, do it." They know that lamenting on their knees: I cannot give it up, show me your grace, O Lord!

10. Finally they say: you shall give way, or I declare war on you until my death. Every day, at every opportunity, they are in this fight. Galatians 5:17 — there flesh and spirit stand against each other, sword in fist: the flesh wants to be master, but the spirit will not allow it; "I will humble you," says the flesh; "you may do your best," says the spirit, "but I will not let you win." It is: this Isaac must die, this Uriah must be set in the hottest part of the battle — and they wage war not only against small or great sins, but especially against that little lamb. "That must go," they say, and so they do not send some common soldier to take up the fight against it, but they themselves take the field against the strongest enemy in the war. They do not say, "deal gently for my sake with the young man," with Absalom, as David did; nor do they say, "let Barnabas rather not die," as the Jews did when asked, "shall I put your king to death?" No — rather they would say, "and if you let this one go free, you shall not be God's friend." So it is when a godly person is in good spiritual health.

We have now shown you: 1. When it works badly, when the godly hear of their beloved sin. 2. When it works well. 3. Their godly conduct regarding it. It now remains, that an honest soul will say, show us a way to be delivered from it. That is a subject we shall reserve for another occasion. Then we shall show you the way to be delivered, under God's blessing, from that beloved evil. And then the third part, the struggle between flesh and spirit. And so we shall conclude the eighth mark of the state of grace, and, if we live, move on to another. The Lord bless his Word to us and to you, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 79

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which one finds these three things: I. What way one must take, to overcome the power of the beloved sin, that pet indulgence. II. A small objection removed — namely, that you should never regard it as a trifle. III. A word of encouragement to those who think they will never overcome it.

Text: Song of Songs 2:13. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Who is speaking there? It is he who is called "fairer than the children of men" (Psalm 45:2). It is he of whom the beloved bride says, "behold, you are fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant" (Song of Songs 1:16). But of whom does he speak this here? Is it of the angels, who have never known any sin? Is it of the spirits of the perfectly righteous, who have laid aside all sin? Or is it of that fair being of whom we read, Genesis 1:27, "God created man in his own image and likeness" — of him of whom the Preacher speaks and says, "only, this have I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions" (Ecclesiastes 7:29)? No, it is none of these. Whom then does he call his fair one? A black one — one who through sin had lost all her beauty, who through sin has become black, and through the punishment has lost all her comeliness. "When you with rebukes correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty to consume away like a moth" (Psalm 39:11). What does a moth do? It destroys all the ornament of a garment. What does sin do? It destroys the beauty of the soul, as disease does to the body. How disease can bring a person so low that he no longer knows himself — it makes him look like death itself. What bodily sickness does to the body, sin does to the soul: it brings about a complete change in a person, so that he no longer resembles what he once was, so that one must say of him, as in Lamentations 4:1, "How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! they that were smoother than sapphire, and ruddier than rubies, have become black."

But if such people are so foul through sin and its punishment, of whom the Lord here speaks, how then does he say, "you are my fair one"? Yes, but you must know that he heals backslidings (Hosea 14:4). You must know that he is the chief Physician of the soul. He can not only give health when a soul is sick through sin and punishment, but he can also give beauty. He takes away the sickness of guilt, and the loathsomeness of defilement. A doctor of the body may bring the sick to health, when it pleases the Lord to bless it — but you have never seen one who could at the same time make him comely. Our dear Lord Jesus is such a one — he gives both health and beauty. What then does he do to her? Does he bestow his own glory upon her? Indeed he does, Ezekiel 16:14. He makes her fair by a few things.

1. By changing her nature: she does not remain as she was before. If you meet a changed person, you must say, whose glorious image do I see in you? "My image," says the Lord (Colossians 3:9, 10; Ephesians 4:24).

2. What does the Lord do, when he makes her fair? Then he says to that soul, I lay my righteousness upon you, with which you shall be able to stand before God and men (Isaiah 45:24). That will make all that is ugly vanish, and through it you shall obtain a felt forgiveness of sins, so that no inhabitant will be able to say because of it, "I am sick" (Isaiah 33:24). Then you are washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14).

3. He makes her fair, when his Spirit comes to take his place. They must not only be justified, but also sanctified, "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). "Lord, you are going away," they said. "My Spirit will come in my place," he answered; "he will complete my good work in you; it is expedient for you that I go away," he said (John 16:7). When the Spirit comes into the heart, "I cannot bear to see you so foul," he says, and he cleanses her, and he washes her (1 Corinthians 6:11).

So they become fair. But Lord, you call them fair — yet however greatly graced someone may be, he is still so foul, and there are still such black blemishes in him, and fundamentally they will never be fair here. Only when they have laid down their lives will they be fair through glorification; then they will stand once for all bright, spotless, and without wrinkle before the Lord.

"Rise up," says the Lord, "my love, my fair one, and come away." To what end, Lord, am I not then fair? Yes, but it is not perfect — you shall remain marked with blemishes as long as you live; watch, keep your garments, let them be white at all times. In particular, you must watch over one stain, the natural blemish — it will spread if you do not watch against it, that besetting sin, your pet indulgence, the thing you love, that Uriah — set him in the hottest part of the battle, or your sanctification will not go forward, if you do not attend to this.

That is where we wish to be at present. You know that we have been treating the hatred of sin, and so also of the beloved sin. Recently we saw the godly conduct in regard to it. Whoever has heard it and remembers something of it, and who in his heart has had to think, I must and I will address this, but how do I come to act so — give me, please, a word of counsel, how can I get through it, how shall I overcome it? How do I crush that basilisk's egg to pieces, so that no adder bursts forth from it? I am willing to try, by that gift and grace, but show me, please, the way I must take, so that I may cause that indwelling evil to lose its power. This we have resolved, and shall now seek to do — first, how must I set about it, in order to overcome it? Then, we shall seek to remove a small difficulty from your heart: it might sometimes seem too easy for you to say, "it must show somewhere that I am human." Finally, we shall have a small word of encouragement. These three points we shall now take up.

I. What way must I take, to gain strength against my indwelling sin, that pet indulgence, in order to overcome it? II. We shall say: mind, indeed, that you should not think it a light thing. III. Someone will say, I shall never overcome it in my life — for that we shall have a little word of encouragement.

As to the first: what way must we take, according to the Word, to get the beloved sin put to death and to go forward on the way of sanctification?

1. First, you must have it often and vividly in your heart, how necessary this is. You must reckon it so necessary that you begin to say in your heart, either I must remain outside God's fellowship, or it must go. If you wish to hear, "come, you blessed," then that evil must go. If you wish to hear, "depart, you cursed," then let it remain. This confirms the saying of the Lord Jesus, Matthew 5:29: your right eye must be plucked out — is it not better to go to heaven with one eye than to go to hell with two?

2. If you would take that way, you will not stumble, when you think: why has God given me so much more time than others, and spared me so many years since receiving grace? "I have given you time," says God, "to repent, and you have not done it" (Romans 2:4). Sinner, God spares you too, and you do not repent. And God says: I gave you time after receiving grace, but it was so that you should put to death your members which are upon the earth (Colossians 3:5), and crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts (Galatians 5:24).

3. Consider in your heart what a good aftertaste it gives you, once you have been engaged in that work. It seems, when you begin, to give no occasion for joy — but once you have persisted, the felt aftertaste is sweet. It is with this as with a surgeon and a patient: while he is cutting and lancing, that gives no occasion for joy, but once the cure is complete, and the limb has been removed and healed, then they are glad that the rotten has been separated from the sound. So it is here too: one is often unwilling to part with one's besetting sin — it is as though one wanted to take heaven itself out of one's heart, and joy out of the church — but it is good, when one says, "Barnabas must die," and you will find that your heart is never more spacious nor bolder before God than when you can say, "nothing lies hidden with me, Lord, I am an enemy of all sins, and of this one too." Then you will find that sunshine is in your soul, when you can say, "I am conscious of nothing against myself" — so said Paul, and so said Job, "there is no such matter hidden with me" — and that gave them a wonderful boldness of spirit.

4. If you would make blessed progress, you must see God's eye fixed upon your heart. God says: I see your ways; I dwell in unapproachable light; you cannot see me with your bodily eyes, but I see you with my eye of omniscience. When that weighs upon a person, then one trembles and quakes, then it is: "my heart, are you truly of the seed of Jacob, if you do not stand in awe before his face?" (Psalm 22:23). Would you hide yourself from God, so that he could not see you? Does he not know you through and through? "Are not the eyes of the Lord in every place, beholding the evil and the good?" (Proverbs 15:3).

5. If you would gain strength against it, then say: O my God, I see — there is no sin that is set so often in the light of my countenance; but do not set it in the light of your countenance to contend against me (Psalm 90:8). Let it, as often as it comes, appear ugly in your eyes and be a burden to you, and that will be a means of forsaking it. "Put that dead thing away from before my face," says such a soul, "Lord, I cannot bear to see it, neither in myself, nor in my children, in great or small."

6. Consider once, if others knew it, how ashamed would you be? You might even avoid their company, if they had once seen it. What will they think of me, if it comes out — and who can so contain himself that it never comes to light? A person does not like to walk before others' eyes crippled in body, nor in soul either. "When you took note of my halting," said David, "then I was watchful, then I was so on my guard."

7. When you see your besetting sin, do not hang a little cloak or mantle over it. That Job could not do: "then," said the man, "I should not only remain foul, but make myself fouler; oh Lord, you plunge me in the ditch; I have already taken snow water and soap, yet however I try to excuse myself, I only grow fouler." See Job 9:20-31.

8. Take note of the danger that lies in it. There is no sin that brings you into greater danger. If you go along with ticklings, lusts, stirrings — if such wanderings overtake you, you are in danger, so that all who know you will cry out over it, some for joy, shouting "aha," and others for grief. Zion grieved that the king had fallen so, and therefore he prayed, "do good in your good pleasure to Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem" (Psalm 51:18).

9. Look at the scorpion's tail it has: look at it from behind, for at the front it often makes a fine show. They are like those locusts whose faces had the appearance of women, but whose tails were like scorpions: they present themselves as though they gave some pleasure, but it is short and sweet, and the aftertaste of the beloved sin is deeply felt, long-lasting, and bitter. "I am in great distress," said David (2 Samuel 24:14). Then it is: I dare not lift up my eyes, I am ashamed and confounded, my bones are dismayed and shattered, my moisture is turned into the drought of summer (Psalm 32:4).

10. Do not associate much with those who are bound to the same sins; keep only a slight acquaintance with them — even if it be a blood relation, avoid them. Why? If it is a besetting sin that rules in such a person, it can do you considerable harm. Even if such a one still struggles against it somewhat, you will nonetheless find that you are of no use to each other; on every occasion you will be wounded by one another, in word or deed, and you will each inflame the other's heart to sin. That is why Paul and Barnabas parted (Acts 15), and why Abraham and Lot, seeing this, parted from one another in good peace (Genesis 13).

11. Solemnly declare war, in private, between God and your heart. Go apart alone from time to time, and swear an oath against your corruptions, as in Psalm 119:106: "I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep your righteous judgments." "Dearest Lord," they say, "from this day forward I place myself in your presence, in war against it." It wages war against the soul, so it is only fitting that I should dash it against the rock — for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other (Galatians 5:17).

12. Give it often a great and fierce assault: keep a fast day, and observe it so — not with much feasting, but eating somewhat less, more sparingly, indeed even abstaining altogether from food or drink. 1 Corinthians 7:5 — the husband or the wife separates for a time for fasting and prayer. If you do this, then we may tell you: God helps the one who fights.

13. If you nonetheless feel it rising up in you, shake it off at once — like fire that falls on a garment, which one shakes off immediately. Why? If you do not, it grows; it gains strength the moment you dwell on it even a little; so shake it off, as Paul did with that viper that fastened on his hand, and flee, as Joseph did.

14. Consider, if you have grace, how many mighty Goliaths you have already felled, how many beams you have already removed, how many camels you have already made pass through the eye of a needle, how many afflictions have already been healed in you — what sins that once ruled and oppressed or tormented you are now no longer in you. Have you overcome such great things, and would you not overcome the splinters? Once you were such, but now you are washed, you have overcome it (1 Corinthians 6:11). Paul was once a blasphemer — did he now feel nothing of it? Yes, but the difference is great: he was never again seized by any desire to return to it. If you keep this course, it will be blessed.

15. Now we come to the last, and that is the most compelling of all. You must picture that God, from his high throne, calls you by name and addresses you: let each strike down his sin, let your eye spare none. You must picture that he speaks to you from his throne above and says: say to all corruptions, and to each one of them, get out — if you seek me, let this one go. Is God worth more to you, or the sin? This Jonah must go overboard: how many storms it has stirred up in your heart, house, church, and country! Do not expect that I will still your soul, if you let it lodge overnight, if you do not let it go, you shall not see Jesus made known to you. Well, my chosen beloved, what have I done to deserve this of you, that you should harbor lovers in your heart, and that I must withdraw? Is my love not worth enough, that you should give up your pleasure and ease for me? Is my love not worth enough, that you should spit out that tasty morsel of sin? What are these secret besetting sins doing in your heart, which are burning coals to me and to you? If you would follow me, let this go — I cannot bear it, it would be a burden to me. My dear children, my fair one, do you mean it with me or not? Are you the bride of the Lamb, and would you let a spirit of adultery lodge between your breasts? Such an address must grieve our hearts. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? (James 4:4). Picture the Lord Jesus saying to you from his throne: will you repay the Lord like this? Will you repay the Father like this, who chose you, and gave me to you? Will you repay me like this, who suffered such agonies of hell for your sins? Will you repay the Spirit like this, who came to draw you, who teaches you, counsels, instructs, and encourages you? What wrong, then, have you found in me? Am I then not better to you than that beloved evil? Then from which would you rather part — from me, or from that? What do you think — is this not a fair and glorious way, and will there not be a blessing upon it?

II. Now our second point. You will think: what does it matter, I shall never overcome it in my life anyway! That I well know — but would you act wisely, if you had a bodily ailment, in your eye, or in some other limb, that looked unsightly, and you said, let it just fester, I shall never overcome it in my life anyway, it will never be fully healed? You would not act so in bodily matters.

1. Would it not do harm? It often brings God into conflict with your soul: "I cannot bear that," says God, "my wrath is justly kindled, that you have gone and done that" — David, in numbering the people.

2. Would it not do harm? The whole strength of your sinful nature lies in the beloved sin. It will lead you from lesser things to heavier ones, and will finally overturn you completely, so that you will not even dare think of the Lord Jesus or of your first works. Samson's strength lay in his hair; the strength of your sinful nature lies in your beloved sin.

3. Consider once what harm it has already done you. How it cools your heart! How it has taken from you that inexpressible thing, the assurance through the kisses of God's mouth, through tasting and feeling — indeed at times even the assurance gained through reasoning — how far it has driven your soul from peace!

III. Now the third point, which is a word of encouragement to those who think they will never overcome it.

1. If you would take this way, do not say, I shall never get through it — for it is not impossible with God's help and assistance. There was once someone who said, "oh God, I have lost the Lord Jesus with Peter, but I have no strength to be converted again with Peter." Do not say, even though I have grace, I have no strength to overcome my corruption — all things, and this too, can be overcome by the power of God. You will not overcome it entirely, but far enough that it will no longer have its former force.

2. Only set to the work, and it will give way: then it falls back and lies as if dead, when you attack it manfully.

3. Lay the axe of mortification daily to the root, and you will live holy and safe, in quietness and largeness of soul. You will never live more joyfully or more freely than when you have the greatest assurance of God's favor. Then it very nearly departs, once you take this way; then it will not stir so much, the dragon does not then lift up its head.

4. In struggling you will win, and you will at times gain the victory. Amalek might now and then have the victory, but he was defeated at the last. Adam, the perfect man, had no corruption within, though he had temptations from without. The angels in heaven, those perfect spirits, had neither corruption within nor temptations from without — and yet both fell; by their own willful choice they fell. You have corruption within, temptations without, and sometimes very weak grace — and would I win, you say? Galatians 5, where Paul lists the works of the flesh, and there were some sixteen or seventeen of them, and then he still says, "and such like"; while the fruits of the Spirit were only nine or ten — and with those you must stand against those seventeen. But the Lord Jesus helps you, and "you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you" (Philippians 4:13).

So you see, a child of God is fair, even though he is unsightly. If you now have a desire to put your beloved sin to death, we have shown you the way to do so. We said: always avoid one thing or two; never think, it can do no harm. We gave a little word of encouragement. Bruised reeds — the Lord will not break you; smoking flax — he will not quench you. Hope in the name of the Lord Jesus, even though there came more smoke than light from you — he will make his beloved fair.

There you have the point concerning the hatred of sin. Now we must still consider the warfare — how they fight and strive against it. God willing, that at another time. The Lord bless this word to us and to you, and may he grant us hereafter to walk before him in white garments, to his honor, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 80

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these five matters are treated: I. That every godly person has two persons within. II. What these two persons are. III. That they both come forth. IV. How they are disposed, when both have come forth, and when they meet one another in conflict. V. Whether God, when he has changed us, could not have removed the whole corrupt nature altogether.

Text: Job 7:1. Has not man a warfare upon earth?

And we may well add: does not every godly person have his own particular struggle? Yes, and it is a dangerous and long-lasting struggle indeed, of which no history or book makes mention. It is not a struggle for goods and blood, but it concerns heaven and the whole of salvation; it concerns the soul and eternal happiness. The way to heaven is not easy. The city lies above, and below lie the enemies, and one can go by no other way than where the enemy lies. It is not short, but as long as they live it is a matter of battle and warfare — that war does not cease as long as they live. It goes with a person traveling toward heaven as it went with Israel traveling toward Canaan. It was a land flowing with milk and honey: how glad they were that they might go there! But they had to fight with giants and with the sons of Anak. So it is also with a child of God: they journey toward that Land where there is fullness of joy forever and ever, but for that they must fight in a fearful manner. We read in 1 Samuel 14 that Jonathan and his armor-bearer passed between two cliffs, one a cliff of thorns, the other of bogs, through which they had to crawl. David's mighty men, wanting to fetch water for the king, broke through the camp of the Philistines. So it goes with a godly person: there are three regiments with whom the godly must do battle, if they wish to go to heaven.

1. The first is the army of the devil. As soon as they receive grace, that roaring lion comes against them, that wicked enemy of all the godly — indeed, then all the gates of hell come against them. 1 Peter 5:8-9: be steadfast in the faith, have courage and boldness to resist him, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). Why? The devil has a bad case, quickly enough — he has lost his dominion. The moment you make peace with God, your peace is war with the devil.

2. The second regiment is the world. The world is your friend to your face, but your enemy in its heart; in one hand it holds a golden apple to lure you, and in the other a sword to strike you dead. The world is to the godly what Delilah was to Samson: she lets you sleep in her lap with a devilish intent; she gives her kiss and betrays. She stood before Achan with a golden tongue in one hand, and fire in the other — which Achan did not see, but which afterward he had to taste.

3. The third regiment is our own heart, which we carry in our own bosom — the deceitful heart. Who would ever have believed that someone could become an enemy of himself? Yet here it is true, we lie in wait for our own blood. Read that text, Micah 7 — it says that it would be such an evil time that one would have to say, trust not in a close friend, keep the door of your lips from her who lies in your bosom, a man's own household would be his enemies. If that is true anywhere, it is true regarding your heart: keep your heart above all else that is to be guarded, for you can suffer terrible harm through it (Proverbs 4:23). We read a history of a godly man, Basil: to escape the lusts and temptations of the world, he fled into the wilderness and went to live alone. He was a man like the sons of the Rechabites, who went to live outside the cities. What need have we to cite histories outside the Bible? The Church herself says, "Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, that I might find there a good little company! Then would I leave my people, and go from them, for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men" (Jeremiah 9:2). Now this Basil, once he had forsaken everything, how did he find it? "Oh God," he said, "I have forsaken everything, but I am tormented by my own evil nature; my corruption torments me." That great Luther used to say, that as for enduring the hatred of the whole world for God's cause, that he did not fear so much, as he feared his own corrupt heart: that he feared more than all the popes and cardinals, and more than whole armies.

If a soul receives grace, how much strength it needs to fight against the flesh! But whoever will bravely set upon it here does not do so without hope of winning. Such can say what Abijah once said to Jeroboam: "what do you come to do? God is with us, and you have golden calves!" (2 Chronicles 13). So a child of God may say: God is at the very front, it shall go well, I have hope, my heart does not fail me!

Beloved, in the treatment of these spiritual matters we had come to this subject. We have in hand the eighth mark of the state of grace, which is: hatred of all sin. There is not one godly person who loves a sin; they hate all sin, they commit no sin with approval — even if they fall into it, they still do not condone it. That hatred we have shown you. Then followed a second subject under that mark, which was, how strangely disposed even the godly are with regard to shameful evils. First we made you acquainted with such shameful sins, and then we showed you how the godly conduct themselves regarding them, and finally we said, you must guard yourselves against those shameful sins. From that followed a third subject, how a person must be disposed regarding his beloved sin, that pet indulgence, his besetting sin, which so often overtakes us. That we have now dealt with, and we said there remained a fourth subject, an inward and spiritual one, namely, that one who hates sin has a continual struggle between flesh and spirit. This struggle is little understood, even among the godly. In order to show you this struggle, and lay it open before you in all its parts, we shall first show that there are two persons in every godly person, and between these two there is a continual combat. Then we shall see how the one carries on and lays the other low. Then, how the other carries on and resists, in order to win. Then, how these two fight each other to the death: the old nature does not rest until it has brought the new nature to perfection, it torments it so long until it is beyond its reach; and the new nature does not rest until it is freed from the old. Then we shall show whether such a struggle exists only in the godly, and whether there is none in the ungodly. Then, the distinction there is between the godly and the ungodly. Finally, the last point, with which we shall conclude, will be, when you must judge whether your temptations are from the devil or from your own heart. God willing, we shall seek to show you these seven points. I say: 1. There are two persons in every godly person. 2. The one combatant seeks to overcome and lay low the other. 3. The other seeks to lay low its opponent. 4. They do not rest until they have fought each other to the death. 5. We shall see whether it can be said that there is such a struggle in the ungodly. 6. The distinction there is between the godly and the ungodly. 7. When we should judge that temptations come from our own heart or from the devil. Those are the matters.

We shall have enough for this hour with the first point. You know that no war is waged without a very great preparation beforehand, and those preparations require their own time. So I must first show you the preparations. Therefore: I. We shall show you that it is true, that in every godly person there are two persons. II. We must know what they are. III. We shall set forth for you that they both come out into the open. IV. We shall show you how they are disposed, when they meet each other in combat. V. We shall answer a question: could God not have removed the corrupt nature entirely, when he changed us?

Those, then, are our five points — grasp them in your understanding. 1. Every godly person has two persons in himself. 2. What are these two persons? 3. They both come out into the open. 4. How are they disposed, when they come against each other? 5. Could God not have arranged that we had no corruption, when he regenerated us? Yes — and why he does not do so.

I. As to the first point. A godly person is a strange creature, however one looks at him; he is especially strange in this, that he still has two persons within himself. He has a body, and into it God has placed a spirit, and God has laid a bond of union between them, for as long as he has appointed that they should live together. Now, in that person a godly man has two persons — a good one, who is very good, and a bad one, who is very bad. You need not be too astonished at this. It is not unlike that picture God gave us of that woman in Genesis 25, who said, "why am I like this? what is happening to me?" — for behold, twins were in her womb, Jacob and Esau. It is not altogether unlike that woman who bore Perez and Zerah: now the one wanted to break through, now the other. God gives, in his Word, pictures drawn from nature, by which he depicts spiritual things. We read of Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, which means "twin" (John 20:24). How is one of these two named? Nature (Ephesians 2:3); the old man (Ephesians 4:22); the flesh, which lusts against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17); the image of the first Adam, the image of the earthly (1 Corinthians 15:49). "Adam begot a son in his own likeness, after his image" (Genesis 5:3). It is called the foreskin of the heart (Jeremiah 9:26), the heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26), the evil treasure of the heart (Matthew 12:35), an evil tree (Matthew 7:18). In a word, to be a slave and bondwoman of sin and of the devil (Romans 6:16, 1 John 3:8, John 8:44). Everywhere you will find texts that name him thus, who rises up in combat against the other.

But what does God call the other? As his nature is good, so also he has good names. He is a heart of flesh, a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26); a new man (Colossians 3:10); an inward man, a hidden man of the heart (Romans 7 and 1 Peter 3:4). God calls him a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). God calls him by everything that is fair and glorious. Now you may consider, when God gives names, what that must mean. Adam gave each creature a name according to its nature; when God then does this, it is likewise according to its nature.

II. Now you will ask, what is the old man, and what is the new man, and what is their nature? That we shall tell you too. You often do not think much about it. The nature of the old man, of the sinful nature, is the ugliest and most hateful nature there is, and it came into the sinner after the fall. What does he lack? A true vision — he has no righteousness, no holiness, no peace, no joy, no true contentment, and that reigns in him so entirely toward sin that his understanding and all his powers are stirred up to sin. He is fit for every evil, and to commit every abomination. It is a nature that God cannot endure: he hates everything God commands and everything that resembles God. It is a nature that delights in doing sin: all its desire is bent toward sin — then it is thoroughly content, and it hates everything that resembles God. Titus 1:16: disobedient, and unfit for any good work. To serve the devil is its whole delight: could it satisfy itself in that, it would gladly forgo God and heaven; "let me but forever satisfy my desire, then I am well content" — such is it. Now what is that other person, set over against it? That is the new nature, that is to be a partaker of the divine nature; that is a holy and spiritual nature, which will not, cannot, and may not sin. It cannot sin as before; it is a sanctified and spiritual nature, which can be satisfied with nothing but being with God and set upon God, which has but a single desire, to please God, in all its aims, movements, and motives, in its conversation with people, in its calling, alone, in the movements of the heart, the thoughts, in all its walk. That nature can have no fellowship with the world; it is always and in everything one with God, and it seeks to live set apart. It says: has God set me apart from all the rest by election — must I remain set apart from the rest in my death, in the resurrection, in the judgment, in eternity — then I will also live set apart in the world. To it applies what is said of Joseph in Genesis 49, "the one set apart from his brothers." They do not rest until they are with God, out of the world. The first is such a wicked and devilish nature, but the other is a partaker of the divine nature.

III. You will ask, how do those two parties act within a godly person? Ah, how would they act! They are not still — they duel. There is not one child of God who does not experience this, whether weak or strong, whether he is an oak of righteousness or a bruised reed: they all have both a regenerate and an unregenerate part, and none is without it. Sinner, you say, I thank God, my heart is good — but you do not know what you are saying. A godly person says, there is nothing I know less what to do with than my own heart, for—

1. There is not one godly person known in the whole Bible without this. Read and reread them as often as you like, you will find it so. At one time they show their nature, at another their grace. It is always: "oh, that I might once be released from that old man!"

2. It is not now and then in them, but always, night and day, in all their convictions, whether in prosperity or adversity, whether they walk in the light of God's face or live under his hidden face and under the cross — night and day, in every circumstance.

3. They are in one and the same place together, they are in the same room with us. Do you think that the one man sits in the understanding, and the other in the will? that one corruption is in your conscience, the other in your memory? No, it is everywhere — the nature sits in the understanding, in the will, in the memory, in the conscience, in love, in hatred, in sorrow, in fear, in joy: it is everywhere in the same room with us. To make this clear to you: it is exactly like the twilight, where you have light and darkness together; it is like lukewarm water, where you have warmth and cold combined.

4. They cannot come to terms. To make this clear to you: it is like fire and water in one vessel — they will not mix with one another; the vessel would sooner burst. "No peace," says the spirit; "no peace," says the flesh (Galatians 5:17). And the one makes the other languish and sigh: the flesh makes the spirit sigh; the flesh says to the spirit, you get enough; and the spirit says to the flesh, you get too much; the flesh says, you pray too much; the spirit says, I do not pray enough; the flesh says, you go to church too often; the spirit says, you do not go often enough. Solomon says, it is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a contentious woman (Proverbs 21:9). Do you know anything more deadly than that? I know something still more deadly — the quarreling within: for from the one, on the corner of a roof, you can at least be freed, but not from this.

5. They do not yield to each other a single foot. Grace says, I want to pray, to read, to love the Lord; the flesh says, I will not yield, for then all my pleasure would perish; I would fall sick, says nature, I do not want to read, not to pray, and not to love God.

6. Finally, when they set themselves out, each has its own following. The corrupt nature has the devil as its ally, it has the corrupt heart on its side, it has the world as its ally, it has its wicked company as its ally: but the good nature has God as its helper, the triune God. "I have loved you," says God, and the angels of God rejoiced when they saw your conversion — and now they rejoice again, now that they see you standing so in your position. Who else is with it? The godly, who help and support one another as long as they can. And conscience is such a friend to you: "you rejoice me," it says, "when you hold so closely to God." Indeed, the whole Bible, the whole ministry of the Word is on its side, and all edifying treatises and all stirring little books that they read. That is the following. See there, beloved, how the duelists take the field like roaring lions.

IV. The fourth point is: how do they go into battle? How is nature disposed in the struggle? How is the old nature disposed, and how is the new nature disposed? When one is to watch a duel, one learns how the combatants will fare, by what state of mind they show.

If you wish to see the new nature first — for it is the better of the two — when it comes out, how is it disposed?

1. First, it seeks to guard itself against discouragement. "Let me," it says, "not be too bowed down, not too dejected; let my heart not fail me," it says.

2. So it takes hold of courage. "Not only," it says, "must I not be discouraged, but I must also be brave; it is certain to me that I must win." How does it know that it must win? Because the great and mighty God is on its side. "If God be for us, who can be against us? In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:31, 37). "When I see," it says, "that my corruptions become too strong for me, I will keep a fast day, and God will help the fighter." What more? "I need only be brave, and if I sin, there is forgiveness, freely, by grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24); "who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us" (2 Corinthians 1:10). "I hope, I must win; I hope that what I am not now, and will never become here, I shall become in my death" (Ephesians 5:27) — a church without spot or wrinkle. I must be brave, for the Spirit of God who dwells in me is not a spirit of fear, but of power and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

"I go, then, into battle, but my heart does not tremble; I am well provided with weapons, I hope in the living God" (Ephesians 6:13). Behold the helmet of salvation on my head; behold my breastplate of righteousness — I walk in a good conscience void of offense before God (Acts 24:16). Behold my shield of faith — faith in the Lord Jesus, with which all fiery darts are quenched, so that the arrows of the devil have no hold on me. Behold the belt of truth about my waist — I am not a hypocrite, I am sincere, God is my witness, and to all: I do it from no pretense. Would you see the sword in my hand? That is the Bible, the Word of God. Would you see my feet standing shod with the readiness of the gospel? It is no forced game, I am glad of it. Would you hear my mouth? It is full of prayers and supplications. Whom then should I now fear? My heart is as a lion; I dare come forth before God, I need not be ashamed to enter the battle. If I sometimes hide myself somewhat, it is because I do not wish to appear a hypocrite, nor a proud man; it is because I know myself, I distrust myself, I do not know what I may yet come to. I live at times hidden in the land, but at times I must come forth, so that others see and say, that man is set to fight for God against his corrupt nature. Then I am content, it will not harm me; let my corruption then write a book against me, I will carry it on my shoulder, and it shall be my crown, that I hold with God. That is, I will yet count myself even lower than that, as David said (2 Samuel 6:22). And they say to the opposing party, as that same man said to Goliath, "you shall surely lose, for I come to you in the name of the Lord" (1 Samuel 17:45).

How now does the other, the old nature, stand? How is it disposed?

1. It has retreated, it hides itself, it does not want it known that it sets itself so against the new nature; it is ashamed when it is discovered that it is so opposed to it. Even if it had a harlot's forehead, it would be ashamed of it. It is like a thief and a murderer: when discovered, they dare not come into the light. Corruption is just like a house in which a thief hides: looking at it from outside, one would never suspect that something lurks there; looking at a person from outside, one would never think that such corruptions lurk within — one would often not dare to think that such things could be found in someone's heart. Would you ever have thought that of David, of Lot, of Noah, of Peter — that such corruptions lurked there? So it is with the old man — he dares not show himself, that he is so set against God...

2. It is so disposed that it clearly sees it must certainly lose. "I have nothing to expect," it says, "but to be broken; I shall suffer defeat," says the corrupt nature, "I have nothing to expect but to be broken." If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, then you, Haman, shall surely fall. "It is the seed of God," it says, "against which you are fighting so — you shall surely fall."

3. It cannot win, for it is impossible that the elect should be led astray; they will never return, like the dog, to their own vomit, nor like the sow, to wallowing in the mire. God's firm foundation stands; election is sure; the merits of Christ are too powerful; the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29). So they are disposed.

V. Now our fifth point is: dear God, could you not, when you changed us, have made us wholly and perfectly sanctified? Yes, our God could have done that. Just as well as he gave it to Adam, and just as well as he has given to one less and to another more grace, so also he could have given perfection, just as well now as after death. Yet that did not please God, and the will of God is wise in this, that he lets the old nature remain alongside the new nature; indeed it is glorious and wise, that the old and new nature go together, for—

1. In this you see every day the power of your God — how weak the one often is, and how strong the other, that the new nature is nevertheless not swallowed up and overcome.

2. Not only that, but you see every day the longsuffering of God, who says to you: with so many defects I must bear with you; that is my longsuffering, that I do not strike you dead at my feet, sinful as you are — in this you see the riches of God's longsuffering.

3. Through this God keeps us so small in our own eyes. We are such beasts of men. "I was so foolish, I was as a beast before you," said Asaph (Psalm 73:22). And that everyone must say. That nature makes us so small. "What business have you to be so great and proud," says grace, "look rather at your sins and wounds."

4. "Ah, dear Lord Jesus," it says, "you become so precious to me." So they go, with all their defects, every day to the Lord Jesus. Is that not the wisdom of God, that he uses such a means to bring us every day to the Lord Jesus?

5. Then the free grace of God shines forth all the more. What free grace is this, to be saved with so many sins! "By the grace of God," they say with Paul, "I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

6. Then they remain so courageous in the struggle, and they say to others: if you too will enter the fight, at the end of the struggle is the crown — you will not have fought in vain.

What do you say now? Is it not a remarkable matter? Have you well considered it? If you would put it into practice, it will help you on your way. That is our sermon on that subject, consisting of those five points: 1. There are two persons in every godly person. 2. What is the one, and what is the other? 3. They both come out into the open. 4. How are they disposed, when they go to the duel? 5. Could God not have removed that corrupt nature entirely, and could he not have removed it, when he changed her? Yes — for here is the wisdom of God, in letting that nature remain alongside grace. Otherwise nature would cry out, be fierce and proud, like Rabshakeh and Pharaoh: "who is the Lord? who is the God that could deliver you out of my hand? where are such-and-such cities? could the gods of those nations deliver them out of my hand?" said Rabshakeh to Hezekiah. "Would God save you?" says the natural man. Where is Adam, Lot, David, Peter — did they save themselves? It would say, like Goliath to David, "come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air to eat." Yet you shall in the end, all of it, overcome through the grace of God.

There you have the preparations. If it please God that we live, we shall in the future proceed to other subjects. We wish that the Lord may now be pleased to bless this to us and to you, for his Son's sake. Amen.

Sermon 81

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three things are treated: I. That the old nature comes to grips with the new. II. How cunningly it lays siege against the new. III. How it sometimes seems to gain ground.

We read in Song of Songs 2:16, My beloved is mine, and I am his. How sweet that must be, when you are assured that the Lord Jesus is ours! Song of Songs 7:10, I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Song of Songs 8:10, Then was I in his eyes as one that found favor. How pleasant that must be, when a soul is so sweetly embraced with the kisses of God's mouth! Ah, might I but have that! said a child of God. And if anything in the world is needful, it is this: to obtain the assurance that one has a part in Christ. Does God ever refuse that assurance in his Word? No — he gives very many proofs of it. What are they? This: if someone is a new creature, then he is a member of Christ. Again: are you a little branch in the vine? Then you live through faith in Christ. Do you want to know it? You can know it from the Spirit of Christ, if he dwells in you. There are so many marks by which you may know it — as, whether you have been given by the Father to the Son. You say, how shall I know that? By the drawing. How shall I know whether I have been drawn? Then you come to Christ. And among the signs there are, let us fix our eye on Galatians 5:24: They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. Is not the Lord Jesus, then, so watchful a Savior of yours — or what does our heart say? Long enough has the will of the flesh and of the thoughts been done; the flesh must no longer have its way. They might well say: as much will and delight as you had in sin when you lived according to your nature, so much pain and grief shall you

now have over sin. And how gladly, said one such soul, would I see the separation of my right eye, hand, and foot! Or if you say to her, can you now indeed part with that? Oh yes, they say. Would you keep not even one? said the Lord. Not I, Lord, they say. Jacob indeed could part with all his sons, but not with Benjamin. I have forsaken everything, said one such soul, even my Benjamin too; I know nothing better, Lord; whatever I can escape, I seek to escape; long enough have I served sin and pleased the world, and been an enemy of God — what still remains in me, that I will sigh out, that I will pray out, weep out, fast out, and beg away, and God, I hope, will help my struggling heart against it. Beloved, that is a sign that Christ is yours and that you are Christ's — a sign that is 1. clear, 2. true, 3. general, 4. particular.

1. It is a clear sign; anyone can grasp it, even a natural man — if you are a Christian, it must show itself.

2. It is a true sign. You always want to know whether your work is genuine; it is genuine when you cannot bear that old leaven any longer, and say, I must become a new lump.

3. It is a universal and general sign; it is a sign found in all the godly.

4. Do you want to know whether you are in Christ — all together, or each for himself — reckon it thus: you will crucify your flesh. Oh Lord, says that heart, I will avenge myself on my two eyes as Samson did — on the eye of my understanding and the eye of my conscience — that they be so put out: what have I done! Oh, it grieves me that I have so long done the will of the flesh.

This is the matter now in hand. That rare and remarkable point we considered last time, and we said that it was nevertheless clear. What was it? First we saw that in every godly person there are two men, and we asked: which are they? What is the one, and what is the other? The one duelist is the old nature, and the other is the divine nature; each received its name from God according to its kind. We also saw that these two are not lodged in separate chambers, but in one and the same place — in the understanding, in the will, in the judgment, in the conscience, in the affections; they dwell in one and the same chamber, but cannot agree. Then we saw that they challenge one another to a duel, the devilish nature and the divine nature, even unto death. You shall conquer me, or I shall conquer you, says the one nature, and the other says the same. One always wonders, when someone wishes to duel, what disposition he is in — we considered that too. Then, last time, we asked whether God, in changing a man, could not have so arranged it that he had no corruption left at all. We said, yes — had it pleased him, he could have made it as complete as at our death or at our first creation. Why does it not please God to do so? He does this to display his wisdom, and to glorify himself the more in Christ, and to keep us small and humble, to teach us the difference between the church militant and the church triumphant, and to teach us to know the Spirit of glory, as well as the Mediator and the Father. There remained to us, then, the duel: in one and the same chamber of our soul they do battle. That is what we have now to examine — how the duelists, nature and grace, fight one another. How the devilish nature fights, we shall now examine, and afterward, how the divine nature fights. At present, then, we shall show:

These are our three points. First, how it comes to grips. Then, how cunningly, skillfully, and artfully it knows to lay its siege — it does this not foolishly, but very shrewdly. Then, how it sometimes advances so fearfully that one must stand amazed at its advance.

I. As to the first: alongside the new nature in a godly person, there also sits an old nature; they have declared war on one another, a war that cannot be settled — it is an enmity that is irreconcilable. That old nature is peevish, quarrelsome, contrary; it will pick a fight. Philip once said to Nathanael, Come and see, John 1:47. So we too say: come, see how the old nature carries itself when it is on the attack. To show it to you in a picture, on which you must fix the eye of your soul, consider Cain and Abel: there is his brother at his devotions, and he strikes him dead. It is not unlike that of Jacob and Esau, those twins — how they wrestled in their mother's womb! It is not unlike the birth of Perez and Zerah: Perez broke through first. It is not unlike that of Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses. It is not unlike that of Michael the Archangel, who disputed with the Devil about the body of Moses. It is not unlike that of David and Goliath: would you save yourself? said he — I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens to eat. Where are the gods of the nations, said Rabshakeh — could they save them out of my hand? Shall, said that old champion, such a bruised reed as you save yourself out of my hand? It is not unlike that of 2 Samuel 2, when those twenty-four soldiers played there: let them play, said Joab; let them do it, said Abner — and they thrust the sword into one another's heart, so that all twenty-four lay there dead. The old man says: must you always pray so, read so, meditate so, exercise faith so, be so tender of conscience? It gives me no pleasure in my life — you give God everything, and I shall lose all my standing and esteem in the world. That I will not endure.

II. Now that we have shown you the pictures, we must see what the old nature does against the new. It gives battle in three ways, and that is our second point. Search your own heart and see whether you know this from experience. It says: 1. I want to lead you into sin. 2. I want to hinder all that is good. 3. If I cannot bring you to sin, and cannot hinder the good, then I will spoil the good in you. Oh God, you will have to say, so I find it to be. I want to have you go after sin, says the old nature; I will spoil and hinder what is good; I will give you such wounds.

1. The first is: I want to have you go after sin. It so incites: lust so stirs within, and when there is occasion, it carries the deed out before one even thinks of it — before one thinks of God's omnipotence and omnipresence, before one truly considers anything good, the sin is already accomplished. I will number the people, said David, 2 Samuel 24. He goes up to the roof, 2 Samuel 11, and there feeds his eyes on adultery. I will go into the hall, said Peter, Matthew 26, before he thought what would make him recoil. When the old nature leads us into sin, it dwells on the sin, and hides its shamefulness, its harmfulness, and its painful consequences; it will do no harm, it says — like the fisherman who hides his hook, or the fowler who hides his snare. So it seemed to David no sin at all, to number the people. Come now, says the old nature, you must have a bit more rest, you are too tightly strung, you will wear out your flesh and tire your heart, always being so godly — it is impossible to live that way; let your thoughts dwell a little on what is permitted, on your calling, on the things of the world. And once it has brought you that far, it says: now you must imagine what it is like to be a person who lives in riches and in high estate; even though you cannot attain it, delight yourself in the thought, as though you already had it, and dwell on it — how wantonly and busily you would live and carry yourself if you had it. And then the old nature carries it as far as it can. That is what comes of such indulgent musings: when occasion arose, you fell into such sins by reason of your nature, from which, by reason of grace, you thought yourself delivered. Then the old nature comes and dresses you up a bit. Carelessness, it says, you have strength enough against that — even if you go into such company, and read such books, by which you might indeed be led astray. Dinah — well, you will not fall, even though you go to see the daughters of that land; you have been too well brought up to misbehave. Well, Peter, you may go into the courtyard; you will not fall, even though all the others forsake him, you will not do that.

Then it comes with what is necessary, with what is honest, with propriety. Well, you cannot live like that, always so devout; well, you would not be able to attend to your calling, you would not be able to associate with any respectable person, you would put yourself in a position to do no good, either to yourself or to your own. Search your own heart — I know that this is how it goes: I want you to go after sin, you cannot always live like that, you would fall quite to ruin, you have strength enough to stand firm, you cannot otherwise live with anyone, and then you are not able to do good to yourself or your own — and so it leads to sin. If the sin is committed secretly, it will remain hidden, it says; and if it becomes known, then they have a thousand devices, they lie about it, and they take refuge in falsehood, or in worse things still. You can see that in Abraham, Isaac, Gehazi. Asa threw the seer into prison, and he oppressed many who belonged to his party. If you go after sin, you will feel all this happening.

2. If I cannot get you that way, I will set every practice to work to hinder what is good in you, it says. When I see that you want to pray, to read, to meditate, to live tenderly, to practice every virtue, then I will set all my devices to work to hinder that; I will hold you back from it. And it lays its siege cunningly. Well, it says, you see well enough that this is no time to pray, or to read; you know that this and that business needs doing; it is now no time to build the Lord's house, while our own houses lie in ruins — it is a contrary time, Haggai 1. It is like Leviticus 10, where Aaron's sons had been burned by fire from heaven; Moses says, where is the meat offering? why have you not eaten it? Aaron said, such things have befallen me — would it have pleased the Lord had I set aside my fatherly love and gone off to eat and drink? What Aaron rightly said there, the old nature wrongly says here: there is no time for it now, you are not fit for it. And it says, if you still do it, then do it only briefly, and in passing — do it only enough to quiet your conscience. The old nature says: certainly, a godly life is your duty, you must do it, and you shall do it — but not yet; put it off a while, until you have finished this or that business in your calling; you must first bury your father, you must first take leave of your friends; put it off yet a little longer, until you have lost your time, and lost the working of the Spirit. If you come to it afterward, then it is done without heart. Then the old nature says: you want to be so intent upon it, but it is only upbringing, it is no work of grace in you, you are only learning to parrot words, it is mere nature working in you — as proof of that, you are

...not pleasing to God, nor to men; God does not hear you and does not answer you — you must even complain that God does not hear you, and you are not pleasing to men either; they take you for a hypocrite, it is all mere pretense. Then she makes her last attack. I will resolve, she says, not to draw the reins so tight; I will give you a little and take a little; now and then I might as well go along with the world a bit — did Peter not nearly perish because he dissembled somewhat, and was not Barnabas also drawn away by his dissembling, and many with him? That good courtier turned against the prophet Micaiah: they all speak with one mouth good things to the king; let your word be as theirs, do the same. So says the old nature: do as others do, and you will find more welcome.

3. The third thing is this: when she cannot prevent it outright, she tries this instead, and says, I will corrupt the good in you; I will lay such a dead fly in your praying, reading, and going to the Lord's Supper, that it will spoil the good. How does this come about? In this way: you give yourself to reading, praying, going to the Supper, and to all that is precious, unwilling to be hindered — but you feel that you have no attention, your thoughts are scattered, your heart is not in the matter, your attention is gone; and then a swarm of birds comes and picks it all away. Over Abraham's sacrifice there came a swarm of birds of prey, and he could hardly drive them off. You have no attention under preaching or praying; you cannot say, as Abraham did, stay here. When you attend a sermon, when you sit under prayer, you do things that have no business there: if it is not preached to your liking, you read a chapter instead; you pray differently than the minister; you think of some blessing you once enjoyed, and then you get as much out of the preaching and praying as if you had not been there at all. The righteous must and will bear fruit and bring it forth in its season, Psalm 1:3. Then the old nature comes and says: are you troubled about that? Are you ashamed of it? You have been occupied with something good, and you have already made a better prayer than the minister; you had five talents where he had only one. Then she spoils it by bringing the self into it: that man is a minister, and you are only a private person. So the old self knows how to spoil the good in us by making us fall in love with the favor, honor, and esteem of men. Once you come to love your own honor, you are very easily checked in doing good. The last way she spoils it is finally this: that the old nature makes common cause with the devil — then he opens the sluices of the abyss, and comes with blasphemous and atheistic thoughts, by which the best work is corrupted. And instead of the refreshment they should have had from their work, they have terror instead, which has a harmful effect, so that they must say: whenever I think of God and of God's work, I make an outcry, and I have lost my refreshment, Psalm 77:4.

What do you think? Are these not dreadful things? Mark it well in your heart, and you will see that the devilish nature attacks under these three heads.

III. But how then does it stand? That is our third point. Does it advance? Alas, all too much. Ah Lord, says a child of God! Who advances? Is it not the devilish nature? Ah, how strong it is! When does it advance?

1. First, when you come to the work like a sluggard, so that you have slack hands and feeble knees, Hebrews 12:12. Moses' hands grew weary, Exodus 17:12. You are weary and faint, or you dread it, and come to it like a sluggard.

2. It advances when it makes us so fainthearted that we say: I give up trying to overcome my enemy, and there is no escaping or fleeing it. Romans 7:24: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me!

3. Then it advances when it deals such inward wounds: in the heart, in the understanding, in the judgment, in the will, in the conscience, in love, in hatred, in sorrow, in anger, in fear. Titus 1:15: both their mind and conscience are defiled. Everything is tainted, and nothing good dwells in them so far as concerns the flesh, the unregenerate part: the good that I would according to the regenerate part, that I do not do and cannot do, because I am so wounded; and the evil that I would not, that I do, with and according to the unregenerate part, Romans 7:18-19.

4. Then it advances when, instead of letting you stand, it brings you to stumbling, from stumbling to falling, and from common falls to grievous ones. The old devilish nature breaks through, and one goes from sin to sin; it comes to such a pass that one must keep one sin ready to cover up another. How this devilish nature wounded Noah, Lot, David!

5. Then it advances when it is seldom resisted, or gets its own way, and meets no more opposition in that point or in that deed.

Those are our points. Keep them in your heart — you and I must know them — but seek to set the new and godly nature against them. Where there is grace, God gives that nature. That nature too knows how to wage this war; it is not lacking in understanding either. How it advances is the matter of a following sermon: how this new nature does not sit still, but sets itself against the old. When Goliath comes against David, David also comes against Goliath. Let the old nature boast as Goliath did — God will deliver you into my hand; the new nature will be delivered as David was, and will say in humility, I come to you in the name of the Lord, and God out of heaven will deliver me from you; I have hope of victory. We shall leave it there for now, and pray God that he will bless what has been spoken, to us and to you, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 82

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which four points:

III. How she besieges it.
IV. When she advances.

We read Job 19:25: I know that my redeemer liveth. That was a man under the cross, and a man who was assured. How fair a thing it is to be assured of one's grace here, and of one's glory hereafter! The Papists may say that the Calvinist spirit is a melancholy spirit and a lie: we say that it is a fair thing indeed, to live assured. They must not say that this may belong only to a Job or a Paul, who were outstanding lights among God's children. They must not say that this is enjoyed only by the great ones. It is enjoyed by the little ones too. Paul said to the believing Romans, we are assured that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, Romans 8:35-39. That was not only for a Job and great Christians — the weak little reeds were included in it as well. The Papists may pronounce some curse upon it: we say that a child of God is nonetheless assured, and enjoys it nonetheless. And although some saints have it, some lack it — and those who lack it lay it to heart as a matter of the utmost weight: it is to them a pearl of great price, a thing scarcely to be obtained, they cannot live without it. When they lack it, all their groaning is for assurance, as in Psalm 35:3, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation, and Psalm 51 in that same well-known verse 6, make me now also to taste the certainty of my salvation, Lord, through your grace! The lack of it is unbearable to them. In the Song of Songs 3, there the bride lost it, the light of God's countenance, and she could not bear it.

How sweet it is to be assured! That God's children are so often not assured — there are reasons for this on God's side, on the devil's side, and on their own side.

1. God withholds it from them for holy reasons: because in that sweet fruit a worm grows; there is a dead fly in it; nature is so corrupt that it spoils grace. Psalm 30:7-8: I said, I shall never be moved, because you, Lord, of your favor had made my mountain to stand strong. The bride in Song of Songs 5 had put off her coat, thinking she need not gird herself for duty any longer. Peter said, I will not fear, though I should go into death, Matthew 26:35.

2. There are reasons on the devil's side. Two things he cannot bear: he envies that God is glorified, and that they are so refreshed by it. He cannot endure that God does with his own what he pleases; and if anyone is assured, he is at once at work against it: he cannot bear to see a Noah long in Paradise, nor a Lord Jesus long under that voice, this is my beloved Son, nor a Paul caught up into the third heaven, but he must feel his fists. There comes, as it were out of hell, a roaring: heaven, he says, I cannot take from you, but I will disturb you in it.

3. There are reasons on our own side. Our own side? We do not keep our promises and do not pay our debts. Does God lose his honor and is he troubled by it — is it as if that were only some minor ailment we can well bear? Then, through our uneven walk we quench the Spirit, and then God quenches our comfort. We conform ourselves too much to the world, and then you cannot come to know the compassions of God in this way, Romans 12:1-2. The spirit of the world, wherever it dwells, brings about estrangement; that spiritual watchfulness, so necessary, is no longer there, and one grows careless, no longer living so conscientiously, but keeping this and that at hand, having so many lovers, which steal away the virginity of our mind. In a foul glass God does not put that comfort, but he does in a clean glass. True assurance you will find in a clean conscience. David prayed in Psalm 51, first for a clean heart, and then it followed, make me to taste the certainty of my salvation. The spiritual person is not diligent enough in watching and praying. When the King calls, watch and pray, then we must rise up and say, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, Matthew 26:41. He who fights against the flesh shall see light on his path. Romans 7 — how did that man come to light? He said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man, verse 22. But how did he come by it? What did he say? I cried out: how anxious, how distressed he was over his flesh! When he had done that, how did he come out of it? Ah, he said, I must thank God through Jesus Christ, verse 25. Beloved, as precious as that pearl of assurance is, fight against your flesh, or you will not easily be assured. If you are convicted of some hidden sin that you do not fight against, there is not much assurance to be expected in that heart. And should you not, for the sake of all that is precious hereafter in heaven, and even now in time to be assured of it, be willing to strive for some time against indwelling sin?

Last time we saw the duel, or single combat, how the devilish nature fell upon the spiritual nature bodily. She simply falls upon it heavily, and finding no advantage and unable to prevail that way, she instead hinders the good: you cannot always be so strained, she says, relax a little now. Then she gathers all her practice together to spoil the godly disposition in us through scattered thoughts, through this or that which can charm or draw the eye. Thus we have to consider:

III. How she besieges it.
IV. When she advances.

Those, then, are our four points. First, the spiritual nature does not sit still either. Second, she falls upon the devilish nature bodily. Third, how she besieges that matter. Finally, when she advances.

1. As to the first: here comes that spiritual nature, that godly and heavenly nature, which cannot sin, which will not sin, in which is the image of God, which cannot live without being with God, which counts it an honor, a crown, and an ornament to serve God; it is a holy nature, which in its sighs, its desires, its motions, its deeds, its aims, and in all its walk, declares that it is set apart from the whole world. Well, says a child of God, has God, out of so many thousands, by his free and sovereign grace set me apart, and will he by that same grace keep me set apart from all the rest, in death, in judgment, and in eternity — it seems to me a fair and necessary thing; I cannot rest until I am like a Joseph, who was set apart among his brothers; I hope one day to be so set apart from that devilish nature. This is called, in a word, the regenerate part, the new creature, the image of God. That spiritual nature does not sit still, but comes and falls upon the devilish nature bodily: and that is our second point.

II. You shall not set yourself up as my master, she says, I will set myself against you; I cannot live so dry and so slavish any longer; you shall no longer hinder me from serving God; you shall no longer be my friend, you who so scorn and hate and dishonor God. She is much like a Jacob against an Esau: I cannot let you keep the birthright. That spiritual nature, in her combat, is not unlike Moses against the magicians, and like David when he fought against Goliath: you dog, he said, shall you defy God? So the heavenly nature also says: you devilish nature, will you rise up against God? She is like Mordecai: Haman had to fall before him. Says she to the devilish nature, once she is stirred up, what part have you with God? She is not unlike Paul against Elymas the sorcerer: O you child of the devil, she says, enemy of all righteousness. When the spiritual nature is roused, she is like Paul against Hymenaeus and Philetus: I have delivered them, he says, unto Satan. If the devilish nature does not sit still, neither does the spiritual.

III. But how does she set herself against the flesh? She besieges it thus: 1. She falls upon it with weeping and groaning. 2. She says, you may dwell in me, but I have not the least love for you, only the greatest hatred and aversion. 3. I will have you out with all your wiles, and have holiness in your place. 4. I will not merely have just enough virtue to pass for a Christian, but I will press on toward perfection. Beloved, believe us, no one could fully express how the new nature fights against the devilish nature, but when it is expressed, then they understand it, they grasp it, and they identify themselves with it; then each one says, I experience this, this is the spiritual struggle. And thus the spiritual part conducts itself, I say again: 1. She comes to weeping. 2. She says, I do not love you, you may wish to dwell in me, but I have no heart for you. 3. You must be out, and holiness shall come in your place, she must be queen there. 4. I cannot live carelessly, but I will press toward what is perfect.

1. First, the new nature, when she takes up the fight, what does she do? She whimpers, she moans, she mourns, she weeps, she laments that sin so easily besets her. It costs her tears; she stands off from it at a distance, she stands and melts into tears, she would weep by night and by day, she would weep sin right out of herself, she would soak her bed with her tears, and she weeps like a child; even if she had a lion's heart like David, still she weeps like a child over the devilish nature. Paul said, I serve the Lord with all humility and with many tears, Acts 20:19. Then it is: ah Lord, I hate it, I do not want it, it goes against my very breast; ah Lord, I do not do that sin, I hate it; ah Lord, I sigh for release, I protest and testify against it, I lodge a protest against it, I am led captive, I am sold under sin against my will, I grow lean from it. So lamenting, she flees to the Lord Jesus: ah, she says,

is not your ransom and your intercession for me? I accept your righteousness, I feel that you do not cast me out. And so she goes to the Father, and wrestles so long for forgiveness, until she becomes aware of peace. Romans 5:1: therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. See there, beloved, you who have this grace — does it go so with you, do you groan so against it, do you run to the Physician over it, do you not cease from wrestling until it is forgiven you?

2. The second is: that old nature is there and remains there to my deathbed, but I have no love for you, I hate you with a complete hatred, you are now my enemy, before you were my friend, now the matter is reversed; on that very day that I was changed I declared you my enemy. Psalm 119:128. Psalm 97:10. Romans 12:9. Yes, I loathed myself when I saw you, and for the committing of that sin I abhor myself, Job 42:6. I abhor myself for it, and even as I abhor myself, my old nature says, you so abhor your old nature, but how do you deal with yourself? I also abhor myself, that I have so conducted myself: instead of following God, I have followed sin. I am inflamed as often as I see it, the peace of my mind is gone, I am terrified, and unrest comes in its place, my heart pounds, I sometimes sit at my table so that I have no rest, I have no peace in my bones because of my sins, and because I have so transgressed, Psalm 38:4. I cannot bear to see you, nor to hear of you, and if you well up again in my heart, I will seek to quench and smother you, as one smothers a coal fire, Jude verse 23. I will seek to take away your fuel, I will see where you get the most help, whether through idleness, or through this or that company, I will guard myself against that and seek to keep away from it, Proverbs 4:23. I kept myself from my iniquity, Psalm 18:24. Depart from evil and do good, Psalm 34:15. I cannot bear to see or hear you, and if you should still well up, I will smother you as one smothers a coal fire. Then they show their hatred by taking a new resolution to serve God, in new intentions, covenant-makings, and in taking an oath against their corruptions. They show it in this, that they search the promises in the Bible to plead with them: you have said, Lord, they say, that you would circumcise my heart and give me a new heart, Ezekiel 36:26. You have said that you would by your Spirit cause me to live for you, and that I should not turn away from following you, Jeremiah 32:40. You have said that you would work in me both to will and to do, Philippians 2:12. That must then come true, and in dependence on that influence of yours, Lord, I will submit myself to the time and to the measure, to help me: that is the divine promise, and it must come true, and on that I will rely. That is the second point.

3. Now we must consider the third point, as to the manner in which she besieges it. I will not only have you out, she says, but I will have holiness there instead, which shall endure; I will have virtue there in its place, I will press on toward sanctification, I have seen fine passages about it in the Bible. Hebrews 12:14: follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. How do they do this? Thus: is there anything to be willed, Lord, she says, I feel myself united with your will, I will not will otherwise than God wills, I will and shall will and do what God wills. Is there anything to be suffered, I will be silent and not murmur against it. Is there anything to be done or left undone, my whole heart is set to please you, 2 Corinthians 5:9. Dearest Lord, in every deed and every circumstance I will prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, Romans 12:2. I will press after it, and I will do it; not only that, but in that work I have such delight, I am well ready for it, Nehemiah 1:11 and 8:11. My Lord, I do it so willingly, I offer myself to you for it, I have a desire to be zealous in good works, to be steadfast and abounding in the work of the Lord, no mountains of difficulty shall hinder me. They have such courage that they shall win, for all their enemies are already conquered enemies, and therefore they say, my Lord, with you I run through a troop, and with you I leap over a wall, my heart is lifted up in the ways of the Lord, your yoke is so gentle and your service so pleasant, it is not heavy, your commandments are light, nothing shall hinder me nor draw me away from you. That is the third point.

4. The fourth is: my God, I do not want merely so much good that I may pass among the pious as a pious person, so that one would say, that is also a little beginner: but I will press toward perfection, I will not remain standing on the threshold, but I will come forth in the incorruptible adornment of a meek and quiet spirit. You now adorn yourself so, but it is a perishable ornament; you may indeed deck yourselves out so, says God's Spirit — deck yourselves rather with that which is imperishable, 1 Peter 3:4, with holy ornaments, Psalm 110:3, and embroidered garments, Psalm 45. Holiness adorns your house, Lord, forever, Psalm 93:5. They are filled with all manner of fruits of righteousness, Philippians 1:11. How then do they press toward perfection?

a. First she says, my God, that was I, even before the devilish nature came into me.
b. Dear Lord, when you gave me the spiritual nature, you did not give it to me to remain small, but you said, wash and grow.
c. Dear Lord, I love the small beginnings, but it is perfection I strive after. I know well that I may not pray to be perfect while in the world; I confess nonetheless that it is fair and precious to me. What blessedness it is to be perfect! To that end, my Lord, I hold before my eyes perfect examples — yours, my God, that of the Lord Jesus, that of the spirits of the perfected righteous — not as mere paintings but as patterns, and I do not give up attaining to it; that is my aim, I seek to follow my God and Lord.
d. Again, I may not pray to be here without sin, yet I may well pray to come as near to it as a child of God can come: oh that my ways were directed to keep your statutes! Psalm 119:5. They press toward perfection, and they do not rest until they have brought it as near as they can.
e. Finally, seeing that she cannot be perfect so long as she lives, may I not then go and die, she says. Then she prays this with submission, and it becomes: I have a desire to be released, Philippians 1:23; and they do not rest until they are out of this earth and in heaven.

What do you think, is that not a fair fight? If they fall, they rise again with manly courage, and run to their old Physician, to the blood of the covenant. Now it has been expressed, beloved; must not every pious soul now say, so I understand it, and so I experience it?

IV. Now our last point: when does she advance and gain something?

1. First, when out of a holy disposition of her heart she goes to practice every virtue, and all holiness without distinction is dear to her.

2. When she wants every vice removed from herself without distinction; indeed she would gladly be rid of sin altogether, but to keep on with even one sin takes away all her comfort.

3. Then, when she begins to say: you devilish nature, the more you want the evil, the more I want the good; the more you want sin, the more I want holiness; I seek to do good.

4. Then she advances, when they are willing to stake everything on the Lord Jesus, on God's cause, and on a clean conscience. There was once a pious woman in the days of that bloodthirsty Mary, Queen of England; she was threatened that unless she departed from her religion, her husband would be taken from her; she answered, Christ is better than my husband; they threatened to take away her children; she answered, Christ is better to me than ten sons; they said, I will take it all away, husband, children, your goods and your life; she answered, the Lord Jesus and a good conscience you shall not take from me. One advances strongly when one stakes everything so entirely on the Lord and on his cause.

5. Finally, when they are found somewhat, and have had a heavier fall than they are used to, they do not rest until they rise again and are restored.

There remain for us yet two hard cases concerning this struggle. The first is: I live in the world among natural men, who also have a struggle against sin; what difference is there between their struggle and mine? The second is: oh, how shall I distinguish, when I sin, whether it is the devil's work, or whether it comes from my own corrupt heart? A child of God is always inclined to leave the devil out of it, and says that it all comes from his own corruption, that the devil has no hand in it, even though he in fact has a great hand in it: I would like to know that distinction, how the devil has a hand in it and how not. We shall leave it there for now, and pray that God will be pleased to bless it to us, to his honor, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 83

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these three points:

I. Whether the ungodly have a struggle between flesh and spirit.
II. Whether the pious have one too.
III. The difference between the two.
IV. A stirring word.

We read Revelation 3:1: You have a name that you live, and are dead. What a dreadful text that is! A good name is a great treasure, and better than fine oil, Ecclesiastes 7:1. Do you know what makes that treasure so great? Among temporal blessings, a good name is perhaps the chief; everyone would like to have one, everyone has a taste for it — but the best people often have the worst names, and the worst people often have the best names.

Who are the best? God's people: the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, Proverbs 12:26, and Genesis 18:32 — for ten righteous, God would have done more than for all Sodom and Gomorrah. They, though they often lack a good name, nonetheless have a good conscience, Acts 23:1: what did that man have to suffer in his name, yet he could still say, I have walked before God in all good conscience until this day. All the pious — what must they suffer in their name, on account of all the gossip and slander? They were the offscouring and refuse of all things, 1 Corinthians 4:13. In the early Christian church they sewed Christians into bearskins and painted red devils on them. John Huss and Jerome of Prague were dressed in a white robe with devils painted on it, and so they burned them. It is sad, but you must know, it is nothing less than a dishonoring of God: I take it upon myself, why do you persecute me, said the Lord, as in Acts 9:4. Your name is behind a cloud, says the Lord, but I will bring it forth as a light. God will say of you what he once said to Joshua: this day have I rolled away all the reproach you suffered in Egypt, Joshua 5:9. A godly person may lie as it were between two rows of stones, reproach and oppression — that is the plane by which they are blackened — but what shall it be at last? When they come out, they shall come out as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold, Psalm 68:14 (LXVIII). What shall it be at last, when God shall say, blessed are you, because they have lied about you and cast out your name as evil? Matthew 5:11.

The worst people have the best names: that people of whom God says, Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi, not my people, and not having obtained mercy, Hosea 1. They are wicked in their nature, in their walk, in their aims, and in all their outcomes. They sometimes have great and fine names, but consider — they have them only until their death. When they die, one would not wish them back again; they were a burden on the earth and in the church, and when they depart one says, I am glad they are gone. With whom do they have a good name? With themselves, like Simon the sorcerer, who said of himself that he was somebody great, Acts 8:9. With whom else do they have a good name? With their companions, Malachi 3:15: we count the proud happy. From this comes that saying still heard today: the ministers may say what they please, my dear departed friend is better off now. There lies the straw before the door, and the dead in a shroud, and the soul in hell, and the friends make all the preparations to bring the body into the earth, and it is all my dear departed friend is better off now. And it is no wonder, for they sometimes have such a good name even among the pious themselves: they got the name of being virtuous, of great gifts, yes, the name of living a spiritual life. That man, that angel, had the name that he lived, in the text from which we took our introduction — and do you think such preachers have died out? How does this come about? Well, they sometimes do many virtuous things, their walk is blameless, as Paul testified of himself before his conversion, Philippians 3:6. What do I still lack, said that young man? Matthew 19:20, and Acts 26:5: I have lived according to the strictest sect of our religion from my youth. How does this come about? They sometimes have great gifts; God gives them a sharp mind, and they are fluent of speech, they can express themselves well; and they are very moving, they can easily weep; they have the gift of prayer, and they can stir a whole gathering, so that everyone's tears would spring from their eyes: through all these talents they get in among the apostles with a Judas, they get a great name for being wise and pious, full of grace and tenderness — yet it is in their mouth, but not in their walk; they say before the whole congregation that one may not love a single sin or lust, or one has no grace. What then do they go and do? They play the harlot with and because of their name, Ezekiel 16:15. That is language God uses, and he means by it, you commit spiritual unchastity. When does someone play the harlot with his name?

1. First, when you love your own name more than God's honor and name: then you commit unchastity, and you are adulterers with your name.

2. When someone makes his own name his God: then he is well pleased and satisfied with himself, then he is so decked out — honor me now before the people — that is how it was with Saul, 1 Samuel 15:30. Should you ask, whom have you next to God in heaven? They would say, my name, indeed above God.

3. Then someone also plays the harlot with his name, when he would gladly have respect according to what he thinks himself worth — indeed, more. If there is a Jew who will not give Haman honor, he wants to destroy his entire race for it.

4. Then, when someone becomes proud of his name. How proud Balaam was, that kings addressed him so! How haughty Judas was of his name! He might well have said, as Paul once said, are they all apostles? Are they all pastors and teachers? I am an apostle.

5. When they stand in such good repute, that they then go on to sin on the strength of it. So did Judas — he went secretly to sin on it; first he was a thief, afterward he went to sin openly, as his outcry before the Jewish council shows; indeed he could not imagine that anyone would suspect him of theft. When they stand in such good repute, and a godly person then wants to deny their work and take away their grace, they will not let it be taken from them, but they rest secure on their good name, they settle down upon it as upon a foundation, and as upon a good foundation.

Now you might say, how do the pious come so far as to say that they have grace? Do you know how? Because such people know how to dress themselves up so well: they know how to make up a whole account of conversion, they know how to speak of frights, of sorrow, of convictions, of praying, of thanking, of self-examination, they make up quite a whole Christianity. God's children are glad when some work of God is found, their heart goes out to it; they give it a good name, they say, you live — especially when such people begin to say that they feel such a struggle between flesh and spirit: that seems convincing, and they know how to speak of it and say, I feel such a struggle against sin, I can testify before God that I have such a commotion toward evil, what a struggle I have before I can beat down a single sin! Would that not be grace?

Does not Paul say, Galatians 5:17, the spirit lusts against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would? Did not Paul experience that his grace was evident, when he felt that struggle? A child of God often takes a human scale, and not a divine one. How does God expose this?

1. First, by making his children feel that they have esteemed such people too highly. Peter had too much regard for Simon the sorcerer when he was baptized; he thought him something great: now I perceive, he says, that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity, Acts 8:23.

2. They can no longer join themselves with such people. There was once a prophet who was commanded to take two pieces of wood and join them together: if you take a branch from a bad tree and from a good tree, they cannot be joined together.

3. What does God do? He says to his children, make a distinction between name and deed, between being and seeming. God does indeed want them to examine their own heart, but also another's. A righteous man comes and searches out his neighbor, Proverbs 18:17. It is a comparison drawn from a man who has a piece of metal — he tests it with a touchstone to see whether it is good, he bores through it with a drill, then he throws it into the fire to see whether there is no gold in it. So do God's children: they test their own heart and another's heart, they weigh it in a good balance, and then they must say, as John said, you have a name that you live, and are dead. The apostle Jude says, they are clouds without water, verse 12. That is like a painted fountain — it seems to spring as though it would flood the whole house.

Beloved, you will already be thinking, where do you mean to take us with such an introduction? To the struggle between flesh and spirit. We wanted to bring you to this, that you might test yourself and others. We have three or four words of distinction to speak.

III. Is there a difference between the two?
IV. We shall say a short word to touch your heart. Those are our points: pay attention, for the matter is well worth it. Is there an opposition in the heart of an ungodly person against sin? Is there one in the heart of the pious? Is there a difference between the two? And then a stirring word to our hearts.

I. As to the first: do we find that unconverted, dead souls have resistance against sin and declare themselves for virtue? We say yes. Go to a Cain — what all must have gone on in him before he came to that fratricide? He loves you, he has a desire for you: what struggles he must have had! Look at an Esau: he goes with such a fixed resolve to kill Jacob, and when it came to the deed, he declares for virtue instead. What struggles Balaam must have had! Had the command of God not been so clear to him, and had the angel not hindered him, he would gladly have gone and cursed Israel. What a struggle he had to get that reward! I cannot do it nonetheless, Balak, whether you are angry or pleased. Saul — what a heart he had to kill David, and how often he stood with tears in his eyes, so that he himself confessed, I have played the fool, 1 Samuel 24 and 26. Look at Herod — was there no struggle there? He could not have John put to death, but reasons of state said, you must do it. Pilate and his wife — what a struggle they had, so that Pilate publicly washed his hands of innocence? Yet he does it. Look at Judas: do you think that went without a blow struck, before he came to that deed? His outcry made it known, when he came before the high priest. Think of Ananias and Sapphira: what a commotion they had, before they could say, there is the whole price, when they still had so much more in their house. There is, then, a struggle against sin even in the most ungodly, but God brings it to light.

II. Is there also a struggle in the pious? Yes, and that this is plain we have shown you the last time. Now we shall give you three or four more examples. What must have gone on in Abraham, when he said to Sarah, say that you are my sister? What must have gone on in Jacob, when he went from his mother to say, I am Esau? God will curse me, he says, and my father too; he would not come to it, until his mother said, I will take the curse upon myself, Genesis 27. What must have gone on in Peter's heart, before he let his tongue deny his good Lord and lie that he did not know him? His bitter tears made that known, and his willing collapse, when his master looked upon him. Now, not to draw out more examples, behold that glorious Paul, Romans 7:10-24. What struggles he had! Now he was down, now up; now he was led captive, and then not. That is the second point.

III. Now you cannot get your heart to deny it, but you must say, you and I feel a commotion against sin, to flee sin and to be for virtue. Now you will still wait to hear the difference between the struggle in the wicked and in the good. Search your own heart: you remember well enough that it has happened, that you were solicited to sin, and you could not, you resisted it and refused it. There is a struggle against sin which belongs to the believer alone, and there is one which belongs to the other as well. We shall show you ten or twelve points of difference.

1. The first difference is this. Where there is a struggle, but it is not the right kind, they are extremely loath to have distinctions drawn; if they knew that such preaching was coming, they would gladly stay away from church. But where there is grace, they would go for that very reason — that is pleasing to me, they say, but the other says, not to me. It is with them as with the scribes: they were glad when the Sadducees were confounded, but when the Lord came too near them, then they were angry. The scribes, how glad they were when the Sadducees were silenced! but when it touched them, then they were like devils. Do you like to have the shibboleth exposed, and the appearance distinguished from the reality? That man, said Joseph's brothers, inquired so closely — had they known it, we would not have dared come near him. Are you troubled when a distinction is drawn between seeming and being, or do you welcome it? Do you pray that God and men would do this? Have you then truly been to church at all?

2. Where it is not the right kind, if he comes by providence under a ministry where such distinctions are drawn, he twists himself in a thousand ways, he cannot sit still; if his heart grows hot within him, he sits there distracted, he has no attention; or if some attention remains, he does not like it, he despises in his heart so much testing of the state of grace. But where it is right, though he came into a strange town or into his own, he does not despise it; whether expected or unexpected, how glad he is! There, he says, my hidden knots were dealt with and exposed. How is it with you? We must deal openly with one another. Is your heart in it, when distinctions are preached? The natural man is frightened by it, but the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one; the natural man discerns nothing, 1 Corinthians 2:14-15.

3. Where there is only a struggle of the wrong kind, it is a general one between their flesh and their soul, but it is not a struggle between flesh and spirit: their soul is a spirit, and the struggle is in their soul, but not against the divine, spiritual nature, Jude verse 19 — they have not the Spirit of God, it is only some faculties of their soul. How is it with a child of God? He has a struggle against the devilish nature; he finds the image of God in him.

4. One who has no grace and is unconverted has a struggle between sin and sin. For instance, someone is stingy — that struggles against pride, so that it is visible that one is despised for it, but it is because it does not serve our interest; they despise the proud, and they love lying, unfaithfulness, and hypocrisy. There you have quite a struggle, between sin and sin. The true struggle does not say, cut off the branches and leave the trunk with the root in the ground. A child of God says, not only the branches and the leaves, but the whole trunk and the whole nature must come out: not only the pride, or the stinginess, but the whole nature — and that would be pleasing to me; that stinginess must not be a tasty morsel for my own interest.

5. The fifth difference is this. Where it is not the right kind, it is a struggle between our appetite and our notions. I have a notion, says such a one, that it is not good for an old man to live like a youth; when someone changes his station and condition, he must live differently than he was accustomed; when someone has grown old, he must give up his former appetites; it would not be fitting for him then to go leaping, drinking, whoring like a youth — that does not suit with old age. Where it is the right kind, it is not a matter between notions and appetites, such that he would say, you are young, you may well do this and that now — no, never, says such a one.

6. The sixth is: he has a struggle between sin and his own reputation. If it does not damage his reputation, he would gladly commit that sin. Honor me now before the people, said Saul to Samuel — but otherwise he could well have let the prophet go; he was as weary of him as his reputation did not depend on it. You will say, how do you know he was so weary of him? From 1 Samuel 19: there he sent messengers to kill David, and to kill Samuel too, and when the messengers could not carry it out, he went himself.

7. The seventh difference is this. The struggle of an unconverted person is between sin and fear, also between sin and loss. I would suffer loss, they say, if I did not do that good deed. A child of God does not say that. Though I should suffer ever so much loss, they say, I will set myself against sin out of a living heart. An unregenerate person is a slave of sin: when they will not do evil, it is only out of fear of the blows, and of God's curse, because it goes with them as in Jeremiah 4:18 — that it is so bitter, that it reaches to the heart. But how is it with a godly person? Even if there were no heaven to reward, and no hell to punish, they would still be against sin.

8. The eighth difference is this. The struggle of a regenerate person is between sin and his conscience: when he indulges his lusts, how his heart pounds, what fears he has! His heart condemns him, 1 John 3:20. They often have as much as they can bear. Had Cain known what a hell he would have in his mind after his brother's death, I do not believe he would have done it in his life. Had Judas known what a hell he would have in his mind after he had received the money, I do not believe he would have done it in his life. But a child of God does not struggle because his conscience troubles him, but for God's own majesty, Job 31:23.

9. The ninth difference is this. The struggle of an unregenerate person is between sin and the poor condition of the land. Well, he says, one must be on guard against sin, things are going so badly with the land. Jeremiah 33 — the princes let their servants go, and when the distress was past, they made them return again. The Ninevites would not gladly have perished within forty days, therefore they cried out and called upon the Lord.

10. The tenth difference is this. The struggle of an unregenerate person is only because a Lord's Supper or a day of prayer is at hand: they may not quarrel or play games that week, it being the week of the fast; they may not do it a week before and a week after — then they cannot live as before, but two weeks would be too much.

11. It is a struggle against their own aims: they would, if they lived so and so, be unable to obtain such and such a standing, they could not make that marriage. The pious, though it were ever so unfriendly to them, would struggle against sin all the same. Lord, they say, I have no aim in view but your friendship.

12. It is a struggle out of fear of sickness, death, and hell. What a bridle that is in the world! If they were not sometimes made sick, what a careless life there would be!

13. It is only a painted struggle in the unregenerate: it comes from no living principle. If you were in an army camp where there was a painting, a battle painted upon it, it might seem to give off more fire than where the real thing is, but it never wins. So it is here too: the course of a sinful walk is never broken. They are like a wooden statue standing there in armor: though it stood there a thousand years, it could not kill a single fly or gnat. You have seen paintings in your houses, where figures were painted as if they were about to strike a deathblow: so also are they like a painted soldier — they never win.

Those are the differences: what does your heart say? Do you lie in God's scale, or not?

IV. Now our fourth point. May we address you earnestly, sinner?

1. First, you are not loved by God nor by men. With men you have too much, and with God too little, because it is all mere appearance. You are hated by God because you have nothing more than that, and the world does not love you either, because you have too much appearance, and it is all flattery.

2. Men, God's wrath is upon you if you remain so, and then you shall be mocked by both God and the devil. The devil will say, where now are your prayers and tears? Where now is your struggle between flesh and spirit? Now you are with me in hell, the devil will say. Nothing was more unbearable to Samson than to be mocked by the Philistines, Judges 16. O God, he said, strengthen me only this once! So it will go with you: you thought to come to heaven, and God will mock at your calamity, Proverbs 1:26-27.

3. Your struggle will never in eternity give you any comfort. God's Spirit and grace are not with you. Paul's struggle gave him such comfort: I have fought the good fight, he says, 2 Timothy 4:7. The other struggle gives no comfort. It is like a painting of a victory, while the army is still busy fighting: you have a painted victory, and so you shall have a painted heaven and a painted salvation. You have surely seen the last judgment painted, one at the right hand and another at the left, but it is all painted — so too there are painted Christians and a painted blessedness.

Those are now our four points. But children of God, what a blessing it is for you! Your salvation is no painted victory; God will one day take you to himself: when you have run the race and fought the fight, then you shall enter into the kingdom, and the entrance shall not be denied you.

Now there remains yet another case of a child of God, who says, you say that the devil works so in the heart, but I say that it is my own corruption: that too we shall seek to bring to light in what follows, and we wish now that this may be blessed to us and to you, to God's honor, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 84

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which one finds:

I. That the devil has his hand in the sin of the ungodly and of the pious.
II. In what sins it may be said that the devil alone has his hand.
III. When one may say that the devil and the pious together have a hand in it.
IV. How God's children must conduct themselves in the one case and the other.

We read John 3:6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. There are indeed people who are without the Spirit — these are natural men, not having the Spirit, as in the epistle of Jude, verse 19. There is no man without flesh, Psalm 51:7. Some have flesh and spirit together, Galatians 5:17, who say, my God, I do not want to do the will of the flesh, I must and will fight against the wicked lusts of the flesh, and I have great reason to.

1. First, when I came under the bond of the covenant, I swore and wrote with my own hand that I would be the Lord's. When I could not yet speak, my parents did it for me at the baptismal water, and I have confirmed it as I grew up, that I would put my old nature to death.

2. The devil, who is like a serpent, seeks to seduce my flesh just as he did Eve, but I will have nothing to do with him, says the spirit.

3. In the spirit's eyes the flesh is the sluggard; the flesh is to the spirit as smoke to the eyes and vinegar to the teeth; whatever you give the flesh over the spirit, it makes the hands slack, it makes weak hands and feeble knees. The flesh is sometimes like the leech, which cries, give, give: it is there night and day to fend off the heat of the day and the cold of the night.

4. Flesh, you are the enemy of the cross and of affliction. If a cross comes, the flesh says, what is the point of this loss? It would deny the Lord Jesus to gain honor and standing. The flesh would rather make a courtier than a citizen of heaven. The flesh says, seek great things for yourself, Baruch; why need you stake everything so for the Lord!

5. The flesh always wants it easy. That lovely yoke of the Lord Jesus, in which there are thorns, says the flesh — these are ropes and bonds that I would gladly tear to pieces, I cannot bear them, Psalm 2:3. The gentle and pleasant yoke of the Lord is to them like the people of Israel in Solomon's flourishing time: they said to Rehoboam, make your father's heavy yoke light for us.

6. The spirit says to the flesh, I will have nothing to do with you, you always want otherwise than I do — why, when I want to go the way of heaven, do you go the way of hell? When I want to love God, you want to love the world. I will not listen to the voice of the flesh, said Paul, I will not take counsel with flesh and blood, Galatians 1:16. The flesh says, well, young man, then you shall suffer loss for it; the spirit says, I would rather count everything loss and dung, so long as I may win the Lord Jesus, Philippians 3:7-9. The flesh always gives bad counsel: if you take counsel with it, you end up like Saul; first he turned to the sorceress, and then to the devil. The flesh does not conceive the things that are of the Spirit of God. The flesh is just like that godless murderer of Joram, who was an evil counselor to him.

Given all this, a child of God must search these things out, he must pierce his own heart and see where grace sits, where spirit sits, and where flesh sits. They must examine themselves in this, and they are inclined to do so too; one need not use many words for it, they are of themselves inclined to burden themselves more than they need. It goes with them as with the woman of Tekoa: she goes to King David, she speaks to the king in a courtly manner and with respect, pleading for Absalom; so the king said, is Joab's hand with you in this? She said, your handmaid will not turn to the right hand or to the left from anything my lord the king has spoken — but Joab put it in her mouth. So it is with a child of God too: he thinks he speaks everything out of his own corrupt heart, and he has as much part in it as the woman of Tekoa did. A child of God must not burden himself with everything; each must be given his due, the devil and themselves.

Beloved, it was to take up this matter that we came here today, to lay, so far as we can, a clear word about it in your hearts. We hope, by God's goodness, to consider three or four things. First, that the devil often has a hand in bringing the pious to sin, in which the pious in truth have no part. Then, there arises in the heart the question, you perhaps put it all to the devil's account, but I think my own heart is not good: how shall I know whether my corruptions come from my heart or from the devil? I have committed some wicked things — are these matters for which I bear the guilt, or is it from the infernal spirit? Then, we ought to see when the heart has a part in it. Finally, how we must conduct ourselves in the one case and the other. Those are four weighty matters: pay attention.

I. First, the devil often has his hand in the sins of the ungodly and the pious.
II. How it is to be known whether sins come out of the heart and out of corruption, or whether they are put in by the devil.
III. How shall I know whether the sin comes in from both — from corruption and from the devil?
IV. How they must conduct themselves under the one and the other.

1. As to the first: this was, that the devil often has his hand in the falling into sin of both pious and impious. We shall show you how he had a hand in it before the fall, in bringing man to sin; then, that he had a hand in it after the fall, in tempting the Lord Jesus to sin; and after the fall also in bringing the ungodly and the pious to sin.

1. Through the fall he had his hand in it, bringing man to sin. He was the captain, the instigator, the arsonist — although outwardly he made it all look fair and hid the evil. He was like a murderer standing at the door, who finds no treachery within; the image of God can do no evil, he might shoot fiery darts, but they did no harm within, because there was no kindling within.

2. He tempted the Lord Jesus to sin, Matthew 4 — there he came to see whether he could weaken the Lord Jesus's faith, to make him fall down before him, so as to overthrow the whole work of salvation.

3. He has his hand in bringing the ungodly to sin. In Cain's fratricide, in Ahithophel's murder-plotting, in Judas's hanging himself. He works powerfully in them, he is the captain in sin, he is their king, their father, their god; he works powerfully in them, and they serve him gladly, cheerfully and stubbornly, without sorrow, they are not ashamed of it, they are angry if there is someone who will not join in, they are grieved if someone is drawn away from their company, they would travel over sea and land to make someone a child of the devil.

4. After the fall he also works in the pious, to bring them to sin. How does he do this now? Not only from without, but from within. Consider 1 Chronicles 21:1: the devil incited David to number the people. The Lord Jesus saw the devil in Peter's heart and tongue, when he said, be it far from you, Lord; he saw the devil in his faith, when he sifted him. The Lord Jesus comes before us with a winnowing fan in his hand, keeping all the good in and letting the bad fall out, Matthew 3:12. But the devil comes with a sieve, letting all the good fall out and keeping the bad in, Luke 22:31. So contrary is the Lord Jesus to the devil. Having to grant this, that the devil has his hand in sifting the pious, we must clarify it a little further.

a. First, it is God's ordinance, Genesis 3:15: I will put enmity between the seed of the woman and of the serpent, between the head, the Lord Jesus, and the devil, between the seed of Christ and of the devil. It is God's ordinance, which will no sooner be annulled than that of day and night.

b. This is plain from the names God gives the devil. Sometimes enemy, Matthew 13:39. Sometimes tempter, Matthew 4:3. Sometimes adversary, 1 Peter 5:8. Sometimes the evil one, Matthew 6:13. Sometimes accuser, Revelation 12:10.

c. It will appear still clearer to you when you see what God declares of his work. He goes about among God's people as a roaring lion, 1 Peter 5:8, and Job 1 — from where do you come, said the Lord? From going to and fro through the earth, said the devil: those who were on their guard, from them I withdrew; and those who were not on their guard, those I deceived. What did you make of Job? I cannot get at him, he guards himself too uprightly. Ephesians 6:11,16 — he has his crafty schemes and fiery darts. 2 Corinthians 12:7 — he deals blows with his fist. 2 Corinthians 11:14 — he is a deceiver, he transforms himself into an angel of light. His very work shows that he has a hand in bringing God's children to sin.

d. It will become still clearer to you when you see that God rouses his children to put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6:11, and 1 Peter 5:8: be sober and watch, for your adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion. Matthew 26:41: watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation. There is now no argument to be brought against this, that he has his hand in bringing someone to sin.

II. Now we come to the second point. A child of God sometimes has dreadful corruptions; they always blame themselves, they think it all comes from their own heart; if only I knew, says a child of God, that these were the devil's instigations, I would be half rescued; could I know whether I might lay it to the charge of that infernal spirit? That is worth knowing, beloved. You will say, how shall I know it?

1. First, the devil is the beginning of the whole corrupt nature. You would not be so wicked, were it not for that instigator, that arsonist. The Savior noted this when he said, you are of your father the devil, who has been a murderer from the beginning, John 8:44. He is the first, and you are the second in the work. He is the first — that aggravates the devil's guilt, he is the leader, you the follower. You would never have come to such a wicked nature, had he not been the beginning of it.

2. This aggravates Satan's guilt, and lessens ours, and you will know the difference by this. When there are corruptions in your heart against the first table of the Law, these are more to be set to the devil's account than to our own: when the corruptions run against the first table, think in your heart that your tongue is set on fire from hell, James 3:6; think, it is he who sets ablaze the wheel of my birth. Are you incited to blasphemy against God, to ascribe something absurd to God — do not set it to your own heart's account, but to the account of that infernal spirit. He seeks to sift your faith in God, and to bring you to hard matters, to eternal election, to Adam's fall; he seeks to bring you to the calling and conversion of some ungodly and not of all, to the damnation of most of the world: then he brings heavy Scripture texts, he presses you, you must resolve them, all so that you would ascribe something absurd to God — that is why he insists that you resolve it, and he is far too crafty for you; you must simply say once and for all, these are the depths of God, which neither I nor you can fathom.

3. Then you must set it to the devil's account, when it is such sins as go against love of your own self, which cannot come out of yourself, for no one has ever hated his own flesh, Ephesians 5:29. He would gladly bring you to that of Judas. The pious have tasted those sparks too, but God preserves them from carrying it out; were it not that God preserved them, they would well come to it — yet by the power of God and Christ they possess themselves, and manage to beat it back; it is by the power of God dwelling in the pious that God hinders it. There sits an Elijah, sad, with his head between his knees, praying that he might die, 1 Kings 19:4. It goes so far that they choose strangling rather than life, Job 7:15, and say, I loathe my life, Job 10:1. When these are sins against your own self-love and to your own ruin, think then that the fire has been laid in by another, and not by your own heart.

4. Then you must set it to the devil's account, when he brings you to unnatural, monstrous deeds, which would not even be named among the civilized heathen — as there was a king who offered his own child as a burnt offering, and another who set his own palace ablaze from top to bottom and died in it. Others have blasphemed God. Among the heathen too there were those without natural affection and disobedient to their parents. See that list of sins, Romans 1:20-32. Indeed he would gladly bring you to the point of surrendering yourself entirely to him — but that is no business of yours, just as he said to the Lord Jesus, give yourself over to me, fall down before me and worship me, Matthew 4.

5. When you find that he wants to extinguish certain truths that no man can put out, and seeks to bring everything into doubt for you, and when he begins to call good evil and truth falsehood — yes, wants to extinguish the very consciousness of God, conscience, and everything else — that is on his account alone.

6. That is on his account, when you feel arising in your heart a great deal against God concerning some strange and wondrous dealings toward you. He is the accuser of God's people before God, and he is the accuser of God before God's people. He said to the Lord Jesus, if you are the Son of God, would you go hungry? To Asaph he suggested, is there knowledge with the Almighty; is God ever good to you, that you should have so much oppression? And so he misconstrues God's good dealings.

7. He misconstrues the good that is in God's people, before God. So he spoke: it is a fine thing that Job fears God, but he only does it for the reward, Job 1. When he seeks something, he seeks to make your dealings and deeds, and yourself, suspect to yourself: he makes you set yourself up as a party, like someone with an unjust lawsuit. So it went, so he said of Job, that he was not what he seemed, that he would show himself otherwise once God withdrew his blessings from him.

8. This is to be set to the devil's account: when God gives you much grace, clarity, and assurance, and you are then incited to abuse it and deny it, or when he wants to bring you to wavering. They must then sometimes abuse great graces into pride. 2 Corinthians 12 — well, you are not such an apostle after all, you exalt yourself. David, who numbered the people. If he cannot bring Paul to pride, then he wants to bring him to deny it: it was already fourteen years ago, is it even certain, did you not yourself say that you do not know whether it was in the body or out of the body, Matthew 17? They did not know what they said — take it back, it was so long ago. That a child of God will never do of himself.

9. This is not to be set to your own account, when such swift, penetrating, piercing thrusts come against, apart from, and above your own thoughts so violently: it strikes through like lightning, like a fiery dart which you cannot ward off; it is with you night and day, you cannot get it off you, so that the poor soul is wounded nearly to death. When sins come from one's own heart, one reasons about it more, it is not so sudden, and you can rest better, night and day, over sins of your own heart.

10. When it comes from the fire out of hell, you will find this: it comes with such a shock, it throws you into utter confusion, it goes beyond anything you had thought. When it comes from your own heart, you are not so shocked; but when it comes from the devil, it comes with such horror, you are so upset that you are unable to reason at all.

11. When he comes, he often comes when you are engaged in your holiest activities, when you are well disposed, when God is near you, when you pray, read, go to the Lord's Supper, sit among the company of the pious — and you do not know where the disorder comes from. Asaph said, when I began to think of God, I was troubled, Psalm 77:4. You will find this — you will hardly go about a holy work but he is right there beside it: the sower went out to sow, and the enemy was there too, Matthew 13.

12. When sin wells up in you with such force and is forced upon you against your will and desire, then use your judgment and consider that you are the one suffering, that these are darts that come from outside, that they are the devil's fist-blows, 2 Corinthians 12.

13. Finally, he brings all his wiles together into one attack, and he says, are you not troubled that it comes from your own heart's corruption? And he does this with the evil aim that you should blaspheme God, and draw a harsh conclusion about yourself and say, now I am damned forever, it is over for me. It is a cunning device, and so he dealt with Job: would you have grace, you who curse the day of your birth? What else had Jeremiah done? Here Job defends himself against it: it is in your knowledge, he says to God, that I am not wicked, and that I have not departed godlessly from you, Job 10:7. God, he says, do not condemn me, verse 2.

There you have twelve or thirteen things by which you can know whether the sin comes from your heart or from the devil.

III. Now the third point. A child of God says, would I have no guilt in it? It could be — but by this you may know it.

1. First, then you begin to brood over it, and it is as if it no longer disturbs you so much.

2. When you begin to entertain it, and to look back on it, it is as if you had no good disposition when you did not have it, and it is as if you begin to hold your life suspect, and as if you had then become wiser. You brood over all these suggestions, you look back on them, it seems to you no improper condition.

3. It begins to become such a habitual state in your unbelief, desperation, discouragement, discontent, anger against God, quibbling at his ways and diminishing God in your regard for him. The injections are indeed from the devil, but your own spirit is also infected.

4. Then you have guilt, when your sinning comes to outward acts. Why should I bother reading and going to church? Then they lessen it somewhat, sometimes falling behind like a Thomas. You begin to brood over it, that keeps you occupied, you come to believe it, it gains entry with you, one begins to think it belongs there, you cannot live a single day but it must be so: when your heart is in such a state, you readily come to sinful deeds outwardly too, beloved.

IV. Now the fourth point: how shall we conduct ourselves? I cannot deny his work in me, but I would rather say that it comes from my own heart than from the devil. Beloved, you must know, some blame the devil too much, and some too little. David did not look to the devil, but though God said, the devil incited David, David himself said, I have sinned against the Lord and have done foolishly. Beloved, you will say:

1. Is not our heart wicked enough of itself to bring forth all these things? Oh yes, indeed, when God gives us over to the whole power of our corrupt nature. And suppose it came sometimes purely from your own heart, something you can never make right — what then? Is it then beyond hope? Is it unforgivable? We say, no: the Lord Jesus is ready to receive a soul burdened with ever so many sins, even were it the greatest blasphemer, 1 Timothy 1:13-15, and Matthew 12:31: all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, except that against the Holy Spirit.

2. Yes but, you will say, I fear that mine is that — that mine is the sin against the Holy Spirit, for which there is no forgiveness, and for which one may not pray. We say, you do not even know how to describe the sin against the Holy Spirit, but you certainly do not commit it. Whoever has committed it has no remorse, and there is no room for prayer in that case. You have remorse, and pray against it, and wish you were otherwise. Well then, do not behave as though it were beyond hope of forgiveness: you have not committed that sin unto death, for you are wounded in your soul, and others grieve over you.

3. Another will say, I understand it and remember it too well not to have some part in it, I have such a clear grasp of it — would that then not be my guilt alone? I answer you: suppose a man once heard another speak dreadful things — would you have to say that you bore guilt for that, because another did it? It is exactly so here.

4. A fourth will say, it is so long ago now, it should have been in some measure driven from my heart, yet still I feel it living so dreadfully in my memory — should I not then think that it comes from my own heart, and must I not draw that harsh conclusion, that I am eternally damned? That is a hard matter, but if you consider it, no. Memory is not the same as the injections: the memory of what you formerly experienced is not the instigation itself; the memory of what the devil formerly did is no sign that you are doing it — it is rather a sign that you love God so much, that you cannot bear absurd thoughts about God. Do you understand it? Walk in that understanding, and you are safe.

5. When such things come, let them blow over your head, give no answer. If he comes with eternal election, say, I know that God's will is holy, my finite understanding cannot reach into God's secret counsel. One person said very well: my God, I feel a great deal of wickedness in my heart, perhaps it is from myself, perhaps it is from the devil, perhaps from both; what is from the infernal spirit, let that be laid to him; but what is my own, over that I humble and abhor myself, I confess it and am ashamed of it, and I will not rest until it is atoned for in the blood of the Lord Jesus and amended by God's Spirit; then he said, now I await in Christ the grace of acquittal for his sake. Was that not well conceived? Can you accustom yourself to those words? It will be good. I will repeat it once more: Lord, what is the devil's in me, I set to his account; and what is my own in me, over that I will humble myself, and I will not rest until it is atoned for in Christ's blood and amended by your Spirit, and is forgiven me for Christ's sake. And if you must bear it, bear it as a burden under which you go bowed and bent, and say, God has delivered me out of the mouth of the lion and the bear, he will also deliver me out of the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine. Continue in prayer; do not lay to your own charge what you need not lay to your own charge; do as the Lord Jesus did: being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, Luke 22:44.

There you have our four points. 1. That the fire of hell has a hand in the sins of the ungodly and the godly. 2. In what sins we may say that the devil alone has a hand. 3. When one may say that the devil and the pious together have a hand in it. 4. How we must conduct ourselves in the one case and the other. And so, by God's goodness, we have dealt with the eighth mark, and have shown in many circumstances that the Lord Jesus does not break the bruised reed, but carries it through all its corruptions. And so we shall, in what follows, seek to move on to a ninth mark, and wish that the Lord may now be pleased to bless this, to his honor, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 85

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which the ninth mark of grace, spiritual poverty, is spoken of, and these five things arise:

III. That this is nevertheless no mark of grace.
IV. That the ungodly are usually great in wealth and standing.
V. That spiritual poverty is a true mark of grace, which you will find in all the pious.

We read 1 Timothy 3:1: This is a faithful saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. The most precious jewels are entrusted to a minister, and that is, first, the Word of God, and second, the souls of God's favored ones. The Word of God is entrusted to them, which is better than gold, yes, than much fine gold, Psalm 19:11. And ten righteous — indeed, one righteous man — is worth more than the whole world, Genesis 18. God honors ministers more than the angels, for to which of the angels has he ever said, convert souls, deal with souls? They are indeed called ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation, Hebrews 1:14. They do render many pleasant services to the pious, but God has never appointed them as teachers, nor to deal with souls. What a great king God is! How glorious then is such a servant who is lawfully called by God! Standing in the pulpit, he represents God. God says of it, he who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, Luke 10:16. They can say with Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:9: we are laborers together with God; you are God's husbandry, God's building. When a minister is lawfully called in the name of God and of Christ, their persons are indeed earthen vessels, but their work is great and honorable. They are such that one must say of them, hold them in esteem, regard them for their work's sake, they are worthy of double honor. They stand in such a perilous place, therefore they must not be puffed up, for the least in the kingdom is greater than they. If they are puffed up, they have already had their reward; they must be extremely wary of any show of pride. Humility is a minister's crown, it is his treasure, it is a blessing for him and for the congregation, it is a blessing for the ministry: a humble minister gains entrance into people's hearts. In what does a minister mostly show his humility?

1. First, in this, that he keeps company with the humble and the small. Zechariah 13:7: I will turn my hand upon the little ones. 2 Samuel 6:22: I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in my own sight, said that great prophet and king David — by those little ones I will be glorified. In this he must show his humility, that he goes among the little lambs, among the small children in grace, among the bruised reeds and the smoking flax. He goes among them, to do their souls a pleasant service; he is not too great to go to a small child of God, to deal with that soul.

2. In this he shows his humility, that he sets the Lord Jesus before him not only as his Savior but also as his example. Matthew 11:29: learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. In this he wants to be like the Lord Jesus. His lips are as a tree of life, to feed and strengthen God's people, speaking words fitted to the occasion, according to the situation in which he finds the congregation. They never preach better than when it comes fitly. Solomon regarded this as a great and worthy grace: a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver, Proverbs 25:11. They are never more winning than then. Isaiah 50:4: that is to have the tongue of the learned, to know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. The word never finds more entrance than then. It is not exactly humble to speak only according to one's own plan; he must rather look to how it best fits.

We too have received the ministry of God, but if exaltation comes, it grieves us. We have more desire to keep company with the humble and small, to set the Lord Jesus as our example, and not to break the bruised reed. We too would gladly do it fitly, and speak a word that is pleasing. We thought, the heart of one child of God is like another's, and the heart of a minister is like the heart of a child of God. The heart of one who has grace is like the heart of another who has grace: they have one Spirit, one great Mediator, one God and Father. We often find that they would like to take stock of their own state, and see whether they are in nature or in grace. A person in the world sometimes takes stock of his worldly estate. A person in grace also likes sometimes to take stock of his spiritual state; in doing so he often finds waverings. To this end we have often spoken on the words read before you, that I and you might take stock of our state. All who have grace, we have sought to convince, should hope in the name of the Lord Jesus. All who have grace like to have some sign of it. These we have preached to you, eight in number, and now we shall seek to move forward, beginning with a ninth.

You will say, we should like to hear all eight again. We shall name them for you once more. All who have grace will have experienced them. First, when God gives someone grace, he brings him out of the state of nature into the state of grace; he works in him a renewing grace, in one in his youth, in another in his mature years, in another in his old age. The second mark, which never fails, is: he cannot come to feel this so keenly without wanting to live upon grace; grace becomes so precious to him, it is to him the pearl of great price, he thinks highly of it; it is all grace, whatever is in his heart and mouth, that is the first and the last, God be merciful to me a sinner, Luke 18:13. The third is: then God comes and discloses to them themselves, what a loathsome, ugly, condemnable creature they are, and they come to themselves, they come to reflection, like the prodigal son, Luke 15:17. The fourth is: then the Spirit comes and draws the bow of true conviction deep into their heart; by this they are struck down, and they receive the seed of comfort in their heart. The fifth is: he stirs up a holy mourning in their heart, they become like wax, they begin to come to weeping, they become so tractable; there arises in them a sorrow after God — that is, from God. The sixth mark was that full, broad, and particular confession of sins, of their sinful nature, words, and deeds. Psalm 32:5: I acknowledged my sin unto you, and my iniquity have I not hid. The seventh was that becoming and holy shame, which none may lack, so that they cry out as Ezra did: my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, Ezra 9:6. The eighth mark was hatred of sin: you have troubled me, they say, you have stirred up all this evil.

And what now comes in addition? A ninth proof of grace is deep poverty. I have nothing as regards my soul, they say — and they often have not much as regards the body either. Some think that Christ preached his first sermon on poverty, when, having opened his mouth, he taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 5:2-3. If that is true, it is very remarkable. In the poverty of his children he shows their happiness and riches, and grounds heaven upon it. It is a great and true mark. We shall seek to set it before you thus. First, that the pious are usually poor as to the body. Then, why does God will this? Then, that this is nevertheless no mark of grace. Then, the impious are often great in understanding and goods, they have a wealth it were better they did not have. Then, spiritual poverty is a true mark of grace, and is to be found in all the pious. Then, the impious too are sometimes poor in spirit, but it is no mark of grace to them. Then, we shall see wherein that spiritual poverty consists. Then, we shall see what the true marks of it are. Then, that must please and win us all. Finally, we shall resolve some cases. I repeat and say: 1. The pious are usually poor as to the body. 2. Why does God will this? 3. That is no sure mark of grace. 4. The ungodly are usually rich, but it does not profit them. 5. True spiritual poverty is always a proof of true grace. 6. The impious too sometimes have a poverty in their soul, and it is no proof of grace to them. 7. Wherein does that spiritual poverty consist? 8. What are the true marks of it? 9. That must please and be embraced by you. 10. We shall treat some cases. In this hour we shall make a beginning and seek to show you:

V. Poverty of spirit is always a mark.

I. As to the first: pious people are usually poor. Luther used to say, every saint is an heir of the cross. And we may well say, every saint is an heir of poverty. There are indeed pious ones who have been rich: an Abraham, a Lot, a Hezekiah, a Solomon, a Job. Out of poor pious ones God makes rich ones. See this in Joseph and Job and David: at one time they were poor, and at another time they were again greatly blessed by God. Samuel's mother spoke the truth when she said, he raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the needy out of the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory, 1 Samuel 2:8. Yet it is not the many rich, but usually the poor of this world whom God has chosen, James 2:5; see also 1 Corinthians 1:26-28. In what are they all poor? They are usually poor in health, they go about afflicted, their pains are many. They are poor in their little house and dwelling, they have as it were no dwelling and no place to lay their head. They are poor in prosperity, and rich in adversity; they sometimes arrange their affairs quite well, but God does not choose to bless it, they cannot get ahead. They are poor in food, poor in drink, in clothing, in friends. They are poor in friendship, poor in help, poor in the comfort of men. And through this they sometimes fall into debt, so that the creditor comes, as with that poor widow, 2 Kings 4. They sometimes live in bitter want and under threat, they are driven out, they even come under seizure. They are naked when they are born, naked as they live in the world, and they are naked when they die. Just like the Lord Jesus: everything he had at his birth and at his grave was borrowed; in his life he had nowhere to lay his head. One often comes upon the poor of whom it is said, they lack everything. Luther used to say, the sea of God's kindness and blessing must swallow up every limb: let God then act. God's people sometimes do not have a single foot of land, but what does it matter if they wear patched and torn clothes; or if others eat of the fine dishes of the king's table while they have only what is sown; or if they drink their tears from a cup; or if God brings them into so low a state — he will nonetheless one day wipe away all their tears. So it often is with the state of the pious. If you have this abundantly, pious one, thank the Lord; but you are not dead yet.

II. Now the second: why does God so ordain it, that poor and rich meet together — for God has made them both? It comes from his ordering, and this will never end until the world ends: poor and rich you will always have.

1. First, God so ordains it, and he does it to his own glory, so that his wisdom, his sovereign freedom, and his all-sufficiency might shine forth all the more in poverty. When you look at a tapestry, there stands a beggar, there stands a servant, there stands a king: is the ingenuity of the craftsman, showing itself in the beggar, any less to his honor than in the king? Oh, God is so wise in this, that he ordains there be people of every rank in the world.

2. God is glorified in it on account of his sovereignty. May I not do with my own, says God, as I please? Can you improve upon it, and another do worse — I am free in my distributing, I will not be quibbled with over it.

3. God is glorified in it in his all-sufficiency. A pious person says, I am content with my God, you are better to me than ten sons, better than husband, wife, children, indeed better than the whole world. I have none in heaven besides you, Psalm 73:25.

4. Why else does God will this? So that the world would run its orderly course. Now one member does not say to another, I have no need of you. Everyone knows from experience that the rich must live by the help of the poor.

5. Once more, God does it to test the rich, to see whether they have anything to spare for his poor people. Do you share with the necessities of the saints? Will it have to be said to your honor, rich man, in the judgment, I was naked and you clothed me? Will you lend to me a little, says God, will you have compassion on a poor person? Will you cast your bread upon the waters? I will repay you for it. God wants poor among his children, to put the rich to shame. Must you not say, rich man, on what do I spend myself? On what is vain and worthless. A poor person accomplishes more for God than I do. See 1 Corinthians 1:27-28. God does it to shame the rich, and says to him, what do you do for God? Look at my poor children, how they thank me in everything, how they cling to me, and you let me go so easily.

There you have the second point. Pious poor, God has his reason for it. Yes, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight, Matthew 11:26.

III. Now the third point: can the pious, from the outward, from their outward poverty, take stock of their state? Do not let your life be built on that, even if you were begging like a Lazarus, for you would go wrong. Why?

1. Well, one and the same thing befalls the righteous and the unrighteous. The ungodly fall into it too. I have seen so much, said Solomon, and I have seen this too. Judges 1 — there was a king with seventy kings, their thumbs cut off, gathering crumbs under his table, at which he mocked them, and afterward the same thing happened to him. You would think, a poor man is loved by God — no; or a rich man is loved by God — no; you cannot know that from it: there is love, there is hatred, and man knows it not by anything that is before his face, Ecclesiastes 9:1.

2. A second reason is: poverty may sooner be a sign of no grace at all, that you have lost your goods through sin, or through laziness, or through not paying attention to your affairs, through not setting your heart on your ways, through not attending to the goings-on in your house, through not tending your calling, through wastefulness; through wastefulness the prodigal son came home so poor and naked. How else does it come about? Through indulging the flesh and guzzling wine, through carelessly wearing out your clothes. You can become poor through laziness: a child of God ought always to be able to say, I do not eat the bread of idleness; but if you will not work in the sowing time, you shall not gather in the harvest. You can become poor by not attending to your household. It is said to the praise of that wise woman in Proverbs, that she looked well to the ways of her household. Haggai 1:5: consider your ways. Because you do not do this, your garment does not warm you, you pay no heed to your affairs.

Should a pious person be able to conclude anything from his poverty and from all the loss of his goods, two things would have to be present: much grace would have to be seen in the poverty, and it would have to be for God's and Christ's cause.

a. Much grace would have to be seen in the poverty. What kind of grace? This: Philippians 4:11-12: I have learned to abound, and I have learned to suffer need, I have learned to be content in whatsoever state I am — I do not look at these visible things, I concern myself least with them, I concern myself most with God, 2 Corinthians 4:18. This too: I would, with Moses, esteem the reproaches of God's people greater riches than all the treasures of the world, Hebrews 11:26. They can say, nothing shall separate us from the love of God, neither poverty, nor nakedness, nor peril, Romans 8:35. Now they begin to say, if a man would give all the substance of his house for this love, it would utterly be contemned, Song of Songs 8:7.

b. Once more, pious poor: you may say that grace lies in your poverty, when it comes upon you for Christ's sake, Hebrews 10:34 — they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. They do not spare their household goods; everything is for the best for you, Lord, they say — father, mother, kindred. I count nothing, said Paul, indeed I count all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, Acts 20:24, and Philippians 3:8. They say with Peter and John, silver and gold have I none, Acts 3:6. But that last thing is not a universal mark. God sometimes lets the chaff in his church come under persecution too. Judas, so long as he remained among the apostles, was just as busy as they. There were both bad and good figs, Jeremiah 24. The sum of it all is: though you give your body to be burned, and had not love, you would be nothing, you would not be counted at all, 1 Corinthians 13:3. See then: 1. The pious are usually poor. 2. God has holy reasons for it. 3. Do not conclude from your poverty that you have grace.

IV. Now the fourth is: the impious are usually rich, but it is a dreadful riches — should I or you possess such riches, we would be better off poor and dead. In what are they rich?

1. First, rich in goods and standing, so much so that it exceeds their own imaginings, so that they had never in their life expected it: like Esau, my brother, he said, I have much, Genesis 33:9; and Luke 12:18: my barns are too small, I cannot get it all in — it was as if he had lived in the years of plenty under Pharaoh. Luke 16:19: he was rich in clothing, in goods, in company; he was sated with riches, luxury, and honor.

2. In what else is he rich? Oh, your heart must shrink to think of it: they are rich in sin — like a cage full of unclean birds, so are their houses full of sin, Jeremiah 5:27, and Isaiah 5: this house have I planted upon a fruitful hill, I thought that generation would fear God, but they have brought forth bitter grapes. David said, I would not gladly dwell long in the tents of the wicked, Psalm 84:11 (LXXXIV).

3. They are rich in curses: as many sins, so many curses. Deuteronomy 28, from verse 16 downward, there you have a whole list of curses. They are heirs of all the curses in the Bible. It is as if it were said to him, you cursed one, that is your inheritance; how bitter it will fall on you one day, when the King shall say, depart from me, you cursed, Matthew 25:41.

4. They are rich in delusions, nothing troubles them: they are full of confident delusions, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, Revelation 3:17 — and they never once think that they lack everything, and that they must perish with all their riches and delusions. Matthew 25 — they thought they had oil enough; they did not know that whoever comes to God must first go out from himself.

5. They are rich in judgments — their belly is filled with God's judgments as with a hidden treasure, that is to say, they are so convinced within that it will not go well, Psalm 17:14. They wait — if they have had a little treasure of God's kindness, they will also have a treasure of wrath, Romans 2:5. Is it not true, would it not be better to be poor than so rich? Rich in goods, rich in sin, rich in curses, rich in delusions, rich in judgments?

6. Add to this, that they are rich in pride: they carry their pride to such a peak, that God is angered by it, Proverbs 6:16-17. They are just like a glass full of froth, with nothing in it. The publican went away with righteousness, but the Pharisee with the wind of pride, Luke 18.

V. Now the fifth point is this: is there not a poverty in a child of God — even one who is not poor in goods — which is a little mark of grace? Is poverty of spirit not a mark of grace? Indeed it is — even if it dwelt in a person who had a throne and a crown, you would find him poor in spirit. That is the last point, mark it.

1. First, every godly person finds this. Genesis 18 — that great Abraham, a prince of God, how poor does he stand before God? Ah Lord, he says, may I speak once more to you, I who am dust and ashes? There lies that great David on his knees, 2 Samuel 7. Well, man, can you say no more, such a king? What more shall your servant say — you know your servant, Lord, Lord, he says, so poor a worm. Of that stamp was the apostle Paul: oh, I must be found in you, Philippians 3:9. If a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself in his own mind — so he says, Galatians 6:3.

2. From what else does it appear? The king invites none but the poor: he says to the poor, to the maimed, to the lame, to come in, Luke 14:21; and Matthew 11:5, he says, to the poor the gospel is preached. Oh! says the Lord, come, buy without money and without price, Isaiah 55:1. I have not turned you away, you need bring nothing, everything is excluded except the King's righteousness.

3. To this man will I look, says the Lord, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at my word, Isaiah 66:2. Do you go to church and to the Lord's Supper — I look upon that poor one, on that poor one I look with pleasure and delight. The prophet said, I would not look upon you, were it not that I would not do it for Jehoshaphat's sake. World, says the Lord, I would not look upon you, if I did not look upon my children.

4. They confess that they are but unprofitable servants, Luke 17:10 — what have I, that I have not received; and if I have received it, why do I boast as though I had not received it, 1 Corinthians 4:7. By the grace of God, they say, I am what I am, 1 Corinthians 15:10.

5. Finally, spiritual poverty is grace which is pronounced blessed, Matthew 5:3: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Those are our five points. Now we shall seek to move on to the rest in what follows, and pray God that he will be pleased to bless this to us and to you, to his honor, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 86

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which these four points:

I. Is an unregenerate person also truly poor in spirit? Yes.
II. Is his poverty a proof of grace? No.
III. By what can it be known that he nevertheless lacks grace, though he is poor in his soul?
IV. A heart-strengthening word for God's children.

We read a wondrous story, Genesis 27:38. There stands a child beside his aged father, begging: he weeps and cries out to his father, ah, give me, I pray you, a blessing too! Beloved, a worldling too would cry, give me, I pray, a blessing! Psalm 4:7 — many say, who will show us any good? Such a poor creature is as perverse in his notions as Esau. And the flourishing devilish sort — it does not go well with them after all. Even if their steps swam in butter, and the lamp of God shone over their tent, and no darkness lay over them, and their whole path were smooth, so that everything went according to their wishes, exceeding even their imaginings — yes, even if God said nothing to them of, this very night I will take you out of all your prosperity, but only after eighty years will I take you out of it, and you will die satisfied with days and riches and honor — even if it went so well for them, you must still set beside all their goods what is written in Deuteronomy 28: cursed in this, cursed in that, cursed here, cursed there, cursed in everything, cursed in your death, cursed in the judgment. The curse is, after all, the sinner's inheritance, and after his death he comes into the sure possession of it: when the King shall say, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, Matthew 25:41. So that you see, his greatest fortune is his misfortune, his blessing is in his curse, his riches are his poverty. One can drown just as well in honey as in vinegar, and in gall and in vinegar too. In their great earthly riches, as to the body, they make their souls go without. They may have much money in their purse, but in their heart they have no grace. In their greatest riches is the utmost poverty. They have much good, and make their soul go without, said Solomon — that is an evil which I have seen under the sun. You may see a sinner clothed in soft garments, yet you will find him with a torn conscience, with a troubled mind. You may bless him in your heart, but God sends among his goods a flying scroll of cursing, which consumes it all, Zechariah 5. In the first Psalm we read, when the happiness of the pious had been shown: the ungodly are not so, verse 4. There, then, all the misfortune of the ungodly is shown. And we may say, it is not so with the pious: the pious are the Jacobs, who go off with the blessing; they are blessed from that very hour. That blessed state you find in the fifteenth Psalm. Such people are an honor and a blessing. A pious person may be under the cross, but they are not under the curse. Upon all their crosses they may set what God says in Deuteronomy 28, from verse 1 to verse 14: blessed in this, and blessed in that, blessed in everything. Upon all their little crosses it is written, God will make all things work together for good, Romans 8:28. It is written there, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, Romans 8:18; this works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2 Corinthians 4:17. It is written there, upon the chastening hand of God, blessed are you when you are persecuted for the Lord's sake; blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake, Matthew 5:11. It is written there, blessed are you when you are reproached for my name's sake, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you, 1 Peter 4:14. The pious go off with the blessing, even though they are poor as to the body. The little that the righteous has is better than the abundance of many wicked, Psalm 37:16. Mark and see whether you have ever seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread, verse 25. Have you in your life known riches' poverty, and poverty's riches? If you are so rich in spiritual things, then you are rich in God, and in good fruits. The King sometimes goes to inspect the tree, to see whether it is rich in fruit. Those spiritually poor are rich in promises, they are heirs according to the promises, Acts 2:39, and Hebrews 11:10; they are rich in their expectation, with Abraham; indeed they are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17. Are these not the Jacobs? They have the blessing, and they shall be blessed. And world, you have gotten only some outward thing somewhere: so it goes with the Esaus, the worldlings. Children of God, can you now be displeased with a worldling, if you have grace? Let whatever will befall you, you are blessed — blessed on your sickbed, blessed on your deathbed, blessed in death, blessed in the resurrection.

You can now perceive where we are heading. In our subject we have in hand riches' poverty and poverty's riches. In the ninth mark we said we would examine spiritual poverty. We began that last time. In it we showed: 1. That the pious are usually poor as to the body. 2. Then we showed you why God wills that the pious usually not have much wealth — we gave reasons for that. 3. Then we said to the pious, that outward poverty is no mark of grace, and we described that more fully, with clarification. 4. Then we said, God's providence indeed gives the sinner much wealth, and we showed in what he is rich. 5. Then we said, there is no one in grace but finds that spiritual poverty. Now we would gladly add four more things to that. The first is, is an unregenerate person also spiritually poor? The second, is his poverty a proof of grace? The third, how can it be known that he lacks the poverty of heart and soul which is a mark of grace? By the fourth we shall add a heart-strengthening word for God's children. I say,

I. First we must consider, is there in the unregenerate reprobate, who lives under the means of grace, also indeed a poor soul? Yes.
II. Is it a mark of grace in them? No.
III. By what do they show, even though they are poor in spirit, that they lack grace?
IV. We would like to add an encouraging word for God's people.

I. As to the first: can a reprobate feel poverty of spirit in his soul? We shall answer this for you distinctly in five or six things.

1. There is a spiritual poverty as regards the soul in them because of their bodily condition. You will sometimes find people of great wealth who are so poor in heart that they scarcely dare take a garment off, or bread enough to satisfy themselves, Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 — that is an evil, said Solomon, which I have seen under the sun, one who has much goods, and makes his soul go without. Religion makes no one a miser, Titus 2:11-12: the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

2. The reprobate can have a poor soul with regard to the need of someone he meets. He is too tightfisted even to put his hand once into his purse, to clothe the naked, to give the hungry his bread. Such poor spirits say, what is the point of all that loss? And they say to the poor, go in peace, be warmed and filled, I hope someone else will give you something. And when they do give something, it is given so grudgingly, and they make so much of it, they bring it up again and again, they harp on it so often; indeed, if they give anything, it is with such harsh words, that the one who receives the gift lets his tears fall upon it.

3. They are so poor with regard to precious time. Ask them on their deathbed how they spent their precious time, whether they sought God's grace, whether they carved out an hour for praying and reading. A crane, a swallow, a stork, and an ant would put them to shame.

4. They are so exceedingly poor in spirit with regard to the means of grace. In the whole week they have not dared to take out even an hour, they are so thin in it, an hour can hardly be spared, indeed not even a whole day can be spared, except on the day of rest. Perhaps it would suit them better, Hebrews 10:25, to forsake the assembling of themselves together, than that they should be expected, 1 Corinthians 16:2, to lay something aside on every first day of the week.

5. They are so poor in their soul, as to declaring themselves for God, choosing to serve him. There are a thousand things against it. They would be more willing to say that they must obey men rather than God. If they are willing to serve God, then they have as many terms and conditions to set as Naaman the Syrian: God must overlook this and that for me.

6. They lack the true poverty of spirit of which Christ says that they are blessed — of that they are entirely and wholly deprived. Such a one has no poverty of spirit, he does not know how poor he is, and that is the greatest poverty there is, Revelation 3:17: you know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

II. The second question is: is that poverty of spirit then no proof of grace? No indeed: you can grasp and feel that clearly. To help your thoughts grasp it with some clarity, see from these four things that it is no mark of grace.

1. First, work I cannot, he says, and I feel that I cannot beg — I am ashamed of that, like that unjust steward, Luke 16:3. I want to be saved by my own righteousness, says such a one, and I feel, whatever resolutions I make, I cannot get free of it, I feel so much evil in me that I want to do, I cannot carry out my intention to leave it be. How stands it with their will? To beg at the door of God's favor, they will not. They would gladly say, with that young man in Mark 10, what must I do, and what have I already done — but of reconciliation through a Mediator, they would not dare speak, as though for other men, and that would shame them.

2. God rebukes such as are in that condition, Revelation 3:17: you are poor, but you do not know it, I must complain of you, you have nothing but the notion in your head that you are rich, and you do not know that you lack everything.

3. The Lord does not much concern himself with him, he does not look upon him, but he does look upon others — upon the humble and the broken, but not upon the rich, Isaiah 66:2 — even were it such a young man as in Mark 10. He came so far that the Lord Jesus loved him, but when he spoke that word, you must live upon grace, then he went away sorrowful; and the Lord Jesus also said, let him go, he did not even look after him, but said, let that which goes, go, and let that which dies, die.

4. On the day of judgment the Judge shall say to such, depart — those who had oil enough only so long as their lamps kept burning.

There you have our four reasons. The reprobate who has no grace, even though he is poor in his heart, his poverty is no mark of grace.

III. You will now say, can spiritual poverty fall upon a reprobate — how then shall I know whether mine is the true, spiritual poverty? You can know it by six or seven reasons: consider them.

1. First, if the poverty of spirit in you is the poverty of a reprobate, you will find this: you will not be glad that a sinner, being a sinner, is so reduced, brought so low a condition, as Paul does, Galatians 6:3: if a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. The reprobate says, do not expose me, so that I may know whether I am not deceiving myself — for that he has no desire at all. When the reprobate comes into a church where a man is entirely stripped bare, he bristles against it, he is far too proud to be so nakedly exposed.

2. By this you know the reprobate — by their vain dreams: they have such an imagination of what they have and possess, they already dream of seven full ears of corn and seven fat cows, they already dream of a golden image with a golden head, they dream just like a hungry man who dreams he eats to the full — how he sits at a table and drinks for delight! They dream that, as long as they live so, they have grace; when they have gifts and abilities, they are well pleased with themselves, and they imagine that they are rich and enlightened, so long as they only have gifts and talents. They would gladly say, when someone speaks of conversion, I know nothing of that, I lack nothing — and they thank God that they are not like other men, not like this one or that one, Luke 18.

3. In the third place, the spiritual poverty in the reprobate is found together with provision for the body, while he lacks provision for the soul; he prefers the goods for this life to the goods for the spiritual life. The goods for this life, he says, with these I can make myself agreeable — but what can you do with spiritual goods? If they lie on a sickbed, if it comes to dying, they know precisely how to tell their friends, in that cabinet lies that bond and that promissory note, and there you will find that money and those jewels — but should they have to say, where is the grace of God to forgive my sins, and the righteousness of Christ to atone for my sins and let me stand before God? Where is the love of God to comfort me? Where is my humbling? Where is my faith? Where is my hope? — they must say, I do not know where to find them. But as to their other goods, they know exactly what to say. If someone stands by the bed and says, where is your reconciliation with God? Where is your faith? — then the breath catches in their chest, then their heart closes up.

4. In the fourth place, the reprobate who are poor in soul, you will mostly hear speaking of what they have, and never hear complaining of what they lack. The others speak little of what they have, and complain much of what they lack. Here applies that proverb of Solomon: there is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and there is that makes himself poor, yet has great riches, Proverbs 13:7.

5. If you press them and say, my friend, you must have spiritual goods, or you are unhappy, then all their desire vanishes at once, in their whole life, when they hear that. As long as the Lord Jesus had not yet said, the flesh profits nothing, he had many followers, but when he had said it, the following melted away, except for a handful who said, others may go, we will remain, John 6. When it is pressed upon them, that spiritual matter, they melt away, they let the Lord Jesus go.

6. The reprobate shows that his poverty is not of the right kind: come to him on a sick and dying bed, you will find him careless; his house has been at peace as long as he lived, and he does not want it disturbed as he goes to die; do not speak to me, he says, of difficulties, I am at present, as ever, a friend of no anxious thoughts or questions, it would disturb me, let me die in peace. And so they remain among those at ease in Zion, and those secure on the mountain of Samaria, until the discovered woe comes upon them, Amos 6:1.

7. If you come to them on their deathbed, or in the course of their life, to address them, they give it up, because they cannot get through it. Truly, they say, I cannot help it, I shall only find what thousands find, I shall share the same fate with them. The upshot of the whole matter is carelessness and hopelessness, or groundlessness — I am content, they say. On these grounds you mention, they say, I have an aversion to heaven and to coming into heaven: I have had gifts, I have had knowledge, I have been religious, I have sometimes wept, I got a good understanding of things, on that I shall get in. Oil in the lamp, said the wise virgins — but the Lord Jesus said, that is beyond your control. Shall I not get in, said one, I have done mighty works; and another, I have preached in your name? But the Lord will say, I never knew you, though you thought you knew yourself, Matthew 7:23. Another again, I have eaten and drunk in your presence: it will not help, the Lord will say, you must remain outside, and then it shall be eternal poverty, past all remedy. Forever you shall then be with the devils, with the damned and with the reprobate: forever you must be among the poor devils, with the poor damned, and under the poor reprobate. There you have the mark of the reprobate's poverty.

IV. Finally we still have an encouraging word for a child of God. They often have poverty as to the body; God is pleased to have it so, he has his holy reason for it, it is no proof of grace; the reprobate too is sometimes poor, it is no mark of grace to him either. We have shown the reprobate's poverty in those marks; now we still have an encouraging word for a child of God.

1. Have no discontent, then, at God's dealings, never murmur, always give thanks. That is my duty and yours, never to be discontented, but to let God do as he pleases, to be still.

2. Why should you be despondent, letting your head hang like a bulrush, in your whole condition, outward and inward? God says, my blessed friends, whoever curses you I will curse, whoever blesses you I will bless — how then can you be despondent, when everything against you must work together for good? You do not indeed see it now, but you shall see it afterward.

3. Now that we have removed some stumbling blocks out of the way, go on with us to see what is the nature of true spiritual poverty; then the true marks of it; then what courage that must give you, once you know the true character of it; then we shall say, now lay your heart to this matter, and you will have to say that God has shown you that grace. That is the subject to follow. I wish that God may be pleased to bless this, to his honor, for the sake of his Son. Amen.

Sermon 87

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which four points: I. What the word "poor in spirit" means in the original language. II. A description of spiritual poverty. III. The pictures under which it is shown. IV. The whole nature and character of spiritual poverty.

We read Proverbs 13:7: There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. Samson once gave the people a riddle, but they could not solve it; they could not explain it to him. When we give this riddle, there will likewise be some who cannot solve it either. We shall be brief about it.

Who is the man who makes himself rich and yet has nothing at all? 1. First, the man who makes himself rich through sin, so that his wife must say to her husband: we do indeed have much goods, but it is not ours, it was stolen for me. When they survey their tables, chests, and cupboards, it speaks to them plainly, as it did to Micah's mother: the thousand pieces of silver, she said, were stolen from me. They are like a partridge that has gathered many eggs, and then another comes and hatches them out. So it is here too: such a man gathers much goods, but without right, and death consumes it all in the end — he is a fool.

2. The man who wastes and squanders his riches in sin. Such a fellow was the prodigal son: he loosed himself from his father's will, and in the end had nothing at all. Whoever is a brother to a spendthrift is a fool himself; he lets much good slip through his hands. In the end he comes to a deep pit and falls into it. Or he runs toward laziness, and there a traveler overtakes him like an armed man. You may see him among the gluttons and the drunkards.

3. Who else is there who makes himself rich and yet is poor? He who carries himself as though he were rich. They dress as the rich dress, they make as broad a show of their standing and their goods as the rich do, and they are just like the man who dropped the axe-head into the water: alas, my lord, he said, it was borrowed. So it is here too: all his goods are not his own. Whether he lives or dies, the creditor comes and lays hands on it all, 2 Kings 4:1. They strut in another's feathers, Psalm 37:21 — they have goods that are borrowed.

4. It is such a man as this: one whom God has blessed, but who through rash suretyship loses all that is his, so that even his bed is sold from under him.

5. It is that sort who never have enough. They are like the horseleach's daughter, who cries: Give, give. It sits always in their heart to be given to. He who loves money is never satisfied with money. They are forever complaining and moaning; nothing is ever well with them.

6. Once more, it is such a man as this: he has much goods, and yet he is niggardly at heart; he dares not do himself any good with it, Ecclesiastes 2. I saw there a rich man, said Solomon, and he dared not clothe himself, he had no heart to give himself any refreshment.

7. Lastly, the man who is so rich as to his soul. The imaginations of his heart are great; he has such great thoughts of his own grace and his own talents, he thinks he has grace enough, while his lamp is barely burning and he does not know that it is about to go out. One thing thou lackest, said to the man who stood there boasting, Mark 10 and Luke 18. For want of that one thing, all is lacking. They stand there just as in Revelation 3:17: Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. They feel none of it; they speak only of their fullness. That is the one sort.

But there is yet another sort. Solomon says, I saw also a kind of men walking under the sun, who came into company and made themselves poor, and yet they had great riches — that is the opposite sort. Who are they?

1. First, the rich without display. They make no show of what they have; they are quiet rich people, who possess their treasure in stillness — not like a Nabal, who feasted like a king, but like the old Barzillai, who made no display or fuss. Rich people who are like that great woman, the Shunammite, 2 Kings 4. They are in truth what Jeroboam's wife only pretended to be, 1 Kings 14: she dressed herself as though she were not a queen at all.

2. Who is it that makes himself poor, and yet he has great riches? Such as these: though they were poor, they have grace, they are godly, even if they must beg; whether they are moderately well-off or poor, they are rich all the same. What sort of goods do they have? The blessing of God upon their fields and upon all their goods, Deuteronomy 28 and Psalm 37:16: A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Wherever that is — even if it be only in a beggar's hut — there is a treasure to be desired: all things are yours, 1 Corinthians 3:21. They are like a man who owns houses and fields, while others who rent them hold them from the owner almost by force. You have it in right, and one day you shall also have it in possession: when it pleases God, you shall have it in possession too.

3. Such a one is also content. They have learned with Paul to be content, Philippians 4:11. Godliness is a companion of contentment, 1 Timothy 6:6. They also have so much joy, they are so satisfied with God's arrangement: that little man has everything, with Jacob, Genesis 33:11.

4. Once more, they are at times complainers, at times like beggars: they have begged, and yet leave behind much goods. They present themselves just as the Gibeonites once did: they came with moldy bread and old worn-out shoes, and yet they had great riches. They are like the men who came to Gedaliah: they wept and pleaded, and yet had stores of oil and honey hidden in the field, Jeremiah 41.

5. Lastly, they have a poor soul. They live poor once they receive grace, and they die poor. They lie and beg at the door of divine grace for a little alms for their soul, the divine favor in Christ — as poor, yet making many rich, 2 Corinthians 6:10. They are rich in grace, rich in fruits, rich in contentment, rich in their end and outcome. Blessed are the poor in spirit, Matthew 5:3.

Beloved, to that last sort we want to direct your thoughts a little further. You know that we are occupied with the ninth mark of grace, of the passage from nature to the state of grace. That ninth mark we have taken in hand, concerning which, in the first sermon on this subject, we showed you: 1. That the godly are usually poor as to the body. 2. That God had holy reasons for that. 3. That bodily poverty is no mark of grace. 4. That the reprobate are usually rich. 5. That spiritual poverty has a place in all God's children, even were they seated on thrones, like a David and his equals. In the second sermon we had this: 1. There was a question raised — is there not also a kind of spiritual poverty in the reprobate? We said, yes, but they were not poor in spirit. 2. Where such spiritual poverty was, it was no proof of grace to them. 3. In their poverty there were great signs that it was not of the right sort. 4. Finally we had a refreshing word for God's people, that they should never complain of God's dealings, but always give thanks. There then remained for us to set forth: 1. The nature of spiritual poverty. 2. Some tests, whether our poverty is of the right sort. 3. Then we shall seek to have a stirring word. 4. Then we shall seek to resolve some cases concerning spiritual and bodily poverty. For now we shall be content, without display, without pretense or any painting-over, to set spiritual poverty before you in its own nature. In that we shall consider:

I. What the root word signifies.

I say, first, what the word signifies in the original tongue; then, to give a description of what it is; then, under what pictures God shows it forth; then, we shall lay open the whole nature of it before you. 1. As to the first: the Savior, speaking of the poor in spirit, what does he mean to express by that?

1. First, such as have come into the condition of a beggar, who are in the utmost poverty, like a beggar who must go from door to door for a piece of bread, for a garment, for a small coin, to buy with it what he lacks.

2. It signifies such a poverty in which everything is wanting — not only what refreshes, but what is necessary is lacking there too.

II. The second point is the description. The great Calvin gives a description of it: spiritual poverty, he says, "is a fleeing from oneself, and a taking refuge in the grace of God in Christ, which is as a sanctuary for an anxious and constrained heart." Such a one was the publican, Luke 18: he was turned away from the others, he stands there apart, as though he were not worthy to be looked upon; he stands there in a corner, so struck down was he that he dared not lift up his eyes. Such a one was Paul, who said, I have no righteousness, Philippians 3. It is such a fine figure, Galatians 6:3: if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Do you know what the poverty of the Spirit is? This: it is a grace that God gives in the heart of an elect and godly person. One sometimes says, make your calling and election sure. Hear this: if you are to be heard, you must be made poor. Do not be so easily overthrown: if you can find spiritual poverty in yourself, it is a grace that dwells in the heart of the godly. God makes them so sensible of their sins, so ashamed, that they say, oh Lord, I must set my hope upon you. What else made Paul so sensible of his sins? Dear God, he said, now I see that I have no good in myself, I see that there is no good but in my God alone; now I look away from all that is outside of you, as from broken cisterns — why should I let my eyes rest upon that which is not? There is nothing in the whole world that can refresh me when my mind is troubled. Adam, troubled in his mind, could not be refreshed by the whole of Paradise. The world leaves me standing naked on my deathbed to obtain your favor; I cannot buy off a single hour of it with the world. One who is elect and has received grace, made so sensible of his sins, sees in himself, and nowhere else, anything to save him but God alone. Ah, how glad would I be to become aware of the feeling that God had said, be it unto you according to your word! I will turn aside, said Moses, and see this great sight, and behold the goodness of him who dwells in the burning bush — that I shall never forget as long as I live, Exodus 3. When someone gives a heartfelt blessing, it is still so: may the goodness of him who dwells in the bush come upon you! Lord, they say, to you I turn it, and they are so exceedingly glad when the Lord says, be it unto you according to your word.

III. Now we come, thirdly, to the little pictures. Under what pictures does such a soul appear? As a beggar or beggar-woman, who goes from door to door in torn clothes, who has neither purse nor pouch, who goes weeping along the streets, who has no garment to cover his nakedness, whose skin is black from hunger. As one who has lost his goods: the man says to his wife, we are ruined, it is all ruined, all that we do comes to nothing. It is the picture of a prince who used to ride on horseback, but must now go on foot. They are like that king who used to sit judging upon his throne, but must now gather crumbs under another king's table. It is like Naomi: I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty; call me Mara, my daughter, it is far more bitter for me than for you, Ruth 1. It is like Job: one day he was the richest, and the next the poorest man in all the East — ah, how far he had fallen who had been so exalted. By such things you must examine your soul.

IV. Now you will easily be able to grasp spiritual poverty in its essence, what it is in its true nature. What now is this spiritual poverty in its essence?

1. First, God brings his children's thoughts to this, that they say, my God, was I always so? Hear this, says the Lord: there was a time when you could say, I have goods laid up for many years, what do I lack now? I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. When was that, Lord? When I adorned you with my image, when I kissed you with the kisses of my mouth, when you, like the angels of God, were made to share in my favor and comfort. When I adorned you with my image, when I gave you great dignities, dominion over all creatures, then you had a perfection: how beautiful you were in your goings, O prince's daughter, in the turning of your hips! Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, Ecclesiastes 7:29. Then I was so rich, I conversed with God, and God with me.

2. Then God makes us sink down in our thoughts upon ourselves: what am I now, dearest Lord? I come naked into the world, naked as to body, naked as to soul; I have no image of God, heaven is shut against me, that palace outside of which I must wander like a hopeless pauper; your favor, your blessing, your holiness I have lost; I have lost all my goods; what do I have now? What do you have, she says? Nothing but sin, threats, curses: that is my inheritance; you would be righteous, Lord, if you cast me into prison, and said, pay it all, that which you owe.

3. Then God says: do you not now see a single creature that can make you rich? Have you then no strength or understanding to make yourself rich? Set your hand to the work, and see whether you can overcome your poverty by your own understanding or strength. Then she says: the natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God, we are not able of and from ourselves to do any good thing, I am powerless and worthless — at the beginning, in the middle, and in the progress of it.

4. So there sinks upon her heart a sensible pain over her poverty. Do you feel it? says God. Yes, she says, I would indeed take hold of it: the crown is fallen from my head, she says —

Through my own folly, not for sins committed,
all this ruin and misfortune has come upon me.
I, who once was full of vigor,
am, by this, wholly broken, faint, and sick. Psalm 38:5, etc.

5. My Lord, I feel in everything a longing for something infinite; in myself, or in anything called creature, I cannot find it. What is standing, riches, honor, luxury, friends, if my soul remains lost?

6. Dearest Lord, that good is with you, you are the rich God, you have garments for my nakedness, a roof under which I might come, you have food, drink, medicine; I am ashamed that I go to church so poor and so ragged, my God, but with you there is enough to fill all my treasure-chambers. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee, Psalm 73:25. O God, my soul thirsts and longs for you!

O God, my soul crieth out unto thee like a thirsty land, Psalm 63.

7. Then such a working comes upon them: how shall I come by this now? I will go begging at the door of God's ordinance, from door to door, I will knock and cry, Matthew 7:7. I will go begging for alms for my soul, I will go show what lies upon my heart, I will say, my God, I cannot do without your grace; will there not be a crumb for me, or a little more? Like a poor beggar I will say, my soul clings fast behind you, like that Canaanite woman: though you say, I cannot give it to you, I hold on nevertheless.

8. Ah, I am so unworthy of it, but you should give me something all the same: if you do it, it will be grace — yes, an unsearchable riches of grace; if you refuse me, I shall have to say, God is just. I have nothing to say if you refuse me: I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, I am not worthy to be called your child; I have nothing to say if you refuse me — it will be hard nonetheless, but it is righteous. Yet I am resolved not to go away, whether you give it to me or not; though I should die of hunger, I will not leave you or go from you, though you should storm against my prayer. Like that widow, Luke 18: though you fear neither God nor man, you must do me justice all the same: shall your Father then not do justice to one who cries to him night and day? May I not be refused?

That is the nature of poverty; it is now made exceedingly heavier by circumstances. Consider then:

1. When someone is not used to it: those who were clothed in scarlet now embrace the dunghill; those who ate delicacies, their skin is black with hunger. Oh Lord! I was used to being rich, and now so poor!

2. That is made heavier when no one knows of it but ourselves. My ruin is of myself!

3. Surely it comes from not following good counsel, 2 Corinthians 11:3: take heed lest the Devil deceive you, as the serpent deceived Eve. I too have not followed good counsel!

4. It is made heavier because we always have a gnawing conscience that accuses and distresses us. Our heart condemns us and says, you shall not receive it, who shall help you — not God.

5. Once more, that burdens us, when one finds no pity with God or men. No eye pitied thee, Ezekiel 16:5. Then such a one says, ah Lord! help me, I can wait no longer, when will you come to me! Give me a crumb! Let me get some little nourishment for my soul! Might I receive something from you! I will wait until you are gracious to me, I am not to be turned away, I cannot leave your door, and shall I not keep waiting at your door? I see one there leaving your door who has been helped, and he glorifies you — I shall do the same.

That is spiritual poverty, without pretense or adornment, in its own true nature. Now lay your heart to it. How stands it with the resources of your soul? Do you stand thus before the Lord and beg? Is your poverty like this? Then God will look upon you. Do you find these things in you? Peace be to this house! God will not take it from you.

You will say: now I would like to see it plainly, in some marks, whether I possess it. That we shall leave for a following sermon, and we wish that God may be pleased to bless this, to his glory, for his Son's sake, Amen.

Sermon 88

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which fourteen marks of spiritual poverty are set forth.

We read in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, verse 23, that a man came to the Lord Jesus who asked and said: Master, will only a few be saved and come into heaven?

The Lord Jesus had many wonderful encounters and cases brought before him. At one time they came and said, a woman had had seven husbands, in the resurrection whose wife shall she be? Then another came and said, who shall be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Others said, what shall become of us? And others, who then can be saved? And another comes and falls on his knees in the road and says, good Master, what must I do to enter into life? I have already done much, and am willing to do still more: what must I do to enter into life? It seems to me that there is a life of hours, days, weeks, months, but that is not the true life — there is an eternal life. And here comes one who says, will many, or will few, be saved?

Beloved, the Devil goes off with the greater number. Go through cities and villages, and count them even in this great city — Satan wins the count. The way of destruction is broad, and it swarms with travelers. On the way of destruction there are riches, crowns, treasures to be won. The way to heaven is not so broad: there is nothing to be gained there but the cross, mockery, scorn, and persecution. There are two kinds of ways: the one is broad, the other narrow. On the one it swarms with people, and on the other there are but few who walk it. You may well think what is to be said of that.

The Savior said: well, man, you say, will many enter into life? He had heard it said that the Savior said, the way is narrow that leads to life, and few there are that walk it. And you may read it in Isaiah: it is as though you found three or four pieces of fruit left on a branch. But it seemed the man was not truly moved at heart when he asked this question. The Savior treated him just as he needed to be treated, seeing him through and through.

The Lord could have said: my dominion is from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. If there be but a handful of corn in the field, it shall rustle like Lebanon; my name shall be propagated from child to child. My Father said, ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession, Psalm 2:8. So he could have spoken, but he let the matter go quite differently.

He does not say outright whether many or few shall be saved. Man, he said, though the gate of paradise is narrow, it is nevertheless open for paradise. After the committing of sin an angel stood there with a sword, but that is gone now that God has reconciled himself, and with himself all things, whatever is in heaven and on earth. Man, paradise stands open for you and for everyone. If it were impossible, then every effort to be saved would be pointless. Heaven is shut against the devils and the damned, Luke 16:26. It is possible, then, for you and your like. If it were shut, there would be no chance at all — but the way is open. Why then do you stand and ask, will many be saved? What does it matter to you whether many or few shall be saved? Spend some effort on it, though it cost you some sweat; do your best.

What does it matter whether a great or a small number is saved? What did it matter to Noah and his eight, whether the whole world drowned, so long as he had the ark? What did it matter to Lot, whether Sodom burned, so long as he was kept safe with his family in Zoar? What did it matter to an Elijah, when he thought he alone was left, though there were yet seven thousand? What did it matter to Joshua and Caleb, whether of Israel those above twenty years old might not come into Canaan, so long as they themselves might come in?

The violent take it by force; strive to enter in — have you a desire for that, then you can be saved. What did David have to decide? 1 Samuel 17. Is it this: what shall be done for the man to whose honor the king takes pleasure? Then you must go to the battle, to Goliath. So too, if you are willing to do that, man, you will stand amazed at how many, and who all, are saved in the end.

The world says: I fill purses with riches; but I, said the Savior, make poor men lords, Matthew 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourning, the persecuted and reviled for my sake.

So the Lord Jesus dealt with that man, and that is how we too wish to proceed. Should someone wonder, who shall be saved? Put your hand to the plow. Though the gate is narrow and the way is small, it is nevertheless open, and the further you go along it, the broader it becomes; and the broad way, the further you go along it, the narrower it becomes.

We have detained you with various spiritual matters, in order especially to support the bruised reeds and to fan into flame the smoking flaxen wicks. We have shown you some marks of the state of grace. Eight of them we have already dealt with. We are occupied with the ninth, and that was, that no one is in grace unless he is a spiritual pauper, and that we argued as follows.

1. First we showed you that the godly are often poor in body. 2. Why God so wills it. 3. That bodily poverty is no mark of grace. 4. The ungodly are usually much richer. 5. Spiritual poverty is in the heart of all the graced, even were someone to possess thrones and crowns. Then we said, in a following sermon: 1. Are the unconverted also poor? And we said, yes. 2. We showed that this was no proof of grace to them. 3. We also saw by what it can be known that it is no proof of grace to them. 4. Then we sought to support the bruised reeds: we said, do not complain of God's dealings, but be comforted; your contrary winds are following winds, and their following winds are contrary winds. In the last sermon we showed: 1. The force of the root word from Matthew 5:3, blessed are the poor in spirit. 2. We gave a description of spiritual poverty. 3. We showed you the pictures of spiritual poverty in its own true nature, without any painting-over. There then remained for us: 1. Some true and essential marks of that poverty. 2. An exhortation to us and to you, that you would indeed carry yourselves as spiritual paupers. Then we said that there were still some cases left, which we must also treat, if it pleases God. For now we shall treat thirteen or fourteen marks of spiritual poverty, and content ourselves with that.

They once came to the Lord Jesus and said, what signs do you do? Those were extraordinary. But now a soul comes and says, what signs do you give? I have heard you speak of this, it pleases me, it clings to me, but I would like to know whether I had any part in it: do you have for me some scriptural marks by which I can be set at rest, that I have part and portion in it? Hear then; it does not come down to one or two, nor even ten. Come, listen with attention, and lay your heart open to it. You and I must have them, or we shall never be saved. Which are they?

1. The first mark is this: whoever has a part in it, their mouth is full of speaking of their poverty. As one who is poor in body says, I shall yet die of want — so it is with a spiritually poor heart: you will not be with them long before their mouth is filled with saying how spiritually poor they are. It is: I have no God for my God, I have no mediator, I lack the Spirit that makes my heart work; I have no broken mind; I lack faith; I lack a holy walk; I am not watchful, not thoughtful; I lack self-denial: ah, I am so full of want, I am so utterly poor, I perish with hunger, Luke 15:17. A rich man always has his mouth full of his riches, but a poor man of his poverty — what I lack, he says, cannot be counted. Do you know this? Have you thus poured out your poverty before God and men? Proverbs 13:7: There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

2. Now follows the second scriptural mark, which is experiential, and it is: oh God, must I remain so, then I am eternally unhappy; must I die so poor, then I am wretched and lost; must I remain lacking your favor, I cannot keep my soul alive, I have neither penny nor penny's worth, Psalm 22:29,30. You have nothing to offer that high Majesty, and if you remain so, it is over for you; then you must perish of want.

3. The third mark is: you will meet them only complaining, sighing, weeping. I have no one to blame but myself, they say. That she is so poor, she does not blame on God, but: my ruin is of myself, she says, my poverty is my fault, my sin, my shame; it is my own wickedness that makes it so bitter, that it reaches to my very heart, Jeremiah 4:18. God is holy and righteous, but I am the guilty one. Ah, I must blame myself, I have no one else to put it on. It was true of Naomi that she was poor, and Job was poor, but it was not their fault, nor was it their sin or shame. But that the prodigal son was so poor, that was his own fault, his own sin, and his own shame, Luke 15.

4. The fourth mark is: Lord, how restless is my heart! What must I go do? They go inquire whether there is no rescue for them. Are there no gracious kings of Israel? Is there no God who according to his mercy can supply all my need? Then you will find them like the eunuch, who sat in his chariot with the Bible on his lap, Acts 8. You will see them in their house and chamber reading and searching — they search the Scriptures. The books they have and read cannot refresh them. There is one book in which they look, to see whether there is a God who can and will supply their want, Luke 15: in my father's house is abundance.

5. The fifth mark is: they are exceedingly given to going begging, they speak entreaties, they go to the door of God's grace, they knock and pray once — but to stay at home is little to them; they are like that poor Ruth. Will you indeed beg, says God the Lord? Will you indeed speak entreaties, and entreat me that I should give you something? Behold, he prayeth, that is enough, Acts 9:11. They are poor and naked, they lie there upon their knees and beg at the door of God's ordinances, they go from one door to another. Ah Lord, they say, I have need of you: I die and perish for want, if you refuse me your Spirit, yourself, your Son! That cripple was laid daily at the beautiful gate of the temple, there he sat and begged, Acts 3. They too sit daily at that door where they are brought by God's Spirit. There they cry and plead night and day. Do you know those nightly hours of begging? By night and day they cry to God, they bring forward as much as they can, and in their pleading every kind of plea, and they speak so openly from the bottom of their soul.

6. The sixth mark is: they go begging in hope. The farmer plows in hope, a soldier fights in hope; they go begging at the door of God's grace in hope. Lord, they say, there are already others who have become partakers of their hope; at your word, they say, I will cast out the net. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God, Psalm 42:11. They beg in hope that they too shall yet become partakers of their hope.

7. The seventh mark is: as they go on hoping and begging, they begin to long and look out for an answer. When, they say, will you come to me? I am so poor and so naked, I am resolved not to go away. Whether I should get a crumb or not, said Lazarus, he remained lying at the rich man's gate. They hold fast in prayer, and say with Jacob, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me, Genesis 32:26. I will hearken what God the Lord will speak, Psalm 85:8. Benhadad's servants caught at Ahab's word when he said, he is my brother. So the Canaanite woman: am I a little dog, then give me a little dog's portion, give me but something, Lord, and it will be great. They set themselves upon their watch, with Habakkuk, and listen for what God will speak. That is the seventh mark.

8. Now comes an eighth mark, and that is: they are so humble, and roll themselves in dust and ashes, Genesis 18:27 and Job 42:6. They humble themselves in dust and ashes. Depart from me, they say with Peter, for I am a sinful man, Luke 5:8. What am I doing at the door of so holy a God? I am too small for you to grant me anything, I am a dead dog, a firebrand so long consumed. They come to nothing: the poorer, the humbler; the poorer, the less puffed up. A poor man speaks of his poverty, but a puffed-up man of his riches. They are more ashamed of their lack of grace, and more troubled by it, than a soldier is over the deed of his own sin. They dare not say that they are anything or do anything. Well, Paul, you do so much? Not I, he says, but the grace of God which was with me, 1 Corinthians 15:10. But surely you can do all things? Yes, he said, through Christ, who strengtheneth me, Philippians 4:13. I live, he says, and then again, I live not, but Christ liveth in me, Galatians 2:20.

9. The ninth mark is: I dare not think of great things — assurance, joy, being led into the inner chambers, that is not for me. Should you seek great things for yourself, Baruch? Seek them not, Baruch: why do you go about seeking such great things? Jeremiah 45. There are such great things made known in the Word, as marrow and fatness, green pastures, and there is abundance of grace, but for that reason I do not come to the door of God's grace. The Apostle once said, that there were things one would not dare pray for or think of — assurance, being pillars in God's house — but that is not why I come. And you shall receive it nonetheless: your beginnings shall indeed be small, but your latter end shall be blessed.

10. The tenth mark is the necessities: if it please you, Lord, that which I may not lack, give me that. And what is that? The spiritual life, your favor in Christ, that I may get sin put to death and be holy in all my walk, that I may be kept by your power to the very end. Only let me not lack what is needful to serve you here and to enter into heaven. Dear Lord, then I shall go as a guest, if you are pleased to give me that; my heart will say, needful grace is enough, and I shall receive as it were a new life and a new courage. Dear Lord, may I have the strength to conclude that it will not remain at these small beginnings, but that it shall be followed by eternal life, that it is not a brook that dries up, but a spring of everlasting life!

11. The eleventh mark is: then their thoughts begin to play upon the Lord Jesus. God cannot — she says — and I must have help, and God cannot but be satisfied. God in himself is a consuming fire to the sinner, Hebrews 12:29. There they play with their thoughts upon the Lord Jesus, that tree of life, whose leaf and fruit are so sweet to their soul. It is: I wish that, sitting under the shadow of that tree, in the bosom of his heart, I might find that my palate could be made sweet by musing upon him! It is then: dear Lord Jesus, you are so precious to me! I cannot say, they say, how precious you are to me: all my riches are in you, that God in Christ will supply all my need; my conscience is turned against me like a fiery serpent, I would gladly give the whole world for the antitype of the brazen serpent, that my troubled mind might be stilled; you are my balm and my healing, you are for the curing of my soul.

12. The twelfth mark is: my Lord, it is no mere word of the lips that I speak, even if you stood before me and wrote out the terms for me and said, do I cost you so dear? Are you willing to cast off your own will? Are you willing to forsake father, mother, goods, kindred, closest friends, and everything, to choose me? Sit down a while, and consider: am I worth so much to you, will you then be willing to be my subject? And if I should bring you once from Tabor to Gethsemane, and say to you, you too must be baptized with that baptism — what do you say, is that too dear a price for you? I should have to say, no Lord, you please me so well, on condition of your help, grace, and strength, which you will be pleased to give me. Do I please you so? Yes Lord, not only will I follow you to Tabor but to Golgotha, and then I shall still have to say that I have a cheap bargain in you, that I have bought wine and milk for nothing. What does your heart say? There you have already a dozen marks — twelve sure, living, scriptural, experiential, clear marks.

13. The thirteenth mark is: such a one so loves being a spiritual little beggar, prizing free grace so highly: they praise the free favor of God, they take texts from the Bible that are like hammers, to smash their pride to pieces, such as this: by grace are ye saved, Ephesians 2:8; by the grace of God I am what I am, 1 Corinthians 15:10; not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, Psalm 115:1; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves, Psalm 100:3. The grace of our Lord Jesus has been shown to us most abundantly, and if you would know my letters, said Paul, that they are from me, you shall know them by this: the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all, Amen. The whole Bible is filled with it. Have you ever noticed? The Bible begins with grace and it ends with grace. It begins with it, Genesis 3:15: the seed of the woman shall crush the serpent's head; and Revelation 22, the last verse: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.

14. The fourteenth mark is: he who is spiritually poor loves to hear the sinner made small. He does not like to be in company where people flatter and puff each other up, praise and extol one another; that alarms him; but he loves this: he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, whose praise is not of men, but of God, Romans 2:28,29. Not one who serves men, but one whom the Lord commends, is approved. If someone praises them too much, so that it offends them, then they say, you are a Satan to me, get thee behind me. What have I, they say, of the least or the greatest, that I have not received? Why then should I boast as though I had not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:7.

There you have fourteen marks. Now we should add a few more, but then we would be too long; those we shall spare for now, and in what follows we shall also seek to lay them upon your heart, and then seek to stir one another up to be spiritually poor. Let you and me indeed carry ourselves as spiritual paupers before God! We shall leave it there for now, and pray God that he would be pleased to bless this to us and to you, to his glory, for his Son's sake, Amen.

Sermon 89

On Matthew 12:20, 21.

In which occur: I. Yet fourteen more marks by which someone can know that he possesses the true spiritual poverty of spirit. II. An awakening word to such persons.

We read Proverbs 23:26: My son, give me thine heart. Our heart has many suitors. Several make request of our heart. Do you know who? Sin, the Devil, and the world. All of them make their request, and they will not be satisfied unless you give them your heart. The king of Sodom said, give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself, Genesis 14:21. They want your heart, whole or in part. They are strangely content if you give it to them wholly, if nothing good dwells in your flesh, and if you do not complain of the evil, as in Romans 7. It cannot be, they say, that you should give your heart to us and to God both; but if you still want to give God something, give him then your outward appearance and your lips. Isaiah 29:13: they draw near with their mouth and give fine words, but they do not come with their soul to the work. Will that not do, they say, do you then know no way to deal with your conscience or your good name? Give then each a share: let us divide it; let God not stand so strictly on his claim, and I will not either; let God and me each have some, says the Devil, the world, and sin; limp a little between two opinions, serve two masters; you cannot indeed love them equally, but love the one at one time and obey him, and then the other at another. It is too ugly a thing to stand so strictly on his claim. Watch out, said the Devil, the world, and sin: shall I allow that you give your heart wholly to God? That is too often, or too much; you must keep something back for us — why do you hold so fast to your integrity? Job 2:9. If someone wants to give his whole heart to God, then all is in an uproar; even his own family and closest friends would give him up. Then they begin to say, these are people who set the world in an uproar. Then he has no one to turn to; there he stands with everyone against him.

God alone says: give it to me, my child; I exempt no one from that claim — rich or poor, high or low; if you refuse it, it is on pain of my displeasure. I do not want it unless you give it to me wholly. Serve me with your whole heart and with your whole soul. The high priest and the other priests of the Old Testament, when they cut open a beast to offer it to the Lord, looked to see whether the heart was sound: I too, says God, have wanted to show by that, that I look first at your heart; I do not look at how your eyes roll, how you move your hands and feet, how you move your lips, but I see how it is within you. If the heart is good, all is good; but if the heart is evil, all is evil. If the heart is good, then your tears are good, then your feelings are good, then your alms are good, then your prayer is good, then your worship is good, then you are altogether pleasing to me — what do I care for the outward? Well, said a child of God, Lord, if I am to be your child, does so much depend on this, that I must give you my heart? Yes, said God, if you do not give it to me, you are not my child; your whole standing as my child hangs upon it. Lord, they say, what then do you want me to give you?

1. First, said God, give me your innocence, your integrity, let your heart be whole. A child of God hates a divided heart: they know that they would then be destroyed, Hosea 10:2. There is told of a certain martyr, that when his flesh and blood had already been consumed by the flame, his heart was still found whole. So it is with a child of God: in their walk before God, in all the reproach, distress, and weaknesses they have, they keep their whole heart before God. The innocence of Christ's dove is precious in the Lord's sight.

What does the Lord require further? This: lay your heart open to the workings of my Spirit. Say: awake, O north wind, and come, thou south wind — if it be only an arrow of your love and compassion that you let come upon my heart, let your arrows go through; when I knock at the door of my heart, let me hear you come and open it. Be a people that grieves not my Spirit, Ephesians 4:30.

3. My child, said God, give me your conscience, your mind: do not wound your conscience through deliberate or undeliberate sins, through known or unknown sins, nor through a splinter nor through a beam. Have always a good conscience, 1 Peter 3:16. Paul spoke to the Jewish council, brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day, Acts 23:1.

4. What further? Give me your love, my child, that you may once say before me, I love you with my whole heart, Psalm 18:1, 116:1. Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, John 21:17.

5. And what does the Lord require then? Then he says, give me your faith; with the heart man believeth, Romans 10:10.

6. Then the Lord requires your hope. Be not without hope; set your hope on the living God in Christ. Why art thou cast down? hope thou in God, Psalm 42:5.

7. My child, give me your trust; let me be the rock of your heart, Psalm 73:26. Trust in God, even if outwardly there is not much provision. That is only fitting — in whom shall you trust better than in God?

Could you say, like David, I am a poor and needy man, what will God do with that poor heart? Could you say, like Hiram to Solomon, what cities are these? Could you say, my God, I have such a crafty, such a sinful heart, poor in all good and rich in all evil — will that be pleasing to you, my Lord? Should I give it to you, what will you do with it? I will sanctify it, I will adorn it, I will refresh it, I will attend to it; poor as it is, it shall be pleasing to me, though you have nothing at all, neither money nor goods. What will you do with it, Lord? I will make it rich, I will set upon it a crown of loving-kindness, I will crown it here with grace and hereafter with glory. Thereupon they give it to the Lord, poor and wretched as it is.

Beloved, we have given you some marks by which one can know that someone has passed from nature into the state of grace. Eight of these we have already dealt with, and we are occupied with the ninth, which is poverty of spirit. We showed that there are such poor as God makes rich. We showed that the godly are usually poor as to the body, and we saw that this was so by God's good pleasure — that the reprobate are usually rich. Then, that there was no one who had grace but was a spiritual pauper, and no one who was a spiritual pauper but had grace. We showed that the reprobate too may be spiritually poor, and we saw that their spiritual poverty was no mark of grace. Then we sought to speak a refreshing and encouraging little word. Then we spoke of the word that God's Spirit used to express this spiritual poverty, and we gave a description of the poverty and some pictures of it. The last was: I have heard preaching about poverty — am I poor? Then we gave fourteen marks of spiritual poverty, and they were these, in brief: the first was, their mouth is full of it. The second, oh I fear that I shall perish of want. The third, oh I am so ashamed to be as I am, because my poverty is my own sin and my own shame. The fourth, they go inquiring whether there is no rescue for them. The fifth, they go begging. The sixth, they go begging in hope. The seventh, then they begin to long and look for an answer. The eighth, they are so humble, far too small for God to grant them anything. The ninth, they dare not demand great things. The tenth, they ask for the necessities, that which they may not lack. The eleventh, then the Lord Jesus comes before their eyes, and he becomes so precious to them. The twelfth, they say, you do not cost me too dear; if I may only have you, all is well, for your sake I gladly forsake everything. The thirteenth mark was, it pleases me so well to live on grace. The fourteenth was, they so love to make themselves small. There remained for us still some things concerning that matter, and we said, if it pleases God to give us the occasion, that we would add them then — that is what we shall do today.

1. First, to give thirteen or fourteen more marks, just as essential as the others. A man dining as guest with someone great — it is course upon course: one is told, save your appetite, there is still more to come. So it is with grace too: at that table come all manner of courses. To speak plainly, the fourteen marks we already had were essential; I do not know that the rest are not just as essential. These thirteen or fourteen are as follows.

1. First, if you find a poor man, he does not have many friends, and this has no ground but his poverty. He must stand outside the door, and may not be let in; he has many enemies, and is hated by many — but the rich man has many friends, says Solomon. The poor man is hated even by his own friend. The spiritual pauper does not find many friends in the world; he does not advance much; among true Christians too, often not much either — they too leave him standing there somewhat, and say, depart, be warmed. With the world he finds no entrance, and often with the godly, the strong Christians, not much either. John 15:25, the Savior says, they hated me without a cause; they will hate you too. That someone complains of spiritual want is no reason to hate him; one should rather have more compassion for him.

2. You will know them by this too. It is just the same as with a natural pauper: they are scorned and despised. If a poor man comes into company, it is: stand there, or come sit down on my footstool; but if a rich man comes in, then all is stir and reverence. Even though the righteous man is more excellent than his neighbor, he is nevertheless as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease, Job 12:5, and Matthew 5. They shall cast out your name as evil, said the Lord Jesus, and he had just then spoken of spiritual poverty. Men neither honor nor esteem them much.

3. The third mark is: you will see poor with poor, and rich with rich. A poor Naomi and a poor Ruth, that was good company. So it is spiritually too. All ye that have no money, I invite you together to my table, Isaiah 55:1. A child of God in a town or village — with whom does he keep company? If he is poor, you will not see him mixing much with great Christians. Complainers with the assured — that generally does not work; it only makes the poor dejected. Complainers with complainers, that goes well; children in Christ together, then you get edification. Young men with young men, men with men, fathers with fathers, then each gets edification. Poor with poor, great with great — that suits best.

4. The poor understand one another. If an unconverted man came into a room where spiritual paupers sat, he would not know what was going on, when one began to say, I lack tenderness of heart, another, I lack integrity, another, I lack faith, another, I lack thoughtfulness, and another, I lack love. He would say, these must be wicked people, to give such testimony of themselves. But if a spiritual pauper comes in, he says, I understand their tears, their sighs, and all their complaints; no sooner do they open their mouths than I know the meaning of that spirit. I say: first, a poor man is hated; then, he is not much honored; then, they run together; then, they understand one another — they need show nothing more, for they know what such a one is.

5. Reality pictures an honest poor man just as much as a rich one: that he has filthy clothes, a filthy house to live in, and nothing on which to lay his head. That pictures a spiritual pauper too, that he is so filthy; he wishes he had more purity in his heart than he has. I wish, he says, that I might receive more power from above to get that filth out of me; I wish that, like the rich in grace, I might get a little more shine of holiness upon me; I wish I had somewhat less of the old man, and rather more of the new man; I would gladly put off the old man entirely, and put on the new, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3. I also wish I could be holy in my heart; I wish I could be shown pure and blameless before God, and so wear the crown of victory.

6. The sixth mark is: Lord, said that spiritual pauper, I may be as poor as I will, I am nevertheless willing to work, and I know that you have work in your Word for such poor as long for heaven. If a man is an honest pauper as to body, no work daunts him, no journey is too long, no cold too severe, so long as he can honestly earn his bread. Lord, said such a one, is there any work? Yes, said the Lord, there is work to overcome your poverty: strive to enter in, work out your salvation, pray, and add to your praying mouth a working hand, and wait upon my blessing, and lift your eyes continually upward, in longing and expectation, that he who has begun the work in you will also complete it. Such a spiritual pauper does not withdraw his hand from the work, by day or by night.

7. The seventh mark is: such a poor man is not hasty, knowing that God makes everything beautiful in his time, Ecclesiastes 3:11. I will wait upon the Lord, they say, Micah 7:7. Though it tarry, they wait for it, Habakkuk 2:3. They are like a beggar: when he is told he must wait a while, that's a good sign, they say. So says God too: I have a set hour, an appointed moment of grace, but that is hidden from you. Therefore, they say, I come and stand at your door. He that believeth shall not make haste, Isaiah 28:16. Do it, Lord, they say, whenever it is most for your glory.

8. The eighth mark is: when a little something comes from God, they stand so astonished — is that for me? do you, Lord, look upon me? Well, said Ruth, I am so amazed that I may sit here and eat, and that the reapers should let fall for me now and then something from their handfuls. So it is with a spiritual pauper: do they get to pray once, do they get to go once to the Lord's Supper, do they receive some working, some stirring of heart — is that for me? they say, have you done so much for me above thousands, when I am no better than the one lying beside me? Have you looked upon me? said Hagar! Well, said David, out of the tribes of Israel you have chosen Judah, and out of the tribe of Judah you have chosen my father's house, and out of my father's house you have chosen me — I cannot comprehend that!

9. The ninth mark is: they are exceedingly thankful for the least thing. I could well say, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, Luke 5:8. I do not know how I shall repay you; I am so glad that I shall one day thank you eternally in heaven, my Lord; I am so thankful for the smallest crumb that falls from the table of your grace. For what do they give thanks? For a sigh, for a tear, for their poverty: they thank the Lord for his Word, for an awakening, for a prayer, for their tenderness of heart. What shall I render unto the Lord? Psalm 116:12. There you have their thankfulness.

10. The tenth mark is, they honor God, they give God the glory; the glory, they say, when they accomplish something, shall not be mine. Three things, they say, I must attend to on my way toward eternity. a. The will of God must be my way. b. The favor of God in Christ must be the confidence of my heart, in life and in death. c. The glory of God must be my end in all I do. Neither I nor you may do without these three things. I say, God's will must be our way, the favor of God in Christ must be our confidence, and his glory must be our end in all we do. So they honor God in all they do. If someone praises them too much, that is not well, they say — honor God instead.

11. The eleventh mark is: now I cannot keep silent, they must speak. There they stand, like those poor widows at Dorcas's deathbed, showing the coats and garments she had made for them. And just as with Job, they praised him in the streets, telling how he had warmed the loins of the poor in their poverty. The poor recall so readily the good they have received; they will receive you into the everlasting habitations; they will say, Lord, do they lack grace, give it to them; they will give such a good report of you at the judgment, and receive you into the everlasting habitations, saying, oh God, do not let these people be put to shame, they have done so much good. The spiritual pauper's mouth too is full of what God has done for his soul. They begin from that hour when God first began the work in them, and they go on through all the paths that God has led them by, and there their mouth is as a fountain. Psalm 66:16: come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. No sooner had I made my prayer than there was already a thanksgiving; I was lifted up; I have it in mind, they say, to tell of it. And when their heart is stirred, they cannot be silent: then it is, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, Psalm 103:2.

12. The twelfth mark is: the poor gladly share with one another, and are wonderfully pleased to do so. You will see that one beggar shares with another, being companions. The spiritual poor say, let us come together for the better and for edification, but not for the worse. You will hear more of that among them than among the assured. They share with one another their prayer, their instruction in resolving difficulties. They share with one another so much of what they have received, and it passes so from heart to heart. It is with them as with Israel: he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they contributed a little, and so each had enough. So the spiritual poor do: they share with one another, and so each comes by his portion.

13. The thirteenth mark is: when they have received something, they live on it so long — just as a poor man, when he gets something, is so sparing of a bit of money or a garment. So too a sermon, a prayer, a promise, a working of grace: they remember it so long; I must live on that, they say; they think back on past kindnesses; it is: my soul remembers it well indeed — I have been in such great trouble and near death, but God delivered me. They attach a remembrance to it, and they live by it, and it is to them like that cake the widow baked for Elijah: such are those experiences and workings to them.

14. The fourteenth mark is: there lies such a blessing in their little portion that it cannot be expressed. I have heard people poor in body, who were also spiritually poor, say in my life: that garment should have been worn out six years ago, and yet God has put such a blessing into it that it warms me now just as much as it did then. Their fuel warms them more than ours warms us, and their food benefits them more than ours does us. Man does not live by bread alone, nor by abundance, but by blessing. Such blessings lie in a broken heart and a contrite mind, though they be but bruised reeds and smoking flaxen wicks. What kind of blessing is this? This, Psalm 34:18: I am near unto them that are of a broken heart; I save such as be of a contrite spirit. This: I will turn mine hand upon the little ones, Zechariah 13:7.