Those who become the subjects of special grace will choose to join the Church, and enter into covenant to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
I. DESCRIBE THE SUBJECTS OF SPECIAL GRACE.
II. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THEIR PROFESSING RELIGION.
III. WHY THE SUBJECTS OF SPECIAL GRACE CHOOSE TO JOIN THE CHURCH AND ENTER INTO COVENANT WITH GOD.
1. They love the commands of God.
2. They love the ordinances of God.
3. Their hearts are united to Christians.
4. They desire to promote the cause and interest of God in the world.
5. They desire to grow in grace.
6. They are so sensible of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and their proneness to forget and forsake God, that they desire to bind themselves, by covenant vows and obligations, to be steadfast and unmovable in His service.
Those who have sincerely made a public profession of religion must rejoice to see any who appear to be the subjects of special grace, make a public profession of religion. Improvement--
1. If those who have become the subjects of special grace desire to make a public profession of religion, and to enter into covenant with God, then none who have really become subjects of special grace have any just excuse for neglecting to join the Church, and neglecting to bind themselves to love and obey God for ever.
2. If the subjects of special grace always desire to profess religion and partake of Divine ordinances, then so long as they neglect their duty they must necessarily feel unhappy.
3. While the subjects of special grace neglect to join the Church, they live in a very sinful manner. They greatly injure both themselves and religion.
4. It appears from what has been said that some who have long entertained a hope of being the subjects of special grace, must soon give up their hope if they continue to neglect joining the Church.
5. It highly concerns those who have entered into covenant with God, to be steadfast in His covenant, and persevere in universal obedience. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Converts, and their confession of faith:
This is to take place after the Lord has poured out His Spirit upon His people, and upon their offspring.
The mainspring of everything good and gracious is the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God comes, converts come too. If they do not come by the Spirit of God, they are not worth having. Converts will come forward to confess their faith.
I. THIS CONFESSION OF FAITH IS PERSONAL. “One shall say, I am the Lord’s,” &c. It is not a joint confession, but an individual one. It is “one” and “another” and “another.”
1. All confession of Christ must be personal; anything else is unreal and worthless. All religion that is true is personal.
2. This personal confession needs to be carefully attended to when there are many coming forward.
3. This individual confession of your faith in Christ is incumbent upon you very specially when there are few coming forward. I should say to myself, “If there is nobody in this village confessing Christ, then it is all the more urgent upon me that I should confess Him. If there are few added to the Church, then I will go that the Church may not be discouraged in its Christian efforts. I like to have around me those who feel, “It is no consideration with me whether there are many or few; I have to act as before God on my own account. If there be few who do right, that is all the more reason why I should do it.”
II. THIS CONFESSION IS VARIED.
1. One person speaks out for himself: “One shall say, I am the Lord’s.” That is a fine speech. If you, from your very soul, can say this in any company, and not be ashamed to say it before men, angels, or devils, God has taught you a noble piece of eloquence.
2. The next person mentioned in our text confessed his faith in a different way, for he called himself by the name of Jacob; that is to say, he took up his position with the people of God under their lowliest title. “There,” said he, “I am prepared to suffer affliction with the people of God, to be reproached when they are reproached, to be shunned when they are shunned, to be ridiculed when they are ridiculed. I belong to Jacob. He is an extra ordinary person, cut off from the rest of the world to be the Lord’s, and I go with him.”
3. But here is a third person, who makes his confession in a still different way: “Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.” I do not know this person; sometimes, I think that he is a friend of mine, who is afraid to speak, but who likes to write. “I could not,” says one, “speak my confession of faith, but I could joyfully sit down and write it.” Yes, you are timid, and trembling, and slow of speech. Do not condemn yourself for that. Still, I am not sure that this is the person mentioned in the text. I seem to fancy that it is a stronger body, a man who is not content with saying it, but who writes it down in black and white, “I am the Lord’s.” That which is written remains; so he puts it down. This person who thus subscribed, or wrote with his hand, unto the Lord, also went the whole way towards God and His people at their best, for it is added that he surnamed himself by the name of Israel. There are some who give themselves up to the Church of God in a very complete and unreserved manner, resolving that all the privileges they can enjoy they will have, all the holiness they can ever attain to they will gain, and all the consecration that lies within the region of possibility they will strive after and secure.
III. THESE CONFESSIONS OF FAITH ARE ALL GRACIOUS. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
“I am the Lord’s”:
1. “I am His” follows “My Beloved is mine.” You must have Christ before you say that you belong to Christ.
2. This is a very practical confession. If I am the Lord’s, then I must not give myself up to be the slave of another.
3. It will also be a high incentive to duty to say truly, “I am the Lord’s.” I must live for Him.
4. This confession has a sweet, comforting aspect.
5. This is my hope of safety and perfection. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord
Subscribing with the hand
In the day when the prophet Isaiah wrote his book, it was a custom for people to draw on their hand the name, likeness, or symbol of the person they loved or the master they served. It was often painted on the hand of a woman with an ink which could be rubbed off only with much trouble; but men punctured their skin with s needle, dropping in the ink at the same time, as is now frequently done by sailors; and occasionally the name or symbol was branded on their skin with a hot iron. In this way, a man would write on his hand, or on some other portion of his body, the name or likeness of the god he worshipped; the soldier would bear the name of his commander; the slave would have the name of his master; and we are informed that, in a subsequent age, the early Christians printed upon their hand or arm, and sometimes upon their breast, the name of Jesus and a likeness of the cross. Having this custom in mind, the prophet, writing as though God were speaking through him to His wearer people,--as, no doubt, was the case,--says, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on her own son? yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands” (Isa_49:16). Had our text in English been written more in harmony with the original language, it would have read thus--“Another shall subscribe, or write, upon his hand, I belong to Jehovah!” (W. Birch.)
Tattooing
There are constant allusions to this in the classics. We know that devout worshippers dedicated themselves to the god they worshipped, and were stamped with a secret mark. Paul alludes to this when he says, “Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”; as much as to say, “I am Christ’s: I have had His name branded upon me.” When he suffered from being scourged and beaten with rods, he called it bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus, and did as good as say, “Flog away, you will only engrave His name into my flesh, for I am Christ’s.” Now it would be a very superstitious and foolish thing for any man to be tattooed with the name of the Lord, or with a cross; but all that such an act meant in those who did it of old we ought to mean, namely, that we are for ever, and beyond recall, the property of Jesus. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Subscribers:
My object is to persuade you to subscribe your life to the Lord. You may answer, Who is the Lord? I reply--
1. He is the Creator.
2. He is the Father of your spirit.
3. If so, He is impressionable. He is grieved because of sin. Is not the Saviour’s broken heart a manifestation of the heart of our Heavenly Father?
4. He is your true Friend.
5. I call on you to subscribe your life unto the Lord, because of your everlasting welfare. (W. Birch.)
