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THE MEANS OF MAN’S RESTORATION TO GOD
THE lost state of man by nature, and his recovery through the blood of Christ, are the two principal doctrines of our religion. If we would ascertain the comparative importance of all other doctrines, we must judge of them by the relation which they bear to these: and consider those as most important, which serve most to illustrate and confirm these fundamental points. Moreover, these two should always be considered in their relation to each other; for it is by the atonement that we see the depth of our depravity, and by our depravity we see the necessity and excellency of the atonement. By considering them apart, we are in danger of falling into despondency or presumption: but, by uniting our views of them, our sorrows are moderated with hope, and our confidence is tempered with humility. When God tells us, “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;” he immediately adds, “but in me is thy help.” Thus also the prophet, in the words before us, first sets forth our apostasy from God, and then declares the means provided for our restoration to him. These two points we propose for our present consideration:
I. Our apostasy from God—
The comparison which the prophet institutes between us and sheep straying from their fold, forms a humiliating, but just, picture of our fallen state. Sheep are prone to stray, if not watched and restrained by the shepherd: and, when separated from the flock, they proceed farther and farther, without ever tracing back their steps to the fold. Now the whole race of mankind may be considered as a flock, whose duty and happiness it is to live under the care of the good Shepherd. They should hear his voice, and follow his steps, and feed in his pastures, and trust in him for protection. But the whole flock is scattered over the face of the earth: all have departed from the fold of God, and are wandering from him, none considering, Whence am I come? or, Whither am I going? or, How shall I find my way to God again? They reflect not on the dangers to which they are every moment exposed, nor on the infinitely greater happiness they might enjoy, if they would obey the Shepherd’s voice.
What the prophet has thus illustrated by a comparison, he afterwards, as is usual in all the prophetic writings, declares in plain and express terms.
Mankind have all turned aside from God and his ways into paths of their own choosing. One has chosen the way of open profaneness. To follow the bent of his own carnal inclinations, to walk at liberty in the pursuit of pleasure, to join in convivial company, to be a spectator of every vain amusement, to gratify his passions with every sensual enjoyment, this is the happiness which he affects, nor does he desire any other heaven than this: could he but ensure a continuance of these delights, with health and vigour to enjoy them, he would attain the very summit of his ambition. Another prefers the way of worldliness. He has not any great taste for what are called the pleasures of life: he desires rather the more retired comforts of a family; to provide for whom employs all his solicitude. In prosecution of his plans for their support, he engages with assiduity in his daily work: “he rises up early, and late takes rest, and eats the bread of carefulness;” and looks for all his recompence in beholding the increase of his fortune, and the advancement of his dependents. Every thing is made subservient to the promotion of his temporal interests; nor has he a wish or thought beyond them.
Another, scorning perhaps the sordid vices of the sensualist, and elevated, by means of easy circumstances, above the cares of the worldling, or desirous perhaps to compensate for the irregularities of his former life, chooses the less beaten track of religious formality. He wishes to be regarded as a person of correct manners, and of virtuous conduct. To set an example to those around him, and to be proposed as a pattern to the rising generation, is a far higher gratification to him, than to riot in dissipation, or to amass riches. With these views he is attentive to all the external duties of religion: his prayers, such as they are, are regularly performed in the Church, the family, and the closet. A portion of the Scriptures is read at stated seasons: his servants are instructed: his children are catechized: and his hand is stretched out to relieve the poor and needy. In short, nothing is omitted that may elevate him in the eyes of others, and serve as a foundation for self-complacency. This he supposes to be God’s way, when, in fact, it is, as much as either the worldling’s or the sensualist’s, a way of his own: for, in all this, there is nothing of brokenness of heart and contrition, nothing of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing of devotedness to the glory of God: and, in proof that this is their own way, and not God’s, it may be observed, that they will proceed no farther than will consist with their own humour, and reputation in the world: whereas, if they really intended to do God’s will, they would do it in every thing, without any regard to consequences, or any secret reserves.
We mean not to say that there is no difference with respect to these ways; for certainly a state of formality is incomparably better than either worldliness or profaneness; but they are all evidences of our apostasy from God; and any one of them will expose us to his just and heavy displeasure.
That such is indeed the state of man, is abundantly confirmed by other passages of holy writ. St. Paul proves it by a variety of citations collected together; and infers from it, that “every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” St. Peter quotes the very words of the text as applicable to every individual saint before his conversion to Christ. And we are all taught to adopt them for our own use, when we say in our Liturgy, “We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep; we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.”
Well might we have been left to wander till we had fallen a prey to the roaring lion that seeketh to devour us. But God, in compassion to our souls, has sent his only dear Son to seek us out, and to be,
II. The means of our restoration to him—
We are apt to imagine, that, if we have not committed any gross sin, we have no reason to apprehend the divine displeasure. But we should recollect that a state of apostasy from god is the root and summit of all sin. The poor senseless sheep may be pitied, but cannot be blamed, for wandering from the fold, because they are unconscious of any obligation to abide under the direction of their shepherd. But our criminality in departing from God is exceeding great. Blind as we are to spiritual truths, we yet know that there is a God, whom we ought to love and serve. We know that, to live without him in the world, or to serve him only with our lips while our hearts are far from him, is an insult to his majesty, and a violation of his commands. Yet these are the ways which we have chosen for ourselves in preference to those, which he has marked out for us in his word. What need we more to criminate us in his sight? What need we more to draw down upon ourselves his wrath and indignation? The particular acts of sin which any commit, are only so many branches proceeding from this root, and so many ways of manifesting our aversion to him. There may indeed be degrees of guilt in respect of them; but in respect to the general habit of our minds, we are all alike; we are wilful, deliberate, and determined apostates from God: we have cast off our allegiance to him: we have made our own will the rule, and our own honour or interest the end, of all our actions: we have lived to ourselves, and not unto him: in a word, we have, as far as depended on us, banished God from the universe, and been a God unto ourselves. This is “the iniquity of us all.”
What might have been expected, but that God should abandon such an impious race, and give them over to everlasting destruction? yet behold, instead of leaving us to ourselves, he provided a way for our restoration to his favour. He took, not merely our particular transgressions, but the whole mass of iniquity, that had accumulated from the beginning to the end of time, and laid it on his Son. As all the iniquities of all the children of Israel were transferred to the scape-goat under the law, that he might bear them away into a land of oblivion, so were all the sins of the whole human race transferred to Christ, that, having borne the curse due to them, he might take them all away from us for ever. This was the plan, which infinite wisdom contrived for the pardoning of sin in consistency with the divine perfections. Had the Governor of the universt received his apostate creatures to favour without any atonement, it might have appeared a light matter to transgress against him; and he himself might have seemed indifferent about the rights of justice, and the honour of his government. But, by providing such a substitute, he at once discovered his abhorrence of iniquity, and shewed himself just, while he should justify those that believe in Jesus. Doubtless this was done with the consent and concurrence of his Son; for otherwise it had been an act of injustice to him; but it was nevertheless a fruit of the Father’s love, and an expedient devised by him for the salvation of a ruined world; an expedient never sufficiently to be admired, the theme of men and angels to all eternity.
How this operates to counteract our apostasy may easily be seen. In the state of man two things were to be remedied, the guilt of his departure, and his propensity to depart: and the same remedy was found effectual for both. By the death of Jesus in our stead, our guilt is cancelled, and justice itself is satisfied on our behalf. Moreover the gift of the Holy Spirit is procured for us, that by his operations, our nature may be changed, and we may be brought to delight as much in the ways of God as ever we delighted in the ways of sin. It is true, the very best of men have within them still a proneness to wander; and, if left to themselves, they would yet again depart from their good shepherd: but this is not their wish, as once it was; nor can they for a single day be absent from him without pain and sorrow, yea, without a determination instantly to return to him, and to watch more carefully against the beginnings of declension from him. St. Peter himself tells us, that, as this was the intent of our Saviour’s death, so it is also its uniform effect: “he bare our sins in his own body on the tree:” do we ask for what end he bare them? it was, “that we, being dead unto sin, might live unto righteousness.” The apostle then adds, “By whose stripes ye were healed.” Do we enquire, wherein this healing consists? he tells us; “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls [Note: 1Pe_2:24-25.].”
In order that we may make a suitable improvement of this subject, let us,
1. Adopt the confession of the prophet—
How justly he represents our fallen state, is but too evident both from Scripture and experience. We say not that all have lived in open immoralities, or, that all have despised the ordinances of religion. God forbid. There doubtless are many, who, in their outward deportment both towards God and man, have been comparatively blameless, yea, exceeding amiable and praise-worthy. But we must recur to the former accusation, and comprehend all under the awful character of apostates from God. And is there one amongst us that will presume to deny the charge? Did the prophet include himself in the accusation, and shall we plead innocence? Did St. Paul say, respecting himself and all the other Apostles, that they all had been “once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,” and shall we exalt ourselves above them? Let us rather beg of God to shew us the depth of our depravity, and to humble us in the dust under a sense of our departure from him. And let us not rest in general confessions, saying, “All we have gone astray;” but let “every one” of us search out the particular way to which “we have turned, and go to God, saying, Thus and thus have I done. This must of necessity precede our return to God; or rather, it is the first step of our return. But, if we be too proud to acknowledge our apostasy, if we yet remain ignorant of our guilt and danger, let us not wonder, if we be left to depart from him, till our separation become irreparable and eternal.
2. Having adopted from our hearts the confession of the prophet, let us proceed to imitate the conduct of our God—
Behold what the Father did, when no other way remained for our restoration to his favour: he took all our iniquities, and laid them on the head of his own Son. Thus must we also do, if we would have them removed from our own souls. We must come, not with a few of our most heinous sins, but with all, with the entire guilt of our apostasy from God; and, as guilty and self-ruined creatures, without help or hope in ourselves, must lay them on the head of Jesus: we must not account any so great, as to doubt whether we may transfer them to him, or any so small, as to think we can atone for them ourselves; we must carry all to him, that we may be “justified by his blood, and be saved from wrath through him.” We must resemble the penitent under the law, who, while he presented his offering that was to be sacrificed in his stead, laid his hands upon its head, and confessed over it his sins. Let us only be like-minded with God in this particular, and lay our iniquities on his dear Son, and we have nothing to fear. Our past transgressions shall be forgiven; and our present propensities shall be healed: we shall be brought home on the shoulders of our exulting Shepherd, and shall lie down beside the clear streams, till called to follow him to his pastures above, where we shall be “one fold under one Shepherd” for evermore.