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THE GOSPEL A SOURCE OF BLESSINGS
OF all the Apostles, St. Paul was by far the most abundant in labours. In this chapter he mentions the almost incredible pains he had taken in preaching throughout all that extensive region, “from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, the Gospel of Christ.” He was now going to Jerusalem, to carry thither the alms he had collected for the relief of the poor saints in Jud æ a: but as soon as he should have accomplished that object, it was his intention to proceed immediately for Spain, and to visit Rome in his way thither. Of this intention he apprises the Church at Rome. He tells them, in this epistle, that, though he had not been the means of planting a Church among them, he considered himself “a debtor unto them, as well as unto other Gentiles;” and that “he longed exceedingly to see them, that he might impart to them some spiritual gift for the increase and establishment” of their faith and love [Note: Rom_1:11-15.]; and that “he was sure, that, when he should come to them, he should come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.”
That we may understand what it was that he thus taught them to expect, we shall shew,
I. The blessings which the Gospel is intended to impart—
There is a fulness of blessings treasured up for men in Christ Jesus, and communicated to them by the preaching of the Gospel: and, in order to form any just conception of them, we must speak of them, not in the minuteness of detail, but in a large and comprehensive view. We may say of the Gospel then, that it imparts a fulness,
1. Of light and liberty—
[It comes to men whilst they are “sitting in darkness and the shadow of death,” and fast bound in the iron yoke of sin. And to them it proclaims “a Saviour, and a great One, who is able and willing to deliver them [Note: Isa_19:20.];” yea, it bids them shake off their chains, and “come forth out of their prison house, and out of darkness [Note: Isa_42:7.].” The operation of the Gospel upon the souls of men may be not improperly illustrated by the deliverance of Peter from his prison. There he was lying bound with two chains, and sleeping, though on the very eve of his expected execution. But God sent an angel to deliver him; and suddenly a light shined into the prison; and Peter was awakened from his sleep: and the chains fell off from his hands; and all the gates that seemed to oppose an insurmountable obstacle to his escape, opened to him of their own accord; so that, to the utter surprise of all his friends, he was brought forth at once to light and liberty [Note: Act_12:6-16.]. We do not mean to say, that the effect of the Gospel is always thus sudden; but, whether the operation be more or less gradual, this is invariably the issue of it, wherever “it comes in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:” the persons wrought upon by it, “have their eyes opened, and are turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God [Note: Act_26:18.].” But there is an expression of St. Peter’s that deserves particular attention. He represents men as “called by the Gospel out of darkness into marvellous light [Note: 1Pe_2:9.].” And marvellous indeed it is. It is such light as not all other books in the universe can impart;—a light proceeding immediately from “the Sun of Righteousness;”—a light that exhibits every thing in its true colours; sin, in all its malignity; human nature, in all its corruption; the world, in all its vanity; yea, and God, as a reconciled God, in all his glory: “it shines into the heart, and gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” “The darkness being passed, and the true light shining into the heart,” the soul is “delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God [Note: Rom_8:21.].”]
2. Of peace and joy—
[The first effect of the Gospel, or rather, of the law as preparing men for the Gospel, is, to alarm the conscience, and to make men sensible of their just desert: but the moment they embrace the promises of the Gospel, their fears are dissipated, and the whole soul is filled “with peace and joy in believing.” This effect cannot be better seen than in the converts on the day of Pentecost. When they assembled in the morning, they were under the influence of every hateful and malignant passion: and, on their first conviction of their guilt, they cried out with great distress of mind, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” But, as soon as they received the Gospel into their hearts, behold, what an astonishing change was wrought; they were all penetrated with love, and peace and joy, “and ate their meat with gladness, blessing and praising God” with one heart and one soul.
What was intimated before respecting the light imparted by the Gospel, may be said also of the peace and joy which it communicates: they are truly “marvellous;” the peace is a peace that passeth all understanding,” and the “joy is unspeakable and glorified.” The natural man has no conception either of the one or of the other: they are such as never were, nor ever can be, derived from any other source. Some little idea of them may be formed from the exalted language in which they are depicted by the prophets. The heavens and the earth, even universal nature, are called upon to sing and shout for joy on account of that glorious redemption revealed in the Gospel [Note: Psa_96:11-13. Isa_44:23.]: and this is but a faint expression of that felicity which is the assured portion of all that believe [Note: Psa_72:6-7. Isa_55:12; Isa_35:1-2; Isa_35:5-6; Isa_35:10.].
3. Of growth and stability—
[The Gospel does not merely beget souls to God, but fosters and nourishes them to their latest hour; so that they progressively advance, from “babes to young men, and fathers,” in the Christian Church. Under its influence they “proceed from strength to strength, till in due time they appear before their God in Zion.” Wonderful beyond all conception are the truths which it reveals to their minds; reveals, I mean, as far as they have a capacity to comprehend them. What astonishing views does it exhibit of the fulness, the excellency, the glory of Christ, and the sufficiency of the work wrought out by him! What discoveries does it give of the Divine perfections, as harmonizing and glorified in the work of redemption;—of the Divine counsels also, as planning every thing respecting it, and as infallibly accomplished in the salvation of God’s elect! What views does it afford them of the Lord Jesus Christ, as having undertaken to justify his people by his blood, to sanctify them by his Spirit, and to “keep them by his own power through faith unto everlasting salvation!” These truths, brought home with power to the soul, tend to “establish, strengthen, settle it;” and to create a holy confidence in “Christ, as the Finisher, no less than the Author, of his people’s faith.” It is from such deep and enlarged discoveries as these that they are enabled to say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Not that they expect the end without the means: they know that they can never attain “salvation but through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” they know that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord:” but they know also that the grace of Christ shall be sufficient for them, and that he will “carry on and perfect in them the good work he has begun,” suffering “none to pluck them out of his hands,” nor any to bring them into condemnation.]
From this view of the blessings which the Gospel is intended to impart, we pass on to mark,
II. The subserviency of the ministry to the communication of them—
The Apostle felt assured that he should be an instrument to convey these blessings wherever he should go—
God had originally instituted the ministry for this very end—
[Under the law, the priest’s lips were “to keep knowledge,” and to impart it to all who should come to inquire of them: but under the Gospel dispensation there was an order of men appointed to go forth into all the world, and, by themselves or their successors in the ministerial office, to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” This also was the end for which the Holy Spirit, in his miraculous and gracious influences, was given unto men, even to fit them for the discharge of their ministerial functions; or, in other words, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ [Note: Eph_4:8; Eph_4:12-13.].”
St. Paul too knew, by his own blessed experience, that the word, as delivered by him, had in many thousand instances produced this effect. Many Churches had been established by him: yea, in no place whatever had he been left to “run in vain, or labour in vain;” he was assured, therefore, that if ever he should have the happiness of going to Rome, he should see fruits of his labours there, as well as he had done among other nations. The Church of Rome too was already well prepared to receive all his instructions, seeing that already both their faith and their obedience were so eminent as to have attracted the notice and admiration of the whole Christian world [Note: Rom_1:8; Rom_16:19. See particularly his high commendation of them, chap. 15:14.]. He could have no doubt, therefore, but that in such a soil, the seed which he should sow would spring up abundantly.]
The same assurance also every faithful minister may have—
[God has said, that “if we stand in his counsel, and cause his people to hear his words, we shall be the means of turning them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings [Note: Jer_23:22.].” True it is, we are not authorized to expect such success as was vouchsafed to the Apostle Paul: but we are assured, that, if “faithful in the discharge of our office,” we shall “not run in vain, or labour in vain.” God has said, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and give bread to the eater and seed to the sower, so shall my word be, which goeth forth out of your mouth: it shall not return to me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please; it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it.” The word is still “the rod of God’s strength,” the wonder-working rod, which, in whose hand soever it may be, shall alike effect the object for which it is sent, whether to the dividing of the Red Sea, or the bringing forth of water from the flinty rock. Still “it is as fire, or as the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces:” still is it “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds:” “it is sharper than any two-edged sword, and shall pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow.” What if we be but babes in the delivery of it? God will “ordain strength in the mouth of babes and sucklings,” and will shew, that the Gospel still is, no less than in the apostolic age, “the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth.”
And here we will venture to make our appeal to those who hear us, Whether “the handful of corn which we have cast upon the top of these mountains has not grown up?” and, though we cannot say that “the fruit thereof shakes like the woods of Lebanon,” or that converts amongst us “flourish as numerous and as beautiful as the grass of the earth [Note: Psa_72:16.],” yet some we have had as “seals to our ministry;” and, “though poor” in ourselves, we have been the happy instruments of “making some rich;” even richer far, than if we had imparted to them all the wealth of the whole world [Note: 2Co_6:10.]. We quite mistake, if we suppose that any faithful minister shall be suffered to labour altogether in vain: the success of some may be small in comparison of that of others: but none shall be left wholly without witness; for our blessed Lord has expressly said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world [Note: Mat_28:20.].”]
May we not observe from hence—
1. What a glorious work is that of the ministry—
[A pious minister, who devotes himself wholly to his blessed work, is like a cloud, pouring down “showers of blessings” wherever he goes [Note: Eze_34:26.]. God by his exertions “makes manifest the savour of the knowledge of Christ in every place [Note: 2Co_2:14.],” and scatters with a liberal hand “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” O blessed work! what employment in the universe can be compared with it? See it described in the passage cited from Isaiah by the Saviour himself [Note: Luk_4:18-19.]: and though that passage primarily relates to him, we may apply it with perfect propriety to all who go forth in his name: and, like him, we may justly say, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears [Note: Luk_4:21.].” O that all who bear this sacred character, or look forward to the assumption of it, might have a becoming sense of the dignity of their office, and live only for the profitable discharge of it! and that each in his place and station might be “a tree of life,” from which multitudes may gather fruit unto life eternal [Note: Pro_11:30.]!]
2. What enemies to themselves are they who will not attend the ordinances of the Gospel!—
[If Paul himself should “come hither in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ,” what would they be benefited, who would not come within the sound of his voice? The pool of Bethesda was endued with all its healing virtues in vain, to those who would not come and wait for the moving of the waters: nor can they be nourished by all the rich provisions of the Gospel, who will not accept the invitation to the feast. O brethren, do not be making foolish excuses: for God, who knows the state of your hearts, will put the right interpretation on your refusal; and consider your answer, not according to the mere letter of it, “I cannot come,” but according to the spirit of it, “I will not come.” To such contemners of God’s mercy the Gospel will prove a curse, rather than a blessing: “to those to whom it is not a savour of life unto life, it will be a savour of death unto death:” and they who, “like Capernaum, have been lifted up to heaven” by the privileges they have enjoyed, “will be cast down the deeper into hell” for their abuse of them. The Lord grant that you may know the day of your visitation, and, “whilst ye have the light, may walk in the light, that ye may be the children of light!”]
3. What an awful responsibility attaches to those who hear the Gospel!—
[Surely every one of us should inquire, What blessings have I received from the ministration of the word? What know I of this fulness of light and liberty, of peace and joy, of growth and stability, which the Gospel is sent on purpose to communicate? Brethren, has it “come to you as yet in word only, and not in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance?” Unhappy people, if this be the case! Have you never read those words of the Apostle, “The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth briers and thorns, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned [Note: Heb_6:7-8.]?” O fearful curse! O, “who shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Be persuaded, beloved brethren, to pray mightily to God for his blessing on the word. It would be to no purpose that even “Paul should plant, or Apollos water, unless God himself give the increase.” Look up to God, then, to make the word effectual for your good; and, when you are hearing it, pray to him to apply it with power to your hearts. Before you come up to the ordinances, go to the God of ordinances, and entreat of him to visit you with his salvation: and then say with yourselves, ‘Now I am going to meet my God, who is coming to “bless me with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus:” Lord, “I am not straitened in thee; let me not be straitened in my own bowels:” come to me “in all the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ,” and let me this day be “filled with all the fulness of God [Note: Eph_3:19.].’ ” To this prayer, in reference to every one of you, we most cordially add, “Amen and Amen.”]