1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
-
Upload
chalcedon-presbyterian-church -
Category
Documents
-
view
221 -
download
0
Transcript of 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/7
Psalm, LXIX 4-
"Then
I
restored
that which
I
took not away."
No
psalm, unless
t
be th
e
twenty- second,
is
more
frequently
or more
directly referred, in the
New Testament, to the Lord Jesus
Christ. You
may
take the following
citations
as illustrations
. Christ is
here prophetically represen te d as
saying
they that hate
me
without a
cause are more than the hairs
on
mine head: they that would de stroy
me, being mine enemies
wrongfully, are
mighty."
V.4.)
In
the fifteenth chapter
of
the
Gospel of]ohn,
this language is re
produced:
"
But this
come th to pass , that
the word might be
fulfilled that is written
in their law, they hated
me without cause."
In
the
twenty-second
and twenty-third
verses of this psalm
it
is wri tten
: " Le
t thei
r
table become a snare
before them; and that
which should have been
for
iheirwelfare,
letit
become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, that
th
ey
see
not; and make their loins
continually shake." Which is cited
by theApostkPaul, in the eleventh
chapter
oChis Epistle to the
R O I h ~ n s " And David saith, let their
tabIe be made a snare (lnd a trap, and
a stiLmbltngblock, and a recompense
unto them : let their eyes
be
darkened,
that they
may
not see, and
bow
down
their back alway. Again,
in the
twenty- first verse of the psalm, we
read
, They
gave me also gall for my
meat; and in my thirst they gave
me
Vinegar
to
drink;" which,
in
the
twenty- seventh chapter
of
the
Gospel of Matthew, is historically
stated :
"They gave him Vinegar to
drink mingled with
gall:
and when
He had tasted thereof He would not
drink. And straightway one
of them ran, and took a
sponge
and
filled it with Vinegar, and put it
on
a
reed, and gave Him to drink."
Under this
view,
the text can only
be explained of the perfect sinlessness
ofourLordJesusChrist,whilst bearing
the iniquity of us all . Though not
responsible for the breach which sin
had made upon the harmony of the
Universe, He comes to restore the same.
It is a theme singularly suitable for our
sacramental meditations this day,and,
without funher preface, I proceed to
show, in at least five paniculars, THIS
RESTORING WORK OF OUR
REDEEMER ."Thenlrestoredthatwh ch
I took
not away:
L He restores, to the law of God,
the honor of which sin had robbed it.
The law is too often regarded in the
light of a code-a collection
of
panicular
statutes, resdngsimplyupontheDivine
wilL Even under this aspect it is
sufficiently glorious; for " the law is
holy, and the commandment holy and
just and good;" and what can be more
majestic than God's solemn assertion
of His supreme
and
universal
dominion? But, in a higher
view
, the
lawis God's exPression of Himself- the
m COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon
F
Julyl Augnst, 1994
first concrete revelation of
His
character
and of His attributes. In it wenbt oIlly
see what Jehovah claiffi , but what He
is; and obedience to it is, in reality, the
homage which the soul pays to the
excellence and glory ofJehovah. .
Law is, therefore, strictly a relative
term.
It
pre- supposes a
Being
from
whom this revelation proceeds, and
who stands in the relation of a Ruler
and a Judge. It pre- supposes other
beings upon whom this revelation
terminates,
and
who
stand in the relation
of
subjects capable of
rendering a response to
it. Now,
my
hearers, the
glory of the law consists
in the perfect impresSion
which it produces orthe.
Divine image, upon the
hean that is prepared to
receive it. Ai in
the
Daguerrean art,
photography), the
pencil oflight produces,
upon the plate prepared
for it within the camera,
the perfect fac- simile of
ourselves; every strand
of hair re-produced, the
very arch of the brow, the precise
character
of
the eyes,
the
eJ{act
expression of the lips, the form and
posture of the whole body : just so the
law, as a pencil oflight beaming directly
from
Jehovah Himself, producesupon
a holy hean the perfect impression of
God's character. The highest view of
obedience is not, therefore, as a
collection of independent acts calling
for a separate energy, but the
spontaneous out-giving of the vinue
and holiness of he creatUre-just as the
essence and life of he floweris exhaled
in the fragrance. Thus obedience
becomes the constant worship of the
soul toward God. But, alas
sin
intervened and darkened ntan's nature;
and now, because the sinner's
hean
is
opaque ,
clouded),
there is no
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/7
reflection of
God.
Whilst the
Jaw
beams
as
before, pouring down the revelation
of the Divine glory, there is no image
produced; and thus the law is robbed
ofits
honor.
Jesus Christ,
in
His incarnation,
appears as the typical and repre
sentative
man;
and
renders
an
obedience, the true ideal of that which
was originally due. Nay more-
assuming the nature of
precept; which cannot be affirmed of
the obedience of any other being,
except of the Redeemer Himself. Or
look at the completeness of this
obedience; enabling the Savior
to
say
it is finished, and give up the ghost
an obedience which was rounded
within a period, and held
up
in its
entirety
as
the perfect measure of the
law in all its exactions; whereas the
determining the nature and measure
of that obedience which, through all
eternity, the law will continue to exact
of those who are
under
its jurisdiction.
Well might the prophet, therefore, say,
the Lord is well pleased for His
lighteousness' sake; He will magnify the
law,
and make
it
honorable.
( sa.
xlii:
21.) Rendering an obedience which is
greater than the aggregate obedience
of all the beings that God
man, who is the lowest of
those intelligent beings of
whom we
have any
knowledge, He includes
the intervening grades;
and, His obedience is the
ideal of that which was
due from all the creatures.
He gathers the light of this
law of God upon the
mirror of His heart, and
reflects from His perfect
human soul the exact
likeness of God's holiness.
He ascends
to
Heaven with
this typical and repre-
this obedienceof the Lord
Jesus Christ is forever exhibited
in
heaven from
the
throne which
the Mediator sits
as
determining
the
nature and measure
of that
obedience
which
through all
eternity, the law will continue to
exact of
those
who are under
its
jurisdiction.
ever created, and which,
because
of
its ideal and
typical character, stands
over against the law as
the exact exposition of t,
the Redeemer may truly
say
then
I
restored
that
which took not away.
II. Our Lord Jesus
Christ has restored to His
people that image of God
from which they have
fallen. Thisimageispanly
NATURAL
consisting in
the
faculties of
intelligence and of will
with which
man was
entative obedience, and
holds it up before the Father, and
before the holy angels, and before all
the redeemed in glory; that through
eternity, they may behold the moral
excellence ofJehovah, and the honor
of he law, which is the exposition ofit.
It would lead me into too much
detail, if I should undertake this
morning to dwell upon the peculiar
properties of this obedience of Chlist,
which render it so transcendently
glorious.Yetwithout a glance at these,
we shall perhaps fail to see how Christ
restores to the law that which He took
not away. Look, if you please, at the
voluntaJiness of Christ's obedience
voluntary, not in the sense that it is
cheerfully rendered- but in the higher
sense that it
was
wholly optional with
Him either to render or to withhold it.
Look, again, at its universality- an
obedience
to
the whole law, as strictly
rendered to the penalty as to the
obedience ofall other beings in heaven
and upon earth, is an obedience forever
continuing and never brought
to
a
conclusion. Look at itas the obedience
of the God-man; who, by virtue of the
hypostatic union, brings all the
perfections of His divine nature to
flood with glory all
that
was
accomplished in the human. And,
lastly, look at this obedience as it is re
producedin all the redeemed; who, by
virtue of it, are justified forever in the
sight of God. And then say if this
typical being, including all creatures
in
that human nature which
He
has
assumed, does not,
by
this ideal
righteousness, render to the law the
honor which was originally due from
angels and from men.
Nay, my brethren, this obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ is forever
exhibited in heaven from the throne
upon
which the Mediator sits,
as
endowed;
but
principallyMORAL in
the direction and bent of these powers
in
lighteousness
and
holiness. Paul
says in his epistle
t
the Ephesians:
put
on
the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true
holiness. Sin defaces the natural image
of God, impairing and corrupting those
powers with which,
as
intelligent and
accountable beings, we are endowed;
and ithas destroyed thatoriginal purity
of nature, in which this moral image
was found. But Christ, as I have already
shown, reproduces this lost image of
Himself- typical of what man was at
the first, and of what man shall be
made through grace to be
in
the
kingdom of glory. In him, who was
holy, harmless, undefiled,
and
separate from sinners, there is found
once more a perfect reflection
of
that
image ofGod which was stamped upon
man at the beginning.
July August, 994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 5
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
3/7
This is
not
alL He proceeds now to
transfer this image from Himself to us;
through the agency of the Holy Ghost.
This Person of the adorable Godhead,
who
in
the original creation was the
author
of
all beauty as wellas of all life,
becomes the Quickener, to breath once
more the life
of
God into the soul
which is dead
in
sin. And this life,
which He communicates in the new
birth,
is
the life which Christ has
redeemed from forfeiture
corruptible
seed,
but of
incorruptible, by
the word ofGod
which
liveth and abideth
forever.'
(I Pet. i: 23). As an artist
transfers the image of a living person
upon
the canvas before him,
so
does
the Holy Spirit complete in us the
likeness to our blessed Lord. The
featureswhich belong
to
Him are
copied in us, and become the attributes
with which our own religious character
is adorned. In the whole process of
death He transfigures the believer and
makes him "meet for the Saints'
inheritance in light." And what my
brethren shall be said
more,?
Only this:
that, on and forever, the redeemed in
heaven shall sit by the side of their
Lord- rejoicing in the open vision of
His face, through which they are
changed into
His image from
glory
to
glory.
Beloved,
hnow
are we the sons of
God,
and it
doth
not yet appear what we
shqll be
butwe
now thatwhen
under
the law;
and
which
makes all those to whom it s
dispensed to become "new
creatures
in
Christ jesus."
Oh, the brightness ofDivine
truth, when you place the
doctrines
of
Grace together,
so that they reflect each upon
the'other "New creatures in
Christ jesus" What is it
shonofanewcreation, when
the dead sinner lives again
~ s an artist
transfers
the
image of livin person
upon
the
canvas before him,
so does
the
Holy
pirit
complete
in
us
the
likeness
to our blessed Lord.
He
shall appear,
we
shall be
like Him;forwe shall see
Him
as He
is
I. john
iii:
2.
Have
we
the mental
enlargement to take
in
the
grandeur of the conception?
It is not only the image of
God in the soul, which sin
had defacedanddestroyed;
but t
is
that image
graciously renewed
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
4/7
whichhadbeen so vainly assailed. The
history of the collision itself must
furnish evidence that the foundation
of
law were only more
firmly
established, through the rebellion it
had extinguished.
Perhaps, we have never tasked
ourselves to consider the majesty of
power
which the
Almighty has
displayed in His treatment of fallen
man. It was not the first, but the second
rebellion, whichhad broken the repose
of the Universe. When the Angels
unfurled the standard of revolt in
Heaven, the audacity and the guilt
were almost
immeasurable.
But
Jehovah seemed content with the
simple exhibition of His power and
His Holiness. The guilty angels were
hurled from the glory of His presence
into everlasting
fire,
which is expressly
said to have been prepared for them.
(Matt.
xxv:
41.) But this was all the
development of the Divine resources
which the first rebellion called forth. It
was sufficient, and it was awful;
but
it
was
not
the completest exhibition of
power that was possible with God.
The second rebellion ensued, hinging
upon
the first.
t
was the insurrection
of a race inferior
in
degree, and who
were solicited to the act by the earlier
transgressors. These, perhaps, were
mitigations which made
mercy
possible.
At
any rate,
in
the sublime
consciousness of His strength, God
would
not
repeat simply the exhibition
of his power; but,
in
the grandeur of
His ofown repose, made the revelation
of His grace
in
he bosom of His justice.
It had been so easy for Him to
overthrow a conspiracy which was
stronger, that He could afford
in
this to
cherish thoughts ofpity. Poweris never
felt
to be so strong, as when it is serene
in
its action. Whilst the law laid its
arrest
upon
the transgressor a
Redeemer stepped from the bosom of
the Deity, and stooped beneath the
curse to bear it away forever.
"Oh, the
depth ojthe riches
both
oj he wisdom and
knowledge of
God How
unsearchable are
His
judgments, and His ways pastJinding
out "
(Rom.xi 33.) Intheverymoment,
when to the eye of the creature the
heavens and the earth were shaken to
their center, Jehovah saw fit to bring
out
the
hidden
attributes of His
character,
and
to show Himself the
God oflove Just then, in the majestic
consciousness of His power to deal
with all sin, He chose
to
produce from
the depths ofHis own heart the mystery
of grace- to exhibit the boundless
stretch of His compassion,
and
the
infinite reach of His love.
This display of mercy would, of
course, beno evidence of power, unless
truth and justice were conserved. But
in
the
methods by which Grace
achieved the wondrous reconciliation,
not the shadow ofsuspicion could rest
upon
the
integrity of the Divine
Government. There were resources of
wisdom by which,
in
the mighty plan,
"mercy
and
truth should
meet
together,
righteousness
and peace
should kiss
each
other."
CPs. Ixxxv:lO.)
In every case,
the extension of executive pardon has
been
an
act of grace founded solely
upon "the redemption that is
in
Christ
Jesus."
By
this,
"Cod's
righteousness
is
declared; that
He might be
just,
and the
justifier
ofhim
which believeth in
Jesus."
(Rom. iii:26.)
All
the redeemed who
upon the earth tell the stOlY of the
Cross, and all the glorified who in
Heaven chant the song, "worthy is the
Lamb that was slain," are wimesses of
God how deep He has driven the pillars
of His Empire, and how impreguable
it stands even
under
an administration
of mercy.
My
brethren, doyou not sometimes
rejoice
in
the atonement of our Lord,
beyond the interest you feel in it
because of your
own
personal
salvation? This
indeed would
be
ground enough for all the praise your
hearts could render to Him who has
"redeemed you
to
God
by His blood,
and
hasmadeyouunto
Godkings
andpriests."
(Rev. v: 9.)Yet there is a view opening
beyond this, so glorious in its majesty,
that the mere selfishness of
our
own
individual interests
is
lost in
contemplating the total results of our
Lord's mediatorial work It is, that "He
appeared in
the
end oj
the
world
to
PUT
W Y SIN
by
the sacrifice
of
Himself."
(Heb. ix: 26.) In that hour,
when
He
hung, a willing
man
upon the tree, He
'finished
the
transgression
and
MADE
N END OF SINS." (Dan. ix: 24.) In
His death was sealed
the
death of sin,
that
it
should
not
continue its ravages
upon the universe of God. Provision
was made for its final banishment to
the pit ofeternal darkness, where Satan
and his angels are held in chains until
the judgment of the great day. When
the consummation of this scheme of
Grace is reached, the decree, which
banishes the wicked from the presence
of God
and
the glory of His power, will
emancipate all worlds through God's
wide empire from the future contact
and defilement ofsin. Glorious jubilee
of grace when Christ shall come with
the clouds of Heaven
and
shall sit
upon the throne of His glory-
when He
shall pronounce
upon
sin its ust doom,
and bind it in prison forever-when
the
triumphant Conqueror shall proclaim
the universal reigu of righteousness
and
peace
in
the complete
establishment and supremacy oflaw
forever exempt from trial and assault.
Does not Christ then, by His work
of redemption, establish upon eternal
foundations the throne of His Father?
Having solved the problem of grace,
He solved it for all eternity. The last
and complete disclosure of the Divine
perfections
and
will has been made to
His creatures
under
triaL Law has
fulfilled all
its
functions,
in
the
revelation of the Law- giver. Hence
forth sin is to
be
known only
in
Hell,
where it is imprisoned forever. Angels
and the
Redeemed, confirmed in
holiness and blessedness forever, will
never bring their willand competition
Julyl August
994
THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon i
7
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
5/7
with
the
Divine supremacy, but will
express the whole energy of heir nature
in obedience
and
worship. The history
of
time has
been
dark stained
and
scarred
by
he
marks ofsin; but, thanks
to God, the history is short. Eternity
will succeed, " unmeasured by the
flight
of
years;"
and
its history will
be
bright with
the
holiness of God,
reflected in the characterand life of he
myriadsupon myriads who shall walk
before Him
in
white. Well may Jesus
say, I restored
that
which I
took
not
away. He had no agency
in
our mad assault againSt the
authority and power of His
Father. But He came as the
sinner s
representative to
restOre
that
which the sinner
hadattempted to destroy. We
sought to undermine the
throne ofJehovah and bring
it
to
its
fall. Christ has
rendered
it
impossible that
this throne shall
ever
be
assailed through
the
eternity
to
come.
IV.
The Lord Jesus has
restored the broken
fellowship between the creatures. Sin
is essentially divisive. Its schismatic
tendency was disclosed
in
Eden, even
from the first. The fiery Cherubim,
guarding
the
way of the tree oflife, lest
the sinner should touch sacrilegiously
the seal
of
he covenant
he had
broken,
was an
emblem alike
of
man s
separation from God and from all holy
beings
in
the universe. They held the
flaming sword and turned its glittering
blade to the guilty, as willing
instruments to execute the penalty
which disobedience had incurred. And
where in
human
history have you
found an exhibition of sin, which did
not
interpose fences and bars against
human fellowship? It drives
men
in
their selfishness, to break down or to
overleap all the defenses oflaw- and,
in
the
promotion of
individual
interests, to disintegrate society, and
bring order and government to an
end. But Christ comes as the restorer
of this broken fellowship; and
in
the
completion of the scheme of grace, we
see saints and angels responding to
each other in the parts they severely
sustain
in
the chants of the heavenly
temple.
It is a glorious truth indeed, to
announce the hannony of he creatures
as the corollary of reconciliation with
God. It is a marvelous triumph of grace
to subdue the schism which sin has
made. But the marvel willbe singularly
enhanced,
if
you will consider the
method
by
which
this universal
reconciliation
is
accomplished. We
might suppose
it
enough that
man
should
be
made holy, and thus
be
fitted to hold communion again with
the angels
of God. The mutual
attraction would be deemed sufficient
to explain their gravitation to each
other and their joint participation in
the worship and fellowship of heaven.
Can
it be
that "grace doth much more
abound" even above this? Yes, my
hearers, the Redeemernot only restores
the fellowship, but
renders it
impossible that it should ever be broken
again, by bringing angels and the
redeemed into one body in Himself.
Having made peace
through the
blood of
His
Cross,
y Him
to reconcile
all
things
to Himself;
by Him,
say,
whether they be
8 TIlE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon Julyl August 994
things
in earth,
or
things in heaven.
(Col. i: 20.) God
hath
highly exalted
Him
andgiven
him anamewhichis above
every name; that at
the name
oj jesus
every knee
shouldbow,
of hings in
heaven
and
things
in earth, and
things under
the
earth. (Phil. i i 9,10.) The
recapitulation
of
all holy beings
in
Christ, constituting one spiritual body
of which He is the Head, is affinned in
too many
scriptures
for me this
morning to cite. For this cause, I
bow
my
knees
t the
Father ofour Lordjesus
Christ, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth
is
named. (Eph. iii: l4,15.)
''When He raised Him from
the dead, and set Him at His
own right handin the
heavenly
places, far above all
prindpality,
and
power, and
might, and
dominion,
and
every
name
thatis named, not
only
in this world, but also
in
that which is to come; and
hath
put
all things under His
feet, and gave Him to
be the
Head
over
all
things
to the
Church which
is
His body, the
fullness of
Him
that filleth all in
all.
(Eph. i: 20,23.)
Let
this testimony suffice for the
fact itself, that we may give ourselves
to adoring wonder of the riches of
grace which it displays. Saints and
angels not only brought into one, but
into one in Christ How indissolUble,
then, the bonds of fellowship
established between them Each must
be dissevered from their common
Head, before
He
canbe separated from
the other. And
how
is this fellowship
glorified, as a fellowship in Christ
reflecting the communion which each
is pennitted to hold with the Father
and with His
Son,]
esus Christ (IJ
ohn
i:
3.) If we meditate upon the broad
and sure foundation which is laid for
the fellowship in Heaven, between
thosewhoshallforeverbethemembers
of one glOriOUS body in Christ, we are
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
6/7
as much astonished at the method of
grace, as at the grace itself. Grace ripens
into glory before
our view, when its
privileges are secured to us
upon
a
tenure, and by a method, which
constitute us sharers in our Lord's
exaltation
and
reward.
V.
Last of all, Jesus restores the
channels through which the Divine
benevolence may eternally flow to
those whom He has redeemed. There
is an obstinate
and
willful
determination
with men
to
cast
themselves
upon
the general goodness
of the Deity, irrespective of His justice
or His holiness. When the Scriptures
insist
upon
faith
in
Christ and
repentance of sin as
necessary
conditions of he Divine favor, - with
an audacity which would be sublime,
i f
it were not so wicked, they are
accused of putting
an
impeachment of
His prerogative,
and
a diminution of
His glory, to insist that He must regard
the character of His subjects in the
dispensation of His favor. How strange
perversion of God's greatness and
majesty, if
it
be viewed as disabling
im
from all moral discrimination
between those who approach His
throne How monstrous the inference
from the infiniteness of the Divine
wisdom and power, that His love must
flow without distinction to all His
creatures, even though they shouldbe
in rebellion against His authority
Unquestionably God is infinite In
all His perfections; and it would be a
treasonable thought
that
should
venture to impose human limitations
upon anyone
of hem. But may He not
be allowed some discretion
in
their
exercise?
May
therenotbe obstructions
to the outflow
of
His benevolence,
which shall need to be removed? What
if he holiness and ustice of Godshould
themselves interpose barriers, which
shall require all the resources
of
grace
to take down? Ah, my impenitent
friends, if you could but know how
entirely you are indebted to this grace,
for all the blessings you enjoy The
dispensation under which you live, is
a dispensation of mercy. You have
not
been left hopelesslyunder the curse of
the broken law. In the very hour ofthe
Fall, a promise ofredemption broke
in
upon the despair, which else would
have shrouded this
eanh
in darkness
forever. Had
not
a scheme of grace
supervened, the creature might have
lived his briefspan- but life would have
been
unmitigated tottllre, anticipatory
ofthe deeper terrors of the Hell which
should succeed. At the very moment
the sinner is trampling under foot the
Cross of the Saviour, he owes to the
sufferingand passion of hat Cross the
bread which he eats from day to day,
the clothing with which
he
invests his
fonn,
and
all the comfons
and
joys
of
domestic life and love.
But Christ comes
and
opens these
closed channels.
By
His expiatory
sufferings and death, He removes the
obstructions interposed by Divinejustice.
Nay, in th greamessofHischarity, He
makes the channelbroaderand deeper
than it was before; and the fullness of
the Father's love may flow in an eternal
stream upon those who were guilty
and lost,
but
are now
in
Him the
recipients of blessedness
and
joy in
God's presence and kingdom forever.
In these
five
paniculars, Christ
restored that which He took not away.
He restores to the law, the honor of
which sin
had
robbedit. He restores to
His people that image of God from
which they had fallen. He restores
stability to God's throne, that it shall
be incapable of assault through all the
etemitytocome. He restoresthe broken
fellowship between the creatures, and
heals forever in Himself the schism
which sin had made. He opens again
the channels throughwhich the divine
favor may flow foreverto the redeemed
in heaven. In view ofall which we can
put a deeper emphasis on the
declaration ofthe text, "then I restored
that which I took not away."
Would that I could persuade the
unconvened in this house, of their
indebtedness to the Gospel Would
that I had power to put the thought
in
suchlanguage as would melt
the
heart
What can uninspired man say, that
shall be half so impressive as Paul's
tender argument
in
the second
of
the
Romans? "Or, despiseth thou the riches
of His goodness and forbearance and
long suffering;
not
knowing that the
goodness
of
God leadeth thee
to
repentance?" If the appeal to our
generous gratitudeshould fail ofeffect,
what shall the reckoning be hereali:er
at the judgment? Alas Only consider
that the Redeemer shall
then be
the
judge; who must exact the penalty of
all who have spumed His mercy,
"treasuring
up
unto
themselves wrath
against the day ofwrath and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God."
(Rom. 5.)Even the devils have never
sinned against the Divine mercy,
or
taken license from His grace
to
trample
upon
His law. The sinners
utter
insensibility to the goodness
0
f God is
the perpetual scandal
of
this apostate
earth.
If
he last proofbe demanded of
the hardness of he sinner's heart, let
it
be found in this fatal insensibilityto all
the benevolence
and
tenderness
of
God
in the Gospel of His Son.
I do not care to speak now of God's
terroTS. I do not allude, to- day,
to
that
judgment which He will pronounce
upon the guilty before His bar. But
when the very breath you draw, is the
gift ofHis kindness, - when every beat
of your pulse is the testimony to His
patience- when the
common
comfons
and joys oflife are the blessings ofHis
constant providence-how can a being,
with intelligence to know and with a
heart to
feel,
fail
to
respond to the
magnanimity whichloads the criminal
with benefits who only deserves to be
loaded with chains With all our
familiarity with
the
dreadful fact,
indignation and shame mingle with
astonishment in overwhelming the
July August.
199-4
THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 9
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 6 - Christ's Restoring Work - Counsel of Chalcedon
7/7
mind
that
contemplates it. "Be
astonished, a ye Heavens, at this, and
be
horrib ly afraid, be ye very desolate,
saith the Lord: for my people have
committed two
evils-
they
have
forsaken me, the fountain of living
wll.ters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken
ctsterns, that can hold
no
water." (Jer.ii: 12,13.)Year after year,
until you come to gray hairs, almost
standing in the presenceofthe]udge,
yet reckless of all these obligations
under
which you lie to the charity of
Godc
Oh
sinner,
it
is a fearful memory
indictment I beseech you to measure
its impon. And whilst God's children
gather, today, around their Master's
board, consider
your
debt to the
Saviour's cross which makes all this
goodness possible
to
you, and let this
goodness of God lead you,
at
last, to
the repentance which you have so long
withheld.
But howeverit shall be with others,
my brethren in the Lord, let us rejoice
in the mercy ofour Redeemer; and as
we
sit
at
His table, let us praise Him for
the great salvation." One of the
sweetest aspects of grace is that
it
makes the things to be for us, which
before were againstus. It is the work of
the Restorer to take the sin whichwe
mourn, but which He has forgiven,
and make
it
quicken our pace in the
journey to heaven. Our miscarriages
and falls over which
we
have wept as
wounds inflicted upon Him, Hemakes
to contribute strength and courage to
us in the conflicts which yet remain.
The accusations of the injured law,
which He has satisfied, become
n
His
hand the pledges ofour final salvation.
When We
shall
presently hold
communion with Him through His
body broken and
is
blood shed, let
us rejoice not only n the grace by
which we are saved,
but
also
n
the
tender and loving way
in
which that
grace comm ends and secures to
us
the
blessings of eternal life. Though we
come weeping to His table, under the
memory of our grievous shortcomings
and sins, the Restorerbidsus rejoice in
His power to blot them out forever,
and to
f ll
us with blessedness
unspeakable and full of glory.
Q
10
THE COUNSE.L of Chalcedon July August, 1994