Christ Precious to All True Believers 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
3. He is precious to
all the ANGELS of heaven. Peter tells us
that the things now reported to us by the gospel are things which the
angels desire to look into, 1 Peter 1:12. Jesus is the wonder of
angels now in heaven; and he was so even when he appeared in the form
of a servant upon earth. Paul mentions it as one part of the great
mystery of godliness, that God manifested in the flesh was seen
by angels. 1 Tim. 3:16. Angels saw him, and admired and
loved him in the various stages of his life, from his birth to his
return to his native heaven. Hear the manner in which angels
celebrated his entrance into our world. One of them spread his wings
and flew with joyful haste to a company of poor shepherds who kept
their midnight watches in the field, and abruptly tells the news, of
which his heart was full: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy which shall be to all people; for to you is born this day,
in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord! And suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host."
Crowds of angels left their stations in the celestial court in that
memorable hour, and hovered over the place where their incarnate God
lay in a manager: Jesus, their darling, was gone down to earth, and
they must follow him; for who would not be where Jesus is?
Men,
ungrateful men, were silent upon that occasion—but angels tuned
their song of praise. The astonished shepherds heard them sing,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to
men." Luke 2:10-14. When he brings his first born into the
world, the Father says, "Let all the angels of God worship him!"
Hebrews 1:6. This seems to intimate that all the angels crowded round
the manger, where the Infant-God lay, and paid him their humble
worship.
We are told, that when the devil had finished his
long process of temptations, after forty days, and had left him, the
angels came and ministered unto him. Matt. 4:11. When this evil enemy
had left him, his old attendants were fond of renewing their service
to him. In every hour of difficulty, they were ready to fly to his
aid. He was seen by angels—in his hard conflict in the garden
of Gethsemane; and one of them "appeared unto him from heaven,
strengthening him." Luke 22:43. With what wonder, sympathy and
readiness, did this angelic assistant raise his prostrate Lord from
the cold ground, wipe off his bloody sweat, and support his sinking
spirit with divine encouragements!
But oh! you blessed angels,
you spectators and adorers of the divine glories of our Redeemer,
with what astonishment and horror were you struck, when you saw him
expire on the cross! You also hovered round his tomb, while he lay in
the prison of the grave. The weeping women and his other friends
found you stationed there in their early impatient visits to the
sepulchre! Oh what wonders then appeared to your astonished minds!
Could you, that pry so deep into the secrets of heaven, you that know
so well what divine love can do, could you have thought that even
divine love could have gone so far! could have laid the Lord of
glory—a pale, mangled, senseless corpse in the prison of the
dead! Was not this a strange surprise even to you?
And, when
the appointed day began to dawn, with what eager and joyful haste did
you roll away the stone, and set open the prison doors, that
the rising Conqueror might march forth! When
he ascended on high, he was attended "with
the chariots of God, which are twenty thousand, even thousands of
angels." Psalm 68:17, 18.
And now, when he is returned to
dwell among them, Jesus is still the darling of angels. His name
sounds from all their harps, and his love is the subject of their
everlasting song. John once heard them, and I hope we shall before
long hear them, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb
who was slain—to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glory and blessing!" Rev. 5:11, 12.
This is the song of angels, as well as of the redeemed from among
men! Oh my brethren, could we see what is happening in heaven at this
instant—how would it surprise, astonish, and confound us!
Do
you think the name of Jesus is of little importance there in the
heavenly world? Do you think there is one lukewarm or disaffected
heart there among ten thousand times ten thousand of thousands of
thousands? Oh no! there his love is the ruling passion of every
heart, and the favourite theme of every song. And is he so precious
to angels? to angels, who are less indebted to
him? And must he not be precious to poor believers bought with his
blood, and entitled to life by his death? Yes! you who believe have
an angelic spirit in this respect; you love Jesus, though unseen, as
well as those who see him as he is, though alas! in a far less
degree. But to bring his worth to the highest standard of all, I
add,
4. He is infinitely precious to
his FATHER, who thoroughly knows him, and is
an infallible judge of real worth. He proclaimed more
than once from the excellent glory, "Here is my servant, whom I
uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight!" Isaiah 42:1. He is
called by the names of the tenderest endearment; his Son,
his own Son, his dear Son, the
Son of his love.
He is a stone rejected indeed
by men; if their approbation were the true standard of merit, he must
be looked upon as a very worthless, insignificant being, unworthy of
their thoughts and affections. But let men form what estimate of him
they please, he is chosen of God, and precious! And shall not the
darling of the omniscient God have weight with believers to love him
too? Yes, the apostle expressly draws the consequence; he is precious
to God, therefore to you that believe, he is precious.
It is
the characteristic of even the lowest believer, that he is God-like.
He is a partaker of the divine nature, and therefore views things, in
some measure, as God does; and is affected towards them as God is,
though there is an infinite difference as to the degree. He
prevailingly loves what God loves, and that because God loves
it.
And now, my hearers, what do you think of Christ? Will you
not think of him as believers do? If so, he will be precious to your
hearts above all things! Or if you disregard this standard of
excellence, as being but the estimate of fallible creatures, will you
not think of him as angels do; angels, those bright intelligences, to
whom he reveals his unveiled glories, who are more capable of
perceiving and judging of him, and who therefore must know him better
than you; angels, who have had a long acquaintance with him at home,
if I may so speak, for near six thousand years, as God, ever since
their creation, and for near two thousand years as God-man? Since
angels then, who know him so thoroughly, love him so highly;
certainly you may safely venture to love him; you might safely
venture to love him implicitly, upon their word.
He died for
you, which is more than ever he did for them, and will you not love
him after all this love? It is not the mode to think much of him in
our world—but it is the mode in heaven. Yes, blessed be God, if
he is despised and rejected by men, he is not despised and rejected
by angels. Angels, who know him best—love him above all, and as
far as their capacity will allow, do justice to his merit. This is a
very comfortable thought to a heart broken with a sense of the
neglect and contempt he meets with among men. Blessed Jesus! may not
one congregation be gotten together, even upon our guilty earth, that
shall in this respect be like the angels—all lovers of you? Oh!
why should this be impossible, while they are all so much in need of
you, all so much obliged to you, and you are so lovely in
yourself!
Why, my brethren, should not this
congregation be made of such, and such only as are lovers
of Jesus? Why should he not be precious to every one of you, rich and
poor, old and young, white and black? What reason can any one of you
give why you in particular should neglect him? I am sure you can give
none. And will you, without any reason, dissent from all the angels
in heaven, in a point of which they must be the most competent
judges? Will you differ from them, and agree in your sentiments of
Christ with the demons of hell, his implacable—but conquered
and miserable enemies!
If all this has no weight with you, let
me ask you farther, will you not agree to that estimate of Jesus
which his Father has of him? Will you run counter
to the supreme reason? Will you set up yourselves as wiser than
Omniscience? How must Jehovah resent it to see a worm at his
footstool, daring to despise Jesus—whom he loves so highly! Oh
let him be precious to you, because he is so to God, who knows him
best.
But I am shocked at my own attempt. Oh precious Jesus!
are matters come to that pass in our world, that creatures bought
with your blood, creatures that owe all their hopes to you, should
stand in need of persuasions to love you? What horrors attend the
thought! However, blessed be God, there are some, even among men, to
whom he is precious. This world is not entirely peopled
with the despisers of Christ. To as many of you as believe—he
is precious, though to none else. Would you know the reason of this?
I will tell you:
None but believers have eyes to
see his glory,
none but they are sensible of their need of
him,
none but they have learned from experience how precious
he is!
1. None but believers have eyes to
see the glory of Christ. As the knowledge of Christ is
entirely from revelation, an avowed unbeliever who rejects that
revelation, can have no right knowledge of him, and therefore must be
entirely indifferent towards him, as one unknown; or must despise and
abhor him as an enthusiast or impostor. But one, who is not an
unbeliever in profession or speculation, may yet be destitute of
that saving faith which constitutes a true
believer, and which renders Jesus precious to the soul.
Even devils are very orthodox in speculation;
devils believe—and tremble; and they could cry out, "What
have we to do with you—Jesus of Nazareth? We know you, who you
are—the holy one of God!" Mark 1:24. And there are crowds
among us who believe, after a fashion, that Christ is
the true Messiah—who yet show by their practices that
they neglect him in their hearts, and are not believers in the full
import of the character.
True faith includes not only
a speculative knowledge and belief—but a
clear, affecting, realizing view, and a hearty approbation of the
things known and believed concerning Jesus Christ; and such a view,
such an estimate of the preciousness of Christ, cannot be produced by
any human means—but only by the enlightening influence of the
holy Spirit shining into the heart. Without such a faith as this, the
mind is all dark and blind as to the glory of Jesus Christ; it can
see no beauty in him, that he should be desired. Honourable and
sublime speculations concerning him may hover in
the understanding, and the tongue may pronounce
many pompous eulogies in his praise—but the understanding has
no realizing, affecting views of his excellency; nor does the heart
delight in him and love him as infinitely precious and
lovely.
The god of this world, the prince of
darkness, has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine into them. But as
to the enlightened believer, God, who first commanded light to shine
out of darkness, has shined into his heart, to give him the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This divine illumination pierces the cloud that
obscured his understanding, and enables him to view the Lord Jesus in
a strong and striking light; a light entirely different from that of
the crowd around him; a light, in which it is impossible to view this
glorious object without loving him.
A believer and an
unbeliever may be equally orthodox in their theology, and have the
same notions in theory concerning Jesus Christ—and
yet it is certainly true, that their heart views of him are vastly
different. Believers, do you think that, if the Christ-despising
multitude around you had the same views of his worth and preciousness
which you have, they could neglect him, as they do? It is
impossible!
You could once neglect him, as others do now; you
were no more charmed with his beauty than they. But oh! when you were
brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light, when the glories
of the neglected Saviour broke in upon your astonished minds—then
was it possible for you to withhold your love from him? Were not your
hearts captivated with delightful violence? You could no more resist.
Did not your hearts then as naturally and freely love him, whom they
had once disgusted, as ever they loved a dear child or a friend, or
the sweetest created enjoyment?
The disordered eye of
your mind was corrected—that it may be able to see
this subject; and when once you viewed it with this eye of of faith,
how did the precious stone sparkle before you, and charm you with its
brilliancy and excellence! Christ is one of those things unseen and
hoped for, of which Paul says, faith is the substance and evidence.
Hebrews 11:1. Faith gives Christ a present subsistence in the mind,
not as a majestic phantom—but as the most glorious and
important reality! And this faith is a clear, affecting
demonstration, or conviction, of his existence, and of his being in
reality—what his Word represents him. It is by such a faith,
that is, under its habitual influence, that the believer lives; and
hence, while he lives, Jesus is still precious to him.
2.
None but believers are properly sensible of their need of
Christ. They are deeply sensible of their ignorance and
the disorder of their understanding, and therefore they are sensible
of their lack of both the external and internal instructions of this
divine prophet. But as to others, they are puffed up with
intellectual pride, and apprehended themselves in very little need of
religious instructions; and therefore they think but very slightly of
him.
Believers feel themselves guilty, destitute of all
righteousness, and incapable of making atonement for their sins, or
recommending themselves to God, and therefore the atonement and
righteousness of Jesus Christ are most precious to them, and they
rejoice in him as their all-prevailing Intercessor.
But as to
the unbelieving crowd, they have no such mortifying thoughts of
themselves! they have so many excuses to make for
their sins—that they bring down their guilt to a
very trifling thing, hardly worthy of divine resentment. And they
magnify their good works to such a height, that
they imagine they will nearly balance their bad works, and procure
them some favor at least from God, and therefore they must look upon
this High Priest as needless. They also love to be
free from the restraints of holiness, and to have the command of
themselves. They would usurp the power of self-government, and make
their own pleasure their rule; and therefore the Lord Jesus Christ,
as a King, is so far from being precious, that he is
very unacceptable to such obstinate, headstrong rebels. They choose
to have no lawgiver—but their own wills; and therefore they
trample upon his laws, and, as it were, form insurrections against
his government.
But the poor believer, sensible of his
incapacity for self-government, loves to be under direction, and
delights to feel the dependent, submissive, pliant spirit of a
subject. He counts it a mercy not to have the management of himself,
and feels his need of this mediatorial King to
rule him. He hates the rebel within, hates every
insurrection of sin, and longs to have it entirely subdued, and every
thought, every motion of his soul brought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ; and therefore he feels the need of his royal
power to make an entire conquest of his hostile spirit. His commands
are not uneasy impositions—but most acceptable and friendly
directions to him. The prohibitions of his law are not painful
restraints—but a kind of privileges in his
esteem.
The language of his heart is, "Precious Jesus! be
my King. I love to live in humble subjection to you. I would
voluntarily submit myself to your control and direction. May Your
will, and not mine be done! Oh subdue every rebellious principle
within, and make me all resignation and cheerful obedience to
you!"
To such a soul it is no wonder that Jesus should be
exceedingly precious: but oh how different is this spirit from that
which generally prevails in the world? Let me add but one reason more
why Jesus is precious to believers, and them only; namely,
3.
None but believers have known by experience how
precious he is. They, and only they, can reflect upon
the glorious views of him, which themselves have had, to captivate
their hearts forever to him. They, and only they, have known what it
is to feel their bleeding heart healed by his gentle hand; and their
clamorous languishing conscience pacified by his atoning blood. They,
and only they, know by experience how sweet it is to feel his love
shed abroad in their hearts, to feel a heart, ravished with his
glory, pant, and long, and breathe after him, and exerting the
various acts of faith, desire, joy, and hope towards him. They, and
only they, know by experience how pleasant it is to converse with him
in his ordinances, and to spend an hour of devotion in some
retirement, as it were, in his company. They, and only they, have
experienced the exertions of his royal power,
conquering their mightiest sins, and sweetly subduing them to
himself.
These are, in some measure, matters
of experience with every true believer, and
therefore it is no wonder that Jesus is precious to them. But as to
the unbelieving multitude, poor creatures! they are entire strangers
to these things. They may have some superficial notions of
them floating in their heads—but they have never felt them
in their hearts, and therefore the infinitely precious Lord Jesus—is
a worthless, insignificant being to them! And thus, alas! it will be
with the unhappy creatures, until experience becomes
their teacher; until they taste for themselves that the Lord is
gracious. 1 Peter 2:3.
There is an interesting question,
which, I doubt not, has risen in the minds of such of you as have
heard what has been said with a particular application to yourselves,
and keeps you in a painful suspense: with an answer to which I shall
conclude: "Am I indeed a true believer?" some of you may
say; "and is Christ precious to me? My satisfaction in this
sweet subject is vastly abated, until this subject is solved.
Sometimes, I humbly think that the evidence is in my favour, and I
begin to hope that he is indeed precious to my soul; but alas, my
love for him soon languishes, and then my doubts and fears return,
and I know not what to do, nor what to think of myself."
Do
not some of you, my brethren, long to have this perplexing
case cleared up? Oh, what would you not give, if you might
return home this evening fully satisfied in this point? Well, I would
willingly help you, for experience has taught me to sympathize with
you under this difficulty. Oh my heart! how often have you been
suspicious of yourself in this respect?
The readiest way I can
now take to clear up the matter is to answer another question,
naturally resulting from my subject; and that is, "How does that
high esteem which a believer has for Jesus Christ reveal itself? Or,
how does a true believer show that Christ is indeed precious to
him?"
I answer, he shows it in various ways; particularly
by his affectionate thoughts of him, which often rise in his mind,
and always find welcome there. He discovers that Jesus is precious to
him by hating and resisting whatever is displeasing to him, and by
parting with everything that comes in competition with him. He will
rather let all go—than part with Christ. Honour, reputation,
ease, riches, pleasure, and even life itself—are nothing to him
in comparison of Christ, and he will run the risk of all; nay, will
actually lose all, if he may but win Christ!
He discovers his
high esteem for him by the pleasure he takes in feeling his heart
suitably affected towards him, and by his uneasiness when it is
otherwise. Oh! when he can love Jesus, when his thoughts
affectionately clasp around him, and when he has a heart to serve
him—then he is happy, his soul is well, and he is lively and
cheerful! But, alas! when it is otherwise with him, when his love
languishes, when his heart hardens, when it becomes out of order for
his service—then he grows uneasy and discontented, and cannot
be at rest. When Jesus favours him with his gracious presence, and
revives him with his influence—how does he rejoice! But
when his beloved withdraws himself and is gone,
how does he lament his absence, and long for his return! He weeps and
cries like a bereaved, deserted orphan, and moans like a loving
turtle-dove in the absence of its mate. Because Christ is so precious
to him—he cannot bear the thought of parting with him, and the
least jealousy of his love pierces his very heart!
Because, he
loves him—he longs for the full enjoyment of him, and is
ravished with the prospect of him. Because Christ is precious to
him—his interests are so too, and he longs
to see his kingdom flourish, and all men fired with his love. Because
he loves him—he loves his ordinances; loves to hear the
preached Word, because it is the word of Jesus; loves to pray,
because it is maintaining fellowship with Jesus; loves to sit at his
table, because it is a memorial of Jesus; and loves his people,
because they love Jesus. Whatever has a relation to his precious
Saviour—is for that reason, precious to him. And when he feels
anything of a contrary disposition, alas! it grieves him, and makes
him abhor himself.
These things are sufficient to show that
the Lord Jesus has his heart, and is indeed precious to him. And is
not this the very picture of some trembling, doubting souls among
you? If it is, take courage. After so many vain searches, you have at
length discovered the welcome secret, that Christ is indeed precious
to you! And if so, you may be sure that you are precious to him!
"They shall be mine, says the LORD, in that day when I make up
my jewels!" Mal. 3:17.
If you are now satisfied, after
thorough trial of the case, retain your hope, and let not every
discouraging appearance renew your jealousies again; labour to be
steady and firm Christians, and do not stagger through
unbelief.
But, alas! I fear that many of you know nothing
experimentally of the exercises of a believing heart, which
I have been describing, and consequently that Christ is not precious
to you. If this is the case, you may be sure indeed—that you
are hateful to him. He is angry with the wicked every day! "I
will honour only those who honour me, and I will despise those who
despise me." 1 Sam. 2:30. And what will you do if Christ should
become your enemy and fight against you? If this precious
stone should become a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offence to you, over which you will fall into
ruin—oh how dreadful must the fall be! What must you expect—but
to lie down in unutterable and everlasting sorrow!
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies