The Divine Perfections Illustrated in the Method 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
II. The divine perfections are displayed in the most perfect harmony in this method of salvation. I mean such of them as seemed to jar—to cloud the glory of each other—or to be incapable of being illustrated at once. These are now reconciled and mingle their beams and, instead of obscuring, reflect a glory upon each other. The matter was so circumstanced, that it seemed really impossible to men and angels to display several divine perfections conjointly. There seemed to be a necessity that one or other of them should be eclipsed. For if grace should be displayed in the universal pardon of sin, without the infliction of punishment, then what will become of justice? How will the holiness of God be displayed? How will the honer of the law and the sacred rights of government be secured? But if these are illustrated by the punishment of sin—then how will the goodness, grace, and mercy of God appear in diffusing happiness, in conferring blessings on the unworthy, and in relieving the miserable!
If sinners are saved without a satisfaction—how will it appear that God is righteous, and hates all moral evil? Or if a full satisfaction is made—how will it appear that their salvation is of grace? Can sin be punished—and yet the sinner escape without punishment? What device shall be found out for this? If sin passes unpunished—then where is the honour of justice? And if all sinners are punished—then where is the glory of grace? If the threatened penalty is not executed—is not the divine veracity rendered suspicious? And if it is executed, what will become of the amiable attribute of mercy?
These, my brethren, are a few of the difficulties with which the case was perplexed; and they would have confounded all created understandings! Nothing but the infinite wisdom of God could surmount them. You see that the illustration of one set of perfections, seems to cast a cloud over another set. To whatever side the Deity inclines—there seems to be a necessity that he should be but half-glorious, like the sun under a partial eclipse. And is there any method in which he may be represented as he is, all-glorious throughout?
How astonishing was the rigid justice of Brutus the judge; who, in spite of all the passions of a father, passed sentence of death upon his own sons, for conspiring against the liberty of their country. While the lovely youths stood trembling and weeping before him, and hoping their tears would be the most powerful defence with a father; while the senate pleaded for the moderation of the punishment, and that they might escape with banishment; while the multitude tremble and expect the decision with horror—the inexorable Brutus rises in all the stern majesty of justice, and with a steady voice, not interrupted with one sigh, turning to the lictors, who were the executioners, says to them, "To you, lictors, I deliver them! Execute the law upon them!"
In this sentence he persisted inexorable, notwithstanding the weeping intercessions of the multitude, and the cries of the young men, calling upon their father by the most endearing names. The lictors seized them, stripped them naked, tied their hands behind them, beat them with rods, and then struck off their heads; while the inexorable Brutus looking on the bloody spectacle with unaltered countenance.
Thus the father—was lost in the judge! The love of justice—overcame all the fondness of the parent! Private interest—was swallowed up in a regard to the public good, and the honour and security of government.
This, perhaps, is the most striking resemblance of the justice of God that can be found in the history of mankind. But how far short does it fall! how trifling were the sufferings of these youths, compared to those of the Son of God! How insignificant the honour of the law and government for which they suffered, compared to that of the divine honour of the law! How small the good of the public, in one case, compared to that in the other!
Yes! Such a method is the plan of salvation through Christ. These apparently clashing attributes harmonize: and are so far from clouding each other, that they are each of them displayed to greater advantage, than if only one had been singly exercised. They reflect a mutual glory upon each other; and every one appears more illustrious in conjunction with the rest, than if it shone alone with its own peculiar glory.
Here justice is honoured by the infliction of the punishment upon Christ, as the surety of sinners; and yet goodness, grace, andmercy, shine in full glory in their salvation.
They are saved upon the footing of strict justice, because their surety made a complete satisfaction for them; and yet they are saved through astounding grace, because it was grace that provided and accepted this method of vicarious satisfaction.
The honours of the divine government are secured by Christ's perfect obedience to the law; and the philanthropy and mercy of the divine administration are also exhibited in the salvation of those who in their own people had broken the law. Thus, according to that prophetic oracle, Mercy and truth are met together, and agreed; righteousness and peace have kissed each other in perfect friendship. Psalm 85:10, 11.
Here also the WISDOM of God is most gloriously displayed, in concerting such an amazing plan as would reconcile these seemingly opposite attributes, and advance the honour of all by the exercise of each; and even of that which appeared most inconsistent with the rest. This scheme bears the peculiar seal and stamp of the most perfect wisdom. In it are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Oh! the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, which appear in it! It was only his infinite wisdom that could invent such a scheme: it surpassed all created understanding. Hence it is often called "the wisdom of God in a mystery: the mystery which has been hid from ages and generations:" and it is said to reveal things "which eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived!" 1 Corinthians 2:9.
To this head I may subjoin, that in Christ, as MEDIATOR, are reconciled the most opposite and seemingly contradictory characters. Things may be truly and consistently predicated of him, which cannot agree to any other being besides himself.
As God-man, divinity and humanity united in one person;
the Ancient of Days—yet not but 1760 years old;
the everlasting Father—and yet the virgin Son, the child of Mary;
the King of kings, and the Lord of lords—and yet the Servant of servants.
The highest dignity and glory—and the lowest condescension and humility, meet in him.
Here is justice punishing every the least sin—and yet grace to pardon the very greatest of sinners!
Here are infinite majesty—and the most transcendent meekness!
Here are the deepest reverence toward God—and a full equality with him!
Here are infinite worthiness of good—and the most perfect patience under the suffering of evil!
Here are a submissive, obedient spirit—and supreme and universal dominion!
Here are absolute sovereignty—and humble resignation.
Jesus conquers—by falling.
Jesus saves others—by dying himself.
The blood of his heart—becomes the grand cure for the dying world.
In him we see the highest love to God—and in the meantime the greatest love to the enemies of God!
In him we see the greatest regard to the divine holiness—and the greatest benevolence to unholy sinners.
It would be endless to enumerate all the opposite excellencies and characters that meet and harmonize in Jesus Christ; but these may suffice as a specimen.
And what a surprising conjunction and harmony of things is here! Things that never did, or could meet in any other, harmoniously centre in him. How justly is his name called Wonderful! for as his name is, so is he! And as such, he will appear to all that know him to all eternity! How bright and astonishing is the glory of God—in the face of Jesus Christ!
"That face, in which the carnal mind discovers nothing, but marks of pain and disgrace; that bloated, mangled visage, red with gore, covered with marks of scorn, swelled with strokes, and pale with death; that would be the last object in which the carnal mind would seek to see the glory of the God of life—a visage clouded with the horror of death! Yet in that face, we may see more of the divine glory—than in the face of heaven and earth."
He is the wisdom of God, and the power of God; that is, in HIM is the brightest display of his wisdom and power, as well as all of his other attributes. But I must proceed.
III. The perfections of God are more universally displayed in the method of salvation through Christ, than in any other way.
The wisdom, power, and goodness of God are displayed in the formation of the world; and there are many traces of these perfections, as well as of his justice, discoverable in the government of it. But there is a more full and striking view of these exhibited in the government of the world upon the plan of redemption, with the additional illustration of some other attributes, which would have been unknown or discovered only by some feeble glimmerings, if the world had never been governed upon this plan.
Here, as I observed, the GOODNESS of God in all its forms is illustriously displayed:
Grace is displayed in bestowing free favours upon the guilty and undeserving.
Mercy and compassion are displayed in relieving the miserable.
Patience and long-suffering are displayed in bearing so long with provoking, obstinate rebels.
Whereas if there had been no guilt, misery and rebellion permitted to enter into the world; or if no guilt had been pardoned, no misery relieved, no rebellion endured—there would have been no room for the display of grace, mercy, and patience.
Here justice shines, and shines with peculiar advantage; now it appears to be an inseparable attribute of the Deity, and which he can in no case dispense with.
Here veracity appears unstained, in executing the penalty of the law, even upon the darling Son of God.
The majesty of the divine government and its sacred rights, these, too, are represented as inviolable and venerable, and demanding the regard of the whole creation! Whereas, if there had been no guilt, there could have been no object upon which the solemn honours of divine justice might be displayed! And if all guilt had been pardoned without satisfaction, this majestic attribute, so venerable and so amiable in the character of a ruler—would have been forever concealed; or rather, great umbrage would have been given, that such a perfection did not belong to the supreme Governor of the world. And a judge without justice, a lawgiver who does not enforce his laws by proper sanctions, could be agreeable to none but wilful criminals! The petty kingdom of the earth would soon become a scene of lawless violence and confusion under such a ruler; and how dreadful would be the case, if the whole universe were under such a judge!
Here also is a most illustrious display of divine power. Though Christ was crucified in weakness—yet omnipotence shone even upon the cross. This may seem a paradox. The Jews thought Christ's crucifixion was a demonstration of his lack of power; hence they upbraided him, that he who wrought so many miracles, allowed himself to hang upon the cross. But this was the greatest miracle of all. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him!" They named the reason, without taking notice of it: that was the very reason why at that time he saved not himself—because he saved others. The motive of his enduring the cross was powerful divine love, stronger than death! The fruits of it, powerful divine grace, the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16, making new creatures, raising souls from the dead; these are acts of omnipotence!
We justly admire the power of the Creator, in the motion of the heavenly bodies; but the motion of souls towards God as their centre is far more glorious. The curse of the law was a weight sufficient to crush a world. So they found it, who first brought it upon themselves. It sunk legions of angels, who excel in strength—from the heaven of heavens—to the bottomless pit! And the same weight hung over the head of man. Man, after numberless ages, would have borne but a small part; the wrath to comewould have been wrath to come to all eternity. But Christ had strength to bear it all, to bear it all at once, to bear it all alone! And what a glorious manifestation of his might was this! of the noblest kind of might—that he was mighty to save!" I might be more particular—but time will not allow.
IV. The scheme of salvation through the sufferings of Christ gives the most gracious, benevolent, and amiable display of the divine perfections.
This is evident at first sight, from this consideration, that by this scheme sinners, such sinners as we, may be saved. Oh the joyful sound!
Salvation for the lost!
Pardon for the condemned!
Sanctification for the unholy!
Life for the dead!
What can be more agreeable to us? Angels contemplate this plan with eternal pleasure, though they do not need nor receive such blessings from it; and how much more should we who are so nearly interested!
Goodness, grace, and mercy, are always the favourite attributes to guilty creatures such as we are; and where do they shine so bright in heaven or earth, as in the cross of our dying Jesus?
But you will say, "Suppose that the sins of men had been pardoned, and they saved, without the sufferings of Christ in their stead? Suppose that the stern attribute of justice had never been displayed in the infliction of punishment either upon sinners, or upon their surety, where would have been the injury? Would not the Deity have appeared in a still more amiable light, as allbenevolence and mercy?"
So guilty criminals may surmise, whose interest it is that there should be no such attribute as punitive justice. But I appeal to angels, who are not parties, as criminals are—but competent judges! I appeal to every lover of virtue and piety; nay, I appeal to the common sense of mankind, whether a ruler without justice would be an amiable character in their view?
Would they choose to live under a government where vice, violence, and crime were not restrained by the execution of the law—but shared in the rewards, or at least, in the indemnity of perfect obedience? Would they choose a king, who, through a false notion of lenity and mercy, would allow criminals to pass with impunity? Do not the innocent part of the subjects approve of the conduct of their rulers in condemning and executing criminals, as well as in protecting themselves? And what a murmuring spreads through a government, when such crimes are tolerated or approved?
The complaint we hear of the excessive strictness of divine justice, the cruelty of eternal torments, etc., is the voice of guilt, and we should regard it no more than the clamours of a band of robbers against the just laws of their country.
JUSTICE, my brethren, is not that grim, horrible, and forbidden attribute, which the guilty are apt to imagine; it is not only a majestic—but an amiable, agreeable, lovely perfection; it is a part of the moral beauty of the divine nature; it is essential to the character of a good ruler; it is necessary to the public good; it is absolutely necessary to the exercise of goodness itself.
The judicious, well-conducted exercise of goodness is not a promiscuous, indiscriminating communication of happiness at random; but the communication of happiness according to the real characters of the subjects; it supposes a distinction of the obedient and disobedient. No government can exist without this; and this is the very nature of distributive justice.
Hence it follows, that the display of divine justice, as well as grace, in the sufferings of Christ, represents the divine nature in an amiable light to us, as infinitely worthy of our love as well as of our fear. But,
V. The way of salvation through the sufferings of Jesus Christ gives the most wonderful and surprising display of the perfections of God.
That is a cause of wonder and surprise, which is astonishing and uncommon, new and unexpected; and certainly we can never meet with things more strange, uncommon, and unexpected, than in the way of salvation through Christ! I have mentioned some of them already with another view; and now I shall enumerate a few wonders more.
At the creation, a world was brought out of a state of non-existence into being; but in this way sinners are brought into a state of complete happiness and glory—out of a state infinitely worse than that of non-existence. In the old creation, as there were no pre existent materials or tendency to existence, so there was no resistance. But in the new creation, there is a strong resistance, an obstinate opposition of corrupt nature against the operation; and yet, behold all things are made new! Who would ever have thought that the apostate angels would have been abandoned to remediless ruin—while a Saviour is provided for the inferior order of man! Had Adam been plainly informed that He, by whom he and all things were made, would assume his frail and mortal nature—how would he have wondered! And how must angels wonder, to see the Creator and the creature made one person! To see their Lord and Master become man, a man that in his best estate was made lower than they!
How astonishing, that guilty mortals should be saved by the death of the Lord of life!
How astonishing that a church should be purchased by the blood of God! How strange and surprising, that the reputed son of the carpenter, the despised Nazarene, should be made "head over all things! that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord"—who had been so basely insulted and treated as the most contemptible malefactor!
How astonishing, that the reputed criminal, condemned by Pilate, and crucified on Mount Calvary—would be made the only Saviour , and the supreme Judge of mankind!
How astonishing, that the blood of the cross—would restore peace to earth and heaven, and be the grand remedy of a dying world!
How astonishing, that the guilty should be redeemed by the death of the innocent!
How astonishing, that death should be conquered by the death of the Author of life!
How astonishing, that the greatest sin that ever was committed on our guilty globe, namely, the murder of the Son of God, should be the occasion of the pardon of sin, even for his murderers!
Are not these, my brethren, astounding, unprecedented things! Can you find anything like them in heaven or earth? These are objects of grateful amazement to all the redeemed multitude through all the periods of their happy immortality.
I shall now CONCLUDE with a few practical reflections and exhortations:
1. You hence see what should principally recommend the gospel scheme to us; namely, that it promotes the glory of God, and gives such an advantageous, amiable, and majestic view of his perfections. This is the grand design of God, and the only design worthy of him in all his works, and particularly in making this gospel scheme. It was this consideration induced the blessed Jesus to go through his painful work, and therefore on this account principally, we should delight in this method. And this is the disposition of all those that are conformed to God, and have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Our own salvation should indeed be dear to us—but not merely because it is ours—but because it tends to bring glory to God—the great end of all things. Therefore,
2. Those who have never been sensible of the glory of God manifested in this method of salvation, and charmed with the divine perfections displayed therein—have not complied with it, and cannot be saved by it. None can be saved by it—who do not heartily approve of it; and none can rationally approve of it—until they see its glory. It is the characteristic of all true believers, that God has shined into their hearts, to give them the light of the knowledge of his glory, in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6, and 3:18.
It is natural to all the guilty, to desire to be saved—but they are not solicitous about the glory of God; let them be but safe, and the selfish creatures care little for anything else. But heaven itself is recommended to a pious soul—by the thought that it may be brought there in a way that tends to advance God's glory. Alas! if this is the case, how many of you are far off from the only plan of salvation! you see no peculiar glories in it, and it does not attract your hearts as the grand scheme for illustrating the divine perfections; and consequently you have no saving interest in it.
3. Hence see the aggravated guilt of not accepting this method of salvation; it is a hostile attempt upon the divine glory; it is the worst of sacrilege; and as such Jehovah resents it.
4. You who are upon the gospel plan—may hence see how secure you are of salvation. Your salvation in this way, is for the glory of the divine perfections. God is so far from having any objections against it, that on the other hand, his honour is advanced by it; and therefore he will take the same care of your salvation, just as he will of his own glory, which is concerned therein.
5. These things may endear the institution of the Lord's supper to you as exhibiting these glories, by sacred emblems, to your senses: therefore you should esteem it, and reverently attend upon it. It is true, this ordinance represents the Lord Jesus in his lowest state of abasement. But even in his lowest state, there appears a peculiar glory.
6. These things may furnish you with proper materials for meditation this day. Fix your thoughts upon the glories of God displayed in a crucified Jesus! Take a survey of the scheme of salvation through his blood, as bringing not only salvation to you—but honour to him; and wonder, love, and adore!
Finally, let us all fall in with this glorious method of salvation; and join with God and Christ, and the whole creation, in glorifying God in this way; and in this way, and none else, we shall find salvation for ourselves!
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