The Wonderful Compassion of 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
"Tell them I live; and because I am alive again, my death shall not be their damnation; nor is my murder an unpardonable sin—but that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin, even the sin by which that blood was drawn!
"Tell them that you have seen the prints of the nails upon my hands and feet, and the wound of the spear in my side, and that those marks of their cruelty are so far from giving me vindictive thoughts, that every wound they have given me—speaks in their behalf, pleads with the Father for remission of their sins, and enables me to bestow it; and by those sufferings which they may be ready to think have exasperated me against them, by those very wounds—court and persuade them to receive the salvation they have procured.
"Nay, if you meet that poor wretch who thrust his spear into My side, tell him that there is another way, a better way of coming to My heart—even My heart's love! Tell him, that if he will repent, and look upon Me whom he has pierced, and will mourn—then I will cherish him in that very bosom which he has wounded! Tell him that he shall find the blood which he has shed—to be an ample atonement for the sin of shedding it! And tell him from Me, that he will put Me to more pain and displeasure by refusing this offer of My blood—than when he first drew it forth!" In short,
"Though they have gainsaid my doctrine, blasphemed my divinity, and abused and tormented my person, taken away my life, and, what is next valuable to every honest man, endeavoured to murder my reputation too—by making me an impostor, and imputing my miracles to a collusion with Beelzebub; however, go to Jerusalem, and by beginning there, show them such a miracle of goodness and grace, that they themselves must confess too holy for the devil to have any hand in, too God-like for him to be assisting to; that may convince them of their sin, and at the same time that nothing can be greater than their sin, except this mercy and grace of mine, which, where their sin has abounded, does thus much more abound, beginning at Jerusalem."
And what farther arguments need I produce of the willingness of Jesus Christ to receive the vilest sinner among you, upon your coming to him? I might prove the same joyful truth from his repeated declarations, from his general invitations to all, and especially from that kind assurance which has kept many a soul from sinking: "whoever comes to me I will never drive away." John 6:37. But this argument from matters of fact is sufficient. Therefore come, sinners, fly to Jesus, however deep your guilt. Had you been murderers of fathers, or murderers of mothers; nay, had you come hither this day with hands reeking in the blood of the Son of God—yet if you repent and believe, he is willing to receive you under the shadow of his wings! I may therefore invite you in the language of the following lines:
Outcasts of men, to you I call,
Harlots, and publicans, and thieves;
He spreads his arms to embrace you all;
Sinners alone—-his grace receives.
Come, all you Magdalens in lust:
You ruffians great, in murders old,
Repent and live; despair and trust!
Jesus for you to death was sold.
Come, O my guilty friends, come,
Groaning beneath your load of sin!
His bleeding heart shall make you room,
His wounded side shall take you in.
He calls you all, invites you home;
Come, O my guilty friends, come!
To encourage you the more, and even to constrain you, consider what my text implies farther, namely:
4. That the Lord Jesus has often used means to prevail upon you to fly to him for safety. What he says to Jerusalem, may be applied to you: "How often would I have gathered your children together!" How often has he given you the signal of danger, that you might fly from it! how often has he spread out a friendly wing to shelter you! As often as the law has denounced his curses against you; as often as the gospel has invited and allured you: as often as conscience has checked and warned you, or prompted you to your duty: as often as the Holy Spirit has moved upon your hearts, and excited some serious thoughts and good purposes and inclinations: as often as Providence has allured you with its profusion of blessings, or chastened you with its afflictive rod; as often as you have seen a godly example, or heard a pious word dropped in conversation; in short, as often as any means of any kind have been used with you, which had a tendency to make you sensible of your danger, or your need of Jesus Christ—so often has he used means with you to engage you to fly to the shelter of his wings for protection.
Oh! how frequently and by what great variety of means, has he called you in this congregation! This is the very business of one day in seven, when you are called away from the noise and bustle of the world to listen to the voice of his invitation. But this is not the only time when he calls you. While you are at home, or following your business through the rest of the week—you have a Bible, a Providence, a conscience, and the Holy Spirit still with you; and these are still urging you to fly to Jesus, though their voice may be disregarded, and lost in the din and confusion of the world around you. The gracious call of a compassionate Saviour has followed you ever since you were capable of hearing it to this day. But, alas! does not the next remark hold true as to some of you, namely:
5. That, notwithstanding all this—multitudes are unwilling to fly to him for protection!
It was not of Jerusalem alone, that he had reason to say, "I would have gathered you—but you would not! I was willing—but you were unwilling!" This is strange indeed, and might seem incredible, were it not a notorious fact. That the Judge should be willing to pardon—but the criminal unwilling to receive pardon! That the offended Sovereign should be ready to take a perishing rebel under his protection—but the rebel should stand off, and rather perish than fly to him—this is a most astonishing thing; and it is the hardest thing in the world to convince sinners that this is their conduct towards the Lord Jesus. They are generally more suspicious of his willingness to save them, than of their own to come to him. Were he but as willing to save them as they are to be saved by him, they think there would be no danger of their salvation; but the case is directly the reverse; the unwillingness lies entirely upon their side!
To convince them of this—let it be considered, that we are not truly willing to be saved by Christ at all, unless we are willing to be saved by him—in his own way, and upon his own terms. We are not willing to be saved, unless the nature of the salvation offered is agreeable to us. Now one principal part of the salvation which we need, and which Christ offers, is deliverance from sin:deliverance from the power, the pleasures, the profits of sin, as well as from the destructive consequences of it in the world to come. And are sinners willing to accept of such a salvation as this from Christ? No! this appears no salvation to them; this seems rather a confinement, a loss, a bereavement to them! They are willing to indulge themselves in sin, and therefore it is impossible they should, in the mean time, be willing to be restrained from it, or deprived of it. This is the thing they struggle against, and to which all the means used with them cannot bring them!
To tear their sins from them—is to rob them of their pleasures; and they rise up in arms against the attempt! And are these willing to be saved by Christ—who abhor the salvation which he offers them? The truth of the matter is, the conduct of sinners in this case is the greatest absurdity; they are willing to be happy—but they are not willing to be holy—in which alone their happiness consists! They are willing to be saved from hell—but they are not willing to be saved from those dispositions which would create a hell within them, even according to the nature of things! They are willing to go to heaven when they can live no longer in this, their favourite world; but they are unwilling to be prepared for it in their temper and disposition. An eternity spent in holy exercises would be an eternal drudgery to them, unless they have a relish for holiness. Freedom from sin would be a painful bereavement to them—while they take pleasure in sin! How then could they be happy, even in the very region of eternal happiness, since the sordid pleasures of sin never mingle with those pure rivers of living water?
In short, they act as absurdly as if they were willing to recover their health—and yet were unwilling to part with their sickness, or to be restrained from those things which are the causes of it. They are willing to go to heaven—but it is in their own way: that is, in the way that leads to hell! The only way of salvation according to the divine appointment, is the way of holiness. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it!" Matthew 7:13-14
Indeed Christ came into the world to save sinners; but these sinners must be made saints before they can enter into his kingdom; and he makes them holy—in order to be happy. And this is not an arbitrary appointment—but necessary, in the very nature of things! For, as I observed, until they are made holy—it is impossible in the nature of things they should be happy in heaven, because the happiness of heaven consists in the perfection of holiness. To be saved without holiness is as impossible as to be healthy without health, or saved without salvation. Therefore, for God to gratify the sinner, and gratify him in his own way, that is, in his sins, is an impossibility; as impossible, as for a physician to heal an obstinate patient in his own way; that is, to heal him by letting him retain and nourish his disease; letting him drink poison to cure a headache! God is wise in all his constitution, and therefore the way of salvation through Christ is agreeable to the nature of things; it is in itself consistent and possible: and if sinners are not willing to be saved in this possible way, they are not willing, in reality, to be saved at all.
Again, the way of salvation by Christ is all through GRACE. It is adapted to stain the glory, and mortify the pride of all flesh, and to advance to the mercy of God, and the honour of Christ, without a rival. Now haughty, self-righteous sinners are unwilling to be saved in this humbling, mortifying way—and therefore they are unwilling to be saved by Christ. If they would be saved by him, they must be saved entirely upon the basis of his merit, and not their own; they must own that they lie at his mercy; they must feel themselves self-condemned; they must utterly renounce all dependence upon their own righteousness; and receive every blessing as the free, unmerited gift of grace! And it is the hardest thing imaginable, to bring a proud sinner so low as this! But until he is brought thus low—he cannot be saved upon the gospel plan.
Nor is this part of God's plan of salvation, any more arbitrary than the former. It would be inconsistent with the honour of the great God, the Supreme Magistrate of the universe, and with the dignity of his government, to receive a rebel into favour, on any other basis than that of mere grace. If after sinning so much—the sinner still has merit enough to procure a pardon, in whole or in part, or to render it cruel or unjust for God to condemn and punish him—then certainly HE must be a being of very great importance indeed; and SIN against God must be a very small evil.
To save a sinner in a way that would give any room for such insinuations as these, would be inconsistent with the honour of God and his government; and therefore the plan God has constituted, is a method of GRACE—of pure rich grace, in all and every part!
Now while sinners are not willing to be saved in this way—they are not willing to be saved at all. Here lies their grand mistake; because they have a general willingness that Christ should save them from hell, they, therefore, conclude they are really willing to come to him according to the gospel-constitution, whereas there is nothing in the world to which they are more averse! There are many that think, and perhaps declare, they would give ten thousand worlds for Christ; when, in reality, they are not willing to receive him as a free gift! They are not yet brought to that extremity as to fly to him. No, the sinner must be brought low indeed—before he is brought to this. He must be entirely cut off from all hope from every other quarter; particularly, he must see that he cannot shelter himself any longer under the covert of his own righteousness—but that he will be overwhelmed with a deluge of divine vengeance, unless he hides himself under the saving wings of Jesus!
I beg you would examine yourselves impartially on this point, my friends, for here lies the grand delusion that ruins thousands. If you are really willing to fly to Jesus, and be saved by him in his own way—then you may be sure that he is infinitely more willing than you are; nay, your willingness is the effect of his, for he first made you so. But if, when you examine the matter to the bottom, you find, that notwithstanding all your pretensions, you are really unwilling to fly to him, consider your dangerous situation; for,
6. The text implies, that this unwillingness of sinners, is the real cause of their destruction.
Sinners complain of the lack of ability; but what is their inability—but their unwillingness? Coming to Christ is an act of the will, and, therefore, to will it heartily is to perform the act. To be unable to come to him is to be so perverse, so disaffected to Jesus Christ, as not to have power to will to come to him.
This, by the way, shows the vanity of that popular excuse, "I am not able to fly to Christ, and therefore it is not my fault if I do not!" That is, you are so wicked—that you can do no good thing! You so dislike Jesus Christ—that you have no will, no inclination, to choose him for your Saviour! You are such an obstinate enemy to him—that you would rather perish than take him for your Friend!
"You will not come to Me—that you might have life!" John 5:40. Yet you think that your not coming to him is no crime. Is this consistent reasoning? Is it not all one, as if a rebel should think to excuse himself by pleading, "I have such an inveterate hatred to my king—that I cannot love him!" Or a robber to plead in his defence, "I have such an aversion to honesty—that I cannot possibly help stealing!" Would not this be an aggravation of the crime—rather than an excuse? Is the invincible strength of your hatred to Christ—a vindication of it? Are you the more excusable—by how much the more you hate him? Sinners, give up this foolish reasoning, for the matter is too important to be trifled with! Your inability in this case—is nothing else but yourunwillingness; and your unwillingness is the effect of nothing else but your hatred to Jesus Christ! Therefore own that this is the true cause of your destruction!
In short, whatever pleas and excuses you make, you will find at last that your destruction is entirely the effect of your own perverse desires and choice! You simply will not come unto Christ—that you might have life, John 5:40, and therefore you must perish without it. This reflection will forever torment you, that you wilfully destroyed yourselves, and were guilty of the most unnatural self-murder! Jesus was willing—but you would not. God has even sworn that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked—but that you turn and live. To you, therefore, I may properly address that expostulation:
Why will you die? Why will you? Why do you most wilfully destroy yourselves? Why do you ruin yourselves by your own free choice? Why will you die? You, whom Jesus is willing to save, whom he has so often invited—why will you, above all men in the world, causelessly eternally perish by your own act? Are you capable of so much stupidity? It is stupidity, which is a dreadful peculiarity of your own, for,
7. Unwillingness to fly to Jesus is the most irrational, and worse than brutal, stupidity.
This is implied in my text. No sooner does the hen give the signal of danger, than her little family, taught by instinct to understand the alarm, immediately fly under her wings. "So," says Christ, "I gave you the alarm—but you would not regard it! So I spread out the wing of my guardian care to defend you—but you would not shelter under it!" What can be greater stupidity than this!
In this light, the conduct of sinners is frequently exposed in the sacred writings. "The ox knows his owner," says Isaiah, "and the donkey his master's crib—but Israel does not know, my people does not consider!" Isaiah 1:3. "Every one turns to his course," says Jeremiah, "as the horse rushes into the battle! Yes, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtle-doveand the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my people," (more stupid than these brutes!) "know not the judgement of the Lord." Jer. 8:6, 7.
To refuse the offer of eternal salvation, when proposed upon the most reasonable terms—is to rush into hell, rather than be saved by the friendly hands of Jesus Christ! It is to suffer the most dreadful execution, rather than accept Christ's free pardon! It is to reject all the bliss of heaven, when freely proposed by Christ! It is to choose the pleasures of sin for a season, rather than an eternity of the most exalted happiness! It is to resist the calls of redeeming love, and all the friendly efforts of divine grace, to save a sinking soul!
Is this the conduct of a reasonable creature? No! Show me the brute, if you can, that would act so stupid a part—in things which come within the sphere of its capacity. Would it not be better for you to be a cat or dog—than that brute man, who is so proud of being rational—if you make so irrational a choice? Let me endeavour to make you sensible,
8. And lastly, that this conduct is extremely affecting and lamentable.
It is on this account, that Jesus laments over Jerusalem in such pathetic strains in my text. He knew the truth of the case; his all-seeing eye took it in all its extent, and viewed it in all its circumstances and consequences. And since he, who knew it best, deeply laments it—then we may be sure it is lamentable indeed, and it cannot but appear so even to us who know so little of it. An immortal soul lost! Lost forever! Lost by its own obstinacy! Lost amidst the means of salvation! How tragic a case is this! God dishonoured! Jesus rejected! His love spurned! His blood trampled upon! His Spirit grieved! How lamentable is this!
And yet are there not some of you in this lamentable condition in this assembly? It was over such as you—that Jesus wept and mourned: and shall he weep alone? Shall not our tears keep time with his, since we are so much more nearly concerned? Oh that our heads were waters, and our eyes fountains of tears, that we might weep along with the Saviour of sinners! But, alas! Our tears are too much reserved for dying friends, or some less affecting object—while immortal souls perish around us, unpitied, unlamented!
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