V. In considering, therefore, the Scriptural admonitions and exhortations arising out of the subject, we shall see that we are urged 66 1. To "press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”1 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be unapproved,” “ ἀδόκιμος.” Hence Paul could say at the close of his eventful life," For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."3 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking off," apoрŵvтes, "unto Jesus the Princely Leader,” τὸν ἀρχηγὸν, “ and Completer,” τελειωτὴν, “ οι the," Ts, "faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."4 2. To seek to walk worthy of this calling. "I beseech you," therefore says the apostle, "that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace."5 And again," Ye know how we exhorted," 1 Phil. iii. 14. 21 Cor. ix. 24-27. 31 Tim. iv. 6-8. "and charged every one of you," "that ye would walk worthy of God, Who hath called you." And "for this cause," said the Apostle, we" do not cease to pray for you," "that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."2 "Only," therefore, said he, "let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ."3 3. To give all diligence to make our calling and election sure, i.e., to ourselves; for "known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." Hence the Apostle says, "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience. Godwardness," evσéßiav; " and to Godwardness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."5 "Be diligent," therefore, "that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless." means to this end, we are exhorted And as a (1) To pray to the Lord that we may know more about it. "Wherefore I also," says the Apostle, "after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding 11 Thes. ii. 11, 12. 2 Col. i. 9, 10. 3 Phil. i, 27. being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe." And again, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."2 (2) To pray to the Lord that we may be counted worthy of it. "Wherefore also we pray always for you," says the Apostle again, "that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." And our Blessed Lord Himself also thus exhorts us:-"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."4 For, says He "unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis," "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white for they are worthy." And lastly (3) To rely implicitly upon God in Christ, to fulfil to us all the glorious promises He has made to us respecting it. For thus saith the Word, “Trust in Jehovah with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." And thus runs the promise, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect 1 Eph. i. 15-19. 4 Luke xxi. 36. 2 Eph. iii. 14-19. 3 2 Thes. 11, 12. peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because He trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in Jehovah for ever: for in Jah Jehovah is everlasting strength."1 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."2 SECTION II. The Believer's Blessedness. And now we come to consider the Believer's Blessedness: which, although it be necessarily wrapped up in his Calling, it will be expedient for us to consider separately; in order that we may the more clearly apprehend and realize, what the Apostle calls, "the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ."3 The subject is of course in itself unsearchable : because it proceeds from the love of God in Christ Jesus: whose "riches" are "unsearchable;" and whose "love" "passeth knowledge." I can, therefore, only glance at it in this place; and, in so doing, we will look at it in its sevenfold aspect. In the first place, then, let us note that I. The believer is one with Christ Jesus the Lord: this being necessarily the foundation and source of all his blessings. And this union is a mystical union, and so far transcends all other unions, either natural or political, that they cannot for a moment be compared to it: neither can it be in the least degree understood except by those, who are truly and vitally united to the Lord Himself. Nevertheless the Holy Ghost has given us in the Scriptures, various representations of it, that believers may in a measure apprehend something of the nature and character of it themselves. 'Isaiah xxvi. 3, 4. 'Eph. iii. 8. 21 Thes. v. 23, 24. 3 Rom. xv. 29. Thus it is compared to the union of a man and his wife; and this not merely from those mutual affections between them, which give them only a moral union; but from the actual creation of the woman "out of" the "flesh and bone of the first man himself: from whence the Apostle concludes, that believers are "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." And therefore, it is also compared, to the union of "the head," and "the members" of the same "body;" as well as to various kinds of union in nature, such as the union of a "vine," and its "branches."3 From all which examples we may see, that these are but shadows and representations of it: and that this union so far surpasses them all, that nothing in nature could by possibility fully set it forth; as indeed we shall see, when we come to shew what the Church of Christ will be, at the second coming of her Lord. Now the cause and foundation of this union, lies in "the everlasting Covenant" of grace: wherein all the three Persons in the Divine Trinity were equally interested—the Father, in giving to the Son the people whom He was elected to redeem; the Son, in undertaking to take their nature into His Godhead, for the purpose of redeeming them; and the Holy Ghost, in undertaking to quicken them into life, and to make them one with, as well as to conform them to the very image of, the Son Himself. Hence all believers are said to be "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world; " and to be "called according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."5 Nevertheless, although in God's purpose, believers were considered to be one with Christ before; yet the actual union between Christ and them, does not of course take place, until they are quickened by the Divine Spirit, and truly united to Him by a living saving faith in God themselves. "Wherefore, my brethren," says the Apostle, “ye 1 See Eph. v. 22-33. 3 John xv. 1-8. 2 1 Cor. xii. 12-27; Eph. iv. 15, 16; Col. ii. 19. 52 Tim. i. 9. |