The Fountain of Life Opened Up

And so much is included in John 10 36, where the Father is said to sanctify him, that is, to separate and devote him to this service. 2. He will feel not only by solemn designation, but also by supereminent and unparalleled sanctification. He was anointed as well as appointed to it. The Lord filled him with the Spirit and that without measure to qualify him for this service. Isaiah 61 1-3 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach, etc. Yea, the Spirit of the Lord was not only upon him, but he was full of the Spirit. Luke 4 1 And so full as was never any beside him. For God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Psalm 45 7 Believers are his fellows, or co-partners of the Spirit. They have an anointing also, but not as Christ had. In him it dwelt in its fullness, in them according to measure. It was poured out on Christ our head abundantly, and ran down to the hem of his garment. God gave not the Spirit to him by measure. John 3 34 God filled Christ's human nature to the utmost capacity, with all fullness of the Spirit of knowledge, wisdom, love, etc., beyond all creatures, for the plenary and more effectual administration of his mediatorship. He was full extensively with all kinds of grace, and full intensively with all degrees of grace. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Colossians 1 19 As light in the sun, or water in a fountain. So that the holy oil that was poured out upon the head of kings and priests, whereby they were consecrated to their offices, was but typical of the Spirit by which Christ was consecrated or sealed to his offices. Exodus 30 verses 23-25 and 30-32 3 Christ was sealed by the Father's immediate testimony from heaven, whereby he was declared to be the person whom the Father had solemnly designed and appointed to this work. And God gave this extraordinary testimony of him at two remarkable seasons. The one was just at the entrance of his public ministry, Matthew 3.17, the other but a little before his sufferings, Matthew 17.5. By this God owned, approved, and as by a seal ratified his work. 4 Christ was sealed by the Father in all those extraordinary miraculous works wrought by him, by which the Father gave yet more full and convincing testimonies to the world, that this was he whom he had appointed to be our mediator. These proved to the world that God had sent him and that his doctrine was of God. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10.38 And so, John 5.36, I have a greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. Therefore he still referred those that doubted of him, or of his doctrine, to the seal of his Father, even the miraculous works he wrought in the power of God. Matthew 9.3-5 Roman numeral 4 We will inquire why it was necessary Christ should be sealed by his Father to this work. 1. He had not otherwise corresponded with the types which prefigured him, and in him it was necessary that they should all be accomplished. 2. Under the law the kings and high priests had their inauguration by solemn unctions, in all which this consecration, or sealing of Christ to his work, were shadowed out. And therefore you find, Hebrews 5.4-5, No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also, mark the necessary correspondence between Christ and them, Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son. 2. Hereby the hearts of believers are the more engaged to love the Father, inasmuch as the Father's love and good will to them was the origin and spring of their redemption. For had not the Father sealed him such a commission, he had not come. But now he comes in the Father's name, and in the Father's love, as well as his name. And so all men are bound to ascribe equal glory and honor to them both. John 5.23 3. Christ would not come without a commission, because we should have no ground for our faith in him. How should we have been satisfied that this is indeed the true Messiah, except he had opened his commission to the world, and showed his Father's seal annexed to it? If he had come without his credentials from heaven, and only told the world that God had sent him, and that they must take his bare word for it, who could have rested his faith on that testimony? This is the true meaning of John 5.31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. How so, you will say? Does this contradict what he says in John 8.14? Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. I answer, you must understand the word truth here, not as opposed to reality. But the meaning is, if I had only given you my bare word for it, and not brought other evidence from my Father, my testimony had not been authentic and valid according to human laws. But now all doubting is precluded. You see, he hath opened his commission in the gospel, shown the world his Father's hand and seal to it, given as ample satisfaction as reason itself could desire or expect, yet even his own received him not. John 1.11 And he knew it beforehand, and therefore complained by the prophet, Who hath believed our report? etc. Isaiah 53.1 Yea, and that he is believed on in the world, is by the apostle put among the great mysteries of godliness. 1 Timothy 3.16 A man that well considers with what convincing evidence Christ comes, would rather think in a mystery that any should not believe. And it is equally wonderful to see the facility with which men embrace the most foolish impostor. Let a false Christ arise, and he shall deceive many. Matthew 24.24 Of this Christ complains, and not without great reason, I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another come in his own name, him will ye receive. John 5.43 As if he had said, You are incredulous to none but me. Every deceiver, every pitiful cheat that has but wit, or rather wickedness enough to tell you the Lord hath sent him, though you must take his own single word for it, he shall obtain and get disciples. But though I come in my Father's name, showing you a commission signed and sealed by him, doing those works which none but God can do, yet ye receive me not. But in all this we must adore the justice of God in permitting it to be so, giving men up to such unreasonable obstinacy and hardness. It is a sore plague that lies upon the world, and a wonder that we are not all engulfed in the same infidelity. 2. If Christ was sealed to his work by his Father, how great the sin of rejecting and despising such as are sent, and sealed by Jesus Christ. As he came to us in his Father's name, so he hath sent forth, by the same authority, ministers in his name. And as he hath sent his Fathers, so they in his authority. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. John 17, 18 As my Father hath sent me, even so have I sent you. John 20, 21 You may think it a small matter to reject a minister of Christ, but in so doing you despise and slight both the Father who sent his Son, and Christ who sent his minister to you. This reverence and submission are not due to them as men, but as Christ's ambassadors. And by the way, this may instruct ministers that the way to maintain that veneration and respect that is due to them in the consciences of their hearers is to keep close to their commission. 3. How great an evil is it to intrude into the office of the ministry without a due call. It is more than Christ himself would do. He glorified not himself. The honors and advantages attending that office have invited many to run before they were sent. But surely this is an insufferable violation of Christ's order. 4. The blessing there may be in all gospel ordinances duly administered. Christ having received full commission from his Father, and by virtue thereof having instituted and appointed these ordinances in the church, all the power in heaven is engaged to make them good, to confirm and ratify them. Hence in the censures of the church you have that great expression, Whatsoever ye bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven. Matthew 18.18 And so for the word and ordinances, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me, go therefore, etc. Matthew 28.18-20 These are not the appointments of men. Your faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That very power which God the Father committed to Christ is the fountain whence all gospel institutions flow. And he hath promised to be with his officers, not only the extraordinary officers of that age, but with his ministers in succeeding ages to the end of the world. O therefore, when ye come to an ordinance, come not with slight thoughts, but with great reverence and great expectations, remembering Christ is there to make all good. Number 5 Again, here you have another call to admire the grace and love both of the Father and Son to your souls. It is not lawful to compare them, but it is duty to admire them. Was it not wonderful grace in the Father to seal a commission for the death of his Son, for humbling him as low as hell, and in that method to save you when you might have expected he should have sealed your doom to hell, rather than a commission for your salvation? He might rather have set his irreversible seal to the sentence of your damnation than to a commission for his Son's humiliation for you. And no less is the love of Christ to be wondered at that would accept such a commission as this for us, and receive this seal, understanding fully, as he did, what were the contents of that commission? That the Father delivered him thus sealed, and knowing that there could be no reversing of it afterwards. O then love the Lord Jesus, all ye his saints, for still you see more and more of his breaking forth for you. I commend to you a sealed Savior. O that every one that reads these lines might, in a pang of love, cry out with the enamored spouse, Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire, which have a most vehement flame. Canticles 8 verse 6 Number 6 Hath God sealed Christ for you? Then draw forth the comfort of his sealing for you, and rest not, till ye also be sealed by him. Remember that hereby God stands engaged, even by his own seal, to allow and confirm whatever Christ hath done in the business of our salvation. And on this ground you may thus plead with God, Lord, thou hast sealed Christ to this office, and therefore I depend upon it, that thou allow us all that he hath done, and all that he hath suffered for me, and wilt make all good that he hath promised me. If men will not deny their own seals, much less wilt thou. Get your interest in Christ sealed to you by the Spirit, else you cannot have the comfort of Christ being sealed for you. Now the Spirit seals by working those graces in us, which are the conditions of the promises, and also by shining upon his own work, and helping the soul to discern it, which follows the other, both in order of nature and of time. The person sealed is the true believer. Ephesians 1.13 And the comfort and aid imparted are ever consonant to the written word. Isaiah 8.20 The Spirit produces in the sealed soul great care and caution to avoid sin. Ephesians 4.30 Great love to God. 1 John 2.5 Readiness to suffer anything for Christ. Romans 5.3-5 Confidence in addresses to God. 1 John 5.13-14 And great humility and self-abasement, as in Abraham, who lay on his face when God sealed a covenant to him. Genesis 17.1-3 This, O this, brings home the sweet and good of all, when the peace and comfort of all graces of the Spirit are sealed upon the soul. Chapter 7, page 74 The Solemn Consecration of the Mediator And for their sakes I sanctify myself. John 17.19 Jesus Christ, being fitted with a body and authorized by a commission from the Father, now actually devotes and sets himself apart to his work, the further advancement of the glorious design of our salvation. He sanctified himself for our sakes. Wherein observe, number one, Christ sanctifying of himself. The word sanctify is not here to be understood for the cleansing, purifying, or making holy that which was before unclean and unholy, either in a moral sense, as we are cleansed from sin by sanctification, or in a ceremonial sense, as persons and things were sanctified under the law, though here is a plain allusion to these legal rights. But Christ sanctifying himself imports his separation, or being set apart as an oblation or sacrifice. So Biza explains it as the priest and sacrifice. It imports also his consecration or dedication of himself to this holy use and service. So the Dutch Amitators, I sanctify myself, that is, I give up myself for a holy sacrifice. I sanctify, that is, I consecrate and voluntarily offer myself a holy and unblemished sacrifice to thee for their redemption. Thus under the law, when any day, person, or vessel was consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, it was so entirely for his use and service that to use it afterwards in any common service was to profane and pollute it. Daniel 5.3 Number 2 The end of his so sanctifying himself for their sakes, that they might be sanctified. Where you see that the death of Christ wholly respects us, he offered not for himself, as other priests did, but for us, that we may be sanctified. Christ is so in love with holiness that at the price of his blood he will buy it for us. Hence Jesus Christ dedicated and wholly set himself apart to the work of a mediator for the elect's sake. This point is a glass wherein the eye of your faith may see Jesus Christ preparing himself to be offered up to God for us, fitting himself to die. We shall consider what his sanctifying himself implies and how it respects us. Roman numeral 1 What is implied in the phrase I sanctify myself? Number 1 It implies the personal union of the two natures in Christ. For what is that which he here calls himself, but the same that was consecrated to be a sacrifice, even its human nature? This was the sacrifice. And this also was himself, so the apostle speaks, he through the eternal spirit offered up himself to God without spot. Hebrews 9.14 So that our nature, by that assumption, is become himself. Greater honor cannot be done it, or greater ground of comfort proposed to us as has been already shown. Number 2 This sanctifying or consecrating himself to be a sacrifice for us implies the greatness and dreadfulness of that breach which sin made between God and us. You see, no less a sacrifice than Christ himself must be sanctified to make atonement. Judge of the greatness of the wound by the magnitude of the remedy. Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offering for sin thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. Hebrews 10.5 All our repentance, could we shed as many tears for sin as there have fallen drops of rain since the creation, could not be our atonement. But God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. And had he not sanctified Christ as his end, he would have sanctified himself upon us in judgment and fury forever. Number 3 This sanctifying himself implies his free and voluntary undertaking of the work. It is not I am sanctified as if he had been merely passive in it as the lambs that typified him were when plucked from the fold. But I sanctify myself. He would have none think that he died out of a necessity of compulsion but out of choice. Therefore he is said to offer up himself to God. Hebrews 10.14 And he says, I lay down my life of myself for no man taketh it from me. John 10.18 Though it is often said his Father sent him and gave him, yet his heart was as much set on that work as if there had been nothing but glory, ease, and comfort in it. He was under no constraint but that of his own love. Therefore as when the Scripture would set forth the willingness of the Father to this work, it saith, God sent his Son, and God gave his Son. So when it would set forth Christ's willingness to do it, it saith, he offered up himself, gave himself, and here in the text sanctified himself. A sacrifice that struggled and came not without force to the altar was reckoned ominous and unlucky by the heathen. Our sacrifice dedicated himself. He died out of choice and was a freewill offering. Number 4 His sanctifying himself implies his pure and perfect holiness that he had no spot or blemish in him. Those beasts that prefigured him were to be without blemish and none else were consecrated to that service. So, and more than so, it behooved Christ to be such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Hebrews 7.26 And what it became him to be he was. Therefore in allusion to the lambs offered under the law, the apostle calls him a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1.19 Every other man hath a double spot on him, the heart spot and the life spot, the spot of original and the spots of actual sins. But Christ was without either. He had not the spot of original sin for he was not by man. He came in a peculiar way into the world and so escaped that. Nor yet of actual sins for as his nature so his life was spotless and pure. He did no iniquity. Isaiah 53.9 And though tempted to sin externally yet he was never defiled in heart or practice. Number 5 His sanctifying himself for our sake speaks the strength of his love and largeness of his heart to poor sinners, thus to set himself holy and entirely apart for us so that what he did and suffered must all of it have a respecting relation to us. He did not when consecrated for us live a moment do an act or speak a word but had some tendency to promote the great design of our salvation. His incarnation respects you for to us a child is born to us a son is given. Isaiah 9.6 And he would never have been the son of man but to make you the sons and daughters of God. God would not have come down in the likeness of sinful flesh in the habit of a man but to raise up sinful men unto the likeness of God. All the miracles he wrought were for you to confirm your faith when he raised up Lazarus. Because of the people which stand by I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me. John 11.42 While he lived on earth he lived as one holy set apart for us and when he died he died for us he was made a curse for us. Galatians 3.13 When he hung upon that cursed tree he hung there in our room and did but fill our place when he was buried he was buried for us for the end of it was to perfume our graves against we come to lie down in them. And when he rose again it was as the apostle says for our justification Romans 4.25 When he ascended into glory he said it was to prepare a place for us. John 14.2 And now he is there it is for us that he lives there for he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Hebrews 7.25 And when he shall return again to judge the world he will come for us too. He comes whenever it be to be glorified in his saints and admired in them that believe. 2 Thessalonians 1.10 He comes to gather his saints home to himself that where he is there they all may be in soul and body with him forever. 6 To sanctifying himself for us plainly speaks the vicarious nature of his death that it was in our room or stead. When the priest consecrated the sacrifice it was set apart for the people so it is said of the scapegoat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Leviticus 16.21 Thus Isaiah 53 verses 6 and 7 He stood in our room to bear our burden and as Aaron laid the iniquities of the people upon the goat so were ours laid on Christ His death was in our stead as well as for our good So much his sanctifying himself for us imports. 7 His sanctifying himself imports the extraordinariness of his person for it speaks him to be both priest sacrifice and altar all in one. A thing unheard of in the world before. So that his name might well be called wonderful. I sanctify myself I sanctify according to both natures. Myself that is my human nature which was the sacrifice upon the altar of my divine nature. For it is the altar that sanctifies the gift As the three offices never met in one person before so these three things never met in one priest before. The priest indeed consecrated the bodies of beasts for sacrifices but never offered up their own souls and bodies as a burnt offering as Christ did. Roman numeral 2 I shall show you briefly the relation that all this has to us for unto us the scriptures everywhere refer to it So in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7 Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Ephesians 5 25 He loved the church and gave himself for it. See Titus 2 14. Number 1 Let it be considered that he was not offered up to God for his own sins for he was most holy no iniquity was found in him Isaiah 53 verse 9 Indeed the priests under the law offered for themselves as well as for the people but Christ did not so. He needed not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples. Hebrews 7 27 Indeed had he been a sinner what value or efficacy could have been in his sacrifice. He could not have been the sacrifice but would have needed one. Now if Christ were most holy and yet put to death in cruel sufferings either his death and sufferings must be an act of injustice and cruelty or must respect others whose persons and cause he sustained in that suffering capacity He could never have suffered or died by the father's hand had not our sins been imputed to him As the prophet Isaiah speaks all our sins were made to meet upon him and as the apostle he was made sin for us who knew no sin 2 Corinthians 5 21. Number 2 It is not to be forgotten here that the scriptures frequently call the death of Christ a price 1 Corinthians 6 20 and a ransom Matthew 20 28 or counter price to whom then does it relate but to them that were and are in bondage and captivity if it was to redeem any it must be captive but Christ himself was never in captivity he was always in his father's bosom but we were in cruel bondage and thralldom under the tyranny of sin and Satan and it is we only that have the benefit of this ransom Number 3 Either the death of Christ must relate to believers or else he must die in vain as for the angels those that stood in their integrity needed no sacrifice and those that fell are totally excluded from any benefit by it he is not a mediator for them and among men that have need of it, unbelievers have no share in it, they reject it such have no part in it if then he neither died for himself nor for angels nor unbelievers, either his blood must be shed with respect to believers or which is most absurd and never to be imagined shed as water upon the ground and totally cast away so that you see by all this it was for our sakes as the text speaks that he sanctified himself and now we may say Lord the condemnation was thine, that the justification might be mine, the agony thine, that the victory might be mine the pain was thine and the ease is mine the stripes thine and the healing balm issuing from them, mine the vinegar and gall were thine, that the honey and sweet might be mine, the curse was thine, that the blessing might be mine the crown of thorns was thine, that the crown of glory might be mine the death was thine, the life purchased by it mine, thou paidst the price that I might enjoy the inheritance inference number one if Jesus Christ wholly set himself apart for believers, how reasonable is it that believers should consecrate and set themselves apart wholly for Christ if he all for us and shall we be nothing for him what he was, he was for you whatever he did was done for you and all that he suffered was suffered for you oh then, I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God, present your bodies that is, your whole selves a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service Romans 12 verse 1 as your good was Christ's end so let his glory be your end let Christ be the end of your conversation Hebrews 13 verse 7 oh that all who profess faith in Christ could subscribe cordially to that profession none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself but whether we live, we live to the Lord, and whether we die we die to the Lord so then whether we live or die we are the Lord Romans 14 verse 8 this is to be a Christian indeed what is a Christian but a wholly dedicated thing to the Lord and what greater evidence can there be that Christ set himself apart for you than your setting yourself apart for him this is the marriage covenant thou shalt be for me and not for another so will I be for thee Hosea 3.3 Ah what a life is the life of a Christian Christ all for you and you all for him blessed exchange soul saith Christ all I have is thine Lord saith the soul and all I have is thine soul saith Christ my person is wonderful but what I am, I am for thee my life was spent in labor and travail but it was for thee and Lord saith the believer my person is vile and not worth thy accepting but such as it is, it is thine my soul with all and every faculty my body and every member of it my gift, time and all my talents are thine and see that as Christ bequeathed and made over himself to you so you in like manner bestow and make over yourself to him he lived not neither died for himself but you oh that you in like manner would down with self and exalt Christ in the room of it woe, woe is me saith one that the holy profession of Christ is made a showy garment by many to bring home a vain fame and Christ is made to serve men's ends this is to heat an oven with a king's robes except men martyr and slay the body of sin in holy self-denial they shall never be Christ martyrs and faithful witnesses oh if I could be master of that house idol myself mine own, mine own wit, will, credit and ease, how blessed were I we have need to be redeemed from ourselves as much as from the devil in the world learn to put up yourself and to put in Christ for yourself I should make a good bargain and give old for new if I could turn out self and substitute Christ my lord in place of myself to say not I but Christ, not my will but Christ, not my ease not my lust, not my credit but Christ, Christ oh wretched idol myself when shall I see thee wholly expelled and Christ wholly put in thy room he set himself apart for you believers and no others, no not for angels but for you will ye also set yourselves apart peculiarly for Christ, be his and no others let not Christ in the world share and divide your hearts between them, let not the world come in and say half mine you will never fulfill your obligations to Christ nor answer this grace till you can say as psalm 73 verse 25 whom have I in heaven but thee, and on earth there is none that I desire in comparison of thee, none but Christ, none but Christ is a proper motto for a Christian he left the highest and best enjoyment, even those in his father's bosom to set himself apart for death and suffering for you are you ready to leave the bosom of the best and sweetest enjoyment you have in this world to serve him if you stand not habitually ready to leave father, mother wife, children, lands yea and life too to serve him you are not worthy of him Matthew 10 37 he was so wholly given up to your service that he refused not the worst and hardest part of it even bleeding, groaning, dying works, his love to you sweetened all this to him can you say so too do you account the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt as Moses did Hebrews 11 26 he so entirely devoted himself to your work that he could not be at rest till it was finished he was so intent upon it that he forgot to eat bread John 4 verses 31 and 32 so it should be with you his service should be meat and drink to you he was so wholly given up to your work and service that he would not suffer himself to be in the least diverted or taken off from it and if Peter himself counsel him to favor himself he shall hear get thee behind me Satan oh happy were it if our hearts were but so engaged for Christ in Galen's time it was a proverb when they would express the impossibility of a thing you may as soon take off a Christian from Christ number two if Christ hath sanctified or consecrated himself for us what a horrid evil it is to use Christ or his blood as a common and unsanctified thing yet so some do as the apostle speaks Hebrews 10 verse 29 the apostate is said to tread underfoot the son of God and to count his blood an unholy or common thing but woe to them that do so they shall be counted worthy of something worse than dying without mercy as the apostle there speaks and as this is the sin of the apostate so it is also the sin of all those that without faith approach and so profane the table of the Lord unbelievingly and unworthily handling those awful things such eat and drink judgment to themselves not discerning the Lord's body 1 Corinthians 11 verse 29 whereas the body of Christ was a thing of the deepest sanctification that ever God created sanctified as the text tells us to a far more excellent and glorious purpose than ever any creature in heaven or earth was sanctified it was therefore the great sin of those Corinthians not to discern it and not to behave themselves towards it when they saw and handled the things of it as became so wholly a thing and as it was their great sin so God declared his just indignation against it in those sore strokes inflicted for it as they discerned not the Lord's body so neither did the Lord discern them from others in the judgments that were inflicted and as one well observes God drew the model and platform of their punishment from the structure and proportion of their sin and truly if the moral and spiritual seeds and originals of many of our outward afflictions and sicknesses were but duly sifted out possibly we might find a great part of them in this sin O then when you draw nigh to God in that ordinance take heed to sanctify his name by a spiritual discerning of that most holy and most deeply sanctified body of the Lord, sanctified beyond all creatures, angels, or men not only in respect of the spirit which filled him without measure with inherent holiness but also in respect of its dedication to such a service as this it being set apart by him to such holy, solemn ends and uses and let it forever be a warning to such as have lifted up their hands to Christ in a holy profession that they never lift up their heel against him afterwards by apostasy the apostate treads on God's dear son and God will tread upon him for it thou hast trodden down all that err from thy statutes Psalm 119 verse 118 number 3 what a choice pattern of love to saints have we here before us calling all that are in Christ to an imitation of him even to give up ourselves to their service as Christ did not in the same kind for so none can give himself for them but as we are capable you see here how his heart was affected towards them that he would sanctify himself as a sacrifice for them see to what a height of duty the apostle improves this example of Christ hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 John 3.16 some Christians came up fairly to this pattern in primitive times Priscilla and Aquila laid down their necks for Paul Romans 16 verse 4 that is eminently hazarded their lives for him and he himself could rejoice if he were offered up upon the sacrifice in service of their faith Philippians 2.17 and in the next times what was more known even to the enemies of Christ than their fervent love one to another see how they love one another and are willing to die one for another but alas the primitive spirit is almost lost in this degenerate age instead of laying down life how few will lay down twelve pence for them I remember it is the observation of a late worthy upon Matthew 5.44 that he is persuaded there is hardly that man to be found this day alive that fully understands and fully believes that scripture oh did men think that what they do for Christ followers is done for Christ himself it would produce other effects than are yet visible number four if Christ sanctified himself that he might be sanctified by or in the truth then it will follow that true sanctification is the best evidence of our interest in his blood in vain as to you did he sanctify himself unless you be sanctified holy souls only can claim the benefit of the great sacrifice oh try then whether true holiness which is only to be judged by its conformity to its pattern as he that called you is holy so be ye holy 1 Peter 1.15 and which is and act according to its measure like God's holiness be found in you God is universally holy in all his ways and his works are holy Psalm 145.17 whatever he doeth is still done as becomes a holy God he is not only holy in all things but at all times unchangeably holy be ye therefore holy in all things and at all times too if ever you expect the benefit of Christ sanctifying himself to die for you this Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available free and for sale in audio, video and printed formats our many free resources as well as our complete mail order catalog contain thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books commanded them not, neither came into my heart." From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.