Sermon 9

Isaiah 53:1. Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

If people soberly and gravely considered of what concernment it is to make use of the Gospel, and what depends upon the profitable or unprofitable hearing of it, how serious would both speakers and hearers be? This same poor, mean and contemptible-like way of speaking or preaching, is the ordinary way that God has chosen to save souls, even by the foolishness of preaching, as the apostle has it (1 Corinthians 1:21). And where ministers have been tender, how near has it lain to their hearts, whether people profited or not: they that will read Isaiah, how he resented and complained of it, and how he was weighted with it, will easily be induced to think that he was in earnest, and that it was no little matter that made him thus cry out, Who has believed our report?

We show that four things were comprehended in the words. First, that the great errand of ministers is, to bring the glad tidings of Jesus Christ the Savior to sinners. Secondly, that it is the great duty of people to believe and receive the offer of Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Thirdly, that it is the great sin of a people that hear the Gospel not to believe and receive Jesus Christ when He is offered to them. The fourth and last thing which now we are to speak of, (having gone through the first three) is, that the great and heavy complaint that a faithful minister of the Gospel has, is, when these good news are not received and welcomed, when they have it to say, Who has believed our report? when it is but here one and there one that closes with Christ.

Considering these words, as they hold out the prophet's resentment and complaint, we shall from them draw four observations which we shall speak shortly to, and reserve the use and application to the close of all.

Observation 1. The first is, that it is fitting for, and the duty of a minister of the Gospel, to observe what fruit and success his ministry has among a people, and whether they believe or not; Isaiah speaks not here at random, but from consideration of the case of the people, and as observing what fruit his ministry had among them. We would not have ministers too curious in this, as to the state of particular persons, neither would we have them selfish or anxious in seeking any ground of boasting to themselves, yet they would seek to be so far distinct and clear about their spiritual case and condition, as they may know how to speak suitably to it, and how to speak of it to God; that they may say as they have ground for it, that in such a place, among such a people, a great door and effectual was opened to us, as the apostle says (1 Corinthians 16:8). And in such another place, and among such a people, Who has believed our report? as here the prophet does. It is said (Luke 10:17) and (Mark 6:30) the disciples returned, and with joy told Christ all that they had done, and how the devils were subject to them, they made account what success they had in their ministry. So it is necessary that a minister know what success he has among a people, that he may know, 1. How to carry before God in reference to them, what to praise for, what to lament for, and what to pray for. 2. It is necessary as to the people, that he may carry right to them for the gaining of outsiders to God, and helping forward these who are entered into the way, and that he may know what report to make of them. 3. It is necessary for a minister himself, though not simply as to his peace, for that depends on his faithful discharge of his office, yet as to his joy and rejoicing, to know when he labors in vain, and when not, among a people.

We would not then (as a passing word of use) have you to think it curiosity, though something be said now and then, and asked at you, that some of you may possibly think impertinent. For it becomes a physician to seek to know the state and condition of those whom he has under his hand and cure, and you would not take it ill, though after observation, we now and then speak and tell you, what we conceive to be your condition.

Observation 2. The second observation is, That it is most sad to a tender minister, and will much affect him to see and observe unbelief and unfruitfulness among the people that he has preached the Gospel to; This must be a certain and clear truth, if we consider what it was that put Isaiah to this, even to cry, Who has believed our report? Though a minister should have never so great exercise of gifts, never so much countenance and respect among a people, if he be tender, he will be more grieved and weighted with their unbelief and unfruitfulness than with stripes and imprisonment, there will be no suffering to this in his esteem, nothing so sad a ground of complaint; This makes the Prophet, Micah 7:1, to cry, alas and woe is me, I am as these who have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grapegleanings after the vintage, there is no cluster to eat, the good man is perished, and there is none upright among men, and he insists in this complaint. How often was our Lord Jesus, the most excellent and tender preacher that ever preached, put to this complaint? All the affronts and reproaches He met with, grieved Him not so much as the unbelief and hardness of heart that were in the people; It is said (Mark 3:5), that He looked round about on them with anger, and was grieved for the hardness of their hearts; And it is said (Mark 6:6), that He marveled because of their unbelief; indeed, it so affected Him, that (Luke 19:42) it is said, that when He came near the city He wept over it, saying, O that you had known in this your day the things that belong to your peace. There is a fourfold reason of this, that has a fourfold influence on the saddening of a serious and tender minister of the Gospel. 1. Respect to Christ Jesus his Master, in whose stead he comes to bespeak and woo souls to Christ; What would an ambassador think of personal respect and honor, if his Master were reproached, and his message rejected and despised? And can an honest and faithful ambassador of Christ look on, and his heart not be wounded, to see the Gospel fruitless? the Lord's pleasure as it were marred, and the work of gathering in of souls, obstructed in his hand, and his Lord and Master affronted and slighted. 2. The respect that a faithful minister has to the people's souls, has influence on this; A tender shepherd will watchfully care for, and wish the sheep well, and be much affected when they are in an evil condition, and where the relation is of a more spiritual nature, and the flock off far, very far greater worth and concernment, what wonder the shepherd be more affected? As Paul bespeaks the Galatians (Galatians 4:19), My little children, of whom I travail again in birth till Christ be formed in you; To be travailing and bringing forth but wind, cannot but prick and wound an honest minister of the Gospel at the very heart, so (2 Corinthians 11:29), Paul says, Who is offended and I burn not? The very hazard of a soul, will be like a fire burning the heart that is tender and zealous of the spiritual good of souls. 3. The respect that a faithful minister has to the duty in his hand, has influence on this; for such a one loves to perform his duty neatly, and to go neatly and lively about it, and the unbelief and unfruitfulness of the people clogs him in his duty, and makes him drive heavily; hence it is said (Matthew 13:58) and (Mark 6:5), that our Lord could not do many mighty works there, or among that people, because of their unbelief; Unbelief straitens and shuts the door, and makes preaching become a very burden to a faithful minister, therefore the Apostle exhorts (Hebrews 13:17), Obey them that have the rule over you, and watch for your souls, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you; A necessity lies upon ministers to go about their work, but when the Word does no more but buff on them, so to speak, it makes them to cry as this same prophet does (Isaiah 6:11), How long Lord? And fourth, this also has influence on their being so much weighted, even the concern of honest ministers' own joy and comfort; It is true, as we hinted before, that neither a faithful minister's peace, nor his reward of grace does depend on it simply, I have spent my strength in vain, says Isaiah (Isaiah 49:4), yet my labour is with the Lord, and my reward from my God; As to that, there is no necessary connection, and it is of grace it is so; yet as to a minister's satisfaction and joy there is a connection, as we may see (Philippians 2:16), where Paul says, That I may joy in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, and laboured in vain; And from his expostulation with the Galatians (Galatians 4:9-11), I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

I shall not prosecute the use of this neither; only see here, that it is no marvel though sometimes we be necessitated to complain of you, and to expostulate with you; And considering the case of people generally, if our hearts were suitably tender, it would make us even burst for grief to see so many sleeping securely and senselessly in their sins, and in that pitiful posture posting to the pit, if God prevent not.

Observation 3. The third observation is, That a minister may, and sometimes will be put to it, to make report to God of what fruit his ministry has, and sometimes to complain to Him of the unbelief and unfruitfulness of the people among whom he has long preached the Gospel; Isaiah (sure) is not carried to this complaint out of hatred to the people, neither from any pleasure he has in it, nor any delight to tell ill tales (to speak so) of them; the Lord needs no information, yet he complains, and that to the Lord, as we show from (Romans 10:16), where it is said, Lord, Who has believed our report? So then, prophets and apostles complain of this; it is Ezekiel's complaint no doubt to God, as it was the Lord's to him, This people are a rebellious house, and they will not bear; and Isaiah speaks here in his own name and in name of other ministers of the Gospel, that they may join with him in this complaint; and there is reason for it, if we consider, 1. The relation that a minister stands in to God, He ought to give an account to Him, who gives obedience and who not, and what is done by his embassy, there being no talent given, but a reckoning how it was employed, will be called for. 2. The subordination that a minister stands in to Christ, wherein it is requisite he be kept, as knowing the work is the Lord's and not his, pleads for this. 3. That a minister may be kept from carnality and vanity on the one hand, and from discouragement on the other, he ought to be acquainted with, and to hold up both the fruitfulness and unfruitfulness of the people to God. 4. It is fitting for the good of the people it be so, not to irritate, but kindly to affect the people, that when he complains to God, they may be convinced that it is to get the evil complained of amended, if so it may be.

This complaining will we fear be the result of much preaching among you; for, either there must be more faith and fruits, else you will have the more complainers, and the more complaints against you.

Observation 4. The fourth observation is, That it is and ought to be a very sad and weighty thing to a minister, and also to a people, when he is put to complain to God of their unbelief among whom he is laboring; it is the last thing he has to do, and he can do no more, and it is the greatest and highest of witness and charge against them, when a minister has been preaching long, and observing the fruit of his ministry, and is out-wearied with their unfruitfulness, and forced to cry, Lord there are none, or but very few that have believed the report that I have brought to them; It is the heaviest and hardest word that Christ has to say to Jerusalem, (Matthew 23:37) and (Luke 19:31) when He complains of their unfruitfulness, harder and heavier than all the woes He pronounced against the scribes and Pharisees, or on other accounts, and at least equivalent to them pronounced on the same account; for the same woe and wrath follows both; O! says He, that you had known in this your day the things that belong to your peace, but now they are hid from your eyes; this comes as the last and saddest word, holding out the desperateness of their condition, when the powerful preaching of the Gospel has no gracious force, nor saving effect following it, when directions prevail not, when no sort of ministerial gifts do a people good, when it comes to that, (Matthew 11:16), To what shall I liken this generation, it is like children sitting in the market-place crying to their fellows, we have piped to you and you have not danced, we have mourned to you and you have not lamented; when both the sweet offers of grace and the terrible threatenings of the law, come forth to a people, and both are followed for a long time without fruit, then comes out that word, To what shall I liken this generation? John came neither eating nor drinking, and you say he has a devil; his austere way of living and preaching did you no good, you could not away with it; The Son of Man came eating and drinking, in a familiar way, and you say, behold a man gluttonous, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners; they stumble on both unjustly, and so it is still even to this day, many stumble at the messenger, cast at the message, and then follows the sad complaint.

It is fitting that now we speak to a word of use, but we profess we know not well how to follow it, there is so much ground to complain, and we are not (alas!) suitably sensible of our own unfitness to follow the complaint, which makes us think that it would become another better; But what shall we say? It is the Word of the Lord, and it were needful that both you and we should forget and take our eyes off man, and remember that it is the Lord God, and some commissioned from Him, that we have to do with, that so we may accept of the message. 1. Then, we may say that it is no pleasure to us to be hewing you, and speaking sadly to you, (the Lord knows,) would to God there were more that needed healing medicines, and that fewer had need of hewing and wounding; but the truth is, carnal security, spiritual pride, hypocrisy and formality, are so rife, and become so much the plague of this generation, that people believe not their hazard. 2nd. Neither is it our desire nor design to speak to all of you indifferently and without discrimination, for as the Lord says, (Matthew 11:19), Wisdom is justified of her children; though the generality despise this Word, yet we are confident the Lord has some that He allows not to be grieved; and we shall desire, that such may not wrong themselves nor mar our freedom in speaking the Word of the Lord to others. 3rd. We shall not desire to speak peremptorily as to the case of particular persons, though we will not deny nor conceal our fears and sad apprehensions as to many of you; only what we have to say, you would know and be assured that it is not spoken at random by us, but as having some acquaintance with many of your conditions, and we may gather from these what is very probably the condition of others.

And now as to what we would say to you; some have been preaching this Gospel to you who are moved and removed to another part of the vineyard, other some are gone to another world, and some are yet continued preaching to you, but what fruit is brought forth by the ministry of all? If we were put to make a report of you, as we will be put to it, what could we say? We are afraid to speak our apprehensions; O! how little is this Gospel, as to its fruit and success, upon the growing hand among you? We shall therefore forbear to speak of that which we think has deep impressions on ourselves concerning you, but we would have you to look through matters how they stand between God and you, and if we may humbly lay claim to any measure of the judgment of discerning; may we not ask where is there a man or a woman among most of us, that has a conversation suitable to this Gospel? If we begin at the great folks that have the things of the world in abundance, it is their work for most part not to be religious, but to gather and heap up riches, and to have somewhat of a name, or a piece of credit in the world, this is the farthest that many of such design. And if we come and take a look of the way of the poorer sort, they live as if they were not called to be exercised to godliness; and this is the condition of the generality, to live as if God were not to call them to a reckoning. You will say, we are poor ignorant folks, and are not book-learned, but have you not souls to be saved? And is there any other way to be saved than that royal way wherein believers have walked? But if we should yet look a little further through you, how many are there that have not the very form of godliness, who never studied to be Christians, either in your fellowship with others, nor when alone, or in your families. There are some, O! that I might not say, many, who are hearing me, that will not once in the year bow their knee to God in their families, many of you spend your time in tippling, jesting, loose-speaking, which are not convenient. Yea, I dare say, there are many that spend more time in tippling, jesting, and idle-speaking, than in the duties of religion, either in public or in private, what report shall we make of you? Shall we say that such a man spent three or four hours every day in going up and down the streets, or in tippling and sporting, and would not spend half an hour of the day on God and His worship. And further, how many are yet ignorant of the first principles of religion, a fault that is often complained of, and yet we would be ashamed to have it heard of, that such ignorance should be under half a year's preaching of the Gospel, that is in this place under many years' preaching of it, and this not only among the poorer sort, but even among those who hold their heads very high, and are above others, who can guide and govern their own affairs, and give others a good counsel in things concerning the world, yet if we come to speak with them of repentance, or of faith in its exercise, of convictions and challenges for sin, of communion with God, of the working of God's Spirit in the regenerate, or of the fruits of the Spirit, they have not a mouth to speak a word of these things. And if they speak anything, O! but it looks insipid, tasteless, and thieveless like. Put them to discourse of religion, it has no taste, (to say so,) it relishes not, they have no understanding of it, at least, that is experimental. Does this look like folks that have heard and received the Gospel? Let me say it, the wisdom of this world, and the knowledge of Christ, are far different things. And if some of you go that length as to get the questions of the catechism, which is well done in itself; if we put you but to express them in other words, you cannot, which says plainly that you are not masters of your knowledge. And what shall we say of others? Of whom we cannot say but we get respect enough from them, yet how do selfishness and worldly-mindedness abound in them? And how graceless and Christless are they found to be, when put to the trial? We would also say to you, that there is great difference between civility and Christianity. Fair fashions will never pass in Christ's account for the suitable fruits of the Gospel, and will never hinder us from having a just ground of complaint against you. How many have a form of religion, and want the power of it? Who think themselves something, when they are indeed nothing, and their profession is so thin and holed, to speak so, that their rottenness and hypocrisy may be seen through it. Though these things be but general, yet they will comprehend a great many of you that are here in this assembly. And if so, is there not just ground of complaint of, and expostulation with you, as a people among whom this word has no suitable fruit. And as for you that live profanely and hypocritically, what shall we say to you? Or how shall we deal with you? We bring the word to you, but you make no more use of it than if you had never heard it. No more religion shows itself in you, than if you lived among heathens. Shall we say to God, the fruit of the Gospel is there? Dare we be answerable to God, or can we be faithful to you, to flatter you over, as if all were well with you? And must not our complaint then rather be this, Lord they have not believed our report. Though we be ineffectual, and though there be ground of complaint of us, yet the word is His word and will take hold of you. I know that folks do not readily digest such doctrine well, and it may be some think that few ministers are better dealt with than we are. But we say, that that is not our complaint; we confess if we look from the beginning of the world to this time, there will be few ministers of the Gospel, found to have been better dealt with as to outward and civil things, but alas! should that stop our mouth? Yea rather ought it not to be the more sad to us to be so dealt with, and to live in civil love with men and women who yet do not receive the Gospel, nor deal kindly with our Master. Do not think that we will take external respect to us for the fruit of the Gospel. As we have no cause to complain of other things, so let us not be put to complain of this, but receive Christ in your heart, let Him and His precious wares have change and go off among you, make use of Him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and go not for the fashion about the means that should bring you near Him, but be in good earnest, and this would satisfy us much, and prevent complaints. Lastly, I would ask you what will come of it, if we shall go on in preaching, and you in hearing, and yet continuing still in unbelief? Will there not be an account craved of us? And must we not make a report? And if you think we must report, can we report any other way than it is with you? Shall we, or dare we say, that such a man was a fine civil man, and that therefore he will not be reckoned with though he believed not in Christ? No, no, but this must be the report, that such a man, and such a kind of men, though Christ was long wooing them, would not embrace Him, though He invited them to the wedding, yet they would not come, nay they mocked and spurned at it, they trod the blood of the covenant under foot, and counted God a liar in all His offers, and said by their practice, that they should be happy though they took not this way. Many of you who would not take it well if we should speak this to you in particular, will find it to be a truth one day. And if you shall say, what would we be at? The answer is at hand, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This is the end of the Gospel, and the means of your happiness. It is the great and the main thing that we call for, which if it be not obtained, the ground of the complaint will continue. And do you think this any strange, hard, or unfamiliar thing, that when we bring to you the offer of Christ in the Gospel, we bid you receive it, and flee in to Him to hide you from the wrath to come. And yet this is all we seek of you; it is neither your shame nor your harm that we seek, but that you may take with your sin, that you may judge and condemn yourselves, that your mouth may be stopped before God, and that you may flee to Jesus Christ in earnest, and close with Him on His own terms. As therefore you would prevent the greatly aggravated sin, to wit, sinning against the Gospel, and the complaint of the ministers thereof against you, and the terrible vengeance of the Mediator, kiss the Son, cast open the everlasting doors of your hearts, and let the Gospel, and Christ the King of Glory have access. We pray you stand not in the way of your own happiness, refuse not to do Him that much pleasure and satisfaction for all the travail of His soul, as to give Him your souls to be saved. Now God Himself keep you from this folly and soul-destroying madness.