Sermon 18

Isaiah 53:2, 3. Verse 2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Verse 3. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

If our hearts were suitably tender, the reading of these words, knowing of whom they are spoken, would some way prick and wound them; It's hard to determine, (though it may be we should not make the comparison) whether there is more grace in our Lord's condescension, or more wickedness and perverseness in the unkind and evil meeting that he gets from sinners; But surely there is much grace on the one side in his coming so low, and much wickedness and perverseness on the other side; For what meets he with, even blessed Jesus, who is the glory and praise of all his saints, indeed, the brightness of his Father's glory? He is despised and rejected, and we esteemed him not; Even when he thus humbled himself and took on our nature, and was and is prosecuting the work of our salvation, and evidencing his grace in an inconceivable manner.

These are the two things that are spoken of here, 1. His condescending to be a man, and a lowly man, and which is yet more, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; Which if we believed, and knew really what he were, that it was even he by whom all things were created, who is the beginning of the creation of God, the firstborn of every creature, indeed, he for whom all things were created, for whose glory the world and all things in it were made and continue, He for whom all things are as their last end, and through whom they are preserved in their being, and governed in their operations, and shall be seen to tend to his glory in the close; we would certainly wonder more at this his condescension: And yet alas, it is he that is despised and rejected, and that we hid as it were our faces from, and would not give him our countenance; It is he by whom the world was made that is despised, and we esteemed him not: And this is the second thing in the words which we are now to speak to, even the abominably unsuitable meeting that men give to our Lord Jesus, who has so far condescended, as to leave some way his Father's glory, not to receive a kingdom of this world, but to be trodden upon in it as a worm: He is despised and rejected, and we will not entertain him, nor make him welcome when he comes; We esteem him not.

Only take this notice for clearing of the words, and for grounding of the doctrine, that this that is spoken of Christ's humiliation, and men's stumbling at it, is not precisely to be restricted to his humiliation in his own person only, and men's stumbling at that, for it is given as the reason of men their stumbling and offending at Christ in all times; But it is to be extended to Christ in his Gospel and ordinances throughout all ages, and so it comes in as the reason why so few believe on him; If you ask the reason why men do not now believe and receive Christ in the offer of the Gospel? Here it is, for we esteemed him not, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant; He shall be lowly and contemptible-like to the men of the world, and in an afflicted condition, therefore he is not esteemed, therefore he is not believed on.

These two are the main doctrines to be spoken to here, 1. That Jesus Christ who thus condescends and humbles himself for the salvation of lost sinners is not esteemed of, but despised and undervalued, which is implied in the words, When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him, and is more clearly held out in the following words, He was despised, and we esteemed him not. 2. That this undervaluing and little esteeming of Jesus Christ, is the great ground of folks' unbelief, or the reason why men do not believe on him, even because they think him not worthy the receiving; two very clear truths in the words and in experience, though as sad in their consequents.

As to the first, which is this, that our Lord Jesus Christ is usually and ordinarily exceedingly undervalued, and little esteemed of by the men of the world to whom he is offered in the gospel; there are two things implied and supposed here in and about the doctrine, that will clear it, and be as two reasons of it. 1. That he has no form nor comeliness, and no beauty therefore he should be desired; which holds out this that men are ordinarily taken up with, and seek after worldly grandeur or greatness, splendor and beauty, that's it that fills men's eyes, and is that which Christ wanted. This we say is one reason why Christ is so little thought of, even because he comes not with external pomp, observation and grandeur, nor with great temporal gifts to his followers; that which mainly is desirable to natural men is that which has earthly beauty in it, a very deceitful consideration and ground, though such a one as men are often carried away with, and therefore they despise and reject the Savior. 2. Which is another reason of the doctrine, and also clearly implied, that our Lord Jesus Christ's humiliation and coming so low for man's sake, his very condescending and stooping for their good, is the great ground of their stumbling at him, and because of that he is the less thought of; even the very height of his grace, and that great stretch thereof, that the Son of God became thus low as to become Man, a mean man, and a man of sorrows, is a greater ground of stumbling to men than if he had never become thus low. Now these two being supposed, and thus explained, the doctrine is clear, to wit, that Jesus Christ that became Man, and performed the satisfaction due to the justice of God for our sins, is usually and ordinarily disesteemed and undervalued by them to whom he is offered in the gospel. 1. It was so under the Old Testament, and is so likewise under the New; what is almost all the gospel spent on? But to hold out Christ upon the one side to be a man of sorrows, and upon the other side to show that men esteemed him not: how was he undervalued at his birth when his mother was thrust out to a stable, and he laid in a manger? And no sooner does he appear in the exercise of his public ministry, but his friends offend at him, and look on him as a distracted man (Mark 3). His countrymen contemn him, and were offended at him (Mark 6). Is not this (say they) the Carpenter, the Son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses? And how was he esteemed, or rather disesteemed and undervalued at his death; so that it is said (Acts 3:14), they denied the holy and just one, and desired that a murderer should be granted to them; they rejected the Prince of Life, and chose Barabbas; and judging him not worthy to live, they cry away with him. Hence our Lord says (Matthew 11), Blessed is he that is not offended in me, which insinuates that there were but very few to whom his humiliation proved not a stumbling block. 2. If we consult experience we will find this to be true, how little is he thought of among Turks? Among whom his precious name is blasphemed, though they pretend more respect to him than mere heathens do: how little is he thought of among the Jews? Who call him a Deceiver: and if we come nearer, even to the Christian church, and to such as profess their faith of his being the Eternal Son of God, equal with the Father, that he is Judge of quick and dead, and that they look for salvation through him, yet if it be put to a trial, how few are they that will be found to esteem of him aright? Since there are but few that believe the report that is made of him, but few that receive him as he is offered in the gospel, few that have but such respect to him as to prefer him to their idols, and that give him the first and chief seat in their hearts: and if we consider how little eager pursuing there is after him that he may be enjoyed, and how indifferent folks are whether they have or want him; how many things men dote upon and prefer to Jesus Christ, as the Lord complains (Jeremiah 2:13), My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and have dug to themselves cisterns, even broken cisterns that can hold no water, the thing will be clear beyond all debate. We may take in another branch of the doctrine here, when he says, We esteemed him not; and it is this, that even believers are in so far as unrenewed, inclined and not without culpable accession to this same sin of undervaluing of Jesus Christ. It's indeed true that the Apostle Peter says in his first epistle (1 Peter 2:7), To you that believe he is precious; which place, though it confirms the first part of the doctrine, that to them that believe not he is not precious, but a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; albeit that believers being compared with unbelievers, have some precious esteem of Jesus Christ, yet if we consider the corrupt nature that in part cleaves to them, and the degree of their estimation of him, that it's but very little and low in respect of what it should be, and the many peevish fits, too's and fro's, up's and down's that they are subject to, with the many suspicions and jealousies they have of him; so that though they were just now fresh and lively in the exercise of their faith, and of their estimation of Christ, yet within a little, even by and by, they give way again to their jealousies, the doctrine will also hold true of them, we esteemed him not.

We shall give the second doctrine (and then speak to the use of both jointly) which is this: That there is nothing more culpably accessory to the abounding of unbelief, than the poor thoughts and little estimation that men have of Jesus Christ; the undervaluing of him is the great ground and reason why they believe not on him; and on the contrary, if the hearers of the Gospel had higher thoughts, and a more precious esteem of Christ, and valued him according to his invaluable worth, there would be more believing in him than there is. When the Gospel comes to invite men to the wedding (Matthew 22), when Christ is praised and commended as to what he is, what he has purchased, and what he freely offers to sinners, it's said, that those who were bidden made light of it, and went away, one to his farm, another to his merchandise, etc. — when Christ was spoken of, and the offer of life through him, they undervalued and despised it, and made light of the offer, and therefore turned their backs, for they thought more of the house, of the oxen, of the farm, and of the married wife, than they thought of him. And in Acts 17, when Paul is preaching Christ at Athens, the philosophers and orators, these learned heads, despise and disdain him as a setter forth of some strange and uncouth god. If we compare this with its contrary, it will be further clear, to wit, wherever there is estimation of Christ, it proves a help to faith and a ground of it; so wherever Christ is despised and undervalued, it breeds in folk, and is a ground to them of these three. 1. It cools, or rather keeps cool their love and affection to him; where he is disesteemed and undervalued, he cannot be loved, and people in that case become like these that are brought in (Jeremiah 44:17), saying, "It was better with us when we did bake cakes to the queen of heaven"; the Lord is counted by them to be as a wilderness and land of darkness, and they say, as it is (Jeremiah 2:31), "We are lords, and will come no more to you"; and when men esteem not Christ, they seek not after him, they care not for an interest in him, they trust not to him; when a man values a pearl, he will readily sell all that he has that he may buy it, but that which is not esteemed, there will be no care to come by it. 2. It has influence to obstruct folk's giving him credit, which is of the very essence of faith; so then, where he is not esteemed of, he is not, he cannot be believed on; the former says, that we will not marry him, this says, we will not trust him, nor trust the reality of his offer. Where he is not esteemed of, he is not taken up to be real, in good earnest, and faithful in what he says; his offers are looked upon as having neither solidity nor reality in them, therefore (Revelation 19) these two are put together, first it's said, "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb"; and then it is subjoined, "these are the true and faithful sayings of God"; so that when Christ is not esteemed of, he is not thought worthy the crediting and trusting to. And it's on this ground that the Lord founds his controversy with his professing people (Jeremiah 2:5): "What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity and are become vain?" — they undervalued his word, they thought him not worthy of credit, and therefore they turned the back on him; the same is insinuated by the Lord (Micah 6:3): "O my people, what have I done to you, and wherein have I wearied you? — testify against me." 3. This little esteem of Christ weakens hope or expectation of any good that men may have from him; when we esteem him not, there is no expectation of getting our need supplied, and our wants made up by him, nor of attaining in him the happiness that we would be at, and therefore there are no serious addresses made to him for the same. These three — love to him, trust in him, hope from and through him — being the prime graces in a Christian, when they are weakened, unbelief most certainly in so far prevails; and it being Christ's worthiness, and the estimation thereof that gives ground to all these; then sure, when he is not esteemed but undervalued, these must also fall in their exercise, and be in utter non-entry where he is altogether undervalued. Now, laying all these together, there can hardly be anything more culpably accessory to the abounding of unbelief than the undervaluing of precious Jesus Christ; it's impossible that he can be cordially welcomed where he is not at all esteemed of.

As for uses of these doctrines, they are of large extent, serving to make manifest a root of bitterness, and a great neck-break of multitudes of souls, and which men and women will not easily be persuaded to believe. Let this therefore be the 1st use of it, to discover a great sin that is incident to the hearers of this Gospel; among many other things that may be charged on them, this is one and not the least, even little estimation of Jesus Christ, so little, that when he is speaking, they count him scarce worthy the hearing; hence is the slumbering and sleeping of so many when he is preached of, which holds out something of the nature of all men and women; this despising, undervaluing, and thinking little of Christ, is a sin that may for a long time cleave fast and close to the hearers of the Gospel, and does so to many to their very dying day. It may be you will think this a strange and uncouth [reconstructed: charge], and that whoever disesteem him, you do certainly esteem him much, but it were better you were seriously and humbly saying with the Prophet here, He was despised and we esteemed him not: There are many who never once suspect themselves as guilty of, or chargeable with this evil; for whose conviction, let me speak but a few words, Is there not such a bitter root in you? If it be natural to all men and women, how comes it to pass that you are free of it? Is there nothing of the seed of the Serpent in you? And if there be, will there not be hatred at the seed of the Woman in you? Are you any other sort of hearers than they were to whom this is spoken? Were they not hearers of the Gospel as well as you? In fact, he speaks here of hearers of the Gospel in all ages, and yet you will disdain to take with this sin, and will account it to be an uncouth, if not an unjust charge and imputation, to say of you that you are undervaluers and despisers of Christ; but the reason of it is twofold, the first whereof is, Because you know not what Christ's worth is, and therefore you do neither esteem him, nor know that you disesteem and undervalue him; whereas they who have win to some knowledge of his worth, are always, or very often complaining that they cannot get him suitably thought of and esteemed. The second reason is, Because you know not yourselves, and therefore you take self-love and estimation of yourselves to be love to him and estimation of him; you think yourselves so well, that you cannot endure to think that you want any grace or good thing; and estimation of Christ being a good thing, and you thinking that you could not hold up your face and own the reproaching and despising of him, you will not let it light that you want this grace and good thing, a precious esteem of him: But there is no greater evidence that you are lying under the power of the deceit and delusion of your own hearts, that your natural distemper and fever is not yet cooled and calmed, but that you are still roving in nature; and therefore, though you be living in enmity at God and Christ, yet you cannot be made sensible of it; we really think it somewhat strange, that men and women should live twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years under the Gospel, and yet never be brought to groan under this enmity, nor to lay to heart this sin of undervaluing of Christ: But if it be a truth that none naturally do love and esteem him, then certainly many of you are grossly mistaken, that think you esteem highly of him; Ah! your fancied esteem of him will be counted an undervaluing of him.

And if you ask, what is that to undervalue Christ, or when is he undervalued? I answer, he is undervalued: 1. When he is not matched with or married, when you match with himself, of which he makes offer, is not closed with upon his own terms; for what I pray can hinder the ending of a bargain, or finishing a marriage contract, especially when it's so full, free, and rich on the proposer and suitors part, but either that folk think it is not fit for them, or that they think nothing of it at all? And this is it that hinders closing with Christ (Matthew 22): they made light of it and went away, etc., and Psalm 81: "My people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me." 2. When anything is made equal to Christ, much more when anything is preferred to him, he is undervalued and not esteemed; when he gets little or none of folks' care and labor, little of their time, little of their love and delight, few or none of their thoughts, etc., but they are quite carried away after other things, for where the treasure is, there the heart will be also. And were Christ our treasure, and precious in our esteem, our hearts would be more set on him; but it's strange, sad, and even astonishing to think, how little our spirits are exercised with the thoughts of Christ; how little they are taken up with longing for him and delighting in him, and yet we will think that we esteem him. 3. Our Lord is undervalued when he is not made use of, and employed, and trusted as an able and sufficient Savior; if there be a learned and skillful physician in a city in all or most diseases, or an able lawyer to plead all causes; if folk have diseases to be cured, and causes to be pleaded, and yet do not employ such a physician or such a lawyer, but go to some other, though far less skillful and able, they undervalue him. It is even so here, when folks have many sins, and they seek not to him for pardon, many — not only temporal wants, but also and mainly, many spiritual wants — and do not acknowledge him in them, neither seek to him for supply of them, many predominant evils, and they seek not to him to mortify them, many snares and temptations, and they do not make use of him to prevent and lead them by them, and many spiritual causes to be pleaded before God, or at his bar, and they do not employ him as advocate to plead for them. 4. He is undervalued when folk think not themselves happy enough in him, nor sure enough in bargaining with him, and when he does not satisfy and fully content them, as if he were yes and no, and as if all the promises were not yes and amen in him. When he is not credited entirely, and rested upon, he is not esteemed; hence he complains (John 5): "You will not come to me that you might have life;" and (Matthew 23): "How often would I have gathered you and you would not?" He would, to say so with reverence, fain do them a good turn, but they will not trust him. O, how much undervaluing of Christ is there even among believers, when they hold and draw with him, entertain jealousies and suspicions of him, scarcely credit him, and when they do at any time credit him, are in a manner ready to take back their word again. How often are creature-comforts overvalued by them? And how often are the consolations of God small with them? These and many other ways are they, even they, in some considerable measure and degree guilty of undervaluing of Christ.

Use 2. Take with this sin, acknowledge and seek pardon for it; it were a good token of some tenderness, to be mourning for enmity against Christ, and for undervaluing of him, as well as for drunkenness, fornication, theft, or any other gross sin. And where that gracious and right mourning that is spoken of (Zechariah 12:10) comes, it will be in special for this undervaluing of Christ to the height of piercing of him. We would ask any of you that think you repent, if this sin of slighting him has pierced you as it did these in Acts 2. It may be, some think themselves so cleanly and perfect that they have not many sins to mourn for — O, dreadful mistake. But though you had no more, is not this enough that ever there should have been enmity in your bosom at Christ? And should not this prick you at the very heart that ever you should have so undervalued him? But readily they that see fewest sins in themselves, will see and take with least of this sin.

Use 3. It serves to be a warning to all men in nature, to consider what their condition is; Do you that have this enmity, and are undervaluers of Christ, know what is in your hearts? And do you consider what posture you will be found in, if Grace make not a change, in the day of Christ? You will be found among these despisers and haters that would not have him to reign over them; How will you dare to appear, or in what posture will you appear before him, when he whom you despised, shall come in the glory of his Father with all the holy Angels with him, and shall sit upon the throne of his glory? And yet appear you must; How will the conscience then gnaw, and the heart be affrighted? How will challenges waken, indeed, sting and prick you on this ground, that the Son of God, the Heir of all things, the Lord of lords, and King of kings, who proposed marriage to you, was undervalued, and marriage with him made light of, and that a thing of nothing was put in his room and place? Will not this be a horrible challenge in that day? And if you would consider what will be their posture that mocked and buffeted him, and plucked off his hair, that nodded with the head, and cried Aha, and bade him come down from the Cross, that did scourge him, and hang him up upon the Cross between two thieves; such a posture will all of you be in who have despised and disesteemed him; you will meet with that same sad sentence, Bring out these mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me. O! what a strange punishment suppose you will that be, when the Saviour of sinners shall stand by and look on till he see vengeance execute on sinners that despised him? Think on it, for there is such a day coming, when you will all appear before him, and when your reckonings will be cast up; suffer not yourselves to be cheated into an opinion that it will be accounted a little sin to be found under this guilt of despising Christ, and let not one of you put it off himself, and over upon another; they will be found despisers of him that would never let it light, in fact even many that have preached him, and that would have been angry at profanity in others, as may be gathered from (Matthew 7:22).

The 4th use serves to commend this to you as a piece of your duty, to study to know Christ, and to have the suitable impression of Christ and of his worth as the great means contributive to the bringing you to credit him, and believe on him, and to the removing a main obstruction that hinders your faith, and that is the undervaluing of him. For if undervaluing of him be the great cause of unbelief, and that which mainly obstructs faith; then the esteeming of him from a due impression of his worth, must be a great means of, and help to faith, and the more he be esteemed of, the more will he be believed on. It has an attractive virtue to draw sinners to love him, a screwing virtue to screw up the affections towards him; and withal a fixing and establishing virtue to settle and stay the soul upon him by believing. The soul that from the right impression of his worth esteems of him, knows that it may trust him, for he is holy and true. And hence it is, that the great thing that believers take to ground their prayers upon, is some excellency in God, some one or other of his titles and attributes upon which they fix, to bear them up under and against any difficulty that presses hard upon them. This fixes also their hope and expectation of attaining of any good thing that they want through him. And therefore upon the one side we would commend to you the study of Christ's worth, and upon the other, a high estimation of him, as that which will fix your faith, and love, and hope on him. This we see to be in a high degree in Paul (Philippians 3): I account all things (says he) to be but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of him, and his transcendent worth. You would not think it lost labor, to read and study these places of Scripture, that show what our Lord Jesus is in his Person, Nature, and Offices, that you may have the faith of his Godhead fixed, and may be clear as to the excelling fullness that is in him. As namely that of (Isaiah 9:6): To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of whose Kingdom and Government there shall be no end. And to study his excellent properties, his Eternity, Omnipotence, Faithfulness, Mercy, etc. common to him with the Father and Holy Ghost; and the excellent qualifications that as Mediator he is replenished with; being full of grace and truth, and in all things having the preeminence; See (Colossians 1), (John 1:14), and (Hebrews 1:2-3), etc. The reason why we press you to this, is not only that you may have more clear theory and contemplation; but also and mainly that your affections may be delighted in him, and that your faith may without [reconstructed: doubt] or hesitation come to give him credit. Ignorance of Christ breeds undervaluing, and undervaluing makes you not to give him credit, and thus you are kept at a distance from him. There is no study more pleasant, more precious, and more profitable. There is here then a task for you that ask what you shall do; even to read and study the excellency of Jesus Christ, and to labor to have it well fixed in the imagination of the thoughts of your hearts; it will give you notable direction what to do, even that which is well-pleasing to God, and may be very profitable to you through his blessing.

Use 5. See here the great necessity and convenience of studying the disestimation of Christ that is in us, as well as of studying the worth that is in him, and what he has out of love suffered for us. These two are put together in the text; it being needful for us to be as well acquainted with the one as with the other. We shall give you this use in two short doctrines, the first of which is, That it is a necessary duty for the hearers of the Gospel to study thoroughly, and to be convinced of, and clear in their disestimation of Christ, as well as of his worth and excellency, because it makes up repentance, and makes it flow, and thoroughly humbles the sinner when he finds this desperate wickedness and perversity to be in himself, and makes him kindly loath and abhor himself; and unless this desperate wickedness be seen and felt, that great and bitter mourning spoken of (Zechariah 12:10) will never flow forth.

The second is, That where folk have any just estimation of Christ and of his worth, and are sensible of the evil of unbelief, there will also be some sense of the sin of undervaluing of him, and the more sense they have of the evil of unbelief, they will be the more sensible of their undervaluing of him; and will with the prophet here cry out, He was despised, and we esteemed him not. And from both these you may see the necessity of studying to find out this corruption; the search and discovery of which will give you insight into the evil and perversity of your nature, and so deeply humble you; and also serve highly to commend Christ and his grace to you; and without the discovery of this corruption, it's impossible ever to be humble thoroughly, or to have right thoughts of Christ and of his grace.

Use 6. It serves to let us see the necessity of believing in Christ, and of the employing of him; because there is no other way to be free of the challenges of despising and not esteeming of him, but by receiving of him, and believing on him.

A 7th Use may be added, and it's this, That the more there be that despise Christ, and the greater difficulty there be in believing on him, the more reason have they to be thankful that he graciously works any suitable estimation of himself in, and brings them to believe on him. Those who have gotten any glimpse of his glory which has lifted him high in their estimation to the drawing forth of their faith and love after him, would praise him for it. It's he, and only he that opened your eyes to see him, and gave you that estimation of him, and circumcised your hearts to love him; let him therefore have all the praise and glory of it. This is the Word of God, and himself bless it to you through Jesus Christ.