Sermon 38

Isaiah 53, Verse 10. When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Sin was easily brought into the world, a little business brought in sin, and the curse and wrath of God with it; and without any great difficulty, men can continue in sin, and lie under God's wrath and curse; but the taking away of sin, and the satisfying of the justice of God for it, is no easy matter; (that if we may so speak,) did put heaven and earth both to it; there was such a contrivance of this way, and such a means chosen, and made use of, that sin might be removed, and the curse taken away, as the like was never heard of.

The intimation and manifestation of this way, is in the first part of this verse, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; in God's counsel, and by His pleasure it was contrived, and the way found out; and the means is set down, in these words, When you shall make his soul an offering for sin; the Mediator, even he who was the spotless Lamb of God, in whose mouth was found no guile, was bruised, and put to sad suffering, to get this effected; that the curse might be removed from sinners, He was made the sin-offering.

We show that Jesus Christ is the only sin-offering, by which sin is taken away; and that it is implied here; so that it is denied to all other things, or means to have any efficacy, virtue, or merit in them, as to the removing of sin, and the curse brought on by it; this is, I say, so peculiarly applied to Christ's offering; that it is denied to every thing else; which shows 1. How much sinners are obliged to Christ, who, when no other thing could do it, interposed Himself. 2. The necessity of making use of this one offering, without which never soul can be perfected or saved: He is the alone foundation of sinners' peace, and of all the consolation that they can have in the promises of God.

Now to proceed, and to hint at some few things more from the words; wherein the end and nature of Christ's sufferings are set forth: He in His suffering, and offering up of Himself; did step into the room of the sinful Elect, that by justice exacting of Him the debt that was due by them; they might escape, and be set free; Hence observe. 1. That when there was no other thing, nor means, that could sufficiently satisfy divine justice, or be a sacrifice for sin; Our Lord stepped to, and undertook, and became the sacrifice to take away sin; according to that often cited (Psalm 40:7-8). Sacrifice, and offering you did not desire, in burnt offering you had no pleasure: He is not speaking of what God required in the law, as typical; for He required sacrifices and offerings in that respect; but not to be a propitiation for the sins of the Elect world, because they could not do it; and then follows, Lo I come, or I am here: my ear have you bored, It is (Hebrews 10): A body have you given to me: which sets out His being put in a capacity to be a sacrifice; I delight to do your will, O my God. Here there are these four things implied. 1. A liability in the Elect to the justice of God for sin; and as to all other means and ways of relief, but by this one sacrifice, a desperateness and impossibility; and considering the sentence, which God had pronounced; The day you eat, you shall surely die: And cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the law to do them; no sacrifice can be accepted but this only; thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil have no access; He did not in that respect, require these, neither would He capitulate on these terms. 2. That when no other sacrifice could do the turn, Christ Jesus came in, and was content to interpose, and to be the sacrifice for sin, Lo, says He, I come, I am here ready to satisfy for my Elect people; for this is an old design, and He had undertaken from eternity to carry it on. 3. There is implied here a great willingness, a delightsome, and heartsome condescending in the Mediator, to be the sacrifice, He steps in affectionately, in the room of the Elect, as the sacrifice for them, to receive the stroke of justice, that they may escape and go free. I delight to do your will, O my God: This is God's will, as to the work of redemption, as it is, (John 6:38). I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And (John 17:4). I have finished the work you gave me to do; that will and this work is all one; And (Hebrews 10). It is said by which (or by this) will we are sanctified. 4. The Father's admitting and accepting of Him, to interpose in the room of them, for whom He offered Himself, is implied here; for otherwise His offering up of Himself, could not have been a sacrifice satisfactory to justice, if the Lord Jehovah had not been content so far, to [reconstructed: relax] His threatening, and curse, in reference to the party offending? as to admit of a cautioner, in the room of the debtor sinners, to satisfy for them; of which satisfaction He accepted: All these things put together, make Christ's interposing Himself as a sacrifice, and surety complete; I delight to do your will, supposes not only God's pleasure, that He should interpose, but His accepting of His interposing: And this is, (to speak so) the flooring, and foundation of the work of redemption; the sentence stands over the Elect's head, cursed are the guilty, Christ comes in and interposes cheerfully to take on the debt, and says, here I am, let the curse fall on me, and let satisfaction be taken from me; and this being offered according to God's will, it is accepted, and Christ's satisfaction becomes an offering in their room.

Use. See here a desperate condition wherein, by nature, we are all lying; it sets us well, in speaking of grace, to take a view of what we were: And it shows how much sinners are in Christ's debt and common, that interposed for us, in this condition. Could we suitably make inquiry what case we were in, under the hand of justice, and its stroke ready to light on us; And could we behold our Lord Jesus Christ interposing for us, and the sword of justice awaking against Him, and smiting Him for us; and the Lord Jehovah accepting of His interposing, and making His soul an offering for sin; And Him willingly and delightfully offering up Himself in our room; we would see our obligation to God, who was pleased to contrive, admit, and accept of this way and means of our redemption. And could we consider, what advantages we have by this redemption; and what it cost Christ to obtain it; we would see ourselves much, unspeakably much in His debt. The day is coming, when it will be thought a favor, and when the sweet effects of it shall be made fully forthcoming to them, that now cordially close with it; And when the fruit of despising it shall be found to be bitter like gall and wormwood.

2. From its being said, when you shall make; Or, when His soul shall make itself, or He Himself shall make Himself an offering for sin; Observe, That as Christ undertook, and by undertaking, interposed to come in sinners' room, to satisfy for their sins; So His death and sufferings are really the performing of that undertaking; And His death and sufferings are so to be looked on, and considered by us, as an offering for sin; or thus, Christ's death is the sin-offering, that satisfied the justice of God, in the room of elect sinners. This is the sum, or compendium of all that is spoken of His sufferings; If then it be asked, what did they all mean? Here it is, He was made a sin-offering; we shall clear it a little in these three or four parts, or branches. 1. Christ is properly a sin-offering, or a sacrifice for sin; He is properly the propitiatory sacrifice for sin; That [reconstructed: satisfies] the justice of God for the sins of the elect. 2. This sacrifice was especially offered by Him, in His death and sufferings; it is His suffering and humiliation that is most properly this sacrifice, for it is that which is related here. 3. That by Christ's offering up of Himself, He was not only outwardly [reconstructed: pierced], but His soul was deeply affected and troubled; In satisfying the sin-revenging justice of God, both His soul and body were strained and stressed. 4. By His suffering, there is a sufficient satisfaction given to justice, for the sins of His people, a propitiation, or propitiatory sacrifice, that makes God propitious to elect sinners; as in satisfying the justice of God for sin; all other things are denied to have a hand; So there is a sufficient efficacy and worth in this sacrifice to do the work: and by God it is accepted as such, And so there is a fair way made to them, for whom He offers this sacrifice to escape sin, and the wrath and curse of God; and to be set free.

As for the first of these, to wit, that our Lord Jesus, in his dying and suffering, was properly the propitiatory sacrifice; or is properly a propitiatory sacrifice for the taking away of sin? To clear it a little, we would consider. 1. That sacrifices are taken in sundry ways in Scripture. 1. Sometimes they are taken improperly for duties; as alms, prayers, praises, etc. (Psalm 51). The sacrifice of a broken heart you will not despise. So also (Hebrews 13:15-16). 2. They are taken more properly for such sacrifices as were offered under the law; as of bullocks, lambs, rams, and goats; yet none of these was the true propitiatory sacrifice, as is clear (Hebrews 10:4). It was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. But Christ's sacrifice is properly the propitiatory sacrifice; it being by this sacrifice that believers under the Old Testament became partakers of redemption, and obtained remission of sins, as well as believers do now under the New. If it be then asked, what is necessary to a sacrifice properly so taken? I answer these four things (all which we will find to be in Christ's sacrifice). 1. That there be something, or matter, set apart to be offered to God, in the room of some other thing, as it was in the typical sacrifices. 2. That there be some appointed to offer the sacrifice; that there be some set apart for that very thing. 3. That there be a killing, or destroying, of the thing that is offered in a sacrifice; which especially in the sin-offering was necessary; to wit, that it should be killed, or destroyed; as we see in (Exodus 29) and Leviticus frequently. This had a signification, and the Lord would thereby point out man's great guilt, and the necessity of a mediator, in order to the obtaining of pardon; for there could be no remission, or pardon of sin without blood; as it is (Hebrews 9:22). Therefore the sinner needed to either die himself, or to have another to die for him, and in his room. 4. The sacrifice needed to be offered according to the manner prescribed by God, as to all the rites and ceremonies enjoined. Now we may see all these in Christ's sacrifice. For 1. He himself is the sacrifice (Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 10:10), and frequently elsewhere in that epistle, and (1 Peter 2:24): Who his own self bore our sins, in his own body on the tree; and when he had offered up himself as a sacrifice, he sat down on the right hand of majesty on high. He is the alone sacrifice that comes properly in the room of elect sinners. 2. As there needed to be one to offer the sacrifice, so Christ Jesus is the priest that offered up the sacrifice of himself: he is not only the sacrifice, but the priest. And in this he differed from other priests (Hebrews 7:26): Such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; and then follows, who needs not daily, as these high priests, to offer up sacrifices; first for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people; for this he did once, when he offered up himself. There are three things ordinarily attributed to Christ, as to his sacrifice, to wit, that he was the sacrifice, the altar, and the priest. 1. He was the sacrifice, in respect of his human nature, which we are not so to look upon as abstracting and dividing it from his divine nature; for though he suffered in the flesh, yet it was the same person, that was God, that suffered. 2. He was the altar, by which his sacrifice received a special efficacy, virtue, value, and commendation; as it is said, the altar sanctifies the offering: so Christ Jesus, according to his Godhead, was the altar, which did put a special excellency on his sufferings, and made them to be of such worth and value. Therefore (Hebrews 9:14) it is said that he through the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God; it was the suffering of the person that was God, that made the sacrifice to be accepted. 3. He was the priest, and that according to both his natures, each nature concurring, and that jointly, as in one person, to the making of the sacrifice offered up to God acceptable. 3. We have in him a real destruction, but do not mistake the word; it is not so to be understood as if he were annihilated, or had been utterly destroyed and undone; but the meaning is this, that he was killed, or put to death, and his soul separated from his body: in which respect he ceased to be what he was before for a time; having been really slain, dead and buried. And 4. All this was according to God's prescription and appointment, in the covenant of redemption. This commandment, says he (John 10:18), have I received of my Father, to wit, that I should lay down my life for my sheep. And most emphatically he says (John 14:13): as my Father gave me commandment, even so — mark, even so, most exactly, in conformity to the commandment — do I. It was all, as to every circumstance, ordered according to the good pleasure of God, who was pleased thus to bruise him and to put him to grief.

The first use of it serves to teach us how to conceive and consider of Christ's death and sufferings rightly, to wit, even as a sacrifice designed by God, to come in the room of elect sinners; and how to look upon his death; not as the ordinary death of ordinary or mere men, who by necessity of nature die; but to look on it as being appointed of God, to be a sacrifice properly so taken, for the sins of his people.

Secondly, this serves to clear some truths concerning our Lord Jesus his sacrifice; for we must consider it as satisfying to justice, and meritoriously procuring the escaping from wrath, and salvation of them for whom he interposed. It is from the gross ignorance, or from the wicked denial of this ground, that the damnable deniers of Christ's satisfaction do also deny the propriety of his sacrifice on earth, and bound it to heaven; whereas, it is bounded to his death; though by virtue of this one offering, he continues to intercede for us in heaven.

Thirdly, it teaches sinners what is the native use which they should make of this sacrifice; they should look upon it as the only sacrifice to prevent eternal death, and the curse of God; and so it demonstrates to us that either Jesus Christ must be received by faith, and his sacrifice rested on; or we must resolve to meet with wrath, and the curse of God ourselves in our own persons.

Fourthly, it serves to clear us concerning the way and tract of grace; that is, how it came to pass, that our Lord, who was innocent, and without sin, was so bruised, and put to grief. He came to be a Propitiation for the sins of His people, and presented Himself in our room, as our guarantor, as a sin-offering for us. It would doubtless [reconstructed: resolve] many questions and doubts that arise in the hearts of believers, if it were well understood. They may say, we should have been in such and such a sad condition; this and that terrible thing would have come on us, if He had not interposed. Never enough can these words be spoken and thought of, that we have (2 Corinthians 5:21): He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Fifthly, it serves for notable consolation to believers, who have betaken themselves to Christ, and have many challenges for sin to buckle with; that His death was to be properly a sacrifice for sin, and was so accepted of God in their room. So that you see the right understanding of Christ's death is a matter of no little moment; Christ crucified, being the very substance of the gospel. It helps much, to keep alive the impression of our sinfulness, and of the goodness of God; and gives us direction how to escape wrath, by putting Him in our room. There is nothing, wherein folks more readily miscarry, in making of their peace with God, than in not making the right use of Christ, and of His sacrifice, and death. Some praying for pardon of sin from Him, and not for Him, or for His sake, when they know not what they are saying, as we hinted at before. Some praying for strength from Him for duty, that they may do for themselves, not considering that we are justified by His interposing in our room, and by faith's closing with Him, under that consideration, as [reconstructed: presenting] Himself at the bar of justice; and as being content to be a sin-offering: and the Lord accepting of Him in the room of elect sinners. This being well considered, gives to faith much clearness how to take Him up, when the soul honestly aims to partake of the benefit of His sufferings.

Secondly, for clearing this a little further, we would know that there are (as divines observe) four or five ways how the death of Christ is to be considered, or how Christ, in procuring by His death redemption, peace, and pardon to sinners, is held forth in Scripture. 1. He purchases redemption and pardon of sin meritoriously, or He merits it by His death; this regards the value of Christ's sufferings and satisfaction: so that if we consider Christ in Himself, and the elect in themselves, His death and these sufferings are more than if all the elect had suffered eternally in hell. 2. His death is considered as a satisfaction; and this looks to the wrong that men by sin have done to God: that the finite and feckless creature durst be so malapert as to break God's command; it required a satisfaction equivalent to the wrong done; though the word satisfaction be not in Scripture, yet the thing is: Christ Jesus, for the restoring of God to His honor, that was, as to the manifestation of it, wronged by man's sin, comes in to perform the will of God, and to satisfy for the wrong done Him by man; that it may be made known that God is holy and just, who will needs avenge sin on His own Son, the holy and innocent cautioner, when He interposes in the room of the sinner, which vindicates the spotless justice and sovereignty of God as much as, if not more than, if He had exacted the satisfaction off the sinners themselves: as it is (Romans 3:16), to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus. 3. Christ's death is considered as a redemption of man from sin, the law, and the curse, because liable to a debt which he cannot of himself pay; and His death was in this respect a paying of the debt that man was owing, and a loosing of the captive and imprisoned sinner; even as when a piece of land is mortgaged, and a person comes in and pays that for which it was mortgaged: so Jesus Christ comes in, and as it were asks, what are these men owing, and what is due to them? It is answered, they are sinners, death and the curse are due to them; well, says He, I will take their debt on myself, I will pay their ransom by undergoing all that was due to them. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law (says the Apostle, Galatians 3:13), being made a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come on us Gentiles: and so Christ's death in this respect is to be looked on as a laying down of the same price that justice would have exacted of men: His death is the paying of our ransom and satisfying of the account that was over our head. 4. His death is considered as it furthered the work of the redemption of elect sinners, by a powerful annulling of the obligation that was against us, and by a powerful overcoming of all enemies that kept us captive: He grappled and yoked with the Devil, in that wherein he seemed to be strongest, and overcame him; He tore the obligation that stood over sinners' heads, as it is (Colossians 2:14-15), blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and that was contrary to us; he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it: in this respect, though His death be one of the lowest steps of His humiliation, yet considering Him as in it prevailing over the Devil and other enemies, He is to be looked on as powerfully working and efficaciously perfecting our salvation: in the former respect, He pays God the debt that was due by sinners; in the latter respect, considering the Devil and spiritual enemies as so many jailers keeping sinners prisoners, He, by His death, wrings as it were the keys out of their hands and sets the prisoners free. 5. Christ's death is considered (as it is in the text) as an offering and sacrifice for sin; in this respect, it looks to God as displeased with man; and our Lord Jesus interposes to pacify Him, and to make Him well pleased; and that by the means of His death, God's peace, favor, and friendship may be recovered to poor sinful men: all these considerations of the death of Christ are but one and the same upon the matter; yet thus diversified, they serve to show how inexpressibly much sinners are obliged to Christ, what great advantages they have by Him, and what a desperate condition they are in who are without Him, having nothing to satisfy justice nor to pay their debt with.

Secondly, we said that this sacrifice was especially offered by Him in His death; therefore He is said to offer this sacrifice on the cross. He himself, as Peter has it (1 Peter 2:24), bore our sins in his body on the tree: (Hebrews 9, at the close): and (Hebrews 10:14) it is said that he once offered up himself to bear the sins of many, and by his once offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified: so that this offering is to be applied to that which He suffered on earth before He ascended; and it is in this respect that He is a propitiatory sacrifice, though, as I said, the virtue thereof is still communicated by Him now when He is in heaven.

Use. This serves to remove two errors about Christ's sacrifice. The first is that which bounds and limits Christ's offering and priesthood to His going to heaven, thereby to enervate the efficacy of His sufferings and death — quite contrary to this Scripture, wherein the prophet, explicating His sufferings on earth, calls them an offering for sin. The second is that blasphemous conceit and fancy of the Papists, who account their abominable Mass a propitiatory sacrifice for taking away the sins of the living and of the dead; which, as it is most horrid blasphemy, so it is most expressly against this text: for if Christ's sacrifice for the taking away of sin be peculiarly applied to His humiliation and death — which brought with it such a change as made Him not to be for a time what He was before — then certainly there can be nothing of that now which can bear that name, there being no other thing to which the properties of a real sacrifice can agree but this only. 3. I said that Christ's offering up of Himself in a sacrifice was in His soul as well as in His body, and that He was therein obnoxious to the wrath of God: that is, as He stood surety for the elect and had the cup of wrath put in His hand, He suffered not only in His body, but also, and mainly, in His soul, which the Jews could not reach; and He is here held out as a sin-offering in His soul. Indeed, considering that it was the wrath of God and His curse due to the elect that He had to deal with, His soul was more capable of being affected with it than His body. Hence He says, when no hand of man touched Him (John 12:27), "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?" and (Matthew 26:38 and Luke 22:44), "Now is my soul exceeding sorrowful, even to death; and being in an agony he prayed," etc. That which looked like strong armies mustered and drawn up against Him was not the soldiers that came to take Him, nor the bodily death which was quickly to follow; but it was the Father coming with His awakened sword to exact of Him the debt due by the elect — to be avenged on Him for their wrongs — and His being to step into their room and to be smitten with that awakened and burnished sword, and to offer Himself the sacrifice as He had long before engaged. Here — O! here was the heat and strength of the battle.

Use. This shows: 1. What a dear price Christ paid for sinners. 2. The severity of the justice of God in exacting the elect's debt of the surety. 3. How much we are obliged to the surety, who so willingly undertook the debt and was so ready to pay it, though it cost Him not only external and bodily sufferings, but soul-suffering, and put Him to encounter with God's curse and wrath. We are persuaded, could we conceive and speak rightly of these sufferings, that there is a great mystery here. And really it is a wonder that we are not more affected with it — even to consider that such miserable creatures should be pursued by justice that can do nothing to avert the stroke of it, and that such a great and glorious Person as the Son of God should interpose Himself, and that the Father should spare the poor sinful enemies and make a way for them to escape by the diverting of His justice from pursuing them, and by making it take hold of the Son of His bosom, exacting the debt severely from Him. O! what a wonder is this — that the Lord should pass by the enemy and satisfy Himself of His own Son; indeed, that God should take on Himself the place of a middle-man and satisfy Himself; that God should be in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. This, this is the wonder: herein infinite wisdom, pure and spotless justice, holiness and faithfulness, grace and mercy, to the admiration of men and angels appear and shine forth most radiantly. It can hardly be known in which of these the glory of God shines most in this great and glorious work of redemption. But of them all, we may say to you, elect and believing sinners, what could our Lord Jesus do more for your salvation? I say, what could He do more than to offer up Himself a propitiatory sacrifice for your sins? In the gospel He calls upon you to make use of it, that by virtue of His sacrifice your peace may be made with God — as it is in (1 John 2:1-2): "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," and then follows, "He is the propitiation for our sins." This may give abundant ground to sinners to go upon in their application to God for pardon and peace — even this, that He has made Himself a sacrifice for setting them free. For whom He offered Himself a sacrifice — O! sinners, admire Him, employ and make use of His means and intercession in heaven; embrace and welcome these glad tidings, and let it never be said nor heard of that He was offered up a sacrifice and that you would not admit of the benefit of it, that you would not accept of Him to be a daysman and covenant-maker between God and you, to remove all grounds of quarrel. O! for Christ's sake, and as you love your souls, step forward and seek grace to make right use of His sacrifice, in order to the obtaining of the pardon of your sin and the making of your peace with God. Let Himself powerfully persuade you to, and prevail with you in, this incomparably greatest of all concerns.