Sermon 47

Isaiah 53:11, Verse 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their [reconstructed: iniquities].

As it is a most wonderful work that our Lord Jesus has in hand, and a mighty great bargain, that cost Him the travail of His soul; so it may be thought, that it must be a very great price that our Lord Jesus has to expect, as His satisfaction for all that sore labor and travail. This is it that the text holds forth, He shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul; which in sum is this, He shall see poor sinners getting good of Him, justified by His grace, and admitted to friendship with God, and that to His satisfaction, as the words following make clear, He shall be satisfied, to wit, as to that fruit, and shall acquiesce in it, as His satisfaction for all the travail of His soul.

We told you, that there were three things in these words. 1. The price that is called for from the Mediator, in performing the work of redemption, and making reconciliation between God and sinners, to wit, the travail of his soul, the sad and sorely pinching straits, and pressures that He was put to, and brought under, not only in His body, but also in His soul. 2. The promise made to Him upon His undertaking, and paying of the price, He shall see of the travail of his soul, that is, the fruits and effects of His soul travail; it shall not be for nothing, but shall certainly have fruit, He shall have a numerous seed and issue. 3. There is here held forth the Mediator's acquiescence in the bargain so proposed, that He undertaking the condition of laying down His life, on these same terms, that He shall see a seed, He requires no other satisfaction, and therefore He accepts of it, and acquiesces in it, as the result of this design, and shall be satisfied.

Having spoken of the former two, we come now to speak of the third, and we may consider it, in these three respects. 1. As it looks to Christ's design, who is like to one that is running a race, and has the prize before him, and in his eye; and this is implied here, that He has something before Him, in laying down of His life, which He shall not miss, but shall reach and be satisfied in it; so many are given Him, for whom He enters guarantor, on condition, that His righteousness shall be made forthcoming to them, and that none of them shall be without, or want it. 2. As it looks both to the number, and certainty of the effects, and fruits in respect of them that are given to Him; He shall be satisfied, He shall have, though not all men and women, yet a sufficient number, even as many as shall satisfy and content Him, and whatever was intended by Him, in the laying down of His life, He shall want nothing of it, but shall be satisfied in it; and thus the words are to be actively understood, to wit, of God's actual performing of that which shall be satisfying to the Mediator. 3. It may be looked on as the effect and consequent following upon the former promise; and so it is to be understood passively for the delight that He takes in the fruit of His sufferings, and in the seeing of sinners getting the good of them; and the meaning is, that He shall be fully contented, and thoroughly well satisfied with, yea, even delighted, and (to speak so) comforted in this, for all the travail of His soul, when many shall be brought to believe in Him, and to get good of Him.

To clear it further, we may take the words as alluding to several similitudes. As, 1. To that of hungry and thirsty persons, who are said to be satisfied, when their hunger and thirst are removed, by meat and drink; which implies, that Jesus Christ in His pursuing and performing the work of redemption, had a holy hunger and thirst, and this His hunger and thirst is satisfied in their salvation, and what leads to it; as Himself says (John 4:32), where He makes use of this same similitude, I have meat to eat that you know not of. 2. It may allude to a man's taking pains in planting of a vineyard, or orchard, to whom it is a satisfaction when all the trees grow, thrive well, and bear fruit; and so the meaning is, that our Lord Jesus shall be at vast expense, and great labor and pains, in making sinners to become trees of righteousness, but that all these for whom He suffered, and was at all this expense and pain shall hold so well, and be so fruitful at length, that He shall be fully satisfied in them, and think all well bestowed. Or, 3. We may take it in allusion to a woman in travail, who is said (John 16:21) to have sorrow, while her pains are upon her, but so soon as she is delivered, she no more remembers her sorrow, for joy that a man-child is born; and this similitude is here especially alluded to, therefore our Lord's sufferings are called travail, because of the pains that He was put to in them, and because the end of them was to bring forth children, before called His seed; as if the prophet had said, our Lord Jesus shall be put to great sorrow in suffering, but He shall bring forth; and as a woman has joy in the man-child brought forth, so shall He have more comfort and delight in the bringing forth of believers, than He had sorrow in the procuring of life to them, though that was very great.

From the words thus considered and explained, take these two observations. 1. That our Lord Jesus is exceedingly delighted, satisfied, and well-pleased with poor sinners, making use, and getting good of His sufferings; it is a thing most satisfying, and well-pleasing to Him. 2. That seeing our Lord Jesus is so well-pleased with sinners making use of Him, there is all equity and reason for it, that He should have this satisfaction; and this follows not only on the former, but clearly rises from the words; for this satisfaction is allowed Him for His soul travail; and as it is just, that they that labor should partake of their labor, and that the hireling should have his hire, so, it is not only satisfying to Christ, that sinners get good of Him, but it is just, He having purchased it at so dear a rate.

For the first of these — that our Lord Jesus is exceedingly delighted and satisfied with sinners making use of Him and getting good from Him — if there were no other Scripture to confirm it, this same is sufficient. Would you then know what Christ aims at in His sufferings, what will content and satisfy Him as a recompense for all His soul-travail? It is even this: to see the [reconstructed: fruit] of the travail of His soul, to have sinners getting good of Him and saved by Him — and there is nothing but this that will satisfy Him. It were a great matter to have the faith of this settled and rooted in our hearts. If we could rightly take up what He has suffered, how low He has condescended to come — even to be a man, and a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, to be reproached and mocked, to take on Him the curse, and to be in pain and soul-travail — and then if we could rightly take up what He aimed at and designed in all this, and what He accounted to be a recompense to Him for it all: even this, that when His gospel is preached, such and such poor sinners under hazard of wrath and challenges for sin should, through closing with Him, be brought to answer all their challenges by this — our Lord Jesus has satisfied justice for sinners. And when poor sinners are under the sense of a hard heart, that they should cast their eye on the same ground for a remedy of that spiritual malady and plague — even His sufferings, which have purchased the mollifying of the heart, as well as justification and pardon of sin. And when a sinner is disconsolate and dejected because of sin and divine displeasure, that he should be cheered and comforted in His sufferings. This, even this is refreshing, and is delightsome to Him. We say, it were much to get this thoroughly believed — that sinners are not half so eager to come in under His sufferings for shelter and refreshing, as our Lord Jesus is (to speak with reverence) to see them sheltered, refreshed, and thriving. The very mentioning of this ought to be as marrow to the bones.

But for further clearing of it, we would speak a word. First, to what this delight and satisfaction is. Second, to some grounds to confirm the truth of it — that our Lord Jesus is indeed delighted to see poor sinners coming to Him and getting good of Him.

For the first of these, we did, when we were speaking of these words (Isaiah 53:10) — "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand" — show how it was a delightsome thing to Jehovah. And now speaking of it from this (Isaiah 53:11) in reference to the Mediator, we shall take it up in these particulars. First, there is in our Lord Jesus not only a delight in sinners getting good of Him, as it is a thing He calls for and is agreeable to His revealed will, and as being required of them as their duty — in which respect it is acceptable to God and cannot but be acceptable and well-pleasing to Him. Neither, second, is this delight only in respect of the end of His sufferings, which were undergone to make a way for and to strike open a door to the throne of grace, through the veil which is His flesh, that poor sinners might come to a fountain and wash, and have access to God through Him — which being the end He had before Him in His death, cannot but be acceptable to God, because it was His end in the giving of His Son to die, and so it is delightsome to the Mediator. But also, thirdly, it is so in these two respects further: sinners coming to Him, resting on Him, and getting good of Him is His delight. First, in respect of the honor that is done to Him: when a sinner believes on Him, He counts it the putting of the crown on His head, as it is (Song of Solomon 3:11) — see also to this purpose (John 5:23-24). And though there could have been a possibility of honoring God before, yet there is no honoring of the Mediator until people make use of His sufferings by faith. And it is on this ground that Christ complains when He is not made use of. Therefore, when sinners give Him credit by committing the saving of their souls to Him, and by making use of His offices for that end and for His performing in them that for which they were appointed, it cannot but be acceptable and well-pleasing to Him. Second, in respect of that sympathy that our Lord Jesus has with His own members: for though the Mediator is now glorified in Heaven, yet He has a human heart and affection still — though inconceivably glorious — and so a kindly sympathy with them, and is in some way affected with both their good and their ill. And considering Him thus, He has a delight in the good and welfare of His people, and their being delighted in and satisfied with Him proves a delight and satisfaction to Him.

For the next thing, namely, the clearing and confirming of it; it might be cleared and confirmed from many grounds, but we shall only touch on some, that may make it out most convincingly, that it is most delightsome to Jesus Christ, to see sinners making use of Him, and getting good of His sufferings; and this His delight may be drawn from eternity, and carried on to eternity. 1. In the making of the covenant of redemption, it was delightsome to Him to enter in it, as is clear in Psalm 40: "I delight to do your will, O my God;" the bargain was no sooner proposed (if we may speak so of that which is eternal) but heartily it was closed with by Him; and this is confirmed in Proverbs 8:32, where the substantial wisdom of the Father is brought in, saying, "Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men." Our Lord Jesus, before the world began, was delighted in the forethought that such a thing was coming, that in such and such parts of the world, such and such poor sinners should be called by His grace, and get the good of His sufferings; as a man in a long journey, or voyage, may be delighted in the foresight of the end of it, before he comes to it. 2. Look forward to His executing of His office of mediator, and to His going about the work of redemption, and we will find that He does it with delight. Therefore, in John 4, when He is sitting on the well side, and is weary with His journey, and has neither to eat nor to drink, He falls to preaching to a poor sinful woman, and when the disciples would fain have refreshed Him with that which they had bought, He says to them, "I have meat to eat that you know not of," and when they begin to wonder what that could be, He says further to them, "It is my meat to do my Father's will, and to finish his work." And what was that — a poor whorish woman is spoken to, by Him, and brought by His speaking to acknowledge Him to be the Messiah, and to accept of Him as such; and by that blessed work, His hunger and thirst were satisfied. So in Luke 22:15, He says to His disciples, "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer," and in Luke 12:50, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I constrained until it is accomplished?" Though His drinking of that cup was terrible to Him, and though mockings and reproaches were not pleasant in themselves, yet the love that He had to sinners' good, mastered all the bitterness that was in these, and made them sweet. 3. There is nothing that He more complains of, nothing angers and grieves Him more, than when He is not made use of. "You will not" (says He, in John 5) "come to me, that you may have life," to show, that the best entertainment that they could give Him, was, to come and get life from Him; and it is told us, that He was angry and grieved for the people's unbelief, and hardness of heart. Indeed, He weeps over them because of this (Luke 19), all which prove the great delight that He had, and has still, in sinners getting good of Him. And frequently in the Song, as in chapter 2 and 6, He is said to feed among the lilies; there is all the entertainment that He gets in the world, He feasts only on the fruits of His own Spirit in them that welcome Him. I shall name but one place more, and that is Psalm 147:10-11: "He delights not in the strength of a horse, nor in the legs of a man, but in them that fear him;" the following words make it clearer, what it is that delights Him: "In them that hope in his mercy," that is, in them that draw into Him by believing, He delights in these, beyond all the world.

Use 1. It were a desirable thing to be believing this; are there any so profane, but are ready to think, that if they knew what would please God, or Christ, they would do it? The question is here answered, that this is pleasing, and only pleasing to Him; if this be wanting, there is nothing that will please Him, even that you make use of Christ's sufferings, and employ Him in His offices, for getting the good that may be had by them. This is it that you are called to, and which delights Him; and if this be not, though you would give Him thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil, indeed, the first born of your body for the sin of your souls, it will not satisfy Him, nor be accepted; because this alone is the satisfaction that He will have for His soul-travail.

I shall a little explain this, and then prosecute the use of it; You will ask then, What is the fruit of Christ's Soul-travail that satisfies Him? I answer, That we take in under it not only, 1. That you should aim to be at Heaven, neither 2. this, That you be serious in the duties of holiness, as if these were well-pleasing to God, without respect to Christ's sufferings; but it is the use-making and improving of Christ's sufferings for attaining of these; When people [reconstructed: by this means], by this New and Living Way step forward to Heaven, and seek to be serious in the study of holiness; when they that could not walk in the way of holiness, do now walk in it, leaning on their beloved, and study to live by faith in Him, This is it mainly wherein His delight and satisfaction does lie, even when a poor sinner is brought to make use of Him for peace and reconciliation with God, for through bearing in all called-for duties, for his consolation, and for his admission to Heaven in the close. And therefore they do not only fail here, who are profane, living securely, never minding Heaven, their peace with God, nor the study of holiness. Neither only these, who cast the law and its reproofs behind their backs, (those are loathsome to God and to Jesus Christ,) but by this, these are also reproved, that do not improve the sufferings of Christ for peace and reconciliation with God, for righteousness, and for strength, for comfort, and encouragement, and who hope not in His mercy. The reason is, because, though it were possible they could make progress in holiness, and attain to comfort and peace [reconstructed: that way], yet it would not be thus, the fruit of the travail of Christ's Soul, He being passed by, and so could not be satisfaction to Him. But where a poor sinner sees that he cannot come to God of himself, cannot make his peace, nor can he walk in the way of holiness, so as to please God, and so flies to Christ for refuge, and makes use of His purchase; there lies Christ's delight, to see such a sinner come and hide himself under the shadow of His sufferings; and in this respect, the more hardly a sinner is put at, it is the more satisfaction to Him, that He in His death and sufferings be made use of, because this way, the sinner's life is more entirely the benefit of His sufferings; and that such a person has any strength, comfort or peace, and is admitted to Heaven, it is solely through the travail of His Soul, which is His great satisfaction.

And therefore, we would, secondly commend to you, that as you would do Christ a favor, (to speak so with reverence; and, O! what a motive is this for vile sinners, the dust of His feet, to be put in a capacity to do Him a pleasure) endeavor this especially, that as to you, Christ may see the fruit of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, and that all His kindness offered to you may not be fruitless; this is the great [reconstructed: thing] of the gospel, as to that which is pressed upon you, and this is the wonderful motive that is given to press it, that it's delightsome to Christ, and therefore you should believe on Him: it were encouragement enough that it's profitable to your selves; but if you had hearts of stone this should move you to it, that our Lord Jesus seeks no more satisfaction from you for all His soul-travail, but that you make use of His sufferings, that you do not receive this offer of His grace in vain, nor be fruitless under it. In a word, we have here laid before us (and think upon it) the most wonderful, inconceivable, and inexpressible suit and request of Him who is the Creator, to us poor sinful creatures, and what is it? I have been (says He on the matter) in sore travail and pain for you, now I pray you let it not be for nothing, let me see the fruit of it; and (to speak it with reverence of the Majesty of God) it would say this to you, let not our Lord Jesus rue of His sufferings; for as many as hear of this offer, and do not credit Him with their souls, they do what they can, to make Him repent that ever He became man, and suffered so much, when He is thus shifted, and unkindly requited by them, to whom He makes the offer; and this is very home and urgent, pressing of the necessity of making use of Him, when such an argument is made use of, for thus it stands with you, and His offer speaks this; either make use of Christ, and of His soul-travail, for saving of your souls, that so He may be satisfied; or, if you slight Him, you not only destroy, and cause to perish your own souls, but you refuse to satisfy Christ for His soul-travail, and do what in you lies to mar, and defeat the end and design of His sufferings; and is not this a great and strongly pushing dilemma? The result of your receiving, or rejecting of Christ will be this, if you receive Him, you satisfy Him, if you reject Him, you say you are not content that He should be satisfied; and what can be expected to come of it, when Christ suffered so much, and when all that was craved of you, was to make use of Him, and when it was told that, that would satisfy Him, and yet that was refused? What a horrible challenge will this be in the Great Day? And therefore to press this use a little, we shall show you here, 1. what it is that we exhort you to, and 2. what is the force of this motive. 1. We would commend to you in general, that you would endeavor the salvation of your own souls, this is it, He cries to you (Proverbs 1:22), how long you simple ones will you love simplicity, and you scorners delight in scorning, turn you at my reproof, &c. He aims at this, that you should get your souls saved from wrath, and this should not be prejudicial, nor at the long run unsatisfying to your selves, and it will be very satisfying to Him. 2. It is not only to aim at salvation simply, but to aim at it by Him, to aim at pardon of sin, and justification through His righteousness and satisfaction; and that you would bring no other argument before God to plead upon, for your peace with Him, but this; and that you would aim at holiness, as a fruit of His death, He having purchased a peculiar people to himself to be zealous of good works, as it is (Titus 2:14). And that you would aim to do holy duties, by His strengthening of you; and that you would live by faith in Him, which is your victory over the world, and the very soul of the practice of all holy duties; and 3. that you aim to have a comfortable, refreshing, and cheerful life in Him, and by what is in Him, as if it were your own, it being legally yours by faith in Him; to be stopping your own mouth, as having nothing in your selves to boast of, and, (as I just now said) to be cheering and delighting your selves from that which is in Him, and as it is (Psalm 147) even to be hoping in His mercy; in a word, it is to be studying peace with God through Him, to be studying holiness in His strength, and to be studying a comfortable and cheerful walk through the grounds of joy that are given you in Him, which is very reasonable. Would you then do Him a favor, and have Him delighted and satisfied, do but this, give Him your souls to be saved by Him, in His own way; come to Him sensible of sin, and founding your peace on Him, though weak in your selves, yet strong in Him, on whom as the mighty one God has laid help; and studying holiness in His strength; drawing virtue from Him, only to mortify your lusts; that it may be known that Christ has died, and is risen again, because grace shines in such a person; and be comforted in Him, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord, having given up with creature-comforts, and confidences, with your own gifts, parts, duties, &c. And having betaken your selves to the peace, strength and consolation that are in a Mediator, and which run through the Covenant of Grace, and flow forth from Him, as the fountain from whom all the grace, and comfort that come to us are derived. Secondly. For the force of the motive, consider seriously, if this be not a pinching strait that you are put to; if this be it wherein our Lord's satisfaction lies, and wherein the salvation and edification of your own souls consist; we pose you, if it be any great difficult, or unreasonable thing, that is called for from you? And if the motive whereon it is pressed be not most just and reasonable? that these who have, or profess to have the faith of this, that it will be satisfaction to Him for all His soul-travail, that sinners make use of Him, should yield it to Him; and whether in the Day of the Lord it will not be a most heinous, shameful, and abominable guilt, that when the business of your own salvation stood on this, even on your satisfying of Christ by yielding, you refused, disdained and scorned it, and would not make use of Him for your peace, and would [reconstructed: not] in His strength study holiness, though your own souls should never be saved, nor He satisfied or His soul-travail; this, of all other challenges will be the sharpest, and most biting. And upon the other hand, it may be most comforting to a poor body that is sensible of sin, and afraid of wrath; is there or can there be hazard to do Christ a pleasure by believing on Him? It's a thing delightsome to Him, and therefore, let this be one great motive to press believing in Christ, among the rest, which, though it be contrary, and thwarting to the unbelieving heart, and may look like presumption to look a promise in the face, and to offer to make application of it to the poor sinner's self; yet seeing it's a thing so pleasing to Christ, that it satisfies Him for all His sufferings, essay it upon this very account, remembering always, that He delights in them that hope in His mercy; and to Him be praise, for ever.