Sermon 48

Isaiah 53:11 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 iniquities.

It's a great work that our Lord Jesus has undertaken, in satisfying the justice of God for the sins of the elect, and He has done it at a dear rate; and with great expense, and travail performed it. Now, it is but reason that He should again be satisfied, that so Jehovah's satisfaction, and the Mediator's satisfaction may go together, and that is the thing that is promised here in these words. What this satisfaction is which is promised to Him, as the great thing in which He delights, and by which He is satisfied, in the undertaking, and performing of the work of redemption, it's also set down here: He shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. Which in a word is this: He shall see many who had perished, if He had not suffered, getting good of His sufferings, and to be benefited by them; who, by His taking on Him the curse, and by His undergoing this soul-travail, shall be freed from the curse, and made to partake of the benefits, privileges, and comforts that He has bought by so great and precious a price.

We proposed this, as the main doctrine from the words the last day: That it is great satisfaction to our Lord Jesus, to see sinners making use of, and getting good of His sufferings; or thus, that sinners making use of Christ's sufferings for their good, is His satisfaction, for all the soul-travail, and sufferings that He endured. He shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. I shall insist no further in clearing and confirming this, but come close to the use of it; and if any point of doctrine have use, this may have, and has it, to the gladdening and making joyful and glad the hearts of lost sinners. That our Lord Jesus should suffer so much, and seek no more satisfaction for it all, but to see sinners improving His sufferings for their good, to have a seed brought forth by His soul-travail, and to have them getting life by His death, and the blessing by His bearing of the curse, and yet this is it, that this doctrine bears forth.

We may draw the first use to these four, from and by which we may learn and know in some measure how to answer this question; seeing we have heard so much of Christ's sufferings and soul-travail, what shall we give to Christ for all that, how shall we satisfy Him? If there were any affected suitably with thankfulness from the hearing of Christ's being brought so low by His sad sufferings, this would be, and could not but be, their question. Here is an answer to it: that our Lord Jesus seeks no more as a satisfaction for all His sufferings, but that you make use of them for your good; this will delight and satisfy Him, you cannot do Him a greater pleasure — nothing will be more acceptable, or rather, nothing will be acceptable to Him, nor taken off your hand but this — even to see you coming in to Him, and making use of His sufferings for your own good. That as to your particular, His sufferings may not be in vain and for nothing, but that you make use of them, and so make use of them, as you may not live and die in the case that you would have been in forever had He not suffered — that is, under the dominion of sin and Satan, under the wrath and curse of God, in an anxious, heartless life, without God and without hope in the world. It is even this, in a word: that hearing of His sad sufferings and of the design of them, you may turn yourselves to Him for pardon of sin, for sanctification in both the parts of it, and for consolation — and that in the end you may get your souls saved, on the account of His sufferings and by virtue thereof. First, then, you would seek to be reconciled to God, as the Apostle (2 Corinthians 5:20-21) exhorts: "We as ambassadors for Christ, and in his stead, beseech you to be reconciled to God" — and the argument whereby it is pressed is the same that the doctrine holds forth: "For he was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Hence it follows also (Chapter 6:1): "We beseech you, receive not this grace of God in vain." Are there any of you who are convinced that Christ should be satisfied, and that He should not be at all this travail and pains for nothing? And do you think you would gladly satisfy Him, if it were in your power? Behold, our Lord has told you what will satisfy Him: it is not thousands of rams, nor ten thousand rivers of oil, but that His sufferings be so made use of by you, as the native fruits of them may follow and be found in you — that, considering the woeful case you are in by nature, you may make use of His satisfaction to divine justice as the alone atonement, and may by faith take hold of it as the ground of your peace. If this be not, Christ will be to you as if He had never suffered. Secondly, it calls for holiness and mortification of sin; this is much pressed (Romans 6:2-14) by this same argument — to wit, that seeing Christ died for believers, we should die with Him, that being the thing wherein the power of His death shows, even in the mortification of our lusts, which He came to destroy. But when people live as they were accustomed to do in their profanity and looseness, there is nothing of the fruit of the travail of His soul to be seen in them. Third, Christ travailed for the consolation of His people; and this is another fruit of His death and sufferings, that those who have turned to Christ may comfort themselves on this ground: that once, and that before long, they will get the mastery over a body of death, and will get both Satan and it bruised under their feet through Him. Who was delivered for our offenses, and rose again for our justification, and who has blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, nailing it to his cross; and that through the veil, which is his flesh, there might a way be made open to us to the most holy, and that with confidence we might approach to God, and in His sufferings drawn all our accusations. And indeed believers are behind, and greatly at a loss, who have turned to Christ, and yet live as anxiously and uncomfortably as if they had not a slain Mediator to comfort themselves in, who by His sufferings, soul-travail, and death has made a purchase of so great things for them. And in a word, the upshot of His sufferings is to get the souls of believers in Him carried to heaven, and kept there perfect, till the body be raised — and in a perfect state be reunited to the soul at the great Day, according to that of the Apostle (Ephesians 5:26-27): "He gave himself for his church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, and present her to himself a glorious church without spot and wrinkle, or any such thing." And when souls are not taking the right way to heaven, he has nothing of the travail of his soul from such, more than if he had not undergone it, or not suffered at all.

Use 2. If this be Christ's satisfaction for all the travel of his soul, that he see sinners getting good of his sufferings, then, if any motive be weighty to move people to give Him their souls to save, this must sure have weight with them, even that thereby he may have satisfaction for all his soul-travel; and therefore we would exhort you on this ground, to give Him your souls to be saved by Him, in order to His satisfaction. And what is spoken in common, take it as spoken to every one of you in particular, men and women, old and young, rich and poor. If you would do Christ a favor, and pleasure, give Him employment for pardon of sin, for peace with God, for sanctification, for consolation, and for access to heaven. Or, if you would know what motive we would use to persuade you to make use of this gospel for all these, take this for one, and a main one, that it will satisfy, and even (to speak so with reverence) comfort Christ for all the travel of His soul, and for all the hard labor that He endured. Even as it satisfies a wooer for all his pains and patience, in waiting on after many refusals and slights, when he gains the woman's consent, and when the match is made up; so it will satisfy Him, when He sees souls, by virtue of His sufferings, brought to believe on Him, and to lay the weight of their salvation upon Him, for then He sees it was not for nought that He laid down His life. And truly if this motive prevail not, I know not what motive will prevail.

But to make it the more clear and convincing, consider these things. 1. What it is that Christ seeks, when He seeks satisfaction for the travel of His soul, He even seeks your benefit, and good. If He had sought that which would have been painful to you, you would, I suppose, have judged yourselves obliged readily to have gone about it, had it been (as we use to speak) to have gone through the fire for Him. But now, when this is all that He seeks, that by making use of His sufferings you may be justified, made holy, comforted in your life, and brought to heaven at your death, should it not much more engage you to give Him this satisfaction? 2. Who seeks this satisfaction, and to whom is it to be given? Is it not to Our Lord Jesus Christ? There is very great weight in this part of the argument, that by believing on Him, and making use of His sufferings, we not only satisfy and save ourselves, but make glad the heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who being considered as God, needs no satisfaction, neither is capable of any additional satisfaction from creatures. He being infinitely happy, and fully satisfied in the enjoyment of His own all-sufficient self; nothing from without can be added to Him. Yet He having condescended to become man, and mediator between God and man, to reconcile lost sinners to God, He is graciously pleased to account it satisfaction to Him for all His soul-travel, to have sinners making use of Him for their good. And if there be any weight in the satisfaction of one that is great and good, and good to us, this has weight in it, that our doing so, will satisfy Him, that is matchlessly great and good, and superlatively so to sinners. 3. Consider the ground on which this satisfaction is pleaded for, and it will add yet more weight to this argument; it's satisfaction to Him for His soul-travel. And can any find in their hearts to think, but He should be satisfied on this account? Is there not reason for it? Who (as the Apostle says, (1 Corinthians 9:7)) goes a warfare on his own charges? Who plants a vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof? Or, who feeds a flock, and eats not of the milk of the flock? Ah! Should Our Lord Jesus bestow all this labor and pains for nothing? And further, 4. Whose satisfaction is it that is sought? (This consideration is somewhat diversified from the 2nd, and would not therefore be looked on as any tautology.) Is it not His who is Lord of all, and who will one day be Judge? When, if we had all the world would give it to please Him; and who will pronounce the sweetest or the saddest sentence upon us, according as we have satisfied Him in this, or not. Considering that it is He who desires this satisfaction from us, should there not be a holy diligence, eagerness, and zeal to get that performed, that will please and satisfy Him? Especially when the improving of His sufferings may do it? But 5. From whom requires He this satisfaction? Is it not from them, who like sheep have gone astray? From these who have many iniquities lying on them, and are lying under the curse of God by nature? From these, who must either be healed by His stripes, or else they will never be healed, but will die of their wounds? May not this make the argument yet the more strong, that He is not seeking this satisfaction of strangers, but of His own people, nor of righteous folks, but of sinners, who are lying under the curse, and whose happiness lies in giving Him this satisfaction? And when it is thus with you, that either your sins must be taken away by Him, or else you must lie under them for ever; that either He must bear the curse for you, or you must bear it yourselves; if these things be obvious, as indeed they are, O! give Him the satisfaction that He calls for, and let Him not be put to say, as it is, (Isaiah 49:4), I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for nothing, and in vain.

Thirdly, to press this yet a little more (although it should be sad to us, that there should be need to press that so much on us, which is so profitable to us, and satisfying to Him) even that we would make use of Him, for our spiritual good and advantage; these considerations will add weight to the argument. 1. What esteem Christ has of it; He thinks it as it were to be payment, and a sort of compensation for all His labor and sufferings; the price was not gold nor silver, nor any such thing, which He gave for sinners, but it was His precious blood, His own life, who was the Prince of Life, and the Prince of the kings of the earth; and O! what a vast and infinite disproportion is there between His life, and all our lives; and yet He accounts it a sufficient reward, if we will but give Him our souls to be saved by Him, in His own way, and will make use of His death and sufferings for that end; and if it were possible, that we could think little of our own salvation, and much of Christ's satisfaction for His soul-travel, ought we not to think much of our own salvation, in reference to His satisfaction; and now, when He has joined these together, so that we cannot please, nor satisfy Him, except we give Him our souls to save, and cannot satisfy Him but that in doing so, our souls shall be saved; should it not induce us to make use of Him for that end? If He had commanded us to run here and there, and to undergo some long and very toilsome voyage, or some hard piece of labor, or to bestow of our means and substance, yea, all of it to please Him, it had been very reasonable on His part to have demanded it, and most unreasonable on ours to have refused it, but our Lord lays weight on none of these things, as separated from the laying the weight of our souls on His righteousness; the reason is, because the making use of His righteousness, and the improving of His sufferings for our justification and salvation, shows, that He in His sufferings is esteemed of, and He seeks no more but that. 2. Consider how good reason you have to satisfy Christ, and yield to Him, and to improve His sufferings for your own salvation; is there any that dare say the contrary? Will not historical faith say that there is good reason for it? If there be any love to Him, or to your own souls, will it not plead for this? If ever you think to be pardoned, is there any other name given whereby you can expect it? Is there any holiness, or comfort but from Him, any hope of heaven, but through Him? and will not this bind the conscience of any that is not desperate, to judge, that He from whom all this comes should be satisfied? 3. Consider at what a rate He has purchased these benefits of the pardon of sin, of peace with God, of sanctification, of the hope of heaven, etc. And how He has brought them about; did He not engage in the covenant of redemption, and has He not performed all that He engaged for? in taking on our nature, in being in an agony, in sweating drops of blood, in being buffeted, mocked, reproached, and in dying, to procure life and peace to sinners? If we could rightly discern His sufferings, and the benefits that we have by them, it would say, that there is good reason, that He should have a kindly meeting, who has done, and suffered so much to obtain these to us. 4. Consider the cheerful way of His suffering, and of His laying down of the price, how well-pleased He was to undergo all for His people, so that He says (John 10), "No man takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself, and take it up again"; (Psalm 40), "I delight to do your will, O my God"; and (Luke 12), "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I constrained till it be accomplished?"; and (Luke 22), "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover before I suffer": He opened not His mouth, in order to His delivery — so well did He love the salvation of sinners: now, what if a mere and ordinary man had done something to the hazard of his life, for you, would it not plead with the most carnal persons, having the least measure of natural, or moral ingenuity to give Him a meeting; very heathens will love these that love them, much more ought you to satisfy Him in what He requires, who has done so much for sinners. 5. Consider what He seeks as a satisfaction, (hinted at before) if it were a great matter, or which were to your prejudice, there might be some shadow of a ground to refuse, but when it is no more but to make use of His sufferings, for your own good, how can it be refused? It is in this case, as if the patient's health would satisfy the physician, as if a poor man's receiving of a sum of money would satisfy the rich friend, who is pleased to bestow it; or, as if one that is naked would satisfy another, by putting on the clothes laid to his hand by him; what reason is there to refuse such offers? And yet this that Christ calls for, is, even as if the physician should say to his dying patient, "I will be satisfied greatly, if you will take this potion that is for your recovery, health, and cure, and I will not be content if you take it not, though the ingredients stand myself very dear, besides that, it is for your good, and will recover you"; or, as if the father should say to the child, "I will not be content, if you put not on such a fine suit, that stood me so much money"; in a word, that which makes the [reconstructed: devout] sinner happy, is, that which satisfies Him. 6. Consider, if Jesus Christ get not this satisfaction, what will come of it, if you please Him not in this, He will be highly displeased, no other thing will satisfy Him, though you should pray and weep a hundred years, and do many good works, if He get not this fruit of His soul-sufferings, to wit, that you improve them for your soul's good and salvation, He will be continually displeased; therefore it is said (Psalm 2), "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry"; and that is nothing else, but to make use of Him in His offices; and it says, that there is no way to please Him, and to eschew His anger but this; and indeed if you anger Him, you anger Him that can be your best friend, and your greatest foe. 7. Consider further, how our Lord Jesus seeks, and presses for this satisfaction from you; He [reconstructed: sends forth] His friends, and ambassadors to woo in His name, and to beseech you to be reconciled, and to tell you that it will not be thousands of rams, nor your firstborn, that will do the business but that you must humble yourselves, and walk with God, which necessarily supposes the use-making of Christ; if there had been no pleading with you in His name, there had not been such sin, in not improving His satisfaction; but when He pleads so much and so often for this, and entreats every one in particular to satisfy Him, saying, as it were, "Let Me see of the travel of My soul, [reconstructed: let] Me have this much satisfaction for all My sufferings, that you will make use of My righteousness"; and when He is so very serious, in beseeching and entreating, it should, no doubt, make us the more willing, to grant Him what He seeks. 8. You would look upon this, not only as a discourse in the general to sinners, but you would also look on it, as addressed to every one of you in particular; and therefore remember, that you will all be called to give an account of this matter, and it will be asked you what became of such and such an offer of grace, and whether you gave Him the satisfaction that He called for, or not; according to that word (Acts 17:31), "He has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom He has ordained, of which He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead"; He would have judged the world though Christ had not come; but He will have a day wherein He will call all the hearers of the Gospel to an account, especially as to this, to wit, what welcome they have given to Christ: and seeing such a day is coming, when people will be called to an account, what use they made of Him, with what face will many come before Him, when it shall be told them, that He craved no more satisfaction from them, for all that He suffered, but that they would have improved His sufferings for their own good, and that yet they would not give Him that much? Does not this say, that there is need, that we should look well what fruit there is of His sufferings, that there may be more then if He had not suffered at all. 9. Consider the great weight that will be laid on this sin, of refusing to believe, and to satisfy Him in this, to wit, in improving of His sufferings, above all other sins; this is a sin that will be found to be against equity, thankfulness, and ingenuity, that when He had done and suffered so much, He was so ill requited; yea, it will be found to be a willful and malicious sin, that, when your good and His satisfaction were joined together, you would rather choose to destroy yourselves, than to satisfy Him, in saving yourselves, through use-making of His sufferings: there are two remarkable words to this purpose (Hebrews 6:10) — in the sixth chapter it is said of such, that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame; that is, they do displease and anger Him, and do what in them lies to cast reproach upon Him, as if He were no Savior at all, or an insufficient Savior; to put Him to suffer over again, in His wanting of satisfaction for His sufferings; as it is a great pain for a mother to be in travail, but it is another, and in some respect, a greater pain, if the child die in the bringing forth: in the tenth chapter, verse 28, it is called, a [reconstructed: treading underfoot] the Son of God, and an accounting the blood of the covenant to be an unholy thing, and in verse 26, before it is said, "There remains no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment"; and it is upon this very account; (as we did at another occasion, make use of these two scriptures to a like purpose, and did thus caution our application of them against mistakes) for what greater indignity can be put on Him, than, when His satisfaction depends on the improving of His sufferings, yet people will not do it? As nothing pleases Him better than to improve His sufferings, so, on the contrary, there is no sin that does displease Him more, than when they are not improved: and if you will not now believe this to be a truth, yet, when the Lord shall call you to account for it, you will find it to be a most certain and sad truth; that He called you to believe, and that you would lie still in your unbelief, ignorance, and profanity; that you destroyed your own souls, and made His sufferings as useless, as to you, as if there had never a door been opened to sinners, to heaven, by them. Is there any of you that will be able to answer to this challenge? If not, then let Him have this satisfaction, by improving of His sufferings, that He may find (to say so) that His death has not been for nothing, as to you: study to have Him great in your esteem, and to have your souls saved by the virtue and efficacy of His sufferings, otherwise the challenge will be unanswerable; considering, that He declared, that this would satisfy Him, and you knew that it would have pleased Him, and removed the quarrel, and saved yourselves; and that in addition, by this means, a comfortable sentence at judgment might have been procured to you; and that yet you disdained to do it: and therefore, since it stands so with you, be entreated to make earnest, and greater earnest of believing, and of the great work of getting your own souls saved, which He has thought so much of; else it had been better for you, that you had never had a delightsome hour in the world; and sad will the encounter be, that you will have with Him, and with your own conscience in that day, when it shall have this to tell you, that you cannot now expect any good, or favor from the Judge; because, when He would have saved you, you would not have it so, but would needs run on your own damnation; and therefore we say again, either give Him satisfaction, by improving of His sufferings, and by making earnest of the business of your salvation, or, resolve to meet with a most terrible pursuer of the quarrel against you; the wrath of God is dreadful, but much more the vengeance of the Mediator, who, because you would not give Him His will in your salvation, He shall have it in your ruin, and destruction.

4. There is here a sweet word of consolation to poor souls, that fain would have sin taken away, and are afraid to presume; our Lord will never be angry, that you make use of His sufferings for your own good; or rather, He accounts it a satisfaction to Him, that you improve them. That when you find yourselves arrested for sin, you put it on His score, and draw a bill on Him to pay your debt; that when you find yourselves under that, which to you looks like the dominion of sin, you look to His Cross, for virtue to crucify, kill, and subdue it. If therefore (as I have often said) you would do Him a favor, or pleasure, make use of Him. Be assured, that the more weight you lay on Him, you do Him the greater pleasure. And this is all the amends that He seeks for all the [reconstructed: wrongs] you have done to Him, and all the satisfaction that He seeks, for all the good turns He has done to you, that you come to Him thus to make use of Him. And it is good reason, even all the reason in the world, that He get this amends made to Him, and this satisfaction granted to Him.