Sermon 3
Philippians 4.11. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
The Mystery of Contentment will appear yet further. A gracious heart gets Contentment in a mysterious way, a way that the world is not acquainted with.
Eighthly, He lives upon the dew of God's blessing. It is the similitude of one Adrian Junius setting out a Contented man by a Grasshopper, leaping and skipping up and down, that lives upon the dew, and he has this motto, I am content with what I have, and hope for better. A grasshopper does not live upon the grass as other things do, you cannot know what it feeds upon, other things though as little as grasshoppers, yet feed upon seeds or little flies, and such things, but the grasshopper, you know not what it feeds upon. So a Christian can get food that the world knows not of, in a secret way is a Christian fed by the dew of the blessing of God, a poor man or woman that has but a little which has grace, lives a more contented life than his rich neighbor that has a great deal coming in, we find it so ordinarily, so that though they have but a little, yet they have a secret blessing of God going in it, that they are not able to express to any other man; if you would come to them and say; How comes it that you live so comfortably as you do? they are not able to tell you what they have, but they find there is a sweetness in what they do enjoy, and they know this by experience that they never had such sweetness in former times, that though they had more plenty in former times than now they have, yet they know they had not such sweetness; but how this comes they cannot tell; and we may show some particulars, even in that godly men do enjoy, that make their condition to be sweet.
As now, take these four or five particulars that godly men find Contentment in what they have, though it be never so little.
1. Because in what he has, he has the love of God, he has God's love to him in what he has: If a King should send a piece of meat from his own table, it is a great deal more comfortable to a Courtier than if he had twenty dishes at ordinary allowance, if the King send but any little thing and say, Go and carry this to such a man as a token of my love, Oh how delightful is that unto him? Are your husbands at Sea and send you a token of their love, it is more than forty times so much that you have in your houses already: Every good thing the people of God do enjoy, they enjoy it in God's love, as a token of God's love, and coming from God's eternal love unto them, and this must needs be very sweet unto them.
2. What they have it is sanctified to them for good; Other men have what they enjoy in a way of common providence, but the Saints in a special way; Others have what they have and there is all, they have meat, and drink, and houses, and clothes, and money and that's all. But a gracious heart finds contentment in this, I have it, and I have a sanctified use of it too; I find God going along with what I have to draw my heart nearer to him, and sanctify my heart to him: If I find my heart drawn nearer to God by what I enjoy; it is more a great deal than if I have it without any sanctifying my heart by it; there is a secret dew that goes along with it, there is the dew of God's love in it, and the dew of sanctification.
3. A gracious heart what he has he has it upon free-cost, he is not like to be called to pay for what he has: The difference between what a godly man has; and a wicked man is in this: A godly man is as a child in an Inn; an Innkeeper has his child in his house, and the Father provides his diet, and lodging, and what is fit for him; Now there comes a stranger, and the stranger has dinner and supper provided, and lodging, but the stranger must pay for all; it may be the child's fare is meaner than the fare of the stranger, the stranger has boiled, and roast and baked; but he must pay for it, there must come a reckoning for it. Just thus it is, many of God's people have but mean fare; but God as a father provides it, and it is on free-cost, and they must not pay for what they have, it is paid for before; but the wicked in all their pomp, and pride, and bravery, they have what they call for, but there must come a reckoning for all, they must pay for all in the conclusion, and is it not better to have a little upon free cost, than to come to have all to pay for? Grace does show a man that what he has, he has it on free cost, from God as from a Father, and therefore must needs be very sweet.
Fourthly, A godly man may very well be content, though he has but little, For what he has he has it by right of Jesus Christ, by the purchase of Jesus Christ, he has a right to it, another manner of right to what he has, than any wicked man can have to what he has; a wicked man has these outward things; I do not say they are usurpers of what they have, but they have a right to it, and that before God, but how? it is a right by mere donation, that is, God by his free bounty does give it to them; but the right that the Saints have, it is a right of purchase, it is paid for, and it is their own, and they may in a holy manner, and holy way, challenge whatsoever they have need of. We cannot express the right of a holy man, the difference between his right, and the right of the wicked more fully than by this similitude; a Malefactor that is condemned to die, yet he has by favor granted to him his supper provided over night, and you cannot say though the Malefactor has forfeited all his right to all things, to every bit of bread, yet if he shall have a supper granted to him he does not steal it, though all his right is forfeited by his fault, after he is once condemned he has no right to any thing; so it is with the wicked, they have forfeited all their right to all comforts in this world, they are condemned by God as Malefactors and are going to execution; but if God will in his bounty give them something to preserve them here in the world, they cannot be said to be thieves or robbers: Now a man has granted to him a supper over night before his execution, but is that like the supper that he was wont to have in his own house, when he ate his own bread, and had his wife and children about him? Oh a dish of green herbs at home would be a great deal better than any dainties in such a supper as that is; but now a child of God has not a right merely by donation, but what he has it is his own through the purchase of Christ; every bit of bread that you eat, if you are a godly man or woman, Jesus Christ has bought it for you, you go to market and buy your meat and drink with your money, but know that before you have bought it, or paid money, Christ has bought it at the hand of God the Father with his blood, you have it at the hands of men for money, but Christ has bought it at the hand of his Father by his blood: And certainly it is a great deal better and sweeter now though it be but a little.
Fifthly, There is another thing that shows the sweetness that there is in that little that the Saints have, by which they come to have contentment, whereas others cannot; that is, Every little that they have, it is but as an earnest penny of all the glory that is reserved for them, it is given them by God, but as the Fore-runner of those eternal mercies that the Lord intends for them; now if a man has but twelve pence given to him as an earnest penny for some great possession that he must have; is not that better than if he had forty pounds given unto him otherwise? So every comfort that the Saints have in this world, it is an earnest penny to them of those eternal mercies that the Lord has provided for them; as every affliction that the wicked have here it is but the beginning of sorrows, and fore-runner of those eternal sorrows that they are like to have hereafter in Hell; so every comfort you have is a fore-runner of those eternal mercies you shall have with God in Heaven; not only the consolations of God's Spirit are the fore-runners of those eternal comforts you shall have in Heaven; but when you sit at your Table, and rejoice with your wife and children and friends, you may look upon every one of those but as a fore-runner, yea the very earnest-penny of eternal life unto you. Now then if this be so, no marvel though a Christian be contented; (this is a mystery to the wicked:) I have what I have out of the love of God, and I have it sanctified to me by God, and I have it of free-cost from God by the purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ, and I have it as a fore-runner of those eternal mercies that are reserved for me; and in this my soul rejoices, There is a secret dew of God's goodness, and blessing upon him in his estate that others have not; and by all this you may see the meaning of that Scripture, Proverbs 16.8. Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right. A man that has but a little, yet if he has it with righteousness, it is better than a great deal without right; yea, better than the great revenues of the wicked: so you have it in another Scripture; That is the next Particular in Christian Contentment; the mystery is in this, That he lives upon the dew of God's blessing, in all the good things that he does enjoy.
The Ninth thing wherein the mystery of Christian Contentment consists, is this, Not only the good things that he has, he has the dew of God's blessing in them, and they are very sweet to him; but all the afflictions, all the evils that do befall him he can see love in them all: And can enjoy the sweetness of love in his afflictions, as well as in his mercies; yea the truth is, the afflictions of God's people comes from the same Eternal love that Jesus Christ did come from. And that speech of Jerome, He is a happy man that is beaten when the stroke is a stroke of love. All God's strokes are strokes of love and mercy, all God's ways are mercy and truth, to those that fear him and love him, Psalm 25.10. The ways of God, the ways of affliction, as well as the ways of prosperity, are mercy and love to him. Grace gives a man an eye, a piercing eye to pierce into the Counsels of God, those Eternal Counsels of God for good unto him, even in his afflictions, to see the love of God in every affliction as well as in prosperity. Now this is a mystery to a carnal heart, they can see no such thing, perhaps they think God loves them when he prospers them, and makes them rich; but they think God loves them not when he does afflict them, that is a mystery; but grace instructs men in that mystery, grace enables men to see love in the very frowns of God's face, and so comes to receive contentment.
In the tenth place, a godly man has contentment in the way of a mystery, because as he sees all his afflictions come from the same love that Jesus Christ did; so he sees them all sanctified in Jesus Christ, sanctified as a Mediator. He sees (I say) all the sting and venom, and poison of them all to be taken out by the virtue of Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and Man. As now for instance, thus, a Christian when he would have contentment falls a-working, what is my affliction? Is it poverty that God strikes me withal? Jesus Christ had not a house to hide his head in; the fowls of the air had nests, and the foxes had holes, but the Son of Man not a hole to hide his head in. Now my poverty is sanctified by Christ's poverty; I can see by faith the curse and sting and venom of my poverty, taken out by the poverty of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus he was poor in this world to deliver me from the curse of my poverty, that it should not be cursed unto me; then my poverty is not afflictive, if I can be contented in such a condition. That is the way, not to stand and repine, because I have not what others have, no, but I am poor, and Christ was therefore poor that he might bless my poverty to me.
And so again, am I disgraced, dishonoured, is my good name taken away? Why Jesus Christ he had dishonour put upon him; he was called Beelzebub, and a Samaritan, and they said he had a devil in him. All the foul aspersions that could be were cast upon Jesus Christ, and this was for me, that I might have the disgrace that is cast upon me to be sanctified unto me, whereas another man his heart is overwhelmed with dishonour, and disgrace, and he goes this way to work to get contentment. Perhaps if you be spoken ill of, you have no other way to ease and right yourselves, but if they do rail upon you, you will rail upon them again; and thus you think to ease yourselves. Oh but a Christian has another manner of way to ease himself. Others rail and speak ill of me, but did they not rail upon Jesus Christ, and speak ill of him? And what am I in comparison of Christ? And the subjection of Christ to such an evil, it was for me, that though such a thing should come upon me, I might know that the curse of it is taken from me through Christ's subjection to that evil; thus a Christian can be contented when anybody speaks ill of him. Now this is a mystery to you to get contentment after such a manner as this is. So if men jeer and scoff at you, did they not do so to Jesus Christ? They jeered and scoffed at him, and that when he was in his greatest extremity upon the Cross. Say they, Here is the King of the Jews, and they bowed the knee, and said hail King of the Jews, and put a reed into his hand, and mocked him. Now I get contentment in the midst of scorns and jeers, by considering that Christ was scorned, and by acting faith upon that which Christ did suffer for me. So, am I in great pain of my body? Jesus Christ had as great pain upon his body as I have, though it is true he had not such kind of sicknesses as we have, but yet he had as great pain and tortures in his body, and that that was deadly to him, as well as any sickness is to us. The exercising of faith upon what Christ did endure, that is the way to get contentment in the midst of our pains. One lies vexing and fretting, and cannot bear his pain; are you a Christian? Have you ever tried this way of getting contentment, to act your faith upon all the pains and sufferings that Jesus Christ did suffer? This would be the way of contentment, and a Christian gets contentment under pains after this manner. Sometimes one that is very godly and gracious, you shall have them lie under grievous pains and extremities very cheerfully, and you wonder at it; this is the way that he gets it, he gets it by acting his faith upon what pains Jesus Christ did suffer. You are afraid of death; the way to get contentment, it is by exercising your faith upon the death of Jesus Christ. Yea, it may be you have inward troubles in your soul, and God withdraws himself from you, but still your faith is to be exercised upon the sufferings that Jesus Christ endured in his soul. He poured forth his soul before God, then when he sweat drops of water and blood, he was in an agony in his very spirit, and he found even God himself in a way to forsake him. Now the acting your faith upon Jesus Christ thus, brings contentment, and is not this a mystery to carnal hearts? A gracious heart finds contentment in a way of a mystery. No marvel though Saint Paul says, I am instructed in a Mystery, to be contented in whatsoever condition I am in.
In the eleventh place, there is yet a further mystery (for this I hope you will find a very useful point unto you) and you will see what a plain way there is, (before we have done) for one that is skilled in religion to get contentment, though it is hard for one that is carnal. I say the eleventh mystery in contentment is this, A gracious heart has contentment by fetching strength from Jesus Christ, he is able to bear his burden by fetching strength from another. Now this is a riddle indeed, and it would be a ridiculous thing to be spoken of in the schools of philosophers, to say, if there be a burden upon you, you must fetch strength from another. Indeed to have another to come and stand under the burden, that way they would know, but that you shall be strengthened by another's strength, that is not near you to your outward view, that they would think ridiculous. But now a Christian finds satisfaction in every condition by getting strength from another, by going out of itself to Jesus Christ, and by faith acting upon Christ, and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into its own soul, and thereby is enabled to bear whatsoever God lays upon him, by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ. Of his fullness do we receive grace for grace; there is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions. And Christ expects that when we are under any burden that we should act our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him. The acting of faith that is the great grace that is to be acted under afflictions; it is true, other graces should be acted, but the grace of faith it draws strength from Christ, in looking upon him that has the fullness of all strength to be conveyed into the hearts of all believers. Now if a man has a burden upon him, yet if he can have strength added to him, if the burden be doubled, yet if he can have his strength to be tripled, the burden will not be heavier but lighter than it was before to our natural strength. Indeed our afflictions may be heavy, and we cry out, oh we cannot bear them, we cannot bear such an affliction. Though you cannot tell how to bear it with your own strength, yet what can you tell what you shall do with the strength of Jesus Christ? You say you cannot bear it, why do you think that Christ could not bear it? If Christ could bear it, why may not you come to bear it? You will say, Can I have the strength of Christ? Yea, that is made over to you by faith, so the Scripture says That the Lord is our strength, God himself is our strength, and Christ is our strength, divers Scriptures we have that way; that Christ's strength is yours, made over to you, that so you may be able to bear whatsoever lies upon you. And therefore we find such a strange kind of expression in the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians, praying for the Saints, that they might be strengthened with all might according unto his glorious power, unto what? Unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. Strengthened with all might, according to the power of God, the glorious power of God, unto all patience, and long-suffering with joyfulness. You may not therefore be content with a little strength, so that you are able to bear what a man might bear by the strength of reason and nature. But to be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of God, unto all patience, and to all long suffering. Oh you that are now under very heavy and sad afflictions more than ordinary, look upon this Scripture, and consider how this Scripture is made good in you, why may you not have this Scripture made good in you, if you be godly? You should not be quiet in your own spirits, except that you in some measure do get this Scripture to be made good in you; so that you may with some comfort say, through God's mercy I find that strength coming into me that is here spoken of in this Scripture. You should labour when you are under any great affliction (you that are Godly) to walk so, that others may see such a Scripture made good in you. Here is the glorious power of God that does strengthen his servants to all long suffering; and that with joyfulness. Alas it may be you do not exercise so much patience, as a wise man or a wise woman that has but natural reason. But where is the power of God, the glorious power of God? Where is the strengthening with all might, unto all long-suffering and patience and that with joyfulness? It is true, the spirit of a man may be able to sustain his infirmities, may be able to sustain and keep up his spirits, the natural spirit of a man, but much more then when this spirit is acted with grace and holiness, and when it is filled with the strength of Jesus Christ; this is the way of a godly man's getting contentment, the mystery of it, it is by fetching in strength from Jesus Christ.
Twelfthly, another mystery, that there is in it, it is, That a godly heart, enjoys much of God in every thing it has, and does know how to make up all wants in God himself. That is another mystery, he has God in what he has; that I spoke to somewhat before, in showing the dew of God's blessing in what he has, for God is able to let out a great deal of his power in little things, and therefore the miracles that God has wrought, have been as much in little things as in great. Now as God lets out a great deal of his power in working miracles in smaller things, so he lets out a great deal of goodness and mercy, in comforting and rejoicing the hearts of his people in little things, as well as in great. There may be as much riches in a pearl as in a great deal of lumber; but now this is a distinct thing.
Further, a gracious heart as he lives upon God's dew in a little that he has, so when that little that he has shall be taken from him, what shall he do then? Then you will say, If a man have nothing, there can be nothing fetched out of nothing: But if the children of God have their little taken from them, they can make up all their wants in God himself: Such a man is a poor man, the plunderers came and took away all that he had, what shall he do then when all is gone? But when all is gone, there is an art and skill that godliness teaches to make up all those losses in God. Many men that have their houses burnt, go about gathering, and so get up by many hands a little; but a godly man knows whither to go to get up all, even in God himself, so as he shall enjoy the quintessence of the same good and comfort as he had before, for a Godly man does not live so much in himself as he lives in God. This is now a Mystery to a Carnal heart, I say a gracious man does not live so much in himself as he does in God, he lives in God continually; if there be anything cut off from the stream he knows how to go to the fountain, and makes up all there; God is his all in all while he lives, I say it is God that is his all in all. Am I not to you (said Elkanah to Hannah) instead of ten Children? So says God to a gracious heart, you want this, your estate is plundered: Why? Am I not to you instead of ten houses, and ten shops, I am to you instead of All, yet not only instead of All, but come to me, and you shall have all again in me. This indeed is an excellent Art, to be able to draw from God what it had before in the creature. Christian, how did you enjoy Comfort before? Was the creature any other to you but a Conduit, a pipe that did convey God's goodness to you? The pipe is cut off says God, come to me the Fountain and drink immediately: though the beams be taken away, yet the Sun remains the same in the firmament as ever it was. What is that that satisfies God himself, but because he does enjoy all fullness in himself, so he comes to have satisfaction in himself; now if you enjoy God to be your portion, if your soul can say with the Church in Lamentations 3:24: The Lord is my portion, says my soul, why should you not be satisfied and contented as God? God is contented, he is in eternal Contentment in himself; now if you have that God to be your portion, why should you not be contented with him alone? God is contented with himself alone, if you have him you may be Contented with him alone, and it may be, that is the reason that your outward comforts are taken from you, that God may be All in All to you. It may be whilst you had these things here they did share with God in your affection, a great part of the stream of your affection ran that way, now God would have the full stream run to him. As you know it is with a man that has water come to his house, and if there be several pipes, upon which he finds the water comes but scantly into his wash-house, he will rather stop the other pipes that he may have all the water come in where he would have it. So here it may be God had some stream of your affection that ran to him then when you did enjoy these things; yea, but a great deal was let out to the Creature, a great deal of your affections did run waste; now the Lord would not have the affections of his Children to run waste, he does not care for other men's affections, but for yours they are precious, and God would not have them to run waste, therefore does he cut off your other pipes that your heart might run wholly upon him. As if you have Children, because you have servants perhaps do feed them and give them things, you perceive that your servants do steal away the hearts of your Children, you would hardly be able to bear it, you would be ready to turn away such a servant, and when the servant is gone, the Child is at a great loss, it has not the nurse; but the father or mother intends by her putting away, that the affections of the Child might run the more strongly towards himself, or herself. And what loss has the Child that the affections that ran in a rough channel before towards the servant, it runs now towards the mother? So those affections that run towards the creature, God would have them run towards himself, that so he may be All in All to you here in this world. And a gracious heart can indeed tell how to enjoy God to be All in All to him: that is the happiness of Heaven, to have God to be All in All. The Saints in Heaven have not houses, and lands, and money, and meat and drink, and clothes, you will say, they do not need them; why do they not? It is because God is All in All to them immediately: now while you live in this world, you may come to enjoy much of God, you may have much of heaven; while we live in this life we may come to enjoy much of the very life that there is in Heaven, and what is that but the enjoyment of God to be All in All to us? There is one text in the Revelation that speaks of the glorious condition of the Church that is like to be even here in this world, Revelation 21:21. And I saw no Temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the Temple of it; and the City had no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. They had no need of the Sun or Moon. It speaks of such a glorious condition that the Church is like to be in here in this world; this does not speak of Heaven: and that appears plainly that this is not spoken of Heaven, but of a glorious estate that the Church shall be in here, in this world, for it follows presently in the 24th and 26th verse, And they (speaking of the Kings of the earth): And the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and honour unto it. Why, the Kings of the Earth shall not bring their glory and honour into Heaven; but this is such a time, when the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory and honour to the Church. And in the 26th verse: And they shall bring the glory and honour of the Nations into it; therefore it must needs be meant here in this world and not in Heaven. Now if there be such a time here in this world, that God shall be All in All, that in comparison there shall be no such need of creatures as now there is, then the Saints shall labor to live as near that life as possibly they can, that is, To make up All in God. Oh that you would but mind this Mystery, that it may be a reality to the hearts of the Saints in such times as these are, they would find this privilege, that they get by Grace, to be worth thousands of worlds. Hence is that of Jacob that I mentioned in another case, it is remarkable, and comes in fully here, in Genesis 33. That notable speech of Jacob when his brother Esau did meet him, you find in one place, that Esau he refused Jacob's present, in the 8th verse, when Jacob gave his present to him, he refused it, and told Jacob that he had enough. What do you mean by all this drove which I meet? And he said, These are to find grace in your sight: And Esau said, I have enough. Now in the 11th verse, there Jacob urges it still, (and said Jacob) I beseech you take it for I have enough. Now in your books it is the same in English, I have enough (said Esau) and I have enough (said Jacob); but in the Hebrew, Jacob's word is different from Esau's, Jacob's word signifies, I have all things, and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau. Oh this should be a shame to us, that an Esau should say, I have enough; but now a Christian should say, I have not only enough, but I have all: how has he all? Because he has God that is All. And it was a notable speech of one, He has all things, that has him that has all things. Surely you have all things, because you have him for your portion who has all things: God has all things in himself, and you have God to be yours for your portion, and in that you have all, and this is the Mystery of Contentment; It makes up all wants in God, this is that that the men of the world have little skill in.
Now I have diverse other things yet to open in the Mystery of Contentment. I should show likewise that a godly man not only makes up all in God, but finds enough in himself to make up all, to make up all in himself, not from himself, but in himself, and that may seem to be stranger than the other: to make up all in God is somewhat, nay to make up all in himself, not from himself, but in himself, that is, a gracious heart has so much of God within himself, that he has enough there to make up all his wants that are without. In Proverbs 14:14: A good man shall be satisfied from himself, from that that is within himself, that is the meaning, a gracious man he has a bird within his own bosom that makes him melody enough, though he wants music. The Kingdom of heaven is within you: In Luke 17:21: He has a Kingdom within him, and a Kingdom of God: you see him spoken ill of abroad, he has a conscience within him that makes up the want of a name and credit, that is instead of a thousand witnesses.
Thirteenth, A gracious heart fetches Contentment from the Covenant that God has made with him. Now this is a way of fetching Contentment that the men of the world know not of; they can fetch contentment, if they have the creature to satisfy them: But to fetch contentment from the Covenant of grace that they have little skill in. I should here have opened two things, First, how to fetch Contentment from the Covenant of grace in general. (But I shall speak to that in the next Sermon and now only a word to the Second) Secondly, how he fetches Contentment from the particular branches of the Covenant, that is, from the particular promises that he has for the supplying of every particular want: there is no condition that a Godly man or woman can be in, but there is some promise or other in the Scripture to help him in that condition. And that's the way of his Contentment, to go out to the promises, and fetch from the promise, that that may supply. But this is but a dry business to a carnal heart; but it's the most real thing in the world to a gracious heart; when he finds want of Contentment he repairs to the Promise, and the Covenant; and falls a pleading the promises that God has made. As I should have shown several promises that God has made let the affliction be what it will, I will but only mention one that is the saddest affliction of all; in case of the Visitation, and the Plague. In Psalm 91, now those that cannot have their friends come to them by reason of the plague, and that cannot have other comforts, in other afflictions they might have their friends and other things to comfort them, but in that they cannot, Psalm 21:10. There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come nigh your dwelling; then here is a promise for the pestilence in the 5th and 6th verses, this is a Scripture to those that are in danger of it, you will say, this is a promise that the Plague shall not come nigh them, but mark these two are joined There shall no evil befall you, neither shall the plague come nigh you; the evil of it shall not come nigh you.
Objection. You will say, It does come to many godly men, and how can they make use of this Scripture, it is rather a Scripture that may trouble them, because here is a promise that it shall not come near them, and yet it does come near them as well as others.
Answer. First, this is the Answer I would give, the promises of outward deliverances that were made to the people of God in the time of the law, were to be understood then a great deal more literally, and fulfilled more literally than in the times of the Gospel. God makes it up otherwise with as much mercy. Though God made a covenant of grace and eternal life in Christ with them, yet I think there was another Covenant too, that God speaks of as a distinct covenant for outward things, to deal with his people by according to their ways, either in outward prosperity, or in outward afflictions, more than now, in a more punctual, set way, than in the times of the Gospel. And therefore when the Children of Israel did but sin against God, they were sure to have public judgments to come upon them, and if they did well, always public mercies. The general constant way of God was to deal with the people of the Jews according as they did well or ill, (in an ordinary way,) with outward judgments, and outward mercies. But it is not so now in these times of the Gospel. We cannot bring such a certain conclusion, that God did deal so severely with men by such and such afflictions, that he will deal so with them now: and so, that they shall have outward prosperity as they had then. Therefore that is the first thing, for the understanding of this, and all other texts of that kind.
The Second Answer I would give is this, It may be their faith does not reach to this promise. And God brings many times many outward afflictions, because the faith of his people does not reach the promise, and that not only in the Old Testament, but in the times of the New Testament. Zachariah's time may be said to be in the time of the New Testament, when he was struck with dumbness because he did not believe, and that is given to be the cause why he was struck with dumbness. But you will say now, has faith warrant to believe deliverance, that it shall be fully delivered? I dare not say so, but it may act upon it, to believe that God will make it good his own way. Perhaps you have not done so much, and so upon that, this promise is not fulfilled to you.
Thirdly, When God does make such promises to his people, yet still it must be with this reservation, that God must have liberty to these three things.
1. That notwithstanding his promise, he will have liberty to make use of anything for your chastisement.
2. That he must have liberty, to make use of your estates, or liberties, or lives, for the furtherance of his own ends. If it be to be a stumbling block to wicked and ungodly men: God must have liberty, though he has made a promise to you he will not lose the property that he has in your estates and lives.
3. God must have so much liberty to make use of what you have, for to show that his ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out, God reserves these three things in his hand still.
Objection. But you will say, What good then is there in such a promise that God makes to his people?
First; That you are under the protection of God more than others. But what comfort is this if it does befall me?
Answer. You have this comfort, that the evil of it shall be taken from you, that if God will make use of this affliction for other ends, yet he will do it so as he will make it up to you some other way. Perhaps you have given your children such a thing, but yet afterwards if you have use of that thing, you will come and say, I must have it. Why father, may the child say, you gave it me? But says the father I must have it, and I will make it up to you some other way. Now the child does not think that the father's love is ever a whit the less to him. So when there is any such promise as this is, that God by his promise gives you his protection, and yet for all that such a thing befalls you, it is but as if the father should say, I gave you that indeed, but let me have it and I will make it up to you some other way that shall be as good. Says God, let me have your health and liberty, and life, and it shall be made up to you some other way.
Secondly, Whenever the Plague or Pestilence comes to those that are under such a promise, it is for some special and notable work, and God requires of them to search and examine in a special manner to find out his meaning. There is so much to be learned in the promise that God has made concerning this particular evil, that the people of God they may come to quiet and content their hearts in this affliction. I read in this Psalm that God has made a promise to his people, to deliver them from the Plague and Pestilence, and yet do I find it to come. It may be I have not made use of my faith in this promise heretofore. And if God does bring afflictions upon me, yet God will make it up some other way. God made a promise to deliver me, or at least to deliver me from all the evil of it. Now if this thing does befall me and yet I have a promise of God, certainly the evil of it is taken away. This promise tells me that if it does befall me yet it is for some notable end, and because God has use of my life, and intends to fetch about his glory some way that I know not of. And if he will come in a fatherly way of chastisement, yet I will be satisfied in the thing. So a Christian heart by reasoning out of the word, comes to satisfy his soul in the midst of such a heavy hand of God, and in such a distressed condition as that is. Now Carnal hearts they find not that power in the Word, that healing virtue that there is in the Word, to heal their distracted cares, and the troubles of their spirits. But now, those that are godly when they come to hear the Word they find out, that in the Word there is as a plaster to all their wounds, and so they come to have ease and Contentment, in such conditions as are very grievous and miserable unto others. But now, for other particular promises, and more generally for the Covenant of grace, how, and in what mysterious way the Saints do work to fetch out Contentment and satisfaction to their souls, we shall refer to the next time.
Philippians 4:11. For I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.
The mystery of contentment has more to show us. A gracious heart attains contentment in a mysterious way — a way the world knows nothing about.
Eighth: he lives on the dew of God's blessing. Adrian Junius once used a grasshopper to picture a contented man — leaping and jumping about, living on the dew, with this motto: 'I am content with what I have and hope for better.' A grasshopper does not live on grass as other creatures do. You cannot tell what it feeds on. Other small creatures feed on seeds or tiny insects, but the grasshopper — you simply cannot tell what sustains it. So a Christian can receive food the world knows nothing of. In a hidden way, a Christian is fed by the dew of God's blessing. A poor man or woman with little but with grace lives a more contented life than his rich neighbor with a great income. We see this regularly: though they have little, there is a secret blessing of God going into it that they cannot quite explain to anyone else. If you came to them and asked, 'How do you live so comfortably?' they could not fully tell you. But they know from experience that what they have is sweeter than anything they had in days of greater plenty. We can point to some of the specific reasons why the little that godly people enjoy makes their condition sweet.
Consider these four or five reasons why godly people find contentment in what they have, however little it may be.
1. In what they have, they have the love of God. If a king sends a dish from his own table, it means far more to a courtier than twenty dishes from the ordinary allowance. If the king sends even one small thing with word that it is a token of his love, how delightful that is! When your husbands are at sea and send you a token of love, that one thing means more than forty times what you already have at home. Every good thing the people of God enjoy, they enjoy as a token of God's love — as something flowing from His eternal love toward them. That makes it very sweet.
2. What they have is sanctified to them for good. Other people have what they enjoy through common providence — but the saints have theirs in a special way. Others have food, drink, houses, clothes, and money — and that is all. But a gracious heart finds this contentment: 'I have it, and I have a sanctified use of it too. I find God working through what I enjoy to draw my heart closer to Him and to set it apart for Him. If my heart is being drawn nearer to God by what I enjoy, that is worth far more than having the same thing without any such sanctifying effect.' There is a secret dew that goes along with it — the dew of God's love, and the dew of sanctification.
3. What a gracious heart has, it has at no cost — it will not be called upon to pay for it. The difference between what a godly person has and what a wicked person has is like this: a godly person is like a child staying at an inn kept by his own father. The innkeeper-father provides food, lodging, and everything the child needs. Then a stranger arrives and is also provided with meals and lodging — but the stranger must pay for everything. The child's meals may be plainer than the stranger's — the stranger may have boiled, roasted, and baked dishes — but a bill is coming. So it is with many of God's people: they may have plain fare, but God as a Father provides it, at no charge to them — it is already paid for. The wicked, for all their display and fine living, have what they ask for — but a reckoning is coming, and they must pay for everything in the end. Is it not better to have a little at no cost than to receive everything and have to pay for it all? Grace shows a person that what he has, he has freely from God as from a Father — and that makes it very sweet.
Fourth, a godly person may very well be content with little, because what he has he has by the right of Jesus Christ, by Christ's purchase. He has a far better right to what he has than any wicked person has to anything. Wicked people do have outward things — I am not saying they are thieves. They have a real right to them before God — but how? By mere gift. God in His free generosity gives these things to them. But the right the saints have is a right of purchase — it is paid for and truly theirs, and they may in a holy way claim whatever they need. The best way to express the difference between the right of a godly person and the right of the wicked is this illustration: a criminal condemned to die is, as a last favor, given a final meal before execution. You cannot say he steals it — though he has forfeited all his right to everything by his crime, once condemned he technically has no claim to so much as a crust of bread. Yet if a supper is given to him by grace, he does not steal it. So it is with the wicked: they have forfeited all right to every comfort in this world. They are condemned by God as criminals on their way to execution. But if God in His generosity gives them something to sustain them here in the world, they cannot be called thieves. Yet is the meal granted a condemned man on the night before execution anything like the supper he used to have at home, with his wife and children around him, eating his own bread? A dish of simple herbs eaten at home in one's own house would be far better than the finest food in that last supper. But a child of God has not a right merely by gift — what he has is his own through the purchase of Christ. Every piece of bread you eat, if you are a godly person, Jesus Christ has bought it for you. You go to market and buy your food and drink with your money — but know that before you ever paid for it, Christ had already purchased it from God the Father with His blood. You receive it from people for money, but Christ obtained it from His Father by His blood. And that makes even a little far sweeter and better.
Fifth, there is another reason for the sweetness the saints find in their little — a reason that enables them to find contentment where others cannot. Every small blessing they have is like a deposit guaranteeing all the glory reserved for them — God gives it as a foretaste of the eternal mercies He intends for them. If a man receives even a small sum as a deposit payment on a great estate he is to receive, is that not more valuable than a much larger sum given with no such promise attached? So every comfort the saints have in this world is a deposit guaranteeing the eternal mercies the Lord has prepared for them. Just as every affliction the wicked suffer here is the beginning of sorrows and a foretaste of the eternal sorrows awaiting them in hell — so every comfort you have is a foretaste of the eternal mercies you will enjoy with God in heaven. Not only the consolations of God's Spirit are foretastes of the eternal comforts of heaven. When you sit at your table and rejoice with your wife and children and friends, you may look on every one of those pleasures as a foretaste — yes, even a deposit payment — of eternal life. No wonder a Christian can be content. This is a mystery to the wicked. A Christian says: 'What I have, I have out of God's love. I have it sanctified to me by God. I have it freely, purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. And I have it as a foretaste of the eternal mercies reserved for me. In this my soul rejoices.' There is a secret dew of God's goodness and blessing on his estate that others do not have. All of this helps you understand that Scripture in Proverbs 16:8: 'Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.' A little with righteousness is better than the great revenues of the wicked. That is the next element in Christian contentment — the mystery that the godly person lives on the dew of God's blessing in all the good things he enjoys.
The ninth element in which the mystery of Christian contentment consists is this: not only does the godly person have God's blessing on the good things he possesses, making them sweet to him — but he can also see love in all his afflictions, and enjoy the sweetness of love in his trials just as much as in his blessings. Indeed, the afflictions of God's people flow from the same eternal love that sent Jesus Christ. Jerome said it well: 'He is a happy man who is struck, when the stroke is a stroke of love.' All of God's strokes are strokes of love and mercy. As Psalm 25:10 says, all the ways of God — the ways of affliction as much as the ways of prosperity — are mercy and love to those who fear and love Him. Grace gives a person a piercing eye to see into the eternal purposes of God for his good — even in his afflictions — and to see God's love in every trial as much as in every blessing. This is a mystery to a worldly heart. Worldly people may think God loves them when He prospers them and makes them rich, but they think He does not love them when He afflicts them. That is the mystery. But grace instructs people in that mystery — grace enables them to see love even in the frowns of God's face, and so they receive contentment.
Tenth: a godly person finds contentment in a mysterious way because, just as he sees all his afflictions coming from the same love that sent Jesus Christ, he also sees them all sanctified in Jesus Christ, sanctified by Him as Mediator. He sees the sting, the venom, and the poison of every affliction taken out by the virtue of Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and man. Here is how a Christian works through this: when he wants contentment, he asks, 'What is my affliction?' Is it poverty that God is striking me with? Jesus Christ had not a house to lay His head in. The birds of the air had nests and the foxes had holes, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. So my poverty is sanctified by Christ's poverty. By faith I can see the curse, the sting, and the venom of my poverty taken out by the poverty of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus was poor in this world in order to deliver me from the curse of my poverty — so that it would not be a curse to me. Then my poverty is no longer purely afflictive, and I can be content in that condition. The way is not to stand and complain because I do not have what others have — but to say, 'I am poor, and Christ was poor precisely so that He might make my poverty a blessing to me.'
And again: am I disgraced and dishonored? Has my good name been taken from me? Jesus Christ had dishonor put upon Him — He was called Beelzebul and a Samaritan; they said He had a demon in Him. Every foul slander that could be cast on anyone was cast on Jesus Christ — and this was for me, so that the disgrace placed on me might be sanctified. Where another man is overwhelmed by dishonor and disgrace, a Christian works through it this way. When others slander you, your only thought may be to slander them back — to fight insult with insult — thinking that will ease you. But a Christian has a very different way to find ease. 'Others rail and speak ill of me — but did they not rail upon Jesus Christ and speak ill of Him? And what am I compared to Christ?' Christ's subjection to that evil was for me — so that even if such a thing came upon me, I would know that the curse of it has been removed from me through Christ's endurance of it. In this way a Christian can be content when anyone speaks ill of him. This is a mystery: gaining contentment this way. So if people mock and scoff at you — did they not do the very same to Jesus Christ? They mocked and scorned Him when He was in His greatest extremity on the cross. They said, 'Here is the King of the Jews,' bowed the knee, hailed Him as King, put a reed in His hand, and mocked Him. I find contentment in the midst of scorn and mockery by considering that Christ was scorned, and by exercising faith in what Christ suffered for me. Am I in great physical pain? Jesus Christ endured as great pain in His body — though not the same kinds of sicknesses we have, yet He suffered pains and tortures just as severe, and they proved deadly. Exercising faith in what Christ endured is the way to find contentment in the midst of our own pain. One person lies fretting and vexing, unable to bear the pain. Are you a Christian? Have you ever tried this path to contentment — exercising your faith upon all the pains and sufferings Jesus Christ endured? That is the way to contentment, and a Christian finds contentment in pain this way. Sometimes you will see a very godly and gracious person lying under terrible pain and difficulty with a remarkable cheerfulness — and you wonder at it. This is the way he gets it: by exercising his faith in what pains Jesus Christ suffered. Are you afraid of death? The way to contentment is by exercising faith in the death of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you have inward troubles of soul, and God has withdrawn Himself from you — then your faith must be exercised on the sufferings Christ endured in His soul. He poured out His soul before God. When He sweated drops of blood, He was in agony in His very spirit, and He found even God Himself seemingly forsaking Him. Exercising faith on Christ in this way brings contentment. And is this not a mystery to worldly hearts? A gracious heart finds contentment in a mysterious way. No wonder Paul says, 'I have been initiated into the mystery of being content in whatever condition I am in.'
In the eleventh place, there is yet a further mystery — one I hope you will find very practically useful. You will see, before we are done, what a clear path there is for a person skilled in godliness to find contentment, even though it is hard for a worldly person. The eleventh mystery in contentment is this: a gracious heart has contentment by drawing strength from Jesus Christ — it is able to bear its burden by receiving strength from another. That is indeed a riddle, and it would sound ridiculous in the schools of philosophers. To say that if a burden is on you, you must draw strength from another? They would understand having someone else come and stand under the burden with you — but to be strengthened by another's strength when that person is not visibly near you? That they would find absurd. But a Christian finds satisfaction in every condition by drawing strength from another — by going outside himself to Jesus Christ, acting faith on Christ, and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into his own soul. By that strength he is enabled to bear whatever God lays on him. 'From His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace' (John 1:16). There is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but to sustain us under all our burdens and afflictions. And Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we will exercise faith in Him to draw virtue and strength from Him. Faith is the great grace to be exercised under affliction. Other graces should also be exercised, but faith is the grace that draws strength from Christ — looking to Him who holds the fullness of all strength to convey it into the hearts of all believers. Now if a person has a burden on him but receives added strength, then even if the burden is doubled, the strength may be tripled — and the burden actually feels lighter than it did before under natural strength alone. Our afflictions may be heavy, and we cry out: 'I cannot bear this! I cannot bear such an affliction.' But though you cannot see how to bear it with your own strength, who can say what you might do with the strength of Jesus Christ? You say you cannot bear it — but do you think Christ could not bear it? If Christ could bear it, why may you not come to bear it through Him? You say, 'Can I have the strength of Christ?' Yes — it is made over to you by faith. Scripture says in many places that the Lord is our strength — God Himself is our strength, Christ is our strength. Christ's strength is made over to you, so that you may be able to bear whatever lies upon you. And that is why we find such a striking expression in Paul's letter to the Colossians, where he prays for the saints 'that they might be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously' (Colossians 1:11). Strengthened with all power according to the glorious might of God — for all patience and all endurance with joyfulness. Do not settle, then, for a little strength — just enough to bear what a person could bear through the power of reason and nature. You are to be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of God, unto all patience and all endurance. You who are now under heavy and extraordinary afflictions — look at this Scripture. Consider: why may not this Scripture be fulfilled in you, if you are godly? You should not be at peace in your own spirit unless in some measure you are experiencing this Scripture being fulfilled in you — so that you can say with some comfort, 'Through God's mercy I find the very strength spoken of in this Scripture coming into me.' When you are under a great affliction and you are godly, labor to walk in such a way that others can see this Scripture made true in you. Here is the glorious power of God strengthening His servants for all endurance — and that with joyfulness. It may be that you do not even show as much patience as a wise man or woman with only natural reason. But where is the power of God, the glorious power of God? Where is the strengthening with all might, unto all long-suffering and patience — with joyfulness? The natural spirit of a person can bear up under hardship to some degree. But how much more when that spirit is moved by grace and holiness, and filled with the strength of Jesus Christ. That is the way of a godly person's contentment — the mystery of it: drawing strength from Jesus Christ.
Twelfth, another mystery in contentment is this: a godly heart enjoys much of God in everything it has, and knows how to make up all its lacks in God Himself. That is another mystery. He has God in what he has — I touched on this earlier when speaking of the dew of God's blessing on what he has. For God is able to pour a great deal of His power into small things — as His miracles have been as striking in small things as in great. Just as God pours His power into working miracles in lesser things, so He pours His goodness and mercy into comforting and rejoicing the hearts of His people in small things just as much as in great ones. There may be as much value in a pearl as in a great pile of lumber. But this is a distinct point.
Furthermore: a gracious heart lives on God's dew in the little it has — but what happens when that little is taken away? You might say: if a person has nothing, nothing can be drawn from nothing. But when the children of God have their little taken from them, they can make up all their loss in God Himself. A man has been stripped bare — plunderers came and took everything he had. What shall he do now? But when all is gone, godliness teaches an art — the ability to make up all losses in God. Many who lose their homes go around gathering help, slowly rebuilding through many hands. But a godly person knows where to go to recover everything — right into God Himself — and there enjoys the very essence of the same good and comfort he had before. For a godly person does not live as much in himself as he lives in God. This is a mystery to a worldly heart. A gracious person does not live so much in himself as he does in God — he lives in God continually. If anything is cut off from the stream, he knows how to go to the fountain and make up everything there. God is his all in all while he lives. As Elkanah said to Hannah, 'Am I not more to you than ten sons?' (1 Samuel 1:8) — so God says to a gracious heart: 'You have lost your estate, your livelihood has been taken. Am I not to you more than ten houses and ten businesses? I am to you instead of everything — and not only instead of everything, but come to Me, and you shall have it all again in Me.' This is a wonderful art: being able to draw from God what you once had through created things. Christian, how did you enjoy comfort before? Was the created thing anything more to you than a pipe conveying God's goodness to you? 'The pipe is cut off,' God says. 'Come to Me — the fountain — and drink directly.' Though the beams of light are taken away, the sun remains the same in the sky as it always was. What is it that satisfies God Himself? It is that He enjoys all fullness in Himself — and so He is satisfied in Himself. Now if you enjoy God as your portion — if your soul can say with the church in Lamentations 3:24, 'The Lord is my portion, says my soul' — why should you not be satisfied and content as God Himself is? God is content; He rests in eternal contentment in Himself. If you have that God as your portion, why should you not be content with Him alone? God is content with Himself alone — and if you have Him, you may be content with Him alone. Perhaps that is the very reason your outward comforts have been taken away — so that God may be all in all to you. While you had those things, they shared in your affections. A large part of the stream of your love ran toward them, and God would have the full stream run to Him. As a man whose house is supplied by water through several pipes may find that the water comes too thinly into the place he needs it most — and so he stops the other pipes to get all the water flowing where he wants it. So here: when you enjoyed those things, perhaps some stream of your affection went to God — but a great deal ran toward created things, running to waste. The Lord does not want the affections of His children to run to waste. He may not care for others' affections in the same way, but yours are precious to Him. So He cuts off your other pipes so that your heart might flow wholly toward Him. This is like parents who see a servant stealing away the hearts of their children. It would be hard to bear — you would be ready to dismiss such a servant. When the servant is gone, the child feels a great loss — the nurse is gone. But the father or mother intends by removing the servant to draw the child's affections more powerfully toward themselves. And what has the child actually lost, if the affections that once ran toward the servant now run toward the mother? So those affections that ran toward created things — God would have them run toward Himself, so that He may be all in all to you here in this world. And a gracious heart can indeed know how to enjoy God as all in all. That is the happiness of heaven: to have God as all in all. The saints in heaven have no houses, land, money, food, drink, or clothing — but why do they not need them? Because God is all in all to them directly. Now while you live in this world, you may come to enjoy much of God — much of heaven. While we live in this life we may enjoy much of the very life that is in heaven, and what is that but the enjoyment of God as all in all? There is a text in Revelation that speaks of the glorious condition the church will experience even here in this world. Revelation 21:22-23: 'I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.' They had no need of sun or moon. This speaks of a glorious condition the church is to be in here in this world — not in heaven. That is clear from verses 24 and 26, which say that the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor to it. The kings of the earth will not bring their glory into heaven — so this must refer to a time here in the world when they will bring their glory and honor to the church. And verse 26 says, 'They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it' — so this must be in this world, not in heaven. If such a time is coming here in this world — when God will be all in all, and there will be far less need of created things than now — then the saints must labor to live as close to that life as possible, making up everything in God. Oh, if you would but take this mystery to heart, so that it becomes real to the hearts of the saints in times like these — they would find that what they gain through grace is worth more than thousands of worlds. Hence that remarkable speech of Jacob in Genesis 33. When his brother Esau met him, you find that Esau refused Jacob's gifts. In verse 8, Esau said when Jacob brought his present: 'What do you mean by all this company which I have met?' And Jacob answered, 'To find favor in the sight of my lord.' And Esau said, 'I have plenty.' Then in verse 11, Jacob urged him again: 'Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.' In your Bible it reads the same in English: Esau said 'I have plenty' and Jacob said 'I have plenty.' But in the Hebrew, Jacob's word is different from Esau's. Jacob's word means 'I have everything' — and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau. This should humble us: that an Esau should say 'I have plenty.' But a Christian should say not only 'I have plenty' but 'I have everything.' How does he have everything? Because he has God, who is everything. As someone wisely said: 'He has all things who has Him who has all things.' Surely you have all things, because you have as your portion Him who has all things. God has all things in Himself, and you have God as your portion — and in that you have all. This is the mystery of contentment: it makes up all lacks in God. This is what worldly people have little skill in.
Now I have several more things to open in the mystery of contentment. I should also show that a godly person not only makes up all his lacks in God, but also finds enough within himself to make up all — not from himself, but in himself. That may seem even stranger than the last: to make up all in God is remarkable enough, but to make up all in himself — not from himself, but in himself — that is, a gracious heart has so much of God within it that it has enough there to make up all outward lacks. Proverbs 14:14 says: 'A good man will be satisfied from himself' — that is, from what is within him. A gracious person has a bird in his own breast that makes enough music, even when he lacks outward music. As Luke 17:21 says, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' He has a kingdom within him — a kingdom of God. If people speak ill of him abroad, he has a conscience within that makes up for the loss of reputation and credit — standing in place of a thousand witnesses.
Thirteenth: a gracious heart draws contentment from the covenant God has made with him. This is a way of finding contentment that worldly people know nothing of. They can find contentment if created things satisfy them — but drawing contentment from the covenant of grace is a skill they lack entirely. I should open two things here. First, how to draw contentment from the covenant of grace in general — but I will address that in the next sermon. For now, just a word on the second: how he draws contentment from the specific promises of the covenant — from the particular promises that address every particular lack. There is no condition a godly man or woman can be in without some promise in Scripture that speaks to that condition. And that is the way of contentment: to go out to the promises and draw from them what is needed. To a worldly heart this sounds dry and empty — but to a gracious heart it is the most real thing in the world. When contentment is lacking, a gracious person goes to the promises and the covenant, and pleads the promises God has made. I will mention just one promise to illustrate — for the heaviest of afflictions: the plague. Psalm 91 speaks to those who cannot have friends come to them because of the plague, or who cannot find other comforts. In other afflictions they might have friends and various things to comfort them, but not in this. Psalm 91:10: 'No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.' There is a promise for the pestilence in verses 5 and 6 as well. This is a Scripture for those in danger of plague. You might say this promises the plague will not come near them — but notice what the two parts are joined together: 'No evil will befall you, nor will the plague come near you' — the evil of it shall not come near you.
Objection: But the plague does come upon many godly people. How can they use this Scripture? It seems like a Scripture that would trouble them rather than help them — because here is a promise that the plague shall not come near them, and yet it comes upon them just as much as upon others.
Answer: First, promises of outward deliverance made to God's people under the law were to be understood and fulfilled far more literally in that era than in the era of the Gospel. God now makes up for it in other ways with equal mercy. Though God made a covenant of grace and eternal life in Christ with His people even then, there was also another covenant by which God dealt with them in outward things — either with outward prosperity or outward affliction — according to their ways, in a more precise and regular pattern than in the times of the Gospel. So when the Israelites sinned against God, they were sure to experience public judgments, and when they did well, public mercies. The consistent pattern of God's dealings with the Jewish people in the ordinary course was outward judgments for disobedience and outward mercies for obedience. But that is not how God works in the times of the Gospel. We cannot draw the same firm conclusions that because God once afflicted people with such-and-such punishments for sin, He will do exactly the same now — or that people will enjoy exactly the same outward prosperity they once experienced. That is the first thing to understand about this text and all similar ones.
The second answer is this: it may be that their faith does not reach to this promise. God often brings outward afflictions because His people's faith has not laid hold of the promise — and this is true not only in the Old Testament but in the New as well. Zechariah's experience may be said to belong to the era of the New Testament: he was struck silent because he did not believe, and that is given as the reason. But you might ask: does faith have the right to believe for full outward deliverance? I would not dare to say so — but it may act on the promise to believe that God will make it good in His own way. Perhaps you have not done even that much, and so this promise has not been fulfilled to you.
Third, when God makes such promises to His people, He always reserves the liberty to do three things.
1. Notwithstanding the promise, God retains the liberty to make use of anything for your correction.
2. He retains the liberty to make use of your estate, your freedom, or even your life to advance His own purposes. If it serves as a warning to wicked and ungodly people, God must have that liberty. Though He has made a promise to you, He will not surrender the ownership He holds over your estate and life.
3. God must retain the liberty to deal with what you have in order to show that His ways are unsearchable and His judgments past finding out. These three things God keeps in His own hand.
Objection: But then, what good is there in such a promise if God makes all these reservations?
First: you are under God's protection more than others. But what comfort is that if the affliction still comes upon me?
Answer: You have this comfort — that the evil of it will be taken from you. Even if God uses this affliction for other purposes, He will do so in a way that He makes it up to you in some other way. A parent may give a child something, but later come back and say, 'I need that back.' The child says, 'But you gave it to me.' And the parent says, 'I must have it — but I will make it up to you in another way.' The child does not think the parent loves him any less for it. So when God makes a promise of protection, and yet something still comes upon you, it is as though the Father says: 'I gave that to you, yes — but let Me have it back, and I will make it up to you in another way just as good.' God says: 'Let Me have your health, your freedom, your life — and it will be made up to you in another way.'
Second: whenever the plague or any such pestilence comes upon those who are under such a promise, it is for some special and notable purpose, and God calls them to search and examine carefully to discover His meaning. There is so much to be learned from the promise God has made about this particular evil that God's people may come to quiet and content their hearts even in this affliction. 'I read in this psalm that God has promised to deliver His people from plague and pestilence — and yet I find it coming upon me.' Perhaps I have not previously exercised faith in this promise. And if God brings this affliction on me, He will still make it up in another way. God promised to deliver me, or at least to deliver me from all the evil of it. So if this thing comes upon me, and yet I have a promise from God, then certainly the evil of it has been taken away. This promise tells me that if it does come upon me, it is for some notable purpose — because God has use for my life and intends to bring about His glory in a way I do not yet know. And if He comes in a fatherly way of correction, I will be satisfied. So a Christian heart, by reasoning from the Word, comes to settle and satisfy its soul in the midst of a heavy hand of God — even in a condition as distressing as that. Worldly hearts do not find that power in the Word — that healing virtue that can heal their troubled anxieties and the unrest of their spirits. But godly people, when they come to the Word, find in it a plaster for every wound. And so they come to ease and contentment in conditions that are deeply grievous and miserable to others. As for how the saints draw contentment and satisfaction from particular promises, and more broadly from the covenant of grace, in what mysterious way — we will take that up next time.
