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SERMON III.

ACTS x. 43.

To Jesus give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

THAT article of the Creed which is now to be treated upon is this, viz.-"The Forgiveness of Sins." Now forgiveness is an act of divine mercy, whereby God freely, without any payment on our part, passes by, nor will ever call us to account for our sins. But what is the nature and guilt of sin? Why, its horrid nature and heinous demerit are such as we can only form a very imperfect idea of. We are told by the apostle, that "sin is the transgression of the law," and that "cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." The law of God is holy, just, and good; a law that requires perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience from every soul of man; a law which is a fair copy of God's moral perfections; a law which must therefore in the very nature of things continue in full force and virtue, so long as the world shall endure. Every deviation from this sacred, eternal law of God, whether in thought, word, or deed, is sin; it passes a sentence of eternal condemnation upon us the moment we fail of paying it that perfection of obedience which it demands: so that whenever we cease to love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strengths, and our neighbours as ourselves, we break the law, and expose ourselves to the penalty annexed to disobedience. Behold then the condition we are in while under the law: we have violated the law by numberless transgressions; "sin lieth at our door;""we are even conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity;" and, consequently, the curse of eternal death hangs over our heads. This is plain, and most awfully manifest from

the whole face of scripture. Forgiveness of sins, therefore, you see we all want, and must have, else we perish everlastingly. And it was observed, that God does freely pass by the sins of all those that are members of the holy catholic church; but how does God thus freely forgive sins, without reflecting dishonour upon his law, defrauding his justice of its rights, and injuring his glorious perfections? The answer is, he does it for the sake of the ransom of Christ. Christ as the covenant-head of his people, has "redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them." "He has borne their sins in his own body on the accursed tree;" he has endured the utmost inflictions of God's vindictive justice; he has glorified all the divine perfections to the uttermost; so that God is now righteous and just, holy and glorious, in forgiving the sins of the most rebellious apostates of the human race. A way is found out whereby all manner of sins, however circumstanced, however aggravated, may be forgiven. The blood of our Immanuel, being of infinite value, washes out the foulest stains of guilt that ever were contracted; yea, it can even cleanse sinners who are as black as hell; a Zaccheus, a Saul, a Manassch, were not out of the reach of its healing, cleansing virtue; and to this very moment its sufficiency to do away the most heinous enormities is as ample, as glorious as ever! But the next question is, how are we actually made partakers of this inestimable privilege, the forgiveness of sins? Why we must first see ourselves in the light of God's truth as condemned malefactors; we must be deeply sensible that we have robbed God of his glory, rebelliously violated his sacred law, incurred the penalty of eternal damnation, and are utterly unable to help or deliver ourselves; then confessing our desert of the deepest hell, and having the wrath of God before our eyes, we must flee in the way of penitence and faith, to the all-atoning blood of the Lamb, and trust therein alone for pardon and life. Thus, in consequence of a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, we are rescued from the jaws of death and hell, have all our sins blotted out of the book of God's remembrance, and stand before him discharged from all condemnation, clear of all blame, and as free from the guilt of sin as if we had never sinned. Let this suffice to show you the meaning of these words of the Creed, "the forgiveness of sins."

We come now to speak of the duties it implies; and it is plain, that herein is implied the duty of acknowledging, confessing, and lamenting from the bottom of our hearts, our sins before God. God will have us brought down to feel our guilt and misery, to see ourselves fallen into the hands of the divine law and justice, to be filled with shame and confusion, under a sense of the infinite disgrace we have cast upon his majesty and glory, and to bewail our apostate nature, our polluted hearts, and our rebellious lives in his sight. Every soul of man must be made either to experience this penitence and abasement of soul, this inward sense of vileness, misery, and helplessness, on account of sin in this life, or be made to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire for his sins in the world to come. What though you have not run to excess of riot? what, though you have led fair, decent, upright, moral lives? what, though you are able to justify yourselves before men? What avails this? Are not you guilty before the all-seeing, heart searching God? Are not you exposed to death on account of continual disobedience? Is not your nature all over apostate, and defiled with the leaven of corruption? Are not your hearts estranged from the God of infinite purity, holiness, and glory? Is not God's law spiritual? But, when you compare your hearts and lives with that rule of righteousness, may not you well confess that you are carnal, sold under sin? See then, what reason you all have to fall down in deep penitence and profound abasement of soul before the majesty of the Almighty. You are all fallen sons and daughters of fallen Adam; you are all chargeable with the guilt of ingratitude, disobedience, and rebellion against God; you are all sinners alike, ungodly in his sight. Hence it is that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent; and hath declared, that unless they repent, they shall all perish! Know then, my brethren, your heinous guilt, your ruined, lost estate in yourselves; know the apostasy of your hearts and nature; know that by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; see the law of God denouncing its tremendous curse upon your heads! abhor yourselves, and repent in dust and ashes.

And then a second duty implied in this article of the Creed is, to plead daily with God, the merit of Christ's blood. It has been

shown, that the blood of Christ is that whereby alone we obtain forgiveness of sins, and that faith herein is the sole means of bringing us to an actual interest in that happy privilege; all our penitence and contrition of heart for sin will avail nothing without a vital faith in the precious blood of Christ, under a sense of the awful apostasy of our nature, the pollution of our hearts, and the innumerable defects of our lives: we must be daily flying to the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness; for, though there can be no remission of sins for us without a penitent sense of our misery and helplessness in ourselves, yet it is not repentance, but faith in Christ, as making peace by the blood of his cross, which makes us partakers of this peculiar blessing of the gospel; "for to Jesus give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." And the most holy soul upon earth has need of making daily continual application to the blood of atonement, for cleansing from the guilt of his offences; for he is daily doing those things that he ought not to do, and leaving undone those things that he ought to have done, and nothing in the whole world can cancel the guilt of the very least offence against the majesty of heaven, but the all sufficient, the bloody sacrifice of Jesus; so that, you see, you may each of you easily bring this matter respecting the forgiveness of your sins to an issue. The following questions will determine the point for you-Have you seen yourselves under a law to God requiring perfect obedience, on pain of eternal damnation? Are you sensible that for the very first offence, the very least slip or failure, you are for ever lost in yourselves? Have you learnt from the Bible that all sin carries in its very nature the guilt of disobedience and rebellion against the great Sovereign of the world? Has it been made known to your hearts that the wages of sin, of all and every sin, is death, eternal death? Have you, by looking into the glass of God's perfectly pure and holy law, seen the deformity and odiousness of your own characters ? Are you convinced that you are altogether sinners before God, transgressors of the whole law of God, according to its proper spiritual meaning? And has this new view of God, of the law, and of sin, actually stirred you up to flee to Christ, the only Deliverer from the wrath to come? Has your grief on account of the dis

honour you have done to God's majesty, and the ruin you have brought upon yourselves, been more deep and abiding than on account of all the temporal losses, disadvantages, and injuries, that ever you sustained? Is sin really the greatest burden of your hearts, the greatest bitterness of your souls? And do your consciences testify that you are daily laying down this burden at the foot of Immanuel's cross? Do you from time to time go unto Christ, weary and heavy laden with the guilt of your iniquities, and there find rest for your sin-sick souls? Now all this is matter of real, actual experience: these are exercises of soul which are inseparably connected with the forgiveness of sins; if, therefore, it is indeed thus with you, assuredly you are interested in this glorious privilege of the church of Christ; and I beseech you, be sensible of the greatness of the privilege of which you are made partakers. O, what a happy alteration has taken place, with respect to your condition in the sight of God! once you were aliens and outcasts from God, under the curse of his law, exposed to the stroke of his avenging justice, having the guilt of millions of sins resting upon your heads; but now the wrath of God is removed, the sentence of the law remitted, the sword of justice turned away from you, and all your sins forgiven you, for Jesus' name's sake. What an invaluable privilege is this! O! my soul, what are all the possessions, enjoyments, and distinctions of the world compared to this unspeakable blessing! Well, indeed, might David say, "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." O! labour then to be sensible of the greatness of this privilege; and, in order to that, seek yet a more lively sense of your sins, and plead more constantly and fervently with God the merit of Christ's precious blood. Were you to visit the true believer in Christ on his dying bed, in what kind of language, think you, would he speak of this great peculiar gospel blessing of the forgiveness of sins? Would not he declare it to be of more worth than ten thousand worlds? Would not he assure you, that the view of it lay as a cordial at his heart, and administered strong consolation to his soul, amidst all the pain and agonies of dissolution? Interested in this blessing, he would tell you, that he saw the king of terrors converted into a messenger of peace.

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