such a store that he is alwayes full He hath an Antarchy in himself and saies to his creatures as in Psal 81.10 Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it ask what you will and there 't is to be had There be full Treasures of temporal and spiritual good things with them with whom God and Christ do make their abode As the Ark of God brought all kind of blessings to the house of Obed-edom so when God comes he brings all things Deus meus omnia My God and all things When Jesus Christ came to Zacheus he tells him This day is Salvation come to thine house that is both temporal and spiritual preservations and deliverances Salvation doth consist in the total absence of all evil and in the presence and possession of all good Secondly God and Christ have left with us the promises of the Covenant to live upon till we come to the inheritance of the purchased Possession These be like the Widows Cruse that never fails this like the Manna will not be with-held while we be in the wilderness till we come into Canaan to feed on the fruits of that Land Heb. 13.5 That 's a sure Promise in which we may by faith see present supplies I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and in Phil. 4.19 we may possesse in that Promise whatever we want My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus Thirdly God hath given us his Son and Jesus Christ hath given us himself as an ensuing pledge of all mercies contained in the promises Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him for us how shall he not with him also freely give us all things He that hath not spared his Son will not with-hold any mercies he that hath given us the best of blessings will not with-hold smaller mercies He doth alway tell his people as in 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for you Thirdly The abode of God and Christ with Believers is their Heaven upon Earth All our happiness is in the abode of God and Christ with us First Consider it is a wonderful mercy of the great God that by his common Providence he is with the works of his hands which is mans safety and David admires at this Psal 8.4 Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him Secondly Consider it is a mercy of the greatest worth and to be for ever admired that God and Christ do not only visit us by common Providence and Inspection as his creatures but make their abode with us as with children and friends O this is our glory God doth not come with a short visit for a day for a few days but makes an everlasting abode The Church complained when she thought God was departed because he had been with them and made so short a stay Jer. 14.8 Why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the Land and as a way-faring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night c. but when she remembred the Covenant of eternal abode she comforts her self in the 9. verse Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us To be ever with the Lord is all we can hope for and it is mans contemplative happinesse to converse in his thoughts with that Glory First Consider Jesus Christ hath promised this as our great Glory and full reward I will take you to my self they shall behold my glory 17. Joh. verse 24. 1 Epist Joh. 3.2 We shall be like him 〈◊〉 we shall see him as he is Secondly This abode with God and Christ is the highest option and aim of all the people of God This was Pauls pressings in Phil. 3. That he might attain to the resurrection of the dead i. the state of them that are risen and with God and Christ Therefore resolves after a long debate with himself Phil. 1.21 To be with Christ is best of all and David in Psal 73. at the latter end professes He had none in Heaven but God and there was none upon earth that he desired in comparison of him Use 1 Use First of Lamentation and laments three sorts of persons First Let us lament such as be without God and Christ in the world all ignorant and ungodly persons yea this is the sad case of all the Sons of Adam ever since he sinned and lost communion with his God They be brought forth into the world with their backs upon God and with Gods face against them What was Cain's grief how was his heart hurried into a world of inconceivable distempers and distracting thoughts when he must be turn'd out of Gods presence from the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances Gen. 4.14 Behold thou hast driven me out this day saies poor Cain from the face of the earth but this is as nothing and from thy face shall I be hid and now where is my comfort and safety it shall come to passe that every one that findeth me shall slay me Such persons be as Lambs in a large place Hos 4.16 Without a Keeper in their most plentiful state What hope have such to escape Hell and Destruction Consider these two particulars First Consider it is a very sad case when God and Christ withdraw or depart but for a moment 't is a sad and intolerable moment as we see in the complaint of Christ when God withdrew himself from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and in the example of David Asaph and Heman in Psal 77. and Psal 88. and the whole Church laments in Jer. 14.8 Secondly Consider if God and Christ do never come to make their abode with us here we are never like to make our abode with them hereafter and then it were better we had never been born Psal 73.27 They that are far from thee shall perish And this is Hell to be separated from God and Christ 2 Thes 1.8.9 They i. the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power It is Heaven where-ever God is in his special abode and that is Hell where He is not present in his mercy and grace Secondly Use of Lamentation Let us lament over a worse sort of men and they be such as in Job 21.14 That say to God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes That refuse the word of Christ and be weary of God and his Ordinances and so reject God as if one house could not hold them both as the peoin Isa 30.10.11 Who say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophecy not c. Cause the Holy one to cease from before us They that stop the mouths of them that speak the word of Christ or turn away their ears from harkening to that which is spoken say in effect Let God be gone let Christ depart from us First Consider what an evil frame of spirit it
come to hear to turn hearing into doing Say as Paul did Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do and Cornelius Acts 10.33 Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Secondly Beg of God to give you such a heart that you may not only say as the people in a good humour once to Moses All that thou shalt speak unto us that will we observe and do but find your hearts such as in Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always c. It is he by whom the word is made as James hath it ◠Jam. ◠1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 engraffed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fruit-bearing word Begin all your hearing with prayers and conclude them with prayers because 't is of the greatest concernment Use 2 Lastly A use of comfort First If we keep this word the word will keep us It will keep us in the worst of times yea at all times Pro. 6.22 When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee If you keep his Commands his Commands will keep you If you keep his Promises his Promises will bring you to Glory Secondly If we keep his word we shall not want present comforts The present gratuities which we have from Christ should be enough to encourage us if there were no future reward Psal 19. In keeping of them there is great reward 1 Tim. 4. ◠verse Thirdly Jesus Christ hath promised a blessedness to such persons they be a blessed people Rev. 1.3 Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophecy and keep those things which are written therein and so in Luke 11.28 Blessed are they c. and with the best of blessings doth be crown them in the Text My Father will love him and we will come to him and will make our abode with him which is the second observation Obs 2 God and Christ will make their abode with them that keep his word In which Observation we shall take notice of these three particulars First How God and Christ do make their abode with them that keep his word Secondly Why God and Christ will make their abode with such Thirdly What an excellent blessing it is to have God and Christ abiding with us First How God and Christ do make their abode with them that keep his word in which these three particulars must be shown 1. How God abides with his People 2. How Jesus Christ abides with them 3. How both God and Christ will make their abode with them that keep his word First How God the first Person in the Trinity is said to make his abode with them that keep his word And this will be two wayes seen First It is not here to be understood of his common or general presence as he is the infinite God and being Omnipresent fills Heaven and Earth for so he abides with all the works of his hands yea so he is with them that fear him not Secondly It is here properly understood of Gods abode by way of special presence as he is a gracious Father there fore Jesus Christ doth first express the Fathers love and then his abode as the product and fruit of his love My Father will love him and we will come unto him c. He will come and abide with his as a God in Covenant with them therefore hath he put it into a promise in the 2. Cor. 6.16 I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Secondly How Jesus Christ will make his abode with them that keep his word which will be shown also First Negatively Secondly Affirmatively First Negatively It is not to be understood of a carnal or corporeal presence of Christ as the Papist imagine as if the flesh of Christ could be in all places whom the Heavens must contain till the time of restitution of all things for saies the Apostle 2. Cor. 5.16 acknowledging If he had known Christ after the flesh yet so he knows him no more Secondly Affirmatively He makes abode with his people after a spiritual manner God the Father makes his abode with his Servants as a Father to them Jesus Christ abides with them as the Head of his Church as it is in Ephe. 5.23 He is the Head of his Church and the Saviour of his Body God abides with us in Christ Jesus Christ abides with us by his Spirit Corn ◠lap A learned Author shews four ways of Christs abode with Believers 1. Politicè ut Rex in Regno As a King in his Kingdom and so he gives Laws as the only Head and King of his Church protects them and order all their affairs 2. Oeconomicè ut Puter in Dome As a Father in his House and so he takes care and makes provision for his people as a Father doth for his Family 3. Ethicè ut ratio in homine As reason in a man which is the light that directs man in all his actions so Jesus Christ directs and leads his people 4. Phisice us Anima in Corpore As the Soul in the Body which animates and acts the whole man without which the Body is a dead and liveless Trunck so Jesus Christ doth quicken our soules by whom we have spiritual life And that he is the Head of his Church and thus abides with them First consider He hath all grace and life in him John 5.26 As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself therefore the Psalmist saies Psal 36.9 With thee is the Well of life and in thy light shall we see light Secondly From him is all grace and life conveyed out unto us John 1.16 of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace Yea whatsoever we receive from the Spirit of God we have from him originally as in John 16.15 For he shall take of mine and shew it unto you Thirdly How God and Christ are both said to make their abode with them that keep his word And this I shall shew to be three wayes First by their special Providence and Inspection with them and so we may see them in several Scriptures abiding with them as in Zach. 1.8,9,10 verses there 's Jesus Christ among the 〈…〉 which represent the Church and in Revel 1.13 He is there in the midst of his Golden Candlesticks and David tells us of his experience of Gods presence with him Psal 73.23 I am continually with thee thou upholdest me with thy right hand and the Apostle Paul 2 Tim. 4.17 The Lord stood by me indeed the eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous and he hath said he will not leave them Secondly They make their abode with them in the Gospel and Gospel Ordinances where