not in you you have no Interest in him and his deliverance 3. If you have an interest in Christ you have Love you love Christ in sincerity Eph. 6. 24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity and you love Christ with the supremacy of your love Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me If any Man or Woman love any person or thing in the world more than Jesus Christ they are unworthy of him and they have no interest in him or any of his benefits and therefore a dreadful curse is pronounced upon such as do not love Christ 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha that is let him be cursed until the Lord come and when the Lord cometh the wrath of God also will come upon him If you have an interest in Christ you have likeness you are like unto Christ you have his Image upon you Jesus Christ is formed in you Gal. 4. 19. You are like to Christ in your disposition in humility meekness Heavenliness and the like you are not perfectly like to him yet in some measure and you imitate him more and more and endeavour after more conformity unto his Image where Pride Reigns instead of Humility where inordidate anger reigns instead of meekness where malice and revenge reigns instead of Love and forgiveness where the love of the world reigns instead of Heavenly minded ness where evil concupiscence reigns instead of mortified affections such are without likeness to Christ and they are without interest in Christ they that are graceless are also Christless and they cannot escape future wrath 5. If you have an interest in Christ you have Obedience your Faith showeth it self in your works Sam. 2. 18. And your love sheweth it self in your keeping Christ's Commandments John 14. 21. Such as do not obey Christ's but cast his Commandments behinds their back and will not that this Lord should rule over them they have neither Faith nor Love nor Life nor Likeness unto Christ and therefore be sure no interest in him Try your interest in Christ the only Deliverer from future wrath by these marks Vse 3. For Reproof and Terrour If upon search you find you are without an interest in Christ suffer the word of reproof Sinners what do you think is there no such thing as wrath to come is there no such place as Hell where the damned shall be eternally tormented what black-mouth is there that dareth to speak against this which is so clearly revealed in the Word of God surely none but such as are children of the Devil the Father of lyes will impeach the Word of God with falsehood and hereby make God a lyar who hath foretold this so plainly in the Scripture only such as are loose in their lives and deficient in their morals whose interest they think it is to do it will deny the punishment by eternal fire in Hell that so they might sin with the less check and control but when they come to feell the heat of this fire as of all others they are most like to be cast into everlasting burnings then they will be of another mind And if there be such dreadful wrath coming such a horrible fire preparing in Hell for all disobedient persons for all impenitent persons for all hypocrites and unbelievers what do you do sinners have ye not sinned have ye not by your sins deserved and are ye not by your sins exposed unto the vengeance of eternal fire is there any way for you to escape but only by Jesus Christ the only Deliverer from wrath to come and yet do you neglect him do you refuse and reject him do you shut the door of your hearts against him What! do you mind only your bodies what ye shall eat what ye shall drink and wherewithall ye shall be Clothed and to provide for a short abode in this world and in the mean time negect the Salvation of your Souls and take no care to prevent your everlasting punishment Are you not guilty of a great affront and indignity against God when he hath made such provision for your Salvation as to send his Son into the World for you and to proffer his Son with deliverance to you don 't you sin against his chief command which is to believe in and accept of this Son don 't you sin against the greatest impression of his love unto mankind don 't you spurn at his bowles and in effect say God might have kept his Son to himself for any thing you care are you not guilty of the greatest ingratitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ Never was there such a thing heard of since the foundation of the world never could such a thing have entred into your thoughts or desires as the Lord Jesus hath freely and of his own accord done for you and it is a most stupendous thing which me thinks should fill you with astonishment and admiration that the Lord of glory should take your flesh and make himself of no reputation and humble himself unto death even the cursed death of the Cross and all that he might deliver you from the curse of the Law the wrath to come and the pains of Hell for ever now when Christ by his death hath fully satisfied God's justice for your sins and purchased eternal life for your souls and out of wonderful kindness hath caused the everlasting Gospel and glad tidings of Salvation to be made known in this little nook of the Earth and cast your lot in such a spot of ground as the like is not to be found again under the whole Cop of Heaven for the pure and powerful Preaching of the Gospel I say when Jesus Christ hath sent his faithful Ministers unto you whom you may find and hear if you will look after them with this Embassage to tell you what Christ hath done for you and to make tenders of him with all his benefits to you when Christ by them lets you know how able and willing he is to Save you and knocks at the door of your hearts for entertainment that though you are such helpless and miserable Creatures without him you should notwithstanding all thus refuse Christ or neglect him that you should prefere some base lusts before him and to serve the Devil than to be saved by Christ hereby you express great contempt of Christ and are guilty of horrid ingratitude hereby you trample his Blood under your feet and you do in effect say he might have spar'd his pains in coming down from Heaven that he might have stai'd untill he had been sent for that he might have carried his Gospel to any other place for any thing you value it or him thus you deal with Christ and thrust him away from you though he come upon the most welcome errand and ought to be received with all readiness and thankfulness And
my heart to add Drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this Book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven Moreover we read Gal. 3. 13. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Such as are guilty of any transgression of the Law whilst out of Christ are under the curse and lyable unto Gods Wrath and it is said Heb. 3. 2. That every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward Hence it is that the children of disobedience are called children of Wrath Eph. 2. 2 3. 2. The wrath of God will come upon all Hypocrites it is more peculiarly appropriated unto them as their portion Matth. 24. 51. He shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Whoever escape Gods wrath hypocrites shall not escape whoever are pardoned hypocrites shall be punished such as have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof such as make some show of outward reformation but are without inward transformation such as are like Painted Sepulchres fair and beautiful without but within full of rottenness such who make it their great business to appear Religious and take no care to be Religious but are rotten at heart and cover carnal designs with a cloke of profession as their sin is most offensive unto God here so his wrath will certainly come upon them with the greatest severity hereafter 3. The wrath of God will come upon all impenitent and unbelieving persons Luke 13. 3. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned Repentance and Faith are two great duties of the Gospel and wrath is particularly threatned to such as do not obey the Gospel to such God will render indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish Rom. 2. 8 9. And Christ will come in flaming Fire to take vengeance upon them 2 Thess 1. 8. Such as are impenitent and unbelievers neglect the Salvation of the Gospel which by Faith in Christ alone is attainable and sinning against the only remedy they cannot escape Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Fourthly When this wrath of God will come 1. The wrath of God will come in part upon the wicked immediately after the separation of their Soul from the Body the souls of the wicked assoon as they are loosned by death from the ruinous Habitation of their bodies they presently appear before God and are condemned to Hell and dragd by the Devil the Jaylor into that Prison where they are bound in Chains of Darkness filled with horrour and anguish until the day of eternal Judgement The Scripture tells us of disobedient Spirits thrown into Prison 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. 2. The Wrath of God will come in full upon all the wicked together at the last day called the day of Judgement and Perdition of the Ungodly 2 Pet. 3. 7. When the Lord Jesus shall come to Judge the World he will bring the Treasures of Gods wrath with him and render unto all the wicked that wrath and vengeance which is their due and therefore this day is called The day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Judgement of God Rom. 2. 5. This will be a dreadful day unto the wicked when the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and like a Stoll be rolled together and the Elements shall melt with frevent heat and be dissolved when the Sun shall become black as Sack-cloth of Hair and the Moon become like Blood when the powers of Heaven shall be shaken and the Stars shall fall from Heaven unto the Earth like Figgs from their Tree when it is shaken with a mighty Wind when there shall be Thunderings exceeding loud and Lightnings and Tempest exceeding horrid when the last Trumpet shall sound and a mighty shout shall come down from above and awaken all the Sinners that are asleep in the dust when Christ the great Judge of the World shall come forth from his Fathers house and make his appearance in the World with Millions of mighty Angels and all the Saints at his right hand clothed with Majesty and brightness of Glory and when the wicked shall come forth of their Graves and so soon as they shall open their eyes shall see Heaven and Earth on Fire about their Ears and the Lord Jesus coming towards them in flaming Fire to take vengeance upon them so soon as they open their ears shall hear the dreadful Trumpet and Shout in the Air and the Howlings and Lamentations of all their fellow Sinners about them upon the Earth O the dread and confusion which the wicked then shall be filled with when they are summoned and dragged to the Tribunal Seat of Christ and there have the Books opened before them where all their fins are written and which then will be made manifest unto the whole World and when the Sentence Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire shall be passed upon them and when the Lord shall open the Treasures of Wrath unto them and give them that portion thereof which is their due and when they shall see the mouth of Hell open beneath them and an horrible flame issuing forth from thence giving notice of a more horrible fire within which is prepared for them O the dread O the shreeks Who can dwell with such devouring Fire Who can inhabit such everlasting burnings How welcome would a great Rock or Mountain be if they could find any that would fall upon them and hid them from the wrath of the Lamb and keep off the strokes of Gods vengeance which then will be inflicted upon them but the Sentence being pronounced the Execution will follow and none can escape it from Christ's tribunal Seat the wicked will be rhrown into the fiery Prison of Hell where they will be shut down and shut in and that for ever there they will lye there they will fry and there they will cry and though always dying yet they will never dye the fire there will burn most dreadfully and continually and never be extinguished and the wicked will be tormented there in every part and in extremity and their torment will never be ended Fifthly Who this Jesus is that doth deliver from Wrath to come In the Text he is called Jesus and the reason of this name we shall find Matth. 1. 21. Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall Save his People from their Sins This Jesus is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Man in one Person he is the Eternal Son of God of the same Essence with the Father equal to him in Power and Glory who before the world was appointed in time to be the Redeemer of Mankind and when
of such high dignity of such admirable beauty and such wonderful Love as the Lord Jesus Christ who came down from the Father and clothed himself with our nature for this end that he might become our Saviour and Redeemer our Surety and Advocat and that he might deliver us from wrath to come 2. See here the value of Christ's Death without shedding of Blood there is no Remission Heb. 9. 22. And if no remission then no deliverance from wrath to come if guilt doth remain punishment will ensue and that of God's eternal wrath in Hell It was not the blood of Bulls and Goats Sacrificed under the Law that could remove guilt and procure remission of Sin Heb. 10. 4. For it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin But it was through Christ's Sacrifice of himself once for all and shedding of his blood upon the Cross that Remission of sins and by consequence this deliverance from wrath to come was purchased It was not thousands of Rams or ten thousand rivers of Oil or all the Treasures of the Earth that could have procured remission of Sin because all this would have been no satisfaction unto Gods Justice but the Blood of Jesus who is God-man hath satisfied Gods Justice by his death Christ hath paid the full price which was due for sin surely then his death is of greater value than the riches were there so many of ten thousand worlds 3. Here see the excellency of Faith we read in the first Epistle of Peter of a precious Christ Chap. 2. 7. And of Christ's precious Blood Chap. 1. 19. And of precious Faith also Chap. 1. 7. Of all other graces Faith is called precious and it hath above other graces a peculiar excellency not in respect of it self so much but in regard of it's object as it doth give Interest in the precious Christ and make application of his precious Blood whereby we come to attain a share in this deliverance by Christ from wrath to come Christ is most precious as the Author of our deliverance Christ death is most precious as the merit of our deliverance and Faith is most precious as the instrument of our deliverance 4. Here see what a Priviledge it is to have the Gospel Preached amongst us which is a means to make discovery unto us of Jesus Christ the only Deliverer from wrath to come as also to work Faith in us which cometh by hearing Rom. 10. 17. Whereby alone we come to have Interest in Jesus Christ and his deliverance Such as are without the Gospel are in darkness and unbelief and are hastening forward towards the regions of eternal darkness and they know not whither they are going It is of more use to have the Light of the Gospel than to have the light of the Sun and the total removal of this light is a greater judgement than any temporal calamity since it is the means to prevent eternal misery Vse 2. For Examination Is Jesus the only Deliverer from wrath to come it concerneth all of you them to examine your selves whether you have an Interest in this Jesus and the deliverance from wrath which he hath purchased and through him alone is to be obtain'd All of you are Sinners you were born in sin and you have liv'd in sin and should you dye in sin too as certainly as the guilt of sin doth lye upon you so certainly will the wrath of God come upon you without an Interest in Jesus Christ there can be no escaping for you you may know whether you have an Interest in Jesus Christ by your Faith by your Life by your Love by your Likeness and by your Obedience 1. If you have an Interest in Jesus Christ then you have Faith I don't mean an Historical Faith only to believe the History and report which the Gospel doth give of Jesus Christ what he hath done and suffered nor a temporary Faith which is the food presumption of some formal hypocrites whereby they may seem to cleave unto Christ when indeed their hearts cleave chiefly to sin whereby through misapprehension of Gospel Priviledges and misapplication of Gospel promises they may attain unto some kind of fleshly love and joy which endures but a while and they usually if put upon great tryals do end in open Apostacy But if you have an Interest in Christ indeed you have a true justifying Faith whereby being first convinced of sin humbled and emptied of your selves resolvedly parting with all your sins as to affection and sincerely renouncing all your own righteousness as to dependance you cast your selves upon Christ lean and depend upon him expecting remission and Salvation alone through his perfect righteousness made yours by imputation Have you by Faith discerned Christ have you by Faith applyed Christ are you by Faith joyned unto Christ have you been by Faith taken off your own bottoms and built upon Christ the chief corner stone have you by Faith been cut off your old Stock and engrossed into Christ the choice Vine have you by Faith been divorsed from sin and married unto Christ the best Husband are you indeed got unto and into Christ by Faith and have you received him into your hearts by Faith without this true faith there can be no true union to Christ without union to Christ there can be no Interest in Christ without Interest in Christ there can be no remission of sin no Salvation and deliverance from wrath to come 2. If you have an Interest in Christ you have Life 1 John 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not life He that hath an Interest in Christ the Son of God hath life he shall have Eternal life hereafter and he hath Spiritual life which is eternal life begun here such besides their natural life which they receiv'd from their Parents in their generation they have a principle of spiritual life which they receive from the Spirit of God in their regeneration they are the only persons that are quickned from their Spiritual death but he that hath not the Son hath not life such shall never see life hereafter but the wrath of God abideth on them John 3. 36. And they are spiritually dead here they are dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. You may know whether you have an Interest in Jesus Christ by your spiritual Life I do not say by your constant liveliness this may be wanting at sometimes in true believers but you may know it by your spiritual life you were dead but you are alive and you may know your spiritual life by your spiritual motion from sin and towards God by your spiritual senses to discern between good and evil by your spiritual appetite after Christ and his righteousness and communion with God in his ordinances and the like if these be no symptoms of this spiritual life in you it is a sign that Christ is not in you and if Christ be