Sermon: The Saviour’s Joyful Approach

(Continued from page 239 of the last issue)
Rev. Ralph Erskine

THIS is the second part of a sermon, taken with some editing from Ralph Erskine’s Works, which was preached on Saturday, 27th April, 1734, the preparation-day before the sacrament of the Lord’s supper at Abemethy next day. Ralph Erskine (1685-1752), was the son of Henry and the younger brother of Ebenezer. He was minister in Dunfermline and was said to be one of the most popular preachers in the Church. See Church Information in the last issue for a notice about the availability of his Works.

Texts

“Lo, I come!” Psalm 40:7; “The voice of my Beloved! behold he cometh.” Song 2:8.

Editor’s Note

In the first part of the sermon the preacher made these introductory remarks: “These two texts being all I propose to speak of at this time, I shall refer the further explication of them to the prosecution of this doctrinal observation: That Christ’s coming to His people graciously in their time of need, is a joyful and delectable coming, both to Him and them . . . The method I would here endeavour to observe, as the Lord shall be pleased to assist, shall be the following; to show:

1. What comings of Christ to His people are joyful to Him and them.
2. What makes His coming joyful to Him.
3. What makes His coming joyful to them.
4. What expressions of joy in Him are imported in His ‘Lo, I come!’
5. The expressions of joy in them imported in their ‘Behold He cometh!’
6. Whence is this combination of joys; or, why is it that, like a resounding echo, ‘His Lo, I come!’ is answered with a ‘Behold He cometh!’
7. Deduce some inferences for the application of the whole.”

In this second part he continues as follows:

THE sixth thing proposed was, to show whence is this combination and conjunction of joys: or, why is it, that like a resounding echo, His “Lo, I come!” is answered with a “Behold, He cometh!” Whence is this?

1. It proceeds from the mutual relation between Him and His people, between Him and His church. He is the Bridegroom, and she is the bride; He is the Husband, and she is the spouse. He has commanded other husbands to leave father and mother, and to cleave to their wives; and He Himself has done something like that. He that said, “Thy Maker is thy Husband,” left his Father’s bosom for the sake of His bride, saying, “Lo, I come!” The marriage bond being mutual, the church having the Spirit of her glorious Husband, whenever she hears the voice of an approaching Jesus, is obliged to say, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, He cometh!”

2. It proceeds from the mutual sympathy between Him and them; hence, what affects Him, does affect them; what touches them, touches Him. “He that touches you, touches the apple of mine eye,” says Christ: and they stand kindly affected also to Him. This mutual sympathy and love flows from the union between Christ and them. He is the Head and they are the members of His body; and both Head and members being animated by one and the same Spirit, His joy must be their joy. When they come to have His glorious presence in heaven, they are said to enter into the joy of their Lord, and when they have His gracious presence on earth signified to them with a joyful “Lo, I come!” they have some foretaste of entrance into His joy; this makes them say with joy, “Behold, He cometh!”

3. His gracious coming is joyful both to Him and them because of the mutual oneness of nature between Him and them. As He is a partaker of their human nature; so they are partakers of His divine nature, 2 Pet. 1:4. Hence, as He knows their frame and what sort of a voice is most suited to their capacity, and accordingly speaks to them by the whispering of His Spirit in the Word, so they know His voice from the voice of a stranger, John 10:5. They know the sound of His feet upon the mountains.

4. His gracious coming is joyful both to Him and them, because of the mutual agreement in design between Him and them. His ultimate design is the glory of God in their salvation; their ultimate end is the same, even that God may be glorified in their salvation. Now, when He comes to pursue this design so joyfully, they cannot but welcome him joyfully: “Sing, O heavens; and shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel,” Isa. 44:25

5. His gracious coming is joyful both to Him and them, because of the mutual communion between Him and them at meeting. He hath always some good news to bring them from the Father, which He is glad to tell them, and they are glad to hear; and they, on the other hand, have something to tell Him which they cannot tell the world. And as they are glad of His coming to have an opportunity to tell him their mind; so He is glad to hear them. “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely,” Song 2:14. He has something to do with them, and they have something to do with Him; and therefore, when He joyfully draws near to them, they joyfully draw near to Him; and visit each other with endearing embraces. Truly, indeed, His visits are always visits of kindness, and theirs are ordinarily of business. His business is to give, and their business is to get; but then the visits are most sweet, when they are visits of love on both sides.

6. His gracious coming is joyful both to Him and them, because of the mutual interest and concern they have both in the covenant of promise, which is a fountain of joy. It belongs primarily to Christ, in whom the covenant stands fast, and in whom all the promises are yea and amen; and secondarily to believers in Him, who are all the children of the promise. It is promised to Christ, that “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied,” Isa. 53:11. And it is promised to the believer, clothed with the character of a meek person, that, “he shall eat, and shall be satisfied,” Psalm 22:26. Now, when Christ comes graciously to His people, both He and they must be satisfied; for He comes to accomplish the promise made to Himself and to them. Hence mutual satisfaction cannot but take place.

In a word, His joy is the fountain of theirs. Their joy arises from the powerful influence of His joyful approach, upon their joyful reception of Him. His joyful “Lo, I come!” does instantly create their joyful “Lo, He cometh!” He having put an echoing principle within them, the joyful sound of His “Lo, I come!” cannot but meet with a joyful resounding and rebounding of their “Lo, He cometh!”

Seventh: Application of the Subject

VII. The seventh thing proposed, was, to make some application of the subject, by deducing some inferences.

1. Is it so, as it has been said, that Christ’s coming to His people graciously in their time of need is a joyful and delectable coming, to both Him and them? Truly it is so, and therefore we may see what it is that would make a sweet communion day among us, amidst these sad and lowering days wherein we live. We live in sinful and sorrowful days, but Christ’s joyful approach with a “Lo, I come!” would make a joyful day among us at this occasion. And O that He would speak powerfully, so that many here may be made to say, “The voice of my Beloved! behold He cometh!” He can make the gospel trumpet convey His voice. Indeed, if the devil and his instruments could get their will, you would not enjoy a gospel ministry; and if our rowers, that have brought the Church of Scotland into deep waters, had got their will, this and some others would have been vacant congregations. There would have been no communion solemnities here when men would have shut the gospel-door. O, may God Himself come and open the door, and open the mouths of ministers, and make His voice to be heard, even His joyful “Lo, I come! I come to give you a little reviving in your bondage. When men are most unkind, I come to show my kindness.” As it is said in Daniel 9, verse 25, “The wall shall be built in troublous times.” The times we live in are troublous and perilous times, in respect of sin, error, apostasy, and defection from Reformation purity and principles; a time wherein the rights and principles of poor people are injured, the office of the ministry retrenched, faithful ministers ejected, and the power of Presbytery invaded; a time of confusion in Church and State, at home and abroad; a time wherein God’s wrath is threatened to be poured out. These are indeed perilous times, but hath the Lord said, “The wall shall be built up in perilous times”? O, may this perilous time be a building time, according to the word, “When the Lord shall build up Zion, he will appear in his glory,” Psalm 102:16. Let us seek a glorious appearance of the Lord at this occasion: and what do we know but He is saying, even with reference to this very time, “Lo, I come!” O may we hear His voice, and say with joy, “Behold He cometh!”

2. See from our subject the sweetness of fellowship with God in Christ. Why, it is partaking of His joy and happiness, His glory and triumph. It is a meeting His joyful “Lo, I come!” with our joyful “Behold, He cometh!” Happy are the sheep of Christ who know His voice! And, Oh! how miserable are you who hear, and yet do not know the joyful sound! Why, it is their hearing His voice therein, His joyful voice, that gives them a joyful heart. But, what makes these same ordinances such a burden and weariness to you, poor graceless man? Why, you have never heard the voice of Christ: His loving voice, His majestic voice, His powerful voice that goes out-through and in-through the heart, and penetrates and ransacks the secret recesses of the soul. What makes believers lament the absence of Christ? When their joy is removed. They are always either rejoicing in His presence, or lamenting His absence, except when they fall into a nap of security till His joyful voice awake them again. But, alas! what makes you, poor Christless sinners, live an unconcerned life though Christ should be never so long away? Why, you are not acquainted with His coming and going, nor with the sweetness of communion with Him. But, O poor soul, may it not stir you up to seek after acquaintance with Him, to hear that the believer’s joyful communion is no less than a partaking of the joy of his Lord. Christ’s joy is their joy, though not of the same measure: for Christ is anointed with the oil of joy and gladness above His fellows. Yet it is of the same quality, for they have fellowship with Him in His joy, whenever He comes to them.

3. Hence see also the difference between the law and the gospel, or between the voice of God in the law and the voice of God in the gospel. His voice in the law is a terrible and dreadful voice, for therein He comes in wrath, with holy threatenings and curses. But the voice of Christ in the gospel is a charming voice, a joyful sound of salvation to sinners, and a door of hope. Whatever word tends to work despair, and to leave a man hopeless, is the voice of the law; but the gospel shows the door of hope in the valley of Achor, and that with the pleasant sound of grace, mercy, pardon, and pity: “Lo, I come!” Hence, as the law is never preached to good purpose, except in a subserviency to the gospel, so gospel believers are these who first have believed the law, or heard God’s voice in the law, which hath made them despair of all help in themselves and of their own righteousness and duty. And next, they have believed the gospel, or heard Christ’s voice therein, which has brought them to a lively hope, yea to joy and peace in believing.

4. Hence see both the nature of faith and of unbelief. On the one hand, we may, from this doctrine, see the nature of faith, in its correspondence with its objects; both its immediate object, the word; and its principal object, Christ, the speaker, whose voice sounds in our ears by this gospel. The word says, “Behold, He cometh!” and faith says, “Behold, he cometh!” Christ says, “Behold! Lo, I come!” and faith says, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” The gospel is nothing else but a proclamation of Christ’s coming; His coming to give life. His coming to save sinners by the price of His blood and the power of His Spirit is a setting the seal to a present “Lo,” with a present “Behold.” The first act of faith looks neither backward to what is posterior, such as the decree of God or the design of Christ and His intention in dying; nor does it look forward to anterior things, as if it believed a state of salvation that is to come; but it looks to a present truth, a present saying (as the gospel is called, ‘a faithful saying’) and so to a present “Lo”. “Lo, I come! and offer myself to you man, to you woman. Lo, I come! and bring salvation with me.” Faith, under the influence of the Spirit, says, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh! I hear the voice of God speaking to me through the Word, and inviting me, the chief of sinners. And I joyfully welcome His coming with salvation unto me.” There is a persuasion and appropriation in it to the man’s self; and according to the measure of this particular application to itself, such is the measure of joy. There would be no joy at all, if the soul should put away the message from himself. But receiving it to himself, he rejoices in the voice of Christ as his Beloved.

But it shows us also the nature of unbelief, on the other hand. The evil heart of unbelief contradicts the word of Christ. Christ says, “Lo, I come!” Unbelief says, “O He will not come. No, no. He will never come to the like of me.” Indeed, a believer may say, and hath good reason to say, “I fear my sins provoke Him to stay away, and it will be a wonder if He come to the like of me.” But it is gross unbelief to say, “He will not come, I do not expect so much at His hand.” And hence unbelief is said to make God a liar: it contradicts and blasphemes. O to get faith this day, to welcome Jesus in His saying, “Lo, I come!” and to expect good at His hand.

You ask, “How shall I know, if He ever came thus to me?”

For helping you in this important inquiry I would ask you these few things following: first, were you ever made sensible of the dreadful distance between Him and you; a dismal distance, a damnable distance, an invincible and insuperable distance? Have you seen an utter impossibility of saving yourself from it, unless the Lord had come to you? This is the Lord’s ordinary way. When He brings to light, He makes sensible of darkness; when He brings to life, He makes sensible of deadness and lifelessness; when He brings to faith, He makes sensible of unbelief; when He brings to love, He makes sensible of enmity; when He brings to holiness, He makes sensible of wickedness; and when He brings to acquaintance, He makes sensible of estrangement; and before He comes near, He makes sensible of distance.

Secondly, have you heard His voice saying, “Lo, I come!” Have you heard, not the voice of ministers only, but the voice of the chief Shepherd? Did you know it to be His voice, by the majesty of it, by the power that attended it, by the sweetness that was in it? Has the gospel come to you not in word only but in power? 1 Thes 1:5. Was there such light, life, liberty, and joy accompanying the voice as made you sure at the time that it was not the voice of man but of God?

Thirdly, have you seen Him coming, and apprehended Him by the light of the Spirit? Have you seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Have you seen His fulness, suitableness and sweetness; His glory and excellency; by a light shining not into the head only, but also in the heart? It is a spiritual light. Flesh and blood cannot reveal it, education and external revelation cannot contribute unto it, without supernatural revelation.

Fourthly, have you joyfully welcomed a coming Jesus, saying in effect, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold He cometh”? Have you realised the mountains that were between Him and you, particularly the mountains of sin and guilt? Has this accented your joy, that He came over all the mountains, and melted the mountains, and made your heart to melt before Him also, because of your heaping up such mountains between Him and you?

Fifthly, what communion have you had with Him? What mutual embracement? Did you get Him in your arms, and wrestle with Him for the blessing? Did you get grace to call him your Beloved, and to lie in His bosom, and melt in tears of joy? I know there may be communion and fellowship with Him, even where this is not the attainment; but something like this joy ordinarily takes place, when He and His people meet together, after some black intervening clouds have kept them long asunder; when His joyful “Lo, I come!” meets with that joyful salutation, “Behold, He cometh! it is the voice of my Beloved!”

Sixthly, what are the fruits and effects of His coming? Beholding His glory, were you changed? Surely, if there was never a change wrought upon you, but that you remain as vain, frothy, and carnal in your conversation and deportment as ever, He has not come to you. But has His coming embittered sin, and made you differ with yourself, and submit to His righteousness for your justification, and to His holiness for your sanctification? His great errand is, like His name Jesus, to save His people from their sins; from the guilt of sin, by His merit and righteousness, and from the power of sin, by His Spirit and grace. What joy has His coming raised in you? Surely, the joy of His salvation. As it is a sin-killing joy, so it is a soul-strengthening joy. The joy of the Lord is their strength, Neh. 8:10. Did this joy strengthen you to believe, and strengthen you to pray, and strengthen you to hope, and strengthen you to wait upon Him, and strengthen you to serve Him and to run the way of His commandments with enlargement of heart?

You ask, “Are there any signs of His coming? What are the indications of His coming?”

I answer first, It would be a token of His coming, if we were sensible of, and afflicted for, His absence, saying, “O that I knew where I might find Him!” and had a longing desire after Him, saying, “O when wilt thou come?” He will satisfy the longing desire.

Another sign of His coming is, if we were seeking after Him, and wrestling with Him for the blessing. He is near to them that call upon Him, and those who seek Him shall find Him.

A further sign is, if we were waiting for Him in His appointed way, for they who wait upon Him shall have to say, “This is our God,” Isa. 25:9.

The fourth sign is, if we were finding ourselves to have a name to which the promise opens a door of hope. Is there any hope of His coming for a poor insolvent bankrupt, who fears that the word of the Lord is against him? Why, that man is in the promise: “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit,” Isa. 66:2. Is there any hope of His coming to a poor, needy creature, who can find no relief to its soul? Yes, that case is in the promise: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, I the Lord will hear, I the God of Israel will not forsake them,” Isa 41:17.

We shall now shut up the whole discourse with a word by way of exhortation. Is Christ saying, “Lo, I come”? O sirs, hear and believe, so as you may cry out joyfully, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” For motives, to hear and believe, consider:

First, Who it is that speaketh: it is God in our nature, Immanuel, God with us. The word of salvation is to you, sinners, as well as to you, saints. His voice is, “Lo, I come, to save sinners; I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; yea, to you, O men, do I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.”

Consider that He says it with a “Lo!” that all the world may give attention to it. “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken ye people from afar,” Isa. 69:1. He is speaking to the isles, particularly to the isle Britain, that has long refused to hear His voice. The gospel is to be preached to every creature.

Think also of the reason why He is saying to you in this gospel, “Lo, I come to save sinners,” is that sinners may welcome Him and say, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” Even the first welcome of faith may be in these terms, and should be so. His manifesting Himself thus in the word is the ground of faith, though His manifesting Himself by the Spirit is the cause of faith and absolutely necessary to create that faith. But as faith comes by hearing, so hear, O sinners. Hear this word as the voice of the Spirit of Christ: Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Listen to the Word till you hear and understand that it is the Spirit of Christ; or, Christ, by his Spirit, speaking to you and saying, “Lo, I come to you.”

You object, “Christ speaks not here to me, but to His Father, saying, Lo, I come! I delight to do thy will, O my God’.” I answer, That it is the better for you and me, and the surer ground of faith and hope, for it is a word to His Father concerning us, and about His coming to save us. It were sure enough, if it were spoken immediately to us; but it is still the surer that it is said to the Father concerning us. And He will not retract what He hath said.

Therefore, consider also that His coming in the Spirit, to accomplish salvation by power, is as surely to take place, as His coming in the flesh has already taken place. Therefore, when He says, “Lo, I come to save by the power of my Spirit,” let faith say, “Behold he cometh to save me.”

You object, “But has He purposed to save us all? If not, how can there be ground for us all to believe?”

I answer, Whom He has purposed to save is a secret; but whom He calls to believe and look to Him for salvation is not secret. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,” Isa. 45:22. And faith, as I said before, is not to look to any secret, either past or to come, but to the word of salvation, to a present “Lo, I come!” And if you venture on His word, without more questions, we can assure you, from His word, you are safe. Take Him at His word when He says, “Lo, I come!”

Fifthly, consider this also as a motive to hear and believe: that mountains are no hindrances to Him. He comes skipping on the mountains, and leaping on the hills. There is a mountain of darkness in your mind, a mountain of obstinacy in your wills, a mountain of carnality and earthliness in your affections, mountains of guilt lying on your consciences, and mountains of objections, doubts, and fears, in your hearts, but all these are nothing to Him. Therefore, O take His word for it: “Lo, I come!” and say, “Behold, He cometh; skipping on the mountains.” He can come over them all with one leap, with one skip.

Sixthly, consider that it is His joyful voice, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, “Lo, I come!” He was glad to come in the flesh then, and He is as glad to come in the Spirit now, according to His promise. O sirs, will you not gladly welcome Him? O! is He saying so gladly, “Lo, I come?” What are you saying, poor soul? If you cannot say, “The voice of my Beloved!” then O will you say, “It is the voice of the Beloved of the Father, who has said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ “? And if you welcome Him as the Father’s Beloved, you are quite safe. If you cannot say, “Behold, He cometh!” just now, yet will you say, “He that shall come will come;” and wait upon Him in His own way? He waits to be gracious; and He is a God of judgement; “Blessed are all they that wait for Him,” Isa. 30:18. Again, if you cannot say, “Behold, He cometh to my observation,” yet you will say, “Even so, come Lord Jesus, come quickly?” and thus pray for His coming graciously and mercifully, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come to merciful judgement against all my lusts, and prepare me for thy general judgement. Come in the Spirit. Come in power and great glory at this occasion.” O He comes skipping and leaping! Let your hearts leap within you at the thoughts of it.

You object, “But I do not feel, I do not see His coming.”

I say, “Blessed are they that believe, and have not seen.” If you do not see and feel, yet do you not hear Him say, “Lo, I come”? Faith comes by hearing, not by seeing. When you hear His word, you hear His feet upon the mountains; therefore, against hope believe in hope, saying, “Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief. It is the voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!”

Well, sirs, what think you, will He not come to the feast? Have we no reason to think that He will come? Yea, I think we have. Why, it is a time of need among His poor people; and His throne of grace is erected for a time of need. Therefore we are called to come boldly to it that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

It is a time of trouble and distress, and He is a present help in time of trouble, and a refuge for the oppressed. It is a time wherein many of His people are in a wilderness of darkness and despondency, and He has said, “I will bring her to the wilderness, and there I will speak comfortably to her,” or, “into her heart.” It is a time wherein many of His people, from all corners, and I hope, many praying people, are met about His means of grace; and He has said, “Where two or three are met together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them.” It is a time wherein some of His servants, and many of His people, are like outcasts in the Church, despised and cast out by the judicatories; and He hath spoken His word of gathering the outcasts of Israel, Zeph. 3:18, Isa. 56:8, and Psalm 147:2, “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.”

Why then, shall we not expect His coming, when, at the same time, He is saying, “Lo, I come”? May faith’s joyful echo in our hearts say, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!”