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T H E By J O H N.B U N Y A N. 1659. The last book John Bunyan wrote before being placed in Bedford Prison for twelve years. |
TWO HELL-BRED OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
bject. If it be so, then one need not care what they do; they
may sin and sin again, seeing Christ hath made satisfaction. [The first objection].
Answ. If I were to point out one that was under the power of the devil, and going
post-haste to Hell, for my life I would look no farther for such a man than to him
that would make such a use as this of the grace of God. What, because Christ is a
Saviour, thou wilt be a sinner! because His grace abounds, therefore thou wilt abound
in sin! O wicked wretch! rake Hell all over, and surely I think thy fellow will scarce
be found! And let me tell thee this before I leave thee—as God's covenant with Christ
for His children, which are of faith, stands sure, immutable, unrevocable, and unchangeable,
so also hath God taken such a course with thee, that unless thou canst make God forswear
Himself, it is impossible that thou shouldst go to Heaven, dying in that condition—"They
tempted Me, proved Me," and turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, "so
I sware," mark that, "so I sware," and that in My wrath, too, that
they should never enter into My rest. Compare Hebrews 3:9-11, with 1 Corinthians
10:5-10. No, saith God; if Christ will not serve their turns, but they must have
their sins too, take them, Devil; if Heaven will not satisfy them, take them, Hell;
devour them, Hell; scald them, fry them, burn them, Hell! God hath more places than
one to put sinners into. If they do not like Heaven, He will fit them with Hell;
if they do not like Christ, they shall be forced to have the devil. Therefore we
must and will tell of the truth of the nature of the Covenant of Grace of God to
His poor saints for their encouragement and for their comfort, who would be glad
to leap at Christ upon any terms; yet therewith, we can tell how, through grace,
to tell the hogs and sons of this world what a hog-sty there is prepared for them,
even such an one that God hath prepared to put the devil and his angels into, is
fitly prepared for them (Matt 25:41).
Object. But if Christ hath given God a full and complete satisfaction, then though
I do go on in sin, I need not fear, seeing God hath already been satisfied. [The
second objection]. It will be injustice in God to punish for those sins for which
He is already satisfied for by Christ.
Answ. Rebel, rebel, there are some in Christ and some out of Him. 1. They that are
in Him have their sins forgiven, and they themselves made new creatures, and have
the Spirit of the Son, which is a holy, living, self-denying Spirit. And they that
are thus in Jesus Christ are so far off from delighting in sin, that sin is the greatest
thing that troubleth them; and O how willing would they be rid of the very thoughts
of it (Psa 119:113). It is the grief of their souls, when they are in a right frame
of spirit, that they can live no more to the honour and glory of God than they do;
and in all their prayers to God, the breathings of their souls are as much sanctifying
grace as pardoning grace, that they might live a holy life. They would as willing
live holy here as they would be happy in the world to come; they would as willingly
be cleansed from the filth of sin as to have the guilt of it taken away; they would
as willingly glorify God here as they would be glorified by Him hereafter (Phil 3:6-22).
2. But there are some that are out of Christ, being under the Law; and as for all
those, let them be civil or profane, they are such as God accounts wicked; and I
say, as for those, if all the angels in Heaven can drag them before the judgment-seat
of Christ, they shall be brought before it to answer for all their ungodly deeds;
and being condemned for them, if all the fire in Hell will burn them, they shall
be burned there, if they die in that condition (Jude 15). And, therefore, if you
love your souls, do not give way to such a wicked spirit. "Let no man deceive
you with" such "vain words," as to think, because Christ hath made
satisfaction to God for sin, therefore you may live in your sins. O no, God forbid
that any should think so, "for because of these things cometh the wrath of God
upon the children of disobedience" (Eph 5:6).
Thus have I, reader, given thee a brief discourse touching the Covenant of Works
and the Covenant of Grace, also of the nature of the one, together with the nature
of the other. I have also in this discourse endeavoured to show you the condition
of them that are under the Law, how sad it is, both from the nature of the covenant
they are under, and also by the carriage of God unto them by that covenant. And now,
because I would bring all into as little a compass as I can, I shall begin with the
use and application of the whole in as brief a way as I can, desiring the Lord to
bless it to thee.
THE SECOND PART
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