Romans 5:10

[Page: 1]

We shall be saved by his Life. (Romans 5:10)

The Apostle in this Chapter speaking of the glorious Benefits which Believers receive from Jesus Christ In my Text he leads us on to the Perfection & Confirmation of all these Benefits in their eternal Salvation,

In the words are two things observable viz. first The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead

[Page: 2]

Christ's Resurrection is a thing taken for granted, as known, evident & approved of he lives and will live forever & then

—The Certainty of the Believer's Salvation arising from the Resurrection of Christ we shall be saved by his Life, the Believers Salvation is a Truth, a Certainty is necessarily followed from Christ's Resurrection. In speaking to these Words I shall establish this doctrinal Truth viz.

[Page: 3]

That Christ's Resurrection from the dead or his Life gives the greatest Certainty to the Believer's Salvation. In doing which I shall show

I. In what the Believer's Salvation doth consist

II. How the Life of Christ gives the utmost Certainty hereto.

I. I am to shew In what the Believer's Salvation doth consist: Now it is plain to the Capacity of all that as Man consists of two essential constituent Parts

[Page: 4]

viz. Body & Soul, so if these two Parts of the man are really safe from all the Danger & Misery that threaten them then the Man may by said to be saved & not otherwise.

—The Believer's Salvation then lies in the Safety of his Body, its being secured in an immortal Life: the grand & last Enemy is Death, if therefore therefore the body can be so secured against

[Page: 5]

the Injury that this Enemy can do it as to live forever then is the Body safe, & whether the Body be secure from the Arrest of Death as Enoch's & Elijah's were; or if it be arrested by Death it shall not always be detained a Prisoner by it, but in a little time its Chains shall be knocked off and it shall rise triumphant out of the Grave & be no more capable of dying but live forever, it

[Page: 6]

amounts to the same thing, for tho it may be laid in the Grave for a Time & see Corruption, yet if it shall be certainly raised from the Grave & then be confirmed an immortal Body & exist in health & Vigor thru Eternity it may in very great & strict Propriety of Speech be said to be Safe, and all the Injury that Death can do it while it has it in its Power

[Page: 7]

is only in order to its being purged from that moral Defilement which while a vitiated Soul inhabited it, it was polluted with, that it may receive its Form anew entirely pure & because pure, incapable of dying forever thus is the Believer's Body Safe; if his Body was to be always under the Power of Death, however it should fare with his Soul he could not be said to be saved because One essential

[Page: 8]

constituent part of him would be lost, but inasmuch as the Believer’s Body tho it shall die shall be raised from the dead & live forever, he is so far saved & this it shall do: for we are told with respect to the Body of Believers As in Adam, all die so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22) & thus the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death (1 Corinthians 15:26) & we are also told what kind of Bodies those are that shall be

[Page: 9]

raised, it is sown in Corruption says the Apostle, it is raised in Incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:42) & our Savior assures us of those Resurrection Bodies, that they can die no more: And

—The Believer's Salvation also lies in the Safety & Happiness of his Soul: the Soul is the essential & more noble part of the man, and if it were possible for the Body to be safe, yet if the Soul be not safe too, the man cannot be said to be saved

[Page: 10]

because his better part is left. Now the Safety of the Soul doth not consist in its bare Existence or its being subject to such a death as the Body is subject to for the Soul is immortal in its Nature & can never die or be dissolved; but its Safety consists in its being completely happy & that forever for however it may have an eternal Existence, yet if that eternal State be to it an endless Continuance of Misery, it will then

[Page: 11]

surely be at the utmost Distance from Salvation, accordingly those Souls that perish forever under the wrath of God, are not said to be saved or to live but to be destroyed forever: When therefore the Happiness of the Soul is secured in the Favor of God, & it partakes of an endless Duration of continued & uninterrupted Satisfaction & the Enjoyment of those Pleasures that are every way equal to its Nature & its pure & enlarged

[Page: 12]

Desires then is it saved & hence its Salvation is set forth to us by that of seeing God, blessed are the pure in heart says our Savior for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8) & it is called an entering into the Joy of our Lord (Matthew 25:21) & thus the Soul of every Believer shall be saved in an everlasting Participation of the beatific Vision & the Happiness & Glory of Heaven for we are assured that whoso-

[Page: 13]

ever believeth on the Son of God shall not perish but have everlasting Life (John 3:16) , he shall partake of everlasting Life in his Soul as well as Body in that his Soul shall be completely happy in an entire freedom from all the miseries both of moral and penal Evil and in the full possession of all the good, pleasure & Satisfaction it is capable of: So that the Believer is saved when his Soul & Body —

[Page: 14]

live & he is completely happy in both and that forever. Which leads me to shew—

II. How the Life of Christ or his Resurrection gives the utmost certainty to this Salvation: Here I shall say it renders this Salvation certain. In that his Life or Resurrection is the fullest Evidence of the Perfection & Completeness of his Satisfaction to the Justice of God for the Sins of Beli-

[Page: 15]

evers. The great End & Design of Christ's Incarnation & Death was that as a Surety for Believers he might satisfy divine Justice for their Offenses. Christ had no need on his own Account or without Respect to the welfare of mankind to have taken upon him the Form of a Servant & become incarnate in our Nature & after he became incarnate there was no

[Page: 16]

Reason that he should die for himself on Account of his having deserved Death for he was perfectly innocent & guiltless it was only as a Surety for man that he took upon the human Nature & submitted to Death that he might satisfy the Justice of God for the Offenses of those who were really guilty & liable to the wrath of God, St. Peter says Christ hath once suffered for Sins the just for the unjust that he might

[Page: 17]

bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18) & in the words preeceeding my Text says St. Paul when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son (Romans 5:10) & St. Paul to the Galatians says Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us (Galatians 3:13) , the Demands of divine Justice which insists upon the guilty Sinners enduring the Sentence of the violated Law is the only strong Bar to our immortal Life & Happiness, because the

[Page: 18]

Sovereign of the world hath peremptorily enacted that the Soul that sins — shall die & has placed the flaming Sword of divine Justice to bar the guilty Sinners Entrance into the heavenly world: If by any means this Sentence may be reversed & the Justice of God satisfied, then the Happiness of the man both in Soul & Body is secured because the only Hindrance to it is taken out of the

[Page: 19]

way; & it was Christ's great Design by in dying, fully & completely to satisfy divine Justice, so as thereby to blot out the handwriting that was out against us & so reconcile us to God by his Death & so open the Gates of heaven to us believing in him, that we might freely enter thence. He died says St. Paul to the Romans for our Offenses that is he died to Satisfy for them (Romans 5:17-18) Now Christ's Resurrection gives the

[Page: 20]

fullest & most undoubted Evidence that can be of the Reality & Perfection of his Satisfaction, for seeing he bore our Sins by Imputation & undertook to satisfy for them, if he had not made a full etc. complete Satisfaction to divine Justice he never would have been raised out of his Grave, but failing in the least Tittle of repairing the injured Honor of the divine

[Page: 21]

Sovereignty he would have been detained as a Prisoner under the Chains of Death & been holden under the Power of it forever without any Possibility of his ever rising out of the Grave to Life again But since he is risen from the Dead & now lives, he saves us by his Life in that he himself appears to be fully acquitted & discharged from all that Guilt that was imputed to him on our Account

[Page: 22]

by perfectly satisfying God's Law & Justice God has no further Demand to make upon him as the Surety of Sinners accordingly his Resurrection is called his Justification, justified in the Spirit says St. Paul to Timothy of him (1 Timothy 3:16) , nor has God now any Demand also to make on the Principal by way of Satisfaction: the Surety having paid the Debt, there remains nothing for the Prin-

[Page: 23]

cipal to pay and accordingly all that stood in the way of the Believer's Happiness is effectually & forever removed the Sentence of Death he was under is taken off, & by the Life of Christ his complete Happiness in Soul & Body is forever secured & that fully He hath risen says St. Paul for our Justification (Romans 5:18) : with what an holy Triumph of Soul doth the Apostle take a View of the Certainty of his

[Page: 24]

Salvation arising from the Life of Christ: who: says he, is he that con demneth it is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us (Romans 8:34) ; so that the same Assurance that the Resurrection of Christ gives of his having satisfied the Justice of God, the same it gives to the Salvation of the Believer & that is the fullest and clearest that can be

[Page: 25]

—And then The Life of Christ assures us— that He is able to bestow that Salvation upon Believers which he has purchased for them: —

Christ has promised Salvation to Believers: he has promised to raise their Bodies to immortal Life he saith, he that seeth the Son & believeth on him may have everlasting Life & I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40) : & he has promised to bestow heaven upon them in John. I go

[Page: 26]

and prepare a Place for you & will come again & receive you to myself that where I am ye may be also (John 14:3) : Now to the fulfilling this his Promise, it is necessary that he be both able & willing to perform it in order to a Certainty that it will be performed And he is both willing & able to perform it: That he is willing to perform is confirmed to us by his Resurrection: What Room is there for

[Page: 27]

us to doubt of his willingness to perform it, when he has fully convinced us of his hearty Love to us in dying for us that we might have the thing he has promised: Greater Love hath no man than this says he that a man lay down his Life for his Friends (John 15:13) ; And that he is able to perform this his Promise is evident from his Resurrection, for what can be too hard for him to do who

[Page: 28]

had Power to raise himself from the dead; he lives to exert his mighty Power to remove all Obstacles out of the way, to overcome all Difficulties & to see to the bestowment of the mercy promised & there his promise of Salvation shall be fulfilled; if he himself had remained under the Power of Death how could we have believed him able to fulfill his promise to Believers to raise them up to Life

[Page: 29]

again, how could we have hoped for eternal Life according to his promise if he himself had perished in the Grave forever, but since he has risen & is alive we know and are sure that he is able to raise us up also & bestow eternal Life upon all that believe in him: thus argues St. Paul to Timothy, Christ says he hath abolished Death & brought Life & Immortality to Light thro the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:10) — I

[Page: 30]

know says he whom I have believed & am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12) : & Christ himself says I am the Resurrection & that liveth & was dead & behold I am alive forever more & have the Keys of hell & Death (Revelation 1:18) : Christ has received all Power that he should bestow eternal Life upon as many as believe in him Now as he himself

[Page: 31]

has broken the Bands of Death, we know & are sure that he has this power, & having this Power we know that he that believeth on him tho he were dead yet Shall he live & as to his Soul, it shall never die (John 11:25-26) or feel the least Misery as he himself declares. & then

—The Resurrection or Life of Christ is the Earnest of the Believer's Resurrection. An Earnest given adds the fullest Assurance to the Contract: The

[Page: 32]

Resurrection of Christ is thus an Earnest of his Promise to Believers that they shall have eternal Life & he will raise them up at the last day. St Paul to the Colossians says That Christ is the head of the Body the Church the Beginning the first born from the dead (Colossians 1:18) Every Believer shall be raised from the dead as he was, he was the Beginning, the first Born from the dead & they shall follow him herein in being

[Page: 33]

raised, he rose from the dead as a public Person as the head of the Church of all true Believers— & his Resurrection is to them an Earnest & Pledge that they shall rise also to live forever, hence in Isaiah Christ says thy dead men shall live together with my dead Body shall they arise (Isaiah 26:19) : And this St. Paul to the Corinthians strongly urges to prove the Resurrection of Believers to Life eternal: If

[Page: 34]

the dead rise not then is not Christ raised & if Christ be not raised, your Faith is vain, you are yet in your Sins, then they also which are fallen asleep are perished, if in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:16-19) : the Consecration of the first Fruits to God (Exodus 22:29) was the sanctifying the whole Field of Corn to him as Christ the first Fruit is thus separated

[Page: 35]

to God by his Resurrection from the dead so shall all that belong to him, they are the members of his Body, & the Head being risen in Christ, it is certain that the Body shall be raised also for says our Lord because I live ye shall live also (John 14:19) : And then—

—The Resurrection of Christ gives Assurance of the Believer's Salvation; In that his Intercession for them is prevalent as the great high

[Page: 36]

Priest of our Profession (Hebrews 3:1) offered himself to God a Sacrifice of Atonement by Death, so he must discharge the other part of the Priest's office by entering into the holy of holies with the Blood of Atonement to intercede for his People (Exodus 30:10) ; and therefore as it was necessary that Christ should rise that he might make Intercession, so his Resurrection assures us of the Satisfactoriness of his Death that his Intercession is

[Page: 37]

prevailing & effectual, that the Pleas he uses with his Father for Believers in heaven are most prevailing Pleas for the Father can not but hear him who has risen from the dead & uses such an effectual Argument as that of his Triumph over Death & him that had the power of it. When Christ raised Lazarus out of the Grave, he said to his Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me & I know that thou hearest me always (John 11:41-42) : Since he lives

[Page: 38]

to plead the Believer's Cause, the Believer may be assured that he shall succeed that his eternal Life is sure for says St. Paul who is he that condemneth, it is Christ that dies, yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us (Romans 8:34) : & St. Paul to the Hebrews draws this natural Inference from the Excellency of Christ's Priesthood: Wherefore says he, he is able to save them to the uttermost

[Page: A1]

seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25) . These things evidence that Christ's Resurrection gives the utmost certainty to the Believer's Resurrection

[Page: A3]

For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life (Romans 5:10) —

[Page: A2]

1786 October 1. Preached Pepperellborough all day

1794 December 14th. Preached Pepperellborough very plentiful as ever known