Jesus, they are sensible that they have not yet attained, neither are already perfect; they are confessing, with the Psalmist, Psal. cxxx. 3. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? and they pray, with the Psalmist, Psal. cxliii. 3. Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified, that is, considered as just on account of his personal righteousness. Is it not evident from this confession of the Psalmist, that all men, even the most excellent, who have attained most of the image of God, are not yet perfectly sanctified, how earnestly soever they desire and seek after it?

(4.) It is justification that gives us a title to heaven, but it is sanctification that makes us meet for it. When justified, it is unto eternal life; therefore called JUSTIFICATION UNTO LIFE. It is, as being justified, we are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Tit. ïïì. 7. That, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The holy and perfect law of God was ordained unto eternal life; Jesus, as our Surety, came under that law; became the end of it for righteousness to all that believe: therefore they have, in their justification by faith in Christ, a well-established title to eternal life. When our Lord entered heaven, it was as the Head of his body the church; therefore, we are not only said to be dead with Christ, to be crucified with him, but also to have risen with him, to be raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in him. (See Eph. ii. 6.) Thus the Lord our righteousness is in heaven ; he has, as our Head, our Surety, our Righteousness, taken possession of heaven for us; thus, being found in him, not having on our own righteousness, but that which is by the faith of Christ, we have a well-established title to eternal life. But it is the sanctification of the Spirit that makes us meet for heaven; nothing must enter into the New Jerusalem, the city of our God, that

defileth, or worketh abomination, or that maketh a lie. (See Rev. xxi. 27.) It is such as keep the commandments of God that will be admitted to the heavenly Jerusalem. All sinners, that live under the power of reigning sin, will most assuredly be excluded as unmeet for the employ and the delights of that world. Of this we are assured from the word of God, that never deceived any, (Rev. xxii. 14, 15.) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Compare with this word of truth, Rev. xxi. 8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. All these characters are evidently unsanctified, and therefore excluded heaven as unmeet for it; for the word of God assures us, that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. (See Heb. xii. 14.) To be blessed with the blessed God in heaven, we must not only be made righteous by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus imputed to us, and received by faith alone, but we must also be sanctified through the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. If our righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord assures us, Matt. v. 20. there will be no mansion for us in the kingdom of heaven, if, like the scribes and Pharisees, we are destitute of genuine humility, a hearty disposition to confess and forsake sin, and to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus unto eternal life; if, like the Pharisees, we justify ourselves, and seek and gain the esteem of men, while our proud and vainglorious hearts are an abomination in the sight of God. There will be no entrance for us into the kingdom of

heaven, if our Lord can say concerning us, as he said of the Jews, John v. 42. I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

Nor shall we ever behold the face of God in glory, if, like the scribes and Pharisees, we are dissemblers, hypocrites, shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither entering in ourselves, nor suffering those that are entering to go in; neither receiving the Lord Jesus ourselves, nor suffering others to receive him, but labouring to turn such as are coming to Christ, from the faith. Nor if, like them, we devour widows' houses, and, for a pretence, make long prayers. Nor if, like them, we are very zealous, and take great pains to make one proselyte to our opinions and practices, and when he is made, we make him twofold more a child of hell than he was before,-more foolish and depraved. Nor if, like them, we make void the commandments of God by our reasoning, and regard to the traditions of our fathers. Nor if, like them, we observe the lesser matters of the law, and omit the weightier,-judgment, mercy, and faith. We cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within are full of extortion and excess. We appear outwardly righteous to men, but inwardly are full of hypocrisy and iniquity; are praising and putting all kind of external honours on the Prophets and Apostles, the faithful Confessors and Martyrs of the Lord Jesus in former days, but are shewing ourselves the children of their persecutors, by reviling their doctrines, and persecuting men for following their examples. Without a meetness for heaven, heaven would be no heaven to us. What should such hypocrites do amongst those, who, with the most sincere. delight, are serving God, according to his will. What should proud, self-justifying sinners do amongst those who are casting their crowns at the feet of the Lord Jesus, singing, " To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be glory for ever and

ever?" What should such as are under the power of a carnal mind, that is enmity against God, do, amidst those that sincerely love God with all their hearts, their souls, and strength? Those only who are indeed the epistles of Christ, known and read of all men in this life, will be owned as the friends of Christ in the life to come. Thus it is most certain, that in justification we have a title to heaven, a most satisfactory title to heaven; but it is only as we are truly sanctified, we are meet for it.

(5.) Justification precedes sanctification. The work of sanctification is begun when we receive the Lord Jesus as our righteousness for justification; for, as we have observed, justification and sanctification cannot be separated but as enslaved, ruined, and helpless, we can only seek our sanctification in the way of justification. When we return to the Lord to be justified, we do not return as persons sanctified, but as sinners, as the slaves of sin, to be justified freely, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We do not come as persons that know themselves the subjects of a saving work of the Spirit of the Lord, but as ungodly, as the very chief of sinners in our own esteem, to be justified by the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. We come, naked, that we may be clothed, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear. We come, with the prodigal, confessing, "Father, we have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and are no more worthy to be called thy sons." When we are made partakers of the sanctification of the Spirit, he works in us as a Spirit of bondage by the law, convincing us of our sin, and especially of our sin in neglecting the great salvation that is in Christ Jesus. He works also as a spirit of truth, teaching us effectually the truth of redemption by the blood of our Saviour, thus leading us, as helldeserving sinners, unto the Lord Jesus, for a gracious justification, through the righteousness of Christ only;

and, as reconciled through the death of the Lord Jesus, to seek a deliverance from the power and pollution of every sin, by the indwelling of the Spirit in us.

Thus we observe the great difference between justification and sanctification, and the great use of learning that difference. For we must be justified by faith, before we can have peace with God, have access into his grace, and stand in it our persons must be accepted before our services, and before we can receive the Spirit as our Sanctifier and Comforter, to perfect the work of sanctification in us. Christ must be made wisdom and righteousness, before he is made sanctification and redemption. We are washed from our sins in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Lord our righteousness, and by the Spirit of our God.

II. Let us notice the privileges of the justified, as expressed in our text.

The privileges of the justified are great and many indeed. Their sins are pardoned; they are righteous before God in Christ Jesus; God is their God in covenant; Christ is their own Redeemer, not in gift only, but in deed, having washed them from their sins in his blood; the Spirit is their Sanctifier, their Comforter, the earnest of their salvation, who seals them to the day of redemption; they are the children of God, and heirs to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that cannot fade away in one word, all that is contained in the promises of the book of God, concerning the life that now is, and that which is to come; (for they are all yea and amen in Christ, and they contain all the spiritual blessings with which all that are justified by faith are blessed in Christ Jesus ;) all that are contained in the new covenant, confirmed by the oath of God, and sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ, pertain to the justified. But we shall only notice the great privileges of the justified expressed in our text.

1. Peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.