Sermon XXIII.1 A Christian, God’s temple.
“For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” — 2 Cor. vi. 16–18.
There are three things in these words:—
First, The privilege of believers, especially as they are the church of God: They “are the temple of the living God, as God hath said.”
Secondly. The duty which, by virtue of that privilege, is incumbent on all believers: “Wherefore,” saith he, “come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing.”
Thirdly. A promise made unto the due performance of the duty by virtue of that privilege: “And I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
You may well think I shall not speak at large to these things. I intend only so far to touch upon them, as just to lead me to what I think is the present sin of this nation, and what are the causes of the judgments upon it.
In verse 16, believers are said to be dedicated, consecrated, and made holy to God, as his peculiar lot and portion. And then the use of it is to show the twofold sin for which judgment cometh upon this nation. The first is, That the nation deals not with them as God’s consecrated lot and portion; that is the sin of the nation. The second is, That they behave not themselves as God’s consecrated lot and portion; that is the sin of the people of God.
I shall spend some time in confirming my foundation. You have it, with the ground of it, Rev. v. 9, where the church speaks to Christ, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests.” Before the purchase of them by Christ, they lay in the common lot of mankind; they were in the people, and tongues, and kindreds, and nations of the earth. Christ makes a purchase of them. He did not die to redeem all, but to redeem some out of all the kindreds, and nations, and tongues under heaven. Upon Christ’s making a purchase of them, they are no more their own. “Ye are bought with a price,” saith the apostle; “ye are not your own.” Whose, then, are they? They are Christ’s, Rom. xiv. 9, “For this cause he both died and rose again, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living;” that is, of the whole church, alive and dead, that they might be his. He took them all into his disposal. And what did he do with them? When they were absolutely his own, and in his power to dispose of them as he saw good, he dedicates them to God. “He makes us kings and priests unto God,” saith he. Christ might have disposed of his purchase another way; but this course he took, — he dedicates them unto God. Kings and priests were so, as I shall show you afterward. The apostle Peter tells us the same of all believers, 1 Pet. ii. 9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar” or purchased “people.” The same is expressed again, Tit. ii. 14, and in sundry other places, which I shall not insist upon. But there is one expression of it which must be taken notice of; and that is, where they are called the “first-fruits unto God,” James i. 18, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.” And Rev xiv. the expression occurs again,2 “These are they which were not defiled with women, … being the first-fruits unto God.” When God gave and sanctified all things unto his church of old, he reserved the first-fruits unto himself. These were all to be dedicated to him, every one in his way whereof he was capable; — clean beasts by sacrifice; men by redemption; corn and wine by a meat-offering: but God retained all the first-fruits to himself. He laid it upon the land as a rent-charge, that he might keep up his title to the whole. So he tells them, Lev. xxv. 23, “The land is mine,” saith he, “and ye are but strangers and sojourners with me.” All the concernments of the Church of God are God’s. He entertains us in his house, at his table, and sustains us with his ordinances. God took the first-fruits as an acknowledgment that they held all from him; and when he would take them no more, he destroyed the land.