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SERMON XXXIII.

CHRIST IS OUR LORD AND MASTER.

SERM. XXXIII.

JOHN xiii. 13.

Ye call Me Master, and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am.

THAT Jesus Christ is our "Lord and Master," we all acknowledge; we acknowledge it in our daily prayers; we acknowledge it in the hymns and praises that we offer up to God; we acknowledge it every time we repeat the Apostles' Creed; we acknowledge it in our common discourse: we seldom speak of Christ to one another, but we call Him "our Lord." And so we all acknowledge Him to be so with our mouths, but I fear there are but few who do it in their hearts; but few who duly consider what they say, when they call Christ their Lord; but speak it only as a word of course, which they have accustomed themselves to, and therefore repeat it over and over again, without ever considering the true meaning and purport of it: for if they did that, if, whensoever men speak of Christ as their "Lord and Master," they really thought and believed Him to be so, they could not but take more care than they commonly do to please and honour Him, and to carry themselves as His servants through the whole course of their life. But the plain truth is, we serve this as we do the other Articles of our faith, we own it in general to be true, but never make any particular application of it to ourselves, and so are no way affected with it but notwithstanding our profession to believe it, we live as if it were not so. Whereas, if we lived with a constant belief and sense of this upon our minds, that

Christ is our "Master and Lord," we should always look upon ourselves as bound in duty and conscience to do the works that He hath set us, and to act according to the rules and laws which He hath prescribed to us. And hence it is, that He Himself here puts His Disciples (and us among the rest) in mind of this great truth, assuring them of it with His own mouth, saying, “Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am." Whereby He gave them to understand, that when they called Him "Lord" or "Master," as they usually did when they spoke to Him, or to others of Him, He would not have them do it, only out of compliment or flattery, nor think by that title they gave Him more respect than what was due to Him; but He would have them know and remember, that they said well and truly, whensoever they called Him so; for that He really was, and is their "Lord and Master." Neither did He say this only for their sakes, to whom He spake it; but for ours also, for whose sake it is recorded, that we may take notice of the relation we stand in to Him, and behave ourselves accordingly.

Which therefore that we may for the future do, waiving the occasion of the words till afterwards, when it will come. in course to be considered; we shall observe,

First, In what sense Jesus Christ is our "Lord and Master: " and then,

Secondly, What obligations this relation to Him lays upon us, and what use and improvement is to be made. of it.

As for the first, nothing is more plain and certain from the Holy Scriptures, than that Jesus Christ is Lord, in the highest and most proper sense of the word. He is sometimes called, "The Lord Jesus:" "They found not the body of the Lord Jesus," saith St. Luke, xxiv. 3. "All the time Acts 1. 21. that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us," saith St. Peter. And St. Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Acts 7. 59. Sometimes He is called, "The Lord Christ;" as where St.

Paul saith, "Ye serve the Lord Christ." Sometimes "The Col. 3. 24. Lord Jesus Christ;" as, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 16. 31. Sometimes," Christ Jesus the Lord:" "As ye have received Col. 2. 6. Christ Jesus the Lord." Sometimes, yea, very often, He is

XXXIII.

Luke 7. 13.

SERM. called absolutely, "The Lord," without the addition of any other name or title; as where it is written, " And when the John 20. 2. Lord saw her," and, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre," and Mary Magdalen told the Disciples, John 20. 18. "That she had seen the Lord." Yea, the very Angels give Matt. 28. 6. Him this title, "Come," saith the Angel, "see the place

where the Lord lay." Neither do men and Angels only, but the infallible Spirit of God Himself calls Christ, "The Lord," all along in His Holy Oracles; especially in the New Testament, wheresoever there is mention made of the Lord in general, it is always meant of the Lord Christ, even in such places also which are quoted out of the Old Testament as well as the other, as might easily be shewn. And in the Old Testament itself, this great name is very often given to God the Son, as well as to the Father, and can be understood of no other than the Lord Jesus; as where He is called, "The Lord our Righteousness," where God saith, "That He will save His people by the Lord their God," where Daniel Dan. 9. 17. beseecheth God to hear his prayer, "for the Lord's sake." Yea, wheresoever it is said in the Prophets, "Thus saith the Lord," it is always to be understood of the Lord Christ; for 1 Pet. 1.11. it was His Spirit that was in the Prophets, as St. Peter assures us from Him.

Jer. 33. 16.

Hos. 1. 7.

But here we must observe, that the Hebrew word, which the Greek interpreters generally translate Kúgrov, we, 'The LORD,' in great letters; the word, I say, in the original is

, the incommunicable name of the Divine Essence, proper and peculiar only to the true God, and to Jesus Christ only as such, as He is the Eternal Son of God, of the same individual essence with the Father: for as such, all things were made by Him, all things depend upon Him, all things have their being, or subsist continually in Him; and therefore, all things must needs be entirely under His dominion and lordship and He doth whatsoever He pleaseth in Heaven and earth, making all things in their several places, and according to their several abilities, to serve Him, the supreme Lord, the universal Governor of the whole world.

But besides this His original and essential title to absolute dominion over all things, as He is God, He hath another also as He is "Emmanuel, God-man," and therefore Jesus

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Rev. 17.14;

Josh. 3. 11,

Ps. 97. 5.

6.5.

Ps. 72.8.

Rom. 10.12.

or the Saviour of mankind; for, as such, He is " appointed Heb. 1. 2. Heir of all things." He is "Lord of lords, and King of 1 Tim. 6. 15. kings." He is "the Lord of the whole earth." He hath 19. 16. "the Heathen given Him for His inheritance, and the utmost Ps. 136. 3. parts of the earth for His possession." He hath "dominion 13. also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the Zech. 4. 14; earth." He hath "given Him dominion and glory, and a Mic. 4. 13. kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should Ps. 2.8. serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which Dan. 7. 14. shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." He "reigns over the House of Jacob for ever, Luke 1. 33. and of His kingdom there shall be no end." He is Lord Acts 10. 36. of all," "and over all." He hath "all power given Him in Matt.28.18. Heaven and in earth." He hath "authority given Him to John 5. 27. execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man." "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all ver. 22. judgment unto the Son." "And hath given all things into John 13.3. His hand." He hath "set Him at His own right hand in Eph. 1. 20the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, 15. 27. and might, and dominion; and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church." In short, "seeing Phil. 2. 6, He being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;" and yet "took upon Him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." "For to this end Christ both died, Rom. 14. 9. and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."

I thought good to lay all these places of Holy Scripture together, that we may at one view behold what we ought to believe concerning our Blessed Saviour's authority and dominion; what a mighty Lord He is, how far His dominion reacheth, and how long it lasts. For here we see, that He is the Lord of the whole earth, and of all the kingdoms and

L

22; 1 Cor.

8-11.

SERM. nations that are on it: that all the kings and princes there, XXXIII. how absolute soever they may be in respect of one another,

:

or of their own respective subjects, are all subject to the Lord Jesus, and hold their kingdoms and principalities under Him that He executeth judgment upon the sons of men, and doth what He pleaseth with every one of them: that His jurisdiction is not confined to the earth, but extends itself as far as Heaven, and to the utmost bounds of the whole Creation: that He is exalted above, far above Angels, Archangels, and all the powers of the other world, as well as this: that all this supreme authority is committed by God the Father to Him, as He is the Son of man, and because He is so that all things are thus made subject to Him, because, as He was the Son of man, He became obedient even to the death of the cross, and by that means merited, or deserved it at the hands of God: that the great end, wherefore He is thus given to be the Head or Supreme Governor over all things, was for the sake of the Church, that He might order and dispose of all things that happen by God's general Providence, so as to make them work together for the good of His Church, and of every particular member of it: that all the creatures in Heaven and earth are therefore bound to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and that this is highly for the glory of God the Father; and, that this His dominion and power shall be continually exercised to the end of the world, when His enemies being all destroyed, and His Saints made perfect in glory, so that there will be no 1 Cor.15.24. more occasion for the exercise of any such authority," He shall then deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father." As He is the Son of man, He will deliver it up to God; as He is the Son of God, He will deliver it up unto the Father: yet so, that He Himself also shall reign as King and Lord for ever.

By this we may see, how great a Lord Jesus Christ is; so great, that the greatest lords and princes upon earth are infinitely more inferior and subject unto Him, than their meanest subjects and servants are to them: insomuch that in comparison of Him, all must acknowledge, as we do in the Eucharistical Hymn, "That He only is the Lord;" and all the creatures in Heaven and earth are bound to

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