1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins - Robert Hawker

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

I must beg the Reader's attention to another very sweet and interesting point, which the HOLY GHOST hath here dwelt upon, by his servant John. If we confess our sins, (saith John,) he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Is GOD'S faithfulness and justice concerned to forgive the sins of his people on their confession of them? Yes! for having received an equivalent payment, yea, more than an equivalent, in the death of CHRIST; the faithfulness and justice of GOD are both engaged, in Covenant engagements, to discharge the Principal Debtor, now the Surety hath made him free. And in the pardon of all CHRIST'S redeemed ones, the LORD remembers, and fulfils his everlasting Covenant, Isaiah 49:9; Zechariah 9:11. And the confession of sins in the pardoned, is not the cause of pardon, but the effect, This will always follow, where the grace of GOD brings salvation.

Moreover, it is among the precious testimonies of our enjoying communion with GOD, that we confess our sins before him. He that hath most communion and fellowship with GOD will be most open and communicative. It is with GOD'S friendship in this particular, as it is with man's: the more we love a man, the more we delight to unbosom ourselves to him. So with GOD in CHRIST, the more the LORD hath our confidence, the more we shall find grace to unfold to him, what we feel by reason of sin. Nay, as our sins and transgressions are all against GOD, the more sensibly we shall feel our love to him, the more we shall feel hurt at offending him. And, therefore, none will be so ready to rip open the soul before GOD, as that soul who loves GOD most, and dreads to do any thing so as to be shy before him. And, as we know, that the LORD knows all our secret sins, which are in the light of his countenance, before we can inform him: so we also know, that so gracious is our GOD, that he hath pardoned them before we have confessed them, and before we called for mercy, he hath answered, Isaiah 65:24. Oh! what a thought to comfort us. None but GOD'S friendship could admit a friendship like ours! His love, not our deservings, becomes the standard of his favor. Hence, our communion with him, is kept up on our part, in confessing our sins. And on his part, in pardoning them in JESUS.

1 John 2:1 - We have an advocate with the Father - Robert Hawker

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)

He warns the Church against sin. But, aware what a body of sin and death the best of men carry about with them, be bids them, under all sin, and all discouragements, to look to CHRIST. And how blessedly he speaks. If any man sin. And who is there of the LORD'S people; which sins not? We have (saith he) an Advocate with the FATHER, JESUS CHRIST the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. Observe. We, that is, the Church have this Advocate. We have not now to look out for an advocate. We have One, yea, an Almighty One. And he is both an Advocate, and a Propitiation; that is, he hath both paid our debt as a Propitiation, and now takes up our persons and our causes, as an Advocate, to see our sins all cancelled, and done away in his blood. And, observe yet further. This Advocate which we have, is with the FATHER. He who hath set forth CHRIST, as a Propitiation in his blood. So that GOD, who hath given CHRIST, and set forth CHRIST as a Propitiation, is He, with whom CHRIST hath to do, as our Advocate. And I pray the Reader yet further to observe. The Apostle doth not say, we have an Advocate with our FATHER: for though he is our FATHER in CHRIS JESUS, and very blessed it is to know him as such, in numberless instances and occasions; yet here, CHRIST is said to be an Advocate with the FATHER. Not only CHRIST'S FATHER, and our FATHER, but the FATHER. What! is there more in the expression the FATHER, than our FATHER, or CHRIST'S FATHER? Yes! upon the present occasion for which John writes. For let it be observed, that as John is holding forth this encouragement to the Church of CHRIST, that CHRIST is an Advocate and Propitiation for his people under the infirmities of sin; he is dealing with us as on the footing of GOD'S justice. He considers the FATHER, therefore, as GOD, holy and just; and One that will not clear the guilty, Exodus 34:7. Hence he tells the Church, that CHRIST is with the FATHER, both as a Propitiation for sin, having fully paid down on the judgment-seat, the compleat price for our redemption; and also while there (which he ever is,) he is an Advocate, to plead, and see that his Church is accepted, pardoned, justified, sanctified, and glorified, according to the agreement in Covenant-settlements.

Reader! what a blessed subject is here? Oh! what confidence might the faith of it produce, if grace was always in lively exercise, to come with it before GOD? Who would ever feel deadness, fears, doubts, misgivings, or even heart-straitenings in prayer, if he beheld the throne of grace, the pardon office, the mercy-seat of the LORD, thus encircled with mercy; JESUS, both the Propitiation for sin, and the Advocate for the cause of his people? What shall stop or silence the plea of JESUS CHRIST the righteous, with the righteous FATHER? This was our LORD'S own plea, when upon earth. 0 righteous FATHER! John 17:25. And it is his people's plea, taught by him, and offered up in him, now he is in heaven. And there is a great degree of blessedness in it, when rightly considered. For, when we thus plead, we plead upon the right and footing of GOD'S justice. When we look up to GOD, simply as we are in ourselves; we can only look up for pardon and grace, as helpless sinners. But, when we look up in the interest of CHRIST, from an union with CHRIST; we then plead on the score of justice. And hence, upon this account it was, that Paul called the crown, which he knew was laid up for him, a crown of righteousness; because it was the just earnings of CHRIST'S blood and righteousness. And Paul declared, that when it was given to him, it would be by the righteous Judge, 2 Timothy 4:8. Reader! what know you of these things? Are you so looking to the throne? Can you hear the awful threatenings of GOD'S holy law against sins; and yet look undismayed, under the consciousness of a broken law, to the LORD'S righteous judgment against every single breach of it, because you behold the whole law fulfilled, in the Person of your Almighty Surety, and know your security in Him? If so, then will you enter into a blessed personal enjoyment of this sweet scripture, in stedfastly beholding and resting upon him, who is your Advocate, and with the FATHER, JESUS CHRIST the righteous; and who is the propitiation for your sins! See Romans 3:25 and Commentary:

Acts 2:38 - Robert Hawker

"...Repent and be baptized." Did Peter mean to say, that repentance was in every man's power to perform? Surely the Apostle could not, for in a subsequent discourse before the Jewish council, he expressly ascribes the work to CHRIST. Him, (saith Peter,) hath GOD exalted to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins, Acts 5:30-31. What, therefore, is CHRIST’S gift, cannot be man's work."

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 - Robert Hawker

...so now, during the time-state of the Church upon the earth, and the time-state of every individual of the Church, this is the accepted time, and the day of salvation; in which GOD the FATHER’S everlasting love, in the choice of each child of GOD in CHRIST, is proved: an interest, and union, and oneness with CHRIST, as CHRIST, is discovered; and the quickening, regenerating, renewing, and sealing grace of GOD the HOLY GHOST, is felt, and enjoyed; when the LORD by his sovereignty, makes the souls of the redeemed willing, in the day of his power. And this now, the Apostle speaks of, and dwells upon, is not a limited now, as some, to their own souls distresses, and to the distresses of others, have supposed, as if a poor sinner's receiving grace depended upon his receiving it now, which may be refused to him tomorrow: which would be making GOD’S grace depend upon man's will; and the Omnipmency of the LORD rest, for accomplishment, upon the sovereign pleasure of man. But the now the Apostle speaks of, is a now, which to the Church at large, continues, as long as the world shall continue; and to every individual of the Church, as long as that individual shall continue in his present time state. For it must remain, until all the redeemed, for whom CHRIST died, are brought in. All that the FATHER giveth me, said JESUS, shall come to me, John 6:37. And the accepted time is not the time of man's appointing, but the LORD’S. The now of GOD, is the day, when GOD makes willing, Psalm 110:3.

Luke 14:16-24 - Robert Hawker

Luke 14:16-24

(16) Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; (17) And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. (18) And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. (19) And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. (20) And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. (21) So that servant came and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. (22) And the servant said, Lord, it is done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. (23) And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (24) For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Our Lord took occasion, from the observation of one that sat at the Pharisee's table with him, to deliver this precious discourse. It is much to the same purport as that sermon delivered, Matthew 22:2, &c. The prophet Isaiah was taught by the Holy Ghost to represent the Gospel under the figure of a royal feast, Isaiah 25:6. The only difference in the representation is, that in one place it is called a dinner, and here the Lord calls it a supper. Perhaps, the former was in allusion to the early manifestations of grace; and the latter to intimate the final revelations in the person of Christ himself. Hebrews 1:1, and 9:26.

By the certain man, no doubt the Lord Jesus meant God the Father; for Christ is God's salvation to the ends of the earth, Isaiah 49:6. And by the servant sent to call them that were bidden, must mean Christ; for so God speaks of him, Isaiah 42:1, &c. And in the great work of redemption, for the recovery of his Church from the ruin into which, by her Adam-nature, she was fallen, Christ came as Jehovah's servant, Philippians 2:6,7. This being bidden can mean nothing more than the outward ministry of God's word to the Jewish nation. With them were committed the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. But all are not Israel which are of Israel, Romans 9:4,6. For when Christ came to his own; that is, his own nation, his own received him not. John 1:11. So that the special distinguishing grace, which distinguished the people, differed widely from this outward call; that being accompanied with an inward work upon the heart, inclining them to come. Psalm 110.

The different excuses form a most apt representation of the several causes, which prevent, according to the view of natural causes, all the unawakened and unregenerated world from coming to Christ. The piece of ground, and the yoke of oxen, and the married state, are strikingly expressive of the three great causes John describes: namely, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 1 John 2:16. Under one or other of these all of the unrenewed of mankind may be found. And what an awful state the whole is!

The dismission of the servant to the highways, and lanes, and streets of the city, to call in the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, is, in the language of the Gospel, to shew that God hath given the heathen to Christ for an inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for his possession, Psalm 2:8. And the characters here described are to be considered spiritually. It is the poor in spirit, it is the maimed by sin, it is the halt in the faculties of soul, and the blind, who by nature are strangers to Christ, and all whose minds, by the gracious call of God, are brought into a sense of their lost and utterly helpless state in themselves, which are here set forth. And what a beautiful view doth the representation afford of the infinite fullness of God's provision, that when multitudes are brought, and are feasted with grace and salvation, the Lord sends again to use an holy violence, and to compel every poor, needy, self-condemned, and sensible sinner to come, that Christ's house may be filled.

Reader! pause over this delightful view! Behold and observe what the language of grace saith, Yet there is room. Yes, there is room as there was then, so now, in the fullness of covenant settlements formed among the whole persons of the Godhead before the world was made. The thousands that were then unborn when Jesus spake this parable, and which have since been born in nature, and new born in grace, have found the blessed truth to their soul's everlasting joy: and still room for the thousands yet to be born until the consummation of all things, equally interested in the covenant of promise. Room in the everlasting love of all the persons in the Godhead, chosen by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called by the gracious and regenerating mercy of God the Holy Ghost. And as there hath always been, and is, and always will be, room for all whom the Father hath given to the Son, both Jew and Gentile, for all the purposes of manifesting grace here; so is there, and everlastingly must be, room in the upper and brighter world of glory hereafter, for all the blessings prepared for the Church of God, in that eternal kingdom of God and the Lamb. John 14:2,3.

There is no difficulty of apprehension, concerning those who were first bidden to the feast, but by their contempt of it for ever rejected, if we keep in view that the chief scope from the parable, is to shew the difference of outward means to inward grace. The Gospel hath been, and from the very necessity of the case must be, openly published and proclaimed, like the public bell, which causeth to assemble, in the hearing of all. But herein is the wisdom and equity of God manifested. The enemies of God and his Christ reject the counsel of God against their own souls. Christ is the one ordinance of heaven, and the only one for the recovery of our Adam-nature from the ruins of the fall. If this be slighted and despised, there is no other, Acts 4:12. The Scribes and Pharisees fell under this condemnation; and those Scriptures in them were fulfilled. Many are called, but few chosen. Go to this people, and say, Hear ye indeed, but understand not: and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Isaiah 6:9. Matthew 13:14, &c. And thus the sovereignty of Jehovah is manifested, and their rejection of his appointed means becomes an everlasting testimony to his justice.