Hold fast your peace
Second, the more vehemently he assaults your peace with that suggestion, God is holy, you are unholy. You are immensely distant from that holiness, without which you cannot see God. How then can you be in the favor of God? How can you fancy you are justified? Take the more earnest heed to hold fast this: Not by works of righteousness which I have done (Titus 3:5). I am found in him. I am accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), not having my own righteousness (as the cause, either in whole or in part, of our justification before God) but that which is by faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith (Philippians 3:9). O bind this about your neck. Write it upon the tablet of your heart (Proverbs 3:3). Wear it as a bracelet upon your arm, as frontlets between your eyes (Deuteronomy 6:8): I am justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24). Value and esteem more and more that precious truth: By grace you are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Admire more and more the free grace of God, in so loving the world as to give his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). So shall the sense of the sinfulness you feel on the one hand, and of the holiness you expect on the other, both contribute to establish your peace and to make it flow as a river (Isaiah 48:18). So shall that peace flow on with an even stream, in spite of all those mountains of ungodliness, which shall become a plain in the day when the Lord comes to take full possession of your heart (Zechariah 4:7). Neither will sickness or pain, or the approach of death, occasion any doubt or fear. You know a day, an hour, a moment with God is as a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). He cannot be constrained for time in which to work whatever remains to be done in your soul. And God's time is always the best time. Therefore be anxious for nothing. Only make your request known to him, and that not with doubt or fear, but thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6), as being previously assured he cannot withhold from you anything that is good (Psalm 84:11).
1771 text
2. Secondly, the more vehemently he assaults your peace with that suggestion, “God is holy, you are unholy. You are immensely distant from that holiness, without which you cannot see God: how then can you be in the favour of God? How can you fancy you are justified?” Take the more earnest heed to hold fast, that, Not by works of righteousness which I have done. I am found in him: I am accepted in the beloved; not having my own righteousness (as the cause either in whole or in part of our justification before God) but that which is by faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. O bind this about your neck: write it upon the table of thy heart. Wear it as a bracelet upon thy arm, as frontlets between thine eyes: I am justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Value and esteem more and more that precious truth, By grace we are saved through faith. Admire more and more the free grace of God, in so loving the world as to give his only Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life. So shall the sense of the sinfulness you feel on the one hand, and of the holiness you expect on the other, both contribute to establish your peace and to make it flow as a river. So shall that peace flow on with an even stream, in spite of all those mountains of ungodliness, which shall become a plain in the day when the Lord cometh, to take full possession of your heart. Neither will sickness or pain, or the approach of death, occasion any doubt or fear. You know a day, an hour, a moment with God is as a thousand years. He cannot be streightened for time, wherein to work whatever remains to be done in your soul. And God’s time is always the best time. Therefore be thou careful for nothing. Only make thy request known unto him, and that not with doubt or fear, but thanksgiving: as being previously assured, he cannot withhold from thee any manner of thing that is good.
About this text
Rendered in modern English, to be read and heard. Open the 1771 text under each part to check the claims and the scripture.
Rendered in modern English. The 1771 panel is his own Pine printing of the Works. It is public domain.
Catalogue & scope
Sermon 42 in the 1771 Works. Second Corinthians 2:11.
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. It is not a complete critical edition.