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###### How to Know that Christ Will Furnish Me If I Come for These Heavenly Goods

{Since the Heavenly Trade Is the Best Trade…

Exhortation and Counsel to Professors of Christianity

Work to Obtain Heavenly Treasures

How to Know that Christ Will Furnish Me with Heavenly Goods}

QUESTION: But how may I know that Christ will furnish me if I come for these heavenly treasures? There are many who come and leave empty-handed. Some ask and have not (James 4:3),720 some run and do not receive anything (1 Corinthians 9:24),721 and some strive to enter in, but are not able (Luke 13:24).722 There are some whom the Lord threatens that He will not hear them (Proverbs 1:25–28; Isaiah 1:15; Zechariah 7:13).723 And I have sought these spiritual blessings many times, but God has not answered. How can I be sure Christ is willing to give these treasures to me?

ANSWER: The Lord Jesus has made an offer of grace to all sinners who sense and feel their need and thirst for supply (Isaiah 55:1; John 7:37).724 Christ has called on them to come and receive it without exception (Matthew 11:28).725 Now, it is incompatible with God’s goodness and truth to offer mercy and not intend to give it. He cannot deceive or be deceived. He is the faithful One who will not invite His creatures to expect something and then fail them. Now, He has called all to come, and has required no condition other than their coming and receiving Him and the things He has offered.726 He has also promised and offered to give to the one who thirsts. “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment’” (Revelation 21:6 ESV). Christ said that He will give (not sell), and give without any conditions of self-worthiness. This is because if there could be anything that would make a creature worthy, it would be not a gift, but payment of debt (Romans 4:4).727 To the one who is thirsty, nothing else is required but a pinching sense of the soul’s need and an unsatisfied desire to be supplied. Christ said that He will give freely, that is, without regard to anything in the creature except his necessity and misery. The moving cause is His own grace and free mercy to sinners, as sinners. Christ promised to give liberally; one may drink freely and take as much as needed or able. Christ will give you, from the fountain of the waters of life, such things as you desire and need and that are capable of satisfying you (Matthew 7:7; Psalm 36:7–8; John 6:37; Isaiah 41:17).728 You will not find anything in these Scriptures that requires something in a person except a sense of need, seeking of satisfaction, coming to Christ, believing, and real subjection to all God’s terms, all with honest intent. “I disclaim all; the port I wish to be in at is redemption and forgiveness through His blood,” said Samuel Rutherford. Now, if He has promised to give to those who seek, He must be willing to give. “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19 NASB). He has received all of the fullness that pertains to Him as mediator for the purpose of giving out to those who come to Him (John 1:12).729 “You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the Lord God might dwell there” (Psalm 68:18 NKJV).730 Christ is the angel, messenger, and mediator of the New Covenant. He is both trustee and heir of that great estate for the use of His people who need it and come to Him for it (Hebrews 9:15).731 Therefore, Christ appears in Heaven in the presence of God for Christians as an advocate to plead their cause. The Lord Jesus is also wonderfully pleased to give to His needy, seeking people. He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18)732 and has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants (Psalm 35:27).733 The more He gives, the more He sees of the anguish of His soul and is satisfied (Isaiah 53:11).734 The more He gives, the more He receives. The gifts and graces of God are as rivers that flow into the sea and are then replenished from the sea by rain. “But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14 NKJV). The more Christ gives to His people, the more He receives; His talents come in again with profits (Matthew 25:15–16).735 The more He gives, the more He is glorified (John 14:13).736

Answer these questions before you doubt Christ’s willingness to give spiritual goods freely to all who truly seek them. Do you really think that Christ can dissemble, offer mercy, and have no intention of giving it? Do you think that the Lord Jesus can break His word or His promise? Can you imagine that He will be unfaithful to His trust?737 Can He delight in giving but not be willing to give? If He gains by giving, can He be unwilling to give? If Christ is glorified by giving, can He be reluctant to give? If so, He would not care about His own name.

Suspect your own willingness to receive, not Christ’s willingness to give you all the grace you need and seek from Him.738

[The editor wishes liberty to expound a little further. Ashwood lived in an age when, if you wanted something done, you did it yourself or persuaded a person or animal to do it. Going to God in prayer was a natural extension of that idea. Today, we increasingly manipulate the world around us by operating machines, pushing buttons, clicking with computer mice, and so on. So it is perhaps natural for some modern readers to ask, “I really want these heavenly treasures. So what button do I push?” The “buttons” that God has provided are often named means of grace. These are activities that God uses as instruments with which to give us much of His grace, including prayer; reading, studying, and meditating on the Holy Scriptures; public worship; baptism; the Lord’s Supper; counsel by and fellowship with other Christians; books like this one; and so on. They must be used in faith unhindered by known, cherished, and unrepentant sin. Unlike, say, flipping a switch to turn on a light or machine, there is no mechanical cause and effect between the means of grace and God’s delivered grace; God is sovereign and grants grace at His own pleasure, amount, and time. To thus patiently wait on the Holy Spirit to work in us in His own sovereign and mysterious way is alien to us in an age when we can get a package the next day and even track its progress on a map in real time. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NASB). “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8 NASB). Do not expect much grace from God if you are slack in using the means of grace; God’s promises are not for those who are willfully and unrepentantly practicing any sin, including the sin of despising His means of grace. Ashwood has given us the motivation. So push those God-ordained buttons prayers for grace and haul in heavenly treasure!]

720“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3 NKJV).

721“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win” (1 Corinthians 9:24 NASB).

722“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24 ESV).

723“Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me” (Proverbs 1:25–28 NKJV). “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood” (Isaiah 1:15 NASB). “‘As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 7:13 ESV). Observe carefully how God gives specific reasons why He will not hear. He will indeed hear those who repent.

724“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1 NASB). “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink’” (John 7:37 NASB).

725“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NASB).

726Recall that we must not only receive our Lord Jesus Christ as savior, but as king and our master. We must willingly receive all He gives to us, including afflictions, which afflictions are for our good. In other words, we must count the cost.

727“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt” (Romans 4:4 NKJV).

728“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7 NASB). “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights” (Psalm 36:7–8 ESV). “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37 NKJV). “The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them” (Isaiah 41:17 NKJV).

729“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12 NKJV).

730The best reading of the Hebrew in Psalm 68:18 is difficult to determine. Bible translators properly render the Hebrew according to their best understanding. The consensus is that the Lord received gifts. But Ephesians 4:8 clearly says that God gave gifts. The editor thus suggests that the full meaning is that Christ received gifts in order to give gifts to people. It is significant that Psalm 68:18 does not say “gifts from men,” but “gifts among men.” The preposition בּ is most naturally translated “among” (NKJV, ESV, NASB). The KJV translates “for men,” suggesting that perhaps the translators interpreted Psalm 68:18 in light of Ephesians 4:8. Whatever the direction of the gift, it must be the same direction for both men (in general) and the rebellious because there is no additional intervening preposition between the two.

731“And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15 NKJV).

732“Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18 NKJV).

733“Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant’” (Psalm 35:27 NKJV).

734“As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11 NASB).

735“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more” (Matthew 25:15–16 ESV). At one level, the more God gives, the more He receives. But let not the reader forget that all life, ability to live life, and indeed, the existence of the universe is due to Christ’s continual input. “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3 NASB).

736“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13 NKJV).

737The Father has entrusted Christ with all of His elect believers. “And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father’” (John 6:65 NKJV).

738In many cases, the unwillingness is not an unwillingness to receive Christ’s benefits, but rather an unwillingness to pay the cost: giving up cherished sins, repenting, following Christ, and living for His glory. “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?’” (Luke 14:25–28 ESV).

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