A PERFECT WORK

A SERMON

Preached on Sunday Morning, September 21st, 1862

By Mister JAMES WELLS

At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road

Volume 4 Number 196

“He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting’s, crying Grace, grace unto it.” Zechariah 4:7

IN the preceding chapter the foundation stone is represented as having engraved upon it seven eyes; “Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes;” denoting of course, the perfection of knowledge which Jesus Christ, as man, acquired by what he suffered, and by the spirit of God, for the spirit of wisdom and understanding rested upon him to perfection; and by what he suffered he acquired as man this perfection of knowledge. “I will engrave the graving there of;” is a declaration containing the same doctrine as that in the 53rd of Isaiah, where “It pleased the Lord to bruise him, to put him to grief; when you shall make his soul and offering for sin;” the same thing. So here, the seven eyes denote the perfections of knowledge with which the foundation is laid, and that perfection that pervades the whole. And to show that it refers to the mediatorial work of the Savior, the next clause declares that he shall “remove the iniquity of that land in one day,” and so it came to pass on the day that he died that he did achieve this. And then follows the paradisiacal state of things resulting from what he has done. “In that day says the Lord of hosts,” so you call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree, expressive of the peaceful state of blessedness into which they are brought.

I have chiefly to notice, this morning, first, the completion of this building, and I shall not occupy your time by bringing forward scriptures to show that the Lord will certainly accomplish the number of his elect, that there is a number that constitute the building, and that when the last shall be gathered in, then that mundane time shall terminate, and that judgment shall then finally set, and the decision be finally given. Upon this I will not dwell. The top stone will mean that of completion, that is one of the ideas I shall dwell upon this morning. There are three things, then, that we have to notice. First, the completion, “He shall bring forth the headstone thereof.” Secondly, the consecration, for I think that is fairly implied in the headstone; for I think the headstone being brought forth will mean not only the completion of the building, but will mean the Lord Jesus Christ also; it will contain a twofold meaning, the completion of the building, and the Lord Jesus Christ as the head of the corner, by which the foundation is eternally sure, by which it is eternity consecrated to God. I notice, then, first, the completion, second, the consecration and third, the explanation, “He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting’s, crying, Grace, grace on to it.”

I notice, then, first, the completion. And you will find that the Scriptures everywhere very much delight in completion. There are four beautiful scriptures in the Gospel of John upon this matter of completion; because the completion of the building implies the perfecting of every Christian individually, and for us to understand where that completion is, and what it is, and how it is brought about, and how we are brought into possession of it, is of all favors the greatest we can have while here below. In the 4th of John, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish the work”, always looking to the completion. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”, to finish that work which was appointed for Christ to achieve. And so soon as ever the Holy Spirit is pleased to bring the soul into acquiescence with what Jesus Christ has done, we then begin to see what this finished work is unto us. For while the Savior said, “my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work;” this he said in the fourth chapter, and then I think what he said in the sixth chapter is founded in this very truth where he exhorted carnal disciples, on the ground of the profession they made, professing to seek him, he said, “labor not for the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endears unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you; for him has God the Father sealed. “Now, as it was Christ’s meat to do the will of God, and to finish the work which the father sent him to do, it is our meat, it is our substance, that it is done; we should thereby labor for the meat that endears unto everlasting life; and that meat that endears unto everlasting life, as that chapter shows, is the Lord Jesus Christ himself and what he has done; here, you see, is that which makes you perfect and that perfection will last you forever. There have been other perfections, which I shall notice if we have time, as we go along, but that atonement, that perfection will last you forever. But you know that, and lay hold of it, you live by it in reconciliation to God, you die by it in peace with God. “Mark the perfect man,” the man that is perfect by faith in this finished work, “and behold the upright,” sincere in his love to and decision for, this great truth; “the end of that man is peace;” and when that man rises at the last great day from the dead, not one of his sins will anymore be able to appear against him than one of the Egyptians could come out of the Red Sea, and appear against the Israelites on the opposite shore; they were dead, and the Israelites saw them dead. “I have cast all your sins into the depths of the sea.” Here, then, if it were Jesus’ meat to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work, shall that not be our meat to live by the same? Shall that not be our substance to live by the same? Shall we not say, “Evermore give us this bread”? For, of course, the terms bread, meat, and food, are all interchangeable terms, and therefore mean substantially the same thing. This is the first view I take, then, of this doctrine of completion, this perfection that is in Jesus Christ. And those of you that know what you are in the eyes of God's law, and that you know your own hearts, and know what poor creatures you are, you will be conscious that you can have no boldness before God but by this finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, then, the Savior, nothing satisfied him but the finished work, that is the completed work; that is a perfect work; and if you have the spirit of Christ, his spirit was a spirit of perfection, the spirit that should rest only in perfection of achievement; and if you possess the spirit of Christ you will be satisfied with nothing less, with nothing short, you will not come short of the promise of God; because the man that does not come short of this perfection shall come short of nothing. It is imperfection in the first Adam that is made us come short of the glory of God; but here, in Christ Jesus, there is no coming short, because he did not come short of perfection. Then, again, the Savior looks at this finished work as a witness on his side; he looks at all the works that make up the aggregate, or completeness, of his work as being witnesses on his side.

Hence you will find, in the fifth chapter of John, he said, “The works which the Father has given me to finish, there it is again, you see, to finish, “the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me.” It is so, then, that Christ likes to be testified of by the works he has finished. So that if you bear testimony of him by a sort of shilly-shally salvation, by a sort of shillyshally redemption, by a sort of shilly-shally salvation, by a sort of shilly-shally redemption, by a sort of an uncertain atonement, that some are in hell for whom Christ died, the Savior will not accept such a testimony; he will not reckon himself honored by such a testimony. He says, in the fifth of John, “The works which the Father has given me to finish bear witness of me.” So, God the Father will be forever testified of by the appointment of a complete work; Jesus Christ will be forever testified of by the achievement of the perfect work; the eternal spirit will ever act and ever be owned as the revealer of a perfect work; and all the people of God shall nicely bear testimony that he is a rock, and that his work is perfect.

Again, not only is this finished work our meat that endures unto eternal life, with eternal certainty; not only shall this finished work bear testimony of Christ, but notice something else, that Christ himself will speak of his people, and does now, to God the Father, by what he himself has done. He presents them by this finished work; he presents them without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. But again; the Savior founds the eternity of the glory that is his to enjoy with his people, and his people with him, upon the completion of this work. “Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. I have finished the work which you gave me to do.” And what follows upon it? Why, universality of power is the first thing that follows upon that. “You have given him power over all flesh, that he should”, offer? No, “give eternal life to as many as you have given him.” Christ looks up into the counsels of eternity, and there he sees in God's mind, purpose, counsel, decree, grasped the whole (for Christ was God as well as man) that was given to him. Then he surveys the valley of time, and sees them under sin, some in one condition, and some in the other. There he stands on the ground of his finished work, armed with omnipotent, with universal power; into all that were embraced in the covenant of eternity he will minister eternal life, “To give eternal life to as many as you have given him.” So that the ancient counsels of heaven, the perfection of Christ, the excellence of his power, and the people, shall all come together by his finished work. “And this is life eternal, to know you”, and what he has done. If you do not know Jesus Christ in the eternity of his priesthood, you do not know him at all; your knowledge of him is a false knowledge; your light is darkness; your hope is delusion; your faith is fancy; your love is the mere feeling of the flesh; there is nothing in it acceptable in the sight of God. It is the sinner that is cut up, root and branch, and all his refuge of lies swept away, and he is left hopeless and helpless; and the great Redeemer appears in his wondrous achievement, and there the sinner feels a little hope arise, sees the possibility of his salvation; and if you have hope in any other way, your hope is delusion. The Savior requests himself to be glorified on this very ground. “Father, glorify you me with the glory which I had with you before the world was.” Most of you know what this glory was which he had with the Father before the world was; and on the ground of his finished work, he prays that he may be glorified with that church that he had in the counsels of eternity before the world was. Secondly, he had the work that he was to do; he had that in counsel with the Father before the world was and so he prays to be glorified according to that glorious work that he had to do, that he had with the Father in counsel before the world was. Third, the blessedness of the state that was to result from his work he had in covenant with the Father before the world was and he prays to be glorified with this. And I must confess, for myself, this is all I want. Give me heaven according to the electing blessedness; give me heaven according to the mediatorial perfection; give me heaven according to the covenant settlement and arrangement and then all my springs will be in God; he will be my exceeding joy; and while mortal and mortal heart fail from day to day, and every human hope gives way, the living God is left as the strength of our hearts and our portion forever. See then this doctrine of completeness, first, here is the meat that endures unto eternal life; secondly, the living God will be remembered and bore testimony of by this finished work; and that the people shall be spoken of in and by this finished work; in the Scriptures they largely are thus spoken of; and third, that the Savior founds the eternity of his glory upon the same foundation. And while we get this threefold representation, then, in John we come to the 19th chapter of John, and we watch the solemn steps of the Savior, and presently we arrive at those beautiful words, “He said, it is finished; bowed his head and gave up the ghost.” Here, then, it was spoken of before, as though it was done; because of the entire certainly thereof. Nor need I in this part to illustrate this matter, bring before you typical circumstances. If there be an air of sublimity, which there is; if there be eloquence, which there is; if there be sense profound, which there is; if there be majesty, if there be a solemn joy, that you seem somewhat carried away with, when one by divine inspiration said, “thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them; and on the seventh day God rested from his work which he had made; he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day,” with what superior force, wonderful as is the creation, salvation is, nevertheless, more wonderful, with what superior force may the words be written at Calvary’s cross! Thus, the new heavens and the new earth are finished, and all the host of them; all the host of Israel are completed, all the tribes of Israel are completed, all the election of grace completed. And God rested on the seventh day; and it was but a day; but here is a great rest that is everlasting. God rested in Christ, and Christ rested in God; and God will rest in the church, and the church shall rest in God. And I have nothing better to say to you all day than this, namely, this completeness of the work of Christ. What should we do without it? Oh, how black without it are the heavens! how tempestuous, how threatening the heavens! There is nothing, without this work of Christ, to be seen, but an angry Judge; there is nothing but sin, and hell, and damnation, without this wondrous work of the blessed Redeemer.

But look at several more typical circumstances. What would the ark have been if it had not been a finished ark? There was no possibility of Noah being taken away by the flood. God himself went into the ark, and he himself shut the door. The tabernacle in the wilderness, that God might dwell there, was a finished tabernacle; the temple was a finished temple; and Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundations of this temple and his hands shall finish it. And the priests stood still in Jordan until all things were finished which the Lord commanded Joshua, and as Moses commanded; they stood still to all the things were finished. I dare not stop to amplify these matters; but I always feel at home in the subject in which I am now. I am at home, too, in downward experiences as far as the truth of it is concerned; but still it is in the sea of mediation where one seems to bathe one’s weary soul with more pleasure than anywhere else; it is were here where the perfections of God accumulate, where they concentrate, and where everything stands on the side of a poor sinner, that has but a grain of faith to believe in the all sufficiency of this wondrous Jesus Christ. So much, then for the doctrine of completion, of perfection.

Now I might have handled this in another way, and I will just tell you what that way was. I might have handled this, first, to have shown that the people of God all stand complete in God the Father’s consuls, for it is said of him that he is perfect in knowledge, and by that perfection of knowledge he has provisionally made them perfect, so they are perfect there; second that they are, as I have shown, perfect in the work of Christ; and third, that they are perfect in kind in the character now. I am a perfect Christian, that is, if I am a Christian at all, and I don’t mean to say I doubt that this morning. I am a perfect Christian in kind, but I am not perfect in degree, no; I am a perfect heart; I have a perfect decision for God’s new covenant truth; I am perfectly decided; I am perfect in kind, but I am not yet perfect in degree. Well, say some, I should like to see you when you are perfect in degree. Well so should I like to see you, and so I shall to. And when will that be? At that time pointed out by the Psalmist when he said, “I shall be satisfied when I awake with your likeness.” So, my hearer at the last great day, when you shall stand with all the ransomed throng, you will then, be perfect not only in kind, but in degree also; you will then be perfect personally possess perfection and shall enjoy perfection forever. I hope I have made myself understood, and I hope the same subject is to all of you what it is to me, the very center of my soul, the foundation of my hope, my way of access to God, my hiding place, my righteousness, my victory, my life, my liberty, my prospect for time and for eternity, my all and in all. Bless the Lord! I often look about for an evidence of my belonging to God and I come to that. Well, do you love Jesus Christ in what he has done? I do. I am aware the devil may beset us upon this point, but those temptations will not last long; and if Satan is suffered to harass us and perplex us as to make us afraid to build here, we labor under that disadvantage; but there is one advantage we have, if Satan so tempt us that we are not able to build our hope here, we can’t build our hope anywhere else; we know all else is as sinking sand,

“On Christ the solid rock I stand, All beside is sinking sand.”

Now I secondly notice the consecration. Not only shall the building be complete; the people of God be complete; the top-stone brought home with shouting, Grace, grace unto it, but I think the headstone here may refer not only to the completeness of the building, but to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is the head of the corner; he is the head and strength shall I say? Of the building, the consecration, by him it is consecrated by God. I will make this clear by contrast. First, the whole human race was consecrated to God in its natural and federal head, but that natural and federal head apostatizing, and the whole human race, instead of remaining in that pristine state of purity in which Adam was created, and remaining in love to God and to each other, apostatizing, and the whole has broken down. But could such a thing happen in the last Adam, Christ Jesus? He is the spiritual and the federal head of his people, and their consecration, as to the perfection and the continuation of it, depends not upon them, but entirely upon him; and as he never did break down and never can, it is by him this mystic building then is consecrated to God forever; it must, the foundation must, remain invulnerable, and the building must remain impregnable and the top stone, or the perfection of it, must remain; there is no failure; the gates of hell shall not prevail. Second, the Lord consecrated the Jewish nation to himself by Moses. “I bare you on Eagles wings and brought you to myself.” but Moses broke down, Moses spoke unadvisedly with his lips, Moses sinned, Moses rebelled, and Moses had not power to keep the people who were by salvation from Egypt by his instrumentality consecrated to God; Moses had not power to keep them, and so they broke down also. But Jesus Christ has wrought a salvation, and by the salvation that he has wrought he consecrated us to God by that salvation, and he keeps us in that consecration. Some of us since we have received the testimony of God’s free grace salvation, we have never in one instance turn from it, we still remain. So that, not only as our spiritual and federal head, but also as our Savior he consecrates us to God and severs us from everything contrary to that consecration. If his consecration stand good, then our consecration stands good. Again, the Lord consecrated a people to himself by Aaron; but alas! Aron broke down, permitted a golden calf to be set up, and the people whet away after other gods; there was a breakdown again. But shall the people whom Christ has sanctified; shall it be thus with them? No. Hear how he traces the whole out. “For both he that sanctifies, and they that are sanctified are all one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name unto my brother and, in the midst of the church I will sing praises unto you.” which was what Adam could never say, what Moses could never say, what Aaron could never say. No, if the Lord said to Adam, Adam where is your flock, your beautiful flock? He would hang down his head and say, lost, lost and I can never, never recover them nor myself. Moses where is your flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? Oh, vast numbers of them apostatized, fallen in the wilderness, and gone, and I have now on this side of the wilderness very few left, hardly any left of those that I had when I began my journey. Aaron, where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? Alas! They are gone, many of them are gone. But when the question is put to Jesus, where is your flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? “Here I am, Father and the children you have given me.” “My sheep shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands.” See how, then, while the son of God was consecrated for evermore, see how he does consecrate the people to himself with eternal certainty so that he shall bring forth his perfect work at the last day as a top stone, the headstone, himself thereby the head of the corner, by him the people are consecrated to God forever. Again, the Lord gave a people to David, the kingdom and by that instrumentality of David consecrated them to himself; but David broke down, David sinned obliged to retire from the whole, and find a refuge only in a covenant ordered in all things and sure, which was all of his salvation and all of his desire. Solomon broke down, King after King broke down, until by-and-by the whole kingdom was trampled underfoot and destroyed. Our, joint Jewish royalty, where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? Alas! Alas! Scattered and gone; the enemy has trampled them down; royalty is no more; the throne, the scepter, the crown, the glory of David is worn out, tarnished, waxed old, and vanished away forever. But ask the king of Zion where his flock, the beautiful flock that was given to him is; and the answer is, that “the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom, possess the kingdom forever, even for ever and ever;” that, “they see,” it is said in the winding up of the Scriptures, “they see his face, and shall reign forever and ever.” Here, again, Jesus brings forth himself at the last great day as the top stone. At Calvary’s cross he brought forth himself, and now he still brings forth himself, and so, at the last great day he will come forth himself, and by his mediatorial work will be the topmost stone. All real consecration to God then, is by him. “You are,” says Peter, when summing up this whole subject, “a chosen generation”, there is the beginning of consecration, “a royal priesthood”, there is mediatorial progression of consecration; “a holy nation,” there is the operation of it, the Holy Spirit; “a particular people,” there is separation from all other people; “and you should show that you should show forth the praises of him that is called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Thus, then, here is perfection, here is eternal consecration. I might bring forward, but time and space forbid, the new covenant relation of the great God in this matter of consecration; but I will name only one. Now all the learned agree that the Hebrew word translated “covenant” means purification, that is a covenant a purification; and “as he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself, I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” and by this in immutable oath their standing remains unshaken as the throne of God. Thus, then we have that which endures to everlasting life; we have that by which the Savior is born testimony and glorified, and we have that consecration that prevents our coming short. Only we want more experience of this. I preach these truths sometimes hoping that while I am preaching them you may get a little experience of them. I do not, as you know, make light of the soul troubles in the downward experience of the people of God; I like to touch upon them; still, we must not remain always in one part, and I like sometimes to get a little up into these high mountains; I somehow or other feel at home there. I will tell you one of my experiences there; I wish I had more of them. And what is that? Why; “hearken, O daughter and forget;” that’s it; it is all summed up in the little word forget. If I think of the world and the trouble and of this and that, and the other I get miserable, and gloomy, and rebellious, and hardhearted and contracted and stupid; but when I can contemplate the mercy of God, and the ability of his grace, the certainty of his love, and truth, and compassion, and pity in Christ Jesus, here I can forget my poverty, and remember my misery no more for the time being. I say that is what I want more; I want to remember my sins only just to magnify in remembrance of them the grace of God; I want to remember my miseries and tribulations only to magnify in the remembrance of those consolations that shall overflow all the banks of tribulations and waft our soul’s home to eternal glory.

But lastly the acclamation. The point I notice in conclusion is the theme; “grace, grace unto it.” Now this must be looked upon first scripturally; that is the idea. Many people thought they have glorified God by ascribing to him what he does not own nor acknowledge. Ah! Says one I think, if God is glorified it does not matter about the way. That is it; that is everything, sir; the way is everything; if it is not the way of faith, it cannot please God. Do you not read in the Bible of one that thanked God? He did thank God; and you say, that is a very thankful man; I wish I was as thankful to God as that. There he is in the temple, the right place and there he is looking to the true God, the right God and there he is thanking God; why he is a very nice man. Now, would you not think that was right? Well, I should’ve thought so. The Lord did not think so. No; the Lord was better pleased with the services of one that did not thank him at all. Now, is that not enough to puzzle anyone? Well, it is a fact that he did not accept the one that thanked him; and did accept the one that did not thank him for anything. Well, I have heard that you say strange things some say. While it is a truth. “God, I thank you that I am not as other men, nor as this publican.” I am a dear good creature. He did not go down to his house justified. Were his thanks accepted? They were not. The publican did not thank God at all because he was not sure he had anything to thank you for, not of a spiritual kind. The publican knew something went before thanks, and he wished to have something to be thankful for, and so he said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” That man was justified; his prays heard, his prayers answered, he goes down to us as full of gratitude to God. So, then, while giving thanks it is a good thing, even that, you see may be done in the wrong way. You may think to praise and glorify God but if you attribute and ascribed to him that which is not in accordance with the order of praise, then it is not accepted, nor you either. Now, you see it is grace; ascription is grace. And why is the ascription of grace? First, and chiefly, because the foundation was laid by the grace of God; the superstructure has been carried on by the grace of God; the completion shall be by the grace of God.

There shall be a people down to the end of time that shall be crying, “Grace, grace unto it;” there shall be a people down to the end of time that shall feel the force of these words in the first of John, “and of his fullness have we received, and grace for grace;” there shall be a people until the very top stone, the last sinner, shall be gathered in, their theme shall be the grace of God; they shall have nothing to attribute to God but grace. They are saved originally by grace, mediatorially by grace, manifestly by grace, preservatively by grace, justificationally, by grace; sanctificationally by grace; “that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace.” These are the shouting’s that shall reach the caverns of hell, the loftiest arches of heaven; shall fill the universe with their songs at the last day and rule on to all eternity in the abundance and blessedness of the grace, that where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded. So, then, it is of grace, because they are saved by grace; and so, the ascription accords with the derivation; it is the reflex, like the rivers coming from the sea, and thither they return in the shape of praise and acclamation. And then, lastly, it is “Grace, grace unto it,” because of the immutability of theme. Now by nature, while we are in a state of nature, God’s theme is one, ours is another; his thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways, until he has made his thoughts our thoughts, his ways our ways; he brings us thus to make our grace our theme. Grace is our theme; it is God’s theme; it is that which he delights; so that there will be a oneness of theme between God and his people to all eternity. God the Father is the God of grace; and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit is a spirit of grace,

“And if we list a song of praise,

each note shall echo, grace, free grace.”

I will add no more.