Hebrews 1:8
Christ’s Scepter—Obadiah Sedgwick
True faith… takes Christ and Him only to be its Lord…. Many will come to Christ to find a feast, but few come to Christ to bear His scepter. Some would come under the safety of His blood, but disdain the authority and dominion of His sword; they like Christ the Priest, but not Christ the Lord.
I will briefly show you two things unbelievers will not accept Christ to be their Lord only, because their heart has another Lord…. He is our Lord to whom we give service, and we His servants who obey him…. Let the commands of profit or pleasure and Christ come into competition and you shall see that the unbelieving heart will go after its Lord; it will not hearken to Christ, for it prefers sin before Him. The unbelieving heart will easily adventure Christ’s displeasure to fulfill its own lusts. Again, the unbelieving heart cannot choose Christ; it cannot like Him for a Lord. Why? Because the dominion of Christ is holy and heavenly; it is directly opposite to the sordid principles and affections, and ways of an unbelieving heart.
Secondly, every believer admits Christ to be their Lord as Thomas said, “My Lord, and my God” (John 20:28)… and so (1) Faith sets up the scepter of Christ, and sweetly frames the soul to a willing subjection, (2) Again, faith takes the whole Christ, and therefore Christ is the only King and Lord to faith, (3) Again, faith knows that the whole person is Christ’s purchase, His blood has brought us, and so passed us into the dominion of Christ: “ye are bought with a price; ye are not your own,” said the apostle, 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
Now then try yourself in this: who is your Lord? If by faith you have sworn fidelity to Christ, then though all temptations beset you, to captivate, or to alienate your heart from the service of Christ, yet amidst all oppressions, yes, under all the knocks and buffetings, and interruptions by sin, the heart cries out, “I acknowledge no Lord but Christ; Him I would obey; Him I honor, I love; His I am, and I yet hate those sins which yet I cannot conquer.”
Readings taken from Day by Day with the English Puritans
Christ’s Scepter—Obadiah Sedgwick
True faith… takes Christ and Him only to be its Lord…. Many will come to Christ to find a feast, but few come to Christ to bear His scepter. Some would come under the safety of His blood, but disdain the authority and dominion of His sword; they like Christ the Priest, but not Christ the Lord.
I will briefly show you two things unbelievers will not accept Christ to be their Lord only, because their heart has another Lord…. He is our Lord to whom we give service, and we His servants who obey him…. Let the commands of profit or pleasure and Christ come into competition and you shall see that the unbelieving heart will go after its Lord; it will not hearken to Christ, for it prefers sin before Him. The unbelieving heart will easily adventure Christ’s displeasure to fulfill its own lusts. Again, the unbelieving heart cannot choose Christ; it cannot like Him for a Lord. Why? Because the dominion of Christ is holy and heavenly; it is directly opposite to the sordid principles and affections, and ways of an unbelieving heart.
Secondly, every believer admits Christ to be their Lord as Thomas said, “My Lord, and my God” (John 20:28)… and so (1) Faith sets up the scepter of Christ, and sweetly frames the soul to a willing subjection, (2) Again, faith takes the whole Christ, and therefore Christ is the only King and Lord to faith, (3) Again, faith knows that the whole person is Christ’s purchase, His blood has brought us, and so passed us into the dominion of Christ: “ye are bought with a price; ye are not your own,” said the apostle, 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
Now then try yourself in this: who is your Lord? If by faith you have sworn fidelity to Christ, then though all temptations beset you, to captivate, or to alienate your heart from the service of Christ, yet amidst all oppressions, yes, under all the knocks and buffetings, and interruptions by sin, the heart cries out, “I acknowledge no Lord but Christ; Him I would obey; Him I honor, I love; His I am, and I yet hate those sins which yet I cannot conquer.”
Readings taken from Day by Day with the English Puritans
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