Transcribed from the 1845 Thomas Nelson edition by DavidPrice,
THE
JERUSALEM SINNER SAVED;
OR,
GOOD NEWS FOR THE VILEST OF MEN
BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.—Luke xxiv.47.
The whole verse runs thus:“And that repentance and remission of sins should bepreached in his name among all nations, beginning atJerusalem.”
The words were spoken by Christ, after he rose from the dead,and they are here rehearsed after an historical manner, but docontain in them a formal commission, with a special clausetherein. The commission is, as you see, for the preachingof the gospel, and is very distinctly inserted in the holy recordby Matthew and Mark. “Go teach all nations,”&c. “Go ye into all the world, and preach thegospel unto every creature.” Matt. xxviii. 19; Markxvi. 15. Only this cause is in special mentioned by Luke,who saith, That as Christ would have the doctrine of repentanceand remission of sins preached in his name among all nations, sohe would have the people of Jerusalem to have the first profferthereof. Preach it, saith Christ, in all nations, but beginat Jerusalem.
The apostles then, though they had a commission so large as togive them warrant to go and preach the gospel in all the world,yet by this clause they were limited as to the beginning of theirministry: they were to begin this work at Jerusalem. “Beginning at Jerusalem.”
Before I proceed to an observation upon the words, I must (butbriefly) touch upon two things: namely,
I. Show you what Jerusalem now was.
II. Show you what it was to preach the gospel tothem.
I. For the first, Jerusalem is to be considered,either,
1. With respect to the descent of her people: or,
2. With respect to her preference and exaltation:or,
3. With respect to her present state, as to herdecays.
First, As to her descent: she was from Abraham, thesons of Jacob, a people that God singled out from the rest of thenations to set his love upon them.
Secondly, As to her preference or exaltation, she wasthe place of God’s worship, and that which had in and withher the special tokens and signs of God’s favour andpresence, above any other people in the world. Hence thetribes went up to Jerusalem to worship; there was God’shouse, God’s high-priest, God’s sacrifices accepted,and God’s eye, and God’s heart perpetually; Psalmlxxvi. 1, 2; Psalm cxxii.; 1 Kings ix. 3. But,
Thirdly, We are to consider Jerusalem also in herdecays; for as she is so considered, she is the proper object ofour text, as will be further showed by and by.
Jerusalem, as I told you, was the place and seat ofGod’s worship, but now decayed, degenerated, andapostatized. The word, the rule of worship, was rejected ofthem, and in its place they had put and set up their owntraditions; they had rejected also the most weighty ordinances,and put in the room thereof their own little things, Matt. xv.;Mark vii. Jerusalem was therefore now greatly backsliding,and become the place where truth and true religion were muchdefaced.
It was also now become the very sink of sin and seat ofhypocrisy, and gulf where true religion was drowned. Herealso now reigned presumption, and groundless confidence in God,which is the bane of souls. Amongst its rulers, doctors,and lead