Sovereign Grace Church

Robert Hawker wrote... The reader will not wonder, therefore, if with such views, and under such self-reproaches, and self-condemnation, that I have nothing to bring before him of experiences, of any thing in a way of comfort in myself to appear in before God. What some men talk of, (but which, if we take the decision of scripture for our standard, none in themselves can know) of inherent holiness in the creature, forms no part in my creed. My hope and assurance is founded, not from a “righteousness wrought in me,” but from “a righteousness wrought for me;” and this in the incommunicable work, and solely accomplished by the glorious person of our most glorious Christ. Here indeed is an experience, which as an apostle hath defined it, “that worketh hope, and hope that maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (ROMANS 5:4, 5.) As the spiritual and scriptural apprehension of those everlasting realities are among the highest attainments in the divine life, it will not be deemed an unseasonable service, if in this era of my advanced years, I give in before the church the statement which, under an unction from the Lord, hath long been, now is, and until faith is lost in sight will be with me, “the pillar and ground of the truth.”...

...Moved with unbounded love to our fallen race, all this the Lord Jesus actually performed when, leaving “that glory which He had with the Father before all worlds,” he came into this world, and accomplished all those great events which we read of in the history of his life; and when, by doing and dying, he had wrought out and brought in an everlasting righteousness, he returned to the bosom of the Father, to make efficient the whole process of his redemption, by sending down his Holy Spirit to apply his merits to his people’s necessities, while he himself is exercised in the high character of our Intercessor to plead the efficacy of his death, and continually to appear “in the presence of God for us.” These are the great outlines of the everlasting covenant, as referring to the engagement of God the Son; and the promises, on the part of God the Father, were, that he would anoint Christ to the work, and accept of him in lieu of the sinner; and that when the Redeemer had made his soul an offering for sin, “he should see his seed, he should prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand.” “My righteous servant,” saith God, “shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. As for me, this is my covenant with him, saith Jehovah, my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever.” Such then being the stipulated terms between the high contracting parties, and having been fulfilled on the part of the Lord Jesus, the mercies promised on the part of God become sure mercies to all the Lord's people. “Grace reigneth through righteousness;” and the positive assurance of pardon and salvation is brought home to the heart by a conviction founded on the veracity of that God “which cannot lie.”