THE STATES OF THE REGEERATE AD THE

UREGEERATE COTRASTED.

BY REV. CHARLES SIMEO, M. A.

Eph. ii. 12, 13. Ye zvere without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope, and without God in the world : hut
now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes tvere far off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ.

THERE is scarcely any thing which has a greater

tendency to impress our minds with exalted views
of the grace of God, than to compare the guilt and
misery of an unconverted state, with the purity and
happiness into which we are brought by the Gospel
of Christ. As a shipwrecked person, viewing the
tempest from a rock on which he has been cast, feels
a solemn and grateful sense of the mercy vouchsafed
unto him ; so surely must every one, who " looks
unto the rock whence he has been hewn, and to the
hole of the pit whence he has been digged," stand

2100.1 PRIVILEGES or THE REGEERATE. 303

amazed at the Divine goodness, and be quickened to

pour out his soul in grateful adorations. To produce
this frame, is the scope of the whole preceding part
of this epistle, wherein the Apostle extols and mag-
nifies the grace of God, as manifested to his re-
deemed people. Having shewn what their state had
been previous to conversion, and contrasted it with
that to which they are introduced by the Gospel, he
exhorts them to bear it in remembrance : " Where-
fore remember ;" remember what ye were, that ye may
be thankful for what ye are^.
We propose to shew,
I. The state of unregenerate men

The state of the Jews and Gentiles represented in

a very lively manner the conditions of persons under
the Gospel : the external privileges of the Jews,
typifying the internal and spiritual privileges of the
regenerate ; and the abhorred state of the Gentiles
marking with equal clearness the ignorance and mi-
sery of the unregenerate. In this view, what the
Apostle says of the Ephesians, previous to their con-
version to Christianity, may be considered as appli-
cable to all at this day, who are not truly and
savingly converted :

1 They are "without Christ"

[The Gentiles, of course, had no knowledge of, nor any

interest in, the Lord Jesus Christ. And thus it is with the
unregenerate amongst ourselves: they are without Christ^;
they are separated from him as branches cut off from the
vine : they do not depend upon him, or receive sap and nutri-
ment from him. They indeed call themselves Christians ; but
they have no union with Christ, nor any communications from
him.]

2. They are "aliens from the commonwealth of

Israel"

[Israel are called a commonwealth, because they were

governed by laws different from all other people, and possessed
privileges unknown to the rest of the world. Thus the true
Israel at this day may be considered in the same light ; because

^ ver. 11. with the text. ^ x'''>"'? ^pif^Tov. Comp. Jolin xv. r>.

304 EPHESIAS, II. 12, 13. [2100.

they, and they only, acknowledge Christ as their governor :
they alone yield obedience to his laws, and they alone enjoy
the privileges of his people. ow as the Gentiles were
" aliens" from the commonwealth of the Jews, so are all uncon-
verted men " aliens" from the commonwealth of the converted.
They are governed by different laws ; following the customs,
fashions, and erroneous maxims of the world : they are sepa-
rated from them in heart and affection ; and though, from
necessity, they must sometimes have intercourse with the godly,
they never unite with them as one people, or desire to have
one lot together with them.]

3. They are " strangers from the covenants of

promise"

[There is, strictly speaking, but one covenant of grace :

but the Apostle speaks of it in the plural number ; because it
was given at different times, and always with increasing fulness
and perspicuity. Whether given to Adam, to oah, to Abra-
ham, or to Moses, it was always the same : only the promises
annexed to it were more copious and explicit. It is called
" the covenant of promise," to distinguish it from the covenant
of works, which consisted only in requirements ; whereas this
consists chiefly in promises : under the covenant of works,
men were to do all; under the covenant of grace they were to
receive all.

It is obvious that the Gentiles were " strangers" to this

covenant : and though it is not alike obvious, it is equally
true, that the unconverted are strangers to it also. We confess
they are admitted into the external bond of it in their baptism :
but they do not become partakers of the promised blessings
till they sue for them in the excercise of faith and prayer.
And we will venture to appeal to the generality of baptized
persons, Whether they are not as much strangers to the cove-
nant of promise, as if no such covenant existed ? Do they
rest upon the promises? Do they treasure them up in their
minds ? Do they plead them in prayer before God ? Do
they found all their hopes of happiness upon them ? Alas !
they have little acquaintance with the nature of the covenant,
and no submission to its terms : and consequently they are
utter strangers to the covenant, and to the promises contained
in it]

4. They are without hope

[The Gentile world are always represented as in a hopeless

state ; and though we presume not to say, that God will not
extend uncovenanted mercy to any, yet we have no warrant to
affirm that he will. If indeed they perfectly fulfilled the law
written in their hearts, there is reason to think God would

2100.] PRIVILEGES OF THE REGEERATE. 305

have mercy on them": but who amongst them does perfectly

fulfil that law ? But, waving this, there is an absolute cer-
tainty that the state of unconverted men under the Gospel is
hopeless : no mercy can possibly be extended to them, if they
continue unconverted : they must inevitably and eternally
perish. For, how should they have any hope, when they are
" without Christ" (who is the Head of all vital influence), and
" aliens from the commonwealth of Israel" (to which alone any
saving blessings are communicated), and " strangers from the
covenant of promise" (which is the only channel by which
those blessings are conveyed to us) ? From whence then can
they derive any hope ? or what foundation can they have
for it ?]

5. They are "without God in the world"

[The gods of the heathen were no gods : therefore the)'

to whom the God of Israel was unknown, were " without God
in the world." And thus it is with the unconverted amongst
ourselves : for though they acknowledge the being of a God,
they know not what a just and holy God he is ; nor do they
glorify him as God, by a conformity to his revealed will. They
love not to hear of him : they endeavour to blot out the
remembrance of him from their minds ; their whole conduct
accords with that of Pharaoh, when he said, " Who is the
Lord, that I should obey his voice ? I know not the Lord,
neither will I let Israel go*^." In a word, the language of their
hearts is like that of the fool whom David speaks of, " o
God ;" there is no God to controul or punish me ; or, if there
be, I wish there were none.]

But that all do not continue in that deplorable

condition, will appear by considering,

II. The state to which they are introduced by the

Gospel

Every living man once was in the state above

described ; but in conversion, men " who were some-
times afar off, are made nigh to God"

[In what the nearness of converted men to God consists,

will appear by the very same considerations as have already
been used to illustrate their distance from him in their uncon-
verted state. The Gentiles had no liberty of access to God
among the Jews : they had an outer court assigned them : and
it would have been at the peril of their lives, if tliey had pre-
sumed to enter the place appropriated to the Jews. But on

<: Rom. ii. 26, 27. ^ Exod. v. 2. Ps. xiv. 1.

VOL. XVII. X

306 EPHESIAS, IL 12, 13. [2100.

conversion to Judaism, they were admitted to a participation

of all the rights and privileges of the Jews themselves. Thus
persons truly converted to God have liberty to approach the
Majesty of heaven ; yea, since the vail of the temple was rent
in twain, a new and living way is opened for them into the
holiest of all : they may go even to the throne of God, and
draw nigh to him as their reconciled God and Father. As
soon as ever they are " in Christ Jesus," united to him by
faith, and interested in his merits, they have every privilege
which the most eminent saints enjoy : their sins are pardoned ;
they have peace with God ; and, though they may not be so
full of joy as others, yet they have the same grounds of joy,
inasmuch as " their Beloved is theirs, and they are his."]

To this happy state they are brought " by the

blood of Christ"

[It was the blood of the sacrifice that availed for the
restoration of sinners to the Divine favour under the law : and
in the same manner it is the blood of Christ, and that only,
that can avail for us. But as in the former case, so also in
this, two things are necessary : the blood must be shed as an
atonement for sin ; and it must be sprinkled on the offender
himself, to intimate his entire affiance in it. ow the shedding
of Christ's blood was effected on Calvary, many hundred years
ago : and that one offering is sufficient to atone for the sins
of the whole world. othing more therefore is wanting to
reconcile us to the Deity. But the sprinkling of his blood
upon our hearts and consciences must be done by every one for
himself: we must, as it were, dip the hyssop in the blood, and
apply it to our own souls : or, in other words, we must exer-
cise faith on the atonement of Christ as the only ground of our
acceptance before God. In this way, and in this only, are we
ever brought to a state of favour with God, and of fellowship
with his people.]

This subject being mentioned as that which was

deserving of continual remembrance, we would
call upon you to " remember" it

1. As a criterion whereby to judge of your state

[It is evident, that, if once we were afar off from God, and
now we are nigh to him, there must have been a transition from
the one state to the other, or, as the Scripture expresses it, a
" passing from death unto life." Has this transition then ever
taken place in your souls ? It is not necessary that you should
be able to trace the precise time when it began, and the various
steps by which it was accomplished : but there is an impossi-
bility for it to have taken place, without your having sought it

2101.1 ACCESS TO GOD BY THE PRIESTHOOD. 307

humbly, and laboured for it diligently. Have you then this

evidence at least that it has been accomplished ? If not, you
can have no reason to think that you have ever yet experienced
the change, which characterizes all who are made heirs of
salvation.]

2. As a ground of humiliation

[If you were the most eminent saint that ever lived, it
would be well to bear in mind what you once were, and what
you would still have been, if Divine grace had not wrought a
change within you. Look then at those who " are afar off;"
and, when you see their alienation from God, their enmity
against his people, their distance from even a hope of salvation,
behold your own image, and be confounded on account of your
past abominations : yea, " walk softly also before God all the
days of your life," in the recollection, that, as that once was
your state, so it would be again, if the grace that originally
interposed to change you, do not continually maintain that
change in your souls.]

3. As a source of gratitude and joy

[It is scarcely needful to say, that they who have expe-

rienced a restoration to God's favour, should bless and magnify
their Benefactor and Redeemer. But have not those also, who
are at the greatest distance from God, reason to rejoice and
sing ? Yes surely ; for they may look at those who are now in
heaven, and say, " The blood which availed to bring them nigh
to God will also avail for me." O joyful thought! Ponder it
in your hearts, ye careless sinners : consider what the Lord
Jesus Christ is both able and willing to do for you. Every
saint, whether on earth or in heaven, was once in your state ;
and if you will seek remission through the blood of Christ, you
shall be partakers of their privileges, both in this world and in
the world to come.]

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