Pressing into the Kingdom of God

a Sermon by Jonathan Edwards

"The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is
preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16).

 

Table of Contents

Introduction

Doctrine I: What is Meant by "Pressing into the Kingdom"

Doctrine II: Why the Kingdom Should be Sought by Pressing

Application I: Answers and Objections

Application II: Directions for Pressing into the Kingdom

Application III: Directions to Different Sorts of People

 

Introduction

In this text, two things may be observed:

First, we see what comprised the work and office of John the Baptist – namely, in preaching the kingdom of God, to prepare the way for its introduction to succeed the law and the prophets.  These are said to be until John, who then first began to introduce the New Testament dispensation, or gospel-state of the church; which, with its glorious, spiritual, and eternal privileges and blessings, is often called the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God.  John, then, preached that the kingdom of God was at hand. "Repent" says he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  John the Baptist first began to preach it; and then, after him, Christ and his disciples preached the same. Thus Christ preached, Matthew 4:17. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So the disciples were directed to preach, Matthew 10:7. "And, as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  It was not John the Baptist, but Christ, who fully brought in, and actually established, this kingdom of God; but he, as Christ's forerunner to prepare his way before him, did the first thing that was done towards introducing it.  Thus old dispensation was being abolished, and the new was to be brought in by degrees.  John came to prepare men's hearts to receive that kingdom of God which Christ was more fully to reveal and set up.

Secondly, We how his success appeared; namely, in that since he began his ministry, every man pressed into that kingdom of God which he preached. The greatness of his success appeared in two things:

1. In the generalness of it, with regard to the subject, or the persons in whom the success appeared; "every man."  Here is a universal term, not meaning universal with regard to individuals, but to kinds; as such universal terms are often used in Scripture. When John preached, there was an extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit of God that attended his preaching. An uncommon awakening, and concern for salvation, appeared on the minds of all sorts of persons; and even in the most unlikely persons, and those from whom such a thing might least be expected.  For example, the Pharisees came, who were exceedingly proud, self-sufficient, and conceited about their own wisdom and righteousness, and looked on themselves fit to be teachers of others, but scorned that they themselves be taught.  The Sadducees came, who were a kind of infidels who denied any resurrection, angel, spirit, or any future state. The publicans, who were some of the most infamous sorts, also came to him, inquiring what they should do to be saved. And the soldiers, who were doubtless a very profane, loose-living sort of persons, made the same inquiry (Luke 3:12, 14).

2. His success appeared in the manner in which his hearers sought the kingdom of God; they "pressed" into it.  Matthew 11:12 speaks of this as their being violent for the kingdomof heaven, and taking it by force.

 

Doctrine

The Doctrine I observe from this text is this:  "It concerns everyone who would obtain the kingdom of God to be pressing into it."  In speaking on this subject, (1) I would show what way of seeking salvation seems to be suggested by "pressing into the kingdom of God"; and (2) I would give the reasons why everyone who would obtain the kingdom of God should seek it in this way.  I will then make application.

I.  I would show what manner of seeking salvation seems to be denoted
by "pressing into the kingdom of God."

1. This expression means strength of desire.  Those who live under the light of the gospel, and are not atheists, desire the kingdom of God; that is, they desire to go to heaven rather than to hell. Most of them indeed are not much concerned about it; but on the contrary, live a secure and careless life. Others may be many degrees above these, even being under some degree of the awakenings of God's Spirit, yet are not pressing into the kingdom of God. But those who may be said to be truly so, have strong desires to get out of a natural condition, and to gain an interest in Christ. They have such a conviction of the misery of their present condition, and of the extreme necessity of obtaining a better one, that their minds are possessed with and wrapped up in concern about it. They desire, above all things in the world, to obtain salvation.  This seeking of eternal life should not only be something that concerns our souls along with other things; but salvation should be sought as the "one thing needful" (Luke 10:42) and as the "one thing desired" (Psalm 27:4).

2. Pressing into the kingdom of heaven means earnestness and firmness of resolution:  "One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after" (Psalm 27:4).  In order for our minds to be thoroughly engaged in this affair, both of these must meet together. Besides a desire for salvation, there should be an earnest resolution in persons to pursue this good as much as lies in their power; to do all that in the use of their utmost strength they are able to do, in an attendance on every duty, and resisting and fighting against all manner of sin, and to continue in such a pursuit.

Two things are needful in order to cultivate these strong resolutions: a sense of the great importance and necessity of the mercy sought, and a sense of opportunity to obtain it. The strength of resolution depends on the sense God gives to the heart regarding these things. Persons without such a sense may seem to themselves to take up resolutions; they may, as it were, force a promise to themselves, and say within themselves, "I will seek as long as I live, I will not give up till I obtain," when they merely deceive themselves. Their hearts are not in it; neither do they indeed take up any such resolution as they think themselves to do. It is the resolution of their mouth more than of their heart; their hearts are not strongly bent to fulfill what their mouth says. Firmness of resolution lies in the fullness of the disposition of the heart to do what is resolved to be done. Those who are pressing into the kingdom of God have a disposition of heart to do everything required, and that lies in their power to do, and to continue in it. They have not only earnestness, but steadiness of resolution: they do not seek with a wavering unsteady heart, by turns or fits, being off and on; but it is the constant bent of the soul, if possible, to obtain the kingdom of God.

3. Pressing into the kingdom of God signifies greatness of endeavor, as expressed in Ecclesiastes 9:10: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."   This is the natural and necessary consequence of the two aforementioned things: Where there is strength of desire, and firmness of resolution, there will be answerable endeavors. Persons thus engaged in their hearts will "strive to enter in at the strait gate," and will be violent for heaven.  Their practice will be agreeable to the counsel of the wise man, in Proverbs 2:1-5: "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."  Here the earnestness of desire and strength of resolution is signified by inclining the ear to wisdom, and applying the heart to understanding; and the greatness of endeavor is denoted by crying after knowledge, and lifting up the voice for understanding; seeking her as silver, and searching for her as for hidden treasures: such desires and resolutions go together.

4. Pressing into the kingdom of God denotes an engagedness and earnestness that is directly concerned with that business of getting into the kingdom of God. Persons may be in very great exercise and distress of mind, even about the condition of their souls; their thoughts and cares may be greatly engaged and taken up about things of a spiritual nature, and yet not be pressing into the kingdom of God, nor towards it. The exercise of their minds is not directly about the work of seeking salvation, but rather on something else that is not their business.  Perhaps they are thinking about God's decrees and secret purposes, prying into them, searching for signs which God has chosen not to reveal. They fear they be not of the elect, or that they have committed the unpardonable sin, or that their day is past, and that God has given them up to judicial and final hardness, and never intends to show them mercy, and that therefore it is in vain for them to seek salvation. Or they entangle themselves about the doctrine of original sin, and other mysterious doctrines of religion that are above their comprehension. When this is so, they cannot be said to be pressing towards the kingdom of God.

Hence we are not to judge of the hopefulness of the way that persons are in, or of the probability of their success in seeking salvation, only by the greatness of the concern and distress they are in; for many persons have needless distresses that they had much better be without.  On the other hand, men are most likely way to obtain the kingdom of heaven when the intent of their minds, and the engagedness of their spirits, is about their proper work and business, and all the bent of their souls is to attend on God's means, and to do what he commands and directs them to. The apostle tells us, I Corinthians 9:26, "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air."  Our time is short enough; there are real difficulties and enemies enough for us to encounter.  We need not spend it in that which is nothing to the purpose.

5. By pressing into the kingdom of God is meant a breaking through opposition and difficulties. There is in the expression a plain reference to difficulty. If there were no opposition, but the way was all clear and open, there would be no need of pressing to get along. Therefore, those who are pressing into the kingdom of God will go on with such engagedness that they break through the difficulties in the way. They are so set for salvation that those things by which others are discouraged, and stopped, and turned back, do not stop them, but they press through them. Persons ought to be so resolved for heaven, that if by any means they can obtain, they will obtain. Whether those means are difficult or easy, cross or agreeable, if they are necessary means of salvation, they should be complied with. When anything is presented to be done, the question should not be, Is it easy or hard? is it agreeable to my carnal inclinations or interest, or against them? But is it a required means of my obtaining an interest in Jesus Christ, and eternal salvation? Thus the apostle in Philippians 3:11 said, "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."  He tells us there what difficulties he broke through, that he suffered the loss of all things, and was willingly made conformable even to Christ's death, though that was attended with such extreme torment and humiliation.

He who is pressing into the kingdom of God commonly finds many things in the way that are against the grain, or that he apprehends will look odd and strange in the eyes of others and expose him to ridicule and reproach, or things that will offend a neighbor, or that will require him to deny his own carnal appetite – he will press through such difficulties.  Regardless of what might be in the way, heaven is what he must and will obtain, not if he can without difficulty, but if by any means it be possible. He meets with temptation: the devil is often whispering in his ear, setting allurements before him, magnifying the difficulties of the work he is engaged in, telling him that they are insuperable, and that he can never conquer them, and trying all ways in the world to discourage him; but still he presses forward. God has given and maintains such an earnest spirit for heaven, that the devil cannot stop him in his course.

II. I would show why the kingdom of heaven should be sought in this manner.

1. We should press into the kingdom of heaven because of the extreme necessity we are in of obtaining it. For need of that kingdom, we are perishing; without it we are utterly and eternally lost. Outside of the kingdom of God is no safety; there is no other hiding-place; this is the only city of refuge, in which we can be secure from the avenger that pursues all the ungodly. The vengeance of God will pursue, overtake, and eternally destroy, those that are not in this kingdom. All who are without this enclosure will be swallowed up in an overflowing fiery deluge of wrath. They may stand at the door and knock, and cry, Lord, Lord, open to us, but it will be in vain; they will be thrust back, and God will have no mercy on them; they shall be eternally left of him. His fearful vengeance will seize them; the devils will lay hold of them; and all evil will come upon them; and there will be none to pity or help; their case will be utterly desperate, and infinitely doleful. It will be a hopeless case with them; all offers of mercy and expressions of divine goodness will be finally withdrawn, and all hope will be lost. God will have no kind of regard to their well-being; will take no care of them to save them from any enemy, or any evil; but He Himself will be their dreadful enemy, and will execute wrath with fury, and will take vengeance in an inexpressibly dreadful manner. Such as shall be in this case will be lost and undone indeed!

2. We should press because of the shortness and uncertainty of the opportunity for getting into this kingdom. When a few days are past, all our opportunity for it will be gone. Our day is limited. God has set our bounds, and we know not where. While persons are out of this kingdom, they are in danger every hour of being overtaken with wrath. We know not how soon we shall get past that line, beyond which there is no work, device, knowledge, nor wisdom; and therefore we should do what we have to do with all our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

3. We should press because of the difficulty of getting into the kingdom of God. There are innumerable difficulties in the way, such as few can conquer.  Most who try do not have resolution, courage, earnestness, and constancy enough; but they fail, give up, and perish. The difficulties are too many and too great for them who do not violently press forward.  "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14).  "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24).

4. We should press because of the possibility of obtaining. Though it is attended by so much difficulty, yet it is not a thing impossible, for other sinners have been given hope:  "If perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee" (Acts 8:22). "If perhaps God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25).  However sinful a person is, and whatever his circumstances, there is, notwithstanding, a possibility of his salvation. He himself is capable of it, and God is able to accomplish it, and has mercy sufficient for it.  Furthermore, there is sufficient provision made through Christ, that God may do it consistent with the honor of his majesty, justice, and truth.  So there is no lack either of sufficiency in God, or capacity in the sinner, in order to accomplish this. The greatest and vilest, most blind, dead, hard-hearted sinner living is capable of saving light and grace. Seeing therefore there is such a necessity of obtaining the kingdom of God, and so short a time, and such difficulty, and yet such a possibility, it may well encourage us to press into it. As Jonah cried out to the people of Ninevah, "let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" (Jonah 3:8-9).

5.  We press because of the great excellency of that kingdom. We are willing to seek earthly things of trifling value, with great diligence and through much difficulty; it is therefore certainly appropriate that we should seek with great earnestness that which is of infinitely greater worth and excellence. And how well may God expect and require it of us, that we should seek it in such a manner, in order to obtain it!

6. We press in order to prepare us for the kingdom of God. Such earnestness and thoroughness of endeavor is the ordinary means God uses to bring persons to an acquaintance with themselves, to a knowledge of their own hearts, to a sense of their own helplessness, and to a despair over their own lack of strength and righteousness.  Such engagedness and constancy in seeking the kingdom of heaven prepares the soul to receive it more joyfully and thankfully, and more highly to prize and value it when it is obtained. So it is in mercy to us, as well as for the glory of his own name, that God has appointed such earnest seeking, to be the way in which he will bestow the kingdom of heaven.

 

Application

The use I would make of this doctrine, is to exhort all Christless persons to press into the kingdom of God. Some of you are inquiring what you shall do.  You seem to desire to know how salvation is to be sought, and how you may be likely to obtain it. You have now heard the way the holy word of God directs us to. Some are seeking, but it cannot be said of them that they are pressing into the kingdom of heaven; others in time past have sought salvation, but not in this manner, and so they never obtained, but are now gone to hell. Some sought it year after year, but failed of it, and perished at last. They were overtaken with divine wrath, and are now suffering the fearful misery of damnation, and have no rest day nor night, having no more opportunity to seek, but must suffer and be miserable throughout the never-ending ages of eternity. Be exhorted, therefore, not to seek salvation as they did, but let the kingdom of heaven suffer violence from you.

I.  Here I would first answer an objection or two, and then proceed to give
some directions how to press into the kingdom of God.

Objection. 1. Some may be ready to say, We cannot do this of ourselves; that strength of desire, and firmness of resolution, that have been spoken of, are out of our reach. If I endeavor to resolve and to seek with firmness of spirit, I find I fail; my thoughts are soon off from the business, and I feel myself dull, and my firmness relaxed, in spite of all I can do.

Answer 1. Though it is true that earnestness of mind is not immediately in your power, yet the consideration of what has been now said of the need of it may be a means of stirring you up to it. It is true that no one will ever be thoroughly engaged in this business unless it is by God's influence; but God influences persons by means, or a course of action. Persons are not stirred up to a thorough earnestness without some considerations that move them to it. And if they can only be made aware of the necessity of salvation, and seriously consider the great difficulty of it, and the greatness of the opposition, and how short and uncertain the time is, and still have a hope that the opportunity has not passed them by, and that there is a possibility of their obtaining, they have the means necessary to be thoroughly engaged and resolved in this matter. If we see persons slack, unresolved, and unsteady, it is because they do not consider these things enough.

Answer 2. Though strong desires and resolutions of mind are not in your power, yet painstaking effort is in your power. It is in your power to take pains in the use of means, even very great pains. You can be very diligent in watching your own heart, and striving against sin. Though there is all manner of corruption in the heart continually ready to work, yet you can laboriously watch and strive against these corruptions; and it is in your power, to attend with great diligence the matter of your duty towards God and towards your neighbor. It is in your power to attend all public and private religious duties, and to do it with your might. Though dullness, deadness of the heart, and laziness of disposition hinder one's willingness, they do not hinder one's being able to make great effort; in fact, one area in which your labor can and should be exercised is in striving against your own dullness.  Consider that if there were no difficulties attended seeking salvation, there would be no occasion for Jesus' command that we strive to enter in; a man would have nothing to strive about. There is indeed a great deal of difficulty attending all duties required of those that would obtain heaven, but what is there in any affair or business except difficulties to strive or struggle with?  In all things, earnestness of mind, and diligence of endeavor, tend to promote each other. He that has a heart earnestly engaged, will take pains; and he that is diligent and painful in all duty, probably will not be so long before he finds the sensibleness of his heart and earnestness of his spirit greatly increased.

Objection 2. Some may object that if they are earnest, and take a great deal of pains, they shall be in danger of trusting in what they do; they are afraid of doing their duty for fear of making a righteousness of it.

Answer. There is ordinarily no kind of seekers that trust so much to what they do, as slack and dull seekers. Though all seekers of salvation who have not yet obtained it somewhat trust in their own righteousness, yet some do it much more fully than others. Some, though they trust in their own righteousness, yet are not satisfied in it. And those who are most disturbed in their self-confidence are the most likely to repent of it, and are less likely to go on in a slack way of seeking, but such as are most earnest and thoroughly engaged.  A dull seeker's conscience, on the other hand, will be more satisfied and quieted with his own works and performances; but one that is thoroughly awakened cannot be stilled or pacified with such things as these. In this way, serious seekers gain much more knowledge of themselves, and more acquainted with their own hearts, than those in a negligent, slight way of seeking; for they have a great deal more experience of themselves. It is experience of ourselves, and finding what we are, that God commonly makes use of as the means of bringing us off from all dependence on ourselves. In this way one has much more experience of his own weakness, and will therefore sooner see himself dead in sin and in need of salvation. Such a one, though he might tend continually to be flying to his own righteousness, yet finds rest in nothing; he wanders about from one thing to another, seeking something to ease his disquieted conscience; he is driven from one refuge to another, goes from mountain to hill, seeking rest and finding none; and therefore will the sooner prove that short of God's rest, there is no rest to be found.

It is therefore quite a wrong notion some have that the more they do, the more they shall depend on it. Whereas the reverse is true; the more they do, or the more thorough they are in seeking, the less will they be likely to rest in their doings, and the sooner will they see the vanity of all that they do. On the other hand, people's slackness in religion, and their trust in their own righteousness, strengthen and establish one another; their trust in what they have done, and what they now do, settles them in a slothful rest and ease, and hinders their being sensible of their need of rousing up themselves and pressing forward. Therefore we see, that when persons have been going on for a long time in such a way, and God afterwards comes more thoroughly to awaken them, and to stir them up to be in good earnest, he shakes all their old foundations, and rouses them out of their old resting places; so that they cannot quiet themselves with those things that formerly kept them secure.

II.  I would now proceed to give some directions how
you should press into the kingdom of God.

Direction 1.  Be directed to sacrifice everything to your soul's eternal interest. Let seeking this be so much your bent, and what you are so resolved in, that you will make every thing give place to it. Let nothing stand before your resolution of seeking the kingdom of God. Whatever you once looked upon as a convenience, or comfort, or ease, if it stands in the way of this great concern, let it be dismissed without hesitation.  If you have formerly, for the sake of worldly gain, involved yourself in care and business to the extent that it interferes with your being so thorough in the business of religion as you ought to be, then order your priorities aright, though you your worldly interests may suffer. Or if the company keep gives you reason to think they have been and will be a snare to you, and a hindrance to this great purpose, break off from them, whatever the cost. Whatever it be that stands in the way of your most advantageously seeking salvation, whether it be some dear sinful pleasure, or strong carnal appetite, or credit and honor, or the good-will of some people whose friendship you desire – though there is fear that if you do as you ought, you shall looked upon by them as odd and ridiculous, and become contemptible in their eyes – or if it be your ease and laziness and aversion to continual labor; let all of these go.  Offer up all such things together, as it were, in one sacrifice, to the interest of your soul. Let nothing stand in competition with this, but make every thing to fall before it. If the flesh must be crossed, then cross it, spare it not, crucify it, and do not be afraid of being too cruel to it. Galatians 5:24: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts."  Let salvation be the one thing with you.
This is what is certainly required of you: and this is what many stick at; this giving up other things for salvation, is a stumbling-block that few get over. While others pressed into the kingdom of God at the preaching of John the Baptist, Herod was pretty much stirred up by his preaching. It is said, he heard him, and observed him, and did many things; but when he came to tell him that he must part with his beloved Herodias, here he stuck; this he never would yield to (Mark 7:18-20). The rich young man (Luke 18:18-24) also was considerably concerned for salvation; and accordingly lived very strictly in many things: but when Christ came to direct him to go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and come and follow him, he could not find in his heart to comply with it, but went away sorrowful. He had great possessions, and set his heart much on his estate, and could not bear to part with it. It may be that if Christ had directed him only to give away a considerable part of his estate, he would have done it; but when he directed him to give up all, he could not grapple with such a proposal. Herein is the narrowness of the gate, and it is on this account that so many seek to enter in, and are not able.

Direction 2. Be directed to forget the things that are behind you: that is, not to keep thinking and making much of what you have done, but let your mind be wholly intent on what you must do. In some sense you ought to look back; you should look back to your sins. "See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done" (Jeremiah 2:23). You should look back on the wretchedness of your religious performances, and consider how you have fallen short in them; how exceedingly polluted all your duties have been, and how justly God might reject and loathe them, and loathe you for them. But you ought not to spend your time in looking back, as many persons do, thinking how much they have done for their salvation; what great pains they have taken, how that they have done what they can, and do not see how they can do more; how long a time they have been seeking, and how much more they have done than others, and even than such and such who have obtained mercy. Or they think within themselves how hard God's dealings are with them, how he does not extend mercy to them, but turns a deaf ear to their cries.  Hence, they discourage themselves, and complain of God. Do not thus spend your time in looking back on what is past, but look forward, and consider what it is you can do, and what it is necessary that you should do, and what God calls you still to do, in order to seek and obtain salvation. The apostle, in Philippians 3, tells us what things he did while a Jew, how much he had to boast of, if any could boast; but he tells us that he forgot those things, and all other things that were behind, and reached forth towards the things that were before, pressing forwards towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Direction 3. Labor to get your heart thoroughly disposed to go on and hold out to the end. Many that seem earnest do not have not a heart thus disposed. It is a common thing for persons to appear greatly affected for a little while; but all is soon past away, and there is no more to be seen of it. Labor therefore to obtain a thorough willingness and preparation of spirit, to continue seeking, in the use of your utmost endeavours, without limitation; and do not think your whole life too long. And in order to this, be advised of two things:

(1) Remember that if ever God bestows mercy upon you, he will do it in his time and according to his own sovereign pleasure. He will bestow it on some in a little time, and on others not till they have sought it long. If others are soon enlightened and comforted while you remain long in darkness, you must be content to wait, even in labors and earnest striving, until his time comes. If you refuse, you will only undo yourself; and when you shall later find yourself undone, and see that your case is past remedy, how will you condemn yourself for foregoing a great probability of salvation only because you were not willing to continue in the trouble of a persevering labor! Is salvation less worth taking a great deal of pains for, because, through the sovereign pleasure of God, others have obtained it with comparatively little pains? Indeed if you were ten thousand years, and all that time should strive and press forward with great earnestness, all this would bear no proportion to the importance of the benefit; and it will doubtless appear little to you, when once you come to be in actual possession of eternal glory, and to see what that eternal misery is which you have escaped. You must not think much of your pains, and of the length of time; you must press towards the kingdom of God, and do your utmost, and hold out to the end, and learn to make no account of it when you have done.

(2) Endeavour now thoroughly to weigh in your mind the difficulty, and to count the cost of perseverence in seeking salvation. You that are now setting out in this business; be exhorted to attend this direction. Do not undertake in this affair with any other thought but of giving yourself wholly to it for the remaining part of your life, and going through many and great difficulties in it.  Many, when they begin, even seeming to set out very earnestly, do not expect that they shall need to seek very long, and so do not prepare themselves for it. And therefore, when they come to find it otherwise, and meet with unexpected difficulty, they are found unguarded, and easily overthrown. Consider now beforehand, how tedious it would be, with utmost earnestness and labor, to strive after salvation for many years, in the mean time receiving no joyful or comfortable evidence of your having obtained. Consider what a great temptation to discouragement there probably would be in it; how apt you would be to yield the case; how ready to think that it is in vain for you to seek any longer, and that God never intends to show you mercy, in that he has not yet done it; how apt you would be to think with yourself, "What an uncomfortable life do I live! How much more unpleasantly do I spend my time than others who do not trouble their minds about the things of another world, but are at ease, and take the comfort of their worldly enjoyments!"  Prepare for such temptations now, that you may not think any strange thing has happened when they come.

I hope those who have given attention to what has been said, have by this time conceived, in some measure, what is meant by the expression in the text, and how they ought to press into the kingdom of God.  If you sit still, you die; if you go backward, you shall surely die; if you go forward, you may live. And though God is not bound to any labor a person does while destitute of faith, and out of Christ, yet there is great probability, that by heeding this counsel you will live; and that by pressing onward, and persevering, you will at last, as it were by violence, take the kingdom of heaven. These we may well hope at last to see standing with the Lamb on mount Zion, clothed in white robes, with palms in their hands (Revelation 7:9).   Then, when all your labour and toil have been rewarded, you will not regret that you have taken so much pain, and denied yourself much, and waited so long. This self-denial, this waiting, will then look little, and vanish into nothing in your eyes, being all swallowed up in the first minute's enjoyment of that glory that you will then possess, and will uninterruptedly possess and enjoy to all eternity.

III.  Finally, I would particularly direct myself to several sorts of people.

First, I would direct myself to those sinners who are somewhat awakened, and are concerned for their salvation. You have reason to be glad that you have such an opportunity, and to prize it above gold. To induce you to prize and improve it, consider several things.

1. There are probably some here now concerned about their salvation, who will never obtain. Doubtless there are many now seeking who will not be able to enter.  In times past, when there have been times of great outpourings of God's Spirit, many who inquired for awhile with others what they should do to be saved, have failed, and afterwards grown hard and secure. All of you who are now awakened, have a mind to obtain salvation, and probably hope to get a title to heaven, in the time of this present moving of God's Spirit: but yet, (though it be awful to be spoken, and to be thought) we have no reason to think otherwise than that some of you will burn in hell to all eternity. You all are afraid of hell, and seem at present determined to take pains to be delivered from it, yet some will soon lose the sense of things they now have. Though their awakenings seem to be very considerable for the present, they will not hold; they have not hearts disposed to hold on through very many difficulties.  It may be that the occasion of your awakening has been hearing of the conversion of some person, or seeing so extraordinary a dispensation of Providence as this in which God now appears amongst us; but over time, the newness and freshness of these things will be gone, and so will not affect your mind as now they do; and it may be your convictions will go away with it.

We speak of it as a happy thing, that God is pleased to cause such a time of awakening as this amongst us, and so it is indeed: but there are some to whom it will be no benefit; it will be an occasion of their greater misery; they will wish they had never seen this time; it will be more tolerable for those that never saw it, or any thing like it, in the day of judgment, than for them. It is an awful consideration, that there are probably those here, whom the great Judge will hereafter call to a strict account about this very thing, why they no better improved this opportunity, when he set open the fountain of his grace, and so loudly called upon them, and came and strove with them in particular, by the awakening influences of his Spirit; and they will have no good account to give to the Judge, but their mouths will be stopped, and they will stand speechless before him. You need therefore to be earnest, and very resolved in this affair, that you may not be one of those who shall thus fail, that you may so fight, as not uncertainly, and so run, as that you may win the prize.

2. Consider in what sad circumstances times of extraordinary pouring out of God's Spirit commonly leave persons when they leave them unconverted. Such times find them in a natural, and thus doleful, condition; but commonly leave them in a much more doleful condition. They are left dreadfully hardened, and with a great increase of guilt, and their souls under a more strong dominion and possession of Satan. And frequently seasons such as this, of extraordinary advantage for salvation, when they pass over certain persons, and they do not improve them, nor receive any good in them, seal their damnation. As such seasons leave them, God forever leaves them, and gives them up to judicial hardness. Jesus said of Jerusalem, in Luke 19:41, 42, "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."

3. Consider, that it is very uncertain whether you will ever see such another time of God's striving as this. If there should be such another time, it is very uncertain whether you will live to another time, and even if so, it is very uncertain whether you will live to see it. Many who are now concerned for their salvation amongst us, will probably be in their graves, and it may be in hell, before that time; and if you should miss this opportunity, it may be so with you. And what good will that do you, to have the Spirit of God poured out upon earth, in the place where you once lived, while you are tormented in hell? What will it avail you, that others are crying, What shall I do to be saved? while you are shut up forever in the bottomless pit, and are wailing and gnashing your teeth in everlasting burnings?

4. If you should see another such time, it will likely be under far greater disadvantages than now. You will probably then be much older, and will have more hardened your heart; and so will be under less probability of receiving good. Some persons are so hardened in sin, and so left of God, that they can live through such a time as this, and not be much awakened or affected by it; they can stand their ground, and be but little moved. And so it may be with you, that if you should continue Christless and graceless till then, you will be much further from the kingdom of God, and much deeper involved in snares and misery; and the devil will probably have a vastly greater advantage against you, to tempt and confound you.

5. We do not know but that God is now gathering in his elect, before some great and sore judgment. It has been God's manner before he casts off a visible people, or brings some great and destroying judgments upon them, first to gather in his elect, that they may be secure. So it was before the great judgment upon the Jews; there was first a very remarkable pouring out of the Spirit, and gathering in of the elect, by the preaching of the apostles and evangelists, as we read in the beginning of the Acts.  But after this, when the harvest and its gleanings were over, the rest were blinded, and hardened; the gospel had little success amongst them, the nation was given up, and their city and land was destroyed by the Romans in a terrible manner.  They have now been cast off by God for a great many ages, and still remain a hardened and rejected people. So we read in the beginning of the 7th chapter of the Revelation, that God, when about to bring destroying judgments on the earth, first sealed his servants in the forehead. He set his seal upon the hearts of the elect, gave them the saving influences and indwelling of his Spirit, by which they were sealed to the day of redemption. Revelation 7:1-3 reads, "And after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."

This may be the case now, that God is about to forsake this land, and give up this people, and to bring most awful and overwhelming judgments upon it, and that he is now gathering in his elect, to secure them from the calamity. The state of the nation, and of this land, never looked so threatening of such a thing as at this day. The present aspect of things exceedingly threatens vital religion, and even those truths that are especially the foundation of it, out of this land. If it should be so, how awful will the case be with those who shall be left, and not brought in, while God continues the influences of his Spirit, to gather in those that are to be redeemed from amongst us!

6. If you neglect the present opportunity, and in the end be found unbelieving, those that are converted in this time of the pouring out of God's Spirit will rise up in judgment against you. Your neighbors, your relations, acquaintances and companions who are converted will that day appear against you. They will not only be taken while you are left, mounting up with joy to meet the Lord in the air – at his right hand with glorious saints and angels, while you are at the left with devils – but how they will rise up in judgment against you! However friendly you have been together, and have taken pleasure in familiar conversation in one another's company, they will then surely appear against you, rising up as witnesses, and declaring what a precious opportunity you had, and did not improve; how you continued unbelieving, and rejected the offers of a Savior, when those offers were made in so extraordinary a manner, and when so many others were prevailed upon to accept of Christ. And not only so, but they shall be your judges, as assessors with the great Judge; and as such will be with the Judge in passing sentence upon you. "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" (I Corinthians 6:2)  "They shall sit with him in his throne" (Revelation 3:21), that is, in his throne of government as well as his throne of judgment, and shall be judges with him when you are judged, and as such shall condemn you.

Let these considerations move every person to be improving this opportunity of conviction, that while others receive saving good, and are made heirs of eternal glory, you may not be left behind, in the same miserable condition in which you came into the world, a poor captive to sin and Satan, a lost sheep, a perishing, undone creature, sinking down into everlasting perdition; that you may not be one of them "that shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes" (Jeremiah 17:6).  If you do not improve this opportunity, remember I have told you, you will hereafter lament it; and if you do not lament it in this world, then I will leave it with you to remember it throughout a miserable eternity.

Second, I would address myself to such as yet remain unawakened. It is an awful thing that there should be any unconverted person remaining comfortably secure among us at such a time as this; but yet it is to be feared that there are some of this sort. I would here earnestly reason with such persons.

1. When do you expect that it will be more likely that you should be awakened and wrought upon than now? You are in a Christless condition; and yet without doubt intend to go to heaven; and therefore intend to be converted some time before you die; but this is not to be expected till you are first awakened, and deeply concerned about the welfare of your soul, and brought earnestly to seek God's converting grace. And when do you intend that this shall be? How do you lay things out in your own mind, or what projection do you have about this matter?  Do we not see many, who previously were secure, now roused out of their sleep, crying, What shall I do to be saved? But you are yet secure! Do you flatter yourself that it will be more likely you should be awakened when it is a dull and dead time? Do you lay matters out thus in your own mind, that though you are senseless when others are generally awakened, that yet you shall be awakened when others are generally senseless? Or do you hope to see another such time of the pouring out of God's Spirit hereafter? And do you think it will be more likely that you should be wrought upon then, than now? And why do you think so? Is it because then you shall be so much older than you are now, and so that your heart will be grown softer and more tender with age? or because you will then have stood out so much longer against the calls of the gospel, and all means of grace? Do you think it more likely that God will give you the needed influences of his Spirit then, rather than now, because by then you will have provoked him so much more, and your sin and guilt will be so much greater?

2. What means do you expect to be awakened by? If it is the prompting of solemn warnings of the word of God, you have had those set before you times without number, in the most moving manner that the preachers of the word have been capable of. If it is particular solemn warnings, directed to those that are in your circumstances, you have had them frequently, and have them now from time to time. It is by awful providences that you expect to be awakened? Those also you have lately had, of the most awakening nature, one after another. Do you expect to be moved by the deaths of others? We have lately had repeated instances of these. There have been deaths of old and young: the year has been remarkable for the deaths even of young persons in the bloom of life; and some of them very sudden deaths. Will the conversion of others move you? There is indeed scarce any thing that is found to have so great a tendency to stir persons up as this, and this also you have witnessed of late in frequent instances. Will a general pouring out of the Spirit do it, and seeing a concern about salvation amongst all sorts of people? This you also now have, but without effect. Indeed, you have all these things together; you have the solemn warnings of God's word, and awful instances of death, and the conversion of others, and see a general concern about salvation: but all together they do not move you to any great concern about your own precious, immortal, and miserable soul. How dark it looks upon you, that God comes and knocks at so many persons' doors, and misses yours! Therefore consider again:  by what means it is that you expect ever to be awakened?

3. Do you think you can bear the damnation of hell? Do you imagine that you can tolerably endure the devouring fire, and everlasting burnings? Do you hope that you shall be able to grapple with the vengeance of God Almighty, when he girds himself with strength, and clothes himself with wrath? Do you think to strengthen yourself against God, and to be able to make your part good with him? I Corinthians 10:22. "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?" Do you flatter yourself that you shall find out ways for your ease and support, to bear up your spirit in those everlasting burnings prepared for the devil and his angels?  "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee?" (Ezekiel 22:14). It is a difficult thing to conceive what such Christless persons think, who are unconcerned at such a time as this.

Third, I would direct myself to those who are grown considerably into years, and are yet in a natural or unconverted condition. I would now take occasion exhort you to press into the kingdom of God. You have lost many advantages that once you had, and now do not have not the same advantages that others have.  Now is the time for you to stir yourself up, and take the kingdom of heaven! Consider:

1. There at times seems to be a door opened for old sinners. You that have been long seeking to enter in at the strait gate and yet remain without, now take your opportunity and press in! You that have been long in the wilderness, fighting with various temptations, laboring under discouragements, ready to give up the case, and have been often tempted to despair, now, behold the door that God opens for you! Do not give way to discouragements now; this is not a time for it. Do not spend time in thinking that you have done what you can already, and that you are not elected, and in giving way to other perplexing, weakening, disheartening temptations. Do not waste away this precious opportunity in such a manner. You have no time to spare for such things as these; God calls you now to something else. Improve this time in seeking and striving for salvation, and not in things that tend to hinder it.  It is no time now for you to stand talking with the devil; but hearken to God, and apply yourself to that which he now so loudly calls you to.

Some of you have often lamented the loss of past opportunties, particularly, the loss of the time of youth, and have been wishing that you had so good an opportunity again; and have been ready to say, "Oh! if I was young again, how would I improve such an advantage!" That opportunity which you have had in time past is irrecoverable; you can never have it again; but God can give you other advantages of another sort, that are very great, and he is so doing today. He is now putting a new opportunity into your hands; if you lament your folly in neglecting and losing past opportunties, then do not be guilty of the folly of neglecting the opportunity which God now gives you. This opportunity you could not have purchased, if you had given all that you had in the world for it. But God is putting it into your hands himself, of his own free and sovereign mercy, without your purchasing it. Therefore when you have it, do not neglect it.

2. It is a great deal more likely with respect to such elderly persons than others, that this is their last time. There will be a last time of special offer of salvation to impenitent sinners.  God has said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man" (Genesis 6:3). God sometimes continues long knocking at the doors of wicked men's hearts; but there are final knocks, and final calls, and sometimes God's last calls are the loudest.  Then, if sinners do not hearken, he finally leaves them. How long has God been knocking at many of your doors that are old in sin! It is a great deal more likely that these are his last knocks. You have resisted God's Spirit in times past, and have hardened your heart once and again; but God will always allow himself to thus dealt with. There is danger, that if now, after so long a time, you will not hearken, he will utterly desert you, and leave you to walk in your own counsels.  Perhaps you have seen former times of the pouring out of God's Spirit upon the town, when others were taken and you left, others were called out of darkness into marvelous light, and were brought into a glorious and happy state, and you saw not good when good came. How dark will your circumstances appear, if you shall also stand it out through this opportunity, and still be left behind! Take heed that you be not of those spoken of in Hebrews 6:7-8, who are like the "earth that has rain coming oft upon it, and only bears briers and thorns." As we see there are some pieces of ground, the more showers of rain fall upon them, the more fruitful seasons there are, the more do briers and other useless and hurtful plants rooted in them grow and flourish. Of such ground the apostle says, "It is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." (Hebrews 6:8).  The way that the husbandman takes with such ground, is, to set fire to it, to burn up the growth of it. If you miss this opportunity, there is danger that you will be utterly rejected, and that your end will be to be burned. Those of you who are already grown old in sin, and are now under awakenings, when you feel your convictions begin to go off, then remember what you have now been told; it may well then strike you to the heart!

Fourth and finally, I would direct the advice to those that are young, and now under their first special convictions.  I would earnestly urge such to make us of this opportunity, and press into the kingdom of God.  Consider two things:

1. You have this peculiar advantage upon you that you are now in your youth. that you now are under your first convictions. Happy is he who never has hardened his heart, and blocked his own way to heaven by backsliding, and now has the awakening influences of God's Spirit, if God but enables him thoroughly to improve them! Such above all in the world bid fair for the kingdom of God. God is wont on such, above all others, easily and readily to bestow the saving grace and comforts of his Spirit. Instances of speedy and sudden conversion are most commonly found among such. Happy are they who have the Spirit of God with them, and never have quenched it.   If only they knew the price they have in their hands!

2. On the other hand, there is also greater danger than in others that such as are in your circumstances will fail of thoroughly improving their convictions. Those who are young are more unstable than their elders. They who never had convictions before, have less experience of the difficulty of the work they have engaged in; they are more ready to think that they shall obtain salvation easily, and are more easily discouraged by disappointments; and young people have less reason and consideration to fortify themselves against temptations to backsliding. You should therefore labor now the more to guard against such temptations. By all means, make but one great work of seeking salvation! Make thorough work of it the first time!  Those who have several turns of seeking with great intermissions in between put themselves under vast disadvantages.  By such a course, they exceedingly wound their own souls, and entangle themselves in many snares. The children of Israel would not have been forty years in the wilderness, if they had held their courage, and had gone on as they set out; but they were of an unstable mind, and desired to go back again into Egypt. Otherwise, if they had gone right forward without discouragement, as God would have led them, they would have soon entered and taken possession of Canaan. Therefore, as you regard the interest of your soul, do not run yourself into a like difficulty, by unsteadiness, intermission, and backsliding; but press right forward, from henceforth, and make but one work of seeking, converting, and pardoning grace, however great, and difficult, and long a work that may be.