| Back | Contents | Next |
{The Application
Application for the Ungodly
Confirm and Complete All by Solemn Covenant
Directions: Confirm Your Covenant with God
O, most awesomely majestic God, on merit of the sacrifice of Your Son, I implore You to accept Your poor prodigal,238 now lying prostrate at Your door. I have fallen from You by my iniquity, and am by nature, deserving of death. And by my wicked practice, I am a thousand times more deserving of Hell. But out of Your infinite grace You have promised mercy to me in Christ. I will turn to You only with all my heart. Therefore, at the call of Your Gospel, I now come in and, throwing down all weapons, submit myself to Your mercy.
You require, as the condition of my peace with You, that I put away my idols and stand against all Your enemies. But I acknowledge that I have wickedly sided with them against You. I hereby, from the bottom of my heart, renounce them all. I freely covenant with You not to allow myself any known sin, but to use conscientiously all of the means that I know You have prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions. And I used to inordinately and idolatrously give my affection to the world, but I now surrender my heart to You who made it. I resolve, through Your assistance, to forsake all that is dear to me in this world rather than turn from You to the ways of sin. I resolve to watch against all of the world’s temptations, whether of prosperity or adversity, lest they should draw my heart away from You. I humbly testify before Your glorious majesty that these are the firm resolutions of my heart. I do honestly and sincerely desire grace from You, that when You call me to it, I may practice these resolutions. I also beseech You to help me against the temptations of Satan and his wicked suggestions. I resolve by Your grace, never to yield myself a servant to sin. And because my own righteousness is nothing but filthy rags, I renounce all confidence in my own righteousness. I acknowledge that, of myself, I am a hopeless, helpless, undone creature without righteousness or strength.
Out of Your bottomless mercy, You have most graciously offered to me, a wretched sinner, to be my God through Christ if I will accept You. I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do hereby solemnly acknowledge and take You for the Lord my God. With all possible veneration, I bow the neck of my soul under the feet of Your most sacred majesty. I do here and now take You, Lord Yahweh,239 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as my portion and chief good. I give up myself, body and soul, to be Your servant, promising and vowing to serve You in holiness and righteousness all the days of my life.
You have appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be the only means of coming to You. Therefore I do here and now, upon the bent knees of my soul, accept Christ as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to You. I do here and now solemnly join myself in a marriage-covenant to Him.240 O, blessed Jesus, I come to You hungry, hard-pressed, poor, wretched, miserable, blind, and naked, a most loathsome polluted wretch. I am a guilty condemned criminal, forever unworthy to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord.
How much more unworthy am I to be solemnly married to the King of Glory, but since such is Your unparalleled love, I do now with all my power accept You and take You for my head and husband,241 for better or worse, for richer or poorer, and for all times and conditions. I promise to love, honor, and obey You before all others—and this to the death. I embrace You in all your offices. I renounce my own worthiness and acknowledge You to be the Lord, my righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). I renounce my own wisdom and do here take You for my only guide; I renounce my own will and take Your Word for my law.
And since You have told me that I must suffer if I will reign, I do hereby covenant with You to take my lot with You as it falls. By Your assisting grace, I will endure all hazards with You, knowing truly that neither life nor death will separate You and me.
And because You have been pleased to give me Your holy laws as the rule of my life and the way in which I should walk to the kingdom, I do hereby willingly put my neck under Your yoke and set my shoulder to Your burden. I accept and ratify all of Your laws as holy, just, and good; I solemnly take them as the rule of my words, thoughts, and actions. I promise that, although my flesh will contradict and rebel, I will endeavor to order and govern my whole life according to Your direction and will not allow myself any neglect of anything that I know to be my duty.
Through the frailty of my flesh, I am subject to many failings. For this reason only, I am bold to humbly declare that my sins, which are contrary to the settled bent and resolution of my heart, will not make void this covenant, for so You have said (1 John 1:9).
Almighty God, searcher of hearts, You know that I make this covenant with You this day without any known guile [deceit] or reservation. If You see any flaw or falsehood in my heart, I beseech You to show it to me and help me to do it right.242
And now, glory be to You, O God the Father, whom I will be bold from this day forward to look upon as my God and Father. Glory to You for devising such a way for the recovery of undone sinners. Glory be to You, O God the Son, who has loved me and washed me from my sins with Your own blood. You have now become my Savior and Redeemer. Glory be to You, O God the Holy Spirit, who by the finger of Your almighty power has turned my heart around from sin to God.
O awesomely majestic Yahweh, the Lord God omnipotent, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You have now become my covenant-friend. Through Your infinite grace, I have become Your covenant-servant. Amen. So be it. And let this covenant that I have made on Earth be ratified in Heaven.
238Luke 15:21.
239Yahweh: also spelled Jehovah, and commonly translated, for wrong reasons, as “Lord” in many translations of the Old Testament. It is God’s personal name, which may be translated “I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
240Ephesians 1:22–23; 5:23, 25, 32, and Revelation 19:6–9; 21:2. From these passages, it is clear that individual believers are members of the one Bride of Christ, that is the invisible Church; they are not themselves spouses of Christ individually, but are part of the Bride, the invisible Church. This is further brought out by the description of individual believers as parts of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). Alleine’s language here is unfortunate; Christ is not a polygamist and male believers are not in a sodomitic union with Christ. Alleine is not alone among writers in missing this distinction. In spite of his unfortunate language, Alleine’s point is well taken because the bond between Christ and a believer is far stronger and closer than any bond between two humans.
241Believers take Christ as husband in the sense that he is husband of the Bride of Christ, the invisible Church, of which they are now members.
242A patient may well not look forward to a dental appointment, but still go and, in whatever is required, cooperate fully with the dentist and obey all of his or her instructions in a polite and friendly manner. It cannot be denied that giving up pleasant sins and engaging to perform unpleasant duties is unattractive and creates resistance in the will of the sinner. The “guile or reservation” spoken of here means not being fully committed to keeping the “dentist appointment.” Over time, the Holy Spirit will give a believer increasing joy and gladness of heart in serving Christ in the midst of heartache, toil, and suffering.
| Back | Contents | Next |