At least, they seem to have lost their first love to him far sooner than they did to his servant. The grandest, most heroic, days in Christendom were the days of the Pagan persecutions, wined, to be a Christian, meant to be doomed to die. Do we say that he is love? "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors." "Yes," saith he, "I will. My unknown sins are buried in the unknown deeps of his almighty sacrifice. Again, I repeat it, the believer should take strong draughts of consolation here. If you are now led to repent of sin; if you will now cast yourself on the blood and righteousness of Christ, your eternal salvation shall be as sure as your present existence. Do not say, "I shall be lost; I shall be cast away." let the cross and bloody sweat remind thee of thine obligation. We are to be conformed to the image of his Son, fifthly, as to our inheritance for he is heir of all things, and what less are we heirs of, since all things are ours? O Paul, the thunderbolt of God will smite thee! He standeth up and beareth his own faithful testimony; but some great one of the land some nobleman who lives near rises, stands in the witness box, and confirms his witness. I cannot of course picture what your precise trouble is. And let the idle and slothful remember that they are a great anomaly; they are blots in the great work-writing of God; they mean nothing; in all the book of letters with which God has written out the great word "work," they are nothing at all. "To as man as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God"; and to the sons of God alone cometh the Spirit of adoption, and all his helping grace. The carnal mind is at all times enmity against God. Let God call a man may resist, but he cannot resist effectually. What! We look over the many things which we might ask for of the Lord, and we feel that each of them would be helpful, but that none of them would precisely meet our case. O my hearer, by thy name I know thee not, and by thy name God's Word doth not declare thee, but by thy character thou mayest read thy name; and if thou hast been a partaker of the calling which is mentioned in the text, then mayest thou conclude beyond a doubt that thou art among the predestinated "For whom he did predestinate, them he also called." it is forgotten! One man has ten talents, and oh how proud he is, and how he looks down upon another who has but one, and says: "Ah, you are a mean man; I have ten talents." Turn thy tearful eye to yonder Mount of Calvary! It is an ugly knock that a man's heart gives when it smites him. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." He took the payment and bore it to God, took his wounds, his rent body, his flowing blood, up to his Father's very eyes, and there he spread his wounded hands and pleaded tor his people. God can do all things, but I see not any way by which he could give to his only-begotten Son beings that should be akin to himself, except through the processes which we discover in the economy of grace. The arch enemy, the old dragon, was always nibbling at the heel of our great Michael, who has for ever crushed his head. Now, when effectual calling comes into a house and singles out a man, that man will be compelled to go forth without the camp, bearing Christ's reproach. The trumpet of the gospel sounds aloud to every man in our congregations "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Now, beloved, it is in such a plight as this that the Holy Ghost aids us with his divine help. Only give man something that shall well nigh intoxicate him; drug him with opium; and how will his imagination dance with joy! He gave to us his heaven, for "where I am, there shall my people be." And now another case. Those who obey his promptings shall not walk in darkness. sir, I could always do wonders when there were no wonders to do. But, beloved, we are persuaded better thing of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. I do really think I should be impatient to speak for myself. Now which shall it be! Do I love what he loves; do I hate what he hates? He has not done enough "never enough;" conscience always says, "this is not perfection; it ought to have been better," Salvation for enemies must be by an ambassador, by an atonement, yea, by Christ. REV. If the vessel tarries, he groans over the delay; and if the voyage be tedious, and adverse winds blow back the barque from the white cliffs of Albion, his thirst for his own sweet land compels him to groan. What a debtor thou art to Divine Sovereignty! 17. "Sentimentalism!" Ay, but Christ was co-heir with theirs, and when Saul persecuted the poor servants of Jesus, he pet the Master too. It is not left to my pleasure whether I will do it or no; but I am a debtor, and I must serve him. There were no wild beasts to rend him, no rough winds to cause him injury, no blighting heats to bring him harm; but in this present world everything is contrary to us. And if thou be called, it follows as a natural inference thou art predestinated. All that they endured came from a Father's hand, and this should comfort them. Let us mark a yet more positive passage, Romans ix. You can hear it in the streets of the city. Here are two sorts of children, therefore all are not the children of God. What is God to us? And the Father says, "Yes, my beloved Son, I will love them; Jesus, I will love them for thy sake.". "Now," says Paul, "yea rather, he is risen from the dead." Nay, his law never asked for more than human righteousness divine. For memory graspeth with an iron hand ill things, but the good she holdeth with feeble fingers. If it be but an adjunct of his nature to be an enemy, he may change himself into a friend; but if it is the very essence of his existence to be enmity, positive enmity, enmity cannot change itself. Do I suffer with him, suffer for him? As Paul's exposition in 5:12-21 has shown, "through one . We would stand upon our watch-tower and cry aloud to the Strong for strength, that the adversary may be repelled, that the sacred castle of our heart may be for the habitation of Jesus, and Jesus alone. It is not a single carnal mind, or a certain class of characters, but "the carnal mind." He meets it by the blessed fact that "It is Christ that died." And when he surroundeth thee with favors, girdeth thee with mercies, encircleth thee with loving kindness, dost thou hate him for this? It would be a foolish pride indeed, if two prisoners in the Queen's Bench were to boast, one saying, "I owe a hundred pounds," and the other replying, "I am a greater gentleman than you are, for I owe a thousand." But, again, there is another point in which the saint is deficient as yet, namely, in the manifestation of our adoption. It is naught but "Look!" Therefore, our rights and our property extend to all things whatsoever they may be. Oh! He says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Come, take your cross up and bear it with joy. In this chapter he exhorts them to seek to attain to this standard. The surety paid the debt." Do I love God? If he could, if there were yet a chance of risk, Christ would not be sitting down; if the work were not so fully done, that every redeemed one should at last be received into heaven, he would never rest, nor hold his peace. I beseech you, my dear friends, take this thought with you wherever you go: "I am a debtor, I must serve my God. If you were half as happy as a groaning saint is, you might be content to groan on for ever. They were, therefore, encouraged to take part and lot with Christ, the elder brother, with whom they had become joint heirs; and they were exhorted to suffer with him, that they might afterwards be glorified with him. A CHRISTIAN BROTHER was asked, one day, "To what persuasion do you belong?" He parried the question at first, for he did not think that it was very important for him to answer it. We are to groan after perfection, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. The soul is like an eagle, to which the body acts as a chain, which prevents its mounting. who can tell what God is? I think it was Bishop Hall who once said, "I thank God I am not of his counsels, but I am of his court." Will you take the cross? First, then, there is A LEGAL TERM IN THE WILL UPON WHICH THE WHOLE MATTER WILL HINGE. He cannot perish who relies on Christ, and he who hath faith in Jesus may see the heavens pass away, but not God's Word. Brethren, we are like warriors fighting for the victory; we share not as yet in the shout of them that triumph. It is a wonderful story this old, old story, of Jesus and his love to guilty sinners; let me tell it once again. ", We are not only debtors to God in the light of gratitude for all these things; but because of our relationship to him. Will he be received with triumph by his Father? Brethren, we who know and love the Lord, are debtors, not to one creditor, but to many. Sound conviction of sin, deep humiliation on account of it, and a sense of utter weakness and unworthiness naturally conduct the mind to the belief of the doctrines of grace, while shallowness in these matters leaves a man content with a superficial creed. Stop HIM? The Lord bless you! And if an angel could exalt a gnat to equal dignity with himself, yet would not the boon be such-an-one as that which God hath conferred on thee. If you are not so persuaded, here is honey, but you do not taste it; here is light, but you do not see it; here is heaven, but you do not enter the pearly gate. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON Romans 8:14-39 . You were saying of such-and-such an ungodly person, "Everything seems to go well with him, but as for me, all the day long am I plagued, and chastened every morning." Do not expect to get thanked at last for doing much, for after all you have done, you will only have done what is your duty. Among the Romans a man might adopt a child, and that child might be treated as his for a long time; but there was a second adoption in public, when the child was brought before the constituted authorities, and in the presence of spectators its ordinary garments which it had worn before were taken off, and the father who took it to be his child put on garments suitable to the condition of life in which it was to live. This was my subject last Sabbath day, therefore I take it I shall be fully justified in leaving the first point that Christ hath died, while I pass on to the other three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have been begotten into the family of grace. Let me remind you, that there is a passage in scripture which may tend very much to your edification, and help you in your examination. Would you have David's crown, but not his caves of Adullam, and rocks of the wild goats? We go to our lowly homes; we meet with our brethren and sisters here in their earth-built temples; and we are content, so far as these things go, still, how can kings be content till they mount their thrones? and what is election, but God's purpose to do what he does do? Go to the next house, and hear another groan. Saul's eyes are filled with tears, and then again with scales of darkness, and he cries, "Who art thou?" That is, whatever Christ possesses, as heir of all things, belongs to us. I do not know that it is for my good that I should be respectable and walk in good society; but I know that it is for my good that I should walk humbly with my God. Last Lord's day, I thought by God's good help I was enabled to persuade some of you that the death of Christ was an argument too potent to be ever denied an argument for the salvation of all for whom he died. I do not think it always for my good to increase in treasure, but I know it is good to grow in grace. We have hope, which sparkles, a hope most sure and steadfast. Thou in the midst of thy sickness and infirmity art girt about with robes of glory, which make the spirits in heaven look down upon the earth with awe. Consider the relation in which we stand to God, and then remember what God is; and after I have spoken of these two things, I hope you will see, indeed, that it is a sin to be at enmity with God. you converted? It is more than some men think to have been rocked in the same cradle and dandled on the same knee. They surrounded it; they were about to sack it, and Camillus was the only man who could deliver it. and silence reigns through earth and heaven. Joint heirs with Christ Jesus! To the Christian, however, the highest good he can receive on earth is to grow in grace. He has paid all we owed and he will vindicate his own death, and claim for the travail of his soul its due reward, which is the forgiveness and the salvation of all guilty men who have come and put their trust in him. I fear that some of you, seeing ye have never come and put your trust in Christ, will have to say, when your time comes to die, what Wolsey is said to have declared, with only one word of alteration: Had I but served my God with half the zeal. Ask him whether he is happy and content. Now, the first groan which you heard was deep and dreadful, as though it were fetched from the abyss of hell; that is the groan of the ungodly man as he perishes, and leaves all his dear delights; but the second groan is so softened and sweetened, that it is rather the note of desire than of distress. The Spiritual Resurrection of our Mortal Body (8:1-13) 8:1. In this world, saints are God's children, but you cannot see that they are so, except by certain moral characteristics. He is delivered and I am delivered too. They think that if they cry, "Lord, have mercy upon me," when they lay a-dying, they shall go to heaven directly. This will defeat your great adversary. says one, "but dying is such hard work." The whole creation is said to be groaning for its share in that freedom. "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. We are to work with God in the matter of our becoming like to Christ. I think I may say to those who are the beginners in the divine life, so long as your call is real, rest assured it is divine. Some think that the fall was only felt by the affections, and that the intellect was unimpaired; this they argue from the wisdom of man, and the mighty discoveries he has made, such as the law of gravitation, the steam-engine, and the sciences. Shall we not want to have our voices made more loud till they become as thunders, or like many waters, or surely we shall not be able to praise him as we would? God is their Father, they are therefore God's heirs! I want you, dear friends, to get this persuasion into you. Can he still be valiant, and maintain his ground, calling out, "Who is he that condemneth?" Communion is the fountain of conformity. Yet, further, to illustrate the full meaning of the joint heirship suppose, after the via had been proved and acknowledged to be right, it shall be found in winding up the affairs of the testator, that nothing is left to distribute suppose, after all this boast and talk about being heirs, the property should be nil, or there should even be found a debt against the estate what then? Doth he call himself a King? You were very low down, brother; we had to stoop to call to you; the waters of God's waves and billows seemed to have gone over you; you have been down to the depths, and I have been there with you. If he had taken the first-fruits home, and said, "I have all I want," and had rested satisfied month after month, he would have given proof of madness, for the first-fruit does but whet the appetite does but stir up the desire it never was meant to satisfy. He beckons me, and I must be brought at length to see his face, and to be with him where he is. What shall I do? Believing in Jesus, we speak confidently, we have unspeakable blessings given to us by the Father of spirits. The doctrine that I am quite sure to gain the victory, makes me fight. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Better to be a solitary pilgrim to bliss, than one of the thousands who throng the road to hell. What a sin it is! ", II. The practical part follows, wherein we find, 1. Not in one sense, for the members of our body, which were instruments of unrighteousness, become by sanctification, the instruments of righteousness unto the glory of God; and the body which was once a workshop for Satan, becomes a temple for the Holy Ghost, wherein he dwells; but we are all perfectly aware that the grace of God makes no change in the body in other respects. This truth seems to me to have struck its roots into all the other truths of Scripture and to have twisted itself among the granite rocks which are the very foundation of our hope. But then because we are not debtors to God in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. There is no fear of tempest, that grand old hospice has outstood many a thundering storm. Is there not any word of special commendation to this? 2 If you belong to Christ Jesus, God's Spirit has given you a new life. No doubt can make him question. The trial, too. We shall be called upon to notice, this morning, first, the truthfulness of this assertion; secondly, the universality of the evil here complained of; thirdly, we will still further enter into the depths of the subject, and press it to your hearts, by showing the enormity of the evil; and after that, should we have time, we will deduce one or two doctrines from the general fact. This was pictured by the high priest of old. I am afraid none of us feel enough how much we are debtors to God. He parried the question at first, for he did not think that it was very important for him to answer it. No, perhaps thou dost not; it is not very likely swine should ever lift their heads from their troughs to think aught of stars. May we still, between the very jaws of death, have solid confidence in God, and dare to ask for the presence of men and devils, too, "Who is the that condemneth?" Having once looked upon the city of David, they longed to carry the holy city by storm, to overthrow the crescent, and place the cross in its place. In this way "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The affliction was, as it were, in your very bones, but the promise was also in your very heart. Oh! Yet these are the strongest forces imaginable death, life, angels, principalities, powers, the dreary present and the darker future. Not the "liberty, equality and fraternity," which the democrat seeks for, which is frequently another name for his own superiority, but that which is true and real that which will make us all free in the Spirit, make us all equal in the person of Christ Jesus, and give us all the fraternity of brethren, seeing that we are all one with our Lord, in the common bond of gospel relationship. Perhaps you ask me, how is this. Oh! Very well, be it so; but then it is Christ's interest that is at stake as well as mine; he will be co-respondent in the suit. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. He attacked the Shepherd, and he will never cease to worry the sheep. "You know how you used to blaspheme his name." Romans 8 We can live by God's Spirit 1 Now we know this: God has forgiven those people who are united with Christ Jesus. They are blessed, but they have not had their public entrance. MY DEAR READERS, Your weekly preacher is still weakly; but though his progress towards strength is slow, it has been steadily maintained during the late trying weather. And I say it this morning, it is a shameful thing that ever idolatry should be able to breed better men than some who profess Christianity. ----- "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Romans 8:16-17. He might say, as Jesus did to the Jews, "For which of these works do ye stone me?" It is a traveller lost in the deep snow on the mountain pass. "He was despised and rejected of men." In what way could the Father put greater honor on his Son than by forming a race like to himself, who shall be the many brethren among whom he is the well-beloved firstborn? Time and ability alike fail us to speak of this. There is but one that can claim the heir's rights, and the heir's title. Resignation to God's will takes the weight out of the cross, but a proud spirit that will not bow to God's will change a wooden cross into an iron one. It is clear then the prayers which are indited in us by the spirit of God are those which arise from our inmost soul. Do I have fellowship with Christ? Reprinted from "Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon's Work-room" in "The Sword and the Trowel," December, 1896. There is still another foe that answers your challenge, "Who is he that condemneth?" He went about his Father's business; so should we ever be occupied. It is proven to a demonstration in our own lives; it is a fact which runs like a golden clue through all the labyrinth of our history "All things work together for good to them that love God." It will be the Spirit's own self pleading in me, and by me, and through me, before the throne of grace. They are the family of God, and the family of Satan their character how different their end, how strangely divided! Judge these things rightly. Brotherhood has its ties of debt, and to my brother I owe what I shall not yet pay him. "How art thou fallen from heaven, thou son of the morning!" I. Standing at the foot of the cross, and beholding the Redeemer in his expiring agony, the Christian may indeed gather courage. When the poor man was baffled by a question asked in court, he would run home and ask his adviser, and he would tell him exactly how to meet the objector. If the black thought then comes up, "Ah! My fellow creature, dost thou not know that God sent his Son from his bosom, hung him on the tree, and there suffered him to die for sinners, the just for the unjust? Therefore, he aspired to be a complete and perfect conqueror. A Christian's experience is like a rainbow, made up of drops of the griefs of earth, and beams of the bliss of heaven. We who are but babes cannot hold the great ocean of Godhead in our infantile palms. Do you hate God because he loves you? Amen. 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