Now, the divine will or mind may be viewed two ways. But I feel a darkness coming down over my spirit, and in the darkness there is a fiendish voice that says, "But you have committed unknown sins, sins that nobody else knows, and there have been sins which you yourself did not know. As for the child of God, he knows no more about his immediate future than you do; but he knows this, that there is nothing in the future that can separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We will answer these and other questions along the way: Should sin in my life cause me to question whether or not I am in Christ? Intended for Reading on Lord's-Day, January 24th, 1892. Lecture 2: On Commenting. My eternal destiny infinitely more concerns me than all the affairs of time. Time and ability alike fail us to speak of this. Romans 8:3-4. Now, do you hate God for sparing you? Since the day when Adam fell all things have had to toil and labor. Consider, then, how much thou owest to his Sovereignty! Yet at that selfsame moment, where human eyes saw nothing seraphic eyes beheld marvels of grace, and angels in heaven rejoiced over one sinner that repented, singing once again "glory to God in the highest." It also delivers us from every fear and doubt. "They are so; but not when they are arrayed in the robes, and invested with the credentials of their Sovereign. Now Secondly, we are called upon to notice the universality of this evil. God would not go down to the earth for payment; it must be brought to him. Others, this afternoon, by teaching your children in the class. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of him who rose again from the dead? They told him to go home to Rome, and see if he could not make peace. He may see the earth burned, but into the fire of hell he can never go. They are by nature servants, and he is the Son, this is a wide distinction. Looking upon the world with the mere eye of sense and reason, we say, "Yes, all things work, but they work contrary to one another. Or, perhaps, you were more polite; you did not curse and swear, but the accusation comes: "You argued against God and his Son, and against his blessed gospel; you have robbed him of his glory." "Who wilt put honey into my mouth? The tall archangel before the throne is not called God's Son, he is one of the most favoured of his servants, but not his child. Nay, he himself is ours. Conceive the beauties of the risen Redeemer. "Holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling." When he was seized by the officers of Queen Mary, to be taken to the stake to be burned, he was treated so roughly on the road that he broke his leg; and they jeeringly said, "All things work together for good, do they? says some one, "I, debtor to the poor?" When you get upstairs into your chamber this evening to pray, and find you cannot pray, but have to moan out, "Lord, I am too full of anguish and too perplexed to pray, hear thou the voice of my roaring," though you reach to nothing else you will be really praying. I knew there was a work; I knew I prayed, and cried, and groaned for mercy, but I did not know that was the Lord's work; I half thought it was my own. IV. May you be holy, harmless, sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Dear brethren, let us not wonder if we have to work too. Is that the tenor of thy life towards God, and towards his law? The fact is, brethren, that the relationship of a son of God belongs only to those who are "predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of the Father's will:" Ephesians 1:5 . And this solemn text drops an awful warning: "How shall ye escape, if ye neglect so great salvation." Brethren, grieve at your failures; when you see anything in yourselves that is not Christlike mourn over it, for it must be put away, it is so much dross that must be consumed; you cannot keep it, for God's predestination will not let you retain anything about you which is not according to the image of Christ. 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. Well, certainly, you made no pretension to it six months ago; you were about as black as a man could be." This is styled by our new philosophers as old cumbersome scheme of theology, and it is proposed that it be swept away a proposition which will never be carried out, while the earth remaineth, or while God endureth. He who hung on high Calvary was such a lover of the souls of men that from that glorious fact I am brought to this blessed persuasion, "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You had a share in his death. Soul, thou art linked with Christ in the Eternal business of the Eternal Father. How, then, can election be unjust, if its effect is not unjust? Make thou thyself assured, then, that thou art in union with Christ, for out of him thou hast no rights whatever. time is gone, and change is over, and I am floating on thy pacific waves where winds can never howl and tempests never lower. Is it not a noble thing for a Christian to be able to go where he may, and feel that he cannot meet his accuser; that wherever he may be, whether he walketh within himself in the chambers of conscience, or out of himself amongst his fellow men, or above himself into heaven, or beneath himself into hell, yet is he a justified one, and nothing can be laid to his charge. It is a wonderful story this old, old story, of Jesus and his love to guilty sinners; let me tell it once again. 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." When Christ gave himself for us, he gave us all the rights and privileges which went with himself, so that now he has, as our Brother, no heritage apart from us, although, as Eternal God, he hath essential rights to which no creature may venture to pretend. He is in an enemy's house; for he is at enmity with God. Nay, my brethren, all that the most advanced of God's people know as yet, should but excite in them an insatiable thirst after more. And let me further remark, that the right hand is the place of power. The text says, "The carnal mind is enmity against God." The influence of his holy religion has made abundant atonement to the world for any wrong that you ever did to it. Now, observe that PREDESTINATION IS THE IMPELLING FORCE TOWARDS THIS CONFORMITY. Oh, how sweet it is to believe our names were on Jehovah's heart, and graven on Jesus' hands before the universe had a being! He is sometimes in the light and sometimes in the dark. Expect not, then, that all things shall work together as for thy good. What! Spurgeon takes us back to the previous verses in the opening remarks of his sermon on Romans 8:37 Look attentively at the champion. Again, notice the universality of this at all times. The pinch of faith always lies in the present tense. He gave to us his heaven, for "where I am, there shall my people be." Hebrews 6:20 . Oh! The fool does not say in his heart there is no God, for he knows there is a God; but he says, "No God I don't want any; I wish there were none." Sometimes, too, the spirit feels that God is its Father not only by love but by trust. "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? Oh for 400 Scoevolas, 400 men who for Christ's sake would burn, not their right hands, but their bodies, if indeed Christ's name night be glorified, and sin might be stabbed to the heart. And if thou be called, it follows as a natural inference thou art predestinated. I used this argument; I thought it might be a new one; I am sure it is a forcible one. "These," says he, "passed through great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: ask them!" Think of thyself now, not as a man or separate individual, but as a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. So shall we when his Father shall say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." It is as when two dear friends lovingly embrace with their arms around each other's neck, there is a double link binding them together. He attacks us on the right hand and on the left, from beneath and from above. Can he still be valiant, and maintain his ground, calling out, "Who is he that condemneth?" Happy is he who can follow the apostle step by step, and say, "Yes, I have this morning the spirit of a son; I know that my heart loves God, and I look to him as my Father, with trust, with confidence, and with love; then I am surely his son, because I have the Spirit a son; then I am his heir; I am the heir of God; and thus my faith lays hold upon the thrice-precious words of this glorious text I am joint heir with Christ.". I believe that the Spirit of God sometimes comes into a mysterious and marvellous contact with the spirit of man, and that at times the Spirit speaketh in the heart of man by a voice not audible to the ear, but perfectly audible to the spirit which is the subject of it. Men hate election just as thieves hate Chubb's patent locks; because they cannot get at the treasure themselves, they therefore hate the guard which protects it. Yet again. In many things we all offend. Harsh as the apostle's words may seem, they are not meant for you who are really believers in Christ, and in whom the Holy Spirit has wrought a complete change of heart and life; Paul is not speaking of such as you. A thousand sources of joy are opened in that one blessing of adoption. So, then, it follows that if there be any flaw in the will, so that it be not valid, if it be not rightly signed, sealed, and delivered, then it is no more valid for Christ than it is for us. I pray you take the possession now. And now my hearers, let me just utter this personal appeal to you. Holland, Belgium, Russia, and Poland, belong not to their kings and czars, Christ is the King of kings, these lands belong to us. You may have seen very beautiful prayers in print, and you may have heard very charming compositions from the pulpit, but I trust you have not fallen in love with them. Your being sick very probably might not be for your good only God has something to follow your sickness, some blessed deliverance to follow your poverty, and he knows that when he has mixed the different experiences of your life together, they shall produce good for your soul and eternal good for your spirit. Do you hate him because he spared your life by his tender mercy? God is their Father, they are therefore God's heirs! Now, as long as he was in prison, although there might be ground of hope, it was but as light sown for the righteous; but when the hostage came out, behold the first fruit of the harvest! My mind wanders: I chatter like a crane; I roar like a beast in pain; I moan in the brokenness of my heart, but oh, my God, I know not what it is my inmost spirit needs; or if I know it, I know not how to frame my petition aright before thee. Now, conscience, answer another question! thou shall rest for ever and ever. "If children then heirs." A pan of hot coals is blazing in the tent; Scoevola puts out his right hand and holds it; it crackles in the flame; the young man flinches not, though his fingers drop away. The Holy Spirit helps us to bear the infirmity of our body and of our mind; he helps us to bear our cross, whether it be physical pain, or mental depression, or spiritual conflict, or slander, or poverty, or persecution. How can we deserve anything from the being we hate? ", II. There is one thing I have noticed, in looking over the old levitical law, under the description of the tabernacle. May God help me, this morning, solemnly to prefer this indictment against all! God's great love for us is supremely demonstrated in Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave Himself for us on the cross. Suppose it to be a time of war centuries back. In another place he calls himself the very chief of sinners; and yet it is this man who dares to ask the question, "Who is he that condemneth?" So the Christian has a good Father, a blessed, eternal home, and groans to get to it; but, ah! Now, I think I hear somebody say, "you see these godly people who profess to be so happy and so safe, they still groan, and they are obliged to confess it." Every carnal mind in the world is at enmity against God. It is a strong bow, and therefore very hard to draw; indeed, it requires more strength than the urchin can summon to bend it. Go into yonder house. Shall an eye of Christ be put out in darkness?" I. ", If we all believed this, how much easier it would be to get our churches into good order! He was made like to her for her salvation, and now she is made like to him for his honor. You are as bad as any one of us. If you, for fear of shame, and out of the love of the flesh, will not follow Christ through an evil generation, neither shall you follow him when he marches through the streets of heaven in triumph, amidst the acclamations of angels. Are you fully persuaded of the love of God, the love of the Father who chose us, because he would choose us, for nothing but his love; the love of Jesus, the Son of God, who bowed himself from his glory that he might redeem us from our shame; the love of the Holy Ghost who has quickened us, and who comes to dwell in us that we may by-and-by dwell with him? Very gently did He lead me into this unthought-of service, and most graciously has He hitherto sustained me in it; first giving me in my own heart the joy of His Word, and then enabling me to minister of that rejoicing to others. I cannot of course picture what your precise trouble is. Without faith prayer cannot speed, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, and such an one may not expect anything of the Lord; happy are we when the Holy Spirit removes our wavering, and enables us like Abraham to believe without staggering, knowing full well that he who has promised is able also to perform. I am the king of that inheritance, and without me doth not a dog move his tongue." do thy shoulders forbid, and refuse themselves the pain of bearing it? Oh! Lecture 1: A Chat about Commentaries. If he cannot afford to pay, he ought to keep at home till he can." Moreover, the Holy Spirit's intercession creates prayers offered in a proper manner. He would not be there if he were a debtor. There he would stand, silent, motionless; till Christ would say, with a voice louder than ten thousand thunders, "What dost thou here? Are ye brothers and sisters of the saints, and think ye that ye ought not to love and serve them, even to the washing of their feet? If you are joint heir and would claim one part of the estate, you must take the rest. There is no opposition in God's providence; the raven wing of war is co-worker with the dove of peace. We are saved by hope. In referring to the issue of servitude to sin ( katakrima ), Paul has reference to the problem discussed in the previous chapter and in 5:12-21. In Hebrews 3:1 , you find this sentence. Nay, ye say, we have some little gratitude towards earthly relatives. Oh, beloved, if we have a God for our Redeemer, though our sins against God be very many, and though they be very black and foul, yet Christ's infinite sacrifice meets them all. C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) Those whom the Lord looked upon with favor as he foresaw them, he has predestinated to he conformed to the image of his Son. He was persuaded that Christ would not leave him, and that he would not be allowed to leave Christ, and this stirred him up to deeds of daring. It is naught but "Look!" You know that every sinner is guilty of the murder of Christ." If any take up the gage of battle, and say, "We condemn you," we shall have this for our complete answer to every one, "It is Christ that died." 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. Are we not his sons, and is there not a debt the son owes to the father which a lifetime of obedience can never remove? Sometimes the accusing whisper comes to your ear, "You have sinned against a great God. Biblical Commentary (Bible study) Romans 8:12-25. Now, who is he that condemns the people that have such a head as this? The text speaks of "our infirmities," or as many translators put it in the singular of "our infirmity." Thus, in relationship, as well as in nature, we are conformed to the image of Christ. Moreover, Christ wrought miracles of mercy towards men, which proved him to be the Son of God. "He maketh intercession for us," and "He maketh intercession for the saints." Are you prepared now to be despised and rejected of men that you may at last ascend up on high, leading captivity captive? Now I must confess there is something very pretty about this theory, something so fascinating that I do not wonder that some of the ablest minds have been wooed and won by it. We have at this present moment in us certain priceless things which distinguish us as believers in Christ from all the rest of God's creatures. We have not yet the royal robes which become the princes of the blood; we are wearing in this flesh and blood just what we wore as the sons of Adam; but we know that when he shall appear who is the "first born among many brethren," we shall be like him; that is, God will dress us all as he dresses his eldest son "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Unless we are the sons of God the Holy Spirit's indwelling shall not be ours: we are shut out from the intercession of the Holy Ghost, ay, and from the intercession of Jesus too, for he hath said, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.". Dries he sit upon a throne? "We know," and the apostle lifts his hand to where the white-robed hosts are praising God for ever. Yea, more, ye shall bring him to the house of prayer; ye shall make him sit constantly under the clearest preaching of the word, where he shall hear the doctrines of grace in all their purity, attended by a holy unction; but if that holy unction does not rest upon him, all shall be vain; he shall still come most regularly, but, like the pious door of the chapel, that turneth in and out, he shall still be the same; having an outside superficial religion, and his carnal mind shall still be at enmity against God. Again, I hear him cry, "Who shall lay anything to my charge?" Moreover, I doubt not that Paul remembered the doctrine of the union of believers with Christ, and he said to himself, "Shall Christ lose the members of his body? So you see if there be any flaw, if there be any action to set aside the will, or if there be found no effects, or if the effects be slender, the loss falleth upon the co-heirs; not on one alone, nor on the other alone, but on the two, since they are jointly designated heirs in the will, and they are only heirs as they stand in relationship with one another. With that attack upon his Sonship the fiend commenced the battle. O eternity, eternity eternity! I conjure thee, give no sleep to thine eyes, no slumber to thine eyelids, till by this divine mysterious agency, thou art new made, new born, and new begotten, and so admitted not only nominally but really into the living family of the living God. If he hath called thee, nothing can divide thee from his love. If, after having ploughed this ground, and sown it, and after it has been watered by the dew and rain of heaven, no good harvest ever comes of it, every wise man would leave off tilling it. The ills of life are many, the trials of life are many, the temptations of life are more; O life, life, life here below, thou art, after all, little better than a lingering death! He guides us in prayer, and thus he helps our infirmity. Is not this Bible opened and read by us all, the gift of their self-denying faithfulness? ", "But, interrupts another, "God must punish sin. The snake with its azure hues, may slumber amid the flowers, and the child may stroke its slimy back, but it is a serpent still; it does not change its nature, though it is dormant. Who shall accuse the Redeemer? It seems, then, dear friends, that PAUL'S PERSUASION HELPED TO BRING HIM TO VICTORY. 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 there may be many differences between godly men, as there undoubtedly are; they may belong to different sects, they may hold very opposite opinions, but all godly men agree in this, that they love God. Therefore, our rights and our property extend to all things whatsoever they may be. II. He ever liveth to secure effectually the eternal salvation of every soul for whom he died, even for every one who puts his trust in him. Now, what is not right towards man is not right towards God. repeat not that challenge." If he had not been a Christian, his Jewish dignity would never have condescended to call a Roman "brother;" for a Jew sneered at the Gentile, and called him "dog." 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. Sow well, for others must reap. And may the love of Jesus be with you. ), then it follows that God must be over all things and must control all things. God bless you, ye sons of God, and may those of you who are strangers to him, be convinced and converted by this sermon, and seek that grace by which alone you can have your prayer fulfilled: Delivered on Sunday Morning, July the 28th, 1861 by the, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, THE APOSTLE has proceeded through a simple but exceedingly forcible train of reasoning till he gains this glorious point "Joint heirs with Christ." So shall we when his Father shall say, `` who is he that condemns the people that such..., too, the gift of their self-denying faithfulness seems, then, dear friends, that art! Ever did to it the Holy spirit 's intercession creates prayers offered in a proper manner guides us prayer. ``, `` but, interrupts another, `` who is he that condemns the people have! 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