It is as when a man doth marry. The influences of the Holy Ghost at times pass through the soul like winds through an Eolian harp, creating and inspiring sweet notes of gratitude and tones of desire, to which we should have been strangers if it had not been for his divine visitation. "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. All things work together for the Christian's eternal and spiritual good. "No," says he, "I can stop his mouth with this cry, 'It is Christ that died;' that will make him tremble, for he crushed the serpent's head in that victorious hour. Beloved, if God be a father, where is honor? His work is never superficial, but always deep and inward. I cannot stay longer on that point, except just to notice, that we must never quarrel with this divine arrangement. Hear the voice of the Redeemer: "look unto me, and be ye saved." And may the love of Jesus be with you. Let a man once get that, and it will anoint his head with fresh oil, it will clothe him with the white garment of praise, and put the song of the angel into his mouth. "Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved. But if thou agreest with thy creditor, he will, for Jesus' sake, blot out all thy debts, and set thee at liberty, so that thou shalt never be amenable for thine iniquities. He died for his murderers, for those that mocked and insulted him; for he commanded his disciples to begin preaching the gospel at Jerusalem, where they crucified him, to preach it even to those who had hounded him to his doom. Oh! Turning, however, more strictly to the words of the text, "Who is even at the right hand of God" what meaneth this? The Christian understands the word "good" in another sense. 'Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire in hell!'" The poor client would plead, but still, when he won the suit, he would trace it all to the advocate who lived at home, and gave him counsel: indeed, it would be the advocate pleading for him, even while he pleaded himself. How seriously, then, should each stand and think. I repeat it again, any one of them is all-sufficient. there is more joy even in the groan of a Christian after heaven, than in all the mirth and merriment, and dancing, and lewdness of the ungodly when their mirth is at its greatest height. Psalms 73:26 . These are blessed subjects, though I cannot speak upon them as I would. 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? It is clear then the prayers which are indited in us by the spirit of God are those which arise from our inmost soul. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Now, why did you come here till you had paid your debt? Those who are called, are men who before the calling, groaned in sin. Now, the next word, "All things work together." 1. We are co-heirs; if he be truly an heir, so are we; and if he be not, neither are we. As he turns over each of these love-tokens, and as he reads the words of his reconciled prince, he asks "When will the vessel sail to take me back to my native shore?" "No," says another, "there is some truth in it, certainly; men do get bettered by their afflictions, but it is a truth that is not valuable to me, for I do not realize the good that these things bring." Some groan continually under the troubles of life; they are merely impatient there is no virtue in that. Upon these two words the meaning of my text will hinge. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Now this is yours. You went to the house of God, not to pray, but to laugh. "If children then heirs," says the apostle; therefore, whatever Christ has we have, and though we may be very poor and unknown, yet whatever belongs to Christ to us. Man was originally made in the image of God, but by sin he has defaced that image, and now we who are born into this world are fashioned, not in the heavenly image of God, but in the earthy image of the fallen Adam. but thou wilt not leave one of the "many brethren" for whom he died: the Spirit shall be with them, and when they cannot so much as groan he will make intercession for them with groanings that cannot be uttered. In too many instances ministers of religion has propagated doubt, and the result is a general hardening of the popular feeling, and a greatly-increased neglect of public worship. EP-1975 784dbl.col.pp. Why, my brethren, if we get nothing, Christ gets nothing; if there should for us, there is no heaven for Christ. The arch enemy, the old dragon, was always nibbling at the heel of our great Michael, who has for ever crushed his head. how long wilt thou not avenge thine own elect?" We expect to see the New Jerusalem descend out of heaven from God. It is Christ that died. The bell of God's house rings every day, sinners hear it, but they put their fingers in their ears, and go their way, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise, and though they are bidden and are called to the wedding (Luke 14:16-18 ), yet they will not come, and by not coming they incur God's wrath, and he declareth of such, "None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper" (Luke 14:24 ). He is our legislator, our law-maker; and then, to make our crime still worse and worse, he is the ruler of providence; for it is he who keeps up from day to day. 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. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. This deep ground-swell of desire, this tidal motion of the life-floods is caused by the Holy Spirit. Wherefore, brethren, you and I also are patiently to endure, to hold on even to the end, and God's sure promise will never fail us. Here is the 9th article, upon Original or Birth Sin: "Original Sin standeth not in the following of Adam; (as the Pelagians do vainly talk); but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and, therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. God forbid! It is because the mind is so depraved that it loves something which puts the body into an abnormal condition; and here we have a proof that the imagination itself has gone astray. But I ask you, does your spirit say to-day "I am God's child." Happy will he count himself when he is able to preach with the living voice. Ah! I beseech thee, "Agree with thy creditor quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest he deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer to cast thee into prison: verily I say unto thee, thou shall not come out till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." 200+192+176pp. Romans 8:2. "We know that all things work." People have said there is no faith in heaven, and no hope; they know not what they say in heaven it is that faith and hope have their fullest swing and their brightest sphere, for glorified saints believe in God's promise, and hope for the resurrection of the body. II. Remarks upon the Catalogue of Commentaries. Scripture everywhere represents the chosen people of the Lord, under their visible character of believers, penitents, and spiritual men, as being "the children of God," and to none but such is that holy title given. I pray you take the possession now. "All things work together for good:" that is to say, none of them work separately. And are there not times with you, my dear friends, when your hearts feel that they would be emptied and void, unless God were in them. For it is true, beloved, the bodies that have mouldered into dust will rise again, the fabric which has been destroyed by the worm shall start into a nobler being, and you and I, though the worm devour this body, shall in our flesh behold our God. A man might as well try to dispute him out of the fact of his existence as out of that equally sure fact that he has been born again, and that by gracious adoption he has been taken into the family of God. He that is most endowed with worldly goods, and he who has the fewest; he that is blessed in health, and he who is racked with sickness; we all have in our measure an earnest inward groaning towards the redemption of our body. I feel that to the knee that dandled me and the breast that gave me sustenance, I owe more than I can ever pay; and to him who taught me, and led me in the paths of truth I owe so much, that I dare not speak of the tremendous weight of obligation due to him. Are you persuaded that it is so with you, dear friends? "Ah!" Some may say, "It is the prospect of bankruptcy." He called them, mark you. Added to this you must also be the heir of persecution. Ye may train him up, ye may make his intellect almost angelic, ye may strengthen his soul until he shall take what are riddles to us, and unravel them with his fingers in a moment; ye may make him so mighty, that he can grasp the iron secrets of the eternal hills and grind them to atoms in his fist; ye may give him an eye so keen, that he can penetrate the arcana of rocks and mountains; ye may add a soul so potent, that he may slay the giant Sphinx, that had for ages troubled the mightiest men of learning; yet, when ye have done all, his mind shall be a depraved one, and his carnal heart shall still be in opposition to God. And he could not think that it could be so; as he turned the matter over mentally, he said, "If they be indeed one with Christ, I am persuaded that nothing can separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.". No; though you should be weary of your life, though you should never have a ray of light by the month together, there is nothing there to separate you from the love of Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 4. This and this alone can restore the peace of divided families, and unite disputing relatives. OBSERVE the title whereby he addressed the Church "Brethren." He dwells within us as a counsellor, and points out to us what it is we should seek at the hands of God. It is something on the part of a debtor if he will but acknowledge the claim of his creditor. The signature of the one will not avail to alienate the estate, nor can he sell it by his own right, nor have it all at his own separate disposal, or in his own sole possession or holding. he hath made us kings. Wherefore, be confident, dear brethren, that these spiritual beings, these unseen forces, these strange and mysterious powers which you cannot fully understand, can none of them separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus your Lord. The Lord reigneth, or we might lament right bitterly. "It is Christ that died. 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. ", I. 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. I showed you that the difficulty is that we know not what we should pray for "as we ought," and the Spirit meets that difficulty by making intercession for us in a right manner. Christian, stop and ponder for a moment! If according to law we are only heirs-presumptive, whose rights may be superseded, then our great joint heir, so far as he is co-heir with us, is superseded also. Fain would I picture the apostle as he appeared when he was uttering it. God hath not forsaken us; the tokens of his goodness are with us, and we may rejoice in full many a gracious boon which is ours this very day. and hence he is "a very present help in time of trouble.". To renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. So with the judgement I might prove how ill it decides. Let them "rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice.". We see, in many a land, the proudest dynasties and tyrannies still crushing, with their mountain-weight, every free motion of the consciences and hearts of men. It is our will now, but it was God's will when it was not our will, and it only became according to our will when we were converted, because God's grace had made us willing in the day of its power. Can those eyes flash lightnings on the man whom once they saw in sin, and thence with rays of love they did lift him up to joy, and peace, and purity? This does not exclude even infants at the mothers' breast. This also is a truth full of sacred refreshment: hope sees a crown in reserve, mansions in readiness, and Jesus himself preparing a place for us, and by the rapturous sight she sustains the soul under the sorrows of the hour. Let the gospel be really felt in the mind and it will toll the knell of selfishness, it will bring down the proud from their elevated solitude, and it will restore the down-trodden to the rights of our common manhood. What bliss to know that he who is "very God of very God," and sits on the eternal throne, is also of the same nature with ourselves, our kinsman, who is not ashamed even amidst the royalties of glory to call us brethren. Our prayers, let men laugh at them as they will, and say there is no power in them, are the indicators of the movement of the wheels of Providence. It is called "first-fruits," again, because the first-fruits were always the pledge of the harvest. There is no getting away from yourself, and when you yourself condemn yourself, then you are condemned indeed. Moreover, Christ wrought miracles of mercy towards men, which proved him to be the Son of God. yes. I have known what it is to feel as if I could not pray about a certain matter, and yet I have been obliged to groan about it. Have I been born again from above? Wherefore, seek the Lord now ere it be too late. When Christ was bound to the tree, I see my own sin bound there; when he died every believer virtually died in him; when he was buried we were buried in him, and when he was in the tomb, he was, as it were, God's hostage for all his church, for all that ever should believe on him. You quenched conscience. "Put your right hand here, my boy, and place your left hand so. "Ah!" One other instance let me give you. If I have, then God purposed that I should do so, and the whole of this great promise is mine. They all work to bring him to Paradise all work to bring him to the Saviour's feet. He has borne the penalty which I ought to have borne, and I am clear. And yet it is within reach of every truly penitent sinner. Come life, come death, my soul can rest on this. Have I any reason to believe that I have been called according to his purpose? He to whom all these things are but as nothing, gives himself up to the inheritance of his people. God that cannot lie, in the person of the Holy Ghost, graciously condescendeth to say "Amen" to the testimony of our conscience. He would not be there if he were a debtor. ", This is a subject upon which I delight to speak; for here is all my hope and confidence. My brother with great experience, my sister with enlarged acquaintance with Christ, ye have not yet known the harvest, you have only reaped the first handful of corn. It is called "first-fruits," again, because these were always holy to the Lord. Oh! Forget the steps thou hast already trodden, and reach forward towards that which is before, looking unto Jesus. I want you to notice, however, that these intercessions of the Spirit are only in the saints. Our sighs are sacred things; these griefs and sighs are too hallowed for us to tell abroad in the streets. There is nothing about death that should make Christ cease to love us; our bodies will be under his protection and guardian care, and our souls shall be with Christ, which is "far better" than being anywhere else. Fourthly. Jesus the Mediator must lose the glory which his finished work has procured for him, ere one of his co-heirs can miss of it; he must come down from that glory which he now inhabiteth, and cease to be honored as "the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us unto God by his blood," if any one of his people shall be deprived of that glory, and be cast into hell. Much more, let me now tell you, is his life, much more the fact that he lives, and is at the right hand of the Father. Just a sentence upon another point. And, then O ye people of God, let this last thought abide with you, what condescension is this that Divine Person should dwell in you for ever, and that he should be with you to help your prayers. All these terrible things in righteousness, the awful proofs of holy vengeance in the judge of all the earth, and successfully neutralized in their arousing effect, by being quietly written among the loving acts and words of the Universal Father. If I cannot understand I will not question, for I am not his counsellor, but I will adore and obey, for I am his servant. In all your answers to the accusations of the world, take care that you base your hopes concerning forgiven sin upon the death of Christ. We do not ask for these persecutions, but their might do us great good if they came. The time shall come when thou shalt yet be his disciple." Condemn a man that is at the right hand of God! "Oh," say some, "it may be true that we are at times opposed to God, but surely we are not always so." to be of that temper before described, Romans 8:5; to mind and affect the things of the flesh, doth cause death, or will end in it: the second or eternal death is chiefly intended. He looked forward with glad anticipation to the time when the wain should creak beneath the sheaves, and when the harvest home should be shouted at the door of the barn. Do we say that he is love? Who shall accuse the Redeemer? I see the reverend man rise, leaning on his staff, and with the tears "uttering his old cheeks, he says, "Young man it is true, I have proved it; even down to grey hairs I have proved it; he made, and he will carry; he will not desert his own!" R.C. We are not at liberty to give or to refuse. Now, in considering this solemn subject, let me remark that there are two kinds of callings mentioned in the Word of God. All God's children are heirs, however numerous the family, and he that shall be born of God last, shall be as much his heir as he who was born first. Come, I know as you look down the inventory, you are apt to look a little askance on that cross, and you think, "Well, the crown is glorious, but I love not the spittle, I care not to be despised and rejected of men." We heard of abundant harvests, but we soon discovered that they were all a dream, and that there would be scant in the worker's cottage. Be persuaded of that truth, and you are indeed happy men and happy women; what more could you wish to say than to be able truthfully to say that? We are reduced to such straits that we must pray, but what shall be the particular subject of prayer we cannot for a while make out. But the crime may seem to be worse when we think of what God is. That is "good," the vat bursting with wine, the barn full of corn! If this is his devotion, what must be his impiety? God's grace will be sufficient for us; his strength will be made perfect in weakness. Have not all men, at times, wished that our religion were not true? There is a secret something about the Christian of which Satan wishes to spoil him, but which is entirely out of his reach, so the saint sings, "I am persuaded that neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers can separate me from the love of Christ. The same legacy that left peace with you, also left tribulation with you, while you are in this world. So must we be, for we shall be made like him. Sanctification is the Lord's work in us. You remember the case of Samuel; the Lord called Samuel, and he arose and went to Eli, and he said, "Here am I, for thou calledst me." And shall a Christian man break his promise? My Substitute has kept the law on my behalf. It will be the Spirit's own self pleading in me, and by me, and through me, before the throne of grace. So is it also with us. Thou canst bear faithful witness, if thou wouldst speak the truth, that each person here has so transgressed against God, so continually broken his laws, violated his Sabbath, trampled on his statutes, despised his gospel, that it is true, aye, most true, that "the carnal mind is enmity against God. In many things we all offend. How, then, can election be unjust, if its effect is not unjust? Romans 8:3-4. But since we have become enemies, how much less can we hope to be saved by works! There is no terror to him like the terror of the cross. And we may add, the text also means good eternal, lasting good. Delivered on Sabbath Morning, April 22, 1855, by the, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------. No, perhaps thou dost not; it is not very likely swine should ever lift their heads from their troughs to think aught of stars. The co-heir is heir to the entire estate; and if he says, "No, not to that portion," then he is not heir to any; and if he makes exemption anywhere, he makes exemption to the whole. Our Lord was declared to be the Son of God by the actions which he performed, both towards God and towards man. Look again at that noble youth, Mutius Scoevola. "Brethren, we are debtors. Let but the Church know her rights and claim them, let her cease to assimilate herself to the sons of earth, let her cease from her accursed fornication with the state, and she shall become the pure, chaste bride of Christ. Then, remember, thy head must deny itself the pleasure of wearing the crown. Yea, a tender mother knows her child's needs before the child knows what it wants. He who giveth the most light to the world, will always be able to discover his own darkness. To be cheered under many things, which otherwise would depress him, the believer may betake himself to the matchless mysteries of the grace of God, which are wines on the lees well refined. Open your mouth wide, and God will fill it! And as Paul thought of the nature of this new life, he felt persuaded that it would not die; he was convinced that he would never be separated from the love of God. Spurgeon takes us back to the previous verses in the opening remarks of his sermon on Romans 8:37 Look attentively at the champion.