He said "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. 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. In us the living and incorruptible seed abode and grew. When you came here this morning you were troubled, and as you came in you were envying your neighbor. he assures and consoles directly, by coming into immediate contact with the heart. Romans 8 concludes the second main section of the body of the letter, ' Living under grace '. Angels know not evil; have never had to battle with evil known and felt within; they have not tried the paths of sinful pleasure, and through grace been turned from them, so as with full purpose of heart to cleave to holiness for ever. "Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee," and "by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." What need we have to go to Christ for the blessing of the Holy Ghost, which is peculiar to the children of God, and can only be ours by faith in Christ Jesus! Look at our memory; is it not true that the memory is fallen? Why, sometimes, it can drive us to Christ; let us pray that it may. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Hope operated spiritually upon our spiritual faculties, and so does the Holy Spirit, in some mysterious way, divinely operate upon the new-born faculties of the believer, so that he is sustained under his infirmities. 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. When thou art commanded to believe and repent, when thou art exhorted to flee from the wrath to come, the sin lies on thy own head if thou dost despise the exhortation, and reject the commandment. And so addressing you, who love the Lord, under that title; I come at one to the text, "Brethren, we are debtors." Old English warfare was then conducted by bowmen to a great extent. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. I tell you, sirs, if you change yourselves, and make yourselves better, and better, and better, a thousand times, you will never be good enough for heaven, till God's Spirit has laid his hand upon you; till he has renewed the heart, till he has purified the soul, till he has changed the entire spirit and new-made the man, there can be no entering heaven. In the midst of his agony on the tree, he still had full understanding concerning his sacrifice: "Knowing that all things were now accomplished," he bowed his head, and died. You not only sinned with your body, with your eyes, your lips, your hands; but you have sinned in imagination and desire very horribly." The old divines, the Puritans, the Reformers, are now in these last days, to be superseded by men whose teaching flatly contradicts all that we have received of our forefathers. Now, beloved, the practical use to which I put this, I am afraid somewhat discursive, discourse of this morning is just this. Life in the Spirit contrasted with life in the flesh. First, in 8:37 he says that "we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.". It is not so in the family of God. Turn thy tearful eye to yonder Mount of Calvary! That shows that this is used as an argument drawn from something mentioned before. These prayers are sometimes "groanings that cannot be uttered," because they concern such great things that they cannot be spoken. That is in opposition to their apparent confliction. We cannot at times command even the earnestness which is the life of supplication: a torpor steals over us, our heart is chilled, our hand is numbed, and we cannot wrestle with the angel. He says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Even this first point of what the saint has attained will help us to understand why it is that he groans. He thought that a sufficient reason why he should neither lie nor cheat. But Christ determined that he would call the man. It goes into the region of things unknown; it goes beyond the knowable; for flesh and blood will never be able to comprehend what Jesus suffered when the great flood of human sin came rushing down upon him, and filled his spirit to the brim. It does not charge manhood with an aversion merely to the dominion, laws, or doctrines of Jehovah; but it strikes a deeper and surer blow. I. Ask him whether he is happy and content. For to be carnally minded is death; i.e. 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. 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." CHILDREN are expected to bear some likeness to their parent. 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. He argued that, if the death of Christ reconciled God's enemies to himself, the life of Christ will certainly preserve safely those who are the friends of God; that was good argument, was it not? An adversary in the court might plead against him, and overthrow him, for he could not answer him. Some say that children learn sin by imitation. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." And now we may rest assured, since we can see a sitting Christ in heaven, that the whole atonement is finished, the work is over, he hath made an end of sin. 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." I, for my part, take only one objection to it, which is that it is perfectly untrue and utterly unfounded, having not the lightest shadow of a pretence of being proved by the Word of God. This shall be an all-sufficient argument to shut their clamorous mouths, "Christ hath died." The Father knew how happy his Son would be to associate his chosen with himself, for of old his delights were with the sons of men. It will be a terrible thing to have to answer to the great and mighty God for having so sinned." Do you hate God for all this? Now God has never promised that "all things shall work together" for such good as that to his people. He would say, "My labor is all thrown away on such a plot of ground as this, nothing more can be done with it, for after having done my utmost nothing but weeds is produced, so now it must be left to itself." By God's grace, the man who trusts in Christ's eternal love, and believes in the immutability of the divine purpose, and therefore is persuaded that he can never be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, he is the man to win a glorious victory by his faith in his great God. He said to himself, "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." I owe no man anything after the debt has been paid, whether by myself, or by somebody else; and if Christ took our sin upon himself, and suffered for it, the sins for which he suffered are gone, plunged as in a shoreless sea, drowned in the Redeemer's blood. First, there is the will declared in the proclamations of holiness by the Ten Commandments. Romans 1:7-8. Nay, he is not only dead, but he is corrupt; his lusts, like the worms, have crept into him, a foul stench riseth up into the nostrils of justice, God abhorreth him, and justice crieth, "Bury the dead out of my sight, cast it into the fire, let it be consumed." 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. The Secret Power in Prayer January 8, 1888 by . Remember again, we are Christ's brethren, and there is a debt in brotherhood. Thine eternity, O God, is mine to keep me in existence, that I may ever be preserved. Therefore it is that we groan. Second, being born in human likeness and living among us as a sinless man, Jesus "condemned sin in the flesh"beat sin on its own turf. God forbid! A man has to deliver a piece which he has learned; but his memory is treacherous, and therefore somewhere out of sight there is a prompter, so that when the speaker is at a loss and might use a wrong word, a whisper is heard, which suggests the right one. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh, is not subject to the Law of God. Purity, holiness, unselfishness, all the virtues, should glow in us as they shone in him. I have thought it over, I have fully considered it, I have-thoroughly weighed it, and I have come to this persuasion, that the love of God is shed abroad in my heart.". ", "Ay, ay!" We generally receive more comfort at the cross than we do at the empty sepulchre. How shall a celestial spirit be satisfied until it sees celestial things? 3. In this chapter he exhorts them to seek to attain to this standard. What shall I do? If it is a call that will suit the remarks which I am about to give you in the second part of the discourse, even though you may have thought that God's hand is not in it, rest assured that it is, for nature could never produce effectual calling. Do observe with care the fact that he is always described in heaven as sitting down. If he adds anything at all, it is still something about that same Christ "yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The more I have read it, the more certainly have I come to the conclusion that this is one of the things in Paul's epistles to which Peter referred when he said, "Wherein are some things hard to be understood." Cannot we say this morning with thankful hearts, "By the grace of God I am what I am?" It is Christ that died. Consider again, I pray you, what a dignity God hath conferred upon you even upon you in making you his son. So it is with your children when they look forward to their holidays; they are not unhappy or dissatisfied with the school, but yet they long to be at home. "Ah!" For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. I do not much wonder that thou shouldst despise spiritual good, for thou art yet "in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity;" a stranger to spiritual things, and let thy despising of spiritual things teach thee that thou art not spiritual, and therefore thou canst not understand the spiritual, because it must be spiritually discerned. Has not thine heart ever desired, since there is a God, that he were a little less holy, a little less pure, so that those things which are now great crimes might be regarded as venial offences, as peccadillos? The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the essence; it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity. Here is A CHALLENGE TO ALL COMERS. We all know that the word "carnal" here signifies fleshly. Man as a necessary piece of political policy, may give to the heir that which surely he can have not more real right to in the sight of God, than the rest of the family may give him all the inheritance, while his brethren, equally true born, may go without; but it is not so in the family of God. And I do not, I cannot imagine that he would be sitting down in heaven in the posture of ease, unless he had accomplished all unless "It is finished!" time is gone, and change is over, and I am floating on thy pacific waves where winds can never howl and tempests never lower. He was consecrated to God; so are we to be. Yes, but mark, what is true one day is not false another; "the carnal mind is enmity against God" at all times. Saved by your works! ", Paul was fully persuaded of this great truth. So is it also with us. As many of you as have been born again have been conformed to the image of Christ in the matter of his birth, and you are now partakers of his nature. He dwells in the heart by faith. We are chosen out of the world to be a peculiar people, adversaries to all evil, never sheathing our sword till we enter into our rest. View the Saviour in his agonies, with streams of blood purchasing thy soul, and with intensest agonies enduring thy punishment. OLD TESTAMENT. And the heart, when we perceive not its ebullitions, when it belches not forth its lava, and sendeth not forth the hot stones of its corruption, is still the same dread volcano. "How art thou fallen from heaven, thou son of the morning!" Many of you will not feel the force of Christian reasons, let me remind you, that even you are obliged to the laboring poor. Enlarge thine expectations seek great things from the God of heaven and he will give them to thee; but by no means fold thine arms in sloth, and sit down upon the bed of carnal security. We are told by modern false prophets, that God in everything acts to all men as a father, even when he cast them into the lake of fire, and send upon them all the plagues that are written in his book. 12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. "It is Christ that died. Ask him whether God has been once untrue to him and he will say, "No; not one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord God hath promised; all hath come to pass!" How much have you done after all, young man? Does he challenge purity to convict him of guilt? I think, dear friends, you will all admit that if a man can pray, his trouble is at once lightened. My God, thou art my all in all the circle where my passions move, the centre of my soul. 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. And, brethren, we are debtors to the future. Now, Christ is his people's representative. Now if you had a debtor who owed you more than he could pay, and you saw him going off on pleasure in a horse and gig to-morrow, you would say, "It is all very well his having that fine horse and gig, and going down to Greenwich; but I would rather that he should pay me the ten pound note I lent him the other day. "We are joint heirs with Christ.". 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.". But, beloved, all that belongs to Christ belongs to Christ's people. There is not a silent nook within the deepest forest glade where work is not going on. Ah, it was the groan of death! Let them "rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice.". I owe nothing to the past, I owe nothing to the future, I owe nothing to the rich, and nothing to the poor, compared with what I owe to my God. Romans 8:30, THE GREAT BOOK OF GOD'S DECREES is fast closed against the curiosity of man. The Lord in boundless grace has resolved that a company whom no man can number, called here "many brethren," shall be restored to his image, in the particular form in which his Eternal Son displays it. Regulus returns to Rome; he stands up in the senate and conjures them never to make peace in Carthage, but ot his wife and children, and tells them that he is going back to Carthage, and of course the tell him that he need not keep faith with an enemy. Then our spirit beareth witness that we are the children of God. Is he full of love and grace? "All things work together for good.". So live, so act, ye sons of God, that the world may say of you, "Yes, these men bring forth the fruits of God; they are like their Father; they honour his name; they are indeed filled with his grace, for their every word is as true as his oath; their every act is sincere and upright; their heart is kind, their spirit is gentle; they are firm but yet they are generous; they are strict in their integrity, but they are loving in their souls; they are men who, like God, are full of love; but like him are severely just. Let us do what we may, it is but a farthing in the pound that we shall ever be able to pay of the debt of gratitude we owe to God. No one has come to rescue him, and indeed he has fallen into a place from which escape is impossible. 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. Young man, didst thou do more than thou oughtest to have done? I must not speculate, for I know nothing about it; but it is no speculation to say that we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness; and that there will come a time when the lion shall eat straw like an ox, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. I have broken away from its thralldom; the new law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the law of grace has set me free from the domination of the law of sin and death. Have they not had the desire that it might turn out that all these divine realities were a delusion, a farce, and an imposture? Can you not do it? But now in the breast of this "Hebrew of Hebrews," there is the holy recognition of Christian fraternity without reserve or hypocrisy. Note yet a little further concerning the special privilege of heirship, we are joint heirs with Christ. Conscience must reply, "Thou hast." Remember the passage "He is able also to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." What a mind that must be! It is not the pain of death we feel, but the pain of life. and what is election, but God's purpose to do what he does do? All the troubles of a Christian do but wash him nearer heaven; the rough winds do but hurry his passage across the straits of this life to the port of eternal peace. let the cross and bloody sweat remind thee of thine obligation. Amen. 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. Now, conscience, answer another question! They are waiting till their Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of the archangel, and the voice of God; then shall their bodies rise, then shall the world be judged; then shall the righteous be divided from the wicked; and then, upstreaming in marvellous procession, leading captivity captive for the last time, the Prince at their head, the whole of the blood-washed host, wearing their white robes, and bearing their palms of victory, shall march up to their crowns and to their thrones, to reign for ever and ever! Satan was eager that the new-born child of grace should be put to death, and, therefore, sent forth fierce temptations to slay us; but the Lord found a shelter for our infant spiritual life, and preserved the young child alive. He might have sent you to hell; but you are here. I might review all our powers, and write upon the brow of each one, "Traitor against heaven! If it is robbing man to spend the money in pleasure wherewith we ought to pay our debts; it is robbing God if we employ our time, our talents, or our money, in anything but his service, until we feel we have done our share in that service. Turning, however, more strictly to the words of the text, "Who is even at the right hand of God" what meaneth this? If it sinks, I am lost; but it will not sink, for the Plot of the Galilean Lake is on board. I am a little more acquainted with the depths, and I meet with many Christian people who are very familiar with those depths. The shot took effect, the bird fell, down came Zaccheus, invited the Saviour to his house, and proved that he was really called not by the voice merely but by grace itself, for he said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give unto the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore unto him fourfold;" and Jesus said, "This day is salvation come unto thy house." 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. 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. He goes into the tent of King Pyrrhus with the intention to put him to death, because he is the enemy of his country; he slays the wrong man; Pyrrhus orders him to be taken captive. Go to the next house, and hear another groan. "The meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves with the abundance of peace." 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