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. A great gulf had opened in the Forum, perhaps caused by an earthquake, and the auspices had said that the chasm could never be filled up, except the most precious thing in Rome could be cast into it. This is readily granted, but a reader must wear very powerful magnifying spectacles before he will be able to discover that sense in the text. It is written, "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Or, read you that old legend of Curtius, the Roman knight. God bless you! II. Consider this, believer. He gave to us his person, it has become our meat and our drink; we eat his flesh and drink his blood. It is his business to be the accuser of the brethren, and he carries it on with very great vigour. He whose crown shineth the brightest, will know when he hath lost a jewel. 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? Oh, what joy ought to fill our spirits this morning, at the prospect which this text reveals, and which predestination secures! Happy shall you and I be if, though covered with sin, though guilty and unclean, we nevertheless shall have faith to believe in the Christ that dies, a faith so strong, and confident that we shall dare to stand both now, and at the judgment-seat of Christ, and say, "Who is he that condemneth?" Merchant; though you have been sore pressed this week, and it is highly probable that next week will be worse still for you, believe that all things even then are working for your good. Thou camest here to-day from thy toil, and thy bones have scarce forgotten yesterday's weariness; but thou art coheir with him who rules all heaven; thou art come here in poverty and thou wilt go home to a scant meal in a narrow room, but thou art co-heir with him who made the worlds, by whom: all thinks consist; you have come here weak and feeble, doubting, distrustful, and cast down, but I tell thee, weak though thou be, and in thine own judgment less than the least of all yet the same hand that wrote Christ heir of all things wrote thy name with his, and till a hand can be found that can blot out thy Redeemer's name thine shall stand and abide fair ever and ever. 13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.. Do you feel the longings, the loves, the confidences of a child? How then am I to know whether I am predestinated by God unto eternal life or not? 1. If all things work together for good (all events, all circumstances, all trials, all happenings, etc. Paul has, in this case, only one answer to the question, "Who is he that condemneth?" Let us try to meet this question, "Why does Christ intercede to day in heaven?" Oh, what an enterprise! 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. sirs, if the unregenerate man could enter heaven, I mention once more the oft-repeated saying of Whitefield, he would be so unhappy in heaven, that he would ask God to let him run down to hell for shelter. God never tantalized a man by calling him by grace effectually, unless he had written that man's name in the Lamb's book of life. These divine persons always work together, and there is a common desire for the glory of each blessed Person of the Divine Unity, and therefore it cannot be conceived without profanity, that anything could be the mind of the Holy Spirit and not be the mind of the Father and the mind of the Son. It reminds me of what I have sometimes heard of the ropes that are used in mining. and silence reigns through earth and heaven. For spiritual blessings which we know to be according to the divine will we could ask with confidence, but perhaps these would not meet our peculiar circumstances. Nor need we say a word to explain that it is "enmity against God." He said "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. Conecte-se Inscrever-se; Incio. 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. I repeat it again, any one of them is all-sufficient. The actual mode of his working upon the mind we may not attempt to explain; it remains a mystery, and it would be an unholy intrusion to attempt to remove the veil. ", And more, I will summon one other witness to the truthfulness of this fact, who shall decide the question; it shall be your conscience. 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. What shall I do? The serpent said to Eve, "God doth know that ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." But there is nothing in the-depths that can separate us from the love of Christ. I see "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Curtius puts on his helmet, and his armour, mounts his horse and leaps into the cleft, which is said to have filled at once, because courage, valour, and patriotism, were the best things in Rome. Certainly, this wondrous ship of Christ's Church, when she ploughs her way through waves of blood, makes swifter headway to the heavenly haven than she does in times of calm. Live with Christ and you will soon grow like Christ. They are his own intercession in some respects, for we read that the Holy Spirit not only helps us to intercede but "maketh intercession." A dying Saviour brings more glory to the love of God, ay, and to the justice of God, than any mortal sinner could have done; more than any perfect man, though he lived throughout eternity, could have done. First, we think we should learn a lesson of humility. In heaven's logic it is true, "if children, then heirs.". Ah, my hearers, what would you give if you could obtain this confidence? He hears a sonnet. O God, thou Judge of all, my spirit meets thee robed in my Saviour's righteousness, and salutes thee as my Father and my all. We are not at liberty to give or to refuse. for that ours will be. Sometimes, too, the spirit feels that God is its Father not only by love but by trust. Take care that you pay your debts before you spend money upon your pleasures. If they say that Christ's death does not repair the injury you have done to your fellow-men, tell them that, as far as you can, you mean to make restitution to them; and wherein you have done the world an ill turn, let them know that your Master has done it more good than you ever did it harm. The inheritance cannot be divided; if you will have the glory, you must have the shame. We expect to see the New Jerusalem descend out of heaven from God. This is the Christian's brightest hope. I never felt anything like it before. He lives, and because he lives I shall live also. Let us, then, weigh the words of the text, for they are solemn words. Brother owes to brother what he cannot pay until he dies. And when he surroundeth thee with favors, girdeth thee with mercies, encircleth thee with loving kindness, dost thou hate him for this? He replies, "Youth! 2. If this be not yours, neither are the rest, for they are in the same indenture, and they are beg seethed to you in the same will. Let God call a man may resist, but he cannot resist effectually. Spurgeon, Charles H. Owen, John; Ferguson, Sinclair B. Sproul, R.C. 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? The call of our text is of a different kind; it is not a universal call, it is a special, particular, personal, discriminating, efficacious, unconquerable, call. That leads me to pass on to the second thing of which Paul was persuaded. I. In this chapter he exhorts them to seek to attain to this standard. Tell me, oh, tell me, if ye know, seers and prophets, is my name recorded in that book of life? 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 a strong expression, but as it is Scriptural, we cannot alter it; and we have no wish to do so. Be not drugged with the laudanum of self-security! 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. But the blessed Spirit does more than this, he will often direct the mind to the special subject of prayer. 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." Perhaps he does not even get so far as that in expressing the mind of the Spirit, but he feels greenings which he cannot utter, he cannot find a door of utterance for his inward grief. Has it lifted up your tastes, so that they are no longer grovelling, but you choose the things that are of God? May we have this faith on our dying bed, when the pulse is faint and feeble, and heart and flesh begin to fail! 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?" May my blessed Master help you to come to him, and draw you to his Son, for Jesu's sake. Mark, if you anxiously desire to know, you may know. Paul says, "I am persuaded," and it is implied that, first, HE IS PERSUADED OF THE LOVE OF GOD. Up with your shield, and say, "Yes, it is all true, or it might have been, for my heart is so evil that it would have led me to any sin; but 'It is Christ that died.'" Who can tell us what Christ's suffering really was? 26. When at any time then the Holy Spirit comforts you sheds a sweet calm over your disturbed spirit; when at any period he instructs you, opens to you a mystery you did not understand before; when at some special period he inspires you with an unwonted affection, an unusual faith in Christ; when you experience a hatred of sin, a faith in Jesus, a death to the world, and a life to God, these are the works of the Spirit. 2. The heathen may rage, and the kings of the earth take counsel together, but God saith, "I will declare the decree, yet have I set my Son upon any holy hill of Zion." "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." Hear his reply! It may be read, "Nor anything in creation, nor anything that ever is to be created," nothing shall ever separate us-from the love of Christ. I also am of that persuasion. This seems to me to be one material argument for the salvation of the believer Christ sits in heaven. It is very wonderful how the Church of Christ seems always to brighten up at the idea of death by martyrdom. I might review all our powers, and write upon the brow of each one, "Traitor against heaven! We take our burden to our heavenly Father and tell it out in the accents of childlike confidence, and we come away quite content to bear whatever his holy will may lay upon us. The force that is conforming us to Christ is the will of God in predestination. ", Another says, "Yes, but then you have been specially guilty, there is great sin against a great God. If they drink but little from the river of pleasure, his draughts must be shallow too, for their joy is his joy, and his glory he has given them. I will make no answer to that accusation but this: "It is Christ that died." We come and spend our time and our money upon our pleasures before we pay our just and fair debts. methinks I see the martyrs and confessors rising from their tombs I mark their hands still stained with blood, and their bodies scarred with the wound of persecution. Ah! It is "an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." "A fiction!" Yea rather, is risen again; (much more) is even at the right hand of God." The gold itself was fused in the atoning sacrifice, but the minting of it, making it into that which should be the current coin of the merchant, was the resurrection of Christ. R.C. He is evermore transforming the chosen, removing that defilement of sin, and moulding them after the perfect model of his Son, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who is the firstborn amongst the "many brethren.". Note, also, that Paul in this chapter has been treating of the sufferings of this present time; and though by faith he speaks of them as very inconsiderable compared with the glory to be revealed, yet we know that they were not inconsiderable in his case. Be just before you are generous, and especially before you are generous to yourselves. But there are times when the heir of heaven is as sure that he is God's child as he is sure that he is his own father's son. Paul points us to the cross in two ways. First, we are called upon to speak of the truthfulness of this great statement. By the grace of God, the apostle stands defiantly in the midst of all the believer's foes, and flings down the gauntlet before them all.
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