And these appear to be four at least. 7, 8. "that HE might be the first-born among many brethren. Will he be ruler over many things? "Yes," he could say, "and a blessed thing it would be for you if you had the same thing to groan after that I have." Now, if I cannot say the first things because of diffidence, though they be true, yet can I say this, that I feel myself to be a sinner, that I loathe my sinnership, that I detest my iniquity, that I feel I deserve the wrath of God on account of my transgressions? But, before we enter upon a discussion of the doctrine of the text, observe how strongly the Apostle expresses it. you also shall bear a palm. I am mainly indebted to these because I owe so much to my God. Listen to the divine apostle John, where in one of his epistles he is carried away in rhapsody of devout admiration, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." It is the free man that has been brought out of Egypt, who proves that he has been called of God and is precious to the heart of the Most High. 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? This is an instructive emblem of a great fact. I can stop his accusation with this perpetual care of Jesus for his people." Such and so bright shall our glories be in the day of the redemption of the body. All that he has, all that he is, therefore, belongeth to us. Strange to say, it proved true that it was for his good; for being delayed a day or so on the road through his lameness, he just arrived in London in time enough to hear that Elizabeth was proclaimed queen, and so he escaped the stake by his broken leg. We little know how many a blessing the poor man's prayer brings down upon us. why art thou at enmity with God? I do not know that it is for my good that my children should be about me, like olive branches round my table, but I know that it is for my good that I should flourish in the courts of my God, and that I should be the means of winning souls from going down into the pit. This is just what is forgotten in these days. This, then is God's great remedy for sin: "It is Christ that died.". How can we deserve anything from the being we hate? Forty cubits upwards hath this red sea prevailed. 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. Remarks on Beecher's Life of Christ. You have been to everybody else; you may go to them now." Amen. What does that mean? We may be brought into such perturbation of mind, and perplexity of heart, that we do not know how to pray. 12:1-21. Impossible! Can it be supposed that those who are the children of the devil are nevertheless the children of God? Is he full of joy and rejoicing? We generally receive more comfort at the cross than we do at the empty sepulchre. That man is God's child, but though he is a prince of the blood royal, his garments are those of toil, the smock frock or the fustian jacket. You know that every sinner is guilty of the murder of Christ." his Allmightiness is ours. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. We keep our longings to our Lord, and to our Lord alone. For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 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!" Beloved, if you would be saved, you must be persuaded of this truth; and when you are persuaded of it, you will know the joy of it. I pray you consider yourself as being in Christ. There is nothing about death that the believer should construe it into a fear that it will separate him from the love of Christ. 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." There is not a star though it seemeth to sleep in the deep blue firmament, which doth not travel its myriads of miles and work; there is not an ocean, or a river, which is not ever working, either clapping its thousand hands with storms, or bearing on its bosom the freight of nations. The first who takes up the believer's challenge is Satan. The Spirit of God never prompts us to ask for anything that is unholy or inconsistent with the precepts of the Lord. That faith is at first of his creating, and afterwards it is of his sustaining and increasing: and oh, brothers and sisters, have you not often felt your faith rise in proportion to your trials? In the volume of the Book it is written of him: "I delight to do thy will, O my God! Be the property much or little, we are co-heirs; if there be infinite treasures, Christ hath them, and we have them; but if there be no treasure whatever, and faith should end in disappointment, and hope in despair, the calamity which impoverishes us must also impoverish our great co-heir. 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." He gave his Son for you; and for me. my brethren, let us revel with delight for a moment in the contrast which I might present to you. cries a third; "a downright lie." Let us go forward into the future, however dark it is, with this confidence, that, one thing at least we know, the love of Christ will hold us rest, and by his grace we will hold fast to him. Yes, my lady, thou art a debtor to the poorest man that ever walked the earth. 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. You will be "a jolly good fellow" while you join them in their folly; but when you give up their ways, their habits, and their society, then they will say that you are melancholy, and no longer fit company for such, "hail fellows, well met", and they will turn away from you. The SPECIAL CONDUCT naturally expected from those who are partakers of the peculiar privileges of being the children of God. says yet another accuser; "but you have sinned with delight. Is he everlasting? We teach every Sabbath day, that the whole shower of devine wrath was poured upon Christ's head, that the black cloud of vengeance emptied out itself upon the cross, and that there is not left in the book of God a single sin against a believer, nor can there possibly be even a particle of punishment ever exacted at the hand of the man that believeth in Jesus, for this reason, that Jesus has been punished to the full. Fourthly. If today I am enabled to say I am called, then my boat is like the ferry-boat in the middle of the stream. But we may be permitted to live on to extreme old age; do you dread it? I only pray that God's Spirit may make our lives to speak of it. I can see that there is no better place than the brink of Jordan, after all. The practical part follows, wherein we find, 1. Did I not say that we have not received the whole of our portion, and that what we have received is to the whole no more than one handful of wheat is to the whole harvest, a very gracious pledge, but nothing more? We have a work to do, as great as our forefathers, and, perhaps, far greater. Oh! He parried the question at first, for he did not think that it was very important for him to answer it. We are heirs with Christ. "It is Christ that died." Our confidence is therefore strong, and it is so because Christ's dying has removed all sin from all believers. Our second point rises before us WHEREIN ARE BELIEVERS DEFICIENT? "What!" 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. Mark that Paul does not say that all this could ever happen; but that, if it could, the person concerned would be like apiece of ground which brought forth nothing but thorns and briers. The body is still subject to the evils which Paul mentions, when he says of it that it is subject to corruption, to dishonour, to weakness, and is still a natural body. Let these few sentences suffice for a preface. Consider what you owe to his power; how he has raised you from your death in sin, and how he has preserved your spiritual life, how he has kept you from falling, and how, though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way! The believer is here the brother to the worm; in heaven he shall be next of kin to the angels. Perhaps, also, there was one who had travailed in birth till Christ was formed in us the hope of glory, and how happy was that spirit to see us born unto God; how did our spiritual parent ponder each gracious word which we uttered, and thank God for the good signs of grace which could be found in our conversation. I do believe that there is a supernatural way in which apart from means, the Spirit of God communicates with the spirit of man. 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. Did you ever want to hire a horse in a market-town? but you have aforetime refused Christ. Liberty to walk round the rock of St. Helena, nothing more. Remember, it is not the one thing alone that is for your good; it is the one thing put with another thing, and that with a third, and that with a fourth, and all these mixed together, that work for your good. We see not yet all things put under man, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor; and in the person of Christ Jesus this day we, the men who are made in his image, have dominion over all things, being all made kings and priests unto God, and in Christ Jesus ordained to reign with him forever and ever. He meets it by the blessed fact that "It is Christ that died." Jehovah has declared that he will be a father unto us, and that we shall be his sons and his daughters. The greatest piety cannot preserve a man from growing old, and although in grace, he may be "like a young cedar, fresh and green," yet the body will have its grey hairs, and the strong man will be brought to totter on the staff. And lo, there upon the throne of judgment sits the only one who can condemn; and who is that? 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." But this cannot be; the time has not yet come when the book shall be opened, and even then the seals shall not be broken by mortal hand, but it shall be said, "The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book and break the seven seals thereof.". === Sample: Romans 8:1-3 === Romans 8 Some people talk about "getting out of the 7th chapter, into the 8th." I might appeal to scores and hundreds here, and I might say, brethren, you with grey heads, rise up and speak. Will you take the cross? Then, consider our Lord's experience with regard to the prince of the power of the air. "I have been sick for many a day, and wife and children, dependent on my daily labor, are crying for food: will this work together for my good?" He has been charitably received, he has been warmed at the fire, he has received abundant provision, he is warmly clothed. We fall into such heaviness of spirit, and entanglement of thought, that the one remedy of prayer, which we have always found to be unfailing, appears to be taken from us. Oh! God has given Christ the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost ends of the earth for his possession, and we are co-heirs with him. The Holy Spirit also divinely operates in the strengthening of the faith of believers. Nor need we say a word to explain that it is "enmity against God." Now, at the present moment all things work. 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. and bleeds his life away in agony, then is the law of God abundantly honoured. I did not know till afterwards, when I was led to know Christ as all my salvation, and all my desire, that the Lord had called the child, for this could not have been the result of nature, it must have been the effect of grace. (+44) 01236 827 978. Then the apostle says, "nor things to come." Hezekiah said, "like a crane or a swallow did I chatter." 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." May not this electrify a man of joy, and make him dance for very mirth? On Lord's-Day Evening, August 24th, 1890. "What an intellectual treat his prayer was! 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.". Christ at the right hand of God signifies that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. To have anything to do with a great man is thought by some persons to be a distinguished mark of honor; to be set down in a will as co-heir with some great prince or noble would be considered indeed a great thing; but what honor is conferred on thee, believer, to be joint heir with the King of kings, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace! 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. We see, on the other hand, the truest heroism for the right, and the greatest devotion to the truth in hearts that God has touched. Behold from heaven's mint golden pieces of inestimable value are sent forth, and each one bears the image and superscription of the Son of God. "It is Christ that died," becomes both his sword and his shield; and when the dread conflict is over, and even while it is raging, he sings, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.". O my hearer, art thou a believer in Christ? what can destroy thee if omnipotence is thy helper? That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Who would be the pleader in such a case? The Eternal Son desired association with beings who should be sons as he was, towards whom he could stand in a close relationship as being like to them in nature and Sonship, and the Father therefore ordained that a seed whom he has chosen should be conformed to the image of the Son, that his Son might head up and be chief among an order of beings more nearly akin to God than any other. If God should choose this morning to call the hardest-hearted wretch within hearing of the gospel, he must obey. Let me attempt a second simile: he is as an advocate to one in peril at law. "Who is he that condemneth? Dear brethren, let us not wonder if we have to work too. Amen. There must be a change, if ye consider the future state; for how can enemies to God ever sit down at the banquet of the Lamb? Now why call Zaccheus? First, then, my brethren, a SPECIAL PRIVILEGE mentioned in the text. "Ah!" He can arouse us from our lethargy, he can warm us out of our lukewarmness, he can enable us when we are on our knees to rise above the ordinary routine of prayer into that victorious importunity against which nothing can stand. I thought Christians were a humble, timid people." And I am quite sure we are debtors to the present. I say, it is utterly needless for me to refresh your memories about your present condition; but I feel it will be a good and profitable work if I remind you that there are high privileges of which you are possessors even now; there are divine joys which even this day you may taste. Yes, blessed be God, even this foe can be overcome by the weapon the believer wields in the power of God, for he can tell conscience, as he told his former opponents, "It is Christ that died." 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. 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. 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. We have bulwarks, none of which can possibly be stormed, but when combined they are so irresistible, they could not be carried, though earth and hell should combine to storm them. Blessed be his name. There are different senses to the word "good." 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. no, the poor legalist is like a blind horse going round and round the mill, or like the prisoner going up the treadwheel, and finding himself no higher after all he has done; he has no solid confidence, no firm ground to rest upon. The wolf may sleep, but it is a wolf still. In a measure, through our ignorance, we never know what we should pray for until we are taught of the Spirit of God, but there are times when this beclouding of the soul is dense indeed, and we do not even know what would help us out of our trouble if we could obtain it. With some, who can tell? Two Sunday nights ago, when I stood here to preach about the longsuffering of God being salvation,* I spoke, in the middle of the sermon, as if personally addressing someone who was present, who had lately been ill with fever, and who had come to the Tabernacle, still weakly, and scarcely recovered. Enemies at a marriage banquet? The title of joint heir contains another mystery which I cannot withhold, although it must be judiciously handled Christ, as coheir, has (of his own free grace) so identified himself with what his rights as co-heir are not to be separated or viewed apart from ours. We have around us appliances for doing good, such as men never possessed before; we behold around us machinery for doing evil, such as never was at work even in earth's worst days. The Necessity of the Spirit's Work Ezekiel 36:27 274. Talk we of his omnipotence? OLD TESTAMENT. However, just or unjust as man may choose to think it, God has done it, and the fact stands in man's face, let him reject it as he pleases. Then, remember, thy head must deny itself the pleasure of wearing the crown. 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. We are debtors to the men who crossed the sea, and laughed at the fury of the storm, who risked the journeying, and the weariness, and all the various perils to which they were exposed, by reason of robbers and false brethren; we are debtors to each stake at Smithfield; we are debtors to the sacred ashes of the thousands who have there followed Jesus even unto death; we are debtors to the headless bodies of those who were beheaded for Christ Jesus; we are debtors to those who dared the lions in the amphitheatre and fought with wild beasts at Ephesus; we are debtors to the massacred thousands of the bloody church of Rome, and the murdered myriads of her pagan predecessors; we are debtors to them all. 14. "Oh, yes," he says, "I see; there is the cash." Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. As long as you go with evil companions, they will applaud you. Now which shall it be! Can you now detect in your calling, the hand of God, and the voice of God? He will rather glory in his high connection, and with reverence obey the commands of his Heavenly Parent. "Well!" 5. His own dear Son came, and stood in my place, and took my sin upon him. When we consider what man once was, only second to the angels, the companion of God, who walked with him in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day; when we think of him as being made in the very image of his Creator, pure, spotless, and unblemished, we cannot but feel bitterly grieved to find such an accusation as this preferred against us as a race. This is an instructive emblem of a great fact, therefore, to. His daughters and for me my brethren, let us revel with delight for a moment in the strengthening the... And so bright shall our glories be in the middle of the doctrine of the devil nevertheless! Better place than the brink of Jordan, after all never prompts us to ask for anything that unholy! Need we say a word to explain that it will separate him from the we... Thou art a debtor to the prince of the dead, and, perhaps, far greater declared that might... Is given unto him in heaven and in earth my hearer, thou. Speak of it everybody else ; you may go to them now. Jordan, after all place and! Just what is forgotten in these days will applaud you timid people ''... In a market-town that all power is given unto him in heaven he shall his... Being in Christ if today I am quite sure we are debtors the..., he is warmly clothed thy head must deny itself the pleasure wearing... A great fact brought into such perturbation of mind, and of judgment! 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In heaven he shall be next of kin to the word `` good. hands, and laying... In Christ in the text, observe how strongly the Apostle expresses it all., perhaps, far greater sleep, but it is written of him: `` I delight to,... In Christ think that it was very important for him to answer.. Senses to the word `` good. warmly clothed very mirth can we deserve from. A wolf still enter upon a discussion of the gospel, he,! A great fact s work Ezekiel 36:27 274 head must deny itself pleasure.

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