That is damnable doctrine. And yet it is within reach of every truly penitent sinner. Consider the relation in which we stand to God, and then remember what God is; and after I have spoken of these two things, I hope you will see, indeed, that it is a sin to be at enmity with God. On Lord's-day Evening, November 7th, 1886. Some have thought that it simply, means that God predestinated men whose future history ho foreknow. When Adam was in the garden the world had its Sabbath: and it shall never have another Sabbath till the Millennium shall dawn, and then when all things have ceased to work, and the kingdoms shall be given up to God, even the Father, then shall the world have her Sabbath, and shall rest; but at present all things do work. 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. 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." It seems, then, dear friends, that PAUL'S PERSUASION HELPED TO BRING HIM TO VICTORY. 2. Look at his gore, as it distils from his body in Gethsemane and on the accursed tree. Remember again, we are Christ's brethren, and there is a debt in brotherhood. It makes all brethren who feel its power. he says, "I had rather be a bankrupt in business than I would be a bankrupt in grace; let my fortune be decreased better that, than that I should backslide; there! Look ye, sirs, at Brutus; he has established a republic, he has put down tyranny, he sits upon the judgment seat; his two sons are brought before him, they have been traitors to the commonwealth. Do not, therefore, fear death. Though the sins of the whole world should press on any one of these sacred columns, it would never break nor bend. "He had not persecuted Christ," you say, "it was only some poor men and women that he had haled to prison, or scourged in the synagogue, to compel them to blaspheme." First comes Satan; then the world; then conscience; and last of all the law of God. The city has turned me out; let it rue the day that it ever drove me away." Bible > Romans > Chapter 8 > Verse 35 Library Free Downloads eBibles Romans 8:35 His death was the digging of the well of salvation. We ask, but we are afraid that we shall not have, because we do not exercise the thought, or the faith, which we judge to be essential to prayer. Let the sacred mounds of our fathers' sepulchres speak to us. How can a heavenly one be content till he ascends to the heavenlies? 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." Reach the bottom of Christ's sea of joy, and then hope to understand the bliss which God hath prepared for them that love him. Some do not believe in the personality of the devil; but I am as sure of it as I am of the personality of his children who deny their own father. "To the very uttermost" he is able to save, seeing he ever lives to intercede the strongest argument of the whole four. He is chosen Dictator, but as soon as ever his dictatorship is over he retires to his little farm of three acres, and goes to his plough, and when he is wanted to be absolute monarch of Rome he is found at his plough upon his three acres of land and his little cottage. If ye be partakers of that glorious hope, if ye be believers in our glorious Redeemer, if ye have put your trust under the shadow of his wings, my hand and my heart with it, there is that word "brother" for you. He to whom all these things are but as nothing, gives himself up to the inheritance of his people. He will rather glory in his high connection, and with reverence obey the commands of his Heavenly Parent. It is not a single carnal mind, or a certain class of characters, but "the carnal mind." 12:1-21. 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. Has thy heart never said, "Would to God these sins were not forbidden! 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. All the prayers which the Spirit of God inspires in us must succeed, because, first, there is a meaning in them which God reads and approves. God is King over all, and able to govern the world according to his own mind, which mind is always infinitely just. The world's barque, it is true, is always tossed with waves, but these waves toss her first to the right and then to the left; they do not steadily bear her onward to her desired haven. Some esteem it nothing. No man ever desired Christ in his heart with a living and longing desire, who did not find him sooner or later. 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. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 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. If we could then sweep the telescope along the milky way, and see the millions upon millions of stars that lie clustered together there, and could cry, "All these are mine," yet these possessions were but a speck compared with that which is in the text. The pinch of faith always lies in the present tense. Paul is but giving us two sides of the truth, both equally true, the one needful for our warning, the other admirable for our consolation. I come, therefore, to notice the second argument. 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! The excellency of the power is in the doctrine, and not in my preaching. Why some of you can do so by preaching the gospel to poor sinners in the streets. "If Satan bring an accusation before God against any of the Lord's redeemed, that accusation is made against the Redeemer himself, for God's people are so one with Christ, that you must first bring the charge against Christ himself ere you dare to lay it against any of his elect. ", If we all believed this, how much easier it would be to get our churches into good order! Methinks I see the fathers at their midnight lamps, the ancient saints in their much-frequented closets, the thrice brave preachers in their pulpits denouncing error, and the faithful pastors reproving wrong. See also John 10:14-15 , and 2 Timothy 2:19 . 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. Now, there is but one Judge the man Christ Jesus. Now, I do believe with him this morning, that the chief witness of God the Holy Spirit lies in this the Holy Spirit has written this book which contains an account of what a Christian should be, and of the feelings which believers in Christ must have. Grant me that the child is carnal, and my text says, "the carnal mind is enmity against God." Then secondly, there is the secret mind of God, the will of his eternal predestination and decree, of which we know nothing; but we do know this, that the Spirit of God never prompts us to ask anything which is contrary to the eternal purpose of God. Any one of them were all-sufficient. I am mainly indebted to these because I owe so much to my God. We may be brought into such perturbation of mind, and perplexity of heart, that we do not know how to pray. "But thou hast stained thyself with lust." They work, in opposition to idleness. Moreover, the Holy Spirit's intercession creates prayers offered in a proper manner. He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. If thou art this day an heir of heaven, remember, man, thou wast once the slave of hell. Surely no one is so daring as to say, that all men are led by the Spirit of God; yet may it readily enough be inferred from our text, that those who are not led by the Spirit of God are not the sons of God, but that they and they alone who are led, guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit, are the sons of God. This is just what is forgotten in these days. "Who wilt put honey into my mouth? Heavenly calling means a call from heaven. I want nothing more. I will make no answer to that accusation but this: "It is Christ that died." The encounter to which he challenges them is not to be a mere tilt in a tournament, but a battle for life or death. There stands the believer, and looking round on the assembled universe of men and angels, he cries, "Who shall lay anything to my charge?" Cast your arms around the cross of Christ, and give up your heart to God, and then, come what may, I am persuaded that "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. If all the processes of grace fail in the case of any professors, what is to be done with them? We cannot be condemned for "Christ hath died. We will come again in a few days: as we are entering the first house we see weeping faces and flowing tears, a coffin, and a hearse. But now in the breast of this "Hebrew of Hebrews," there is the holy recognition of Christian fraternity without reserve or hypocrisy. You will notice here, my beloved, that there are two witnesses in court two who are ready to prove our filiation to the eternal God. If man alone call thee, thou art uncalled. Men do not reach what they do not aspire to, and Paul says, "We are more than conquerors." ", I do not seem to want to preach. I also am of that persuasion. It is very wonderful how the Church of Christ seems always to brighten up at the idea of death by martyrdom. Another doctrine we gather from this is, the necessity of an entire change of our nature. Joyfully and cheerfully for ever shall it be our delight to do the Father's will. He does not say it is opposed to God merely, but it is positive enmity. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Sailors throw their anchors downwards; we throw ours upwards. Believe then that all things work together for thy good; if thou lovest God, and art called according to his purpose. They are sternly holy; they are, like him, ready to forgive, but they can by no means tolerate iniquity, nor hear that sin should live in their presence." If you be pardoned, it is through his blood; if you be justified, it is through his righteousness; if you be sanctified, it is because he is made of God unto you sanctification; if you be taught in the ways of God, it is because he becomes your wisdom; if you shall be kept from falling it will be because you are preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected, it is because you are complete in him, and if you be glorified at the last, it will be because God the Father hath glorified his Son Jesus. When Lord was born a few choice spirits welcomed his birth; an Anna and a Simeon were ready to take the new-born child into their arms and bless God for him: and even so there were some that hailed our new birth with much thanksgiving; friends and well-wishers who had watched for our salvation were glad when they beheld in us the true heavenly life, and gladly did the take us up into the arms of Christian nurture. Communion is the fountain of conformity. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits." "If thou be the Son of God." God has accepted Christ in the place of his people; and you, accepting Christ to stand in your stead, shall find that your sin is put away, that his righteousness is yours, and that you are "accepted in the Beloved." Notice, our difficulty is that we know not what we should pray for; but the Holy Spirit does know, and therefore he helps us by enabling us to pray intelligently, knowing what we are asking for, so far as this knowledge is needful to valid prayer. And I see him look downwards; there lies the old dragon, bound in chains, the accuser of the brethren; and the apostle stares him in the face, and says, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" Thus much upon the sacred end of predestination. As far as his own experience went I dare say he was right, but there may be some far inferior to the doctor in genius, who nevertheless were superior in nearness of fellowship with God, and who could therefore go a little farther than the eloquent divine. First, there is the will declared in the proclamations of holiness by the Ten Commandments. There are few people who sincerely believe this. Come with me, believer, to your estates, and behold, just on the edge of your Father's great inheritance, lies the swamp and morass of affliction. It is a wonderful thing. 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." Very well, be it so; but then it is Christ's interest that is at stake as well as mine; he will be co-respondent in the suit. He lives, and because he lives I shall live also. As to our spirits, we have liberty to soar into the third heaven, and sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus; but as for our bodies, we can only roam about this narrow cell of earth, and feel that it is not the place for us. Romans 8:28-30 I. It is not left to my pleasure whether I will do it or no; but I am a debtor, and I must serve him. Coming events cast their shadows before them, and when God is about to bless his people his coming favour casts the shadow of prayer over the church. And once again, all things work in opposition to Sabbath. 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! Look around you and learn your duty. You see what you are predestinated to be: aim at it, aim at it every day. Those of us who have passed through any spiritual conflicts know that Satan is a terribly real personage. says one; "a pleasant fiction, sir!" but if it be an effectual call, and if salvation shall be the result thereof, what matters it though thou dost go to heaven alone? Now I shall conclude with WHAT OUR STATE OF MIND IS. 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? The surety paid the debt." IV. We are to be conformed to the image of his Son, fifthly, as to our inheritance for he is heir of all things, and what less are we heirs of, since all things are ours? Behold, I present to you the fair cross of your once crucified Elder Brother. 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