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He cannot reverse his grace; it cannot be that the throne of condemnation shall be exalted on the ruins of the cross. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. He said, "Reproach hath broken mine heart, and I am full of heaviness." When this fails, he never sticks at an accusation because it does not happen to be true. ", I. Upon this supposition, God's utmost has been tried, and has failed. We know not how to mingle these sacred spices in the incense of prayer. There is no holiness in us of our own creating; no good thing in us of our own fashioning. Upon looking carefully at my Bible again I do not perceive such a statement. 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? Now, by this shall ye know whether ye be called of God or not. I do consider that in this there is an argument why no believer ever can perish. The portals of heaven stand wide open for thee. Can ye say, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I desire to keep all thy commandments, and to walk blamelessly in thy sight. holy Immanuel, exalted as thou art, thy co-heirs here below begin by faith to partake of thy glory. Behold, I present to you the fair cross of your once crucified Elder Brother. The soul is like an eagle, to which the body acts as a chain, which prevents its mounting. The whole of man is defaced. Camillus had been banished from Rome by false accusations. Inasmuch as we are of the seed of the woman, there must be enmity between us and the seed of the serpent. I do not find them either in the English version or in the Greek original. Hear me, what remarkably beautiful language he used in prayer!" Because he has remitted all our debt of sin, we are all the more indebted to him in another sense. The man who uttered this challenge, "Who is he that condemneth?" God so loved me that he willed to forgive me; but for the sake of the world which he governs righteously he could not forgive me without an atonement for my sin. You believe that all things will in the end work for your good. If so, then the sweet things which we shall have to say this morning are thine. 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! All things work together for a Christian's lasting good. iniquity for which words fail in description! When the speaker has almost lost the thread of his discourse he turns his ear, and the prompter gives him the catch-word and aids his memory. All things at this present moment are working together for the believer's good. Saved by your works! Adam in this world was in liberty, perfect liberty; nothing confined him; paradise was exactly fitted to be his seat. "There are 400 youths," says he, "in Rome as brave as I am, and that will bear fire as well; and tyrant," he says "you will surely die."" Am I one of those who are ordained unto eternal life, or am I to be left to follow my own lusts and passions, and to destroy my own soul? Would that he were not so severe, so rigorously just, so sternly strict to his integrity." Yes, but "Jesus died;" and say what thou wilt, O conscience, remind me of what thou wilt; lo this shall be my sure reply in "Jesus died." Now I must come to the third point, upon which with brevity. In many things we all offend. And if we be his sons, are we not thereby bound to love, serve, and obey him? So the enquirer asked him again, "But what is your persuasion?" If the Holy Ghost prompts it, the Father must and will accept it, for it is not possible that he should put a slight upon the ever blessed and adorable Spirit. then I must love him," and he was quickened in that selfsame hour. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. No doubt can make him question. Forget the steps thou hast already trodden, and reach forward towards that which is before, looking unto Jesus. 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. "The carnal mind," he says, "is ENMITY against God." To such who have preceded us we owe the purity of the Church, and to them we are debtors. The text says, "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." I want you, dear friends, to get this persuasion into you. If any text can be more conclusive than this against universal sonship, I must confess I know of none, and unless these words mean nothing at all, they do mean just this, that believers are the sons of God and none besides. Do you hate God for all this? If thou hast a desire, God has given it thee. Those who obey his promptings shall not walk in darkness. This week, mother, thou mayest see thy first-born carried to the tomb. 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.. 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. The next argument for making us sure that they will speed is this that they are "the mind of the Spirit." If we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, the Lord has predestinated us to much tribulation, and through it shall we inherit the kingdom. You have had many mercies in your family, but you have felt that in them all there was a lack of something which could satisfy your heart, and you have felt that that something was God. Remember that this is grace, and parentage, look back to the hole of the pit whence thou art digged, and the miry clay whence thou wast drawn. See, brethren, he enters into glory, but not for himself alone, for it is written, "Whither the forerunner is for us entered." "A fiction!" "There be moments," says one, "when I feel rebellious; at times my passions lead me astray; but surely there are other favorable seasons when I really am friendly to God, and offer true devotion. Dost thou frequent his mercy-seat? Therefore, let the future bring with it what it may, all will be well with him. I have no argument with which to convince the man who denies so strong and clear a witness. Little did they know that they had already what they asked for for all the church is now at the right hand of the Father; all the church is now raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you see the force of this expression? He lives, and because he lives I shall live also. You should have rallied round your own minister and strengthened his hands in the work of the Lord. All men are called by the ministry, by the Word, by daily providence, to love God, there is a common call always given to men to come to Christ, the great bell of the gospel rings a universal welcome to every living soul that breathes; but alas! "Ah!" Christ is entering into Jericho to preach. You have been very generous to yourselves by coming here, but not very just to your ministers in neglecting the places of worship where you ought to have gone. Impossible. Is he full of joy and rejoicing? Stay awhile; that horny hand of labor shall soon grasp the palm branch. First, we think we should learn a lesson of humility. Another doctrine we gather from this is, the necessity of an entire change of our nature. He says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." "It is Christ that died. Our apostle, in the epistle to the Hebrews, puts a very strong encomium upon this sentence. ----- "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Romans 8:16-17. Art thou so estranged that thou givest enmity for love? He has been charitably received, he has been warmed at the fire, he has received abundant provision, he is warmly clothed. On Lord's-Day Evening, August 24th, 1890. "Well!" Some men groan after wealth, they worship Mammon. Has it lifted up your hopes, to hope no longer for things that are on earth, but for things that are above? I am sure I feel, myself, the force of this word "brother," with regard to many of you. Paul, a Christian! 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. "All things work," at this very instant and second of time. I. Our spirit bears witness that we are the children of God, when it feels a filial love to God. But anyhow, things present cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Some may say, "It is the prospect of bankruptcy." ", When you have overcome Satan, the world will come forth to attack you, and to dispute your claim to be numbered amongst the people of God. Brethren, we are free! It is not possible for us to be divine, yet it is written that we are made "partakers of the divine nature." "So then," he said, "we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." thou shall rest for ever and ever. So it may by possibility be this morning; so it will be if the Spirit of God shall be our instructor, and fulfil his gracious promise to "lead us into all truth.". I will have one more illustration. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, Note that Paul does not say, "If they shall fall;" but, "If they shall fall away," if the religion which they have professed shall cease to have any power over them, then, it shall be impossible. Amen. "All things work together for good," but not to all men; they only work together for the good of "them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. You go out to your pleasures, but your conscience goes with you, and spoils your mirth. Look around, above, beneath, and all things work. "These are thy glorious works, parent of good, Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!". For which of these works do ye hate God? 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. Take care that you do not answer Satan with any other argument than this: "It is Christ that died." So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." I know it is good for me that my faith, my love, my every grace should grow and increase, and that I should be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ my blessed Lord and Master." The first reason why the Christian never can be condemned is because CHRIST HATH DIED. A passage from Galatians iii. When like David we can say, "I opened my mouth and panted," we are by no means in an ill state of mind. Just a sentence upon another point. for that ours will be. Can you not do it? 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. Ah, and blessed be God they will too, by the work of the Spirit. II. The text speaks of "our infirmities," or as many translators put it in the singular of "our infirmity." Let me imagine a man entering heaven without a change of heart. The true son of God will never blush to acknowledge that he is in subjection to the Father of spirits. It behoveth each of us, then, to comfort and establish our hearts upon this word "work." The pinch of faith always lies in the present tense. The mind of God is one and harmonious; if, therefore, the Holy Spirit dwells in you, and he move you to any desire, then his mind is in your prayer, and it is not possible that the eternal Father should reject your petitions. I might appeal to scores and hundreds here, and I might say, brethren, you with grey heads, rise up and speak. This is the grandest message of the gospel, that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Some groan continually under the troubles of life; they are merely impatient there is no virtue in that. 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? The cross and Christ are nailed together by four nails, and they will never be disassociated in the experience of any Christian. God is King over all, and able to govern the world according to his own mind, which mind is always infinitely just. Believer, would you be ashamed to stand and be accused as he was, and have false witness born against you? Soul, this suggests to thee a solemn enquiry, "Art thou in Christ or not?" And then he holds up a shield so broad that he is completely concealed behind it, and every enemy is defeated in the conflict, because "It is Christ that dies." But Solomon did not add, that things are not what they seem. Yea, that harp is mine, and my soul by faith would make every string resound with melody. 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. We are thankful to have such a groaning. Absurd! You must endure persecution; but then, remember, he will be joint heir with you. And mark, every man that is saved, is always saved by an overcoming call which he cannot withstand; he may resist it for a time, but he cannot resist so as to overcome it, he must give way, he must yield when God speaks. "You have robbed God of his glory," another voice seems to say. I pray you consider yourself as being in Christ. The body is redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, it is redeemed by price, but it has not as yet been redeemed by power. He whose crown shineth the brightest, will know when he hath lost a jewel. Conscience, I will put thee in the witness-box, and cross-examine thee this morning! If he had not been a Christian, his Jewish dignity would never have condescended to call a Roman "brother;" for a Jew sneered at the Gentile, and called him "dog." and by that was meant, that what'er his people owed was wiped away for ever from the book of remembrance. yes. you also shall bear a palm. A thorn in the flesh may be as painful a thing as a sword in the bones, and yet we may go and beseech the Lord thrice about it, and getting no answer we may feel that we know not what to pray for as we ought; and yet it makes us groan. I cannot of course picture what your precise trouble is. and bleeds his life away in agony, then is the law of God abundantly honoured. But let us consider a second phase of it. Therefore, over against my delight in sin, I set his delight in presenting to the Father his perfect righteousness and his all-sufficient substitutionary sacrifice: "It is Christ that died. There were no obedient creatures in the world of that sort, knowing good and evil, in the days of Eden's glory. May the sweet Spirit lead you to Jesus, cause you to look to him upon the cross, and trust in him; then you will have something worth hearing, for you will have a love that changeth never, a love that shall never be separated from you nor you from it. Amen and Amen. It is as though one bartered a diamond to buy a common pebble from the brook, or gave away an empire to purchase some foul thing not worthy of being picked off a dunghill. They are the family of God, and the family of Satan their character how different their end, how strangely divided! She is, "when unadorned, adorned the most." Paul says, "I am persuaded," and it is implied that, first, HE IS PERSUADED OF THE LOVE OF GOD. diabolical crime! I see "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." I thought I saw you the other day looking amazingly great, because on such an occasion you really had done some little service to Christ's Church; and you looked astonishingly proud about it. 3. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life which we have, and all the graces which adorn that life, are the first gifts, the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. Oh would you not pray confidently if you knew that your prayer corresponded with the sealed book of destiny? So that though I said the drift of the text was spiritual good, yet sometimes in the main current there may be carried some rich and rare temporal benefits for God's children as well as the richer spiritual blessings. Now, Christ is his people's representative. But since we have become enemies, how much less can we hope to be saved by works! The traveller has reached the hospice. Only too true is that confession, "We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us." Ask ye why? III. 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. Oh, wherefore art thou at enmity with him? You cannot deny it. We must not pry into it, but we know that he was verily of the nature of God. Then, remember, thy head must deny itself the pleasure of wearing the crown. it is forgotten! So the Spirit confirms the witness of my spirit that I am born of God. He became a partaker of our infirmities and sicknesses that we might be partakers of the divine nature in all its excellence and purity. Now, first, brethren, as co-heirs with Christ, we are heirs of God so the text tells us. For memory graspeth with an iron hand ill things, but the good she holdeth with feeble fingers. 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. Grant me that the child is carnal, and my text says, "the carnal mind is enmity against God." Oh! The fall of Adam was OUR fall; we fell in and with him; we were equal sufferers; it is the ruin of our own house that we lament, it is the destruction of our own city that we bemoan, when we stand and see written, in lines too plain for us to mistake their meaning, "The carnal mind" that very self-same mind which was once holiness, and has now become carnal "is enmity against God." Who is he that condemneth? the serpent work together for the 's... Have false witness born against you to comfort and establish our hearts upon this sentence just, so strict! Impatient there is no holiness in us of our own creating ; no good thing in us of our creating. Infirmity. are `` the carnal mind is enmity against God. the purity of the seed of seed. Said, `` the Spirit confirms the witness of my Spirit that I am I. Voice seems to say this morning argument than this: `` it is written, Jacob have I,! His people owed was wiped away for ever from the book of destiny dear,... 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