Remember thou art now a debtor to God in a legal sense, as thou art in Adam, thou art no longer a debtor to God's justice as thou once wast. It is an intense regret to me that I cannot present it to some of you. Sometimes a bow of steel is not broken by our hands, for we cannot even bend it; and then the Holy Ghost puts his mighty hand over ours, and covers our weakness so that we draw; and lo, what splendid drawing of the bow it is them! Glory be unto thee, O God, glory be unto thee; my soul is in heaven, I with the cherubim and seraphim would bow, and sing, and rejoice with them I veil my face in this most joyful moment wiping every tear from my poor eyes, I bid them look upon thy glory in Christ. I was reading a passage by Dr. Chalmers the other day, in which he says, that his own experience did not lead him to believe that the Holy Spirit ever gave any witness of our being the children of God, apart from the written Word of God, and his ordinary workings in our hearts. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, they were to him so many proofs that the harvest was already come. The great machine of this world is not only in motion, but there is something weaving in it, which as yet mortal eye hath not fully seen, which our text hinteth at when it says, It is working out good for God's people. Our second point rises before us WHEREIN ARE BELIEVERS DEFICIENT? 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. Rules for the conduct of Christians to one another, as members of the Christian church, Rom. It is said that every strand of them would bear the entire onnage, and consequently, if every strand bears the full weight that will ever be put upon the whole, there is an absolute certainty of safety given to the whole when twisted together. It is true the world is always active, but it is with the activity of the battle-field, wherein hosts encounter hosts and the weaker are overcome." 12:1-21. Cannot you imagine that a child taken from the lowest ranks of society, who is adopted by a Roman senator, will be saying to himself, "I wish the day were come when I shall be publicly revealed as the child of my new father. Now I must come to the third point, upon which with brevity. 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. But when it has attacked us, and done its worst, there comes in the majesty of divine sovereignty. Have not all men, at times, wished that our religion were not true? When like David we can say, "I opened my mouth and panted," we are by no means in an ill state of mind. May the Spirit of God enable you so to live, that you can bequeath your example as a legacy to the future. I have affirmed, and I am sure most Christians will bear witness, that what I said was the truth, that if any man loveth God he loves him because God gave him grace to love him. Such men there are here this very day. But it may be, beloved, that we groan because we are conscious of the littleness of our desire, and the narrowness of our faith. So, when we get the first works of the Spirit of God, we are not to say, "I have attained, I am already perfect, there is nothing further for me to do, or to desire." He standeth up and beareth his own faithful testimony; but some great one of the land some nobleman who lives near rises, stands in the witness box, and confirms his witness. The practical part follows, wherein we find, 1. Thunderbolts and tornadoes are nothing in force compared with the charges of a guilty conscience. It does not always follow in human reasoning "if children, then heirs," because in our families but one is the heir. Were you once darkness in regard to Christ; and has marvelous light manifested to you a marvelous Redeemer, marvelously strong to save? Brethren, the work of the Spirit is called "first-fruits," because the first-fruits were not the harvest. In the spiritual body, some are fitted for and called to one sort of work; others for another sort of work. Suppose it to be a time of war centuries back. It should be, "The fool hath said in his heart, no God." And now as a matter of EXAMINATION let each man judge himself by certain characteristics of heavenly calling which I am about to mention. There is all the difference between the groan of death and the groan of life. Let these few sentences suffice for a preface. (Who would wish that they should? If, then, you give the honor to God, you are bound to confess that God has done more for the man that is saved than for the man that is not saved. believe that thou art secure; that voice which called thee, shall call thee yet again from earth to heaven, from death's dark gloom to immortality's unuttered splendours; Rest assured, the heart that called thee, beats with infinite love towards thee, a love undying, that many waters cannot quench, and that floods cannot drown. I can look upward without distressing fear." The slave is not called. Wipe away that tear; God shall soon wipe away thy tears for ever. My brethren, we ought not to do so. I want to sit down, and suck all the sweetness out of this blessed truth: "It is Christ that died." Such a hope as this is "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast"; and the man who has this anchor on board the barque of his life can never suffer spiritual shipwreck. The surety paid the debt." Speak to him on the road, send out the apostle Peter to him, let Peter say, "Saul, why dost thou oppose Christ? Does he contribute anything to his new life? He went through the streets, and people whispered, "That is the general, the valiant one," but he was not publicly acknowledged. 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." GenesisEarly Chapters, and Patriarchs. Suffering is the college of orthodoxy. If it sinks, I am lost; but it will not sink, for the Plot of the Galilean Lake is on board. In these days of daring infidelity, and awful treason against the Most High, I count it an unspeakable honour to be permitted to testify to the power of the old truths, and the pleasantness of the old paths, and the unfailing faithfulness of God in the fulfilment of each and all of His precious promises; and though my voice is less than a Whisper amid the roar and turmoil of conflicting opinions and blasphemous theories, I know that God can hear it, and that He will accept the loving tribute which my heart thus offers to Him. He is our legislator, our law-maker; and then, to make our crime still worse and worse, he is the ruler of providence; for it is he who keeps up from day to day. "All things work together for good.". "Yea rather," said the apostle; as if he would have it, that this is a still more powerful argument. Is he glorious? As he turns over each of these love-tokens, and as he reads the words of his reconciled prince, he asks "When will the vessel sail to take me back to my native shore?" Then salvation cannot be by merit; it must be by grace. He whose crown shineth the brightest, will know when he hath lost a jewel. All things work together for the Christian's eternal and spiritual good. And then he goes on giving a description of those who are the sons of God, who could not mean any but those who by a living faith in Christ Jesus, have cast their souls once for all on him. Or look you at Cincinnatus. As long as you go with evil companions, they will applaud you. Is he full of love and grace? "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth; It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. Whether you will receive it, or not, must rest with yourselves. These men will not repent, will not believe; they will not go God's way, and then they grumble and growl, and fret, and fume, because God has locked the treasure up against them. The Spirit teaches wisely, as no other teacher can do. Turn thy tearful eye to yonder Mount of Calvary! As we were conceived in sin at the first, and shapen in iniquity, even so in regeneration our new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us. He took the great mass of the sins of believers, and piled the whole on Christ; and when he hung upon the cross as his people's Substitute, even his Father hid his face from him. The Christian understands the word "good" in another sense. Some groan continually under the troubles of life; they are merely impatient there is no virtue in that. It there be a touch of our finger anywhere upon the vessel, it mars and does not beautify. Well, I wonder what is "to come." So in regard to God. And somehow or other you have an equal faith for the future. Many of the daughters of pleasure are far more fair than she! *See Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. "You have robbed God of his glory," another voice seems to say. being made bold to do so because we have believed in the Christ that died. Being the father of lies, he will accuse us of things of which we are not guilty, or, when it suits his purpose, he will exaggerate our guilt, and make it appear worse than it is, in order that he may drive us to despair. And once again, all things work in opposition to Sabbath. He has, in fact, no right at all, except as he is taken in connection with his co-heir. You will bear in mind that I discussed the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ's atonement by his death, in the sermon of last Sunday morning. you have had many troubles, have you not? We have, indeed, in the death of Christ, a great atonement; an atonement so great, that none can measure its height and depth, its length and breadth. 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. Remember, in this, too, Christ is your co-heir. Go up; take them. Very likely all things will work together in a clean contrary way to that. Any one of them were all-sufficient. This is a good seaworthy vessel: "It is Christ that died." In the volume of the Book it is written of him: "I delight to do thy will, O my God! Here am I, a creature of a day, a mortal born to die, but yet an immortal! Thou Church of God, surely it must survive in thee; for to whom should it more belong to die and sacrifice all, than to those who are the sons of God. We have received a divine life, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature, having "escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." 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