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He supplys our wants; he keeps the breath within our nostrils; he bids the blood still pursue its course through the veins; he holdeth us in life, and preventeth us from death; he standeth before us, our creator, our king, our sustainer, our benefactor, and I ask, is it not a sin of enormous magnitude is it not high treason against the emperor of heaven is it not an awful sin, the depth of which we cannot fathom with the line of all our judgment that we, his creatures, dependent upon him, should be at enmity with God? When he had kept all his Master's law he was but an unprofitable servant; he had done no more than he ought to have done; he had no surplus, no balance. Conscience must reply, "Thou hast." He has rendered more of good to men than you ever rendered of evil. But this should not be so. I doubt not that God at first supernaturally revealed it to him; but yet, in order that he might be still more sure of it, God was pleased to reveal it to him again and again, till his trembling heart was more and more completely persuaded of it. And dost thou hate God for that? Thou art not as some, who say, that thou didst choose thyself to be saved; but thou believest that God could have destroyed thee, if he had pleased and that it is entirely of his own good pleasure that thou art made one of his, while others are suffered to perish. I can always believe the past, and always believe the future, but the present, the present, the present, that is what staggers faith. We are predestinated to be conformed to Christ in that respect; the serpent's subtlety and cruelty will assail us also. You would forget your guilt in your daily business, but your conscience calls out at such a rate that there is no hearing anything else. The Saviour walks along preaching and talking with the people until he comes under the sycamore tree, then lifting up his eyes, he cries "Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide in thy house." Our second point rises before us WHEREIN ARE BELIEVERS DEFICIENT? When Napoleon was on the island of St. Helena, he was watched by many guards, but after many complaints, he enjoyed comparative liberty, and walked alone. Upon this supposition, God's utmost has been tried, and has failed. The Holy Spirit acts to his people somewhat as a prompter to a reciter. But it is added, "We groan within ourselves." The believer is here the brother to the worm; in heaven he shall be next of kin to the angels. The apostle challenges the whole world, and heaven and hell too, in the question, "Who is he that condemneth?" Do you feel the longings, the loves, the confidences of a child? And we may add, the text also means good eternal, lasting good. 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. Speak we of his omniscience? However, dear friends, we have often found that the nuts which are hardest to crack have the sweetest kernels, and when the bone seems as if it could never be broken, the richest marrow has been found within. Hear all those holy men who have written in the inspired volume, and ye shall find them all confessing that they were not clean, no not one; yea, one of them exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from the body of this death? We know not what we should pray for as we ought, and then it is that we groan, or utter some other inarticulate sound. The desires which the Spirit prompts may be too spiritual for such babes in grace as we are actually to describe or to express, and yet the Spirit writes the desire on the renewed mind, and the Father sees it. There was no kinship between the Lord Jesus and angels, for to which of the angels had the Father said at any time, "Thou art my Son?" We have faith, that priceless, precious jewel. It is astonishing where men will go to seek salvation. If all things work together for good (all events, all circumstances, all trials, all happenings, etc. "We know that all things work." Did you notice how the text begins? While you shall for awhile sigh for more of heaven, you shall soon come to the abodes of blessedness where sighing and sorrow shall flee away. If so, why doth God promise them what they have already. Can you heartily say that you can never rest satisfied till you. We morally speak of work, especially on this day, as being the opposite of sacred rest and worship. I will shew you yet again. Knowing that my sin deserved death, he willingly died, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring me to God. My soul would even now take her seat upon the throne; where my treasure is, there shall my heart be also. The Pastors College. You may have seen very beautiful prayers in print, and you may have heard very charming compositions from the pulpit, but I trust you have not fallen in love with them. you might as well try to go to America in a paper boat!" He was fighting evil in the high places and evil in the low, evil among the priests and evil among the people, evil in a religious dress, in Pharisaism, and evil in the dress of philosophy amongst the Sadducees; he fought it everywhere: he was the foe of everything that was wrong, false, selfish, unholy or impure. It is not poured out on the ground; it is on the mercy-seat, it is on the throne; it speaks in the very ears of God, and it must of a surety prevail. He would say, "My labor is all thrown away on such a plot of ground as this, nothing more can be done with it, for after having done my utmost nothing but weeds is produced, so now it must be left to itself." Such prayers will rise within us when the mind is far too troubled to let us speak. We are not to be passive like wood or marble; we are to be prayerful, watchful, fervent, diligent, obedient, earnest, and believing, but still the work is God's. I want, my Lord! The bow bends so easily we wonder how it is; away flies the arrow, and it pierces the very centre of the target, for he who giveth have won the day, but it was his secret might that made us strong, and to him be the glory of it. Now which shall it be! Christ at the right hand of God signifies that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. The death of Christ gives us a full salvation. Is it prudent to despise the riches of his grace? So it is with us to-day. We are reduced to such straits that we must pray, but what shall be the particular subject of prayer we cannot for a while make out. I know it; I know it to my shame and confusion; yet do I live by him I slew, I am saved by him I murdered; and I glory in the grace that makes such a miracle of mercy possible.". I can look upward without distressing fear." Who is Christ, and who is it with whom he intercedes. Oh unhappy souls, that cannot call one of these your own! And now I come to the fourth; and this also hath an encomium passed upon it "WHO ALSO MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US." Hallelujah to the grace that makes all things work together for good! I know not how to open my lips in thy majestic presence: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. You feel you must have your Father, or else the gifts of his providence are nothing to you. If not, tremble, for there are but two vast families in this world. Time and ability alike fail us to speak of this. There are few people who sincerely believe this. You may walk the broad acres of this round globe, and never look upon a single spot that is not yours. 5:1-11 Suffering with assurance of future glory 5:12-21 The basis for assurance in the work of Christ 6:1-23 Slavery to sin 7:1-25 The weakness of law Death hath no more dominion over him and no more dominion over me; his deliverance is mine, his freedom mine for ever. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth; he bears up the pillars of the universe; his breath perfumes the flowers; his pencil paints them; he is the author of this fair creation; "we are the sheep of his pasture; he hath made us, and not we ourselves." 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. In this way "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Who will garnish my back with purple and make my table groan with plenty?" Edited by C. H. SPURGEON. Shall we not, in some degree, repay the immense debt of our obligation by seeking to make the future also debtors to us, that our descendants may look back and acknowledge that they owe us thank for preserving the Scriptures, for maintaining liberty, for glorifying God? says the accuser "but you sinned against light and knowledge. And there may be many differences between godly men, as there undoubtedly are; they may belong to different sects, they may hold very opposite opinions, but all godly men agree in this, that they love God. Say not, "There are giants in the land," ye are strong enough to smite them. As for my own convictions, I never can doubt it, I am fully persuaded concerning it. Another test of calling is to be found in Galatians, the fifth chapter, and the fifteenth verse. "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?" By this is intended our affliction, and the weakness which trouble discovers in us. And the heart, when we perceive not its ebullitions, when it belches not forth its lava, and sendeth not forth the hot stones of its corruption, is still the same dread volcano. "Things present." Liberty to walk round the rock of St. Helena, nothing more. Even so we know concerning our great Father: Do you therefore rejoice in this, that because the prayers of the Spirit are known and understood of God, therefore they will be sure to speed. Your very happiness makes you groan; your joy, like a swollen spring, longs to leap up like some Iceland Geyser, climbing to the skies, and it heaves and groans within the bowels of your spirit for want of space and room by which to manifest itself to men. 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. Yet, what liberty was it? Well, Christian, thou hast got upon the meaning of the text, then. No priest sat down; he must always stand; for there was always work to be accomplished, always something to be done. It reminds me of what I have sometimes heard of the ropes that are used in mining. Let us not be backward in doing our work. They are discontented enough with life and yet they are afraid to die. The sufferings of his soul were the very soul of his sufferings. Here is a smiling cherub, a father with a gladsome face: if you may venture to look at the mother, see how her face smiles for joy that a man is born into the world to cheer a happy and rejoicing family. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. As many of you as have been born again have been conformed to the image of Christ in the matter of his birth, and you are now partakers of his nature. 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. I have called it, "A Carillon of Bells," because its one aim and object is to summon the Lord's people to bless and praise His Holy Name; and every note, from the highest to the lowest, is meant to peal forth the melody of "free grace and dying love." It sends a shiver through some when we begin to speak of death, and the bravest man who ever lived may well tremble at the thought that he must soon meet the king of terrors; but, brothers and sisters, if Christ loves us, and we love Christ, we may well be persuaded that death will not break the union which exists between us. 16-18. It is not the pain of death we feel, but the pain of life. His death was the digging of the well of salvation. And now we may rest assured, since we can see a sitting Christ in heaven, that the whole atonement is finished, the work is over, he hath made an end of sin. This is condescension indeed! What! My illustrations do not touch the mystery, but set forth the grace. I cannot of course picture what your precise trouble is. I know you have an a cross, or if you have not, I hope you will soon have one, for where there is no cross there is no Christ. Nor is this all, for the spirit of God is not sent merely to guide and help our devotion, but he himself "maketh intercession for us" according to the will of God. EP-1975 784dbl.col.pp. Now, let us march with joyful footsteps onward to the other part of the inheritance. A second consolation is drawn from the grand truth, that if a man be called he will certainly be saved at last. 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. Do I love what he loves; do I hate what he hates? And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according the to will of God." Such and so bright shall our glories be in the day of the redemption of the body. Say, "I count it to be my joy to be permitted to be a partaker of the sufferings of Christ. We go to our lowly homes; we meet with our brethren and sisters here in their earth-built temples; and we are content, so far as these things go, still, how can kings be content till they mount their thrones? In the next verse we are described as hoping. Hath he joy? Well, then, thou owest ten talents, and thy brother owes only one; why should you be proud that you owe more than he does? We believe that in the death of Christ there was a full penalty paid to divine justice for all the sins which the believer can possibly commit. We know not how to mingle these sacred spices in the incense of prayer. There may be a few who do, but it has never been my misfortune to meet with them. 17. There is no opposition in God's providence; the raven wing of war is co-worker with the dove of peace. He knows and comprehends the cryings, and meanings, and sighings, and chatterings of his bewildered children. He gave to us his crown; he gave to us his throne; for "to him that overcometh will I give to sit upon my throne, even as I have overcome, and have sat down with my Father upon his throne." The grandest, most heroic, days in Christendom were the days of the Pagan persecutions, wined, to be a Christian, meant to be doomed to die. 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. He had been a drunkard, a spendthrift, and had not a penny to bless himself with, and his house had become a little hell; he was groaning at the thought of going home to such a scene of quarrelling and distress. We expect to see the New Jerusalem descend out of heaven from God. As an old countryman once said to me, from whom I gained many a pithy saying "Ah! The zeal of God's house ate him up; so should it consume us also. There were many better men in the city than he. is this the cause of thine enmity? Their anchor goes within the veil of the waters into the deeps of the sea; ours goes within the veil of glory, into the heights of heaven, where Jesus sits at the right hand of God: "within the veil;". And he came before his Father's throne and said, "There it is; the full price: I have brought it all." Enemies in the children's house? It is an unqualified statement, including every individual. What wise and admirable desires must those be which the Spirit of Wisdom himself works in us! 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. If we drink in our nutriment from the world, we shall be worldly; but, if we live upon Christ and dwell in him, our conformity with him shall be readily accomplished, and we shall be recognized as brethren of that blessed family of which Jesus Christ is the firstborn. And may the love of Jesus be with you. Romans 8:3-4. "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:16-17 . Christ had to be persecuted and so must you. all his wisdom is engaged in our behalf. 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. Very gently did He lead me into this unthought-of service, and most graciously has He hitherto sustained me in it; first giving me in my own heart the joy of His Word, and then enabling me to minister of that rejoicing to others. It is naught but "Look!" At such times we should thank God for direction and give our desire a clear road: the Holy Spirit is granting us inward direction as to how we should reckon upon good success in our pleadings. it is a glorious truth. There are opposite currents; the wind bloweth to the north and to the south. "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? He may have thought, with a great many in the present day, that it was necessary to caution believers against falling from grace, and to be a little dubious about their final perseverance in the ways of God; but, if he ever had such fears, he gave them up, and said, "I am, yes, I am persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.".
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