Now, sir, if it is not wrong for God to do the thing, how can it be wrong for God to purpose to do the thing? 6. "Ah!" Moreover, I doubt not that Paul remembered the doctrine of the union of believers with Christ, and he said to himself, "Shall Christ lose the members of his body? I wonder what the things present are with you, my dear hearers. Now election shuts up the precious treasury of God's covenant blessings for his children for penitents, for seeking sinners. Turn to Romans, the 4:chapter, 13th verse (Romans 4:13 ) and you will find that there the promise that was made to the seed was that he should be heir of the world. And if they are not like Peter tempted to curse and swear to escape the blessed imputation they would turn the conversation, that they might not suffer for Christ. And as to our weaknesses and infirmities, he is there to plead for his people: "Who also maketh intercession for us." 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. If it be settled in our mind by the true witness the spirit within us, and the Spirit of God, that we are God's children, what a NOBLE PRIVILEGE now appears to our view. 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. We have a work to do, as great as our forefathers, and, perhaps, far greater. I do not find them either in the English version or in the Greek original. 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. If thou canst but look to Jesus, thou art safe. God has punished sin; and when men say, "God must punish sin," we answer, "Sin has been punished, for Christ has died.". Therefore hath God, as it were, enlarged his arguments. "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands," poured out water, and began to wash his disciples' feet, and then went, with full knowledge of all that was before him, to pour out his blood to wash their souls from guilt. Then the apostle says, "nor things to come." There is only one way to successfully resist the onset of the arch-enemy; but that one way ensures certain victory. The pinch of faith always lies in the present tense. In this volume we give you Charles H. Spurgeon commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Let me suppose an impossible case for a moment. And I can shut his mouth again 'yea rather, that is risen again,' for he took him captive on that day; I will add, 'who sitteth at the right hand of God.' It does not say that they shall work, or that they have worked; both of these are implied, but it says that they do work now. says the accuser "but you sinned against light and knowledge. a. Our third and last point is THE SURE SUCCESS OF ALL SUCH PRAYERS. I cannot stay longer on that point, except just to notice, that we must never quarrel with this divine arrangement. His interpretation of it is a groan, and that is all. How much have you done after all, young man? Is that the tenor of thy life towards God, and towards his law? Happy is he who can follow the apostle step by step, and say, "Yes, I have this morning the spirit of a son; I know that my heart loves God, and I look to him as my Father, with trust, with confidence, and with love; then I am surely his son, because I have the Spirit a son; then I am his heir; I am the heir of God; and thus my faith lays hold upon the thrice-precious words of this glorious text I am joint heir with Christ.". thou shall rest for ever and ever. It finds the sinner dead, it gives him life, and he obeys the call of life and lives. We shall see his face; the devils in hell cannot hinder it; we shall possess the promised rest, still the fiends that are beneath shall not rob us of the heirloom. "Who is he that condemneth?" There are not many in England, I think, who believe those words. 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. The strifes of barons and kings for mastery might have been thought to be likely to tread out the last spark of British liberty; but they did rather kindle the pile. Let me feel the worm that never dies rather than the stings of an offended conscience, if indeed this is not itself, "the worm that dieth not." And yet this is just through our ignorance and through the blindness of our eyes; for verily to the enlightened believer there is more consolation in Jesus arising from the tomb, than there is in Jesus nailed to the cross. The same legacy that left peace with you, also left tribulation with you, while you are in this world. Nay, his law never asked for more than human righteousness divine. I fear many of us here must acknowledge that we do not charge the sin of it to our own consciences. There is a picture for you to contemplate, God and ourselves joined together by the bonds of love in Christ Jesus. Oh! says another; "a mere poetic sentimentalism." Can you heartily say that you can never rest satisfied till you. I see the heavens on fire, rolling up like a scroll I see sun, moon, and stars pale now their feeble light the earth is tottering; the pillars of heaven are rocking; the grand assize is commenced the herald angels descend, not to sing this time, but with thundering trumpets to proclaim, "He comes, he comes to judge the earth in righteousness, and the people in equity." Look here, this is my confession of faith; here will I hale thy brothers and thy sisters to prison, and beat them in the synagogue and compel them to blaspheme and even hunt them to death, for my breath is threatening, and my heart is as fire against Christ." In the spiritual body, some are fitted for and called to one sort of work; others for another sort of work. This is the grandest message of the gospel, that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." 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. Do you curse your father, who so wisely watched over you? He will write the prayers which I ought to offer upon the tablets of my heart, and I shall see them there, and so I shall be taught how to plead. No. God grant to you all to be believers in Christ, now and for ever. It is Christ that died." "If thou be the Son of God." II. Sproul's Expositional Commentary Set - 8 Volumes. do I converse with him, commune with him? Condemn a man who sits next to his Father, the King of kings! Home; Shop. At present I am at enmity with God. Nor can any creature accuse his saints, nor can heaven, or earth, or hell disprove our rights or infringe upon our title so long as his title stands undisputed and indisputable. Now that which God reads in the heart and approves of for the word to "know" in this case includes approval as well as the mere act of omniscience what God sees and approves of in the heart must succeed. Go to www.ccontario.com for an . Now, the apostle sets the whole matter before us when he said, "The whole creation groaneth," and you know what comes after that, "travaileth." At any rate, meet the attack of the world as you met the attack of Satan, with this weapon only: "It is Christ that died," and you will be "more than conquerors through him that loved us.". Standing at the foot of the cross, and beholding the Redeemer in his expiring agony, the Christian may indeed gather courage. The apostle tells us that not only is there a groan from creation, but this is shared in by God's people. Now, what is not right towards man is not right towards God. Look! You should have rallied round your own minister and strengthened his hands in the work of the Lord. Is he a victor? It is to the praise of his enemy. There is no flaw in God's will with regard to Christ. There are two things that join God and a believer together; the first is, God's love to the believer, and the second is, the believer's love to God. I cannot be punished for my sin. The snow is numbing his limbs, and his soul is breathed out with many a groan. I wonder how many Christians there are who would leap like that into the cleft. We come and spend our time and our money upon our pleasures before we pay our just and fair debts. An enemy may possibly make himself a friend; but enmity cannot. Let us make sure that the foundation is laid, but let us not have continually to lay it again. ", II. Let me show you that you have not been hearing strange doctrine. Our second subject is THE PRAYER WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRES, or that part of prayer which is especially and peculiarly the work of the Spirit of God. Ever let humility bow thee to the very earth while thine adoption lifts thee up to the third heaven. It will cost you many a pang to keep that confidence; but oh! I know not how to open my lips in thy majestic presence: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. No Jew was ever content with the first-fruits. We pray evermore on such matters with this reserve, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." God dwelleth in us, and we are one with Christ. If it be wisdom, it is hell's wisdom; if it be wisdom, it is a wisdom which is folly with God. The mass of men are all in uncertainty; they do not know what will become of them at last. He begins by mentioning some of the things that are supposed to separate, and the first is, death. It cannot be that Christ should transform himself at last; but till he can do so, none can condemn. So with the child; you may bind him with the green withes of education, you may do what you will with him, since you cannot change his heart, that carnal mind shall still be at enmity against God; and notwithstanding intellect, talent, and all you may give to boot, it shall be of the same sinful complexion as every other child, if not as apparently evil; for "the carnal mind is enmity against God.". Do you suppose for a moment that there is any injustice in God in having given you grace which he did not give to another? I do see ground for hope when Christ is bound, for he is bound for me; I do see reason for rejoicing when he dies, for he dies for me, and in my room and stead; I do see a theme for solid satisfaction in his burial, for he is buried for me; but when he comes out of the grave, having swallowed up death in victory, my hope bursts into joyous song. And now I come to the fourth; and this also hath an encomium passed upon it "WHO ALSO MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US." ", Then again, how zealous we should be for our Master! Once more I will appeal to his advocacy 'Who maketh intercession for us.' Where are those words which you have added, "Whom he did foreknow to repent, to believe, and to persevere in grace?" I have (continues the objector), stood upon the mountain-top, until my whole soul has kindled with the scene below, and my lips have uttered the song of praise. The first is, that this body of ours is not delivered. He can lay certain desires so pressingly upon our hearts that we can never rest till they are fulfilled. The city has turned me out; let it rue the day that it ever drove me away." God worketh, and he worketh in you not to sleep, but to will and to do according to his own good pleasure. He was Lord of angels, seraphim and cherubim obeyed his behests; but the Son desired to be at the head of a race of beings more nearly allied to him than any existing spirits. We would stand upon our watch-tower and cry aloud to the Strong for strength, that the adversary may be repelled, that the sacred castle of our heart may be for the habitation of Jesus, and Jesus alone. And now, it may be, some of you are convinced of sin, by the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit never did work effectually in any but the children of God; and inasmuch as the Spirit works in you, he doth by that very working give his own infallible testimony to the fact that you are a child of God. Oh, where there is real cause for fighting, there cannot be victory without striving! He called them, mark you. My eternal destiny infinitely more concerns me than all the affairs of time. Browse all categories; New Books; Used Books It is not optional with him, it is an inevitable law of the universe. Christ digged the well to its very bottom, but not a drop did spring up; still was the world dry and thirsty, till on the morning of the resurrection a voice was heard, "Spring up O well," and forth came Christ himself from the grave, and with him came the resurrection and the life; pardon and peace for all souls sprang up from the deep well of his misery. He guides us in prayer, and thus he helps our infirmity. We are co-heirs; if he be truly an heir, so are we; and if he be not, neither are we. Again, cries Paul, "Who shall lay anything to my charge?" II. Communion is the fountain of conformity. God's people are known by their outward mark: they love God, and the secret cause of their loving God is this God chose them from before the foundation of the world that they should love him, and he sent forth the call of his grace, so that they were called according to his purpose, and were led by grace to love and to fear him. The deeper things shall be left with God. Certainly, this wondrous ship of Christ's Church, when she ploughs her way through waves of blood, makes swifter headway to the heavenly haven than she does in times of calm. Stern was the labour, toilsome was the work; he dug on, and on, and on, through rocks of suffering, into the deepest caverns of misery; but the resurrection was the springing up of the water. O my soul! For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. Be it so, then; but until you are, you must be ready to suffer in this world the afflictions of the chosen eons, for they are a part of the inheritance. You cannot deny it. Is he full of love and grace? In the next verse we are described as hoping. We are waiting till we shall put on our proper garments, and shall be manifested as the children of God. "Who is he that condemneth? Prosperous professors, who do no business amid David's billows and waterspouts, may set small store by the blessed anchorage of eternal purpose and everlasting love but those who are "tossed with tempest, and not comforted, are of another mind." Above all, commune much with Christ. I used this argument; I thought it might be a new one; I am sure it is a forcible one. This he does by arousing our desires. You go out to your pleasures, but your conscience goes with you, and spoils your mirth. Why, I see you, sirs, if there is a new and perilous work to be done for Christ, you like to be in the rear rank this time; if there were something honourable, so that you might ride on with your well caparisoned steeds in the midst of the dainty ranks ye would do it; but to leap into certain annihilation for Christ's sake Oh! The blood of heaven runs in thy veins; thou art one of the blood royal of eternity a son of God, descendant of the King of kings. The wolf may sleep, but it is a wolf still. Whether you take it up or not, your murmuring will not lighten your afflictions. The Lord reigneth, or we might lament right bitterly. "Brethren, we are debtors;" what I have is not my own, but God's; and if it be God's, then it belongs to God's poor. We love Jesus now, and esteem him our head and chief. So the enquirer asked him again, "But what is your persuasion?" He has come on purpose to put away our sin, and when he died, he made an end of it. OBSERVE the title whereby he addressed the Church "Brethren." Yet for our strong consolation, that we may never tremble or fear, God hath been pleased to give us these four eternal rocks, these four immovable foundations upon which our faith may rest and stand secure. "Complete the sentence, lictors;" and their heads are smitten off in the father's presence. And now, what with strifes between men and masters, which are banishing trade from England, and what with political convulsions, which unhinge everything, the vessel of the state is drifting fast to the shallows. "Say to the North, give up, and to the South, keep not back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth." The first one is, "Yea rather;" the second one is, "Much more." Lecture 1: A Chat about Commentaries. Behold, I present to you the fair cross of your once crucified Elder Brother. Yes, and the apostle seems to hint that this persuasion that Christ would not leave him made him aspire to a very great victory. The tempest strives not with the peaceful calm they are linked together and work together, although they seem to be in opposition. That was his triumphant entry. that love belongs to us. 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? A CHRISTIAN BROTHER was asked, one day, "To what persuasion do you belong?" Do not expect to get thanked at last for doing much, for after all you have done, you will only have done what is your duty. This is our witnessing that we are born of God. Man! Let us take these things for granted, and never dispute about them any more, but go on to still higher matters. I would I could speak more powerfully, but my Master alone can impress upon you the enormous evil of this horrid state of heart. Would you forge the iron and strike the dagger into the heart of your best friend? Thou camest here to-day from thy toil, and thy bones have scarce forgotten yesterday's weariness; but thou art coheir with him who rules all heaven; thou art come here in poverty and thou wilt go home to a scant meal in a narrow room, but thou art co-heir with him who made the worlds, by whom: all thinks consist; you have come here weak and feeble, doubting, distrustful, and cast down, but I tell thee, weak though thou be, and in thine own judgment less than the least of all yet the same hand that wrote Christ heir of all things wrote thy name with his, and till a hand can be found that can blot out thy Redeemer's name thine shall stand and abide fair ever and ever. On, that you would know and feel your dependence upon the Holy Ghost that he may prompt the once crucified but now ascended Redeemer that this gift of the Spirit, this promise of the Father, is shed abroad upon men. 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." Now, to-day, seeing we are here taught the object of his predestination, it will be our business to labor after it, to bless God that he has set such an object before him, and pray that we may be partakers in it. Series (High Quality) Series (Low Quality) Buy CD Album This sermon series includes the following 12 messages: The Spirit Takes Us from Sin to Righteousness Romans 8:1-11 Apr 24 1983 45-57 Audio Whatever God would have done under the circumstances, that Jesus did. 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. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh, is not subject to the Law of God. Oh Christian, this should ever be your spirit, only in a higher degree. Many believers make a mistake when they long to die and long for heaven. I thought that had I to intercede for anybody, and do a mediating part, if I had to intercede for my brother with my father, I should feel I had got a safe case in hand. Note the expression, "Many brethren" not that he might be the firstborn among many, but among "many brethren," who should be like himself. In Hebrews 1:2 ., we are told that God has appointed Christ heir of all things. Is he omniscient? As to his humanity our blessed Lord, when he came into this world, underwent a birth which was a remarkable type of our second birth. The text says, "we groan." (2) They may have thought him to teach that we should sin in order to get more grace (6:1) and, therefore, may have made his teaching of justification by faith an excuse for immoral conduct. "THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL." I pray you never think well of fine prayers, for before the thrice holy God it ill becomes a sinful suppliant to play the orator. Look again at that noble youth, Mutius Scoevola. Come in with me, let us sail together to glory. 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?" Let us mark a yet more positive passage, Romans ix. If this is his devotion, what must be his impiety? 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. Do we say that he is love? that we might stamp it with truth, and that God might help us to impress upon its wings some proof that it has not flown by neglected and unheeded. You and I are also groaning for it. Sinner! Is this true or not? All the saints make up one body in Christ, who is the Head of the body, and the common Centre of their unity. Moses prayed that he might enter Canaan, but God denied him; and the man that was healed asked our Lord that he might be with him, but he received for answer, "Go home to thy friends." "Well," said he, "if you must know my persuasion, this is it, 'I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 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.'" Make a mistake when they long to die and long for heaven the Greek original on... `` Yea rather ; '' the second one is, death one Christ. 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