when I can find enough for my faith to be satisfied with even in the digging of the well, what shall be my satisfaction when I see it overflowing its brim, and springing up with life everlasting? "You know how you used to blaspheme his name." He had been exceedingly mad against the disciples of Christ, and had persecuted them even unto strange cities. Joyfully and cheerfully for ever shall it be our delight to do the Father's will. If we are at enmity with God, what merit can we have? The words which Jesus uses are various in different cases. You long rejected Christ." So that wish and I do not think there has been a man in this world who has not had it proves that "the carnal mind is enmity against God. ", I am anxious not to tarry over controverted matters, but to reach the subject of my sermon this morning. No! Let me appeal personally to you in an interrogatory style, for this has weight with it. Expect not, O Christian, that all things will work together to make thee rich; it is just possible they may all work to make thee poor. We have around us appliances for doing good, such as men never possessed before; we behold around us machinery for doing evil, such as never was at work even in earth's worst days. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." 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. Alas! it is a glorious truth. That is quite another doctrine, and it is the true teaching of the Word of God. "Oh!" My friends, there is a cementing power in the grace of God which can scarcely be over estimated. We do cry, "Abba, Father." 6. All manner of evil things we commit in our thoughts; sin runs to riot in our spirit. But in addition to his sermons, he regularly reading a Bible passage before his message and gave a verse-by-verse exposition, rich in gospel insight and wisdom for the Christian life. Edwards's theological work is very broad in scope, but he is often associated with his . If the believer can take anything and everything to God, then he learns to glory in infirmity, and to rejoice in tribulation; but sometimes we are in such confusion of mind that we know not what we should pray for as we ought. Now, I think I hear somebody say, "you see these godly people who profess to be so happy and so safe, they still groan, and they are obliged to confess it." And I say it this morning, it is a shameful thing that ever idolatry should be able to breed better men than some who profess Christianity. A shopmate asked, "What's the matter?" He attacked the Shepherd, and he will never cease to worry the sheep. Paul was so persuaded that Christ would never leave him that he became a fighter, and he went in with all his might against the world, the flesh, and the devil. by which he means transient good, the good of the moment. Others, this afternoon, by teaching your children in the class. It should be, "The fool hath said in his heart, no God." 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. Then let me give you just one piece of homely advice before I send you away. Ah, and blessed be God they will too, by the work of the Spirit. Delivered on Sabbath Evening, August 10, 1856, by the. Thou hast lain among the pots, but he hat made thee as a dove whose wings are covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. Time and ability alike fail us to speak of this. 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 went about his Father's business; so should we ever be occupied. Merchant; though you have been sore pressed this week, and it is highly probable that next week will be worse still for you, believe that all things even then are working for your good. Spurgeon takes us back to the previous verses in the opening remarks of his sermon on Romans 8:37 Look attentively at the champion. What if Christ died for all your past sins? you might as well try to go to America in a paper boat!" We have love, which sweetens all the rest. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 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. Having reaped handfuls, we long for sheaves. And we may add, the text also means good eternal, lasting good. Many times you put him away. Brethren, we who know and love the Lord, are debtors, not to one creditor, but to many. But this cannot be; the time has not yet come when the book shall be opened, and even then the seals shall not be broken by mortal hand, but it shall be said, "The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book and break the seven seals thereof.". And hear ye this, John i. But, on a certain set day, the gates were thrown wide open, and the general, victorious from the wars in Africa or Asia, with his snow-white horses bearing the trophies of his many battles, rode through the streets, which were strewn with roses, while the music sounded, and the multitudes, with glad acclaim, accompanied him to the Capitol. no, the poor legalist is like a blind horse going round and round the mill, or like the prisoner going up the treadwheel, and finding himself no higher after all he has done; he has no solid confidence, no firm ground to rest upon. For memory graspeth with an iron hand ill things, but the good she holdeth with feeble fingers. A CHRISTIAN BROTHER was asked, one day, "To what persuasion do you belong?" He parried the question at first, for he did not think that it was very important for him to answer it. It shall work, it is working for thy good. There is enough in that one truth to include all that is excellent in the others, and to answer all the accusations that may be brought against you. Have the manacles of justice been snapped, and am I delivered set free by him who is the great ransomer of spirits? Consider what you owe to his power; how he has raised you from your death in sin, and how he has preserved your spiritual life, how he has kept you from falling, and how, though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way! "If thou be the Son of God." To give a simple figure: if I were to come into your house I might find there a little child that cannot yet speak plainly. When Christ Jesus took away our guilt, and "his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," justice was more terribly displayed than when guilty sinners sink to hell. You do not know the love of Christ. He ruleth over all. Sometimes I have thought that impossible. What a sin it is! Happy will he count himself when he is able to preach with the living voice. Are you intelligently persuaded not only that God is love, but that God loves you? And I am quite sure we are debtors to the present. 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. Happy, happy man! Speak the truth! I believe that, when Christ died, he took all the sins of all his people, past, present, and to come, and when the whole mass was condensed into one bitter cup, he drank it all up. Can he still be valiant, and maintain his ground, calling out, "Who is he that condemneth?" REV. We have faith, that priceless, precious jewel. Look! There are different senses to the word "good." And now a little capful of wind blows on you and the tears run down your cheeks, and you say, "Lord, let me die; I am no better than my fathers." But there are one or two doctrines which we will try to deduce from this. Yet am I there in Christ. Will not such presumption as this be avenged? In the spiritual body, some are fitted for and called to one sort of work; others for another sort of work. 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. 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. Are you among the number? If it be possible that the malice and the graft of hell could invent some scheme by which the covenant could he put out of court, and the promise of grace could be made to fail, then Christ fails with his people, and the heir of all things loses his inheritance as soon as one single one of the other heirs shall have his right to the inheritance disproved. Did an earthly benefactor feed you, would you hate him? Wherefore, let us be encouraged to go on, and fight against everything that is evil, especially in ourselves, and tread down all the powers of darkness, since nothing can stand against us while Christ is sor us; and for us he must be for ever and ever. "Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man" (Proverbs 8:4 ). The whole "carnal mind is enmity against God. 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. Let us begin with the word "work." A lack of depth in the inner life accounts for most of the doctrinal error in the church. He parried the question at first, for he did not think that it was very important for him to answer it. 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." There are not many in England, I think, who believe those words. Should another say, "I was baptized an adult," let your confidence remain the same: "Christ has died." Well, I wonder what is "to come." You must endure persecution; but then, remember, he will be joint heir with you. I never felt anything like it before. I do not know that it is for my good that my children should be about me, like olive branches round my table, but I know that it is for my good that I should flourish in the courts of my God, and that I should be the means of winning souls from going down into the pit. 12:1-21. He has to intercede with his Father, and mark, with our Father too. Recollect, if you are truly called it is a high calling, a calling from on high, and a calling that lifts up your heart, and raises it to the high things of God, eternity, heaven, and holiness. We must keep on going forward; there is no such thing in the Christian life as standing still, and we dare not turn back. 12-15. So with the judgement I might prove how ill it decides. It is not many minutes before he begins to feel his sin in having persecuted Jesus, nor many hours ere he receives the assurance of his pardon, and not many days ere he who persecuted Christ stands up to preach with vehemence and eloquence unparalleled, the very cause which he once trod beneath his feet. That was his triumphant entry. 4. Paul says, "I am persuaded," and it is implied that, first, HE IS PERSUADED OF THE LOVE OF GOD. 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. May not this electrify a man of joy, and make him dance for very mirth? Here we have in the text conformity to Christ spoken of as the aim of predestination; we have, secondly, predestination as the impelling force by which this conformity is to be achieved; and we have, thirdly, the firstborn himself set before us as the ultimate end of the predestinations and of the conformity. 10. He looked at me, and picked me out as if I was the only man there, and described me exactly." Brethren, we are debtors to our covenant God; that is the point which swallows up all. I tell thee No; Christ never called the righteous; and if he has not called thee, and if he never does call thee, thou art not elect, and thou and thy self-righteousness must be subject to the wrath of God, and cast away eternally. Did he not say, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world?" I want you to notice that Paul does not even rest his confidence as to the believers' safety upon the fact that they are able to say, "We have trusted in Christ; we have loved Christ; we have served Christ." "Yes," he could say, "and a blessed thing it would be for you if you had the same thing to groan after that I have." We are joined to him by a living, loving, lasting union that never shall be broken. You may come on, battalions of the adversary, with all your terrible might sweeping hypocrites and deceivers before you, like chaff before the wind, but as many as are linked to Christ by his eternal love shall stand firm against you, like the solid rocks against the billows of the sea." As a shepherd loves his sheep, as a king loves his subjects, so Jesus loves to have his people around him; but deeper yet is the mystery, as it is not good for a man to be alone, and as for this cause doth a man leave his father and mother and is joined unto his wife, and they twain are one flesh, even so is it with Christ and his church. 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? You see what you are predestinated to be: aim at it, aim at it every day. 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. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. There is no difficulty in our believing that as one human mind operates upon another mind, so does the Holy Spirit influence our spirits. Think of thyself now, not as a man or separate individual, but as a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. If the wings of the Eternal are thy shelter, what plague can attack thee? The deeper things shall be left with God. But no, Camillus gathers together his body of followers, falls upon the Goths, routs them and enters in triumph into Rome though he was an exile. Oh, what joy ought to fill our spirits this morning, at the prospect which this text reveals, and which predestination secures! Do I love God? If he says, "Let there be light," the impenetrable darkness gives way to light; if he says, "Let there be grace," unutterable sin gives way, and the hardest-hearted sinner melts before the fire of effectual calling. And are we not debtors to them? Hope is the grand anchor by whose means we ride out the present storm. The lad draws the bow: ay, but it is quite as much his father, too. O thou that art high in spirits to-day, thou with the flashing eye and joyous countenance, ere the sun doth set some evil shall befal thee, and thou shalt be sad. At this time our subjects for consideration shall be, firstly, the help which the Holy Spirit gives; secondly, the prayers which he inspires; and thirdly, the success which such prayers ore certain to obtain. Paul points us to the cross in two ways. Nor is this little, for the body has a depressing effect upon the soul. may seem too mean to pray about. thou art bitten. So the Christian has a good Father, a blessed, eternal home, and groans to get to it; but, ah! The Secret Power in Prayer January 8, 1888 by . Conecte-se Inscrever-se; Incio. By whose means we ride out the present `` carnal mind is enmity God. Verily swear by the be valiant, and am I delivered set free by him who is the grand by. Maintain his ground, calling out, `` the fool hath said his... 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