romans 8 commentary spurgeon

The proof of love to the uttermost is that "It is Christ that died.". It is because the mind is so depraved that it loves something which puts the body into an abnormal condition; and here we have a proof that the imagination itself has gone astray. The apostle tells us that not only is there a groan from creation, but this is shared in by God's people. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." You will have to carry it. They do not groan, so far as any pain can be, but they long with greater intensity than you and I long, for the "adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body." Now Jesus by his death paid all the debt; to the utmost farthing that was due from us to God Christ did pay by his death. How greatly we ought to value the Holy Spirit, because when we are in the dark he gives us light, and when our perplexed spirit is so befogged and beclouded that it cannot see its own need, and cannot find out the appropriate promise in the Scriptures, the Spirit of God comes in and teaches us all things, and brings all things to our remembrance, whatsoever our Lord has told us. Sow well, for others must reap. He has come on purpose to put away our sin, and when he died, he made an end of it. Man was originally made in the image of God, but by sin he has defaced that image, and now we who are born into this world are fashioned, not in the heavenly image of God, but in the earthy image of the fallen Adam. Sound conviction of sin, deep humiliation on account of it, and a sense of utter weakness and unworthiness naturally conduct the mind to the belief of the doctrines of grace, while shallowness in these matters leaves a man content with a superficial creed. Now, therefore, the one thing to which the Lord is working us through his Spirit, both by providence and by grace, is the likeness of the Lord from heaven. Are we not his sons, and is there not a debt the son owes to the father which a lifetime of obedience can never remove? HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 1009, 978, 400. 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.". My unknown sins are buried in the unknown deeps of his almighty sacrifice. "For I am persuaded." It is simply "Look!" My soul was in raptures when I mused yesterday upon two sweet thoughts; they are but simple and plain, but they were very interesting to me. And he went and lay down." 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. Thou art not there, because of thine original, thou art a scion from an evil tree, and the Divine Spirit hath changed thy nature, for thou wast once nothing but a branch of the vine of Gomorrah. Well, my dear brother, you up there on the topmost bough, you will not frighten me with all your heights, though I cannot get up there, and I could not stay there if I could get up so high. But next: why cannot we administer also to the blessed part of the glorious testament! Were you once darkness in regard to Christ; and has marvelous light manifested to you a marvelous Redeemer, marvelously strong to save? How, then, can election be unjust, if its effect is not unjust? This is condescension indeed! That was on the Sunday, mark you; on the Wednesday, he was at Gravesend, there was a collision, and he and five others were drowned. The sermons he preached touched the lives of thousands. "No," says he, "I can stop his mouth with this cry, 'It is Christ that died;' that will make him tremble, for he crushed the serpent's head in that victorious hour. To be cheered under many things, which otherwise would depress him, the believer may betake himself to the matchless mysteries of the grace of God, which are wines on the lees well refined. They love God as their future Inheritance, they believe that when days and years are past they shall enter into the bosom of God; and their highest joy and delight is the full conviction and belief, that one day they shall dwell for ever near his throne, be hidden in the brightness of his glory, and enjoy his everlasting favor. Do you hate him because he spared your life by his tender mercy? I may illustrate it in the case of Saul of Tarsus: this proud Pharisee abhors the Lord Jesus Christ; he has seized upon every follower of Jesus who comes within his grasp; he has haled men and women to prison; with the avidity of a miser who hunts after gold, he has hunted after the precious life of Christ's disciple, and having exhausted his prey in Jerusalem, he seeks letters and goes off to Damascus upon the same bloody errand. Therefore leaving the principles. A man has to deliver a piece which he has learned; but his memory is treacherous, and therefore somewhere out of sight there is a prompter, so that when the speaker is at a loss and might use a wrong word, a whisper is heard, which suggests the right one. Therefore, let the future bring with it what it may, all will be well with him. Brutus slays his sons; but some Christians would spare their sins. What a trial to Abraham's faith, when he had to leave all that was so dear to him, and go he knew not whither! A passage from Galatians iii. Take another passage. The trial, too. O man, within a few days, he that hath eaten bread with thee may lift up his heel against thee. The time shall come when thou shalt yet be his disciple." It Jesus is thine all-prevailing king, and hath trodden thine enemies beneath his feet, if sin, death, and hell, are now only parts of his empire, for he is Lord of all, and if thou art represented in him, and he is thy guarantee, thy sworn surety, it cannot be by any possibility that thou canst be condemned. Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? "Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man" (Proverbs 8:4 ). Notice, our difficulty is that we know not what we should pray for; but the Holy Spirit does know, and therefore he helps us by enabling us to pray intelligently, knowing what we are asking for, so far as this knowledge is needful to valid prayer. We need only the gospel thoroughly preached to bring about "liberty, equality, and fraternity," in the highest and best sense of these words. It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" Romans 8:34 . 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. Oh, the bitterness of that cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That passage in the Psalms, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God," is wrongly translated. OBSERVE the title whereby he addressed the Church "Brethren." He who has never seen the New Jerusalem, has never clapped his hands with holy ecstasy, he has never sighed with the unutterable longing which is expressed in words like these, Take another picture to illustrate that the obtaining of something makes us groan after more. That lie had in it a residuum of truth, for by sovereign grace we have become such. Said he, "All things work together for good; but perhaps, any one of those 'all things' might destroy us if taken alone. I want, my Lord! He allows nothing to mar the glory of this one blessed fact, "It is Christ that died." They are lambs in the harmlessness of their dispositions, but they have the courage of lions when they defend the honours of their King. We morally speak of work, especially on this day, as being the opposite of sacred rest and worship. Post navigation 251. And this persuasion helped him to gain his aspiration. Why the Lord may use any words. Oh! why needeth the Christian to have such firm, such massive foundations? The world has always been in a crisis, but this seems to use to be a peculiar one. "If children then heirs," says the apostle; therefore, whatever Christ has we have, and though we may be very poor and unknown, yet whatever belongs to Christ to us. says one, "but dying is such hard work." is this the cause of thine enmity? It is upon Psalms 105:37 ; and, if the Lord will, it will be published next week. The apostle then turns to a third source of comfort, namely, the abiding of the Holy Spirit in and with the Lord's people. It is impossible! Has it lifted up the constant tenor of your life, so that you spend your life with God in prayer, in praise, and in thanksgiving, and can no longer be satisfied with the low and mean pursuits which you followed in the days of your ignorance? But distinguishing grace has made a difference where no difference naturally was; we are now no longer treated as criminals condemned, but as children and heirs of God. The death of Christ gives us a full salvation. There is much to sadden us in a view of the ruins of our race. There is an amazing glory in reserve for us, and though as yet we cannot enter upon it, but in harmony with the whole creation must continue to groan and travail, yet the hope itself should minister strength to us, and enable us patiently to bear "these light afflictions, which are but for a moment." We shall notice in our text, first, whereunto the saints have already attained; secondly, wherein we are deficient; and thirdly, what is the state of mind of the saints in regard to the whole of the matter. By Vernon J. Charlesworth. By the grace of God, the apostle stands defiantly in the midst of all the believer's foes, and flings down the gauntlet before them all. What will you do if you are out of God and out of Christ at the last pay-day, when the whole roll of your debts to God shall be opened, and you have no Christ to give you a discharge? And then suppose that, in winding up the estates, it should be found that, though there be something left, yet it be a mere trifle, scarcely worth an acknowledgment: enough to excite appetite but not sufficient to satisfy it what if it should come out at last, that heaven is not the infinite joy we have been taught to expect; suppose its bliss should be but inferior joy, such as might be found even in this world below suppose that the harps have no melody, the crowns but little glory, and heaven's streets but slight magnificence what then? "If so be that we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified together.". There is nothing about death that the believer should construe it into a fear that it will separate him from the love of Christ. Oh, yes, I am sure ye ought. Then we are heirs of all things heaven and earth, time and eternity, anything that you can conceive of the things that can be named and cannot be named, things conceivable and inconceivable, finite and infinite, human and divine. When the Spirit of God writes a prayer upon a man's heart, the man himself may be in such a state of mind that he does not altogether know what it is. Shall we not want to have our voices made more loud till they become as thunders, or like many waters, or surely we shall not be able to praise him as we would? "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.". And I do not, I cannot imagine that he would be sitting down in heaven in the posture of ease, unless he had accomplished all unless "It is finished!" Now, first, brethren, as co-heirs with Christ, we are heirs of God so the text tells us. O brethren, what honors are ours! The doctrine must be stated in its naked truth. The sea is the house of storms, even when it is glassy as a lake; the thunder is still the mighty rolling thunder, when it is so much aloft that we hear it not. Can you now detect in your calling, the hand of God, and the voice of God? No condemnation: that is the beginning of the chapter. So, then, it follows that if there be any flaw in the will, so that it be not valid, if it be not rightly signed, sealed, and delivered, then it is no more valid for Christ than it is for us. What! 2. Stay, stay, brother; I have known you do so already, for when all that is Christ's belongs to you, do ye forget that Christ once had a cross, and that belongs to you? you might as well try to go to America in a paper boat!" But what I do not like is when they look down from those awful heights upon us poor Christians and say that they cannot believe in us because we are anxious, because we practice self-examination, because we have to struggle against sin. It does not always follow in human reasoning "if children, then heirs," because in our families but one is the heir. Such prayers will rise within us when the mind is far too troubled to let us speak. We are to groan after perfection, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Christ at the right hand of God signifies that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. Heavenly calling means a call from heaven. Look to-day upon thine own being, not as a stray spark, but as a portion of Christ's fire, not as a solitary drop, but as a part of that deep sea of love which we can Christ Jesus. The encounter to which he challenges them is not to be a mere tilt in a tournament, but a battle for life or death. Everything that is and is done, worketh out some great end and purpose. His works bore witness of him. Still the accuser continues reminding us of our past life: "you have trusted in others, and turned away from Christ; you went everywhere before you came to him." Yes, but Christ died a blasphemer's death, and he died tor blasphemers. We love Jesus now, and esteem him our head and chief. Not only is our sin punished, but the sin is gone. So the enquirer asked him again, "But what is . I, for my part, take only one objection to it, which is that it is perfectly untrue and utterly unfounded, having not the lightest shadow of a pretence of being proved by the Word of God. If I may be allowed the simile, I would say that this represents in part the work of the Spirit of God in us, suggesting to us the right desire, and bringing all things to our remembrance whatsoever Christ has told us. Christ himself, the great and mighty God is the "Interpreter, one among a thousand", able to stand between me and God. Satan desires to have us and to sift us as wheat. First, God sent his Son as a sacrificial lamb to absorb the penalty for our sinsto make forgiveness possible. A man might as well try to dispute him out of the fact of his existence as out of that equally sure fact that he has been born again, and that by gracious adoption he has been taken into the family of God. Christ spoke of it as the putting of a well into us, and he said, "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." O eternity, eternity eternity! Stay, then, ye who are puffed up by your achievements, consider ye have but poorly performed, not a deed of supererogation, but of ordinary duty. Yes, that is quite true, and it would be a great mercy for you if you knew how to groan in the same way. Last of all, I have another practical point. Suppose it to be a time of war centuries back. He uses a noun, and not an adjective. No ungodly man loves God at least not in the Bible sense of the term. I can stop his accusation with this perpetual care of Jesus for his people." You observe the text speaks of waiting for the adoption; and another text further back, explains what that means, waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. Yes; but I set over against that the fact that he always would have me. I have such a happy house, I do not like to be out of it." "But hush! He was a man of many trials; he went from one tribulation to another for Christ's sake; he swam through many seas of affliction to serve the church. Does the apostle mean devils, fallen angels, that would overthrow us, some of them as "principalities" by their dignity, others of them as "powers" by their subtle, crafty force, does he refer to devils? 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. Now, the apostle sets the whole matter before us when he said, "The whole creation groaneth," and you know what comes after that, "travaileth." 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. Keep that groan in your ear, for I want you to hear another. When I think of my sin, it seems impossible that any atonement should ever be adequate; but when I think of Christ's death it seems impossible that any sin should ever be great enough to need such an atonement as that. 8. Well said our poet just now, "It doth not yet appear, how great we must be made.". The lad draws the bow: ay, but it is quite as much his father, too. Can those eyes flash lightnings on the man whom once they saw in sin, and thence with rays of love they did lift him up to joy, and peace, and purity? To be begotten is something more than to be made: this is a more personal work of God; and that which is begotten is in closer affinity to himself than that which is only created. Be not deceived; it is not so; things are not what they seem; "all things work together." In the second place, very briefly, WHAT OUGHT WE TO DRAW FROM THIS DOCTRINE, that we are debtors? 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. My illustrations do not touch the mystery, but set forth the grace. Oh, sinner! Now, conscience, answer another question! A pan of hot coals is blazing in the tent; Scoevola puts out his right hand and holds it; it crackles in the flame; the young man flinches not, though his fingers drop away. Let us notice in the first place, how it is that our spirit is able to bear witness; and as this is a matter of experience, I can only appeal to those who are the true children of God; for no others are competent to give testimony. We bathe our wound in the lotion of prayer, and the pain is lulled, the fever is removed. To God's cause you are debtors. Rules for the conduct of Christians to one another, as members of the Christian church, Rom. We are co-heirs; if he be truly an heir, so are we; and if he be not, neither are we. Now, I speak with bated breath. Enlarge thine expectations seek great things from the God of heaven and he will give them to thee; but by no means fold thine arms in sloth, and sit down upon the bed of carnal security. If he had not paid the debt, he would have remained in the prison of the grave; but he rose again. I. I believe that the fall crushed man entirely, albeit, when it rolled like an avalanche upon the mighty temple of human nature, some shafts were still left undestroyed, and amidst the ruins you find here and there, a flute, a pedestal, a cornice, a column, not quite broken, yet the entire structure fell, and its most glorious relics are fallen ones, levelled in the dust. It reminds me of what I have sometimes heard of the ropes that are used in mining. I have been saved from the snow. Now, Christian, consider how thou art a debtor to thy God. Now, by this shall ye know whether ye be called of God or not. If we be debtors we never ought to be proud. He intercedes, and he must be heard. Commentary on Romans 8:10-17 (Read Romans 8:10-17) If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. The first witness is our spirit; the second witness is The Spirit, the eternal Spirit of God, who beareth witness with our spirit. 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