Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 09 - The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption - Sermons on Several Occasions

Transcript

09 - The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: The spirit of bondage and of adoption. Ye have not
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Speaker 1: received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but ye
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Speaker 1: have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father,
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Speaker 1: Romans eight fifteen. Saint Paul here speaks to those who
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Speaker 1: are the children of God. By faith, Ye saith, he
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Speaker 1: who are indeed His children, have drank into His spirit.
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Speaker 1: Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear.
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Speaker 1: But because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the
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Speaker 1: spirit of His Son into your hearts. Ye have received
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Speaker 1: the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father. The
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Speaker 1: spirit of bondage and fear is widely distant from this
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Speaker 1: loving spirit of adoption. Those who are influenced only by
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Speaker 1: slavish fear cannot be termed the sons of God. Yet
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Speaker 1: some of them may be styled His servants, and are
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Speaker 1: not far from the kingdom of Heaven. But it is
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Speaker 1: to be feared the bulk of mankind. Yea of what
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Speaker 1: is called the Christian world, have not attained even this,
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Speaker 1: but is still afar off. Neither is God. In all
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Speaker 1: their thoughts. A few names may be found of those
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Speaker 1: who love God. A few more there are that fear him.
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Speaker 1: But the greater part have neither the fear of God
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Speaker 1: before their eyes, nor the love of God in their hearts.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps most of you, who by the mercy of God
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Speaker 1: now partake of a better spirit, may remember the time
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Speaker 1: when ye were as they, when ye were under the
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Speaker 1: same condemnation. But at first ye knew it, not though
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Speaker 1: ye were wallowing daily in your sins and in your blood,
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Speaker 1: till in due time ye received the spirit of fear.
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Speaker 1: Ye received, for this also is the gift of God.
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Speaker 1: And afterwards fear vanished away, and the spirit of Love
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Speaker 1: filled your hearts. One who is in the first state
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Speaker 1: of mind without fear of love is in Scripture termed
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Speaker 1: a natural man. One who is under the spirit of
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Speaker 1: bondage and fear is sometimes said to be under the law,
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Speaker 1: although that expression more frequently signifies one who is under
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Speaker 1: the Jewish dispensation, or who thinks himself obliged to observe
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Speaker 1: all the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law. But
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Speaker 1: one who has exchanged the spirit of fear for the
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Speaker 1: spirit of love is properly said to be under grace.
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Speaker 1: Now because it highly imports us to know what spirit
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Speaker 1: we are of I shall endeavor to point out distinctly,
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Speaker 1: first the state of a natural man, secondly that of
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Speaker 1: one who is under the law, and thirdly of one
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Speaker 1: who is under grace. First the state of a natural man,
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Speaker 1: this the Scripture represents as a state of sleep. The
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Speaker 1: voice of God to him is awake, Thou the sleepest,
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Speaker 1: For his soul is in a deep sleep. His spiritual
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Speaker 1: senses are not awake. They discern neither spiritual good nor evil.
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Speaker 1: The eyes of his understanding are closed. They are sealed together,
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Speaker 1: and see not. Clouds and darkness continually rest upon them.
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Speaker 1: For he lies in the valley of the shadow of death,
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Speaker 1: hence having no inlets for the knowledge of spiritual things.
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Speaker 1: While the avenues of his soul being shut up, he
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Speaker 1: is in gross stupid ignorance of whatever he is most
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Speaker 1: concerned to know. He is utterly ignorant of God, knowing
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Speaker 1: nothing concerning him as he ought to know. He is
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Speaker 1: totally a stranger to the Law of God as to
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Speaker 1: its true inward spiritual meaning. He has no conception of
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Speaker 1: that evangelical holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,
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Speaker 1: nor of the happiness which they only find whose life
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Speaker 1: is hid with Christ in God. And for this very reason,
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Speaker 1: because he is fast asleep, he is in some sense
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Speaker 1: at rest. Because he is blind, he is also secure.
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Speaker 1: He saith tush, there shall no harm happen unto me.
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Speaker 1: The darkness which covers him on every side keeps him
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Speaker 1: in a kind of peace, as far as peace can consist.
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Speaker 1: With the works the devil, and with an earthly devilish mind.
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Speaker 1: He sees not that he stands in the edge of
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Speaker 1: the pit. Therefore he fears it. Not he cannot tremble
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Speaker 1: at the danger he does not know. He has not
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Speaker 1: understanding enough to fear. Why is it that he is
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Speaker 1: in no dread of God? Because he is totally ignorant
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Speaker 1: of him, If not saying in his heart there is
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Speaker 1: no God, or that he sitteth in the circle of
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Speaker 1: the heaven, and humbleth not himself to behold the things
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Speaker 1: which are done on earth, yet satisfying himself as well
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Speaker 1: to all epicurean intents and purposes by saying God is merciful,
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Speaker 1: confounding and swallowing up all at once, and that unwieldly
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Speaker 1: idea of mercy, all his holiness and essential hatred of sin,
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Speaker 1: all his justice, wisdom and truth, he is in no
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Speaker 1: dread of the vengeance denounced against those who obey not
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Speaker 1: the blessed law of God, because he understands it. Not
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Speaker 1: he imagines the main point is to do thus to
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Speaker 1: be outwardly blameless, and sees not that it extends to
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Speaker 1: every tempered desire, thought, motion of the heart. He fancies
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Speaker 1: that the obligation here to his ceased, that Christ came
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Speaker 1: to destroy the law and the prophets to save his
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Speaker 1: people in not from their sins, to bring them to
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Speaker 1: heaven without holiness, not with standing his own words, Not
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Speaker 1: one jot or tittle of the law shall pass away
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Speaker 1: till all things are fulfilled. And not every one that
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Speaker 1: saith unto me, Lord Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom
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Speaker 1: of Heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father,
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Speaker 1: which is in heaven. He is secure because he is
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Speaker 1: utterly ignorant of himself. Hence he talks of repenting by
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Speaker 1: and by He does not indeed exactly know when, but
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Speaker 1: some time or other before he dies. Taking it for
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Speaker 1: granted that this is quite in his own power. For
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Speaker 1: what should hinder his doing it if he will, If
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Speaker 1: he does, but once set a resolution, no fear, but
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Speaker 1: he will make it good. But this ignorance never so
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Speaker 1: strongly glares as in those who are termed men of learning.
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Speaker 1: If a natural man be one of these, he can
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Speaker 1: talk at large of his rational faculties, of the freedom
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Speaker 1: of his will, and the absolute necessity of such freedom
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Speaker 1: in order to constitute a man a moral agent. He
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Speaker 1: reads and argues and proves to a demonstration that every
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Speaker 1: man may do as he will, may dispose his own
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Speaker 1: heart to evil or good as it seems best in
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Speaker 1: his own eyes. Thus the God of this world spreads
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Speaker 1: a double veil of blindness over his heart, lest by
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Speaker 1: any means the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ
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Speaker 1: should shine upon it. From the same ignorance of himself
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Speaker 1: and God, there may sometimes arise in the natural man
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Speaker 1: a kind of joy. In congratulating himself upon his own
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Speaker 1: wisdom and goodness, and what the world calls joy, he
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Speaker 1: may often possess. He may have pleasure in various kinds,
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Speaker 1: either in gratifying the desires of the flesh, or to
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Speaker 1: the desires of the eye, or the pride of life,
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Speaker 1: particularly if he has large possessions. If he enjoy an
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Speaker 1: affluent fortune, then he may clothe himself self in purple
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Speaker 1: and fine than an affair, sumptuously every day, And so
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Speaker 1: long as he thus doeth well unto himself, men will
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Speaker 1: doubtless speak good of him. They will say he is
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Speaker 1: a happy man. For indeed this is the sum of
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Speaker 1: worldly happiness, to dress and visit, and talk, and eat
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Speaker 1: and drink, and rise up to play. It is not
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Speaker 1: surprising if one, in such circumstances as these, dosed with
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Speaker 1: the opiates of flattery and sin, should imagine, among his
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Speaker 1: other waking dreams, that he walks in great liberty. How
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Speaker 1: easily may he persuade himself that he is at liberty
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Speaker 1: from all vulgar errors, and from the prejudice of education,
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Speaker 1: judging exactly right, and keeping clear of all extremes, I
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Speaker 1: am free, may he say, from all the enthusiasm of
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Speaker 1: weak and narrow souls, from superstition, the disease of fools
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Speaker 1: and cowards, always righteous over much, and from bigoty, continually
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Speaker 1: incident to those who have not a free and generous
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Speaker 1: way of thinking. And to sure it is that he
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Speaker 1: is altogether free from the wisdom which cometh from above,
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Speaker 1: from holiness, from the religion of the heart, from the
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Speaker 1: whole mind which is in Christ. For all this time
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Speaker 1: he is the servant of sin. He commits sin more
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Speaker 1: or less day by day, Yet he is not troubled.
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Speaker 1: He is in no bondage, as some speak. He feels
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Speaker 1: no condemnation. He contents himself, even though he should profess
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Speaker 1: to believe that the Christian revelation is of God. With
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Speaker 1: man is frail, we are all weak. Every man has
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Speaker 1: his infirmity. Perhaps he quotes Scripture, Why does not Solomon
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Speaker 1: say the righteous man falls into sins seven times a day,
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Speaker 1: And doubtless they are all hypocrites, are enthusiasts who pretend
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Speaker 1: to be better than their neighbors. If at any time
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Speaker 1: a serious thought fixed upon him, he stifles it as
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Speaker 1: soon as possible. With why should I fear? Since God
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Speaker 1: is merciful and Christ died for sinners. Thus he remains
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Speaker 1: a willing servant of sin, content with the bondage of corruption,
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Speaker 1: inwardly and outwardly, unholy and satisfied. Therewith not only not
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Speaker 1: conquering sin, but not striving to conquer, particularly that sin
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Speaker 1: which doth so easily beset him. Such is the state
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Speaker 1: of every natural man, whether he be a gross scandalous transgressor,
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Speaker 1: or a more reputable and decent sinner, having the form,
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Speaker 1: though not the power of godliness. But how can such
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Speaker 1: an one be convinced of sin? How is he to
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Speaker 1: be brought to repent, to be under the law, to
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Speaker 1: receive the spirit of bondage? Unto fear? This is the
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Speaker 1: point which next to be considered, by some awful providence
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Speaker 1: or by his word applied with the demonstration of his spirit,
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Speaker 1: God touches the heart of him that lay asleep in darkness,
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Speaker 1: in the shadow of death. He is terribly shaken out
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Speaker 1: of his sleep and awakes into a consciousness of his danger.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps in a moment, perhaps by degrees, the eyes of
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Speaker 1: his understanding are opened, and now first the veil, being
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Speaker 1: in part removed, discern the real state he is in.
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Speaker 1: Horrid light breaks in upon his soul, such light as
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Speaker 1: may be conceived to gleam from the bottomless pit, from
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Speaker 1: the lowest deep, from a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
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Speaker 1: He at last seized. The loving, the merciful God is
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Speaker 1: also a consuming fire. That he is a just God
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Speaker 1: and a terrible rendering to every man. According to his words,
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Speaker 1: entering into judgment with the young godly for every idle
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Speaker 1: word yea, and for the imaginations of the heart. He
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Speaker 1: now clearly perceives that the Great and Holy God is
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Speaker 1: of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, that he is
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Speaker 1: an avenger of every one who rebelleth against him and
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Speaker 1: repaieth a wicked to his face, and that it is
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Speaker 1: a fearful thing to be to fall into the hands
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Speaker 1: the Living God. The inward spiritual meaning of the law
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Speaker 1: of God now begins to glare upon him. He perceived
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Speaker 1: the commandment is exceedingly broad, and there is nothing hid
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Speaker 1: from the light thereof he is convinced that every part
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Speaker 1: of it relates not barely to outward sin or obedience,
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Speaker 1: but to what passes the secret recesses of the soul,
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Speaker 1: which no eye but gods can penetrate. If he now
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Speaker 1: hears thou shalt not kill, God speaks in thunder. He
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Speaker 1: that hateth his brother is a murderer. He that saith
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Speaker 1: unto his brother, Thou fool is obnoxious to hell fire.
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Speaker 1: If the law say thou shalt not commit adultery, the
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Speaker 1: voice the Lord sounds in his ears. He that looketh
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Speaker 1: on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery
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Speaker 1: with her already in his heart. And thus in every
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Speaker 1: point he feels the word of God, quick and powerful,
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Speaker 1: sharper than a too edged sword. It pierces even to
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Speaker 1: the dividing asunder of his soul and spirit, his joints
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Speaker 1: and marrow. And so much the more because he is
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Speaker 1: conscious to himself of having neglected so great salvation, of
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Speaker 1: having trodden underfoot the son of God, who would have
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Speaker 1: saved him from his sins, and counted the blood of
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Speaker 1: the covenant and unholy a common, unsanctifying thing. And as
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Speaker 1: he knows all things are naked and open unto the
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Speaker 1: eyes of Him with whom we have to do so,
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Speaker 1: he sees himself naked, stripped of all the fig leaves
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Speaker 1: which he had sewed together, of all his poor pretenses
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Speaker 1: to religion or virtue in his wretched excuses for sinning
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Speaker 1: against God. He now sets himself like the ancient sacrifices,
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Speaker 1: cleft insunder as it were, from the neck downwards, that
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Speaker 1: all within him stands confessed. His heart is bare. He
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Speaker 1: sees it is all sin, deceitful, above all things, desperately wicked,
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Speaker 1: that it is altogether corrupt, and abominable, more than it
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Speaker 1: is possible for tongue to express that there dwelleth therein
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Speaker 1: no good thing, but unrighteousness and ungodliness, only every motion thereof,
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Speaker 1: every temper and thought, being only evil continually. And he
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Speaker 1: he sees, but feels in himself by an emotion of
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Speaker 1: soul which he cannot ascribe, that for the sins of
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Speaker 1: his heart were his life without blame, which yet it
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Speaker 1: is not and cannot be. Seeing an evil tree cannot
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Speaker 1: bring forth good fruit, he deserves to be cast into
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Speaker 1: the fire that never shall be quenched. He feels that
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Speaker 1: the wages the just reward of sin. Of his sin
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Speaker 1: above all is death, even the second death, the death
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Speaker 1: which dieth not, the destruction of body and soul. In hell.
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Speaker 1: He rends his pleasing dream, his delusive rest, his false peace,
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Speaker 1: his vain security. His joy now vanishes as a cloud. Pleasures,
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Speaker 1: once loved delight, no more they pall upon the taste.
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Speaker 1: He loathes the nauseous sweet. He is weary to bear them.
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Speaker 1: The shadows of happiness flee away and sink into oblivion.
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Speaker 1: That he is stripped of alle and wanders to and
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Speaker 1: fro seeking rest, but finding none, the fumes of those
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Speaker 1: opiates being now dispelled. He feels the anguish of a
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Speaker 1: wounded spirit. He finds that sin let loose upon the soul,
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Speaker 1: whether it be pride, anger or evil desire, whether self will, malice, envy, revenge,
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Speaker 1: or any other, is perfect misery. He feels sorrow of
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Speaker 1: heart for the blessings he is lost, and the curse
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Speaker 1: which has come upon him. Remorse for having thus destroyed
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Speaker 1: himself and despised his own mercies. Fear from a lively
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Speaker 1: sense of the wrath of God, and of the consequences
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Speaker 1: of his wrath, that the punishment which he has justly deserved,
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Speaker 1: in which he sees hanging over his head. Fear of death,
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Speaker 1: his being to him the gait of hell, the entrance
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Speaker 1: of death, eternal fear of the devil, the executioner of
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Speaker 1: the wrath and righteous vengeance of God. Fear of men, who,
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Speaker 1: if they were able to kill his body, would thereby
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Speaker 1: plunge both body and soul into hell. Fear sometimes arising
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Speaker 1: to such a height that the poor, sinful, guilty soul
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Speaker 1: is terrified with everything, with nothing, with shades, with a
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Speaker 1: leaf shaken of the wind yea. Sometimes it may embort
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Speaker 1: upon distraction, making a man drunken, though not with wine,
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Speaker 1: suspending the exercise the memory of the understanding of all
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Speaker 1: the natural faculties. Sometimes it may approach to the very
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Speaker 1: brink of despair, that he who trembles the name of
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Speaker 1: death may yet be ready to plunge into it every moment,
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Speaker 1: to choose strangling rather than life. Well may such a
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Speaker 1: man roar, like him of old, for the very disquietness
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Speaker 1: of his heart, Well may he cry out. The spirit
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Speaker 1: of a man may sustain his infirmities, but a wounded
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Speaker 1: spirit who can bear. Now he truly desires to break
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Speaker 1: loose from sin, and begins to struggle with it. But
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Speaker 1: though he strive with all his might, he cannot conquer.
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Speaker 1: Sin is mightier than he. He would fain escape, but
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Speaker 1: he is so fast in prison that he cannot get forth.
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Speaker 1: He resolv'd against sin, but yet sins on. He sees
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Speaker 1: the snare, and abhors and runs into it. So much
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Speaker 1: does his boasted reason a veil, only to enhance his
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Speaker 1: guilt and increase his misery. Such is the freedom of
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Speaker 1: his will, free only to evil, free to drink in iniquity,
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Speaker 1: like water, to wander farther and farther from the Living God,
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Speaker 1: and do more despite to the spirit of grace. The
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Speaker 1: more he strives, wishes, labors to be free, the more
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Speaker 1: does he feel his chains, the grievous chains of sin,
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Speaker 1: where with Satan binds and leads him captive at his will.
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Speaker 1: His servanty is though he repine, ever so much, though
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Speaker 1: he rebel, he cannot prevail. He is still in bondage
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Speaker 1: and fear by reason of sin, generally of some outward sin,
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Speaker 1: to which he is peculiarly disposed, either by nature, custom,
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Speaker 1: or outward circumstance, but always of some inward sin, some
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Speaker 1: evil temper, or unholy affection. And the more he frets
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Speaker 1: against it, the more it prevails. He may bite, but
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Speaker 1: cannot break his chain. Thus he toils without end, repenting
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Speaker 1: and sinning, repenting and sinning again till length. The poor, sinful,
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Speaker 1: helpless wretches even at his wits end, and can barely grown,
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Speaker 1: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me
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Speaker 1: from the body of this death. This whole struggle of
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Speaker 1: one who is under the law, under the spirit of
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Speaker 1: fear and bondage, is beautifully described by the Apostle and
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Speaker 1: the foregoing chapter. Speaking in the person of an awakened man,
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Speaker 1: I saith he was alive without the Law. Once I
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Speaker 1: had much life, wisdom, strength, and virtue, so I thought.
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Speaker 1: But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
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Speaker 1: When the commandment, in its spiritual meaning came to my
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Speaker 1: heart with the power of God, my inbred sin was
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Speaker 1: stirred up, fretted, inflamed, and all my virtue died away.
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Speaker 1: And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found
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Speaker 1: to be unto death, for sin taking occasion by the commandment,
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Speaker 1: deceived me, and by it slew me. They came upon
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Speaker 1: me unaware, slew all my hopes, and plainly showed in
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Speaker 1: the midst of life I was in death. Wherefore the
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Speaker 1: Law is holy and the Commandment wholly and just and good.
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Speaker 1: I no longer lay the blame on this, but on
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Speaker 1: the corruption of my own heart. I acknowledge that the
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Speaker 1: law is spiritual, but I am carnal sold under sin.
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Speaker 1: I now see both the spiritual nature of the law
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Speaker 1: and my own carnal, devilish heart sold under sin, totally enslaved,
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Speaker 1: like slave bought with money, who were absolutely at their
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Speaker 1: master's disposal. For that which I do I allow, not
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Speaker 1: for what I would I do not, but what I
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Speaker 1: hate that I do. Such is the bondage under which
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Speaker 1: I grown. Such the tyranny of my hard master to
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Speaker 1: will is present with me. But how to perform that
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Speaker 1: which is good? I find not for the good that
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Speaker 1: I would, I do not, but the evil which I
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Speaker 1: would not that I do. I find a law, an
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Speaker 1: inward constraining power, that, when I would do good, evil
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Speaker 1: is present with me. For I delight in or consent
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Speaker 1: to the law of God after the inward man in
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Speaker 1: my mind, So the apostle exclaims himself, and the words
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Speaker 1: that immediately follow, and so o esoanthropos the inward man
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Speaker 1: is understood in all other Greek writers. But I see
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Speaker 1: another law in my members, another constraining power, warring against
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Speaker 1: the law of my mind or inward man, and bring
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Speaker 1: me into captivity to the law or power of sin,
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Speaker 1: dragging me, as it were, at my conqueror's chariot wheels
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Speaker 1: into the very thing which my soul abhors, O wretched
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Speaker 1: man that I am, Who shall deliver me from the
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Speaker 1: body of this death, Who shall deliver me from this help,
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Speaker 1: this dying life, from this bondage of sin and misery,
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Speaker 1: till this is done, I myself, or rather that I
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Speaker 1: ottus ego that man I am now personating with the
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Speaker 1: mind or inward man, serve the law of God. My
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Speaker 1: mind my conscience is on God's side, but with my flesh,
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Speaker 1: with my body, the law of sin being hurried away
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Speaker 1: by a force I cannot resist, how lively a portraiture
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Speaker 1: is this of one under the law, one who feels
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Speaker 1: the burden he cannot shake off, who pants after liberty,
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Speaker 1: power and love, but is in fear and bondage still
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Speaker 1: until the time that God answers the wretched man crying out,
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Speaker 1: Who shall deliver me from this bondage of sin, from
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Speaker 1: this body of death the grace of God through Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: Thy Lord. Then it is that this miserable bondage ends,
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Speaker 1: and he is no more under the law, but under grace.
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Speaker 1: This state we are thirdly to consider the state of
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Speaker 1: one who has found grace or favor in the sight
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Speaker 1: of God, even the Father, and who is grace or
24:27
Speaker 1: power of the Holy Ghost reigning in his heart, who
24:31
Speaker 1: has received in the language of the apostle, the spirit
24:34
Speaker 1: of adoption, whereby he now cries, Ahmah, Father. He cried
24:41
Speaker 1: unto the Lord in his trouble, and God delivers him
24:44
Speaker 1: out of his distress. His eyes are opened in quite
24:48
Speaker 1: another manner than before, even to see a loving, gracious God.
24:54
Speaker 1: While he is calling, I beseech THEE, show me thy glory.
24:59
Speaker 1: He hears a voice and is in the inmost soul.
25:03
Speaker 1: I will make all my goodness pass before THEE. Then
25:07
Speaker 1: I will proclaim the name of the Lord. I will
25:11
Speaker 1: be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I
25:15
Speaker 1: will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. And
25:20
Speaker 1: it is not long before the Lord descends in the
25:23
Speaker 1: cloud and becclaims the name of the Lord. Then he sees,
25:29
Speaker 1: and not with eyes of flesh and blood, the Lord,
25:33
Speaker 1: the Lord, God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, an abundant
25:39
Speaker 1: in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving
25:44
Speaker 1: iniquities and transgressions and sin Heaven. The healing light now breaks,
25:51
Speaker 1: and upon his soul. He looks on him whom he
25:54
Speaker 1: had pierced, and God, who out of darkness commandeth light
25:59
Speaker 1: to shine and shineth in his heart. He sees the
26:04
Speaker 1: light of the glorious love of God and the face
26:07
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. He hath the divine evidence of things
26:11
Speaker 1: not seen by sense, even of the deep things of God.
26:17
Speaker 1: More particularly of the love of God, of his pardoning love.
26:21
Speaker 1: To him that believes in Jesus. Overpowered with the sight,
26:26
Speaker 1: his whole soul cried out, my Lord and my God.
26:31
Speaker 1: For he sees all his iniquities laid on him who
26:36
Speaker 1: bear them in his own body. On the tree he
26:39
Speaker 1: beholds the lamb of God, taking away his sins. How
26:44
Speaker 1: clearly now does he discern that God was in Christ,
26:49
Speaker 1: reconciling the world unto himself, making him sin for us
26:54
Speaker 1: who knew no sin, that we might be made the
26:59
Speaker 1: righteousness of God God through him, and that he himself
27:04
Speaker 1: is reconciled to God by that blood of the Covenant.
27:09
Speaker 1: Here and both the guilt and power of sin, he
27:13
Speaker 1: can now say, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live,
27:20
Speaker 1: Yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the
27:24
Speaker 1: life which I now live in the flesh, Even in
27:27
Speaker 1: this mortal body, I live by faith in the Son
27:31
Speaker 1: of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
27:35
Speaker 1: Here end remorse and sorrow of heart, and the anguish
27:39
Speaker 1: of a wounded spirit. God turneth his heaviness, and to
27:43
Speaker 1: joy he made sore, and now his hands bind up.
27:48
Speaker 1: Here ends also that bondage, unto fear, for his heart
27:52
Speaker 1: standeth fast, believing in the Lord. He cannot fear any
27:57
Speaker 1: longer the wrath of God, for he knows it is
28:00
Speaker 1: now turned away from him, and looks upon him no
28:03
Speaker 1: more as an angry judge, but as a loving father.
28:08
Speaker 1: He cannot fear the devil, knowing he has no power
28:12
Speaker 1: except it be given him from above. He fears not hell,
28:17
Speaker 1: being an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven. Consequently, he
28:22
Speaker 1: has no fear of death, a reason whereof he was
28:26
Speaker 1: in time passed for so many years subject to bondage.
28:31
Speaker 1: Rather knowing that if the earth the house of this
28:34
Speaker 1: tabernacle be dissolved, he hath a building of God, a
28:38
Speaker 1: house made not with hands eternal in the heavens, he
28:43
Speaker 1: groaneth earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with that house
28:47
Speaker 1: which is from heaven. He groans to shake off this
28:50
Speaker 1: house of earth, that mortality may be swallowed up in life,
28:55
Speaker 1: knowing that God hath wrought him for the self same thing,
28:59
Speaker 1: he hath thought also given him the earnest of his spirit.
29:04
Speaker 1: And where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty,
29:07
Speaker 1: liberty not only from guilt and fear, but from sin,
29:11
Speaker 1: from that heaviest of all yokes, the basest of all bondage.
29:15
Speaker 1: His labor is not now in vain. The snare is broken,
29:19
Speaker 1: and he is delivered. He not only strives, but likewise prevails.
29:24
Speaker 1: He not only fights, but conquers also. Henceforth, he does
29:29
Speaker 1: not serve sin. He is dead unto sin, and alive
29:33
Speaker 1: unto God. Sin doth not now reign even in his
29:38
Speaker 1: mortal body, nor doth he obey it in the desires thereof.
29:43
Speaker 1: He does not yield his members as instruments of unrighteousness
29:47
Speaker 1: unto sin, but as instruments of righteousness unto God. For
29:52
Speaker 1: being now made free from sin, he has become the
29:56
Speaker 1: servant of righteousness, thus having peace with God through our
30:01
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,
30:06
Speaker 1: and having power over all sin, over every evil, desire
30:11
Speaker 1: and temper, and word and work. He is a living
30:15
Speaker 1: witness of the glorious liberty of the sons of God,
30:20
Speaker 1: all of whom being partakers of like precious faith. Bear
30:24
Speaker 1: record with one voice, we have received the spirit of adoption,
30:29
Speaker 1: whereby we cry Abah Father. It is this spirit which
30:36
Speaker 1: continually worketh in them, both to will and to do
30:41
Speaker 1: of His good pleasure. It is he that sheds the
30:45
Speaker 1: love of God abroad in their hearts, and the love
30:48
Speaker 1: of all mankind, thereby purifying their hearts from the love
30:53
Speaker 1: of world, from the lust of the flesh, the lust
30:56
Speaker 1: of the eye, and the pride of life. It is
30:59
Speaker 1: by him delivered from anger and pride, from all vile
31:03
Speaker 1: and inordinate affections. In consequence, they are delivered from evil
31:08
Speaker 1: words and works, from all the unholiness of conversation, doing
31:13
Speaker 1: no evil to any child of man, and being zealous
31:16
Speaker 1: of all good works to sum up all the natural
31:22
Speaker 1: Man neither fears nor loves God. One under the law fears,
31:30
Speaker 1: one under grace loves him. The first has no light
31:36
Speaker 1: in the things of God, but walks in utter darkness.
31:39
Speaker 1: The second sees the painful light of hell, the third
31:43
Speaker 1: the joyous light of Heaven. He that sleeps in death
31:47
Speaker 1: has a false peace. He that is awakened has no
31:50
Speaker 1: peace at all. He that believes has true peace, the
31:55
Speaker 1: peace of God filling and ruling his heart. The heathen,
32:00
Speaker 1: baptized or unbaptized, hath a fancied liberty, which is indeed licentiousness.
32:06
Speaker 1: The jew or one under the Jewish dispensation, is in heavy,
32:10
Speaker 1: grievous bondage. The Christian enjoys the true, glorious liberty of
32:16
Speaker 1: the sons of God. An unawakened child of the devil
32:21
Speaker 1: sins willingly. He that is awakened sins unwillingly. A child
32:26
Speaker 1: of God sineth not, but keepeth himself, and the wicked
32:30
Speaker 1: one toucheth him not to conclude. The natural man neither
32:35
Speaker 1: conquers nor fights. The man under the law fights with sin,
32:39
Speaker 1: but cannot conquer. The man under grace fights and conquers. Yea,
32:46
Speaker 1: is more than conqueror through him that loveth him. From
32:52
Speaker 1: this plain account the threefold state of man, the natural,
32:56
Speaker 1: the legal, and the evangelicals, that it is not sufficient
33:01
Speaker 1: to divide mankind into sincere and insincere. A man may
33:07
Speaker 1: be sincere in any of these states, not only when
33:11
Speaker 1: he has the spirit of adoption, but while he has
33:14
Speaker 1: the spirit of bondage under fear. YEA, while he has
33:17
Speaker 1: neither this fear nor love For undoubtedly there may be
33:22
Speaker 1: sincere Heathens as well as sincere Jews or Christians. The
33:26
Speaker 1: circumstance them does by no means prove that a man
33:30
Speaker 1: is in the state of acceptance with God. Examine yourselves, therefore,
33:36
Speaker 1: not only whether ye are sincere, but whether ye be
33:40
Speaker 1: in the faith. Examine narrowly, for it imports you much.
33:45
Speaker 1: What is the ruling principle in your soul? Is it
33:50
Speaker 1: the love of God? Is it the fear of God?
33:55
Speaker 1: Or is it neither one nor the other. Is it
33:59
Speaker 1: not rather the love of the world, the love of
34:01
Speaker 1: pleasure or gain or ease of reputation. If so, you
34:06
Speaker 1: are not come so far as a Jew, you are
34:08
Speaker 1: but a Heathen. Still have you Heaven in your heart?
34:12
Speaker 1: Have you the spirit of adoption? Never crying Ah, Father?
34:18
Speaker 1: Or do you cry unto God? Is out the belly
34:21
Speaker 1: of hell overwhelmed with sorrow and fear? Or are you
34:25
Speaker 1: a stranger to this whole affair and cannot imagine what
34:29
Speaker 1: I mean? Heathen? Pull off the mask thou hast never
34:34
Speaker 1: put on Christ, Stand bare face, look up to Heaven
34:38
Speaker 1: and own before him that liveth forever and ever. Thou
34:42
Speaker 1: hast no part either among the sons or servants of God.
34:48
Speaker 1: Whosoever thou art, dost thou commit sin, or dost thou not,
34:54
Speaker 1: if thou dost is it willingly or unwillingly. In either case,
34:59
Speaker 1: God hath told thee whose thou art, He that committeth
35:04
Speaker 1: sin is of the devil. If thou commitist it willingly,
35:10
Speaker 1: thou artest faithful servant, He will not fail to reward
35:14
Speaker 1: thy labor. If unwillingly still thou art his servant, God
35:20
Speaker 1: deliver thee out of his hands. Art thou daily fighting
35:25
Speaker 1: against all sin? And daily more than conqueror? I acknowledge
35:30
Speaker 1: thee fret child of God. Oh, stand fast in thy
35:34
Speaker 1: glorious liberty. Art thou fighting but not conquering, striving for
35:40
Speaker 1: the mastery but not able to attain. Then thou art
35:44
Speaker 1: not yet a believer in Christ? But follow on, and
35:48
Speaker 1: thou shalt know the Lord. Art thou not fighting at all,
35:53
Speaker 1: but leading an easy, indolent, fashionable life. Oh, how hast
35:58
Speaker 1: thou dared to name the name of Christ, only to
36:03
Speaker 1: make it a reproach among the heathen? Awake thou sleeper,
36:07
Speaker 1: call upon Thy God before the deep, swallow thee up.
36:12
Speaker 1: Perhaps one reason why so many think of themselves more
36:16
Speaker 1: highly than they ought to think. Why they do not
36:19
Speaker 1: discern what state they are in is because these several
36:24
Speaker 1: states of soul are often mingled together, and in some
36:28
Speaker 1: measure meet in one and the same person. Thus, experience
36:32
Speaker 1: shows that the legal state or state of fear is
36:36
Speaker 1: frequently mixed with the natural. For few men are so
36:41
Speaker 1: fast asleep in sin, but they are sometimes more or
36:44
Speaker 1: less awakened. As the spirit of God does not wait
36:49
Speaker 1: for the call of man, so at sometimes he will
36:52
Speaker 1: be heard, he puts them in fear, so that for
36:55
Speaker 1: seasonal least the heathen know themselves to be but men.
37:00
Speaker 1: They feel the burden of sin, an earnestly desire to
37:04
Speaker 1: flee from the wrath to come, but not long. They
37:08
Speaker 1: seldom suffer the arrows of conviction to go deep into
37:11
Speaker 1: their souls, but quickly stifle the grace of God and
37:15
Speaker 1: return to their wallowing in the mire. In like manner,
37:20
Speaker 1: the evangelical state or state of love is frequently mixed
37:24
Speaker 1: with the legal, For few of those who have the
37:28
Speaker 1: spirit of bondage and fear remain always without hope. The
37:33
Speaker 1: wise and gracious God rarely suffers this, for he remembereth
37:37
Speaker 1: that we are but dust, and he willeth not that
37:40
Speaker 1: the flesh should fail before him or the spirit which
37:44
Speaker 1: he hath made. Therefore, at such times as he seeth good,
37:48
Speaker 1: he gives a dawning of light, and to them that
37:50
Speaker 1: sit in darkness, he cause a part of his goodness
37:54
Speaker 1: to pass before them, and shows he is a god
37:57
Speaker 1: that heareth the prayer. They see the promise which is
38:01
Speaker 1: by faith in Christ Jesus, though it be yet far
38:05
Speaker 1: far off, and hereby they are encouraged to run with
38:09
Speaker 1: patience the race which is set before them. Another reason
38:14
Speaker 1: why many deceive themselves is because they do not consider
38:18
Speaker 1: how far a man may go and yet be in
38:22
Speaker 1: a natural, or at best a legal state. A man
38:27
Speaker 1: may be of a compassionate and a benevolent temper. He
38:31
Speaker 1: may be affable, courteous, generous, friendly. They may have some
38:35
Speaker 1: degree of meekness, patience, temperance, and of many other moral virtues.
38:41
Speaker 1: He may feel many desires of shaking off all vice,
38:44
Speaker 1: and of attaining higher degrees of virtue. He may abstain
38:48
Speaker 1: from much evil, perhaps from all that is grossly contrary
38:52
Speaker 1: to justice, mercy, or truth. He may do much good,
38:56
Speaker 1: may feed the hungry, clothe the naked, relie, leave the
39:00
Speaker 1: widow and fatherless. He may attend public worship, use prayer
39:05
Speaker 1: in private, read many books of devotion, and yet for
39:09
Speaker 1: all this he may be a mere natural man, knowing
39:13
Speaker 1: neither himself nor God, equally a stranger to the spirit
39:18
Speaker 1: of fear and to that of love, having neither repented
39:22
Speaker 1: nor believed the Gospel. But suppose they were added to
39:27
Speaker 1: all this a deep conviction of sin, with much fear
39:31
Speaker 1: of the wrath of God, vehement desires to cast off
39:35
Speaker 1: every sin and to fulfill all righteousness, frequent rejoicings in hope,
39:41
Speaker 1: and touches of love, often glancing upon the soul. And
39:45
Speaker 1: yet neither do these prove a man to be under grace,
39:50
Speaker 1: to have true, living Christian faith, unless the spirit of
39:55
Speaker 1: adoption abide in his heart, unless he can continuely cry Aba, Father. Beware, then,
40:05
Speaker 1: thou who art call'd by the name of Christ, that
40:08
Speaker 1: thou come not short of the mark of thy high calling.
40:13
Speaker 1: Beware thou rest not either in a natural state with
40:17
Speaker 1: too many that are accounted good Christians, or in a
40:21
Speaker 1: legal state wherein those who are highly esteemed of men
40:26
Speaker 1: are generally content to live and die. Nay, But God
40:31
Speaker 1: hath prepared better things for THEE. If thou follow on
40:36
Speaker 1: till thou attain. Thou art not called to fear and
40:40
Speaker 1: tremble like devils, but to rejoice and love like the
40:45
Speaker 1: angels of God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
40:49
Speaker 1: with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
40:53
Speaker 1: with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Thou
40:57
Speaker 1: shalt rejoice evermore thou thou shalt pray without ceasing. Thou
41:03
Speaker 1: shalt in everything give thanks. Thou shalt do the will
41:08
Speaker 1: of God on earth as it is done in heaven. Oh,
41:12
Speaker 1: prove thou, what is that good? An acceptable and perfect
41:16
Speaker 1: will of God. Now present thyself a living sacrifice wholly
41:22
Speaker 1: acceptable to God. Whereunto thou hast already attained hold fast
41:29
Speaker 1: by reaching forth unto those things which are before, Until
41:34
Speaker 1: the God of Peace make THEE perfect in every good work,
41:39
Speaker 1: working in THEE that which is well pleasing in His sight,
41:44
Speaker 1: through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
41:53
Speaker 1: End of section nine.