To one He bears a weaker, to another a stronger witness.II. )The witness of the SpiritJ. Hodge, D.D. But even that Spirit will not be heard alone. The apostle meets you at once. (3)Breathing in our souls a desire for holiness, the Spirit conducts us to the rational conclusion that we are born of God.(O. It was said of Cyrus that when he sat down at meat, if there were aught that pleased his appetite, he would order it to be given to his friends with this message, "King Cyrus found that this food pleased his palate, and he thought his friend should feed upon that which he enjoyed himself." Never try by physical means, or so-called religious exercises, to galvanise yourself into feeling what you know you do not feel. Likeness.9. This is an universal primogeniture, and makes every true believer heir of the joys, the glory, the eternity of heaven.(J. 15).(E. There is the same difference between τέκνον, and ὑιὸς as there is between child and son; the former applies to either sex, and is more tender, We are born of God, i.e., we are produced by Him. Who so competent to authenticate the work of the Spirit in the heart as the Spirit Himself?2. If men imagine that certain ecstatic spiritual emotions are proofs of the witness of sonship, the witness is fitful and transient; for the inner life is as full of changes as an April day, and if a man founds his assurance on this, he will to-day believe in his sonship, and to-morrow utterly doubt it. THE GENERAL ATTAINABLENESS OF THE SPIRIT. Death is then going to a Father — going to a proper home.(J. Under such circumstances the valley becomes illuminated. The external testimony may be taken from us, our Bibles, our teachers, our friends; or they may imprison us where we cannot enjoy them: but they cannot take from us the Spirit of Christ. (2) But, again, everything that is good in a Christian is the work of the Holy Ghost. THE GENERAL ATTAINABLENESS OF THE SPIRIT. The world will not believe your word, and it ought not to believe your word if that word is not supported by your conduct and your character. "He is not dead," says the uncle. Cooper.It is the high and distinguishing privilege of true Christians that they are the children of God; but there is a wide difference between possessing a privilege and knowing that we possess it. It ought to be a ten times more than sufficient answer to every temptation for a man to be able to say, "I am a son of God; shall such a man as I yield to sin?" THEIR OFFICE — to testify.1. The true remedy is to strengthen and improve generally your spiritual nature, instead of nervously looking for artificial tests of its vitality. And the difference to our spiritual safety, whether we exercise faith in Christ immediately, or mediately on some inward feeling which unites us to Christ, is as great as would be the difference to a drowning man whether he laid hold on a rock, or merely on a loose weed which was growing to the rock. Hence men have waited for it with anxiety. I). The boat in the harbour is none less safe because it has not come across the storm-swept sea, but only down some inland river with no grand convulsions, but still with strange, commonplace, yet fascinating dangers of its own. Like an artist intently studying some work of genius and imbibing its spirit, so meditate on Christ till you catch his enthusiasm for goodness and consecration to the will of God. Do not think that you are not near to Christ, that He does not love you, because you have not had some one else's experience, because you are not like some saint whose biography you admire. "Though Thou slay me, yet will I trust in Thee. Distinguished honour. (2) Passing to the moral life, we find the same distinction. In what way does this testimony discover itself? By all means see that your creed stands square with the Word of God, and seek the forms of worship that help you to get nearest to God. THE CONDITION OF THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE TESTIMONY. Now, 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. Context 2. There are men and women who help to create within us a new experience. Why should not such particulars in the gospel be also so taken? Questions like the following are likely to be in the minds of listeners: Just what … Continue reading "Commentary on Romans 8:14-17" The Scriptures abound with marks whereby we may distinguish the one from the other; and whoever carefully attends to them will not put darkness for light. Not one in a family, but all heirs — not heirs who may lose their inheritance by premature death, or be defrauded of it, or have it wasted away by the delays and chicaneries of law, but an heirdom where the possession is certain as universal, and full as certain.2. Observe how the text is woven into the chapter. Remember you have to "work together with God." Confidence in His wisdom.6. Self-evidencing, i.e., it reveals itself as the testimony of God. Sermon. Mysterious, but not more so than the operations of the Spirit, nor indeed than the action of mind on matter or of one created spirit on other created spirits.3. When at any time, then, the Holy Spirit comforts you, instructs you, opens to you a mystery, inspires you with an unwonted affection, an unusual faith in Christ, these are the works of the Spirit. And whereas our experience sometimes leads our spirit to conclude that we are born of God, there are times when the eternal Spirit descends and fills our heart, and then we have the two witnesses bearing witness with each other that we are the children of God. But do these fruits attend the supposed testimony in the presumptuous man? But this done, the chief practical directions for gaining an inward assurance are that we cultivate a believing contemplation of gospel truth, and institute a frequent and close examination into the state of our own hearts.2. And it is properly called a joint witness, because the same Spirit who forms these tendencies in us, also manifests their existence to us. Their opposites, at all events — the true confidence, which is faith in Christ; and the true diffidence, which is distrust of self — are identical. Some may wait many years before they are favoured with it, and may afterwards lose it. By the same consciousness you will know if your soul is alive to God; if you are saved from the pain of proud wrath and have the ease of a meek and quiet spirit.2. None but the man who has the "witness of the Spirit" is able to look through the sorrow to the blessedness hereafter.III. He helps against sin (ver. )Varieties of Christian characterT. (3) If it be inquired how the Spirit bears witness, such knowledge is too wonderful for us. Spurgeon. "(b) I am thus "led by the Spirit of God"; he will easily conclude "therefore I am a son of God," Agreeable to this are all those plain declarations of St, John in his First Epistle (1 John 2:3, 5, 29; 1 John 3:14, 19; 1 John 4:13; 1 John 3:24). Romans 8:16. There is a danger of despair, and the remedy is a more perfect trust in God. I do not know how that is done. He standeth up and beareth his own faithful testimony; but some great one of the land confirms his witness.1. 13). Who is there who has not experienced the difference of a bright spring morning and a dull November day? Two witnesses come forward —, 1. Now this text is one that has often tortured the mind of Christians. Maclaren, D.D.The sin of the world is a false confidence — that a man is a Christian when he is not. That is, your spirit beareth witness that you are the child of God.2. The Scriptures abound with marks whereby we may distinguish the one from the other; and whoever carefully attends to them will not put darkness for light. This was thought to be a singular instance of his kindness to his courtiers. Is the heart at peace? Now, God has said, "If any man provide not for those of his own household, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." With some it may be gentle and gradual as the dawn of day; with others it may be as a day when the noise of battle rolled. It was said of Cyrus that when he sat down at meat, if there were aught that pleased his appetite, he would order it to be given to his friends with this message, "King Cyrus found that this food pleased his palate, and he thought his friend should feed upon that which he enjoyed himself." IV. 1. There crowd upon it thoughts of his own sinfulness, and unworthiness of so distinguished a blessing. It is as if a poor man were called into court to prove his right to some piece of land which was disputed. Judkin. THE NATURE OF THE TESTIMONY. This view of course supposes the witness of our own spirits to be of a derived and reflected kind. He is not the highest and powerfullest working of God in man not the breathing of God into the soul of man; these are only His gifts and not Himself. "The wind bloweth where it listeth!" That mind of his father's is as much an invisible world to him as is God's to us. To guard against anything that would grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. The faith which justifies is an act of trust, exerted objectively upon the mediation of Christ, and justification is the instantaneous effect ensuing upon this act. 23). (1) Is verity essential to a witness? The Holy Ghost produces the decree of this election. Once interrupt the communion of the soul with the Father, and the soul may never be able to resume the fellowship: then (the apostle would say) "Pray without ceasing," if you would enjoy the permanent witness of the Spirit. And, further, to make our salvation depend upon any form of inward testimony, is to make the trust of the believer turn in part upon something within, rather than turning absolutely upon the finished work of Christ. (2) He is a distinct person in the Godhead. (2)This voice of God may vary from the slightest, almost inaudible whisper, to the most clear and articulate enunciation.5. It gathers the warmth of the sun and sends it for thousands of miles across the seas to lave our shores. Then how grandly comes the witness to our sonship, saying, "Thou cast down? How doth the Spirit bear witness? To be spoken of for our knowledge by a fool is of idle account; whilst a word from the wise, how good is it! Man is not saved by feeling that he is saved. — of a throne, a crown, a treasury, a nation! So they either set to work to examine their creed, or else they change it. Nor has he the witness of sonship by feeling that he is a son of God; but by the Spirit of God apprehending and quickening his soul.2. Work hard at some outdoor work so that you have not time to think about yourself; and then when you get very hungry, eat; and when you have got very tired, sleep. Then with regard to the substance of it, "The Spirit itself," by means of our cry, Abba, Father, "beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." 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