Practical Religion — Heirs of God Part 1
HEIRS OF GOD
"_As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
_ "_For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
_ "_The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God_: "_And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
_"--(Romans viii.
14--17. ) The people of whom St. Paul speaks in the verses before our eyes are the richest people upon earth.
It must needs be so.
They are called "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ."
The inheritance of these people is the only inheritance _really worth having_.
All others are unsatisfying and disappointing.
They bring with them many cares.
They cannot cure an aching heart, or lighten a heavy conscience.
They cannot keep off family troubles.
They cannot prevent sicknesses, bereavements, separations, and deaths.
But there is no disappointment among the "heirs of God."
The inheritance =I= speak of is the only inheritance _which can be kept for ever_.
All others must be left in the hour of death, if they have not been taken away before.
The owners of millions of pounds can carry nothing with them beyond the grave.
But it is not so with the "heirs of God."
Their inheritance is eternal.
The inheritance I speak of is the only inheritance _which is within every body's reach_.
Most men can never obtain riches and greatness, though they labour hard for them all their lives.
But glory, honour, and eternal life, are offered to every man freely, who is willing to accept them on God's terms.
"Whosoever will," may be an "heir of God, and joint heir with Christ."
If any reader of this paper wishes to have a portion of this inheritance, let him know that he must be a member of that one family on earth to which it belongs, and that is the family of all true Christians.
You must become one of God's children on earth, if you desire to have glory in heaven.
I write this paper in order to persuade you to become a child of God this day, if you are not one already.
I
write it to persuade you to make sure work that you are one, if at present you have only a vague hope, and nothing more.
None but true Christians are the children of God!
None but the children of God are heirs of God!
Give me your attention, while I try to unfold to you these things, and to show the lessons contained in the verses which head this page.
I.
Let me show _the relation of all true Christians to God.
They are "sons of God.
_" II.
Let me show _the special evidences of this relation_.
True Christians are "_led by the Spirit_."
They have "_the Spirit of adoption_."
They have the "_witness of the Spirit_."
They "_suffer with Christ_."
III.
Let me show _the privileges of this relation_.
True Christians are "_heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ_."
I.
First let me show _the relation of all true Christians to God_.
They are God's "Sons."
I know no higher and more comfortable word that could have been chosen.
To be servants of God,--to be subjects, soldiers, disciples, friends,--all these are excellent titles; but to be the "sons" of God is a step higher still.
What says the Scripture?
"The servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth ever."
(John viii.
35. ) To be son of the rich and noble in this world,--to be son of the princes and kings of the earth,--this is commonly reckoned a great temporal advantage and privilege.
But to be a son of the King of kings, and Lord of lords,--to be a son of the High and Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity,--this is something far higher.
And yet this is the portion of every true Christian.
The son of an earthly parent looks naturally to his father for affection, maintenance, provision, and education.
There is a home always open to him.
There is a love which, generally speaking, no bad conduct can completely extinguish.
All these are things belonging even to the sonship of this world.
Think then how great is the privilege of that poor sinner of mankind who can say of God, "He is my Father."
But HOW can sinful men like ourselves become sons of God?
When do we enter into this glorious relationship?
We are not the sons of God by nature.
We were not born so when we came into the world.
No man has a natural right to look to God as his Father.
It is a vile heresy to say that he has.
Men are said to be born poets and painters,--but men are never born sons of God.
The Epistle to the Ephesians tells us, "Ye were by nature children of wrath, even as others."
(Ephes.
ii.
3. ) The Epistle of St. John says, "The children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God."
(1 John iii.
10. ) The Catechism of the Church of England wisely follows the doctrine of the Bible, and teaches us to say, "By nature we are born in sin, and children of wrath."
Yes: we are all rather children of the devil, than children of God!
Sin is indeed hereditary, and runs in the family of Adam.
Grace is anything but hereditary, and holy men have not, as a matter of course, holy sons.
How then and when does this mighty change and translation come upon men?
When and in what manner do sinners become the "sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty?"
(2 Cor vi.
18. ) Men become sons of God in the day that the Spirit leads them to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, and not before.
[13] What says the Epistle to the Galatians?
"Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
(Gal.
iii.
26. ) What says the first Epistle to the Corinthians?
"Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus."
(1 Cor.
i.
30. ) What says the Gospel of John?
"As many as received Christ, to them gave He power (or privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."
(John i.
12. ) Faith unites the sinner to the Son of God, and makes him one of His members.
Faith makes him one of those in whom the Father sees no spot, and is well-pleased.
Faith marries him to the beloved Son of God, and entitles him to be reckoned among the sons.
Faith gives him "fellowship with the Father and the Son."
(1 John i. 3. ) Faith grafts him into the Father's family, and opens up to him a room in the Father's house.
Faith gives him life instead of death, and makes him, instead of being a servant, a son.
Show me a man that has this faith, and, whatever be his church or denomination, I say that he is a son of God.
13: The reader will of course understand that I am not speaking now of children who die in infancy, or of persons who live and die idiots.
This is one of those points we should never forget.
You and I know nothing of a man's sonship _until he believes_.
No doubt the sons of God are foreknown and chosen from all eternity, and predestinated to adoption.
But, remember, it is not till they are called in due time, and believe,--it is not till then that you and I can be certain they are sons.
It is not till they repent and believe, that the angels of God rejoice over them.
The angels cannot read the book of God's election: they know not who are "His hidden ones" in the earth.
(Ps.
lxxxiii.
3. ) They rejoice over no man till he believes.
But when they see some poor sinner repenting and believing, then there is joy among them,--joy that one more brand is plucked from the burning, and one more son and heir born again to the Father in heaven.
(Luke xv.
10. ) But once more I say, you and I know nothing certain about a man's sonship to God _until he believes on Christ_.
I warn you to beware of the delusive notion that all men and women are alike children of God, whether they have faith in Christ or not.
It is a wild theory which many are clinging to in these days, but one which cannot be proved out of the Word of God.
It is a perilous dream, with which many are trying to soothe themselves, but one from which there will be a fearful waking up at the last day.
That God in a certain sense is the universal Father of all mankind, I do not pretend to deny.
He is the Great First Cause of all things.
He is the Creator of all mankind, and in Him alone, all men, whether Christians or heathens, "live and move and have their being."
All this is unquestionably true.
In this sense Paul told the Athenians, a poet of their own had truly said, "we are His offspring."
(Acts xvii.
28. ) But this sonship gives no man a title to heaven.
The sonship which we have by creation is one which belongs to stones, trees, beasts, or even to the devils, as much as to us.
(Job i. 6. ) That God loves all mankind with a love of pity and compassion, I do not deny.
"His tender mercies are over all His works."
--"He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
--"He has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth."
All this I admit to the full.
In this sense our Lord Jesus tells us, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
(Ps.
cxlv.
9; 2 Peter iii.
9;
Ezek.
xviii.
32; John iii.
16. ) But that God is a reconciled and pardoning Father to any but the members of His Son Jesus Christ, and that any are members of Jesus Christ who do not believe on Him for salvation,--this is a doctrine which I utterly deny.
The holiness and justice of God are both against the doctrine.
They make it impossible for sinful men to approach God, excepting through the Mediator.
They tell us that God out of Christ is "a consuming fire."
(Heb.
xii.
29. ) The whole system of the new Testament is against the doctrine.
That system teaches that no man can claim interest in Christ unless he will receive Him as his Mediator, and believe on Him as his Saviour.
Where there is no faith in Christ it is a dangerous error to say that a man may take comfort in God as his Father.
God is a reconciled Father to none but the members of Christ.
It is unreasonable to talk of the view I am now upholding as narrow-minded and harsh.
The Gospel sets an open door before every man.
Its promises are wide and full.
Its invitations are earnest and tender.
Its requirements are simple and clear.
"Only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and, whosoever thou art, thou shalt be saved."
But to say that proud men, who will not bow their necks to the easy yoke of Christ, and worldly men who are determined to have their own way and their sins,--to say that such men have a right to claim an interest in Christ, and a right to call themselves sons of God, is to say what never can be proved from Scripture.
God offers to be their Father; but He does it on certain distinct terms:--they must draw near to Him through Christ.
Christ offers to be their Saviour; but in doing it He makes one simple requirement:--they must commit their souls to Him, and give Him their hearts.
They refuse the _terms_, and yet dare to call God their Father!
They scorn the _requirement_, and yet dare to hope that Christ will save them!
God is to be their Father,--but on their own terms!
Christ is to be their Saviour,--but on their own conditions!
What can be more unreasonable?
What can be more proud?
What can be more unholy than such a doctrine as this?
Let us beware of it, for it is a common doctrine in these latter days.
Let us beware of it, for it is often speciously put forward, and sounds beautiful and charitable in the mouth of poets, novelists, sentimentalists, and tender-hearted women.
Let us beware of it, unless we mean to throw aside our Bible altogether, and set up ourselves to be wiser than God.
Let us stand fast on the old Scriptural ground: _No sonship to God without Christ!
No interest in Christ without faith!
_ I would to God there was not so much cause for giving warnings of this kind.
I have reason to think they need to be given clearly and unmistakably.
There is a school of theology rising up in this day, which appears to me most eminently calculated to promote infidelity, to help the devil, and to ruin souls.
It comes to us like Joab to Amasa, with the highest professions of charity, liberality, and love.
God is all mercy and love, according to this theology:--His holiness and justice are completely left out of sight!
Hell is never spoken of in this theology:--its talk is all of heaven!
Damnation is never mentioned:--it is treated as an impossible thing:--all men and women are to be saved!
Faith, and the work of the Spirit, are refined away into nothing at all!
"Everybody who believes anything has faith!
Everybody who thinks anything has the Spirit!
Everybody is right!
Nobody is wrong!
Nobody is to blame for any action he may commit!
It is the result of his position.
It is the effect of circumstances!
He is not accountable for his opinions, any more than for the colour of his skin!
He must be what he is!
The Bible is a very imperfect book!
It is old-fashioned!
It is obsolete!
We may believe just as much of it as we please, and no more!"
--Of all this theology I warn men solemnly to beware.
In spite of big swelling words about "liberality," and "charity," and "broad views," and "new lights," and "freedom from bigotry," and so forth, I do believe it to be a theology that leads to hell.
(_a_) _Facts_ are directly against the teachers of this theology.
Let them visit Mesopotamia, and see what desolation reigns where Nineveh and Babylon once stood.
Let them go to the shores of the Dead Sea, and look down into its mysterious bitter waters.
Let them travel in Palestine, and ask what has turned that fertile country into a wilderness.
Let them observe the wandering Jews, scattered over the face of the world, without a land of their own, and yet never absorbed among other nations.
And then let them tell us, if they dare, that God is so entirely a God of mercy and love that He never does and never will punish sin.
(_b_) _The conscience of man_ is directly against these teachers.
Let them go to the bedside of some dying child of the world, and try to comfort him with their doctrines.
Let them see if their vaunted theories will calm his gnawing, restless anxiety about the future, and enable him to depart in peace.
Let them show us, if they can, a few well-authenticated cases of joy and happiness in death without Bible promises,--without conversion,--and without that faith in the blood of Christ, which old-fashioned theology enjoins.
Alas!
when men are leaving the world, conscience makes sad work of the new systems of these latter days.
Conscience is not easily satisfied, in a dying hour, that there is no such thing as hell.
(_c_) _Every reasonable conception that we can form of a future state_ is directly against these teachers.
Fancy a heaven which should contain all mankind!
Fancy a heaven in which holy and unholy, pure and impure, good and bad, would be all gathered together in one confused mass!
What point of union would there be in such a company?
What common bond of harmony and brotherhood?
What common delight in a common service?
What concord, what harmony, what peace, what oneness of spirit could exist?
Surely the mind revolts from the idea of a heaven in which there would be no distinction between the righteous and the wicked,--between Pharaoh and Moses, between Abraham and the Sodomites, between Paul and Nero, between Peter and Judas Iscariot, between the man who dies in the act of murder or drunkenness, and men like Baxter, George Herbert, Wilberforce, and M'Cheyne!
Surely an eternity in such a miserably confused crowd would be worse than annihilation itself!
Surely such a heaven would be no better than hell!
(_d_) The _interests of all holiness and morality_ are directly against these teachers.
If all men and women alike are God's children, whatever is the difference between them in their lives,--and all alike going to heaven, however different they may be from one another here in the world,--where is the use of labouring after holiness at all?
What motive remains for living soberly, righteously, and godly?
What does it matter how men conduct themselves, if all go to heaven, and nobody goes to hell?
Surely the heathen poets and philosophers of Greece and Rome could tell us something better and wiser than this!
Surely a doctrine which is subversive of holiness and morality, and takes away all motives to exertion, carries on the face of it the stamp of its origin.
It is of earth, and not of heaven.
It is of the devil, and not of God.
(_e_) _The Bible_ is against these teachers from first to last.
Hundreds of texts might be quoted which are diametrically opposed to their theories.
These texts must be rejected summarily, if the Bible is to square with their views.
There may be no reason why they should be rejected,--but to suit the theology I speak of they must be thrown away!
At this rate the authority of the whole Bible is soon at an end.
And what do men give us in its place?
Nothing,--nothing at all!
They rob us of the bread of life, and do not give us in its stead so much as a stone.
Once more I warn all into whose hands this volume may fall to beware of this theology.
I charge you to hold fast the doctrine which I have been endeavouring to uphold in this paper.
Remember what I have said, and never let it go.
No inheritance of glory without sonship to God!
No sonship to God without an interest in Christ!
No interest in Christ without your own personal faith!
This is God's truth.
Never forsake it.
Who now among the readers of this paper _desires to know whether he is a son of God_?
Ask yourself this question, and ask it this day,--and ask it as in God's sight, whether you have repented and believed.
Ask yourself whether you are experimentally acquainted with Christ, and united to Him in heart.
If not you may be very sure you are no son of God.
You are not yet born again.
You are yet in your sins.
Your Father in creation God may be, but your reconciled and pardoning Father God is not.
Yes!
though Church and world may agree to tell you to the contrary,--though clergy and laity unite in flattering you,--your sonship is worth little or nothing in the sight of God.
Let God be true and every man a liar.
Without faith in Christ you are no son of God: you are not born again.
Who is there among the readers of this paper who _desires to become a son of God_?
Let that person see and feel his sins, and flee to Christ for salvation, and this day he shall be placed among the children.
--Only acknowledge thine iniquity, and lay hold on the hand that Jesus holds out to thee this day, and sonship, with all it privileges, is thine own.
Only confess thy sins, and bring them unto Christ, and God is "faithful and just to forgive thee thy sins, and cleanse thee from all unrighteousness."
(1 John i. 9. ) This very day old things shall pass away, and all things become new.
This very day thou shalt be forgiven, pardoned, "accepted in the Beloved."
(Ephes.
i.
6. ) This very day thou shalt have a new name given to thee in heaven.
Thou didst take up this book a child of wrath.
Thou shalt lie down to night a child of God.
Mark this, if thy professed desire after sonship is sincere,--if thou art truly weary of thy sins, and hast really something more than a lazy wish to be free,--there is real comfort for thee.
It is all true.
It is all written in Scripture, even as I have put it down.
I dare not raise barriers between thee and God.
This day I say, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be "a son," and be saved.
Who is there among the readers of this paper that _is a son of God indeed_?
Rejoice, I say, and be exceeding glad of your privileges.
Rejoice, for you have good cause to be thankful.
Remember the words of the beloved apostle: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."
(1 John iii.
1. ) How wonderful that heaven should look down on earth,--that the holy God should set His affections on sinful man, and admit him into His family!
What though the world does not understand you!
What though the men of this world laugh at you, and cast out your name as evil!
Let them laugh if they will.
God is your Father.
You have no need to be ashamed.
The Queen can create a nobleman.
The Bishops can ordain clergymen.
But Queen, Lords, and Commons,--bishops, priests, and deacons,--all together cannot, of their own power, make one son of God, or one of greater dignity than a son of God.
The man that can call God his Father, and Christ his elder brother,--that man may be poor and lowly, yet he never need be ashamed.
