Practical Religion — Heirs of God Part 2
II.
Let me show, in the second place, _the special evidences of the true Christians relation to God_.
How shall a man make sure work of his own sonship?
How shall he find out whether he is one that has come to Christ by faith and been born again?
What are the marks and signs, and tokens, by which the "sons of God" may be known?
This is a question which all who love eternal life ought to ask.
This is a question to which the verses of Scripture I am asking you to consider, like many others, supply an answer.
(1) The sons of God, for one thing, are all _led by His Spirit_.
What says the Scripture which heads this paper?
"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
(Rom.
viii.
14. ) They are all under the leading and teaching of a power which is Almighty, though unseen,--even the power of the Holy Ghost.
They no longer turn every man to his own way, and walk every man in the light of His own eyes, and follow every man his own natural heart's desire.
The Spirit leads them.
The Spirit guides them.
There is a movement in their hearts, lives, and affections, which they feel, though they may not be able to explain, and a movement which is always more or less in the same direction.
They are led away from sin,--away from self-righteousness,--away from the world.
This is the road by which the Spirit leads God's children.
Those whom God adopts He teaches and trains.
He shows them their own hearts.
He makes them weary of their own ways.
He makes them long for inward peace.
They are led to Christ.
They are led to the Bible.
They are led to prayer.
They are led to holiness.
This is the beaten path along which the Spirit makes them to travel.
Those whom God adopts He always sanctifies.
He makes sin very bitter to them.
He makes holiness very sweet.
It is the Spirit who leads them to Sinai, and first shows them the law, that their hearts may be broken.
It is He who leads them to Calvary, and shows them the cross, that their hearts may be bound up and healed.
It is He who leads them to Pisgah, and gives them distinct views of the promised land, that their hearts may be cheered.
When they are taken into the wilderness, and taught to see their own emptiness, it is the leading of the Spirit.
When they are carried up to Tabor or Hermon, and lifted up with glimpses of the glory to come, it is the leading of the Spirit.
Each and all of God's sons is the subject of these leadings.
Each and every one is "willing in the day of the Spirit's power," and yields himself to it.
And each and all is led by the right way, to bring him to a city of habitation.
(Ps.
cx.
3; cvii.
7. ) Settle this down in your heart, and do not let it go.
The sons of God are a people "led by the Spirit of God," and always led more or less in the same way.
Their experience will tally wonderfully when they compare notes in heaven.
This is one mark of sonship.
(2) Furthermore, all the sons of God _have the feelings of adopted children towards their Father in heaven_.
What says the Scripture which heads this paper?
"Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father."
(Rom.
viii.
15. ) The sons of God are delivered from that slavish fear of God which sin begets in the natural heart.
They are redeemed from that feeling of guilt which made Adam "hide himself in the trees of the garden," and Cain "go out from the presence of the Lord."
(Gen. iii.
8; iv.
16. ) They are no longer afraid of God's holiness, and justice, and majesty.
They no longer feel as if there was a great gulf and barrier between themselves and God, and as if God was angry with them, and must be angry with them, because of their sins.
From these chains and fetters of the soul the sons of God are delivered.
Their feelings towards God are now those of peace and confidence.
They see Him as a Father reconciled in Christ Jesus.
They look on Him as a God whose attributes are all satisfied by their great Mediator and Peacemaker, the Lord Jesus,--as a God who is "just, and yet the Justifier of every one that believeth on Jesus."
(Rom.
iii.
26. ) As a Father, they draw near to Him with boldness: as a Father, they can speak to Him with freedom.
They have exchanged the spirit of bondage for that of liberty, and the spirit of fear for that of love.
They know that God is holy, but they are not afraid: they know that they are sinners, but they are not afraid.
Though holy, they believe that God is completely reconciled: though sinners, they believe they are clothed all over with Jesus Christ.
Such is the feeling of the sons of God.
I allow that some of them have this feeling more vividly than others.
Some of them carry about scraps and remnants of the old spirit of bondage to their dying day.
Many of them have fits and paroxysms of the old man's complaint of fear returning upon them at intervals.
But very few of the sons of God could be found who would not say, if cross-examined, that since they knew Christ they have had very different feelings towards God from what they ever had before.
They feel as if something like the old Roman form of adoption had taken place between themselves and their Father in heaven.
They feel as if He had said to each one of them, "Wilt thou be my son?"
and as if their hearts had replied, "I will."
Let us try to grasp this also, and hold it fast.
The sons of God are a people who feel towards God in a way that the children of the world do not.
They feel no more slavish fear towards Him: they feel towards Him as a reconciled parent.
This, then, is another mark of sonship.
(3) But, again, the sons of God _have the witness of the Spirit in their consciences_.
What says the Scripture which heads this paper?
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
(Rom.
viii.
16. ) The sons of God have got something within their hearts which tells them there is a relationship between themselves and God.
They feel something which tells them that old things are passed away, and all things become new: that guilt is gone, that peace is restored, that heaven's door is open, and hell's door is shut.
They have, in short, what the children of the world have not,--a felt, positive, reasonable hope.
They have what Paul calls the "seal" and "earnest" of the Spirit.
(2 Cor.
i.
22; Eph.
i.
13. ) I do not for a moment deny that this witness of the Spirit is exceedingly various in the extent to which the sons of God possess it.
With some it is a loud, clear, ringing, distinct testimony of conscience: "I am Christ's, and Christ is mine."
With others it is a little, feeble, stammering whisper, which the devil and the flesh often prevent being heard.
Some of the children of God speed on their course towards heaven under the full sails of assurance.
Others are tossed to and fro all their voyage, and will scarce believe they have got faith.
But take the least and lowest of the sons of God.
Ask him if he will give up the little bit of religious hope which he has attained?
Ask him if he will exchange his heart, with all its doubts and conflicts, its fightings and fears,--ask him if he will exchange that heart for the heart of the downright worldly and careless man?
Ask him if he would be content to turn round and throw down the things he has got hold of, and go back to the world?
Who can doubt what the answer would be I?
"I cannot do that," he would reply.
"I do not know whether I have faith, I do not feel sure I have got grace; but I have got something within me I would not like to part with."
And what is that "_something_"?
I will tell you.
--It is the witness of the Spirit.
Let us try to understand this also.
The sons of God have the witness of the Spirit in their consciences.
This is another mark of sonship.
(4) One thing more let me add.
All the sons of God _take part in suffering with Christ_.
What says the Scripture which heads this paper?
"If children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him."
(Rom.
viii.
17. ) All the children of God have a cross to carry.
They have trials, troubles, and afflictions to go through for the Gospel's sake.
They have trials from the world,--trials from the flesh,--and trials from the devil.
They have trials of feeling from relations and friends,--hard words, hard treatment, and hard judgment.
They have trials in the matter of character;--slander, misrepresentation, mockery, insinuation of false motives,--all these often rain thick upon them.
They have trials in the matter of worldly interests.
They have often to choose whether they will please man and lose glory, or gain glory and offend man.
They have trials from their own hearts.
They have each generally their own thorn in the flesh,--their own home-devil, who is their worst foe.
This is the experience of the sons of God.
Some of them suffer more, and some less.
Some of them suffer in one way, and some in another.
God measures out their portions like a wise physician, and cannot err.
But never, I believe, was there one child of God who reached paradise without a cross.
Suffering is the diet of the Lord's family.
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."
--"If ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards, and not sons."
--"Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God."
--"All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
(Heb.
xii.
6, 8; Acts xiv.
22; 2 Tim.
iii.
12. ) When Bishop Latimer was told by his landlord that he had never had a trouble, "Then," said he, "God cannot be here."
Suffering is a part of the process by which the sons of God are sanctified.
They are chastened to wean them from the world, and make them partakers of God's holiness.
The Captain of their salvation was "made perfect through suffering," and so are they.
(Heb.
ii.
10; xii.
10. ) There never yet was a great saint who had not either great afflictions or great corruptions.
Well said Philip Melancthon: "Where there are no cares there will generally be no prayers."
Let us try to settle this down into our hearts also.
The sons of God have all to bear a cross.
A suffering Saviour generally has suffering disciples.
The Bridegroom was a man of sorrows.
The Bride must not be a woman of pleasures and unacquainted with grief.
Blessed are they that mourn!
Let us not murmur at the cross.
This also is a sign of sonship.
I warn men never to suppose that they are sons of God except they have the scriptural marks of sonship.
Beware of a sonship without evidences.
Again I say, Beware.
When a man has no leading of the Spirit to show me, no spirit of adoption to tell of, no witness of the Spirit in his conscience, no cross in his experience,--is this man a son of God?
Whatever others may think I dare not say so!
His spot is "not the spot of God's children."
(Deut.
xxxii.
5. ) He is no heir of glory.
Tell me not that you have been baptized and taught the catechism of the Church of England, and therefore must be a child of God.
I tell you that the parish register is not the book of life.
I tell you that to be styled a child of God, and called regenerate in infancy by the faith and charity of the Prayer-book, is one thing; but to be a child of God in deed, another thing altogether.
Go and read that catechism again.
It is the "death unto sin and the new birth unto righteousness," which makes men _children of grace_.
Except you know these by experience, you are no son of God.
Tell me not that you are a member of Christ's Church, and so must be a son.
I answer that the sons of the Church are not necessarily the sons of God.
Such sonship is not the sonship of the eighth of Romans.
That is the sonship you must have if you are to be saved.
And now, I doubt not some reader of this paper will want to know if he may not be saved without the witness of the Spirit.
I answer, If you mean by the witness of the Spirit, the full assurance of hope,--You may be so saved, without question.
But if you want to know whether a man can be saved without _any_ inward sense, or knowledge, or hope of salvation, I answer, that ordinarily He cannot.
I warn you plainly to cast away all indecision as to your state before God, and to make your calling sure.
Clear up your position and relationship.
Do not think there is anything praiseworthy in always doubting.
Leave that to the Papists.
Do not fancy it wise and humble to be ever living like the borderers of old time, on the "debateable ground."
"Assurance," said old Dod, the puritan, "may be attained: and what have we been doing all our lives, since we became Christians, if we have not attained it?"
I doubt not some true Christians who read this paper will think their evidence of sonship is too small to be good, and will write bitter things against themselves.
Let me try to cheer them.
Who gave you the feelings you possess?
Who made you hate sin?
Who made you love Christ?
Who made you long and labour to be holy?
Whence did these feelings come?
Did they come from nature?
There are no such products in a natural man's heart.
--Did they come from the devil?
He would fain stifle such feelings altogether.
--Cheer up, and take courage.
Fear not, neither be cast down.
Press forward, and go on.
There is hope for you after all.
Strive.
Labour.
Seek.
Ask.
Knock.
Follow on.
You shall yet see that you are "sons of God."
III.
Let me show, in the last place, _the privileges of the true Christian's relation to God_.
Nothing can be conceived more glorious than the prospects of the sons of God.
The words of Scripture which head this paper contain a rich mine of good and comfortable things.
"If we are children," says Paul, "we are heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,--to be glorified together with Him."
(Rom.
viii.
17. ) True Christians then are "heirs."
--Something is prepared for them all which is yet to be revealed.
They are "heirs of God."
--To be heirs of the rich on earth is something.
How much more then is it to be son and heir of the King of kings!
They are "joint heirs with Christ."
They shall share in His majesty, and take part in His glory.
They shall be glorified together with Him.
And this, we must remember, is for _all_ the children.
Abraham took care to provide for all his children, and God takes care to provide for His.
None of them are disinherited.
None will be cast out.
None will be cut off.
Each shall stand in his lot, and have a portion, in the day when the Lord brings many sons to glory.
Who can tell the full nature of the inheritance of the saints in light?
Who can describe the glory which is yet to be revealed and given to the children of God?
Words fail us.
Language falls short.
Mind cannot conceive fully, and tongue cannot express perfectly, the things which are comprised in the glory yet to come upon the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.
Oh, it is indeed a true saying of the Apostle John: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be."
(1 John iii.
2. ) The very Bible itself only lifts a little of the veil which hangs over this subject.
How could it do more?
We could not thoroughly understand more if more had been told us.
Our mental constitution is as yet too earthly,--our understanding is as yet too carnal to appreciate more if we had it.
The Bible generally deals with the subject in negative terms and not in positive assertions.
It describes what there will not be in the glorious inheritance, that thus we may get some faint idea of what there will be.
It paints the _absence_ of certain things, in order that we may drink in a little the blessedness of the things _present_.
It tells us that the inheritance is "incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away."
It tells us that "the crown of glory fadeth not away."
It tells us that the devil is to be "bound," that there shall be "no more night and no more curse," that "death shall be cast into the lake of fire," that "all tears shall be wiped away," and that the inhabitant shall no more say, "I am sick."
And these are glorious things indeed.
No corruption!
--No fading!
--No withering!
--No devil!
--No curse of sin!
--No sorrow!
--No tears!
--No sickness!
--No death!
Surely the cup of the children of God will indeed run over!
(1 Pet.
i.
4; v. 4; Rev. xx.
2;
xxi.
25; xxii.
3; xx.
14; xxi.
4; Is.
xxxiii.
24. ) But there are positive things told us about the glory yet to come upon the heirs of God, which ought not to be kept back.
There are many sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comforts in their future inheritance, which all true Christians would do well to consider.
There are cordials for fainting pilgrims in many words and expressions of Scripture, which you and I ought to lay up against time of need.
(_a_) Is _knowledge_ pleasant to us now?
Is the little that we know of God and Christ, and the Bible precious to our souls, and do we long for more?
We shall have it perfectly in glory.
What says the Scripture?
"Then shall I know even as also I am known."
(1 Cor.
xiii.
12. ) Blessed be God, there will be no more disagreements among believers!
Episcopalians and Presbyterians,--Calvinists and Arminians,--Millennarians and Anti-millennarians,--friends of Establishments and friends of the Voluntary system,--advocates of infant baptism and advocates of adult baptism,--all will at length see eye to eye.
The former ignorance will have passed away.
We shall marvel to find how childish and blind we have been.
(_b_) Is _holiness_ pleasant to us now?
Is sin the burden and bitterness of our lives?
Do we long for entire conformity to the image of God?
We shall have it perfectly in glory.
What says the Scripture?
"Christ gave Himself for the Church," not only that He might sanctify it on earth, but also "that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing."
(Ephes.
v.
27. ) Oh, the blessedness of an eternal good-bye to sin!
Oh, how little the best of us do at present!
Oh, what unutterable corruption sticks, like birdlime, to all our motives, all our thoughts, all our words, all our actions!
Oh, how many of us, like Naphtali, are goodly in our words, but, like Reuben, unstable in our works!
Thank God, all this shall be changed.
(Gen. xlix.
4, 21. ) (_c_) Is _rest_ pleasant to us now?
Do we often feel "faint though pursuing?"
(Judges viii.
4. ) Do we long for a world in which we need not to be always watching and warring?
We shall have it perfectly in glory.
What saith the Scripture?
