3502. Powerful Persuasives

A Sermon Published On Thursday, March 9, 1916.

All things are delivered to me by my Father: and no man knows the Son, except the Father; neither does any man know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. {Mt 11:27,28}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 265, “Meek and Lowly One, The” 258}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 969, “Rest, Rest” 960}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1322, “Rest for the Labouring” 1313}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1691, “Christ’s Word with You” 1692}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2298, “Christ-Given Rest, The” 2299}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2708, “Old Gospel for the New Century, The” 2709}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2781, “Jesus Calling” 2782}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3352, “Worldwide Welcome, A” 3354}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3502, “Powerful Persuasives” 3504}

   Exposition on Mt 11:25-30 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2781, “Jesus Calling” 2782 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Mt 11 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2708, “Old Gospel for the New Century, The” 2709 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Mt 11 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3555, “Gird With Golden Sash” 3557 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Mt 3; 11:20-30 Re 7:9-17 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2704, “Flee From the Wrath to Come” 2705 @@ "Exposition"}

1. I have preached to you, dear friends, several times from the words, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is such sweetness in the precept, such solace in the promise, that I could gladly hope to preach from it many more times. But I have no intention just now to repeat what I have said in any former discourse, or to follow the same vein of thought that we have previously explored. This kindly and gracious invitation needs only to be held up in different lights to give us different subjects for admiration. That it flowed like an anthem from our Saviour’s lips we perceive; in what context it was spoken we may properly enquire. He had just made some important disclosures concerning the covenant relationships that existed between himself and God the Father. This interesting revelation of heavenly truth becomes the basis on which he offers an invitation to the toiling and oppressed children of men, and assigns it as a reason why they should immediately avail themselves of his help. Such is the line of discourse I propose now to follow. Kindly understand me that I want to deal with the hearts and consciences of the unconverted, and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to plead with them that they may at once go to Jesus and find rest for their souls. I shall require no stories or anecdotes, no figures or metaphors, to illustrate the urgent necessity of the sinner and the generous bounty of the Saviour. We will make it as plain as the nose on your face, and as sharp as a sword, with the intention of getting straight to our point. Time is precious, your time especially, for you may not have many days in which to seek the Lord. The matter is urgent. Oh! that every labouring, weary sinner here might at once come to Jesus and find that rest which the Saviour expresses himself as so willing to give! With all simplicity, then, let me explain to you the way of salvation, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden.”

2. The way to be saved is to come to Jesus. To come to Jesus means to pray to him, to trust in him, to rely on him. Each man who trusts in another may be said to come to that other for help. So to trust in Jesus is to come to him. In order to do this I must give up all reliance on myself, or anything I could do or have done, or anything I do feel or can feel. Nor must I feel the slightest dependence on anything that anyone else can do for me. I must cease from creature helps and carnal rites, to rest myself on Jesus. That is what my Saviour means when he says, “Come to me.” The exhortation is very personal. “Come to me,” he says. He does not say, come to my ministers to consult them, nor come to my sacraments to observe them, nor come to my Bible to study its teaching—interesting and advantageous as under some circumstances any or all of these counsels might be; but he invites us in the sweetest tone of friendship, saying, “Come to me.” For a poor sinner this is the best means of help. Let him resort to the blessed Lord himself. To trust in a crucified Saviour is the way of salvation. Let him leave everything else and flee away to Christ, and look at his dear wounds as he hangs on the cross. I am afraid many people are detained from Christ by becoming entangled in the meshes of doctrine. Some satisfy themselves with heterodox doctrine, others with orthodox doctrine. They think that they have advanced far enough. They flatter their souls that they have ascertained the truth! But the fact is, it is not the truth as a letter which saves anyone. It is the truth as a person—it is Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life, whom we need to apprehend.

3. Our confidences must rest entirely on him. “Come to me,” says Jesus; “Come to me, and I will give you rest.”

4. The exhortation is in the present tense. “Come” now; do not wait; do not tarry; do not lie at the pool of ordinances, but come to me; come now at once, immediately, just where you are, just as you are. Wherever the summons finds you, rise without parley, without a moment’s delay. “Come.” I know that the human mind is very ingenious, and it is especially perverse when its own destruction is threatened. By some means or other it will evade this simple call. “Surely,” one says, “there must be something to do besides that.” No, nothing else is to be done. No preliminaries are prerequisite. The whole way of salvation is to trust in Jesus. Trust him now. That done, you are saved. Rely on his finished work, know that he has meditated on your behalf. Commit your sinful self to his saving grace. A change of heart shall be yours. All that you need he will supply.

   There is life in a look at the crucified One;

   There is life at this moment for thee.

5. So sweet an invitation demands a spontaneous acceptance. Come just as you are. “Come to me,” says Christ. He does not say, “Come when you have washed and cleansed yourself.” Rather you should come to be cleansed. He does not say, “Come when you have clothed yourself and made yourself beautiful with good works.” Come to be made beautiful in a better righteousness than you can wear. Come naked, and let him gird you with fine linen, cover you with silk, and deck you with jewels. He does not say, “Come when your conscience is tender, come when your heart is penitent, when your soul is full of loathing for sin, and your mind is enlightened with knowledge and enlivened with joy.” But you who labour, you who are heavy laden, he invites you to come as you are. Come oppressed with your burdens, begrimed with your labours, dispirited with your toils. If the load that bends you double to the earth is on your shoulders, just come as you are. Take no plea in your mouth but this—he invites you to come. That shall suffice as a warrant for your coming, and a security for your welcome. If Jesus Christ invites you, who shall say no?

6. He puts the matter very exclusively. “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden.” Do nothing else but come to him. Do you want rest? Come to him for it. The old proverb has it that “betwixt two stools we come to the ground.” Certainly, if we trust partly in Christ and partly in ourselves, we shall fall lower than the ground. We shall sink into hell. “Come to me” is the whole gospel. “Come to me.” Mix nothing with it. Acknowledge no other obedience. Obey Christ, and him alone. Come to me. You cannot go in two opposite directions. Let your tottering footsteps bend their way to him alone. Mix anything with him, and the possibility of your salvation is gone. Yours be the happy resolve:—

   Nothing in my hands I bring:

   Simply to thy cross I cling.

This must be your cry if you are to be accepted at all. Come, then, you who labour, you callous-handed sons of toil. Come to Jesus. He invites you. You who stew and toil for wealth, you merchants, with your many cares, you are labourers. He invites you to come. You students, anxious for knowledge, lacking sleep, burning the midnight oil. You labour with exhausted brains; therefore, come. Come from struggling after fame. You pleasure-seekers, come; perhaps there is no harder toil than the toil of the man who courts recreation and thinks he is taking his ease. Come, you who labour in any form or fashion; come to Jesus—to Jesus alone. And you who are heavy laden; you whose official duties are a burden; you whose domestic cares are a burden; you whose daily toils are a burden; you whose shame and degradation are a burden, all you who are heavy laden, come and welcome. If I attach no exclusive spiritual significance to these terms, it is because there is nothing in the chapter that would warrant such a restriction. Had Christ said, “Some of you who labour and are heavy laden may come,” I would have said “some“ too. However he has not said “some,” but “all” “who labour and are heavy laden.”

7. It is amazing how people twist this text around. They alter the sense by misquoting the words. They say, “Come you who are weary and heavy laden.” In this way some have even intended to define a character rather than to describe a condition, so they exclude some of those who labour from the kind invitation. But let the passage stand in its own simplicity. Let any sinner here, who can say, “I labour,” though he cannot say spiritually labour, come on the mere warrant of the word as he finds it written here; he will not be disappointed with the mercy promised. Christ will not reject him. He himself has said it, “Whoever comes to me I will by no means cast out.” And any man who is heavy laden, even though it may not be a spiritual burden that oppresses him, yet if he comes heavy laden to Christ, he certainly shall find relief. That would be a wonder without precedent or parallel, such as was never witnessed on earth throughout all the generations of men, that a soul should come to Jesus, be rebuffed, and told by him, “I never called you, I never meant you; you are not the character; you may not come.” Hear, oh heaven! witness, oh earth! such a thing was never heard of. No, nor ever shall it be heard of in time or in eternity. That any sinner should come to the Saviour by mistake is preposterous. That Jesus should say to him, “Go your way; I never called for you,” is incredible. How can you libel the sinner’s friend like this? Come, you needy—come, you helpless—come, you simple—come, you penitent—come, you impenitent—come, you who are the very vilest of the vile. If you only come, Jesus Christ will receive you, welcome you, rejoice over you, and verify to you his thrice-blessed promise, “Whoever comes to me, I will by no means cast out.”

8. Now to the tug of war. It shall be my main endeavour to press the invitation on you, my good friends, by the arguments which the Saviour used.

9. I. Kindly look at the text. Read the words for yourselves. Do you not see that the reason why you are solemnly invited to come to Christ is because:—HE IS THE APPOINTED MEDIATOR.

10. “All things are delivered to me by my Father.” God, even the Father, your Creator, against whom you have transgressed, has appointed our Lord Jesus Christ to be the way of access for a sinner to himself. He is no amateur Saviour. He has not thrust himself into the place officiously. He is officially delegated. In times of distress, every man is at liberty to do his best for the public welfare; but the officer commissioned by his Sovereign is armed with a supreme right to give counsel or to exercise command. Away there in Bengal, if there are any dying of famine, and I have rice, I may distribute it of my own will at my own expense. But the commissioner of the district has a special warrant which I do not possess; he has a function to discharge; it is his business, his vocation; he is authorised by the Government, and responsible to the Government to do it.

11. So the Lord Jesus Christ has not only a deep compassion of heart for the necessities of men, but he has God’s authority to support him. The Father delivered all things into his hands, and appointed him to be a Saviour. All that Christ teaches has this superlative sanction. He teaches you nothing of his own conjecture. “What I have heard from the Father,” he says, “I reveal that to you.” The gospel is not a scheme of his suggestion. He reveals it fresh from the heart of God. Remember that the promises Christ makes are not merely his surmises, but they are promises with the stamp of the court of heaven on them. Their truth is guaranteed by God. It is not possible that they should fail. Sooner might heaven and earth pass away than one word of his fall flat to the ground. Your Saviour, oh sinner—your only Saviour—is one whose teachings, whose invitations, and whose promises have the royal seal of the King of kings on them. What more do you want?

12. Moreover, the Father has given all things into his hands in the sense of government. Christ is king everywhere. God has appointed Christ to be a mediatorial prince over all of us—I say over us all—not merely over those who accept his sovereignty, but even over the ungodly. He has given him power over all flesh, so that he may give eternal life to as many as he has given him. It is of no use your rebelling against Christ, and saying, “We will not have him”—the old cry, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” How do you understand the second Psalm? “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed. Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.” Christ is supreme. You will either have to submit to his sceptre willingly, or else to be broken by his iron rod like a potter’s vessel. Which shall it be? You must either bow or be broken; make your choice. You must bend or break. May God help you wisely to resolve and gratefully relent. Has the Father appointed Christ to stand between him and his sinful creatures? Has he put the government on his shoulders, and given him a name called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty, the everlasting King? Is he Emmanuel, God with us, in God’s place? With what reverence are we bound to receive him!

13. Moreover, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, of mercy and goodness, are laid up in Christ. You remember when Pharaoh had grain to sell in Egypt, what reply he made to all who applied to him, “Go to Joseph.” It would have been no use saying, “Go to Joseph,” if Joseph did not have the keys to the garner; but he had, and there was no garner that could be opened in Egypt unless Joseph lent the key. In the same way, all the garners of mercy are under the lock and key of Jesus Christ, “who opens, and no man shuts; who shuts, and no man opens.” When you require any bounty or benefit from God, you must go to Jesus for it. The Father has put all power into his hands. He has committed the entire work of mercy to his Son, so that through him as the appointed mediator, all blessings should be dispensed “to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he has made us accepted in the beloved.” Now, sirs, do you want to be saved? I charge you to say whether you do or not; for if you do not care for salvation, why should I labour among you? If you choose your own ruin, you need no counsel; you will make sure of it by your own neglect. But if you want salvation, Christ is the only authorized person in heaven and earth who can save you. “There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved.” The Father has delivered all things into his keeping. He is the authorised Saviour. “Come to me,” then, “all you who labour and are heavy laden.”

14. II. This argument is further developed by another consideration: Christ is:—A WELL-FURNISHED MEDIATOR,

15. “All things are delivered to me,” he said, “by my Father.” Sum up all that the sinner needs, and you will find him able to supply you with it all. You need pardon; it is delivered to Christ by the Father. You need a change of heart; it is delivered to Christ by the Father. You need righteousness in which you may be accepted; Christ has it. You need to be purged from the love of sin; Christ can do it. You need wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is all in Christ. You are afraid that if you start on the road to heaven, you cannot hold on. Persevering grace is in Christ. You think you will never be perfect; but perfection is in Christ, for all believers, being saints of God and servants of Christ, are complete in him. Between hell’s gate and heaven’s gate there is nothing a sinner can need that is not treasured up in his blessed person. “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” He is “full of grace and truth.”

16. Oh! sinner, I wish I could constrain you to feel as I do now, that had I never come to Christ before, I must come to him now, just now. Now I understand that:—

   Thou, oh Christ, art all I want,

   More than all in thee I find.

Why, then, should I not come? Is it because I want something before I come? Make the question your own. Where are you going to seek it? All things are delivered to Christ. To whom should you go for anything you crave? Is there another who can aid you when Christ is in possession of it all? Do you want a tender conscience? Come to Christ for it. Do you want to feel the guilt of your sin? Come to Christ to be made sensitive to its shame. Are you just what you ought not to be? Come to Christ to be made what you ought to be, for everything is in Christ. Is there anything that can be obtained elsewhere and brought to him? The invitation to you is founded on the explanation that accompanies it. “All things are delivered to me by my Father”; therefore, “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The argument is so exclusive, that it only requires a willing mind to make it welcome. Only let God the Holy Spirit bless the word, and sinners will come to Christ, for to him shall the gathering of the people be. Now note the next argument.

17. III. Come to Christ, you labouring ones, because:—HE IS AN INCONCEIVABLY GREAT MEDIATOR.

18. Where do I get that? Why, from this—that no man knows him except the Father. So great is he, so good, so full of all kinds of precious things for needy sinners. No man knows him except the Father. He is too excellent for our puny understanding to estimate his worth. No one except the infinite God can comprehend his value as a Saviour. Has anyone here been saying, “Christ cannot save me; I am such a big sinner”? You do not know him, my friend you do not know him. You are measuring him according to your little insignificant notions. High as the heavens are above the earth so high are his ways above your ways, and his thoughts than your thoughts. You do not know him, sinner, and no one does know him except his Father. Why, some of us who have been saved by him, thought when we saw the blessed mystery of his substitutionary sacrifice, that we knew all about him; but we have found that he grows on our view the nearer we approach, and the more we contemplate him. Some of you have now been Christians for thirty or forty years, and you know much more about him than you used to; but you do not know him yet; your eyes are dazzled by his brightness; you do not know him. And the happy spirits before the throne who have been there, some of them, three or four thousand years, have hardly begun to spell the first letter of his name. He is too grand and too good for them to comprehend.

19. I believe that it will be the growing wonder in eternity to find out how precious a Christ, how powerful, how immutable—in a word, how divine a Christ he is in whom we have trusted. Only the infinite can understand the infinite. “God only knows the love of God,” and only the Father understands the Son. Oh! I wish I had a week in which to speak on this, instead of a few minutes! Do you need a great Saviour? Well, here he is. No one can depict him, or describe him, or even imagine him, except the infinite God himself. Come, then, poor sinner, sunken up to your neck in crime, black as hell—come to him. Come, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and prove him to be your Saviour. The fact that no one knows how great a Saviour he is except his Father may encourage you.

20. IV. Now for another argument, come to him because:—HE IS AN INFINITELY WISE MEDIATOR.

21. He is a mediator who understands both parties on whose behalf he mediates. He understands you. He has summed and counted you up, and he has made you out to be a heap of sin and misery, and nothing else. The glory of it is that he understands God, whom you have offended, for it is written, “Neither does any man know the Father, except the Son,” and he knows the Father. Oh! what a mercy that is to have one to go before God for me who knows him intimately. He knows his Father’s will; he knows his Father’s wrath. No man knows it except him. He has suffered it. He knows his Father’s love. He alone can feel it—such love as God felt for sinners. He knows how his Father’s wrath has been turned away by his precious blood; he knows the Father as a Judge whose anger no longer burns against those for whom the atonement has been made. He knows the Father’s heart. He knows the Father’s secret purposes. He knows the Father’s will is that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have everlasting life. He knows the decrees of God, and yet he says, “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is nothing in that contrary to the decrees of God; for Jesus knows what the decrees are, and he would not speak in contradiction to them. He knows God’s requirements.

22. Sinner, whatever it is God requires of you, Christ knows what they are, and he is ready to meet them. “The law is holy, and just, and good,” and Jesus knows it, for the law is in his heart. Justice is very stern, and Jesus knows it, for Jesus has felt the edge of the sword of justice, and knows all about it. He is fully equipped for the discharge of his mediatorial office, and those who put their trust in him shall find that he will bear them through. Often, when a prisoner at the judgment bar has a barrister who understands his work, and is perfectly competent for the defence, his friends say to him, “Your case is safe, for if there is a man in England who can get you through, it is that man.” But my Master is an advocate who never lost a case. He has a plea at the throne of God that never failed yet. Give him—oh! give him your case to plead, nor doubt the Father’s grace. Poor sinner, he is so wise an advocate that you may well come to him, and he will give you rest. But I must not weary you, although there is a fulness of matter on which I might enlarge.

23. V. With one other argument I conclude:—HE IS AN INDISPENSABLE MEDIATOR.

24. The only mediator, so the text says. “Neither does any man know the Father, except the Son.” Christ knows the Father; no one else knows him, except the Son. There is no one else who can approach to God. It is Christ for your Saviour, or no Saviour at all. Salvation is in no other; and if you will not have Christ, neither can you have salvation. Observe how that is. It is certain that no man knows God except Christ. It is equally certain that no man can come to God except by Christ. He says it peremptorily; “No man comes to the Father except by me.” It is no less certain that no man can please the Father except through Christ, for “without faith it is impossible to please him.” No faith is worth having except the grace that is founded and based on the Lord Jesus Christ, and him only. Oh! then, souls, since you are restricted to it by a blessed necessity, say at once, “I will approach to the gracious Prince, and take Jesus to be my all in all.” If I might hope you would do this early, I could go back to my home and retire to my bed, praising God for the work that was done, and the result that was achieved. Let us reiterate again and again the gospel we have to declare, it is the very essence of the gospel which we proclaim. Trust your souls with Jesus, and your souls are saved. He suffered in the room, and place, and stead of all who trust him. If you rely on him by an act of simple faith, the simplest act in all the world, immediately when you do rely on him you are forgiven, your transgressions are blotted out for his name’s sake. He stands in spirit among us at this good hour, and says, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden”; and he gives you these arguments, which ought to convince you. I pray they may. He is an authorized Saviour, and a well-furnished Saviour. He is the friend of God, and the friend of man. May God grant you may accept him, and find the blessing which he alone can bestow. Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ro 8:1-17,28-39}

1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

“No condemnation”: that is the beginning of the chapter. No separation: that is the end of the chapter. And all between is full of grace and truth. What a banquet this chapter has often proved to the souls of God’s hungry servants! May it be so now as we read it. No condemnation even now. Many doubts, but no condemnation. Many chastisements, but no condemnation. Even frowns from the Father’s face apparently, but no condemnation. And this is not a mere statement, but an inference from powerful arguments. “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This is there position. “Who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” This is how they behave themselves, not under the government of the old nature, but under the rule of the Divine Spirit of God.

2-4. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit.

No one keeps the law so well as those who do not hope to be saved by it, but who, renouncing all confidence in their own works, and accepting the righteousness which is from God by faith in Christ Jesus, are moved by gratitude to a height of consecration and a purity of obedience which mere legalism {a} can never know. The child will obey better without desire of reward, than the slave will under the dread of the lash, or in hope of a wage. The most potent motive for holiness is free grace. A dying Saviour is the death of sin. As we have been singing, we strove against its power until we learned that Christ was the way, and then we conquered it.

5. For those who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Everything according to its nature. Water will rise as high as its source, but it will not naturally flow any higher. The great thing, then, is to be brought under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, and of that new nature which is the offspring of the Spirit. Then we try to rise up to our source, and we rise vastly higher than human nature ever can under any force that you can apply to it. The new nature can do what the old nature cannot do.

6. For to be carnally minded

To have the mind of the flesh.

6. Is death; but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.

Flesh must die. Its tendency is to corruption; but the spirit never dies. Its tendency, its instinct, is growth, advance, immortality.

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

The old nature is hopelessly bad. There is no mending it. It is enmity, not merely at enmity; but it is absolutely enmity. It is not subject to God’s law, and you cannot make it so.

8. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So long as we are under the dominion of the old nature, the depraved and fallen nature, there is no pleasing God.

9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Oh! this is a very wonderful fact, that the Spirit of God should dwell in us. I have often said to you that I never know which of two mysteries most to admire—God incarnate in Christ, or the Holy Spirit dwelling in man; they are two marvellous things, miracles of miracles.

9, 10. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The regeneration of the body, so to speak, is not performed in this life. Resurrection is tantamount to that. The body is still under the old law of death, and so we have pain and weakness, and we die; but the spirit, oh! how it triumphs, even in the midst of pain and weakness. “The Spirit is life, because of righteousness.” That will not die.

11. But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit who dwells in you.

So there is coming a time for your body to experience the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body. He does not say that he will give you a new body. Do not believe this modern doctrine. But he shall quicken your mortal body; that is to say, the same body, which is now subject to death, and so is mortal, is to be quickened at the resurrection.

12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

What do we owe the old nature? Nothing, surely. Give it a decent burial. Let it be buried with Christ in baptism. Let the Spirit of God come and renew it. But we owe it nothing, and we are not debtors to it.

13, 14. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Your “universal fatherhood” is rubbish. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” and no one else. This is the essential to sonship—that we should have the Spirit of God within us.

15, 16. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

That is, when we have the Spirit, when we are renewed in the Spirit of our minds, when we come into the domain of Spirit, and abandon the tyranny of the flesh. Then the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

17. And if children, then heirs;

It is not, of course, so in human families. All children are not heirs; but it is so in the family of God.

17. Heirs of God,

What an inheritance! God himself becomes our inheritance. We are heirs to all that God has, and all that God is.

17. And joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.

The whole chapter is rather too long for our reading, so we will pass on to the twenty-eighth verse.

28. And we know

This is not a matter of opinion. This is scarcely a matter of faith. “We know.” We are sure of it. We have proved it.

28. That all things work together for good for those who love God,

They all work. They work in harmony. They work for one purpose. That purpose is for good.

28. To those who are the called according to his purpose.

That is their private character, which God knows, and which he reveals to them in the course of time.

29. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

This is their character, which they perceive, which others may in a measure perceive. We are to be like him then, conformed to his image; and if we are joint-heirs with him, what a joy it is that we are to be partakers of his nature, made like him! Christ will be reflected, and in a measure repeated, in all his people; and this shall be the very glory of heaven, that, wherever you look, you shall see either Christ himself or his likeness in his people. If you have ever stood in a room that was full of mirrors everywhere, how amazingly your own likeness has been repeated! And heaven shall be a mirror chamber, where Christ shall be seen in every one of his people. He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of his Son.

30. Moreover whom he predestinated, those he also called: and whom he called, those he also justified: and whom he justified, those he also glorified.

That glorification we cannot see as yet. It is in the excessive brightness of the future, just as his divine election is in the brightness of the past. These are the two columns on either shore; but the swinging bridge in between is this—calling and justification. These are joined in one, and if you have either of these, you may know your predestination and your future glorification.

31. What shall we then say to these things?

Oh! have you not often said that? When you have studied the plan of grace, the covenant of God, have you not said to yourself, “What can I say to all this? It is a surpassing wonder. It exceeds the power of comprehension, for the greatness of this glory. What shall we then say to these things?” Well, we will say something practical that shall cheer our hearts.

31-33. If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

It may be read, “God who justifies?” and properly may be read as a question.

34. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died,

He is the Judge. Will he who died condemn?

34. Yes rather, who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

He alone is Judge. Has he done all this, and will he condemn us?

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

These have been tried on the saints for ages.

36. As it is written, “For your sake we are killed all the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

But has this separated them from Christ? Hear them all, as with united voice they answer.

37, 38. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded,

Someone asked, “Pray, what persuasion may you be?” Well, this is my persuasion.

38. That neither death, nor life, nor angels,

Good or bad.

38. Nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,

Hard and grinding as they may be.

38. Nor things to come.

Unknown mysteries dreaded.

39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

{a} Legalism: Theology. Applied reproachfully to the principles of those who are accused of adhering to the Law as opposed to the Gospel; the doctrine of justification by works, or teaching which savours of that doctrine. OED.