Can you say, "G.o.d has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into my heart," and now I can call Him my Father? Being made the children of G.o.d by adoption and grace, let us enjoy the privileges which are secured to us; let us act as loving children should do.
Does it all seem too good to be true? Trust His Word, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of G.o.d, even to them that believe on His Name." [Footnote: St. John i. 12]
Some of you remember the joy which thrilled you when you first received Him as your Saviour, but perhaps it was not until afterwards that you realised the blessedness of your new position as sons of G.o.d.
The Holy Spirit leads us on step by step. First, He a.s.sures us that "there is no condemnation," then He sets us free from the bondage of sin and death. [Footnote: Rom. viii. i, 2.] All is changed now, we feel the confidence of a child who has free access to his father at all times.
There are three things which mark the children of G.o.d, the spiritual mind, the spiritual walk, and the spiritual talk. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of G.o.d." [Footnote: Rom.
viii. 16.] We then call out with the consciousness of sonship, "Father, Father."
The witness of the Spirit was given to me soon after my conversion and thrilled me with joyful a.s.surance. It came to me when a Christian doctor was telling his children about the way of salvation. He drew a line on the carpet with a stick and said, "On one side there is DEATH, on the other, LIFE," and I said to myself, "I know which side of the line I am on." So it was by means of this simple remark that I found out that I was really a child of G.o.d, and my heart began from that time to cling to G.o.d as my Father. Every day since then I have experienced the blessedness of trusting Him and knowing Him as my Father. Is this your happy portion? If not, why not?
ADDRESS III
THE SON OF G.o.d
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE--St. John i. 1-18, 29-34.
"THIS IS THE SON OF G.o.d." These are the closing words of John the Baptist"s striking testimony, What a grand message! How it thrills us through and through! On and on the glorious words ring out, "_The Son of G.o.d is come_." Many years after, when the Apostle John was a very old man, he wrote in one of his letters, "We know that the Son of G.o.d is come."
[Footnote: I John v. 20.]
Now look back to the first words of our chapter. "In the beginning was the Word." Who is the Word? It is "the Son of G.o.d." When was the beginning?
Long, long ago in Eternity that is past "the Son of G.o.d was the brightness of His Father"s glory and the express image," [Footnote: Heb. i. 3.] or exact representation, "of His Person." In His last prayer with His disciples our Lord speaks of "the glory which He had with the Father before the world was." [Footnote: St. John xvii. 5.]
The first verse of this Gospel takes us back long before this world was created. Then we come to the creation in verse 3: "All things were made by Him." This is exactly what is said in the first verse of the Bible of another beginning, "In the beginning G.o.d created the heavens and the earth." Long before this world was created we read of G.o.d"s dear Son as "the image of the invisible G.o.d, the first-born of every creature." All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, the Eternal Son of G.o.d. [Footnote: Col. i. 15-17.]
He says, "I was set up from everlasting from the beginning, before ever the earth was. When He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him; I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him: rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and My delights were with the sons of men." [Footnote: Gen. i. 26.]
How wonderful it is to think that in the Eternity that is past, and long before the world was made, G.o.d had two grand purposes. One was to create man to be the head of the whole human race. So, when the moment came that the earthly home was ready, then G.o.d said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." [Footnote: Prov. viii. 23, 29, 30, 31.]
The other grand purpose in the Eternal counsel between the Father and His Son was to redeem man after he had fallen through sin. The Redeemer is the Son of G.o.d Himself, so He was foreordained to this work of redemption before the Creation of the world--"The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." [Footnote: Rev. xiii. 8.] Hundreds of years rolled on, and then the glorious message from heaven was sounded forth over the plains of Bethlehem:--"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy ... for unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." [Footnote: St.
Luke ii. 10, 11.]
THE SON OF G.o.d IS COME
_Where_ did He come from? _When_ did He come? _Why_ did He come? These are some of the questions we must try to answer.
First, where did He come from? He came forth from G.o.d. He was in the bosom of the Father from all Eternity. He said to the disciples, "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world." [Footnote: St. John xvi. 28.]
We have read of two beginnings, now we will look at another beginning. In the first chapter of St. Mark"s Gospel, and the first verse, we read, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d." Here we have the beginning of all that grand and glorious work of Salvation which is still being carried on by our Lord at the Father"s right hand in heaven.
So we read of three beginnings, and these three are all of G.o.d. There is one more which is also of G.o.d.
It is the beginning of the life of Christ in the soul. When we read about "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ," we know it means the beginning of His life on earth. Have you ever asked whether there has been a beginning of His life _in your heart_? Is it only what you read about, or is it a personal experience in your soul? Alas! many join in singing the chorus, "What a wonderful Saviour," who cannot say, "He is my own dear Saviour." They have never been able to say "My spirit hath rejoiced in G.o.d my Saviour."
What is this personal experience of the life of Christ in the soul? It is what the Apostle Paul describes when he says, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ _liveth in me_."
[Footnote: Gal. ii. 20.]
"Once far from G.o.d and dead in sin, No light my heart could see: But in G.o.d"s Word the light I found, Now Christ liveth in me."
In writing to the Galatians he says, "My little children, you for whom I am again undergoing, as it were, the pains of child-birth, until Christ is fully formed within you" [Footnote: Gal. iv. 19.] (Weymouth"s translation).
THE SON OF G.o.d IS COME.
Secondly, When did He come? "It was when the fulness of the time was come," [Footnote: Gal. iv. 4.] that is when the time was ripe for it.
G.o.d"s clock is never too fast or too slow: so at the exact moment "when the fulness of time was come G.o.d sent forth _His Son_." Still and always His Son, but now "made of a woman," "G.o.d, manifest in the flesh"--the G.o.d-man.
THE SON OF G.o.d IS COME.
What is His Name? G.o.d Himself gave the Name. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus." [Footnote: St. Matt. i. 21.] No other name was to be given: it is a command, "_thou shalt_ call His name Jesus, for He shall save": that is why He is _come_. "He is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
"Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He Himself shall save His people from their sins." He is presented to us as a living personal Saviour. The promise is, "He, _Himself_ shall save." It means that He will abide in each believing soul for ever. Yes, moment by moment and for ever. He abides in us as the Deliverer from all sin. What a glorious promise! Are you living in the reality of it?
"Jesus! Name of wondrous love, Human Name of G.o.d above."
It is the G.o.d-given Name. "The Name which is above every name." Is it precious to you?
THE SON OF G.o.d IS COME.
Thirdly, Why did He come? The King sends amba.s.sadors to represent him in foreign countries, but G.o.d sent "His own dearly loved Son." "For G.o.d so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." [Footnote: St. John iii. 16.] The little word "_so_" means love in its unutterable fulness, and G.o.d is the source of it. Have you ever thanked Him for the unspeakable gift of His dear Son? Link the two words together, _G.o.d--the world_: it means G.o.d and you: G.o.d and me. Then link together _loved_ and _gave_. It will take Eternity to get to the bottom of those two words. Now add that other precious text, "He loved me: He gave Himself for me," [Footnote: Gal. ii. 20.] and you have "the grace of G.o.d bringing salvation."
Six times in the Epistles we find the words "He gave Himself," and in I Peter ii. 24, it says, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." This is why the Son of G.o.d is come, and it is this which makes Him so personally real to us when earthly things are fading away.
I knew a working man who had a long, painful illness which lasted three years. I rejoice to say that soon after it began he was converted. He was so earnest that his one thought was to tell others what a dear Saviour he had found, and many were led to Christ through his example and testimony.
His mother was converted through him and she is now carrying on the Christian work which he began. What was it that changed this man? It was the Holy Spirit revealing Christ to him as a living personal Saviour. The day before he died he said to his sister, "I had such a lovely time with the Master this morning in between the pain. Oh! it was like healing balm to me and He gave me a little hymn--
""Jesus loves me, He who died Heaven"s gate to open wide: He will wash away my sin, Let His little child come in.""
How wonderful that a man nearly 40 years of age should find such comfort in a simple little hymn. But it is thus the Lord reveals Himself.
Do you feel that you are like a lost sheep? "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." [Footnote: St. Luke xix. 10.]
THE SON OF G.o.d IS COME!
It is a fact, a certainty. A great reality. Nothing can take it from us.
It is a living experience in our inmost hearts. "And we know," says the Apostle John, "that the Son of G.o.d is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true G.o.d, and eternal life." [Footnote: I John v. 20.]
The Son of G.o.d is come and G.o.d presents Him to us as His Perfect Son and our Perfect Saviour. Twice during His earthly ministry there was a voice from heaven which said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased": "In whom I have perfect delight now and for ever." Can you reply, "This is my Beloved Saviour and He is everything to me"? [Footnote: St. Matt. iii. 17 and xvii. 5.] He is either everything or nothing.
Are you like the merchant in the parable, "seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it"? Is your heart singing
"I"ve found the pearl of greatest price, My heart doth sing for joy; And sing I must for Christ is mine!
Christ shall my song employ!"
A Chinese convert told one of the missionaries that he happened to take up a Testament which had been sold to the people of the house by a colporteur, but they could not see the meaning of it, so they laid it on one side. "But," he went on to say, "from the moment my eyes lighted upon it, I was greatly attracted by it. So I read and kept on reading till the meaning dawned upon me, and then," he added with a beaming face, "I found the Pearl of Great Price."