Lord, may you graciously help
me, I will turn your prayerful attention to the chapter that
we read in Romans, chapter 8, and read verse 14. Romans 8 and verse 14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8 and verse 14. For those of you who were here this
morning will know that we looked this morning at that symbol in
the Old Testament of the cloud, the pillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire. And how the Lord gave Israel
that symbol of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire
after they had left Egypt and how that this symbolizes how
when God has brought us out of nature's darkness there is that
giving of the spirit so that they walk in the spirit and how
that cloud stayed with Israel all their journeys through the
wilderness to the promised land and how the Holy Spirit is that
one that leads God's people through this wilderness journey to bring
them safe to glory. And we noted that the Passover,
after the Passover, the Lord Jesus dying at Calvary, then
there was a sending of the Spirit at Pentecost some 50 days later. Jesus had promised that. He said
that he would send the comforter and he did. He's faithful. We
read, we looked at the fact that the cloud and the pillar of cloud
and fire, it guided Israel right through the desert. They were
not to go their own way in the desert. They were to be guided
those 40 years through the desert, all by that pillar of cloud and
that pillar of fire. And when it moved, they moved.
When it stayed, they stayed. they were totally dependent on
that. And if they moved away, they
would have moved away from the blessing, away from the fire
at night, away from the cover in the daytime. They were dependent
to stay with, as it were, that cloud. And there's a picture
of how we need to have that Spirit of God with us. And we need to
walk in the Spirit. We then noted that when the temple
was reared up some nearly a year later, that it was the temple,
or the tabernacle, where particularly the cloud rested over. And how that the cloud is picturing
the Holy Spirit resting upon Christ. Christ was to be the
glory, and the cloud gave a glory to the tabernacle. And how that Christ is glorified
as the Spirit is anointed by the Spirit. on Jesus after his baptism. We then noted that one of the
features of this cloud, that it stayed with Israel their whole
journey, was never taken away. And in Nehemiah, it talks about
all the provocations of the golden calf and all those difficulties
and all those times they provoked the Lord to anger. He never took
away the cloud and he never took away the fire by night. It stayed
with them and what a comfort that is. to the Lord's people
that he said, I will never leave thee nor for safety so that we
may boldly say the Lord is my helper. We then noted that there
was a light. It gave light at night and how
the Holy Spirit gives light on the path that we should walk.
We then also noted that it was a covering from the heat and
burden of the day, it gave a covering, it gave a shelter, it gave that
the sun should not strike them by day, it gave a covering and
a great blessing that was to Israel. We then noted that also
it gave protection, that when Israel was going through the
Red Sea and Pharaoh was right behind them, it came between
them and Pharaoh and so that Israel never got overtaken and
destroyed by the Egyptians, which they would have done otherwise.
They were no match for them. And how the Spirit, you see,
is that protector and protects his people. If God be for us,
who can be against us? We noted also that the Spirit
gave a separation. It was darkness to the Egyptians
and light to Israel. And how that, you see, The Lord
Jesus says, I've revealed these things to babes and sucklings,
but I've hidden it from the wise and the prudent, and how the
Spirit, as it were, reveals it to his people and hides it from
the world. And so what a precious thing
it is to have the Spirit. But there was one other point
that we didn't mention, and that was that God spake from the ground. If you look in, In Psalm 99, it speaks of that,
how that God spoke to them in the cloud. Psalm 99. Let's turn to that. Psalm 99, verse
seven. He spake unto them in the cloudy
pillar. So here, God was speaking to
his people through the cloud, and how the Lord's spirit that
speaks today through his people, through his spirit, And this
is something you see is ongoing. And in Romans 8 that we read
together, verse 16, we have this. The spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. As he spoke
to Israel, there was surely a sense that this was their God and they
were his people. This was all symbolic of what
we do not have today, a cloud or the fire by night. but we have the assurance that
just as that was with Israel, all their journey through the
wilderness, so the Lord will be with his people. And so as
we come to this chapter in Romans, Romans chapter eight, which is
often referred to as the chapter of the spirit, it's speaking
so much of walking in the spirit and knowing That manifests in
our lives. And so as Christians, we need
the spirit of God, just as Israel needed that cloudy pillar and
that by day and the fire by night. So Christians today are not left
as they come out of Egypt, come out of this world, come to put
their trust in the saviour. They're not just left to go on
their own. They're not to just do their own thing. They're not
to just find their own way and live life as they feel they want
to themselves. that they are to be led by the
Spirit. And that's what we have in our
verse. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they, and
only they, are the sons of God. And how there is a one-to-one
relation between being led and guided by the Spirit and being
a true child of God. Well, where we started reading
this evening, where our reading was in Romans 7, Paul is speaking
of the sadness of the fact that he was still a sinner. He still
came short of the glory of God. Sin was mixed with all that he
does. He throws up his hands in sadness and says, oh, wretched
man that I am. Who should deliver me from the
body of this death? You see, one of the great works
of the Spirit. Jesus said this in John chapter
16. John chapter 16, verse eight. Verse 7, it says, nevertheless
I tell you, this is John 16, verse 7, nevertheless I tell
you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin. This is one aspect of the work
of the Holy Spirit. He will convince the world of
sin. And he convinced Saul of Tarsus
of sin. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee
of the Pharisees, as touching the law in his own estimation,
blameless. But when that spirit of God came
in the life of the Apostle Paul, he became guilty. The whole world
became guilty before God. And when he has come, he will
reprove the world of sin. And Paul came to realise that
he was not blameless as touching the law, but he was a wretched
sinner and he needed mercy. He needed salvation. And this
is the spirit's work, you see, to reveal the exceeding sinfulness
of sin. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who
should deliver me from the body of this death? Cries out Paul.
He is. And this is not just before his
salvation. This is a speaking in the present
tense. He's speaking as a child of God,
one that feels still the ongoing sin in his members. But then
he comes to this point. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. He
still realized that he was in the flesh. He still had a sinful
heart that would go after sinful things. But then it starts with,
in chapter eight, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. Here's a walk we had in this
morning. We had the journey from Egypt
into the promised land. There was a journey, there was
a walk. And here it says, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And here it says, there
is therefore now no condemnation. But you look in the last chapter
and it seems that there would be all condemnation, you see,
but he's in Christ Jesus. And it does not mean that there's
any, there's no accusation. Paul was full of accusations
against himself in Romans 7. But you see, there was still,
it didn't mean that there was not sin in Paul, But there was
no condemnation. Because as though Satan, the
accuser of the brethren, is constantly seeking to accuse the brethren
that they are sinners. And they are. It's not that they're
not sinners. And yet you see the great gospel
message is this. There is therefore now no condemnation. Because all the sin has been
laid upon another. It isn't that the Lord's people
are perfect, but it is that their sin has been dealt with by another. And therefore, when they are
presented faultless before the father with exceeding joyous,
as Joseph took his brothers, those five brethren and presented
them to Pharaoh. He never said, these are my kidnappers. These are the ones that sold
me into slavery. He said, he presented them to
Pharaoh. as his brothers, as his loved
ones. And he presented them faultless
as it were, before his throne with exceeding joy. There is
therefore now no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Another
important point here is to realize that it is our walk. It's not
our every action. It's a whole walk. If you looked
at somebody from a distance and saw them traveling in one direction,
you'd see that after so many hours, they traveled so far in
that direction. But you wouldn't, as it were,
necessarily notice every movement of their limbs. You'd just realize
that they traveled a certain distance in a certain time. And
so you see, the point here is that though there may be those
Oh, there may be those fortress, but as they get back up, they
then carry on traveling as they would. to their destination.
We think of that, you think of Christian and pliable as they
were in that slough of despond. Both of them, Christian, a real
Christian, pliable, one who was not really a Christian at all,
but they both fell into the slough of despond. You'd say, well,
they're both in the same situation. What's the difference? They're
both in this slough of despond, but you'll notice you see a pliable
got upset and he scrabbled out of the Slough of Gisbon and went
over to the side closest to his own house. And yet Christian,
you see, he was in the Slough of Gisbon, but he sought to get
out to the side closest to the celestial city. He walked in
the spirit, he walked towards the celestial city. That was
his main overall direction. If you track his position and
then sit a little while later, you'd see that he was traveling
towards the celestial city. He walked not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. The Lord's people do not have
a perfect walk, but they have a consistent walk in the direction
of either Either we are walking after the flesh, we're fulfilling
the things that we're thinking are all to do with the lust,
the prompt, the pride of life, all that the world calls good
or great. That's what the natural man is
thinking about. But the spiritual man is thinking
about how he can serve the Lord, how he can truly honor his God
and walk in his ways. Yes, his walk is not perfect.
but there may be those slips and falls, but the general direction,
the oval direction of his life is towards God. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. So we have these words of how
it is to walk after, walking after the Spirit. So that's what
we so much need to do in our own lives. We need to be amongst
those who are walking after the Spirit. Do we have that? And
you see, this gives a blessing to God's people. And it gives
a comfort. You see, as we read together,
in that when he, the Spirit, so if I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. When I depart, I will send him
unto you. This is John 16. Verse eight, it says, and when
he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me. That's the cardinal sin. That's
the sin that would have, as it were, sent Saul of Tarsus to
eternal damnation. He believed not on me. Yes, he was an upright religious
man, but he did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He did
not realize he was a sinner. The Lord worked in his heart.
The spirit worked in his heart and opened his eyes to see what
he was, who he was. You see, we spoke this morning
that one of the aspects of this pillar of fire, it gave light
to Israel. It gave light on their path.
It led them into the truth. And it led Saul of Tarsus into
the truth. So instead of thinking that he
was some great man, somebody that he could be proud of his
law-keeping, proud of his heritage, proud of everything, all that
the world calls good or great, or the religious world as it
was then. But he had to put, but what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, I count all things
but done for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. But this Spirit, walking in the
Spirit, you see, makes Christ to be precious. Just as that
cloud, it stood across the tabernacle. It stood across the tabernacle.
Indeed, it filled the tabernacle. It filled the tabernacle and
it gave a glow. It pointed to the Savior. And
we read so much that the Spirit does not speak of itself. It's not trying to exhort itself.
It's trying to point to Christ. And so this is the great thing
that we need in our lives. Know this is happening in our
lives. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh, God coming, and the Lord
Jesus took a body like our own, yet without sin, yet it was in
the form of sinful flesh, just like the serpent raised up And
by Moses, that brazen serpent, it had the form, it had the shape
of a serpent, but it had no venom. It had no venom. And that's like
Christ, you see, had the form of a sinful man. No venom, no
sin. And that, looking to that one. was the way that they are saved
in the wilderness. As they look to that brazen serpent,
and as we need to look to the savior, that one who is in the
form of a sinful man, like we are, and yet without sin. God sent him his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, as a sacrifice for sin,
he condemns sin in the flesh. So that means that that the Lord
Jesus, God the Father, condemned the sin of all his church in
the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He condemned sin
in the flesh. The condemnation of sin was upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. The righteousness of the Lord
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but
after The spirit, for they, in verse five it says, chapter eight,
for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. They that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit, for to be carnally minded is death. If we spend our time thinking
of what everybody else thinks about, what the world thinks
about, the things that this world calls good or great, the things
that just are puffing up us up in our own pride and self-importance
and all those things. If that's what we're spending
our time doing, we read that to be carnally minded is death. It will end in death and it will
be our destruction. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. And what is it to be spiritually
minded? It's to be seeking those things which are above, to be
thinking. God's thoughts after him, to
be thinking of those things which are eternal, those things which
are for the glory of God, those things which are for the kingdom
of God, those things which will be for the furtherance of the
gospel. Are we thinking those thoughts, or are we just full
of the things of this life? Yes, we need to live in this
world. We need to provide for our own. There's many things
to do here, but is our walk, our conversation, is our most
important things, as it were, seeking those things which are
above. So then, they that are in the
flesh, they say, they cannot please God. But ye are not in
the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You see, all of Israel
had that cloud upon them, and that separated them from all
the people of the earth. They were under the cloud. They
were under the cloud. And that separated them. And
so the Lord's people today, the vital differences they have, you're not in the flesh, but
in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you.
Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. And then it says, Therefore,
this is verse 12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors,
not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, that is, put them to death. To
mortify something is to kill it. To put it to death. If ye
through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, shall
live." So here we live, as it were, and we are to put to death
those things which are just of the flesh, and to live in the
Spirit. It's a high standard. But Paul
is saying this is what it is to walk by faith. It is what
it is to be a true Christian, is to be one that is led by the
Spirit. One that hears, one that obeys his voice. And as we were
thinking of all those different aspects of what the Spirit did,
what that cloudy pillar did, and the fire did for Israel,
what a protection it was, what a comfort it was, what an encouragement
that they had this one, and one that was protecting them. It
was all so much important that we had that spirit. And in verse
15 it says, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but ye have received the spirit of abruption. And here
you see, this lovely theme, the four wings before us here is
this precious doctrine of adoption. So these sons of God then come
to realize they're the sons of God by this adoption. They are
brought into his family. Yes, they've been purchased. The lamb has been slain, but
they've not just been freed from bondage of Egypt, They've come
into a family. They've become members of a family. They have a new father. They
have brothers and sisters in Christ. And you see here, this
gives a sense of belonging, a sense of love, that you've received
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Here we have the heart of a child,
you see, and given, received the spirit of adoption, Not just
the legal documents of adoption. You see here, in this world,
we could adopt a child and we could sort out all the paperwork
to make that child truly be the adopted child of those parents.
But that's something different than giving them the spirit of
adoption. You see, a spirit of adoption is when the child feels
that they are children of those parents. And they have a sense
that these are their parents and that they have a love to
them as a natural child would to their parents. That's the
spirit of adoption and that's what God can give you, see, to
change the heart so that we no longer see that the things of
God and the laws of God and the ways of God and the things of
God to be negative and to be a difficulty to bear, but we
see them as being a blessing. To worship the Lord becomes not
a negative thing, but a positive thing. It becomes something that
we delight to do. It changes the affection. We
have an affection for our new father. We have an affection
for his ways, for his word, for his truth, the spirit of adoption. You see, for as many as are led
by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. How do we know
that we're a son of God? How do we know? Because we have
an affection for the things of God that we never had before.
We never had before. We were constantly seeing what
we could perhaps get away with, with calling ourselves or coming
under the name of Christian. And yet we could have all these
things going on and we could possibly get away with them.
And then we would think the more we could get away with and still
be named under the name of Christ, that would be a good thing. But
the spirit of adoption is something different. It hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. Jesus explained that, didn't
he, on the Sermon on the Mount? He said, blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness. Not hunger and thirst so that
we can be as worldly as possible and still be classed as the children
of God. But blessed are they which hunger
and thirst after righteousness, Matthew 5, verse 6. And that
is the spirit where we cry out, Abba, Father, this is my God.
This is an endearing term. So instead of God being someone
who is our judge and somebody who is something that we run
away from and we feel that he just condemns us, he becomes
our friend. He becomes our God. He becomes
precious to us, unto you, Therefore, which believe he is precious. You think about in the life of
Joseph and his brethren. At first they only saw Joseph
as being that one that spoke roughly to them, one that unearthed
and dug down in their hearts to show them their sin. It just
seemed to make them more and more uncomfortable. They'd been
quite comfortable in covering their sin for many years. It
dug down and made them feel more and more uncomfortable and it
brought them to confessing. And the abuse of Joseph would
have been very, not altogether loving as it were, it would have
been a fear, a terror. What is this man going to do
to us? What is this man going to find out nicks about us? How
is he going to treat us? How is he going to, when he finds
out what's going on? But you see a spirit of adoption
cries out, Abba, Abba. It starts to realize that this
one is our friend. You see, as he brought them into
his banner, into that banqueting house, he brought them into his
house. He put out all those that were,
which were Egyptians, and he revealed himself to them. He
said, I am Joseph. They realize that there was that
familiar tie. He was a brother. He was not
just the ruler of the land of Egypt in all his power and all
his damning power against them. He was their brother. He was
their fellow. He was their friend. The spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry Abba. We start to realize that this
God is our friend. This God is our love, the one
that loves us, the one that has brought us back. And Joseph spent
the rest of his life convincing those, demonstrating to those
brothers, you see, that he was their friend. He was there for
them. He was there providing for them.
He would, the only reason they could stay in Egypt was because
of him. And you see, it's the spirit itself bearing witness
with our spirits that we are the children of God. The evidence,
why? We have a relationship. We have
a relationship with God. He is now our friend. The anger
of God has been put away. Yes, he's unearthed all these
difficult things. He showed us our sin. He showed
us how far short we come. When he's come, he will reprove
the world of sin and righteousness and a judgment of sin because
they believe not in me. Then you see he's called a company.
and how Joseph comforted his brethren. He comforted them. He spoke kindly to them. He showed
them that he was not going to use all his power as the ruler
of the land of Egypt to crush them. He was going to use that
power to bless, that power to sustain them. And how God, you
see, he used that. The spirit, you think about in
the wilderness, the spirit was used that cloudy pillar of fire
was used to sustain Israel. Not used to crush them, it was
used to sustain them and uphold them and give them a sense that
God was with them and that God was their father and God was
their friend. For as many as are led by the
spirit of God, they are the sons of God. This is what it is to
have a relationship with God. To know that not God is our a
judge, although he is a judge, but that judge has declared with
all honesty there is therefore now no condemnation for them
which are in Christ Jesus. He's declared honestly that we
are free from all that condemnation that sin has manifest in our
lives. Though there's many accusations
against us, and Satan would come with fresh accusations against
us day by day, but as he comes in with all these accusations,
then there is once again this truth, there is therefore no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. It is those
that are in Christ. There is a safety. There is a
security. All the shorty ship of Benjamin
having defected and carrying the silver cup and being found
with that silver cup. All of that went, all that problem
went on Judah as the shorty. It all went on Judah because
he had become a shorty. And you see in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we have a shorty that stood in our place. And therefore,
though we are, there's all these accusations against us. There
was all these accusations against Benjamin. Benjamin had to stay,
the one that had the silver cup. But Judah stands and says, let
him go back. I'll stay, a bondman, for thy
servant forever. And how our Lord Jesus Christ,
that shorty ship that he took on, he stood in his people's
place. He bore the price, and therefore
so he could make this declaration, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. All the accusations are still
there, but he's satisfied. He's paid the price, and therefore
there is no condemnation, for ye have not received how Joseph's brothers kept coming
into bondage again. Surely now he will, their father
had died. Surely now they were gonna, he
was gonna be again, gonna be against them. But Paul says here,
we've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. We have this one as our father,
our friend, the one that is with us and for us. The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirits that we are children of God. Here you see we have assurance.
We have assurance here. The Spirit assures his people
because of their relationship with God, their love to God,
their desires after him and godliness. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit. We spoke about how the Lord spoke
out of the cloud and how the Spirit speaks as it were to his
people. if children then heirs. Here
Paul uses, it goes on in this chain, if children then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. He's now starting
to show that if we are heirs with Christ, we then obtain everything
with And therefore, you see, there is so much of the blessings
of God wrapped up in these things, such a safety in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We read this morning in Hebrews 13, verse five, it
says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content
with such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee. That cloud was never to leave
Israel, not until they got to the promised land. It overshadowed
them. It was over that tabernacle showing
the presence of Christ and how the Christ was to be glorified.
It pointed to the beauties of Christ. Let your conversation
be without coverages. Be content with such things as
you have. We had said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. You see,
it's boldness. This is not presumption. This is holy boldness. This is
childlike faith to be able to say, my father is in control. My father seeks my good. My father is able to do that.
There's something beautiful about a childlike faith in their parents,
that this will happen because daddy said it will happen. that
it will happen because I believe that my parents tell the truth.
And you see here, the child of God is able to lay hold upon
these things. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say. We can say it boldly, not because
of self, not because of the confidence of ourselves, not because of
our own abilities, but because we believe in our God, so that
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me." And of course, that's what Paul goes
on in this chapter eight to say, that if God is for us, who can
be against us? Verse 31, it says, for what shall
we say then? If God be for us, who can be
against us? We spoke of this this morning,
of how when they were in the Red Sea and God was fighting
for them and the Egyptians were mightier than they were, naturally,
and yet God was for Israel and therefore Pharaoh and all his
hosts were no match. He that spared not his own son
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? There's such a plentifulness
here, you see, in the provision God has given for his people.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's inept? But then
he goes on later. In verse 35, who shall separate
us from the love of God? Who can separate us? Naturally,
we think of all the things that will separate us between us and
our God, all the dangers, and all the enemies that would do
that. Paul says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sakes
we are killed all the day. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors. For him that loveth us. You see,
it's this relation which is so transforming. Satan would constantly
try and bring before God's people. One of his names, Satan's name,
is the accuser of the brethren. He seeks to accuse them day and
night before God. Many accusations, and they're
not necessarily untrue. Often he's quite right. Many
accusations against us, many things, many inconsistencies
in us. And yet these words still stand,
there is therefore now no condemnation. He doesn't say there's no accusations.
He doesn't say that Satan hasn't got a list of things against
us, and probably, possibly correctly, that there's no condemnation,
because that sin has been dealt. But this does not give us a license
to sin. This does not give us a free
run, because then if we are walking after the flesh, if we are then
letting ourselves go in the way which is away from God, away
from the things of God, The question is, are we a child of God at
all? But here, Paul is saying that those that walk after the
Spirit are traveling, seeking towards the Lord Jesus. We think
of Peter and Judas. Both of them fell, didn't they?
But just at the time, just before the crucifixion. Peter denied
with oaths and curses, and Judas betrayed the Lord, and yet there
was a vast We read that Judas sought opportunity, how he might
betray the Lord Jesus. He was walking after the flesh. He was trying to get money out
of betraying the Lord Jesus. His whole direction of his travel
was away from God. Peter was seeking to follow the
Lord, and he fell. And God graciously restored him.
And he carried on his walk unto the Lord. You see the difference? Yes, they both fell. One obtained
mercy, and one carried on in seeking to walk in his way, sought
repentance with tears, and sought truly to be sorry for his sin,
and to truly realize that there was forgiveness with God. And so, in our lives, as we walk
in his ways, we will not walk perfectly, otherwise there would
not be any need for that patterned prayer that the Lord Jesus had
left on record. Forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those that trespass against us. Why would God have
left that? Jesus had left that prayer. If
there wasn't a daily coming short, And yet, where is our desire?
What are we pressing toward? Are we satisfied with falling? Are we satisfied with just carrying
on as the world carry on? Or are we seeking to walk after
the Spirit, imperfectly, and yet seeking to walk after the
Spirit? Well, may we know this Holy Spirit
working in our lives, giving us that energy, we are the children
of God. Who has changed our hearts from
loving sin, loving the ways of sin, loving pride, loving the
lust, the pomp, the pride of life, what the world calls good
or great? Why is it that we see something
beautiful in humility, something beautiful in Christ? Why do we,
as it were, have that spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba
Father? What changes that? Surely it
is the spirit making Christ precious, making his work, applying it
to us. You see, redemption was accomplished
at Calvary, but the Holy Spirit takes that work and applies it
to the hearts of each one of his children so that there is
therefore now no condemnation for man because the Lord Jesus
has taken that guilt. He has dealt with it. He has
laid it upon his only begotten son. And therefore, that all
those people who, as it were, come out of Egypt, come out of
this world, the slavery of serving sin, all have come under that
cloud. They all must have that spirit.
That is the defining mark of a child of God. As we have in
our text, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, They
are the sons of God. Yes, they're not. There's accusations
against them. They hate those accusations.
Paul said, oh, wretched man that I am. Who should deliver me from
the body of this death? He hated the accusations. He
said they were true. But he comes to this. There is,
therefore, now. Not in the future, but now. No condemnation. for them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk, not after the flesh, but after
the spirit, not perfectly, but walk as it were their whole direction
of their life is after the spirit rather than after the flesh. May the Lord bless you.