THE KING’S BUSINESS
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us and is given complete control, He bears witness together with our own spirit “that we are children of God.” It is to be noticed carefully that it does not say that He bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God, but “with (i. e., together with) our spirit, that we are children of God.” In other words, there are two wit nesses to our sonship, our own spirit and the Holy Spirit. Our own spirit taking God’s word for it that we are children of God because we received or believed on Christ (see John 1:12), bears witness that we are children of God. But the Holy Spirit also bears witness to the same fact. Because we are sons, God sends forth the Holy Spirit as, the Spirit of His Son “into our hearts crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6). It is a glorious thing to be a child of God and.it brings something else.of vast moment along with it. What does it bring? This, that we are also “heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” These are among the most wonderful words of the whole Bible, they are stu pendous words. Do we dare take them as meaning what they say? Do we dare take them as meaning anything less than what they say? No, we dare not, and what they say is this, that I am an heir of all God has and all God is, heirs just as Christ is heir, and that is, of course, heir to the fullest possible extent. The only difference is this, that Christ is heir by His own eter nal right and I am an heir because of my union with Him. To what extent is Christ an heir of God? He is the heir of all that God has and all that God is, and to that same extent we, who are in Him, are also heirs of God. But while my union with Christ makes it sure that I am an heir of God, it also makes sure that I will suffer with Christ in this present life (cf. 2 Tim. 3:12).. But while it makes sure that I shall suffer with Christ in . this present world, it also makes sure that I shall be glorified with Him hereafter. Certainly one need not complain at the small suffer ings that he receives! here because of his union with Christ when he thinks of the
Spirit, then we are no longer merely chil dren, we are sons, mature children of God. Many Christians govern their lives by a lot of rules that they have either taken or fancy they have taken from the Bible, or Which they have formulated for them selves. Such a life is a life of bondage, it is not the true Christian life. The normal Christian life is not a life governed by laws outside of us no matter how divine those laws may be in their place, but a life governed by a Divine Person who dwells within us. The life of law keeping is bondage and is full of “fear,’ but when the believer receives the Holy Spirit he receives “not the spirit of bondage again to fear; but (he receives) the Spirit of Adoption,” whereby he cries, “Abba, Father.” The word adoption means plac ing as a son. The words, “the Spirit of Adoption,” is a name of the Holy Spirit. He is so called because He produces in us a sense of sonship and thereby gives us our place as sons. How many theft are today who call themselves Christians, but who do not seem to have received this Spirit of Adoption. They cringe before God in ter ror. Their whole heart does not go out toward God in the restful, glad, fearless, trust of a child toward its father. The one Being in the whole universe in whose presence I have absolutely no fear, the one being and only being I absolutely trust is God. But it was not always so, only since I “received the Spirit of Adoption.” But while it is our privilege not to be governed by a law outside of us, but by a Divine Person dwelling within us, we must not make the awful mistake; of thinking that the Spirit of God who dwells in us will lead us to do anything that is contrary to the will of God as expressed in His Word. Any spirit that leads us t d do something that is contrary to the revealed will of God and the will of God as it is made known by the Word of God, is not the Spirit of God, but some other spirit. Sunday, July 15 . Rom. 8 : 16 , 17 . When the Spirit of God dwells within
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