Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, April 14th, 1878, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."–Galatians 4:6.
WE do not find the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity set forth in
Scripture in formal terms, such as those which are employed in the
Athanasian creed; but the truth is continually taken for granted, as if
it were a fact well known in the church of God. If not laid down very
often, in so many words, it is everywhere held in solution, and it is
mentioned incidentally, in connection with other truths in a way which
renders it quite as distinct as if it were expressed in a set formula.
In many passages it is brought before us so prominently that we must be
wilfully blind if we do not note it. In the present chapter, for
instance, we have distinct mention of each of the three divine Persons.
"God," that is the Father, "sent forth the Spirit," that is the Holy
Spirit; and he is here called "the Spirit of his Son." Nor have we the
names alone, for each sacred person is mentioned as acting in the work
of our salvation: see the fourth verse, "God sent forth his Son."; then
note the fifth verse, which speaks of the Son as redeeming them that
were under the law; and then the text itself reveals the Spirit as
coming into the hearts of believers, and crying Abba, Father. Now,
inasmuch, as you have not only the mention of the separate names, but
also certain special operations ascribed to each, it is plain that you
have here the distinct personality of each. Neither the Father, the
Son, nor the Spirit can be an influence, or a mere form of existence,
for each one acts in a divine manner, but with a special sphere and a
distinct mode of operation. The error of regarding a certain divine
person as a mere influence, or emanation, mainly assails the Holy
Ghost; but its falseness is seen in the words–"crying, Abba, Father":
an influence could not cry; the act requires a person to perform it.
Though we may not understand the wonderful truth of the undivided
Unity, and the distinct personality of the Triune Godhead, yet,
nevertheless, we see the truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures: and,
therefore, we accept it as a matter of faith.
The divinity of each of these sacred persons is also to be gathered
from the text and its connection. We do not doubt tee the loving union
of all in the work of deliverance. We reverence the Father, without
whom we had not been chosen or adopted: the Father who hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead. We love and reverence the Son by whose most precious blood we
have been redeemed, and with whom we are one in a mystic and
everlasting union: and we adore and love the divine Spirit, for it is
by him that we have been regenerated, illuminated, quickened,
preserved, and sanctified; and it is through him that we receive the
seal and witness within our hearts by which we are assured that we are
indeed the sons of God. As God said of old, "Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness, even so do the divine Persons take counsel
together, and all unite in the new creation of the believer. We must
not fail to bless, adore, and love each one of the exalted Persons, but
we must diligently bow in lowliest reverence before the one
God–Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen."
Having noted this most important fact, let us come to the text itself,
hoping to enjoy the doctrine of the Trinity while we are discoursing
upon our adoption, in which wonder of grace they each have a share.
Under the teaching of the divine Spirit may we be drawn into sweet
communion with the Father through his Son Jesus Christ, to his glory
and to our benefit.
Three things are very clearly set forth in my text: the first is the
dignity of believers–"ye are sons;" the second is the consequent
indwelling of the Holy Ghost–"because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts;" and the third is the filial
cry–crying, "Abba, Father."
I. First, then, THE DIGNITY OF BELIEVERS. Adoption gives us the rights
of children, regeneration gives us the nature of children: we are
partakers of both of these, for we are sons.
And let us here observe that this sonship is a gift of grace received
by faith. We are not the sons of God by nature in the sense here meant.
We are in a sense "the offspring God" by nature, but this is very
different from the sonship here described, which is the peculiar
privilege of those who are born again. The Jews claimed to be of the
family of God, but as their privileges came to them by the way of their
fleshly birth, they are likened to Ishmael, who was born after the
flesh, but who was cast out as the son of the bondwoman, and compelled
to give way to the son of the promise. We have a sonship which does not
come to us by nature, for we are "born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Our sonship comes by
promise, by the operation of God as a special gift to a peculiar seed,
set apart unto the Lord by his own sovereign grace, as Isaac was. This
honour and privilege come to us, according to the connection of our
text, by faith. Note well the twenty-sixth verse of the preceding
chapter (Gal. 3:26): "For ye are all the children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus." As unbelievers we know nothing of adoption. While we are
under the law as self-righteous we know something of servitude, but we
know nothing of sonship. It is only after that faith has come that we
cease to be under the schoolmaster, and rise out of our minority to
take the privileges of the sons of God.
Faith worketh in us the spirit of adoption, and our consciousness of
sonship, in this wise: first, it brings us justification. Verse
twenty-four of the previous chapter says, "The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." An
unjustified man stands in the condition of a criminal, not of a child:
his sin is laid to his charge, he is reckoned as unjust and
unrighteous, as indeed he really is, and he is therefore a rebel
against his king, and not a child enjoying his father's love. But when
faith realizes the cleansing power of the blood of atonement, and lays
hold upon the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, then the justified
man becomes a son and a child. Justification and adoption always go
together. "Whom he called them he also justified," and the calling is a
call to the Father's house, and to a recognition of sonship. Believing
brings forgiveness and justification through our Lord Jesus; it also
brings adoption, for it is written, "But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name."
Faith brings us into the realization of our adoption in the next place
by setting us free from the bondage of the law. "After that faith is
come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." When we groaned under a
sense of sin, and were shut up by it as in a prison, we feared that the
law would punish us for our iniquity, and our life was made bitter with
fear. Moreover, we strove in our own blind self-sufficient manner to
keep that law, and this brought us into yet another bondage, which
became harder and harder as failure succeeded to failure: we sinned and
stumbled more and more to our soul's confusion. But now that faith has
come we see the law fulfilled in Christ, and ourselves justified and
accepted in him: this changes the slave into a child, and duty into
choice. Now we delight in the law, and by the power of the Spirit we
walk in holiness to the glory of God. Thus it is that by believing in
Christ Jesus we escape from Moses, the taskmaster, and come to Jesus,
the Saviour; we cease to regard God as an angry Judge and view him as
our loving Father. The system of merit and command, and punishment and
fear, has given way to the rule of grace, gratitude, and love, and this
new principle of government is one of the grand privileges of the
children of God.
Now, faith is the mark of sonship in all who have it, whoever they may
be, for "ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Gal.
3:26). If you are believing in Jesus, whether you are Jew or Gentile,
bond or free, you are a son of God. If you have only believed in Christ
of late, and have but for the past few weeks been able to rest in his
great salvation, yet, beloved, now are you a child of God. It is not an
after privilege, granted to assurance or growth in grace; it is an
early blessing, and belongs to him who has the smallest degree of
faith, and is no more than a babe in grace. If a man be a believer in
Jesus Christ his name is in the register-book of the great family
above, "for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
But if you have no faith, no matter what zeal, no matter what works, no
matter what knowledge, no matter what pretensions to holiness you may
possess, you are nothing, and your religion is vain. Without faith in
Christ you are as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, for without
faith it is impossible to please God. Faith then, wherever it is found,
is the infallible token of a child of God, and its absence is fatal to
the claim.
This according to the apostle is further illustrated by our baptism,
for in baptism, if there be faith in the soul, there is an open putting
on of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the twenty-seventh verse: "For as
many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ." In
baptism you professed to be dead to the world and you were therefore
buried into the name of Jesus: and the meaning of that burial, if it
had any right meaning to you, was that you professed yourself
henceforth to be dead to everything but Christ, and henceforth your
life was to be in him, and you were to be as one raised from the dead
to newness of life. Of course the outward form avails nothing to the
unbeliever, but to the man who is in Christ it is a most instructive
ordinance. The spirit and essence of the ordinance lie in the soul's
entering into the symbol, in the man's knowing not alone the baptism
into water, but the baptism into the Holy Ghost and into fire: and as
many of you as know that inward mystic baptism into Christ know also
that henceforth you have put on Christ and are covered by him as a man
is by his garment. Henceforth you are one in Christ, you wear his name,
you live in him, you are saved by him, you are altogether his. Now, if
you are one with Christ, since he is a son, you are sons also. If you
have put on Christ God seeth you not in yourself but in Christ, and
that which belongeth unto Christ belongeth also unto you, for if you be
Christ's then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. As the Roman youth when he came of age put on the toga, and
was admitted to the rights of citizenship, so the putting on of Christ
is the token of our admission into the position of sons of God. Thus
are we actually admitted to the enjoyment of our glorious heritage.
Every blessing of the covenant of grace belongs to those who are
Christ's, and every believer is in that list. Thus, then, according to
the teaching of the passage, we receive adoption by faith as the gift
of grace.
Again, adoption comes to us by redemption. Read the passage which
precedes the text: "But when the fullness of the time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
Beloved, prize redemption, and never listen to teaching which would
destroy its meaning or lower its importance. Remember that ye were not
redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish. You were under the law, and subject to
its curse, for you had broken it most grievously, and you were subject
to its penalty, for it is written, "the soul that sinneth, it shall
die"; and yet again, "cursed is everyone that continueth not in all
things that are written in the book of the law to do them." You were
also under the terror of the law, for you feared its wrath; and you
were under its irritating power, for often when the commandment came,
sin within you revived and you died. But now you are redeemed from all;
as the Holy Ghost saith, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree." Now ye are not under the law, but under grace,
and this because Christ came under the law and kept it both by his
active and his passive obedience, fulfilling all its commands and
bearing all its penalty on your behalf and in your room and stead.
Henceforth you are the redeemed of the Lord, and enjoy a liberty which
comes by no other way but that of the eternal ransom. Remember this;
and whenever you feel most assured that you are a child of God, praise
the redeeming blood; whenever your heart beats highest with love to
your great Father, bless the "firstborn among many brethren," who for
your sakes came under the law, was circumcised, kept the law in his
life, and bowed his head to it in his death, honouring, and magnifying
the law, and making the justice and righteousness of God to be more
conspicuous by his life than it would have been by the holiness of all
mankind, and his justice to be more fully vindicated by his death that
it would have been if all the world of sinners had been cast into hell.
Glory be to our redeeming Lord, by whom we have received the adoption!
Again, we further learn from the passage that we now enjoy the
privilege of sonship. According to the run of the passage the apostle
means not only that we are children, but that we are full-grown sons.
"Because ye are sons," means,–because the time appointed of the Father
is come, and you are of age, and no longer under tutors and governors.
In our minority we are under the schoolmaster, under the regimen of
ceremonies, under types, figures, shadows, learning our A B C by being
convinced of sin; but when faith is come we are no longer under the
schoolmaster, but come to a more free condition. Till faith comes we
are under tutors and governors, like mere boys, but after faith we take
our rights as sons of God. The Jewish church of old was under the yoke
of the law; its sacrifices were continual and its ceremonies endless;
new moons and feasts must be kept; jubilees must be observed and
pilgrimages made: in fact, the yoke was too heavy for feeble flesh to
bear. The law followed the Israelite into every corner, and dealt with
him upon every point: it had to do with his garments, his meat, his
drink, his bed, his board, and everything about him: it treated him
like a boy at school who has a rule for everything. Now that faith has
come we are full grown sons, and therefore we are free from the rules
which govern the school of the child. We are under law to Christ, even
as the full-grown son is still under the discipline of his father's
house; but this is a law of love and not of fear, of grace and not of
bondage. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Return not to the beggarly elements of a merely outward religion, but
keep close to the worship of God in spirit and in truth, for this is
the liberty of the children of God.
Now, by faith we are no more like to bond-servants. The apostle says
that "the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a
servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutor and governors
till the time appointed of the father." But beloved, now are ye the
sons of God, and ye have come to your majority: now are ye free to
enjoy the honours and blessings of the Father's house. Rejoice that the
free spirit dwells within you, and prompts you to holiness; this is a
far superior power to the merely external command and the whip of
threatening. Now no more are you in bondage to outward forms, and
rites, and ceremonies; but the Spirit of God teacheth you all things,
and leads you into the inner meaning and substance of the truth.
Now, also, saith the apostle, we are heirs–"Wherefore thou art no more
a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through
Christ." No man living has ever realised to the full what this means.
Believers are at this moment heirs, but what is the estate? It is God
himself! We are heirs of God! Not only of the promises, of the covenant
engagements, and of all the blessings which belong to the chosen seed,
but heirs of God himself. "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul."
"This God is our God for ever and ever." We are not only, heirs to God,
to all that he gives to his firstborn, but heirs of God himself. David
said, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." As
he said to Abraham, "Fear not Abraham, I am thy shield and thine
exceeding great reward," so saith he to every man that is born of the
Spirit. These are his own words–"I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people." Why, then, believer, are you poor? All riches
are yours. Why then are you sorrowful? The ever-blessed God is yours.
Why do you tremble? Omnipotence waits to help you. Why do you distrust?
His immutability will abide with you even to the end, and make his
promise steadfast. All things are yours, for Christ is yours, and
Christ is God's; and though there be some things which at present you
cannot actually grasp in your hand, nor even see with your eye, to wit,
the things which are laid up for you in heaven, yet still by faith you
can enjoy even these, for "he hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in the heavenlies in Christ," "in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance," so that "our citizenship is in heaven." We
enjoy even now the pledge and earnest of heaven in the indwelling of
the Holy Ghost. Oh what privileges belong to those who are the sons of
God!
Once more upon this point of the believer's dignity, we are already
tasting one of the inevitable consequences of being the sons of God.
What are they? One of them is the opposition of the children of the
bondwoman. No sooner had the apostle Paul preached the liberty of the
saints, than straightway there arose certain teachers who said, "This
will never do; you must be circumcised, you must come under the law."
Their opposition was to Paul a token that he was of the free woman, for
behold the children of the bondwoman singled him out for their virulent
opposition. You shall find, dear brother, that if you enjoy fellowship
with God, if you live in the spirit of adoption, if you are brought
near to the Most High, so as to be a member of the divine family,
straightway all those who are under bondage to the law will quarrel
with you. Thus saith the apostle, "As then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is
now." The child of Hagar was found by Sarah mocking Isaac, the child of
promise. Ishmael would have been glad to have shown his enmity to the
hated heir by blows and personal assault, but there was a superior
power to check him, so that he could get no further than "mocking." So
it is just now. There have been periods in which the enemies of the
gospel have gone a great deal further than mocking, for they have been
able to imprison and burn alive the lovers of the gospel; but now,
thank God, we are under his special protection as to life and limb and
liberty, and are as safe as Isaac was in Abraham's house. They can mock
us, but they cannot go any further, or else some of us would be
publicly gibbeted. But trials of cruel mockings are still to be
endured, our words are twisted, our sentiments are misrepresented, and
all sorts of horrible things are imputed to us, things which we know
not, to all which we would reply with Paul, "Am I therefore become your
enemy because I tell you the truth?" This is the old way of the
Hagarenes, the child after the flesh is still doing his best to mock
him that is born after the Spirit. Do not be astonished, neither be
grieved in the least degree when this happens to any of you, but let
this also turn to the establishment of your confidence and to the
confirmation of your faith in Christ Jesus, for he told you of old, "If
ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you."
II. Our second head is THE CONSEQUENT INDWELLING OF THE HOLY GHOST IN
BELIEVERS;–"God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts." Here is a divine act of the Father. The Holy Ghost proceedeth
from the Father and the Son: and God hath sent him forth into your
hearts. If he had only come knocking at your hearts and asked your
leave to enter, he had never entered, but when Jehovah sent him he made
his way, without violating your will, but yet with irresistible power.
Where Jehovah sent him there he will abide, and go no more out for
ever. Beloved, I have no time to dwell upon the words, but I want you
to turn them over in your thoughts, for they contain a great depth. As
surely as God sent his Son into the world to dwell among men, so that
his saints beheld his glory, the "glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth," so surely hath God sent forth the
Spirit to enter into men's hearts, there to take up his residence that
in him also the glory of God may be revealed. Bless and adore the Lord
who hath sent you such a visitor as this.
Now, note the style and title under which the Holy Spirit comes to us:
he comes as the Spirit of Jesus. The words are "the Spirit of his Son,"
by which is not meant the character and disposition of Christ, though
that were quite true, for God sends this unto his people, but it means
the Holy Ghost. Why, then, is he called the Spirit of his Son, or the
Spirit of Jesus? May we not give these reasons? It was by the Holy
Ghost that the human nature of Christ was born of the Virgin. By the
Spirit our Lord was attested at his baptism, when the Holy Spirit
descended upon him like a dove, and abode upon him. In him the Holy
Spirit dwelt without measure, anointing him for his great work, and by
the Spirit he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.
The Spirit was also with him, attesting his ministry by signs and
wonders. The Holy Ghost is our Lord's great gift to the church; it was
after his ascension that he bestowed the gifts of Pentecost, and the
Holy Spirit descended upon the church to abide with the people of God
for ever. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ, because, also, he is
Christ's witness here below; for "there are three that bear witness on
earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood." For these and many
other reasons he is called "the Spirit of his Son," and it is he who
comes to dwell in believers. I would urge you very solemnly and
gratefully to consider the wondrous condescension which is here
displayed. God himself the Holy Ghost, takes up his residence in
believers. I never know which is the more wonderful, the incarnation of
Christ or the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Jesus dwelt here for awhile
in human flesh untainted by sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners; but the Holy Ghost dwells continually in the
hearts of all believers, though as yet they are imperfect and prone to
evil. Year after year, century after century, he still abideth in the
saints, and will do so till the elect are all in glory. While we adore
the incarnate Son, let us adore also the indwelling Spirit whom the
Father hath sent.
Now notice the place wherein he takes up his residence.–"God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." Note, that it does not
say into your heads or your brains. The Spirit of God doubtless
illuminates the intellect and guides the judgement, but this is not the
commencement nor the main part of his work. He comes chiefly to the
affections, he dwells with the heart, for with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
your hearts." Now, the heart is the centre of our being, and therefore
doth the Holy Ghost occupy this place of vantage. He comes into the
central fortress and universal citadel of our nature, and thus takes
possession of the whole. The heart is the vital part; we speak of it as
the chief residence of life, and therefore the Holy Ghost enters it,
and as the living God dwells in the living heart, taking possession of
the very core and marrow of our being. It is from the heart and through
the heart that life is diffused. The blood is sent even to the
extremities of the body by the pulsings of the heart, and when the
Spirit of God takes possession of the affections, he operates upon
every power, and faculty, and member of our entire manhood. Out of the
heart are the issues of life, and from the affections sanctified by the
Holy Ghost all other faculties and powers receive renewal,
illumination, sanctification, strengthening, and ultimate perfection.
This wonderful blessing is ours "because we are sons;" and it is
fraught with marvellous results. Sonship sealed by the indwelling
Spirit brings us peace and joy; it leads to nearness to God and
fellowship with him; it excites trust, love, and vehement desire, and
creates in us reverence, obedience, and actual likeness to God. All
this, and much more, because the Holy Ghost has come to dwell in us.
Oh, matchless mystery! Had it not been revealed it had never been
imagined, and now that it is revealed it would never have been believed
if it had not become matter of actual experience to those who are in
Christ Jesus. There are many professors who know nothing of this; they
listen to us with bewilderment as if we told them an idle tale, for the
carnal mind knoweth not the things that be of God; they are spiritual,
and can only be spiritually discerned. Those who are not sons, or who
only come in as sons under the law of nature, like Ishmael, know
nothing of this indwelling Spirit, and are up in arms at us for daring
to claim so great a blessing: yet it is ours, and none can deprive us
of it.
III. Now I come to the third portion of our text–THE FILIAL CRY. This
is deeply interesting. I think it will be profitable if your minds
enter into it. Where the Holy Ghost enters there is a cry. "God hath
sent forth the Spirit of his Son, crying, Abba, Father.'" Now, notice,
it is the Spirit of God that cries–a most remarkable fact. Some are
inclined to view the expression as a Hebraism, and read it, he "makes
us to cry;" but, beloved, the text saith not so, and we are not at
liberty to alter it upon such a pretence. We are always right in
keeping to what God says, and here we plainly read of the Spirit in our
hearts that he is crying "Abba, Father." The apostle in Romans 8:15
says, "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father," but here he describes the Spirit himself as crying "Abba,
Father." We are certain that when he ascribed the cry of "Abba, Father"
to us, he did not wish to exclude the Spirit's cry, because in the
twenty-sixth verse of the famous eighth of Romans he says, "Likewise
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered." Thus he represents the Spirit
himself as groaning with unutterable groanings within the child of God,
so that when he wrote to the Romans he had on his mind the same thought
which he here expressed to the Galatians,–that it is the Spirit itself
which cries and groans in us "Abba, Father." How is this? Is it not
ourselves that cry? Yes, assuredly; and yet the Spirit cries also. The
expressions are both correct. The Holy Spirit prompts and inspires the
cry. He puts the cry into the heart and mouth of the believer. It is
his cry because he suggests it, approves of it, and educates us to it.
We should never have cried thus if he had not first taught us the way.
As a mother teaches her child to speak, so he puts this cry of "Abba,
Father" into our mouths; yea, it is he who forms in our hearts the
desire after our Father, God, and keeps it there. He is the Spirit of
adoption, and the author of adoption's special and significant cry.
Not only does he prompt us to cry but he works in us a sense of need
which compels us to cry, and also that spirit of confidence which
emboldens us to claim such relationship to the great God. Nor is this
all, for he assists us in some mysterious manner so that we are able to
pray aright; he puts his divine energy into us so that we cry "Abba,
Father" in an acceptable manner. There are times when we cannot cry at
all, and then he cries in us. There are seasons when doubts and fears
abound, and so suffocate us with their fumes that we cannot even raise
a cry, and then the indwelling Spirit represents us, and speaks for us,
and makes intercession for us, crying in our name, and making
intercession for us according to the will of God. Thus does the cry
"Abba, Father" rise up in our hearts even when we feel as if we could
not pray and dare not think ourselves children. Then we may each say,
"I live, yet not I, but the Spirit that dwelleth in me." On the other
hand, at times our soul gives such a sweet assent to the Spirit's cry
that it becometh ours also, but then we more than ever own the work of
the Spirit, and still ascribe to him the blessed cry, "Abba, Father."
I want you now to notice a very sweet fact about this cry; namely, that
it is literally the cry of the Son. God hath sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, and that Spirit cries in us exactly according to the
cry of the Son. If you turn to the gospel of Mark, at the fourteenth
chapter, thirty-sixth verse, you will find there what you will not
discover in any other evangelist (for Mark is always the man for the
striking points, and the memorable words), he records that our Lord
prayed in the garden, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee;
take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou
wilt." So that this cry in us copies the cry of our Lord to the
letter–"Abba, Father." Now, I dare say you have heard these words
"Abba, Father" explained at considerable lengths at other times, and if
so, you know that the first word is Syrian or Aramaic; or, roughly
speaking, Abba is the Hebrew word for "father." The second word is in
Greek, and is the Gentile word, "pates," or pater, which also signifies
father. It is said that these two words are used to remind us that Jews
and Gentiles are one before God. They do remind us of this, but this
cannot have been the principal reason for their use. Do you think that
when our Lord was in his agony in the garden that he said, "Abba,
Father" because Jews and Gentiles are one? Why should he have thought
of that doctrine, and why need he mention it in prayer to his Father?
Some other reason must have suggested it to him. It seems to me that
our Lord said "Abba" because it was his native tongue. When a Frenchman
prays, if he has learned English he may ordinarily pray in English, but
if ever he falls into an agony he will pray in French, as surely as he
prays at all. Our Welsh brethren tell us that there is no language like
Welsh–I suppose it is so to them: now they will talk English when
about their ordinary business, and they can pray in English when
everything goes comfortably with them, but I am sure that if a Welshman
is in a great fervency of prayer, he flies to his Welsh tongue to find
full expression. Our Lord in his agony used his native language, and as
born of the seed of Abraham he cries in his own tongue, Abba. Even
thus, my brethren, we are prompted by the spirit of adoption to use our
own language, the language of the heart, and to speak to the Lord
freely in our own tongue. Besides, to my mind, the word "Abba" is of
all words in all languages the most natural word for father. I must try
and pronounce it so that you see the natural childishness of it,
"Ab–ba," "Ab–ba." Is it not just what your children say, ab, ab, ba,
ba, as soon as they try to talk? It is the sort of word which any child
would say, whether Hebrew, or Greek, or French, or English. Therefore,
Abba is a word worthy of introduction into all languages. It is truly a
child's word, and our Master felt, I have no doubt, in his agony, a
love for child's words. Dr. Guthrie, when he was dying, said, "Sing a
hymn," but he added, "Sing me one of the bairns' hymns." When a man
comes to die he wants to be a child again, and longs for bairns' hymns
and bairns' words. Our blessed Master in his agony used the bairns'
word, "Abba," and it is equally becoming in the mouth of each one of
us. I think this sweet word "Abba" was chosen to show us that we are to
be very natural with God, and not stilted and formal. We are to be very
affectionate, and come close to him, and not merely say "Pater," which
is a cold Greek word, but say "Abba," which is a warm, natural, loving
word, fit for one who is a little child with God, and makes bold to lie
in his bosom, and look up into his face and talk with holy boldness.
"Abba" is not a word, somehow, but a babe's lisping. Oh, how near we
are to God when we can use such a speech! How dear he is to us and dear
we are to him when we may thus address him, saying, like the great Son
himself, "Abba, Father."
This leads me to observe that this cry in our hearts is exceedingly
near and familiar. In the sound of it I have shown you that it is
childlike, but the tone and manner of the utterance are equally so.
Note that it is a cry. If we obtain audience with a king we do not cry,
we speak then in measured tones and set phrases; but the Spirit of God
breaks down our measured tones, and takes away the formality which some
hold in great admiration, and he leads us to cry, which is the very
reverse of formality and stiffness. When we cry, we cry, "Abba": even
our very cries are full of the spirit of adoption. A cry is a sound
which we are not anxious that every passer-by should hear; yet what
child minds his father hearing him cry? So when our heart is broken and
subdued we do not feel as if we could talk fine language at all, but
the Spirit in us sends forth cries and groans, and of these we are not
ashamed, nor are we afraid to cry before God. I know some of you think
that God will not hear your prayers, because you cannot pray grandly
like such-and-such a minister. Oh, but the Spirit of his Son cries, and
you cannot do better than cry too. Be satisfied to offer to God broken
language, words salted with your griefs, wetted with your tears. Go to
him with holy familiarity, and be not afraid to cry in his presence,
"Abba, Father."
But then how earnest it is: for a cry is an intense thing. The word
implies fervency. A cry is not a flippant utterance, nor a mere thing
of the lips, it comes up from the soul. Hath not the Lord taught us to
cry to him in prayer with fervent importunity that will not take a
denial? Hath he not brought us so near to him that sometimes we say, "I
will not let thee go except thou bless me"? Hath he not taught us so to
pray that his disciples might almost say of us as they did of one of
old, "Send her away, for she crieth after us." We do cry after him, our
heart and our flesh crieth out for God, for the living God, and this is
the cry, "Abba, Father, I must know thee, I must taste thy love, I must
dwell under thy wing, I must behold thy face, I must feel thy great
fatherly heart overflowing and filling my heart with peace." We cry,
"Abba, Father."
I shall close when I notice this, that the most of this crying is kept
within the heart, and does not come out at the lips. Like Moses, we cry
when we say not a word. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
our hearts, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." You know what I mean: it is
not alone in your little room, by the old arm-chair, that you cry to
God, but you call him "Abba, Father," as you go about the streets or
work in the shop. The Spirit of his Son is crying "Abba, Father," when
you are in the crowd or at your table among the family. I see it is
alleged as a very grave charge against me that I speak as if I were
familiar with God. If it be so, I make bold to say that I speak only as
I feel. Blessed be my heavenly Father's name, I know I am his child,
and with whom should a child be familiar but with his father? ye
strangers to the living God, be it known unto you that if this be vile,
I purpose to be viler still, as he shall help me to walk more closely
with him. We feel a deep reverence for our Father in heaven, which bows
us to the very dust, but for all that we can say, "truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." No stranger can
understand the nearness of the believer's soul to God in Christ Jesus,
and because the world cannot understand it, it finds it convenient to
sneer, but what of that? Abraham's tenderness to Isaac made Ishmael
jealous, and caused him to laugh, but Isaac had no cause to be ashamed
of being ridiculed, since the mocker could not rob him of the covenant
blessing. Yes, beloved, the Spirit of God makes you cry "Abba, Father,"
but the cry is mainly within your heart, and there it is so commonly
uttered that it becomes the habit of your soul to be crying to your
Heavenly Father. The text does not say that he had cried, but the
expression is "crying"–it is a present participle, indicating that he
cries every day "Abba, Father." Go home, my brethren, and live in the
spirit of sonship. Wake up in the morning, and let your first thought
be "My Father, my Father, be with me this day. Go out into business,
and when things perplex you let that be your resort–"My Father, help
me in this hour of need." When you go to your home, and there meet with
domestic anxieties, let your cry sill be, "Help me, my Father." When
alone you are not alone, because the Father is with you: and in the
midst of the crowd you are not in danger, because the Father himself
loveth you. What a blessed word is that,–"The Father himself loveth
you"! Go, and live as his children. Take heed that ye reverence him,
for if he be a father where is his fear? Go and obey him, for this is
right. Be ye imitators of God as dear children. Honour him wherever you
are, by adorning his doctrine in all things. Go and live upon him, for
you shall soon live with him. Go and rejoice in him. Go and cast all
your cares upon him. Go henceforth, and whatever men may see in you may
they be compelled to own that you are the children of the Highest.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of
God." May you be such henceforth and evermore. Amen and amen.
PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Galatians 3:22-29; 4; 5:1-6.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–728, 468, 221.