The Pearl of Patience

The Pearl of Patience

(No. 3255)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY AFTERNOON IN
JANUARY, 1880.

"You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the
Lord, that the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy." James 5:11.

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon the whole verse is #1845, Volume
31–THE PITY OF THE LORD–THE COMFORT OF THE AFFLICTED.]

WE need to be reminded of what we have heard, for we are far too ready
to forget. We are also so slow to consider and meditate upon what we
have heard that is profitable to have our memories refreshed. At this
time we are called upon to recollect that we have heard of the patience
of Job. We have, however, I trust, gone beyond mere hearing, for we
have also seen i n the story of Job that which it was intended to set
vividly before our mind's eye. "You have heard of the patience of Job,
and have seen the end of the Lord." The Romish priest professes to make
men hear the voice of the Gospel by seeing, but the Scriptural way is
to make men see the Truth of God by hearing. Faith, which is the soul's
sight, comes by hearing. The design of the preaching of the Gospel to
the ear is "to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery
which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created
all things by Jesus Christ." Inward sight is the result of all fruitful
hearing!

Now, that which is to be seen in the Scriptures is somewhat deeper and
calls for more thought than that which is merely heard. "You have heard
of the patience of Job"–an interesting history which a child may
understand, but it needs, Divine teaching to see to the bottom of that
narrative, to discover the pearl which lies in the depths of it! It can
only be said of enlightened disciples, "You have seen the end of the
Lord, that the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy." At the same
time, that which is seen is also more precious to the heart and more
bountifully enriches the soul than anything which is only heard. I
count it no small enrichment of our mind to have heard of the patience
of Job–it comforts and strengthen us in our endurance, but it is as
infinitely better thing to have seen the end of the Lord, and to have
perceived the undeviating tenderness and pity which are displayed even
in His sorest chastisements. This is, indeed, a choice vein of silver,
as he that has dug in it is far richer than the more superficial person
who has only heard of the patience of Job, and so has only gathered
surface truth. "The patience of Job," as we hear of it is like the
shell of some rare nut from the Spice Islands–full of fragrance. But
"the end of the Lord," when we come to see it, is as the kernel which
is rich beyond expression with a fullness of aromatic essence!

Note well the reason why the text reminds us of what we have heard and
seen. When we are called to the exercise of any great virtue, we need
to call in all the helps which the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us.
All our wealth of hearing and seeing we shall have need to spend in our
heavenly warfare. We shall be forced full often to gird up the loins of
our mind by the recollection of examples of which we have heard, such
as that of Job, and then to buckle up that belt and brace it fast with
what we have. The patience of Job shall gird us and that "end of the
Lord" which we have seen shall be the fastening of the band. We shall
need all before our work is done. In the present case, the virtue we
are called to exercise is that of patience and, therefore, to help us
to do it, we are reminded of the things that we have heard and seen,
because it is a Grace as difficult as it is necessary, and as hard to
come at as it is precious when it is gained!

The text is preceded by a triple exhortation to patience. In the 7th
verse we read, "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the
Lord." And again, "Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit
of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early
and latter rain. Be you also patient. Establish your hearts, for the
coming

of the Lord draws near." Further on, in the 10th verse, we read, "Take
my brethren, the Prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for
an example of suffering, affliction and patience." Are we thrice
exhorted to patience? Is it not clear that we have even now much need
of it? We are, most of us, deficient in this excellent Grace and
because of it we have missed most privileges and have wasted many
opportunities in which we might have honored God, might have commended
religion and might have been exceedingly profited in our own souls.
Affliction has been the fire which would have removed our dross, but
impatience has robbed the mental metal of the flux of submission which
would have secured its proper purification. It is unprofitable,
dishonorable, weakening–it has never brought us gain–and never will.

I suppose we are three times exhorted to patience because we shall need
it much in the future. Between here and Heaven we have no guarantee
that the road will be easy, or that the sea will be glassy. We have no
promise that we shall be kept like flowers in a conservatory, from the
breath of frost, or that, like fair queens, we shall be veiled from the
heat of the sun.

The voice of Wisdom says, "Be patient, be patient, be patient. You may
need a threefold measure of it. Be ready for the trial." I suppose,
also, that we are over and over again exhorted to be patient because it
is so high an attainment. It is no child's play to be dumb as the sheep
before her shearers and to lie still while the shears are taking away
all that warmed and comforted us. The mute Christian under the
afflicting rod is no everyday personage. We kick out like oxen which
feel the goad for the first time! We are, most of us, for years as a
bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. "Be patient, be patient, be patient,"
is the lesson to be repeated to our hearts many times, even as we have
to teach children over and over again the same words till they know
them by heart. It is the Holy Spirit, ever patient under our
provocations, who calls us to be "patient." It is Jesus, the
unmurmuring Sacrifice, who charges us to, "be patient." It is the
long-suffering Father who bids us "be patient." O you who are soon to
be in Heaven, be patient for yet a little while and your reward shall
be revealed!

Upon these two things we will indulge a brief meditation. First, we are
bidden to be patient and it is not an unheard of virtue. "You have
heard of the patience of Job." And, secondly, we are bidden to be
patient and it is not an unreasonable virtue, for you "have seen the
end of the Lord, that the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy."

I. IT IS NOT AN UNHEARD OF VIRTUE TO BE PATIENT–"You have heard of the
patience of Job."

Observe well that the patience of Job was the patience of a man like
ourselves, imperfect and full of infirmity, for as one has well
remarked, we have heard of the impatienceof Job as well as of his
patience! I am glad the Divine Biographer was so impartial, for had not
Job been somewhat impatient, we might have thought his patience to be
altogether inimitable and above the reach of ordinary men. The traces
of imperfection which we see in Job prove all the more powerfully that
Divine Grace can make grand examples out of common constitutions and
that keen feelings of indignation under injustice need not prevent a
man's becoming a model of patience. I am thankful that I know that Job
did speak somewhat bitterly and proved himself a man, for now I know
that it was a man like myself who said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord
has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." It was a man of flesh
and blood such as mine, who said, "Shall we receive good at the hands
of God, and shall we not receive evil?" Yes, it was a man of like
passions with myself who said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in
Him."

You have heard of the patience of your Lord and Master, and tried to
copy it, and half despaired! But now you have heard of the patience of
His servant, Job, and knowing as Job did that your Redeemer lives, you
should be encouraged to emulate him in obedient submission to the will
of the Lord! "You have heard of the patience of Job," that is, the
patience of a greatly tried man. That is a very trite, yet necessary
remark–Job could not have exhibited patience if he had not endured
trial. And he could not have displayed a patience whose fame rings down
the ages till we have heard of it, if he had not known extraordinary
affliction! Reflect then, that it was the patience of a man who was
tried in his estate. All his wealth was taken! Two or three servants
were left–left only to bring him evil tidings–each one saying, "I
only am escaped alone to tell you." His flocks and his herds were gone.
The house in which his children had met was a wreck and the princely
man of Uz sat upon a dunghill–and there were none so mean as to do him
reverence. You have heard of the patience of Job in loss and
poverty–have you not seen that if all estates should fail, God is
still your portion?

Job was caused to suffer sharp relative troubles. All his children were
snatched away without a warning, dying at a festival where, without
being culpably wrong, men are usually unguarded and, in a sense,
unready, for the spirit is in deshabille. His children died suddenly
and there was a grievous mystery about it, for a strange wind from the
wilderness

smote the four corners of the house and overthrew it in an instant! And
such an occurrence must have connected itself in Job's mind either with
the judgment of God or with Satanic influence–a connection full of the
most painful thoughts and surmises! The death of his dear ones was not
a common or a desirable one, and yet all had so been taken. Not a son
or daughter was left him. All gone! All gone! He sits among the ashes a
childless man. "You have heard of the patience of Job." Oh, to have
patience under bereavements, patience even when the insatiate Archer
multiplies His arrows!

Then, and I here speak most to myself, "You have heard of the patience
of Job" under personal affliction. It is well said by one who knew
mankind cruelly well, that, "we bear the afflictions of other people
very easily," but when it touches our bone and our flesh, trial assumes
an earnest form and we have need of unusual patience. Such bitter pain
as Job must have suffered, we have probably, none of us, known anything
to the same degree. And yet we have had weary nights and dreary days.
Each limb has claimed a prominence in anguish and each nerve has become
a road for armies of pains to march over! We know what it is to feel
thankful tears in our eyes merely for having been turned over in bed.
Job, however, far excels us. "You have heard of the patience of Job,"
and you know how he sinned not when from the crown of his head to the
sole of his feet he was covered with irritating boils!

In addition to all this, Job bore what is perhaps the worst form of
trial, namely, mental distress. The conduct of his wife must have much
grieved him when she tempted him to "curse God and die." However she
meant it, or however her words may be translated, she evidently spoke
like a foolish woman when her husband needed wise consolation. And then
those "miserable comforters"–how they crowned the edifice of his
misery! Cold-blooded mortals sneer at sentimental grievances, but I
speak from my heart when I affirm that griefs which break no bones and
take not a coin from our store may yet be among the sharpest whips of
sorrow! When the iron enters into the soul, we know the very soul of
suffering! See how Job's friends fretted him with arguments and worried
him with accusations. They rubbed salt into his wounds! They cast dust
into his eyes. Their tender mercies were cruel, though
well-intentioned. Woe to the man who in his midnight hour is hooted at
by such owls! Yet the hero of patience sinned not. "You have heard of
the patience of Job."

Job's was in all respects a most real trouble, he was no mere
dyspeptic, no hysterical inventor of imaginary evil. His were not
fancied losses nor minor calamities. He had not lost one child out of a
numerous family, nor a few thousands out of a vast fortune, but he was
brought to sad bereavement, abject poverty and terrible torment of body
and mind! But despite it all, "You have heard of the patience of Job,"
and heard more of his patience than of his afflictions! What a mercy to
have heard of such a man and to know that one of our own race passed
through the seven-times heated furnace and yet was not consumed!

The patience of Job was the patience of a man who endured up to the
very end. No break-down occurred. At every stage he triumphed and to
the utmost point he was victorious! Traces of weakness are manifest,
but they are grandly overlaid by evidences of gracious power. What a
marvelous man was he with all those aches and pains, still bearing
witness to his God, "But He knows the way that I take: when He has
tried me, I shall come forth as gold." He reasons well even in the heat
of his passionate zeal for his character. He reasons bravely, too, and
catches up the points of his adversaries like a trained logician. He
holds fast his integrity and will not let it go. And best of all, he
cries, "I know that my Redeemer lives and that He shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Oh, glorious challenge of a
dying man to his Immortal Kinsman!

The enemy could not triumph over Job–he threw him on a dunghill and it
became his throne, more glorious than the ivory throne of Solomon! The
boils and blisters with which the adversary covered the Patriarch were
more honor to him than a warrior's gilded body armor. Never was the
arch-fiend more thoroughly beaten than by the afflicted Patriarch! And
instead of pitying the sufferer, my pity curdles into contempt for that
fallen spirit who must there have gnawed his own heart and drunk deep
draughts of gall and wormwood as he saw himself foiled at all points by
one who had been put into his power and one, too, of the feeble race of
man! Surely, in this he experienced a foretaste of the bruising
threatened at Eden's gate as to be given him by the woman's Seed! Yes,
Job endured unto the end and, therefore, he stands as a pillar in the
house of the Lord. Cannot we also endure unto the end? What hinders
Divine Grace from glorifying itself in us?

We may once more say that the patience of Job is the virtue of one who
thereby has become a great power for good. "You have heard of the
patience of Job." Yes, and all the ages have heard of the patience of
Job–and Heaven has heard of the patience of Job and Hell has heard of
it, too–and not without results in each of the three worlds. Among
men, the patience of Job is a great, mortal and spiritual force. This
morning, when musing upon it, I felt ashamed and humbled, as thousands
have done before me. I asked myself, "What do I know of patience when I
compare myself with Job?" And I felt that I was as unlike the great
Patriarch as I well could be. I recollect a minister who had been
somewhat angered by certain of his people and, therefore, preached from
the text, "And Aaron held his peace." It was remarked that the
preacher's likeness to Aaron reached no further than the fact that
Aaron held his peace and the preacher did not. May we not penitently
confess that our likeness to Job is much of the same order? He was
patient and we are not. Yet, as I thought of the patience of Job, it
caused me to hope! If Job was patient under trial and affliction, why
should I not be patient too? He was but a man–what was worked in one
man may be done in another! He had God to help him and so have I. He
could fall back upon the living Redeemer–so can I and why should I
not? Why should I not attain to patience as well as the man of Uz? It
made me feel happy to believe in human capacity to endure the will of
God, the Holy Spirit instructing and upholding! Play the man, beloved
Friend! Be not cut down! What God has done for one, He can do for
another. If the man is the same and if the great God is the same, and
be sure He is, we, too, may attain to patience in our limited circle!
Our patience may be heard of among those who prize the fruits of the
Spirit!

II. I will not detain you, lest I weary you, except to say, in the
second place, IT IS NOT AN UNREASONABLE VIRTUE TO BE PATIENT for,
according to our text, there is great love and tenderness in it. "You
have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is full of pity and of
tender mercy."

We must have seen, in Job's story, if we have regarded it aright, that
the Lord was in it all. It is not a narrative in which the devil is the
sole actor–the great Lord of All is evidently present. He it was who
challenged Satan to consider Job and then questioned him as to the
result. Less seen than the Evil One, the Lord was nevertheless present
at every act of the drama. God was not away while His servant suffered!
In fact, if there was any place where the thoughts of God were centered
more than anywhere else in Providence at that time, it was where the
perfect and upright man was bearing the brunt of the storm. The Lord
was ruling, too. He was not present as a mere spectator, but as master
of the situation! He had not handed over the reins to Satan–far from
it, for every step that the enemy took was only by express permission
from the Throne of God. He allowed him to strip his servant, but he set
the limit, "Only upon himself put not forth your hand." When to
complete the test, the enemy was permitted to plague his body, the Lord
added, "But save his life." The ruling hand is always on the curb. The
Dog of Hell is allowed to snap and snarl, but his chain is not removed
and the collar of Omnipotent restraint is on him. Come, dear Friends,
you that are in trouble, remember that God is in your sorrow, ruling it
to its desired end and checking it that it should go no further than
according to His will! And you neither have suffered, nor in the future
will suffer any more than He in Infinite Love permits!

Moreover, the Lord was blessing Job by all his tribulation. Untold
blessings were coming to the grand old man while he seemed to be losing
all. It was not simply that he obtained a double portion at the end,
but all along, every part of the testing process worked out his highest
good. Now have we seen the end of the Lord and that end is unmingled
goodness! The Lord was standing by every moment to stop the refining
process when it had come to the proper point, so that no more of it
should happen than was really beneficial and, at the same time, no less
than should secure His gracious purpose. True mercy is bound, at times,
to seem rough, for it might be a great and lifelong evil for the
surgeon to stop the knife before its work is done. The Lord was wisely
tender and tenderly wise with Job–and even in his case the sore
affliction was not allowed to proceed a single degree beyond the
necessary point of intensity.

And when we come to look all Job's life through, we see that the Lord
in mercy brought him out of it all with unspeakable advantage. He who
tested with one hand supported with the other! Whatever Satan's end
might be in tempting the Patriarch, God had an end which covered and
compassed that of the destroyer–and that end was answered all along
the line, from the first loss which happened among the oxen to the last
taunt of his three accusers! There was never a question, in the heights
of Heaven as to the ultimate issue! Eternal Mercy was putting forth its
irresistible energy, and Job was made to bear up though the trial and
to rise from it a wiser and a better man!

Such is the case with all afflicted saints. We may well be patient
under our trials, for the Lord sends them. He is ruling in all our
circumstances. He is blessing us by them, He is waiting to end them and
He is pledged to bring us through. Shall we not gladly submit to the
Father of our spirits? Is not this our deepest wish, "Your will be
done"? Shall we quarrel with that which blesses us? Shall we repine
when the end of the trouble is so near and so blessed? No! We see that
the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy and, therefore, we will be
patient.

Beloved, let us accept future sorrow with joy, for it is Divine Love
which will add to our years whatever sorrowful seasons may yet come to
us. Job's life might have ended in the first period without the trial,
but if the Patriarch, with perfect knowledge of all things, could have
had his choice, would he not have chosen to endure the trial for the
sake of all the blessing which came of it? We would never have heard of
the patience of Job if he had continued in his prosperity– and that
first part of his life would have made a very poor commonplace history
as compared with what we now find in the pages of Scripture! Camels,
sheep, servants and children make up a picture of wealth, but we can
see this any day! The rare sight is the patience–this it is which
raises Job to his true glory! God was dealing well with His faithful
servant and even rewarding his uprightness when He counted him worthy
to be tried. The Lord was taking the surest and kindest way to bless
and honor one who was a perfect and an upright man–one that feared God
and eschewed evil.

The Lord was full of pity to permit sharp trial to come upon Job for
his good. There was more tender mercy in subjecting him to it than
there would have been in screening him from it. False pity would have
permitted the good man to die in his nest, but true pity put a thorn
into it and made him mount aloft as the eagle! It was great mercy,
after all, which took him out of the state in which he washed his steps
with butter, and cast him into the mire, for thus he was weaned from
the world and made to look the more eagerly for a better portion.

No doubt, in Job's character, the Lord saw certain failings which we
cannot see, which He desired to remove and perhaps He also marked some
touches of Grace which needed to be supplied–and Divine Love undertook
to complete his perfect character. Perhaps his prosperity had sunned
him till he had grown somewhat hard in tone and sharp in judgment and,
therefore, the Lord would soften and mellow his gracious spirit. The
things lacking were no common virtues, for in these he was perfect, but
certain rich and rare tints of the higher life–and these could not be
imparted by any other means than severe suffering. Nothing more could
really be done for Job but by this special agency, for doubling the
number of his camels and sheep would only enlarge his cares. Since he
already had enough children, too, he had a sufficient family and of all
earthly things, abundance. But to give him twice the Divine Grace,
twice the experience, twice the knowledge of God, perhaps twice the
tenderness of character he had always possessed, was a mode of
enrichment which the tender and compassionate Lord adopted out of the
greatness of His wisdom and favor. Job could only thus be made doubly
rich in the rarest of all treasures–and the All-Merciful adapted that
method.

Examining the matter from another point of view, it may appear that Job
was tried in order that he might be better able to bear the
extraordinary prosperity which the Lord had resolved to pour upon him.
That double portion might have been too much for the Patriarch if he
had not been lifted into a higher state. If abundance is hard to bear,
superfluity is even worse and, therefore, to those He loves, the Lord
gives more Grace.

Job by his trials and patience received not only double Grace, and
double wealth, but double honor from God. He had stood very high in the
peerage of the excellent as a perfect and an upright man before his
trial, but now he is advanced to the very highest rank of spiritual
nobility. Even our children call him "the most patient man under pains
and suffering." He rose from the knighthood of sincere goodness to the
peerage of heroic endurance. At first he had the honor of behaving
admirably amid wealth and ease, but he was in the end elevated to sit
among those who glorify God in the fires. Benevolence, justice and
truth shone as bright stars in the sky of his heavenly character, but
now the moon of patience silvers all and lights up the scene with a
superior beauty! Perhaps the Lord may love some of us so specially that
He means to put upon us the dignity of endurance–He will make us
knights, not of the golden fleece, but of the iron Cross! What but
great pity and tender mercy could plan such a lot for our unworthy
selves?

Once more, Job by his trials and the Grace of God was lifted up into
the highest position of usefulness. He was useful before his trial as
few men of wealth and influence have been, but now his life possesses
an enduring fruitfulness which blesses multitudes every day! Even we
who are here this afternoon "have heard of the patience of Job." All
the ages have this man for their teacher. Brothers and Sisters, we do
not know who will be blessed by our pains, by our bereavements, by our
crosses if we have patience under them! Specially is this the case with
God's ministers, if He means to make much of them, their path to
usefulness is up the craggy mountain's side. If we are to comfort God's
afflicted people, we must, first, be afflicted ourselves. Tribulation
will make our wheat fit to be bread for saints. Adversity is the
choicest book in our library, printed in black letters, but grandly
illuminated! Job makes a glorious comforter and preacher of patience,
but no one turns either to Bildad, Zophar, or Eliphaz, who were
"miserable comforters" because they had never been miserable. You, dear
Sisters, whom God will make daughters of consolation to your families,
must in your measure pass through a scholarship of suffering–a sword
must pass through your own hearts if you are to be highly favored and
blessed among women. Yet, let us all remember that affliction will not
bless us if it is impatiently borne. If we kick at the goad, it will
hurt us, but it will not act as a fitting stimulus. If we rebel against
God's dispensations, we may turn His medicines into poisons and
increase our grief by refusing to endure them. Be patient, be patient,
be patient and the dark cloud shall drop a sparkling shower! "You have
heard of the patience of Job." Imitate it. "You have seen the end of
the Lord." Rejoice in it. "He is full of pity and of tender mercy."
Yield yourselves to Him. Divine Spirit, plant in us the sweet flower of
patience, for our patient Savior 's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 8:1-22.

This precious Chapter reminds us of the description of the land of
Havilah, "where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good."

Verse 1. There is therefore nowno condemnation to them which are to
Christ Jesus. [See Sermon #1917, Volume 32–in christ

NO CONDEMNATION.] There is no condemnation to them-it is

gone, and gone forever. Not only is part of it removed, but the whole
of it is gone. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus." This is their legal status before God–in Christ
Jesus, without condemnation. And this is their character–

1. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit Their daily
conversation is according to their new spiritual nature and according
to the guidance of the Holy Spirit–not according to their fleshly
nature and the guidance of self and Satan.

2. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the Law of life and death. "It cannot any longer rule me and it
cannot now condemn me. I am free from it, for I am now under the new
and higher Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."

3. 4. 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: that the righteousness of the Law
might be fulfilled in us who walk

not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [See Sermons #699, Volume
12–SIN CONDEMNED AND EXECUTED BY CHRIST JESUS and #2228, Volume 37–
THE LAW'S FAILURE AND FULFILLMENT.] If there are any men in the

world who keep the Law of God, they are the very persons who do not
hope to be saved by the keeping of it, for they have by faith found
righteousness in Christ! And now by love and gratitude they are put
under the power of the Law of the spiritual life in Christ and they so
live, by God's Grace, that they do manifest the holiness of the Law in
their lives.

5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
They care for nothing else–they are satisfied as long as their
appetites are gratified. They are of this world and the things of this
world fill them to the brim.

5. But they that are after the Spirit [do mindd the things of the
Spirit Spiritual joys, spiritual hopes, spiritual pur-suits–these
belong only to those who are spiritual!

6. For to be carnally minded–To be fleshly minded–

6. Is death.That is what it comes to, for the flesh comes to death at
last and, after death, it goes to corruption. If we live after that
carnal fashion, this will be the end of our living–"death."

6. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.For the spirit will
never die and the spirit has that within it which will bring it perfect
peace.

7, 8. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Those that have never been
born-again, so as to be "in the Spirit," are still just as they were
born–"in the flesh"–so they cannot please God. Do what they may,
there is an essential impurity about their nature so that they cannot
be well-pleasing unto God. We must be born-again! We must become
spiritual by the new birth which is worked by the Holy Spirit or else
it is impossible for us to please God! O you who are trying your best
to please God apart from the new birth and apart from Christ, see how
this iron bar is put across your path–"they that are in the flesh
cannot please God." Go, then, to Him and ask Him to give you of His
Spirit that you may be spiritual and no longer carnal!

9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Nowif any man has not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His.It does not matter what he calls himself–he
may be a preacher, he may be a bi-shop–if he has not the Spirit of
Christ, "he is none of His," and if he has the Spirit of Christ, though
he may be the most obscure person on earth, he belongs to Christ!

10. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. The Grace
of God has not changed the body–it still remains earth, dust–worms'
meat–and it must die unless Christ should come and transform it by His
coming. "The body is dead because of sin" and, therefore, come those
aches and pains, that heaviness, that weariness, that decay, those
infirmities of age which we experience as long as we bear about with us
this body of death!

10. But the Spirit is life because of righteousnes. There is a living
power within us which triumphs over this dying, decaying body! So we
rejoice notwithstanding all our afflictions, trials and depressions.

11. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells
in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you. There is to be an
emancipation even for this poor flesh–a translation and a Glory, for
it is yet in Christ.

12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live
after the flesh. [See Sermon #96, Volume 2–the christian–a

DEBTOR.] Certainly not, for we owe the flesh nothing! It keeps us

down and hampers us. It is a hindrance to us and we certainly owe it
nothing! So let us not be subservient to it, let us not consult or even
consider it and especially let us never come under its fatal bondage!

13. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. It is a dying
thing, and "you shall die" if you live after its dying fashion.

13. But if you, through the Spirit–That living, immortal power.

13, 14. Do 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 [See Sermon #1220, Volume 21-THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT, THE
SECRET TOKENS OF THE SON OF GOD.] Oh, high dignity and blessed priv
lege! As soon as we get away from the dominion of the flesh and come to
be led by the Spirit of God, and so become spiritual men, we have the
evidence that we are the sons of God, for "God is a Spirit," so His
sons must be spiritual.

15. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. We
did have it once, and it worked some good effect upon us for the time
being. When we were under the Law, we felt ourselves to be in slavery,
and that made us go to Christ for liberty.

15. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. Oh, blessed, blessed state of heart to feel that now we are
born into the family of God and that the choice word which no slave
might ever pronounce may now be pronounced by us, "Abba!" It is a
child's word, such as a little child utters when he first opens his
mouth to speak, and it runs the same both backwards and
forwards–AB-BA. Oh to have a childlike spirit that in whatever state
of heart I am, I may still be able to say, in the accents even of
spiritual infancy, "Abba, Father!"

16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God. [See Sermons #339, Volume 6–the

SONS OF GOD; #402, Volume 7–THE JOINT-HEIRS AND THEIR DIVINE PORTION
and #2961, Volume 51-"HEIRS OF GOD."] What better testimony can we have
than that of these two witnesses, first of our own spirit and then of
the Holy Spirit, Himself, "that we are the children of God"? Note that
this is not spoken concerning everybody. The doctrine of the universal
Fatherhood of God is a doctrine of the flesh–not of the Spirit–it is
not taught anywhere in God's Word. This is a Fatherhood which relates
only to those who are spiritua-we are born into it by the new birth and
brought into it by an act of Divine Grace in adoption. "Beloved, now
are we the sons of God," this is a special privilege that belongs only
to those who are spiritual!

17, 18. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ, if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us. Do we suffer
now? Then let us wait for something better that is yet to come! Yes, we
do suffer, and in this we are in accord with the whole creation of God,
for the whole creation is just now, as it were, enduring birth pangs.
There is something better coming, but meanwhile it is troubled and
perplexed, moaning and groaning.

19-22. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the
manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason ofHim who has subjected the same
in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain
together until now. See how it often weeps in the superabundant rain
that seems like a minor deluge! Note how, at times, Creation's very
bowels seem to be tossed and torn with pain and agony by volcanoes and
earthquakes. Mark the tempests, tornadoes, hurricanes and all kinds of
ills that sweep over the globe, leaving devastation in their track! And
the globe itself is wrapped in swaddling bands of mist, and shines not
out like its sister stars in its pristine brightness and splendor. The
animal creation, too, wears the yoke of bondage. How unnecessarily
heavy have men often made that yoke!