Romans 8:16

Romans 8:16

The Evidence of Christian Sonship.

I. The evidence of sonship its nature. In illustrating this there are two points to be considered the ground on which that evidence is founded; the manner in which it rises in the soul. In inquiring into the first of these let us carefully mark two things in Paul's words: (1) He draws a distinction between God's Spirit and our spirit: it is not our spiritual life that bears this testimony, it is the Spirit of God bearing witness to the soul; and (2) he implies by the whole contents of the chapter that the evidence is not fitful, but continued and progressive. Consider the manner in which the evidence of sonship rises in the soul. Paul speaks of the action of God's Spirit in three of its aspects, in each and all of which we see the way in which this evidence enters the soul. (1) Deliverance from the carnal. Freedom from this is the first sign of sonship. Here then is the witness when the old affections are being uprooted a deep desire created after personal purity when the chains of sin are snapped. (2) The spirit of prayer. Sometimes the Christian prayer transcends all words. The heart's wounded affections, blighted hopes, unexpressed longings all burn in one deep, impassioned cry: this spirit of prayer possessing you is a sign of adoption. (3) The spirit of aspiration. This is a sign of sonship life's imperfectness the ground of hope.

II. The necessity for this witness. Take Paul's words, and we shall find he brings out three great results of the witness of the Holy Ghost which show three reasons why every man should possess it. (1) We need it to enable us to enter into perfect communion with God; (2) we need it in order to realise our spiritual inheritance; (3) in order to comprehend the glory of suffering.

III. Its attainment. In order to acquire this witness, carry into action every spiritual power you possess translate every emotion into life. Remember you have to work together with God. Take care that you grieve not the Holy Spirit. Feel that every point gained in spiritual life is a point to be maintained. Take care that when you are brought nearer to God by suffering, you do not allow yourself to fall back; if you do, the light of the Spirit will fade. "If then ye live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit."

E. L. Hull, Sermons,1st series, p. 294.

The Witness of the Spirit.

I. Our cry "Father" is the witness that we are sons. Mark the terms of the passage: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit." It is not so much a revelation made to my spirit, considered as the recipient of the testimony, as a revelation made in or with my spirit considered as co-operating in the testimony. The substanceof the Spirit's evidence is the direct conviction based on the revelation of God's infinite love and fatherhood in Christ the Son, that God is my Father, from which direct conviction I come to the conclusion, the inference, the second thought, "Then I may trust that I am His son." The Spirit's testimony has for formmy own conviction, and for substancemy humble cry, "Oh thou my Father in Heaven."

II. That cry is not simply ours, but it is the voice of God's Spirit. Our own convictions areours because they are God's. Our own souls possess these emotions of love and tender desire going out to God our own spirits possess them, but our own spirits do not originate them. They are ours by property; they are His by source. Every Christian may be sure of this, that, howsoever feeble may be the thought and conviction in his heart of God's Fatherhood, he did not work it, he received it only, cherished it, thought of it, watched over it, was careful not to quench it; but in origin it was God's, and it is now and ever the voice of the Divine Spirit in the child's heart.

III. This Divine witness in our spirits is subject to ordinary influences which affect our spirits. The Divine Spirit, when it enters into the narrow room of the human spirit, condescends to submit itself, not wholly, but to such an extent as practically for our present purpose is wholly, to submit itself to the ordinary laws and conditions and contingencies which befall and regulate our own human nature. Do not think that the witness cannot be genuine because it is changeful. Watch it and guard it lest it change. Live in the contemplation of the Person and the fact that calls it forth, that it may not.To have the heart filled with the light of Christ's love to us is the only way to have the whole being full of light.

A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester,1st series, p. 54.

References: Romans 8:16. G. Huntingdon, Sermons for Holy Seasons,p. 211; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. vii., p. 23; J. Brierley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxix., p. 181; Preacher's Monthly,vol. v., p. 278; vol. viii., p. 91; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iii., p. 133; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,10th series, p. 142; D. Moore, Penny Pulpit,Nos. 3184, 3187.