The sons of God

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:16,17

Suggested Further Reading: Ephesians 1:11-23

The believer is to be the heir, I say, not merely of God’s works, not simply of God’s gifts, but of God himself. Do we not talk of his omnipotence?—his almightiness is ours. Do we not speak of his omniscience?—all his wisdom is engaged in our behalf. Do we not say that he is love?—that love belongs to us. Can we not glory in that he is full of immutability, and changes not?—that eternal unchangeablenesss is engaged for the defence of the people of God. All the attributes of divinity are the property of God’s children—their inheritance is built upon them. He himself is ours. Oh what riches! If we could say this morning, that all the stars belong to us; if we could turn the telescope to the most remote of the fixed stars, and then could say with the pride of possession, so natural to man, “That star, a thousand times bigger than the sun, is mine. I am the king of that inheritance.” If we could then sweep the telescope along the milky way, and see the millions upon millions of stars that lie clustered together, and cry, “All these are mine,” yet these possessions were but a speck compared with that which is in the text. Heir of God! He to whom all these things are but as nothing, gives himself up to be the inheritance of his people. Note yet a little further concerning the special privilege of heirship,—we are joint heirs with Christ. That is, whatever Christ possesses, as heir of all things, belongs to us. Splendid must be the inheritance of Jesus Christ. Is he not very God of very God, Jehovah’s only begotten Son, most high and glorious?

For meditation: The prayers of our glorious joint heir regarding our glorious joint inheritance (John 17:9,10,24).

Sermon no. 339
8 October (Preached 7 October 1860)