The One Great Reality | Page 9

hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts crying, Abba, Father." [Footnote: Gal. iv. 6, 7] So we are not
only received into God's family, but we have also all the privileges of
sonship. We are made "heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ."
Perhaps you are thinking of your unworthiness; like the Prodigal Son
you are ready to say "Father, I have sinned again and again, I am not

worthy to be called Thy son." God knows just what you are and what
you have been, and He Himself has asked the question, "How shall I
put you among the children?" It is a question which none but the Lord
would ever have thought of, and it would never have been answered if
He Himself had not answered it. It is a wonderful answer: for He says,
"Thou shalt call Me, My Father." [Footnote: Jer. iii. 19.] God Himself
puts us sinners among His children, and no one else can do it, and He
keeps us; for He says, "Thou shalt not turn away from Me." How does
He do it? By creating a new life in us, we are "born again." The old
nature is not improved, but a new heart is given. "A new heart also will
I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you." [Footnote: Ezek.
xxxvi. 26.]
Can you say, "God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into my heart,"
and now I can call Him my Father? Being made the children of God by
adoption and grace, let us enjoy the privileges which are secured to us;
let us act as loving children should do.
Does it all seem too good to be true? Trust His Word, "As many as
received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His Name." [Footnote: St. John i. 12]
Some of you remember the joy which thrilled you when you first
received Him as your Saviour, but perhaps it was not until afterwards
that you realised the blessedness of your new position as sons of God.
The Holy Spirit leads us on step by step. First, He assures us that "there
is no condemnation," then He sets us free from the bondage of sin and
death. [Footnote: Rom. viii. i, 2.] All is changed now, we feel the
confidence of a child who has free access to his father at all times.
There are three things which mark the children of God, the spiritual
mind, the spiritual walk, and the spiritual talk. "The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirits that we are the children of God." [Footnote:
Rom. viii. 16.] We then call out with the consciousness of sonship,
"Father, Father."
The witness of the Spirit was given to me soon after my conversion and
thrilled me with joyful assurance. It came to me when a Christian
doctor was telling his children about the way of salvation. He drew a
line on the carpet with a stick and said, "On one side there is DEATH,
on the other, LIFE," and I said to myself, "I know which side of the line
I am on." So it was by means of this simple remark that I found out that

I was really a child of God, and my heart began from that time to cling
to God as my Father. Every day since then I have experienced the
blessedness of trusting Him and knowing Him as my Father. Is this
your happy portion? If not, why not?

ADDRESS III
THE SON OF GOD
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE--St. John i. 1-18, 29-34.
"THIS IS THE SON OF GOD." These are the closing words of John
the Baptist's striking testimony, What a grand message! How it thrills
us through and through! On and on the glorious words ring out, "The
Son of God is come." Many years after, when the Apostle John was a
very old man, he wrote in one of his letters, "We know that the Son of
God is come." [Footnote: I John v. 20.]
Now look back to the first words of our chapter. "In the beginning was
the Word." Who is the Word? It is "the Son of God." When was the
beginning? Long, long ago in Eternity that is past "the Son of God was
the brightness of His Father's glory and the express image," [Footnote:
Heb. i. 3.] or exact representation, "of His Person." In His last prayer
with His disciples our Lord speaks of "the glory which He had with the
Father before the world was." [Footnote: St. John xvii. 5.]
The first verse of this Gospel takes us back long before this world was
created. Then we come to the creation in verse