189 SERMON XI. THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION. ROM. viii. 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage, again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. IT is a source of great encouragement in our Christian course to mark the engagements of each Person of the ever-blessed Trinity in the economy of our salvation. They shew so much of counsel and design, they reflect also so much mutual light, that when we take what the Father has consented to do, and compare it with the engagements of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the rays become so strong "that he that runs may read*;" the purposes of Divine mercy shine forth with such meridian brightness, that none but those who are wilfully blind can mistake them. The Lord would * Hab. ii. 2. make known to us that the dispensation of the Gospel is one in which he views his people in the blessed relation of parent and child. That this may be clearly seen, the Lord Jehovah reveals himself in this manner; He declares, that as a "father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." The Eternal Word, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, He by whom all things are, and were created, takes our nature upon him, and comes with this boon: "To as many as receive him, to them he gives power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name t." To complete the relation, that it may be enjoyed in its full extent, the Holy Spirit graciously becomes the "Spirit of Adoption;" that, acting upon the minds and hearts of those who receive Christ, he may give to them a sense of their privilege, and enable them to cry, "Abba, Father." Thus benignantly does the Lord appear: God a compassionate Father, the Lord Jesus the immediate Donor of the privilege of adoption, and the Holy Ghost the imparter of a child-like spirit; so that they who were once afar off are not only brought nigh by the blood of Jesus, but have a sense of their privilege, and walk with God in filial love. * Psalm ciii. 13. + St. John i. 12. With a view to your edification, I have already attempted to unfold the compassion of the Father, and the gift of the Son. I would employ this evening in considering the Holy Spirit's office, as the Spirit of adoption. Oh, may he graciously assist us, and grant to us all, that, receiving Christ, we may be enabled to cry Abba, Father, the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God!" In opening the text I purpose, first, briefly to state what we may understand by the SPIRIT OF BONDAGE; and then to consider how the Holy Spirit acts as the SPIRIT OF ADOPTION. I. "We have not received the spirit of bondage, again to fear."-Here the Apostle refers to the legal dispensation, or to the whole of the covenant made at Sinai. This covenant, whilst in many things it shadowed forth the glad tidings of the Gospel, was for the most part a dispensation producing a spirit of bondage; or that state of mind in which God was viewed rather with the terror which a slave feels for his master, than with the affectionate regard a child cherishes towards a parent. For, in the first place, the Mosaic ritual was all in shadows. The tabernacle, the priesthood, the * Romans viii. 15. sacrifices, were all "figures of good things to come;" but, like figures seen by twilight, they had an indistinct appearance. Though they gave a hope of a better sacrifice, still the darkness of the type, and the doubts which thence ensued, gendered a spirit of bondage in the worshippers. Secondly the many sacrifices that were directed to be offered, placed the penalty of transgression continually before them. They went not up to the temple without seeing a lamb slain on the brazen altar, or witnessing the sacrifice of bulls or goats. This constant presentment of sacrifices, with the natural fear of death, tended also to the same slavish spirit. So, again, the great variety of ceremonial defilements which the Lord instituted, typically to shew the defiling nature of sin, kept them in continued fear it was a yoke heavier than they could bear, and bowed down their souls in bondage to the law. I mention this, my friends, the rather, that we may feel more grateful for that happy dispensation under which we are placed. For let it be borne in mind, that they were the people of God who were in this bondage; that God saw fit in his Divine wisdom, preparatory to the gift of his Son, to make his church pass under this yoke; that for many centuries they whom the Lord loved equally with the New-Testament church, "desired to see the things which we see, but saw them not; and to hear those things which we hear, but heard them not*.' "They beheld only in promise, that which we have in possession. "The way into the holiest was not then made manifest+;" whilst to us the veil is rent in twain, and the most gracious invitation given "to enter in by the blood of Jesus." It is, my friends, to this former dispensation that the Apostle refers, when he says "we have not received the spirit of bondage, again to fear". we are not returned to Moses; we have not gone back to the shadows of the Levitical institution; but, placed in the light of the Gospel, we have received “the spirit of adoption." II. Let us now inquire what we are to understand by this spirit?-By the spirit of adoption, as contrasted with the spirit of bondage, we may understand the spirit of a child, instead of the spirit of a servant; the spirit of filial love, instead of slavish fear; and this produced by the gracious action of the Holy Spirit, It may give light to the subject to enter a little into particulars upon this point. 1. Let it, then, be remembered, that though the Mosaic dispensation was properly confined * Matt. xiii. 17. + Heb. ix. 8. + Heb. x. 19. |