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How well off we are, dear brethren, to be furnished with

everything that is needed for the wilderness pathway here,

right until we get to the glory.

So it goes on to say, “They that are in flesh cannot please

God. But ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit

dwell in you”. There are certain passages in Romans that we

ought to hold on to in our faith, as at the beginning of this

chapter—“There is then now no condemnation to those in

Christ Jesus”. Oh, a wonderful thing that— no condemnation!

Let that ring in your ears. Now you have put your faith in

Christ, and have received the Spirit, no sense of

condemnation should come into your soul, “For the law of the

Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin

and of death”. You have a supply line now, the presence of the

Spirit; you have Someone with you now and He is going to

help you in all the obligations of life. The Spirit is life, it says,

“on account of righteousness”. You walk with a view to

righteousness, and God gives us the resource in the Spirit to

fulfil it.

And not only that, it goes on further in the chapter, “For ye

have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye

have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,

Father”. How little we understand the blessed greatness of

Christianity! God is not satisfied until we are in the enjoyment

of sonship. Now in sonship you do not do things merely

because you are told to; you are in the secret of the Father’s

heart and mind and you do things because it pleases Him.

That is what Christ did; it is the spirit of sonship. The same

Spirit that moved Christ here is now in your heart, to please

God in all the dignity of a son. I think this is marvellous. We

cry,

“Abba, Father”; it is the full thought. There is no fear, no

hesitation, no wondering which pathway to take. Not only do

you do what is right and pleasing in the sight of the Father, but

there is an answer in your heart to the heart of God—“We cry,