r,
Christ is nothing to us. Do not let us, my friends, blink that
deciding test of the whole matter. We may talk about Christ for ever;
we may set forth aspects of His work, great and glorious. He may be
to us much that is very precious; but the one question, the question
of questions, on which everything else depends, is, Am I trusting to
Him as my divine Redeemer? am I resting in Him as the Son of God?
Some of us here now have a sort of nominal connection with Christ,
who have a kind of imaginative connection with Him; traditional,
ceremonial, by habit of thought, by attendance on public worship, and
by I know not what other means. Ceremonies are nothing, notions
are nothing, beliefs are nothing, formal participation in worship is
nothing. Christ is everything to him that trusts Him. Christ is
nothing but a judge and a condemnation to him who trusts Him not. And
here is the turning-point, Am I resting upon that Lord for my
salvation? If so, you can begin upon that step, the low one on which
you can put your foot, the humble act of faith, and with the foot
there, can climb up. If faith, then new birth; if new birth, then
sonship; if sonship, then an heir of God, and a joint-heir with
Christ.' But if you have not got your foot upon the lowest round of
the ladder, you will never come within sight of the blessed face of
Him who stands at the top of it, and who looks down to you at this
moment, saying to you, 'My child, _wilt_ thou not cry unto Me "Abba,
Father?"'

SUFFERING WITH CHRIST, A CONDITION OF GLORY WITH CHRIST

'...Joint heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified together.'--ROMANS viii. 17.

In the former part of this verse the Apostle tells us that in order
to be heirs of God, we must become sons through and joint-heirs with
Christ. He seems at first sight to add in these words of our text
another condition to those already specified, namely, that of
suffering with Christ.

Now, of course, whatever may be the operation of suffering in fitting
for the possession of the Christian inheritance, either here or in
another world, the sonship and the sorrows do not stand on the same
level in regard to that possession. The one is the indispensable
condition of all; the other is but the means for the operation of the
condition. The one--being sons, 'joint-heirs with Christ,'--is the
root of the whole matter; the other--the 'suffering with Him,'--is
but the vario