1. We are all children.
  2. We are all children of God.
  3. We are all children of God through faith.
  4. We are all children of God in Christ Jesus.—Dr. Beet.

God’s Children.

  1. If thou be God’s child, surely He will provide all things necessary for soul and body.—Our care must be to do the duty that belongs to us; when this is done our care is ended. They who drown themselves in worldly cares live like fatherless children.
  2. In that we are children we have liberty to come into the presence of God.
  3. Nothing shall hurt those who are the children of God.
  4. Walk worthy of your profession and calling.—Be not vassals of sin and Satan; carry yourselves as King’s sons.
  5. Our care must be to resemble Christ.
  6. We must have a desire and love to the Word of God that we may grow by it.
  7. We must have afflictions, if we be God’s children, for He corrects all His children.—Perkins.

Vers. 27, 28. The Christly Character—

  1. Acquired by a spiritual union with Christ.—“Baptised into Christ.”
  2. Is a complete investiture with Christ.—“Have put on Christ.”
  3. Is a union with Christ that absorbs all conventional distinctions (ver. 28).

Ver. 27. Profession without Hypocrisy.—Hypocrisy is professing without practising. Men profess without feeling and doing or are hypocrites in nothing so much as in their prayers. Let a man set his heart upon learning to pray and strive to learn, and no failures he may continue to make in his manner of praying are sufficient to cast him from God’s favour. Let him but be in earnest, striving to master his thoughts and to be serious, and all the guilt of his incidental failings will be washed away in his Lord’s blood. We profess to be saints, to be guided by the highest principles, and to be ruled by the Spirit of God. We have long ago promised to believe and obey. It is true we cannot do these things aright—nay, even with God’s help we fall short of duty. Nevertheless, we must not cease to profess. There is nothing so distressing to a true Christian as to have to prove himself such to others, both as being conscious of his own numberless failings and from his dislike of display. Christ has anticipated the difficulties of his modesty. He does not allow such a one to speak for himself; He speaks for him. Let us endeavour to enter more and more fully into the meaning of our own prayers and professions; let us humble ourselves for the very little we do and the poor advance we make; let us avoid unnecessary display of religion. Thus we shall, through God’s grace, form within us the glorious mind of Christ.—Newman.

Teachings of Baptism—

I. Our baptism must put us in mind that we are admitted and received into the family of God.

II. Our baptism in the name of the Trinity must teach us to know and acknowledge God aright.

III. Our baptism must be unto us a storehouse of comfort in time of need.