Do You Know Who Your Father Is?

[Music] open your Bibles with me into the book of Romans a chapter 8 Romans at chapter number 8 commencing in verse 14 and I want to read through verse 17 and I want to preach about do you know who your father is I'm not talking about your mama I just want to know do you know who your father is for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God 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 the Spirit itself witness with our spirit that we are the children of God verse 17 reads and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with them that we may be also glorified together thank you may have you see the grass withers and the flower that Rove but the word of our God shall stand forever now under different conditions and circumstances that could be an extremely insulting question do you know who your father is but I'm not speaking here naturally I'm speaking supernaturally I'm not speaking about your physical natural father but spiritually this is a legitimate question because physically everyone has only one father but spiritually you have one of two fathers because in the Gospel of John chapter eight around verse 44 Jesus told the Pharisees you are children of your father the devil and the vast majority of people in the world today at this moment are children of the devil thank God those of us who have been born again are children of God about three key words to keep in mind as we traverse through this passage of Scripture and it's the words faith family and Father for it is by faith that we enter into the family of God and therefore we have God as our Father John chapter 1 verse 12 says but as many as received him to them gave he power to become sons of God even those who believe in his name now this verse in John the Gospel of John chapter 1 speaks of acceptance into the family of God but the passage in Romans chapter deals with our adoption into the family of God there is acceptance into God's family by the new birth and then there is position in the family of God by adoption though both these concepts are different they are indivisible and uniquely related one to the other now practically every Christian knows that to get into the family of God you must be born again I wish I had a Bible reader right here the Gospel of John chapter 3 Jesus says to Nicodemus unlearning Pharisee you must be born again but so few Christians even who come to church today realize what they immediately become once they are born into the family of God and one of the greatest doctrines in the New Testament is the doctrine of adoption this doctrine teaches us that not only have we been born into the family of God as children but we've been adopted into the family of God as sons missing dead one more time we've been born into the family as children but we've been adopted as sons because babies cannot inherit the father's wills when you're a child you are put in trustee ship of somebody else born again makes you a child of God but you're not yet ready to inherit as a child so he has to adopt you as a son so that you can be in full measure an air of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ which talks to us about the reality of adoption but what do we mean by the word scripturally adoption it is a legal term the act whereby one person takes the child of another making that child his own and given to that child the same legal position and privilege as if that child were born naturally into the family put more simply it means to take someone into one's family by legal process and raise him and care for him as if he were naturally a child now that's a legal definition but there's also a spiritual definition I wish I had a witness in the Greek word adoption is actually a combination of two words one word meaning son and the other word meaning to place so when we are adopted into the family of God it literally means to be placed in the family as a grown son after just being born I still don't think they got that over to we are placed into the family as an adult child after just being born and we're running by you one more time are you born into the family of God yes you are are you adopted into the family of God yes you are well initially we are born into the family we are immediately adopted into the family now let me explain the difference adoption is the act of God by which he gives each of his children immediately adult standing adoption is not the way you get into the family you get into the family by regeneration when someone is born again they immediately become a new person that is you receive a new nature with somebody adopts a child they can give them a home they can give them their last name they can give them their address they can give them an inheritance but they cannot give that adopted child their nature [Music] that's why sometimes I think my child is adopted she don't act like me she don't talk like me sometimes I think I pick up the wrong baby at the hospital if she didn't just look like me I would think that she wasn't mine because everything I tried to put in and those of us who are parents know that you do the best you can to try to put everything you can in them but they want to be around the folk that you don't want them around and they adopt their attitude and that spirit and that mindset and even though they are naturally yours you sometimes can't give them your nature but once we become a new person in Christ not only do we take up a new position but we take up a new nature because if any man be in tries I wish I had a Bible he is a new creation but that's that's the reality we are full-fledged adult children even though we've just been born that's tremendously important if you're going to enjoy being a Christian I don't have to wait to get to heaven to enjoy my inheritance I am an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ so everything that belongs to Jesus is mine because I was born into the family and then on top of that God wrapped my purse in my adoption so that I can't get away because I got his nature I got his name I got his home I got his Wales I got his peace I got his job I got his mercy I got his forgiveness I wish I had a witness in all these blessings are mine and I just got ball oh you too long there are some rewards that come with this matter of adoption there are some rewards there are some benefits of being in God's family by Paris and by adoption I don't think I've got that over to you yet a Baris gives us a new nation adoption gives us a new position I'm in the family twice by birth and by adoption when I'm born into the family I don't know anything yet I just got born the money is in my account but I can't access it yet because I'm not yet mature so then he matures me so that I can come into my inheritance even though I don't own a Bible even though I can't call the scripture even though I can't sing a solo even though I can't teach a Sunday School class if I just get in the family everything that belongs to my elder brother Jesus Christ comes down to me yeah let me let me give you some rewards that spiritual supernatural leadership of the Holy Spirit the verse says and if children then heirs as of God joint heirs with Jesus Christ if we indeed suffer with him that we may also be glorified together that our two characteristics of a true child of God on the one hand he will be steered by the Holy Spirit but on the other hand he will be submissive to the holy spirit the word lad in the text means to be willingly laid it means to follow God voluntarily as a volitional surrender of my own desires now one of the reasons some Christians doubt their salvation quite frankly the reason some Christians doubt their salvation is because they are living stubborn rebellious lives they are not yielding themselves to the leadership of God and so the Spirit will not lead you if you don't give him permission there's no way that you can feel the assurance of the presence of God in your life by rejecting the leadership of the Holy Spirit I guarantee that any Christian who neglects to study the word any Christian who neglects God in prayer I always I had a witness here any Christian who neglects having a quiet time every day any Christian who neglects regular fellowship with God's people at church any Christian who is careless about his obedience to the will of God you will undoubtedly have doubts about your salvation but I promise you if you have daily quiet time with God if you walk with God if you stay in the word if you fellowship with your brothers and sisters you will have darts to dispel the doubts that would try to penetrate the armor of your assurance the devil case stop you when you know who you are and whose you are I know who my daddy is it's right here it's right here in verse number 15 here's another benefit he gives you spiritual supernatural rule Liberty for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba from one of the greatest differences between a sinner and a saint is this the sinner lives in fear but the saint lives by faith let me see if I can help people who try to control things that really is born out of fear a deep-seated insecurity whenever you try to control whenever you say you are in control that's not really true what's really controlling is the fear you have that things will get out of control somebody ought to help me preach it so you got to control your wife control your children control your Sunday School class control your auxiliary or your organization control everybody who's around you and when you got that controlling spirit I can already tell you folks don't want to be in your company [Applause] people will be led but they will not be controlled I wish I had my 7:30 crime you grab the word control freak that's people who try to put everything under their thumb to make sure they control it and it doesn't get out of that control that's born out of insecurity that's a difference in being in control and being in charge in control is about fear in charge is about faith I'm in charge of my house I'm in charge at this church and in charge means whatever comes up that I can't handle I got faith enough to believe that God is gonna wick it up [Applause] if you're in control at your house that's cause you're scared [Applause] but if you're in charge at your house that's because she got faith enough to believe that whatever comes your way God will take care of it I wish I had a witness in it for years and years I was afraid of my father because of his booming voice and his powerful presence and to me that spelled control but that was born out of my fear of him because I did not know him I just saw him when he came from work and he came and took care of us I knew he was a provider I know you the one who took care of us and I know he married my mother and I know he was my father and I know he was in he was in control at our house because when he came in the room I just trembled because I was afraid of him because I didn't know him and you're always afraid of what you don't know but once I got to know him we had a loving father and son relationship and I took care of him until he died likewise when I did not know God I was afraid that every time I sinned I was going to hell every time I messed up God was gonna swap me down and kill me that's because I did not know him but once I got to know him it was not god controlling me it was God's Spirit in charge of my life and when God is in charge it's not a spirit of fear but of power and of a sound mind for God has not given us the spirit of fear and so verse 15 says I can call God Papa that's what that word in the aramaic means i can call him papa i can call him daddy daddy I'm hungry and he comes to feed me daddy I'm tired and he comes to wrap his arms around me daddy I'm scared and he comes to get in the presence of my enemies daddy I don't know what to do and he comes and takes me by my hand daddy I don't know what this thing is gonna turn out to be and he shows up Pursuit stand back boy I got it I got you back no weapon sewn against you shall be able to prosper you are more than a conqueror I wish I had a witness in dad I stretch my hands to me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] when I was when I was growing up a teenager my father on the drycleaners and that was a lady named mrs. Fontenot who did his alterations and she was an older a white lady real sweet lady and my dad and her friends and she did his alterations and one day my dad had sent me over there to bring some alteration and Miss fonteneau's husband was a fierce racist I can talk about them because they did not all them I'm talking about his dad he was a staunch racist he couldn't stand where a black person passed he hated black people but my father and his wife I had a business relationship and she would do his alterations and he pale she wasn't doing it for free he would pay her to do his alteration so my dad had sent me there to bring some clothes and when I I would just walk in the door because his front moves door was always open because she was expecting me because she did my dad is alteration so I just walked in the door and mr. Fontenot was sitting in there with an old friend of his who was just as no-good as he and he said bar where you going and I looked under the sofa and I raised up something this table he said what you're doing boy I said I'm looking for that boy you talking to cuz I was about 17 18 years old and I was smelling myself I said I'm not a boy and if I was I wouldn't be your boy and then he cussed me out and I went home and told my daddy my daddy said he did one he said get in his car we drove to miss front north house and my daddy pulled up and opened the door and went in and said mr. Fontenot my boy said you called him out his name let me tell you something this Houston Anderson's son and the things he said you said to him say to me he said no sir no you know I didn't mean no harm he said yes he did he said now I've had a business relationship with your wife for years and I don't have to bring my close effort for them to be altered but if you get out the way with my boy one more time it's going to be me and you and move me than you and I stood ten feet tall standing behind my dad so sad again you don't know who my daddy some I don't help me lift this up Houston Anderson was my daddy and I stood behind him and say you said one more time my daddy don't take nothing from nobody that's my daddy Houston Anderson but help me to bring that up to my real dad when the weaker even my enemies and my fools come upon me to eat up my flesh my daddy said leave my boy alone anybody here knows that he that dwells in the secret place I wish I had a Bible reader shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid there's another benefit that's another benefit that comes from this adoption he said do you realize how much God truly loves you that he wants to have the kind of relationship with you that you can call him daddy I was I was in the third grade before I knew my daddy's real name cuz all I called him was daddy you go help me preach this won't you and and when you don't have a strong relationship with God you come to him with a lot of v's and vows and we're on Tues and therefore that's proper speech Elizabethan speech for somebody you don't know but when you have a close relationship with God you can talk to him like you talked to your dad and say now daddy listen I don't like this person that I'm about to shake hands with I need you to give me courage to just shake hands and go on about my business daddy I'm having a bad day I'm about to cuss somebody out I'm about to lose my mind up in here up in here and I need you to give me strength to make it through another day daddy I'm getting ready to lay down to sleep tonight all night I want you to put angels around my house to keep me safe from all heading home and you can pull the covers up to your neck and go to sleep because your dad is outside because he that keepeth thee shall not slumber he not keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is your people I wish I had my 7:30 game the Lord is your shade on your right hand the Sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night the Lord shall preserve you from all evil you'll present your going out and your coming in from this time forth I wish I had a witness here he'll go to sleep with you at night he'll wake you up in the morning he'll give you a peace and joy all day long cuz he's your papa [Applause] this said the Robin to the sparrow I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so said the sparrow to the Robin I think that it must be they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me Jesus said consider the birds they neither sow nor reap they don't gather into any born barns yet your heavenly Father feeds them consider the lilies of the field they just grow everywhere but Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed up like these lilies of the field now if God takes care of birds in the air and linens of the field that he created he's more than our Creator he's our Father listen we have a sweet legacy if children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ a baby cannot inherit anything if two parents die and all they have is a baby they leave their estate to that baby but the baby has to be under the guardianship of a trustee until he can legally inherit the wealth but the moment you and I are saved we immediately inherit everything God has to offer and God offers us everything that he has we have that wealth available to us right now as a Christian you are filthy rich see how quiet you got right there I'm not talking about that naming and claiming stuff where the righteous will inherit the riches of the unrighteous I'm not talking about that I'm talking about the moment you receive Jesus Christ as Savior you have the riches of His grace the riches of his wisdom and the riches of his mercy but beyond that we have a future inheritance that moths cannot corrupt thieves cannot break through and steal I wish I had a witness here because the devil comes but to steal and to kill and to destroy but Jesus said I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly now this this arithmetic of inheritance is different from the inheritance we receive on earth my Papua on earth was a rolling stone and wherever he laid his hat what is home and when he died [Applause] somebody remember that song all he left me was alone you got to be over 40 to dance to that kind of music you see on earth if that is more than one heir to an estate then each heir will receive an equal share that means that each one will get a certain fraction of the whole amount that's an earthly inheritance but the inheritance of heaven is not under such restriction every adopted child will get a full inheritance I wish I had somebody help me I ain't got to share my mansion with nobody in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I got my mansion you got your mansion I don't have to give you a fraction of mine because when I inherit the kingdom of God I will get in full measure everything that belongs to me you will help me close this little sermon won't you let me let me kind of show you something about the religion revelation of this adoption the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God a baby does not know it's a baby it doesn't even know it's a human being that baby doesn't even know who his or her parents are he knows very early that some people are very close to him somebody's always kissing him somebody's always holding him somebody's always making over him and slobbering over him but he doesn't know who they are he doesn't know how to call them mama or daddy but when we are saved God sends his Holy Spirit into our hearts to show us immediately that we are his children the spirits witness is mentioned three times in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 10 at verse 15 we are told he witnesses to us that that gives us the fact of our salvation but the faith of our salvation is in first John five and ten and the feeling of our salvation is in Romans chapter eight at these verses I've just read a true child of God hates sin he longs for the return of Jesus Christ he loves other Christians he desires God's Word he will want to be more like Jesus and he's always trying to bring other people to the faith that he or she has found for them saying when you know God and you're close to God you want other people to get in the family let me run this by you you don't have to get jealous of anybody in the family of God because of what I just mentioned to us that you don't have to give a fraction of your inheritance to anybody you will inherit in full measure all that God has for you so that's why you don't have to try to knock me out of the way to get anything that God has because if it truly belongs to you by the new birth God will give it to you in full measure you can help me close this won't you in the nineteenth century there was a name a man named Billy Bray who was a bum a reprobate and he lived the life of drunkenness and debauchery and he went into the military service and he was poor and came from a family where he didn't even know who his father was his mother was poor but he went into the military and met up with this young man from the same town that he was from but on the other side of the tracks who was wealthy and well-to-do they became fast friends they were inseparable because they were from the same town but different sides of the tracks and they were fighting in the war and one of them got wounded in battle the poor boy Billy got wounded in battle but his friend who was rich was killed in that same country and Billy held him in his arms and he was dying in his friends arms and he took off his bloody shirt and gave it to Billy and said when you get back home if you make it through this war if you get back home go to my daddy's house and tell him that I died honorably in battle here is my bloody shirt adopt you as his son and make you an heir to my will you don't help me close this watching so when the wall was over Billy went back to his town knocked on that door on the other side of the tracks a butler came to the door and said your kind can't come in here we don't receive your kind in here Billy said I've got a message for the owner of this house he said since his son died he's not receiving any company he's depressed and don't want to see anybody Billy said I got a message for him from his son on the battlefield the father said let Billy come in Billy came into the house and gave that man his son's bloody shirt he said he died honorably on the field and he wants you to adopt me as your son and make me a full heir to your wealth the father started crying he grabbed Billy and slug and kissed him because Billy had the evidence of his son's blood and so he made him in half and a joint heir I wish I had somebody to help me here one Friday on the cross Jesus died didn't he die I took his bloody cross and brought it up to my father and said forgive me I have sinned I want to get in your family God forgave me because he saw the blood of his son and now he's accepted me not just as a son but as an heir and the riches that belong to Jesus Christ now belong to me you

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 115,283

Rating: 4.6880865 out of 5

Keywords: Reverend Terry Anderson Pastor Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas

Id: -E-_ukxNYQM

Length: 40min 49sec (2449 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 10 2014