[INTERPOSING VOICES] God isn't really
something to worship. He's just waiting to
destroy all of us. I guess there's a God
out there somewhere. I hope there is a God. God isn't really
something to worship. [INTERPOSING VOICES] [CLICK] God is everywhere. Well, welcome to Calvary Church. We're glad you can join us. This is a little
bit different for us because we were on lockdown. Then we reopened the church. Then for this weekend
and next weekend, we're told to stay at home and
shelter in place once again. And then there's going
to be a reopening, so we have been all over the map. We really wish you
were with us in person. We cannot wait for a couple
weeks when you will be here in person. We want to invite you back. Until then, you're
seeing this at home on your computer,
your device, wherever you might be, different
parts of the country, different parts of the world. So once again, welcome. And we have a few people
here in the sanctuary, what we are allowed to
have, some of our staff and volunteers. So if you hear noise and
people in the background, you're hearing them--
don't be alarmed. But we can't wait till we
get back together again. I know it's been crazy. I know it's been inconsistent. We feel the same way. We feel that, in many ways,
the government's approach has been inconsistent
and has been haphazard and has been largely
ineffective in many ways. And we have shown that
we can gather safely together and proceed with
caution, loving one another but definitely giving people an
opportunity to gather together, pray together, hear the word
together, worship together as the Bible commands us to do. So we can't wait for that. We invite you to
turn in your bibles this weekend to Romans,
the 8th chapter. Romans chapter 8, we're doing
a series we call 20/20-- Seeing Truth Clearly, and it's
basically a doctrinal series. We've looked at the doctrine
of God, the doctrine of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Then we looked at the
life of the believer, the fallen person, then
salvation last week, and we continue ahead this week. Romans chapter 8, we're going
to be getting at verse 12 and going six verses
down to verse 17. One of the most exciting
things that you can ever see, ever witness, ever be
a part of is a live birth. Now I say that as a spectator,
obviously, an onlooker. Those women who have had
babies who are viewing this and have been in
labor, they have a very different
perspective than that, but nonetheless, it is
very, very exciting. And I will say not
only as a parent but especially as a grandparent
because grandparents get all of the joy but none
of the responsibility really. Somebody once said that
the job of a grandparent is to fill their
grandkid with sugar and give them back to
their parents, which I have done on many occasions. There is a story,
a legend of God having a conversation
with our first parents, with Adam and Eve. And it's like the first parent
talking to his first two children, Adam and Eve. So after creating the
heavens and the earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he
said to them was, don't. Don't what, Adam replied. Don't eat the forbidden
fruit, God said. Forbidden fruit? We got forbidden fruit? Hey, Eve, we got
forbidden fruit. No way. Yes, way. Don't eat that fruit, God said. Well, why? Adam replied. Because I'm your
creator, and I said so, God told them,
wondering why he hadn't stopped after making elephants. A few minutes later God saw
them taking an apple break in the garden, and he was angry. Didn't I tell you not
to eat that fruit? Uh-huh, Adam said. Then why'd you do it? I don't know, Eve said. She started it, Adam insisted. Did not. Did so. Did not. Did so. Having had it with
the two of them, God's punishment was
that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Now we expect children to
grow up and to have a life, but until they do that, we
give them lots of leeway. There's a lot of
things that they do that we let them get away with. And let's face it, babies can
do some things that are not attractive, but we excuse them. We humor them because
they're babies. Here's a list. They're demanding. They're unable to
feed themselves. They love to be the
center of attention. They're driven by impulses,
like hunger and pain and sleep. They're irritated
when they're dirty even though they made the mess,
and you've got to clean it up. They have no manners. Somebody once said, a baby is
simply a digestive apparatus with a loud noise at one end and
no responsibility at the other. But that's natural. That's what babies
do, and that's OK, but when you see an adult
acting with those mannerisms, it's not so cute. It's not funny. In fact, it's tragic. Simply stated, a birth
should lead to a walk. When you are born again, you
should see spiritual growth. You see it in the
physical world. You expect it. You should see and expect it
in the spiritual world as well. That brings us to
Romans chapter 8. This brings us to a
section of scripture that could be called the crown
jewel of the New Testament. Somebody once said that if
the Bible is like a ring, then Romans chapter 8 is
the diamond on the ring-- or the book of Romans is
the diamond on the ring, and the eighth chapter
of the book of Romans is the sparkle on the diamond. Now last time we
got together, we looked at salvation out
of Ephesians chapter 2. We called it once
dead, now alive. And we looked at the stages
that every saved person goes through. In fact, every human goes
through some of those phases, but a saved person goes
through all of them. But once you're saved, now what? Or as I've called this
message, I'm a Christian. Now what? And the now what is that
that birth, that salvation should lead to some
distinct experiences. And we have outlines that
are available online, and I've outlined
this for you online. You can pull that
down and see it, but the four experiences are
position, progress, proof, and promise. And we're going to
look at all four of those beginning in Romans
chapter 8, the 12th verse. We begin with position. We have a new position. God adopted us into his family,
and we are now children of God. Verse 12 says, "Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors-- not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh. For if you live according
to the flesh"-- that is, the fallen nature--
"you will die-- but if by the Spirit you put
to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 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, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we
also be glorified together." There's some words in
that six-verse paragraph that I want you to notice. A couple of little phrases. First, in verse 14 is
the term "sons of God". We are sons of God. In verse 15, he uses
the word "adoption". That is the analogy that
he's drawing off of. So we are sons of God. We have an adoption,
or we are adopted. In verse 16, the word,
"children" or the phrase, "children of God". Now, adoption is an
act of God whereby he places you into his family. He makes you members
of his family. It is a relational term. Before you were a saved person,
your relationship with God was not an intimate one. It was a distant relation. It was a separated relation. Like it says in
Isaiah 59, God said, my hand is not short
that it cannot save. My ear is not heavy
that it cannot hear. But your sins have
separated you and your God. So yes, we had a
relationship with God but not close, not intimate,
not like the one described here. In fact, you could
say it was like this-- God, human. That was the relationship. Or better yet-- holy
God, fallen human. You and I were at enmity
with God, the Bible says. Or in the words of
last week's text, we were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. But now things have changed. Now we said yes to Jesus
Christ, and we are saved. The relationship has changed. Now it's not God and human. It's Father in heaven
and child of God. That's a brand new
position of relationship. Now this adoption
is what John had in mind at the very beginning
of the Gospel of John when he said, "As many
who received him, to them he gave the right or the
power or the privilege to become children of God to
those who believe in his name." Now I hear, from time to
time, leaders or activists say things like, well,
we're all God's children. Everybody in the world. We're all children of God. That's wrong. It's right only in one sense. Creatively, we are
children of God. We are children of
a God by the fact that he made us
all in his image, but that's where it ends. Redemptively, we are
either children of God or children of the devil. In the New Testament Book
of John, John chapter 8, the enemies of Jesus Christ,
those who rejected him, the Jews who wanted
nothing to do with him claimed that God
was their Father. And they had a
relationship with God, and they had an argument
with Jesus over this. And they said to Jesus, "We
have one Father, even God." To which Jesus replied,
"If God were your Father, you would love me, but you are
of your father, the devil." So the relationship was God
and fallen human, holy God and fallen humanity. Now the relationship has
changed because of Jesus Christ. Now its Heavenly Father
and child of God. We have been adopted
into his family. Paul liked that term. In fact, he uses it five times
in the New Testament, adoption. It literally means to
place as an adult son, to place in a family someone
who is considered an adult son. It is not a natural birth. Once again, we were by
nature the children of wrath. The Bible says, even as others. But we have been
adopted into his family. So when Paul uses the term Paul
has in mind Roman adoption. He's writing to the Romans. He's using the background
of their culture, and the apostle has in mind
the process of a Roman adoption ceremony. Now, in a Roman adoption,
the son who is being adopted loses all of his rights
from his previous family but gains all of the rights
of the new family he's being adopted into so that
even if in that family there are natural born children,
the adopted child is considered equal, co-heirs of the estate. One of the New Testament
scholars that I read, F.F. Bruce said, "In the Roman
world of the first century, an adopted son was deliberately
chosen by adoptive father to perpetuate his name
and to inherit his estate. He was in no way--"
that is, the child-- "inferior in status
to a son born in the ordinary course
of nature and might enjoy the father's
affection more fully and reproduce the father's
character more worthily." So to be adopted
in a Roman culture was a high status symbol. It meant that you
have equal footing with natural-born
children in that family. There was a teacher talking
to her first-grade class about adoption, wanted
them to understand that there could be kids in
the class who are adopted and what that means in society
so that they would accept one another. And one little
girl said, I think I know something about adoption. I've been adopted. And she said this is how my
mother explained adoption to me. She said, when a child
grows in your heart instead of your tummy. I think that's
beautiful, actually. And I think that's
a good description biblically of adoption. God had you growing in his
heart for a long, long time. In fact, the Bible
says in Ephesians chapter 1 that God "chose us
in him before the foundation of the world-- having predestined us
to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will." There it is. You are growing in God's heart. God predetermined that he would
bring you into his family, and that's adoption
in the New Testament. He chose you before the
foundation of the world. I've always loved what
Spurgeon said about this. He said, it's a good thing God
chose me before I was born. He probably never would have
picked me after I was born. Now do you know a lot of famous
people have been adopted? For example, John Lennon
was adopted by his aunt Mimi after his mother died. Steve Jobs, the founder
of Apple, adopted. Nelson Mandela, the first Black
president of South Africa, adopted. Marilyn Monroe, Babe Ruth,
Faith Hill, Jamie Foxx, Eleanor Roosevelt, all
were adopted children. We are adopted
into God's family. That gives us a certain
privilege of access. Notice verse 15. "For you did not receive
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have
received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry
out Abba, Father." Abba is an Aramaic
and a Hebrew word that literally means daddy. It's not just "father". It's something
much more intimate. You still see, in Israel today,
little Hebrew boys and girls running around the streets when
their parents are close saying, Abba, Imma, Daddy, Mommy. So we now have a
right to approach God as our heavenly daddy,
something that Jesus allowed when he said, when you pray say,
our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Jewish people never did
this at the time of Jesus. They never referred to God as
"my Father" or "our Father". He was too distant. He was too powerful. He was too sovereign. So they would simply
use the words, "HaShem", which means "the name" whenever
they would refer to God. They would never say,
"my God" or "my Father". But Jesus, in the
gospels, 70 times referred to God as Father, the
Father, our Father, my Father, but also gave us
permission to use it. So that's the first
experience-- position. We've been adopted
into the family. The second experience after
salvation, after position is progress. And what I mean by progress
is we get victory steadily as time goes on over the flesh. In verse 12, Paul says,
"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors-- not to the flesh"-- that is, we don't owe
the old nature anything-- "to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to
this fallen nature, the flesh, you will die-- but if by the Spirit you put
to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Now I'm referring,
in particular, to a process that takes
place after regeneration, after salvation, after
adoption called sanctification. That's what theologians call it. It's a million dollar
word, "sanctification". I've had people come up to
me, have you been sanctified? Yes, and I am being sanctified. It's an ongoing process. What it means is-- what Paul means
here in these verses is we don't have to
live like we used to. We can conquer old
patterns, and we can grow continuously and spiritually. So sanctification is a
progressive work of God and man that makes
me more free from sin and more like Jesus Christ. I want to give
that to you again. It's a very
important definition. Sanctification is
a progressive work of both God and man that
makes me more free from sin and more like Jesus Christ. Now don't misunderstand that. That doesn't mean
we become sinless. It does mean we sin less. As we go on, more and more,
we're like Jesus Christ. Less and less, we're
gripped by sin's dominion. One of the first things
I heard as a young man before I gave my
life to Christ is that God loves you and has a
wonderful plan for your life. That was good news to me. But then I found
out something else. The devil hates you and has a
miserable plan for your life. And they're often
fighting over souls. Of course, God
gives us the choice to say yes to one or the other. But the devil hates you, and
he wants you to be miserable. He wants you to be stuck in the
mire and the muck of your past. And unfortunately, a
lot of Christians are. They kind of grow a little bit. Then they stop. There's no really
continual progression. Somebody once said,
a Christian is a man who feels
repentance on Sunday for what he did on Saturday and
is going to do again on Monday. Let me tell you, that's not
a definition of a Christian. That's the definition
of a defeated Christian. Now, after regeneration, let me
give those words again to you-- after regeneration, after
God awakens life in us, and we see our need for Jesus. And then you come to Jesus,
and we go from regeneration to justification, which means
God declares you righteous. Then we go to adoption. He places you in the family. Then, then there is this. There is sanctification. We become mature. We grow in grace and in
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now I want to clear this up
or make it clearer for you. Justification is instantaneous. God declares you righteous. You say yes to Jesus-- child of God, put into
the family of God. Justification is instantaneous. Sanctification is not. Sanctification is continuous. Justification is
entirely God's work. You can't earn it. You can't add to it. It's something he does. But sanctification is
with human cooperation. So this is where we
are working together with God to grow holier. That is, we are not passive when
it comes to our sanctification. We don't just kick back,
let go, and let God. We have to actively cooperate
with the Holy Spirit for victory. Now the question is,
how do we do that? What do we do? Well, here's a nice
little summary for us. Paul says also in the book of
Romans, this time in chapter 6, verse 11 and in 14, he
says, "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to
be dead indeed to sin." What does that mean? Reckon yourself. It means consider or
count on this as a fact. This is an established fact. Reckon yourselves
to be dead to sin, "but alive to God in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey
it in its lusts-- For sin shall not have
dominion over you." Now the way that
is worded shows me that there is an element
of human control. Don't let sin reign. Reckon yourselves to be dead. Reckon yourselves
alive to be God. This talks of cooperation. God wants to do it. God gives us power to do it,
power to grow, power to mature. We have to cooperate with that. Too many Christians
live on the right side of Easter but the wrong
side of Pentecost. Too many Christians live
on the right side of pardon but the wrong side of power. Too many Christians
are out of Egypt, but they never make it
to the promised land. They wander in the
wilderness, continually wander in the desert. Martin Luther said,
you can't stop birds from flying around your
head, but you can certainly stop them from building
a nest in your hair. So we must cooperate with
what the spirit wants to do and make progress. Not sinless, but we sin less. So we have two distinct
experiences post-salvation. We have position--
adopted into God's family. We have progress--
victory over the flesh. Let me give you a third. Proof. Proof. This now is the positive,
not the negative. The negative is saying
no to certain things. But now, the positive
is the proof-- what we display that others can see. This is the increase
of spiritual fruit. So verse 14, let me
take you to that. Paul puts it this
way, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, these are the sons of God." Just let that soak
into you for a moment. As many as are led
by the spirit of God. Here's the idea. We are to have a
spirit-directed life. A spirit-- not a
flesh-dominated life. That's the negative. The positive, a
spirit-directed life. That's possible. We have the best helper in
the world, the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, when the helper
comes, he will be with you. He will be in you, and he
will guide you into all truth. He's going to direct you. He will lead you. Even Jesus himself, it
says in the gospels, the Spirit led Jesus
into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. I hope you know that. He doesn't force you. He doesn't cajole you. He doesn't drive you. He doesn't bully you. He leads you. Some people talk
about being driven. I'm a driven person. I'm driven by the Spirit. No, you're not. Well, it's a
purpose-driven life. No, it's a spirit-led life. The Holy Spirit leads people. And that's the idea--
he is leading you, directing your life. Now as you are led, as you are
directed by the Holy Spirit, instead of your old
nature, the fallen nature, the result of that
spirit-directed life is fruitfulness. That's the proof
I'm talking about. Now I'm going to take
you down to verse 16 and put all these
thoughts together. Verse 16 continues, "The
Spirit Himself bears witness"-- or brings testimony, testifies. "The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God." Let me tell you what
Paul's talking about. Paul is referring, once again,
to a Roman adoption ceremony. That's the overall genre
of this paragraph-- Roman adoption. In a Roman adoption
ceremony, there were always several
witnesses, people who would be there to
watch what happened and testify what happened. Now why was that necessary? Because let's suppose that the
new father, the one adopting the son into the
family, dies later on and a dispute arises
over inheritance rights, land rights, who owns what. Well, this isn't a
child of the family. There is going to be a
witness, or several, who will step forward and go, I
was there when it happened. I saw the whole ceremony. That is an adopted child. That child has all
the same rights. I testify to the
validity of that position so that if even other sons,
natural born sons who were born and part of the
family before him, that would not affect
the adopted child's right as a co-heir or a joint
heir in the family. With that in mind,
look at verse 17. "And if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we
also may be glorified together." Now let me just tie up
a couple loose ends. In Judaism, this was different. If you know the Old Testament,
you know that in Judaism, if you had a couple of
sons born in the family, the oldest son got
a double portion, double the inheritance, much
more than the second-born son, not in a Roman adoption. In a Roman adoption,
all the children were equal, natural
born and adopted. So God adopts us
into his family. The Holy Spirit was
present when it happened. I've had people say, how
do you know you're saved? Easy, I was there
when it happened. But not only that,
the Holy Spirit was there when it happened. And he brings testimony. He is a witness. He validates my adoption. He validates our
sonship or daughtership. So when he says, "The
Spirit of God"-- verse 16-- "bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God." Listen, Paul doesn't have
in mind some mystical voice whispering to us from
the Holy Spirit going, you're really saved. Really, you are. This is the Holy Spirit. You're saved." He doesn't mean
that because I know a lot of people who've
heard that voice and think they're
saved who are not. The idea's much
simpler than that. I think it is referring plainly
and simply and obviously to what the Bible calls
the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit,
that's the proof. I want to show you that. Go to Galatians chapter
5 for just a moment where Paul the apostle
speaks of spiritual fruit. It's a classic section of
New Testament scripture. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16,
Listen to how Paul puts it. "I say then-- Walk in the Spirit,
and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts"-- or wars-- "against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary
to one another, so that you do not do
the things that you wish. But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
evident, which are-- adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contention,
jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries,
and the like-- of which I told you beforehand,
just as I have told you in times past, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Now this is very
similar to what we just read in Romans, if you live
according to the flesh, you will die. You live according to the
spirit, you will live. Verse 22, "But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long
suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit." He's speaking about
spirit-dominated life, a spirit-controlled life. And these are the
character traits. This is what the Holy Spirit
produces in our lives. And when he produces
that in our lives, those things give us assurance. They are benchmarks
that we belong to him. Jesus put it this way, every
tree is known by its fruit. Every tree is known
by what it produces. It's not by what
a person claims. I said some words 10 years ago. I prayed this little prayer. It's not by the bumper sticker
they have on their car. It's by the fruit that is being
produced by the Holy Spirit. This is the proof-- the increase of spiritual fruit. John Stott, one of the best
commentators I've ever read, a man who is now in heaven,
said, "The Christian should resemble a fruit
tree, not a Christmas tree! For the gaudy decorations
of a Christmas tree are only tied on, whereas
fruit grows on a fruit tree." When it comes to
spiritual fruit, it's really a matter of just
sticking close to Jesus, being led by the Spirit. You can look at it this way-- I'm just going to
stay close to Jesus. Jesus put it this way,
if you abide in me, you will bear much fruit. So just abide in him. Just stay close to him. Have you ever watched a
fruit tree give fruit? They don't sweat. Fruit trees don't go, oh, man,
this is going to be a hard day. They don't go out there and
go [GRUNTING] poof, apple. All they do, the branches
just hang in there. The ends of the branches
just hang in there. The little apple is just
growing, just hangs in there, just stays close,
stays connected. And you bear forth fruit. So this brings up this issue. When it comes to being
led by the Spirit, you have to want to be led. Again, he will not drive you. He will not force you. He will not bully you. You have to have an act of your
own will and submit to him. Think of it this way. It's like a conductor
with an orchestra. The conductor knows all the
right moves, the right beat, the right cadence. Knows when there's a break,
when there's a turnaround, when there's a key change,
and gives that direction to the orchestra. But if somebody playing an
instrument in the orchestra doesn't want to
follow the conductor, there's going to
be a train wreck. There's not going to be harmony. There's going to be
disharmony and disarray. Imagine, for instance,
in the orchestra, the tuba player wanting to
just break away from the pack and give a tuba solo. There's nothing good about
a tuba solo, just sayin'. Here's a guy that wanted
to blow his own horn. So the issue is, are you
watching the conductor? Are you looking to
the Holy Spirit? Is your life-- do you allow it
to be led by the Spirit of God? When you do, proof
will be there. Fruit will be there. So position, progress, proof. Adopted in the family. Victory over the flesh. The increase of fruit. Brings us to the
fourth experience, and that is promise. Promise. We have glory in the future. In verse 17, he says, if we are
children, then we are heirs-- "heirs of God"-- here's
that great phrase-- "joint heirs with Christ"-- I'll touch on that in a minute-- "if indeed we suffer with Him"-- here it is-- "that we may
also be glorified together." Verse 18, let's just skip ahead. "For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Now back to that phrase, "joint
heirs with Jesus Christ." It's really an
amazing turn of phrase that we are joint heirs
with Jesus Christ, meaning everything that Jesus
received by divine right we receive by divine grace. That's part of the adoption
process, including glory. So though we may suffer
now on this earth, one day it will be eclipsed,
not just by incomparable glory but the same kind of glory
that Jesus has right now with the Father. John Stott once again
said, "Suffering and glory belong together." One characterizes this age. The other characterizes
the age to come. This age, suffering. A lot of us know about that
the last eight, nine months-- the world knows about that. But for those of us who are
adopted children of God, glory. Glory. That's the perspective. That is the compensation, and
Paul always makes reference to something coming ahead. Second Corinthians 4, verse
17, "For our light affliction, which is but for a
moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory." Suffering now, glory later. You go, why suffering now? Not just because we live in
the world, but principally, because we follow Jesus
Christ in this world. And we have no right to
expect better treatment from this world than
Jesus got from this world. They misunderstood him. They're going to
misunderstand you. They mocked him. They're going to mock you. They said bad things and
did bad things to him. They're going to
do it also to you. That's why Peter said,
first Peter chapter 4, "Do not be surprised at the
painful trial you are suffering as though something strange
were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate
in the sufferings of Christ. So that you may be overjoyed
when the glory is revealed." Suffering, present age. Glory, future age. In fact, it is an honor to
suffer for the right reason. It's even an indicator
that we belong to him. Didn't Paul say to
Timothy, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution. That's part of the promise. The promise referred to here is
glory, but part of the promise is will suffer
persecution, which just makes the glory
all the more appealing. So to sum it all up,
God has saved you. He has adopted you. He has given you the Holy Spirit
to lead you, to direct you, to restrain you in
your sinful passions and to produce
fruit in your life. He has even made you
heirs with Christ, even promising
you the same glory that Jesus Christ now has. So once again, you're
on your way to heaven. But, but will you do
something until you get there? Yes, you're going to heaven,
but will you do something for the kingdom of God? Will you make it your aim to
seek first the kingdom of God, to be a fruitful believer? Until you get to
heaven, will you be committed to
growing in Christ? In fact, ask yourself,
over the last six months, over the last eight months,
with all this pandemic, have I progressed in my Christian life? Because I've discovered
if you haven't progressed, you're regressing. I love to ride bicycles,
but when I come to a hill, I have to really engage
in that gear system. Because I've discovered
if I'm going up a hill and I decide to just do nothing,
I'm going to go backwards. I have to press ahead. So you're going to heaven. Be fruitful till you get there. Be committed to
Christ in his case and his cause and his
glory until you get there. I read a story years ago
and I've read it since, and I've actually talked
to different people at the aquarium about this. It could be just a
certain species of shark, but an interesting thing
about a shark, in some cases, is that if you catch it small
enough and you confine it, it will stay the
size proportionate to its environment so
that it's possible to have a shark that is only six inches
long and yet fully mature. It's only a tiny, little shark. If you release it to a large
environment like the ocean, it will then grow to its normal
length of about average 8 feet. I've met the cutest
little 6-inch Christians. Oh, they're Christians, but
they don't grow very large. They swim in the shallow,
and they swim in puddles. Go deeper. Be committed. Go deeper. Position, progress,
proof, promise. Go deeper. How? Live for Jesus, and
live for others. Father, we thank
you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We thank you, Lord,
for the unfolding of your will in human lives. And we thank you that,
though we are fallen, we can be redeemed and redeemed,
even though we are imperfect, even as believers,
forgiven but imperfect. The Holy Spirit lives in us,
and we are the receptacle, we are the temple of
the Spirit of God. Because of that,
Lord, so much can be accomplished in this
world for your glory, for your purpose. So, Lord, I pray that you will
cause us, as we abide in Jesus, to be fruitful, not being
sinless but sinning less, hanging in there with
Jesus, staying close to him, and continually bearing fruit
that others can see and be refreshed by, knowing,
Lord, that no matter what we might suffer on the
way to heaven, heaven is still waiting. It is our home. There will be glory. There will be rest. There will be reward. And I pray that that
would motivate us in this present life. We ask it in Jesus'
name, and all God's people who are in this
auditorium and at home said, Amen. [APPLAUSE] Let's all worship together. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church. [MUSIC PLAYING]
