Religion vs Relationship Misnomer?: Romans 8:12-16

all right you guys ready all right open up to Romans chapter 8 starting in verse 12 today we're going to be talking about a few things so let me give you a list of what we're getting into we're going to talk about what it means to be led by the spirit what it means to be led by the spirit what does the Bible mean when it talks about being led by the spirit versus maybe what people today often think when they say that well talk about a couple of tests for whether or not you're saved yep a couple of tests or confirmations for whether or not you're really truly a believer we'll talk about our motivation for living godly lives and how what motivates you to follow Jesus says something about you spiritually so we'll talk about that and we'll talk about if Christianity is really a relationship with God or is that just some new idea that they came up with in the 70s is it really about a relationship with God is that a new idea and finally we'll talk about the doctrine of adoption the theology of adoption and this is all just as we continue our verse-by-verse study of Romans 8 these are just the things that are coming up in the passage and then if other verses as will be going to a lot of Scripture today so Romans 8 verse 12 it says therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh 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 the sons of God this is this is talking here about our the results of our salvation the consequences of being saved I just want to point out again especially for the ladies when the Bible is talking to girls it says ladies men are you ladies women but curls excuse me the bottle is not confused about gender at all unlike a lot of a lot of people in our culture today but when the Bible is talking to men it'll say men or sons or something like that and I was talking to men and women it uses an inclusive male term so you these are sons of God in verse 14 refers to sons and daughters chill of God that's that's entirely what it means so let's kind of break this down first off we get this very led by the spirit as many as our verse 14 led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God being led by the Spirit then becomes like a test or a way to confirm that you are in fact a Christian they're not only Christian by name I mean Christian by experience I am born again into Christ that if you're led by the spirit then it's evidence that you are in fact a child of God so then the question is what does that mean to be led by the spirit I find that a lot of people I encounter they think led by the Spirit means having what back in the day they would call functions of the word you may have not have heard recently although scrabble fans will know it well unction having an unction is like the idea of like I have just like an impression like I feel like God wants me to do this I remember hearing his story about a guy who was driving on the street and he felt like the Lord told him pull over on the side of the road like pull over at this liquor store so he pulls over at this liquor store buy some milk so advised to milk he drives off and he felt like the Lord says turn here so he turns turn here so he turns turn here so he turns then park so he parks and he's like Lord what am i doing this is weird and so then he feels like the Holy Spirit tells him take the milk and go up and give it to this house so he goes up to the house and he knocks on the door knock knock knock and he starts hearing this crying baby and this man opens the door and he's angry he's got this baby crying he's mad what do you want and the guy says I felt like God wanted me to give you this milk so he hands the milk to the guy and the guy starts crying and he says my baby's crying because we don't have any more milk we don't have any more food for the baby now I told this story I don't I don't honestly know if this is a true story or if this is one of those stories that kind of grows in the telling I don't know maybe it's entirely accurate or maybe a grew into telling because I don't know the original source I told this story one time to to a college ministry that when I was teaching the young adults ministry back like 80 years ago and and one of the guys left and he calls me later I'll tell you who because you know and okay and he calls me later he left that group and he calls me later a couple days later and he's like Mike after I heard that steady man I was like oh I wanna that's so awesome god I want to have like you leading me led by the spirit so like I felt led and I like when to this liquor store and I bought this bottle of milk this is true okay I'm not making this up and then I drove and I felt like turn here turn here and I stopped and I I went up to the house and I knocked on the door and they didn't they didn't need any milk at all so he was like I just felt really weird yeah this is not what's meant by the phrase led by the spirit in Romans 8 it is not talking about like little like nudges functions leadings like that from God I'm not saying God can't do that God can do that but we can also fabricate it very easily and so then their battle for us is I me or without the Lord kind of thing you know me but of course God can reveal e60 and I believe he does but I also think that we have to watch ourselves and would to be thoughtful about about filtering these things to test it make sure it's of the Lord not just of my own heart obviously him the second story going to the liquor store was of his own heart because he was trying he want to serve at it came from a great heart don't get me wrong but obviously uh yeah not the Lord but what is meant here by Paul in context of Romans he's talking about righteous living not unction Zoar leadings of status to this person but rather love that person be faithful keep your promises pay your debts work hard he's talking about righteous living that the led by the spirit in the context of Romans 8 is about righteous living let me read to you an example of this sort of theology from Paul because it's in Galatians 5 as well so I'm gonna read Galatians 5 verses 16 through 25 and look at how he describes walking in the spirit and it's not functions I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and 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 contentions jealousies outbursts of Wrath selfish ambitions dissensions heresies Envy murder drunkenness revelries and the like because the list of sins can just go on forever of which I tell you beforehand just as I told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control some people think I'm led by the spirit when they lose control but the fruit of the Spirit is self-control so how's that possible that couldn't be it against such there is no law and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires then you conclude if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit being led by the spirit means being led in these fruits not in the flesh none of the works of the flesh put in the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace patience gentleness faithfulness kindness goodness self-control these are the qualities of one who is led by the spirit so spiritual gifts are important but they're more occasional whereas walking in the spirit is constant some people will try to bolster their feelings of spirituality by thinking I had a word for that person now I feel you know spiritual but if I don't have godly character in my life this doesn't count for a whole lot it really doesn't walking in the spirit is about walking in a righteous like in tune with God's Spirit in my life way of living so spiritual gifts are a blessing but the focus shouldn't be on those gifts and Paul talks about this with the Corinthians when he says oh yeah desire to prophesy all the stuff but the greatest is love and he tries to redirect them to the to the to the thing we should be constantly doing not occasionally doing I think that if we focus on gifts instead of focusing on ungodliness in our lives that we start to evaluate people in really weird ways what happens is you look at somebody and you see that they have some particular gift set man they're so encouraging oh man there's such a good teacher man it's like a really powerful impactful worship leader that that person is oh man look at that person there they just go up to anybody and talking about the gospel they can evangelize and we start to like evaluate I don't know like the the the health of somebody's walk with the Lord based upon the quality of their gifts when what matters more is walking in the spirit that's why Paul says to the Corinthians right though though I have all the languages in the world and I speak in them do I have all the gifts though I offer my body to be burned if I don't have love I am nothing it profits me nothing it amounts to zilch and love is what the fruit of the Spirit so that being said Romans 8 verse 14 as many as are led by the spirit that is you can see that they're following Jesus in their lives that's the led by the spirit and not in that context and this sort of changes things we realize that we might have a modern colloquial way of saying led by the spirit when actually the biblical term is more often talking about righteousness then perhaps those types of functions which I do believe happened but they're not the emphasis here now you might say to me but Mike verse 13 sounds like a warning I mean let's read the verse 13 again Romans 8:13 for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if you live but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live it seems kind of like a warning like is that saying like I'm positionally in Christ and then I've automatically I'm living according to the spirit not the flesh well there's a truth to that in a sense I want to say yes but this kind of is a warning and without getting into the issue at least tonight about can you lose your salvation or not lose your salvation this doesn't help the person who's wandering but am I saved in the first place and this warning is legit for that person if you're saved you haven't had anything you had an encounter with God's Holy Spirit in your life you're going to be different now you're going to live by the spirit it will it be perfect no I wish I were something I strongly wish I mean we've all done the robot prayer Lord just just take control of me just take over Jesus take away and he's like no just turn right I just go where I tell you to go with you you'll be in the we behind the wheel I'll tell you what to do and you follow I don't want to follow I want you to make me follow that's like the opposite of following though right this the robot prayer is another way of saying God I'm not going to obey you so I've learned experience not to do that but instead to die to yourself take up your cross and follow so I do think this is talking about a positional reality that results in a conditional one because if you're not born again you can't be led by the Spirit it's not as though you're unsaved and you're going I will now walk in the spirit and become saved it's a result of salvation is because you're saved but the warning is real because yet there are many people many many people I might say even maybe an extra many in there many many many people who are going am I really saved like do I really see the transformation of my life brought by faith and trust in Christ do I see these things and I think this before we too quickly try to comfort them or too quickly try to condemn them we should let the question sit upon their heart a little for a little while as they ponder this in think and they look at their lives and go has my life been transformed by Jesus because a life that encounters Christ for real is changed you are changed there is a difference so as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God now we can see this through the overall context so what I want to do is so you don't take verse 13 out of context and use it to condemn its good to a value of but not to condemn let's back up to Romans 8:1 and what I want to do now is read Romans 8:1 all the way through 13 or 14 excuse me to give us context you might be like Mike you're cheating and you're supposed to be teaching the Bible here we're just reading the text yes but this is the best part of the study so let's just read it in context thinking over the past couple of weeks all of the meat that we've been getting in this passage let's try to now recall it as we read through it so Romans 8:1 there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus so is there a category of someone who's in Christ but is condemned no no if you're in him you're not then we have this passage which probably is not in the text who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit that's from two weeks ago we talked about that verse two for the law of sin of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin he condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit the things of the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not his and if Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you there for brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to flesh 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 the sons of God and you see in the context it's a it's a positional reality of salvation that results in the condition of now walk in the spirit that's the overall flow of the text that's the emphasis of it and Paul finally applies all that stuff he's been building up to when he says in verse 12 therefore brethren we are debtors we are debtors this is Paul's application of these glorious truths of salvation you are saved by grace and now you're a debtor you owe you owe a debt a debt you cannot repay an alternate II you cannot fully repay this nor would you even attempt to but you're still a debtor you're the type of debtor who says I could never pay back that debt but I will always always live an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness for the thing which was paid so we're debtors and we're going to talk now about reasons that we have to live right lives as Christians so what is your motive I wonder when you're confronted with sin or temptation when you're confronted with personal benefit or or suffering because you're going to honor God in some way when you're confronted with having to love your enemies bless those who curse you pray for those who spitefully use you when you're confronted with some secret quiet temptation what is your motive for not doing the wrong thing and for actually doing the right thing instead so I'm going to give you guys I think six let me just make sure yeah six different motives and I want you to test something based on what Paul's writing and what other scriptures say these are motives we have for living rightly and for putting off wrong living I want you to test yourself as you hear these motives ask yourself what of these is my chief motive for not sinning and for doing righteousness instead this is a great spiritual test if not in to condemn it's meant to to cause a self-evaluation let me think about this what's my motive so first off we have what we have right here in the passage in verse 12 we're debtors because we're not to live according to flesh but according to spirit because of our new birth so the first motive for the Christian is our new nature why would you sin that's not who you are that's not who I am anymore it's not who I am anymore that's the first motive we have if you're in Christ Christ is in you and you you are not even that person anymore you are now separated from that old life of sin that might be one of your motives now we move to other passages we have things like 1st Corinthians 6:20 which tells us that another motive for living right lives as Christians is because we Oh God we owe him everything this is implied in Paul and he says debtors but 1st Corinthians 6:20 it says for you were bought at a price you were bought at a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are gods that I belong to God I don't even own me anymore I don't belong to me you know when you're when you're on company time you do company things when you're on the job it's not really my time right now so I owe them this time well my whole life is owned by God my eternity is owned by him my soul was purchased by him so I owe him a debt so are you motivated by a sense of debt to God that's not a bad motivation that's a good thing to quality thing you go Lord you purchased my life and I owe you here's another motive that you might influence you because sin is bad this is complicated stuff Allen write it down sin is bad sin is bad Romans seven thirteen it says but sin that it might appear sin was producing death of me through what is good so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful so that we would realize how bad sin is a renewed mind should see this I know that when I first came to Christ I didn't think sin was that bad I just thought I was in a lot of trouble for it you know what I mean you're like it's not that sin so evil it's just that I'm in a lot of trouble over descent but then you come to Christ so you get a renewed mind and you start to realize how evil sin is and the badness of it just shocks you and it rips into your heart and you're like oh I don't want that that's disgusting it's I have a friend that on his family with his father's Japanese is his mother's Jewish and they would they would feed him sushi as a kid but he didn't like to eat the fish but you know he loved he left something called smelt egg smelt egg is like a caviar but it's just and it's a less expensive carrier but it's actually really yummy okay and he loved it's like a kid food almost it's a little bit sweet and it's these tiny tiny little little little balls whatever those happen to be and they just could have pop in your mouth and they're sweet and he would just eat eat it by the spoonful this stuff well one point in his life someone told him what it was and he told me the story and says once I found out what smelt egg was I would never eat it again even though I loved it before once I found out what it was it disgusted me this is the realization we have towards sin the world celebrates in the world think scent is beautiful sand is wonderful scent is shiny right it's so it's so good it's sinful like this is one of the most foolish statements I've ever heard in my whole life you know they call I mean I Drive by the gentlemen's clubs right you see them gentlemen's club and you're like that is not a gentlemen's club like gentlemen don't do this they don't go to places like this it's just you start to see it for what it is you're seeing sin for how bad sin is and it's it hit your own life because you see your sin and how bad it is and one day you suddenly think Jesus died for that my lord died for that and you see how bad sin is and that's a motive to not do it but there's another motive number four because righteousness is good it's one thing to know that sin is bad but you know there's a whole other side of the coin that sometimes people miss righteousness is good Psalm 33 verse five speaking of God it says he loves righteousness and justice the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord righteousness is a good thing God loves it proverbs 22:1 it says a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches loving favor rather than silver and gold a good name a good reputation a reputation of being a godly man or a godly woman better than being a rich better than the owning some giant company and having all that money which everybody who is up up there realizes that this isn't even up I just have money but a good name a good name is better to be known as a godly man or a godly woman when you see that righteousness is good you get a craving for it either craving to serve God now none of this is - for salvation we're not we're not saved by our works in fact it's an insult to Christ to imply that any work would help me and my salvation but it's because of my salvation is because righteousness is good now that I want to live it out so maybe the goodness of righteousness is one of your motives and I think that is a deeper spiritual motive that we grow into as we mature in Christ as we grow in Christ we learn the goodness of righteousness we start to love it it's not just like oh I should do the right thing it's like man it's the right thing like it's almost exciting even if it's self sacrificial because it's right it's good number four again apparently I numbered them is to number fours okay we give you seven things I thought I want lighter and add it a minute that's why alright so number five because we have a calling because you have a calling it so so far I've given you because it's according to your nature because we all got everything we're debtors because sin is bad because righteousness is good and five because we have a calling we have a calling you know sometimes when I'm talking or teaching I'll actually reference a specific person in the audience all like all I call them out in a sense not in a bad way I don't usually do that sometimes with youth ministry but that's just with one kid but um but sometimes I call people out and what's funny is that that look on their face when they're like he's wait you wait me if I you were really talking to me where I'm talking to them I'm calling them and they don't know it because they just sort of see my words as being like for all the audience but not for them personally some people they read the Bible like that you know it's like oh the Bible yeah it's for everybody but they're not reading it like it's for them one of our motives for righteousness is because we have a calling and by we I mean you you right you have a calling a calling for righteousness are calling for love to God a calling to be someone for God let me read to you first Peter chapter 2 verses 9 through 12 listen to this and let me ask you as I read can you hear this talking to you not the crowd but you but you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light who once were not a people but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy beloved I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak of you as evildoers they may by your good word perks which they observe glorify glorify God in the day of visitation do you hear that's that's you like you're part of that holy nation you're part of that special people you're called out to abstain from those things so that you can proclaim the praises of the one who calls you it's there is a high and lofty calling that we've been given now we aren't worthy of it we don't deserve it but doesn't that make it even more motivation to step into this thing God's given me and live out this godly holy life that he's called me to live not for salvation but I almost feel like I hear in the back of someone's head going Mike are you preaching words for salvation I'll be like no I'm not now stop avoiding the issue we are called to live a godly life nothing less as Christians it's not how I'm saved is not how I maintain my salvation or obtain my salvation it's my calling it's my calling number six because of love because of love second Corinthians five verses 14 and 15 it says for the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all then all died and he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again remember the greatest of these is love I think of all these motivations the greatest one is right here because of love my motive for honoring God would her first serving God love now I've given you the highest motivation I wonder if that might be yours I hope I hope I'm sure it factors in somewhere but I hope it's up there towards the top of your motives now I'm going to give you the lowest what's the lowest motive for doing right and not doing wrong number seven because of consequences that's the lowest motive because it's more selfish typically than the other motives because of consequences and here's Galatians 6:7 he says do not be deceived God is not mocked for whatever a man shows that he will also reap broken families pain ruin reputations illness guilt financial ruin prison death these are all consequences of sin potential consequences of different sins and maybe that motivates you in fact maybe your primary motivation for not sinning is consequences in which case you're on the the lowest rung of the motivation ladder for serving Jesus I'm glad you're on it don't get me wrong but it's time to climb higher it's time to look at these other possible motives and say why am I really following Jesus you know where does love Factory in fact if love is your chief motive you don't even need a lot of the other ones you notice that you're like what about the consequences oh yeah I know the guy the man I'm doing it for love I'm doing for my love for God like Jesus said if you love me obey my commands so so um this is this is where he's like brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh right but to walk in the spirit this is this is our debt this is our our our or calling our commitment and all these beautiful reasons to do it now I want to make an important point before we move on to verse 15 and at this that Paul's doing theology we've been doing lots of theology but have you noticed that salvation and theology it's not just a doctrine it's an experience in us in this book and this is consistent with the rest of the scriptures it's an experience and a doctrine it's not one or the other I mean it saves people do affirm doctrines like you can't be a Christian and not have any doctrine there are some people out there living in Fantasyland like like in the third door from the right and Willy Wonka play house and they think that you can be Christian without having any set beliefs any specific doctrines that you hold to well we hold a certain specific doctrines you're not you're not a believer if you don't believe things specific things you're not a Christian but Christianity is not just doctrine it's also living it out and notice how how Paul he marries the doctrine with the application he talked about how you're saved and then he just goes right into how your life should look because of it it's the doctrine goes right into application so I know I've heard the phrase you know Christianity is not a doctrine well it includes doctrine but it's not just doctrine you've also heard Christianity is a relationship not a religion we've all heard that before when I was when I was much younger I said that I remember saying it and I know what I meant by it and what I meant was mostly accurate ish but when you actually think about it Christianity is a religion the important thing is it's not just a religion it's a relationship there's that really popular viral video that got out there that said you know why I hate religion and love Jesus I'll be like well Jesus doesn't hate religion and if you really love him you probably shouldn't say that what he loves is true religion genuine religion religion that's pleasing in the eyes of God but you can't get away from the word religion as though just by doing that you're demonizing you're demonizing all religions I mean Christianity a religion did you not notice the thing is it's true and if your Christianity is merely religion merely the practices of going to church practice of reading the Bible practice of having a time of Prayer but not a relationship with God where you walk in the spirit and you fellowship with him and you truly believe in his son if it's not those things then it's then it's empty religion at that point so Christianity not just a religion Christianity not just doctrine it's also the experience it's also the experience and so this brings up a conversation I had recently with with with a agnostic I think guy I was speaking with a very friendly conversation good conversation and he mentioned to me about the idea of Christians having a relationship with God and he says you know I'm not sure about this but I've heard that Christianity having this emphasis on relationship is more of a new thing that like if you go back 100 or 200 years you go back to you know several hundred years go back to the Renaissance go back even further than that you start getting where it was just religion it wasn't relationship and I thought hmm and my theory is if I hear an idea come out of the mouth of one agnostic or atheist minutes probably in the minds of a whole lot you know you're a question from one person probably a lot of people have that same question or idea so some people think that the whole concept of create Christianity is a relationship focus not just religion is a new idea but what does the scripture say let's look at verse 15 for you to not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father Abba Father now now Paul's been talking about life change because of faith in Christ and now he's talking about deep personal relationship with God with all those who have who have Christ all those who are saved they have this so let's let's look at this verse and we'll see we'll see that this is not a new idea at all we're talking we're talking from the beginning from the beginning Christianity has been the same thing so you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear not of bondage again to fear what is that I think that's the pre Christ life remember the theme going through Romans is sin and death sin and death sin and death he who commits sin is a slave of sin you're caught up in slavery to sin but you're no longer slaves to sin because now you're which brings death you know now you're going to be slaves to Christ but you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear so you're not this works base performance for salvation oh you fail now you're caught up in sin you're stuck in it that's not what we received Christians you do not get a blank slate like if I get a blank slate when I came to Christ I would have ruined it I have sinned more after coming to Christ because of the age which I did it than I did before I'd be in so much trouble so I'm glad we don't have blank slate or else I'd be like as soon as you're safe please just get hit by bus before it's too late you know you're going to like go up to like a revival meeting and then just jump off a cliff on your way down the mountain because you're not going to make it so we didn't receive that kind of bondage again to fear that would be the fear of judgment so first John 4:18 talks about the same idea it says there's no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment but he you fears has not been made perfect in love what's this fear involves torment we're talking about here punishment fears like Lord I'm not only gonna have consequences for my sin but eternal judgment for my sin no you're not you're in Christ you're in Christ you need to let God's love cast out that fear so we have not been positionally put into a relationship of works we've been positionally put into a relationship of adoption this is a very different thing but some people they think we do have that spirit of works and that's very sad they live their Christian life in two sort of their sort of bipolar Christians right at one point they're very happy and they're stoked about their walk with God because they feel like they've got everything lined up right and they look at the rest of the church and they think you're all compromised I'm the only one who really loves Jesus and then they find error in themselves finally and and they swing way over to the other side and now they're condemning themselves and they're like could you pray for me pastor I don't know if I'm really Christian and then they feel good and they swing back over to like I can't believe that that girl where that's a church is another and then they're so they become either judgmental to others or judgmental for themselves and they kind of swing between and you will see this most often in my experience those who are the most judgmental to others are just in between judging themselves a lot of the time because they have that spirit of bondage again to fear but that's what we do not have in Christ what we have in Christ is described as adoption adoption now could there be a more relational term to describe your position in Christ not just saved adopted there are whole sections of theology about this concept of adoption ephesians 1 talks about how we were adopted in Christ before the foundation of the world meaning that this was always part of the plan it was always part of the plan was God adopting us into his his family as his children you could talk about about how if you're adopted that means you're not naturally children of God in this sense but everyone's a child of God yeah we should be more careful with our theology that's not entirely true for all his creations but we're not all his children in that family sense that's through Christ you become adopted but you don't need a degree in Roman culture to understand this concept of adoption so I don't want to get too caught up in like parsing the term you're adopted think about it you're adopted into Christ this is positional I mean this is like oh yeah because it's what an amazing positional word for my position in Christ I'm adopted I'm adopted God treats me as his adopted son do I feel like the hammer is about to fall what kind of father do you think you have would you do that I hope not I'm going to adopt this child but don't you mess up because I can unadopted add not really no you can't no this was the plan we're adopted we have the spirit of adoption first John 3 talks about this verses 1 through 3 it says and think about this because here when it says behold it's asking you to actually stop and think about it behold what manner of love what quality of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God think of how magnanimous God is he creates the universe from nothing he just designs the laws of physics he speaks all things into existence he he is righteous and holy he is all-powerful he's eternal he's all this wonderful stuff and he's going to call you his job he's adopting you behold what kind of love is this therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him beloved now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure that's part of that motivation it's Who I am motivation right I'm a child of God so I want to walk in holiness Wow we have the spirit of adoption this is this should be the way you relate with God should be as a child of God where you can say God you're my father you are my father it's the spirit of adoption the Bible says the Holy Spirit is actually the seal or the guarantee or the promise that we're going to get saved eventually from final judgment because he sealed us or promised us his holy spirit it says first crypto 2nd Corinthians 1:22 who was also sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee as a guarantee Ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14 it says in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance our future glory and hope until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory so we have all these different elements in adoption I mean there's like a lot of different facets and things to think about with it but let's not lose the main point God's saying you're my child I'm your father now that's permanent that's pretty meat in fact they even used a determine in Romans 8:15 by whom we cry out Abba Father Abba Father a lot of you know this Abba it's like a term meaning like dad or daddy or Papa it's an endearing term it's an endearing term he's my Abba Father my dear father my close father I love calling God father you know Jesus called God father most of the time when you pray there's one instance where he didn't and that was when he was on the cross when he called out my God my God why have you forsaken me that was him taking our place so he could give us his place and now we can call God Father God is my father and this blesses me so much and it did right from the start when I first came to Christ I just remember just loving that God's my father that personal relationship with him I mean I I yes it's true I had I had father issues big time but here's the thing so often people compared God's fatherhood to the fatherhood you've experienced in this world as though God can only be as good as whatever father you had on earth and this is really foolish in my opinion yes I had father issues sure raise your hand you didn't have any father issues anybody all right we got three in the room okay yes your dad was a sinner your challenge is to make sure your kids don't have father issue that's the challenge for us right I want to make sure my kids don't have that but but the relationship with God is so much deeper so much better it is not a replacement for an earthly father that wasn't there it goes way above and beyond this it's just it shouldn't be compared I should not be comparing my earthly father to my heavenly father my adoption with God is so much bigger and better than this and I've known I knew a pastor who shared a story at one time and I'll share this for your sakes because it might be in your mind this way and maybe it'll help and he shared the story and he says people used to say that God was my father no that bugged me because my dad was messed up and he was kind of mad sometimes people are angry you know I've messed over don't regard my father and that didn't help me at all in one day one day I just realized God's my daddy and so it changed everything for me I realized God's my daddy and I'm like good for you nincompoop but switching the name from father to daddy didn't change anything what happened was your heart allowed you to separate who God is from who your earthly dad was like but none of us should think that our earthly father is like God like that's like idolatry like that's weird I should look at God and see him for who he is totally other totally different so much better not even a replacement no no no no because it's not like if you have a great earthly father you don't need God good luck with that god is so much better than that and if you do have you know father issues so to speak that's the it's almost like kind of demeaning to put it that way but if you if you have you know a history and drama and trauma in your past because of your father I would just say don't even don't even go there God is so much better and bigger than that scriptures even when my father and mother forsake me then the Lord will uphold me he's so much better and so much bigger than that so don't limit his fatherhood in your life to some earthly experience that you had with some other human being that's irrelevant God is so much better than that so by his Spirit we crowd ah the father this is actually an experiential thing that the Spirit gives to me a relationship with God Christianity's relationship it's religion oh but it's so much more than just religion and if you compare the experience that Christians have with the experience that other people have another religions you'll see that what they have are smells and bells oftentimes and what we have is relationship which is why we don't care if we're meat in a warehouse or if you have pews or folding chairs or whatever it is you've got this is all just the window dressing verse 16 it continues this idea that says the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God now this gets even deeper because it now is saying that the whole spirit will give you some sense of assurance that you actually have this adopted relationship with God this is what we call assurance assurance of salvation this is not salvation salvation is being safe assurance of salvation is you knowing that you're saved because you can be saved and question it be unsure or you can be saved and be assured so we're talking here about assurance of salvation so the questions I have is I'm reading this verse the spirit bears witness with my spirit that I'm a child of God is what is this witness like and am i experiencing it let me first say what it's not it's not tongues this is not speaking in tongues and if somebody is reading this first and then they use it to say therefore you have to speak in tongues and that's the spirit bearing witness that you're a child of God you're full of baloney that is not what's in the text spiritual gifts comes up in Romans 12 he's not there yet because spiritual gifts are not central to the Christian life in that sense what is is your relationship with the Lord that's central so what's this witness it's well part of it could be walking in the spirit I mean that's what he's talked about already if you have the Spirit of Christ you'll be walking in the spirit so there's an element of that there but this seems to be a little different doesn't it the spirit bears witness with my spirit his spirit is communicating to my spirit that I'm a child of God so it's this sense of real relationship and belonging to God that's what it is it's an inner sense of relationship with God now could somebody fabricate this yes but the Spirit could also give it to you I have this sense of relationship with God I called him Abba Father it's not a message like I'm receiving you're a child of God but rather it's relational I now am been able to walk in relationship with God Abba he's my other father I know you God I'm known by you I'm in you that's what it is have you experienced this now I don't know if you experienced it 24/7 I don't know if it's like you know I've got the flu I'm throwing up and not feeling very good my body aches and stuff but inside my heart deep in my heart there's this just ah the father's just going on maybe it is maybe there's times where you're just like I don't know what I'm feeling right now my emotions are this and that but it doesn't talk here about emotions does it it says the spirit bears witness with our spirit that you're a child of God now I've experienced this in all honesty look at myself really honestly go how I experience this this sense of relationship with God is my father very intensely very strongly very genuinely yes have I always felt it at all times no but but most often yes just that sense of relationship now some people they reduce relationship with God to just provision and if you're lacking this Holy Spirit relationship with God you'll reduce your relationship with God to what he does for you instead of just to who he is and who you are and him now this will sat in those who have a real relationship with God well reduce my relationship with God just like lord help me with this Lord give me this give me this give me this give me that do this do this do that if that's the extent if God is your cosmic vending machine and that's the extent like it I've heard the old giving the giving tree' I think it was what it was called the old story right the little kid like plays on the tree and I forget the whole story but something like he uses the tree when he's a kid like me to make sticks and swords out of it or something and it gets bigger and it's just mixed swings from it or something like that and he gets bigger and he's like sitting with his girl under the tree and it gets bigger and then he gets he's big now he's eventually he gets old and he's just like sitting under the shade of the tree and then he gets even older and the tree has been cut down and now he just sits on the stump and the trees like I'm just here just to sit on me like that is not God yes God gives but it's not like I'm here just to be used and abused by you just come sit on me I don't think that's a good analogy for who God is it might be an illustration of how she gives two ungrateful people sometimes that it is but that cheapens our walk with God and if that seems cheap to you and it seems like it does not reflect your walk with God that's a good thing that's a good thing our spirit is a relationship point between us and God not our bodies but our spirit and in that we experience the witness of the Holy Spirit which brings up an affirmation or an assurance of our salvation so do people always have this sense constantly I don't I don't think it says that can can some people be self-deluded um yes and that's why we partner this with other things like the fruit of the Spirit and seeing the actual evidence of Christ in your life but but as we're closing I want to I want to just encourage this notice how Paul again he mixes theology with experience as though you can't have one without the other you just you can't have one without the other theology leads right into experience and this should be the norm for us if theology is not exciting to you it's because you're you're playing from the bench you ever been that kid you're on the sports team but you're on the bench the whole time I'm sorry that was what I was your experience some people do Christianity that way although the team really oh yeah what do you do keep the spot on the bench really warm that's what I do that's theology without experience so that kid at practices when they're all learning the plays he sit there like what's the point why am I going to learn the place I'm not playing anyways that's theology without experience but to the believer who's following Jesus and living their life for Christ and they want to be just right in there and I want to do whatever you tell me to do Lord theology is exciting to them because it applies it applies so this should be the norm for us if the ology is not exciting to you because you're just doing it halfway you're only doing half theology and that's about as exciting as a half baked cake I like the word exciting I was looking to definitions for exciting sometimes you just look up definitions for words it's a fun thing to do let's go to hobby I like one of the definitions is this it produces a state of increased energy or activity that's exciting so here's my thought I wanna leave it is your theology exciting does it create in your life in your Christian life an increased state of energy or activity should be the case that should be the case and as we close just know this we're just ramping up this idea of adoption because the next verse starts to talk about our inheritance because we're children of God so we're not done with the topic of adoption there's more that's going to come there but we don't want to lose the application of it which is that I'm a child of God he's your father in Christ what's pretty Laurie thank you so much for your abundant grace for your love for us our loving father that each person in Christ has a deep and personal relationship with you it can be soiled it can be harmed through sin and things like that Lord but it's positional in its nature we're adopted we are so grateful for your abiding love your unchanging love your love that endures forever we're so grateful Lord let us just let us just live our lives from a place of knowing who we are in Christ that our motives would be would be would be love gratitude your glory Lord we just pray that with all the busyness of life and the hustle and bustle of everything else that we would we would embrace the depth of our relationship with you and not for a moment to take it for granted or to downplay it or to miss out on it or to have just religion without acknowledging this beautiful wonderful eternal thing God you are Heavenly Father we thank you we love you for who we are in Christ and help us discover it more as we continue reading through Romans and talk about our inheritance and what that means and all that we pray that we would just be stirred up with vigor with fire in our veins Lord with with passion in our hearts in Jesus name Amen [Music] ah [Music]

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 33,141

Rating: 4.9235096 out of 5

Keywords: Mike Winger, BibleThinker, Bible Thinker, Romans, Romans 8, Adoption, doctrine of adoption, how can I know I'm saved?, assurance of salvation, religion vs relationship, led by the spirit, I hate religion but I love Jesus, is Christianity a religion?, Romans 8:12-16, motives

Id: Y2bSvLmH_7M

Length: 53min 0sec (3180 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 10 2017