[MUSIC PLAYING] Today, please turn in your
Bibles to the book of Romans 8. The 8th chapter of this
incredible book of Romans. There were four brothers
who left home for college, they all became successful. Either a doctor or a lawyer. They prospered
and what they did. And years later, they got
together for a dinner-- kind of catching
up on old times. It was nearing their
elderly mother's birthday. And they were able to
talk what they bought her for her birthday. Now very prosperous
and successful, the first son said, I bought
Mama a brand new huge home. Had it built, gave it
to her for her birthday. The second son said, well,
I installed a $100,000 movie theater in her house. And third said, well, I went
to the Mercedes dealership and I had the dealer
drop off a brand new SL 550 Mercedes
in her driveway. And then the fourth
son said, well, you know how much Mama
loved to read her Bible. And you know that she is
unable to read it because she can't see very well anymore. Well, I met a
preacher who told me about a parrot that could
recite the entire Bible. And he said, it
wasn't cheap though. I had to commit to
paying $100,000 a year for 20 years to his church. But it took 20
preachers 12 years to train this parrot to
recite the entire Bible. So I thought I should do that. I did it for Mama. There were all very impressed. After the holidays--
after the birthday, after the holidays
were over, mama got around to writing
her thank you notes. And she wrote, Milton,
the house you built is so huge I live
in only one room, but I have to clean
the whole house. Thanks anyway. Marvin, I'm too old to travel. I stay home. I have the groceries delivered,
so I never use the Mercedes. The thought was
good though, thanks. Michael, you gave me an
expensive theater with Dolby sound, it can hold 50 people. But all my friends are dead. I've lost my hearing
and I'm nearly blind. I'll never use it. Thank you for the
gesture just the same. Finally, dearest Melvin,
you were the only son to have the good sense to give
a little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. [LAUGHTER] Love, Mama. [LAUGHTER] Ouch. Well, she was losing her
eye sight, wasn't she? Getting new things is usually
seen as a welcome gesture. Be it a new car or a
house or Dolby sound system or a Starbucks
cup, getting a new item is always wonderful. But imagine getting
a whole new you-- a changed you. Change from the inside out. A change so profound that not
only do you notice the change, but those who know you well
also notice the change. That's exactly what the
Bible promises when it says, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold all things become new. A brand new you. I was reading a study this
week by Groupon, the agency-- the marketing agency. They asked 2,000 people how much
they spend on their appearance. So they wanted to get the
average-- the average American spends on appearance. You ready for this? Women age 18 to 78
spend $3,756 a year. That's $313 a month. That's an average of
$225,360 in a lifetime. Quarter of a million dollars
in a lifetime on appearance. Men, you're not
getting off easy. Yours is about as much. Males spend almost
three, $2,928 a year. That's $244 a month, totaling
$175,680 through a lifetime. Now this study-- the
same study revealed that more than a fourth of all
appearance related spending is on the face. A total of $51,120, which is
more than any other single part of the body. Well, I've got good news. You're going to get a new face. You're not only going
to get a new face, you're going to get a whole
new body in the Resurrection. You might be thinking,
I'm good with my face now. Well, just wait. One day that will be
such good news to you. And the hint of that
is found in verse 17 where it says, that we may
also be glorified together. One day, the change
will not just be inward, it will be outward. Until then, we live in the
moment of 2 Corinthians 4, which says, our
outward man is perishing, but our inward man is
being renewed day by day. So the new you-- the new you changed
from the inside out is what the
Holy Spirit produces in the life of the believer. Every believer to some extent. We noted last time
that the Holy Spirit is very prominent in chapter 8. Mentioned almost 20
times in chapter 8 alone. We're going to look at
verses 12 down to verse 18. And in this paragraph--
although, there are many more experiences than what I'm going
to be pointing out to you, I want to give you a
few of the experiences that every child of
God should enjoy. The first experience
is a new relation-- a new relation. Let's read our versus
and get this thrust. Romans 8:12,
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. For you did not receive
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you
receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry
out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children than heirs-- heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer
with him, that we also may be glorified together. 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. One of the prominent features
of this paragraph that we just read together is
this orientation to a brand new relation
that we have with God. You'll notice it, for instance,
beginning in verse 14. The next four versus 14,
15, 16, 17 all of them speak about this new relation. Notice the phrase in
verse 14, sons of God. Sons of God. Go down to verse 15, you'll
notice he speaks of adoption-- the spirit of adoption by
whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Verse 16, the phrase
children of God. And verse 17 if
children then heirs. So all of this language about
a new relationship with God. You see, before you were saved,
your relationship with God was not intimate,
it was not close. It was detached, it was distant. You could simply look at
your relationship BC-- before Christ as there was
God and there was human. God and human. Not just human,
but a fallen human. A fallen human at
enmity with God. Paul describes it, we are by
nature the children of wrath-- or the objects of
wrath even as others. So it's not just
even God and human, it's God and fallen
humans standing in the judgment of God. It's not that God
didn't love you, God certainly did love you. But the big problem was there
was a separation because of that three letter word, sin. So Isaiah 59 says, the Lord's
hand is not short that it cannot save. Nor is his ear heavy
that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have
separated you from your God. And your sins have
hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. So that's the relation,
God and human. But things are different now. That was then, this is now. Now the relationship you
have isn't God and human, it's father and child of God. Father and daughter
of God, son of God. A whole new relation. You are sons and daughters
of the living God. That's how He sees you. Now I know it's
popular in our culture. It's all over. Leaders say it, artists say it. Our pop culture
loves to say things like we're all God's children. Right? We're all God's children. Only problem with that
is Jesus does not agree. The Pharisees came to
Jesus and the scribes, and they confronted him. And they said to him--
listen to these words-- we have one Father, God. That's their mantra, too. We're all God's children. We have one Father, God. Jesus said to them, if God were
your Father you would love me. For I proceeded forth
and came from God, nor have I come of
myself but he sent me. Why do you not
understand my speech because you're not able
to listen to my word? Now here's the
conversation stopper. You are of your
father, the devil. OK then. So according to Jesus not
everybody is a child of God. In fact, there's only one
way to become a child of God. And that is by receiving God's
son as Savior into your life. That's the only way. John chapter 1:12-13, as many
as received him to them he gave the power, the right, the
authority the privilege to be called sons of God to those
who believe in his name. So we are a child
of God by believing in him, by getting a new life-- a new birth that
leads to a new life. Now I will say this. I will concede that we are, in
one sense, all children of God. Every human being is a child
of God by virtue of creation. Right? Were created in God's image. Even Paul stood and
the Areopagus in Athens and said to the
philosophers-- quoting a source of an
unbeliever and said, for we are all God's offspring. In the creative sense,
were the children of God. But in a redemptive sense,
it's a very narrow category, and that is those
who believe in Him. Now the word Paul uses
for this is adoption. It shows up in verse 15. We have received the spirit of
adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Adoption is a word Paul
uses five times in the New Testament. It's a word he liked. It's an analogy he liked. It's a picture he
wanted to paint of what happens in this
new relationship with God. It's adoption. Now adoption is different
than natural birth. Being born into a family
is one thing, being adopted is quite another thing. The word adoption
means to be placed in a family as an
adult son or daughter. To be placed in the family
as an adult son or daughter. We were, by nature, the
children of wrath, Ephesians 1. But God adopted us,
brought us into His family. Now, here's the background
Roman adoption-- which I think Paul is
referring to here-- was something in which somebody
who was adopted into a family loses all of the previous
rights from his former family, but gains all of the new
rights of this new family he's being adopted into. So even if there were natural
born children in that family, the adopted son or
the adopted daughter was considered an equal and
even co-heirs in the inheritance of the estate. So FF Bruce, one of the great
scholars of the New Testament, said, in the Roman world
of the first century, an adopted son was deliberately
chosen by an adoptive father to perpetuate his name
and inherit his estate. He was in no way
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 what Paul wants us to know
by him using the word adoption is that God chose you
to be in his family. God picked you to
be in his family. There was a first grade
class, the teacher was discussing adoption
because she wasn't sure if all the class understood
that there were kids in that class who didn't have a
mommy and daddy that they were born of. So she started
discussing adoption. One little girl
shot her hand up, she said, I can tell
you what adoption is. The teacher said, go ahead. She said, I'm adopted. She said, my mom
explained it to me. She told me it's when a child
grows in your heart instead of your tummy. What a beautiful and,
frankly, theologically correct description of
biblical adoption. You see, God had you growing
in his heart for years. In Ephesians 1 Paul
said, he 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. That's the doctrine of election. God picked you. God chose you. God wanted you to be
part of his family. Charles Spurgeon,
whom I have always loved to quote on
just about anything said, I believe in the
doctrine of election. I'm quite sure that if
God had not chosen me I never would have chosen him. And he said, I am sure God
chose me before I was born, because he never would
have picked me afterwards. [LAUGHTER] You've been adopted. God picked you. God picked you. There's some famous people
that have been adopted. John Lennon was
adopted by his aunt. Steve Jobs, adopted. Nelson Mandela, Marilyn Monroe. Babe Ruth. Faith Hill. Jamie Foxx, and
Eleanor Roosevelt are among the many famous
people who had been adopted. When God adopts you the
relationship changes and you are now allowed
to call him Abba, Father. That's an Aramaic term, Abba,
as well as a Hebrew term. It means daddy. It's a intimate term. It's a close term. It's a term of endearment. If you go to Israel
you'll notice the children calling after their mother and
father Ema, momma, Abba, daddy. So that's how Jesus
taught us to pray, right? He said, and when you pray,
say, our Father in Heaven hallowed be your name. That really probably
came as a shock to the people of
the first century because most of the Jews did not
refer to God as their father. They didn't pray, my Father. They had this reverence
and respect for God that really superseded any
familiarity whatsoever. They were so in awe of
God that they didn't even call God by his name
that he revealed himself in the Old Testament. They gave him the
title HaShem, which in Hebrew means "The Name". Imagine referring to
somebody as "The Name". Can even say his name,
but so holy, "The Name". And when they would
pray they would pray in Hebrew, [SPEAKING HEBREW]. Blessed are you Lord,
God, King of the universe. Lofty language, wonderful
language, wonderful truth. But Jesus said call Him
Daddy, call him Father. 70 times the New
Testament either uses Jesus calling
God his Father or allowing us to
call him Father. That's adoption. That's what adoption does. So we are given a new relation. We enjoy a new relation. He is Father, we are children. Second, experiences
a new motivation. Look at verse 14, please. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God these are sons of God. Do you know that you have, like,
the world's best helper living in you. I hope you're
thinking, that's good because I need all
the help I can get. Because we all do. You have the best helper, he
is called the Holy Spirit. And here he is
said to lead us, as many as are led by the Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit
will be with you, in you, and he will guide
you into all truth. He is said to lead a person. I love the language
of Him leading. A shepherd doesn't beat
his sheep or force a sheep, he leads his sheep. Even Jesus it said
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
where he was tempted of the devil for 40 days. Why is the language important
it reflects that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He leads, he doesn't drive. He doesn't force. He doesn't bully, he leads. Some people speak
of being driven. I'm a driven person. I hope you're a lead person. I'm driven, I'm spirit driven. Or I'm purpose driven. The Christians
should be Spirit led. Led by the Holy Spirit. Martin Lloyd Jones said, there's
no violence in Christianity. What the spirit does is to
enlighten and to persuade. The Holy Spirit never
browbeats, there's no driving. There's no compulsion. But here's the caveat. You have to want to be led. Where it really works is,
yeah, He leads and we are led. But you have to want that. You have to relinquish control
in order for him to lead you. Think of it as a conductor
leading an orchestra. Conductor's up there
with a little wand, he's doing this not just
because he likes to do that. But he's keeping time
and rhythm and cadence. And speaking with
that little wand to different parts of
the orchestra to say, now is your turn. Now louder. Now softer. What if one of the players
or a few of the players decide, I don't want to
be led by the conductor? What will you have? Noise, pandemonium. You will have a tuba solo. And that is never
good on any day, even if you're a tuba player. My apologies. But it's good in an orchestra. You don't want somebody
blowing his own horn. So the Christian,
we should be asking, am I letting the
Holy Spirit lead me? Am I seeking God? Am I watching the
conductor with His cues? Now I feel I need
to comment on this. There is a sense
in which I think this is an abused phrase-- one of the most abused
phrases I have ever heard among believers. And it's the phrase, I feel led. I feel led. I feel led to do that. Or I don't feel led to do that. And I say it's
abused because it has come to mean a subjective
mental impression that I get for my direction in life. I feel led. Often, it's just
a way of saying, I don't want to do that. But if I say God is leading
me or not leading me, it comes off a lot better. I don't feel led. I feel led. So I think we need to
know what that means. So no notice verse 14. Notice that it does
not say, as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, these are the sons of God. It does not say that. There's a word I left out. What's the first
word in the verse? For. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The word "for" means because. Whenever you have a sentence
that begins with a for or a because it's pointing us
back to the previous verse or the previous thought. The previous thought
begins in verse 12, but I take you to verse 13. 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-- or because as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The topic is the sanctifying
work of the Holy Spirit, not living for the flesh. So being led by the
Holy Spirit means not letting your bodily
appetites control you any longer. That's what being led means. It's not a mystical, I feel led. It's a very practical
specific way of saying, God leads you into his will so
that you have a new motivation. And the new motivation
is now you say, I want to do what
He wants me to do. I want to do what He wants
me to-- and when you say that and you mean that, I really want
to do what God wants me to do, you're being led by the Spirit. So we have a new relation,
were adopted into this family. With it comes a new motivation,
being led by the Spirit. There's a third experience,
there's a new validation. Verse 16, he continues,
the Spirit Himself-- notice not itself, Himself. The Holy Spirit as a person-- the Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now, what does that mean? Well, let's go back
to the Roman adoption. In antiquity, when the Romans
would adopt a son or daughter into the family it
was a formal ceremony. There were witnesses that
came to a formal ceremony. There were usually
several witnesses. In fact, an average
of seven witnesses came to the adoption ceremony. Why? To validate it. To swear that the
adoption was genuine. Why was that important? Well, suppose the new father-- the guy adopting the child-- dies. And when he dies
there is a dispute over the rights of inheritance. And suppose there are natural
born children from that father who then say to this
adopted kid or about him, I don't know who this guy is
he just showed up and said he's adopted. We don't know him. That's when a witness
comes forward and says, I was there when it happened. Your father adopted
him into the family. So now he is an heir and
a joint heir with you. He's part of the mix. OK, so in Judaism,
it was usually the eldest son that got a double
portion of the inheritance. In Roman law and with the Roman
adoption, all of the kids-- those adopted and
those natural born, shared an equal amount alike. So that's what the Holy
Spirit does with us. OK? He steps forward as a
witness to our adoption. Now, again, I've given
you the background but I still haven't
answered the question. What does that mean exactly? Well, notice what it says. The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. OK. My spirit would let you
know I'm a child of God. You know how I know? Because people have asked me,
how do you know you were saved? Easy answer, I was
there when it happened. I was there, I had
a front row seat. I saw what happened to me. I'm a witness to that. But I have another
witness, the Holy Spirit. He saw. He also had a front row seat. And He stepped forward and
He validates your sonship-- your adoption. Again, Paul does
not have in mind some mystical voice whispering
to us like, your saved. Your really saved. That's not the idea
of him bearing witness with our spirit. I think it's much more
practical and plain and obvious than that. And when I say you're
going to go, oh, yeah. I knew that. And you do. How does the Holy Spirit prove
that we are children of God, that we are adopted by God? It's called the
fruit of the spirit. By the fruit of the spirit,
by what the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. So what I want you to do is
keep a marker here, quickly turn a couple of
chapters to the right. Go to Galatians 5. It's not it's not very
far from where you're at. But let's read this
together because it's going to make a whole
lot of sense of Romans 8. Galatians chapter
5, in verse 16-- same guy, Paul, wrote, I
say then walk in the spirit, and you will not
fulfill the lust or the desires of the flesh. For the flesh lusts
against the spirit-- wars against the spirit,
battles the spirit-- and the spirit
against the flesh. They're 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-- boy, he's
on a roll-- selfish ambition, dissension, heresy, envy,
murder, drunkenness, rivalries, and the like. In other words,
I'm not even done. Now you read that
list and you go, yuck. And the like of which
I tell you beforehand as I told you in time past,
those who practice such things will not inherit
the Kingdom of God. Yuck. Been there done that. Past tense BC, before Christ. Now what? Well, verse 22. But the fruit of this
spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Can you see any of those things
reflected in your new life? Maybe not to perfection,
but yes you can. 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. So here's the simple answer. Those character traits
that he mentions here are produced in our
lives by the Holy Spirit to some degree. And when they are, they
provide for us assurance. They are benchmarks to
us that we are indeed adopted children of God. Make sense? Now let me take you back
to my early salvation. I got saved 1973. I was so excited,
I wanted everyone to know that I was a Christian. And I did what I think
everybody did back at that time to let everyone know
they were a Christian, I bought a bumper sticker for my
car that announced, I'm saved, you're not. Something like that. And I would have said-- it's a bumper
sticker to let people know that the person driving
this car is a Christian. Now there's only one
problem with my strategy. It's called my driving. Anytime you put a
bumper sticker on a car and announced that a
Christian is driving, now everybody behind
you is curious, how do Christians
drive in traffic? What gestures do they use
when people cut them off? Right? So that was the problem
because I didn't my driver did not reflect
this newness in me. And, by the way, I just
wanted to share this with you. Here are the top
10 things people won't say when they see
your bumper sticker or fish symbol on your car. OK. So I'm not down on you if you
have a bumper sticker or a fish symbol. I'm glad you do. Just know there is a higher
level of accountability now that you have that. So what people will not
say, here's the top 10. Number 10, look
let's stop that car and ask those folks how
we can become Christians. It's not going to happen. Number 9, don't worry, Billy,
those people are Christians. They must have a good reason
for going 90 miles an hour. Number 8, what joy to
be sharing the highway with another car of spirit
filled brothers and sisters. Number 7, isn't it
wonderful how God blessed that Christian
couple with a brand new BMW? Number 6, dad, how can people
who drive like that don't get thrown in jail? Son that driver is
a Christian and God probably protects him
from getting arrested. Dad, can we get a bumper
sticker like that too? Number 5, stay clear
of those folks, Martha. If they get
raptured, that car is going to be all over the road. Number 4, oh, look. That Christian woman
is getting a chance to share Jesus with
a police officer. Number 3, no that's
not litter coming out of their window, Burt. It's probably gospel
tracks for road workers. Number 2, oh, boy. We're in trouble now. We just rear ended
one of God's cars. And number 1, quick,
Alice, honk the horn or they won't know
that we love Jesus. Now those things are not going
to happen because you have a Christian bumper sticker. I had one on my car, I was
announcing to the world that I was a Christian. Here's God's way of validating
the reality of the commitment. The Holy Spirit comes into
you and into me-- into us, starts working
cleaning up, producing love, joy, peace long suffering. All of these character
traits, that's Him bearing witness that
it's valid by working these changes out. We and others who look
at us will know that. It gives us assurance. We're not talking
about perfection. We're talking about growth. Simple growth of the life
of the spirit inside of us. And there's a
fourth and final one that I want to talk about
in the time we have left. And that is a new compensation. We also have a new compensation. Verse 17, and if children-- that's what you are. You're children of God. Relation change. 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. 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. You know there's so much amazing
stuff in those two verses. I wish I had weeks just
on those two versus. But look at that phrase. Joint heirs with whom? Jesus Christ. What that means is
everything Jesus Christ received by divine right,
we received by divine grace. Even, and including
future glory. So you really will get
a new face, a new body. And though we suffer
now on this earth-- and please, dear child of
God, listen-- especially if you're in a very
dark moment, you're going through a very
desperate time in your life. You think the world is crashing
down on you in your suffering. Though you suffer now
on this earth one day that will be eclipsed
by incomparable glory. He says, the glory can't even
compare to the suffering. John Stott, who wrote a
commentary in the book of Romans-- one of my favorite
commentators on this book-- said, suffering and
glory belong together. These words belong together. Suffering and glorying
belong together because these two
words characterize the two ages of the believer. The present age, suffer. The future age, glory. So Paul is giving us a cosmic
perspective of now versus then. Why? It's a compensation. We keep our eye on
the road, right? Right now, this
is where we live, but we also know behind
the horizon is glory. In fact, listen to what Paul
writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17. For our light affliction-- if you know anything
about 2 Corinthians, Paul talked about
how hard he had it. He was beaten up. He was put in prison. He was stoned. Not like [INHALES]
stoned, but like rocks thrown at him stoned. I mean, he was abused. He was mistreated. He calls it our
light affliction. Yeah, it's just a
light affliction. For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, is working for us a
far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory. We have to keep
that in perspective because that
compensates for this. In fact, the rest
of Romans 8 he's going to talk about groaning
and all creation is groaning. And we as part of
the created order are also groaning
wanting that to happen, looking forward to it. I got up this morning and
I groaned when I got up. Oh, my back. And I've noticed myself as
I grow older I groan more. And I'm comforted by
this part of Romans because I groan and I go,
well, it's scriptural. We're groaning for glory. And you should know
that Peter even said, we should expect suffering. We should expect
suffering if it's suffering for the right reason. If we're aligned with Jesus
and we get the blow back from this world because
we're aligned with Jesus, he said expect that. Listen to what he writes. 1 Peter 4, do not be
surprised at the painful trial you are suffering. Why is it that when we suffer a
painful trial we're surprised? I can't believe God would
let this happen to me. I thought he was a good
God, a God of love. Why would he-- Don't 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 his glory is repealed. That's Peter's way of saying,
the worse it gets here, it will feel better there. We have no right to
expect better treatment from this world than
Jesus got from this world. If you are indeed an adopted son
or daughter of the living God, you aligned yourself with
Him and you follow Him and you love Him, you should see
suffering for Him as an honor. Right? In fact, an indicator that
you're on the right path-- somebody, well, I'm suffering. I must have been
doing something wrong. Maybe you're doing
everything right? Maybe it's an
indicator that you're doing everything
absolutely right and because you are doing
it right, therefore, you are suffering for it. Paul said to Timothy,
all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus
will suffer persecution. CS Lewis was asked, why
do the righteous suffer? His answer quickly was, why not? They're the only
ones who can take it. He's right. Anybody can endure
suffering, only the Christian can endure suffering knowing
there's purpose for it and that is leading somewhere. So all of these experiences
are because God adopted you. Meaning he chose you. You were growing in
his heart for years. He chose you before the
foundation of the earth. He made you because
of that heirs-- joint heirs with his son. Your adopted, but you
share that same privilege even the future glory. After going through paragraphs
like this in the Bible, I walk away from such
a study convinced that most people do not
understand the heart of God for them. Sadly, many Christian people do
not understand the heart of God for them. God desires the
very best for you. Not the worst for
you, the very best. That's his heart. Obviously, by these truths. He doesn't want
to ruin your life, he wants to rescue your life. I remember witnessing
to my friends after the bumper
sticker on my car-- sharing with my friends. And I got such
resistance, I don't want to give my life to
Jesus, he'll ruin it. You do not understand my
Jesus if you think that. He will not ruin your
life, he'll fix your life. True story. A homeless man living on
the streets of Santa Cruz, Bolivia was running
from the police. The police were chasing
him, a homeless man. You know why they
were chasing him? Because they wanted
to inform him-- they wanted to bring him
news that he had just become an inheritor of
a $6 million estate. He had just won six-- won? He has been given-- he inherited six million bucks. So he sees the police
chase him, he runs. He figures they're after him
for drug abuse and alcohol abuse, both of which
were true in his life. But 67-year-old Tomas
Martinez ran and disappeared without a trace. They're trying to
tell him, dude, you can buy any house in
this city, but he ran. Here's the twist in the story. The inheritance came
from his ex-wife. Isn't that interesting? She got it from her family. She bequeath it to
him when she died. She died. Obviously, she had no ill
will toward her ex-husband, who is now homeless. But he had become the inheritor
of a $6 million estate. So the police wanted to
give him the news, he ran. God offers an inheritance,
forgiveness from the past, meaning in the present,
glory in the future. But you have to stop
running and start receiving. A gift is only as good as
your ability and willingness to receive it. God is not out to bust
you, He's out to bless you. Father, thank you
for your love for us. Thank you for the new you, the
new us that has promised here. We have a new birth, what
Paul calls an adoption. You have given us the privilege
as adopted sons and daughters of being ones who will
enjoy an inheritance. Jesus had it by divine right. We have it by divine grace. We're part of your family. You treat us so well. You love us so much. Lord, I pray that we would
never lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit is
so active and so willing to lead us and to guide
us and to guide us into paths of righteousness
and holiness and goodness. I just pray for anybody
who has been running away from your offer. They've listened
to gospel messages, they've heard from
friends and family, but they just push it
away, push it aside. They've been resisting. They've been running. I pray that none would make the
mistake as the man who gave up what would be considered
in comparison a very shallow inheritance
of only $6 million when you give us everlasting
life and future glory. If you're here today and you've
not received Christ personally, now would be an excellent
time for you to do that. You could do it
right where you are. Again, back to that
little passage in John that I shared, as many
as received him, to them he gave the power,
privilege, the authority, the right to become
children of God. Those who would believe in His
name, that's how you receive Him, you believe in Him. If you're willing to believe in
Him, to put your faith in Him, you can do that right now-- right where you're seated. You just say this to
him right where you are. He knows where you are. He knows where you are in life. He knows what you're
going through. You just allow him to lead
you and you say to him these words-- say I'm inwardly, or if you
want to-- if you're bold enough, say them outwardly. Say Lord, I give you my life. I admit I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe that He
came, that He died, that He shed his blood for
me, that He rose again. I turn from my past. I repent of my sin. I turn my life over to Jesus to
follow Him as Lord and Savior. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Help me to do that. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. How will you put the truths
that you learned into action in your life? Let us know. 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] [PENCIL SCRATCHING] [HEARTBEAT]
