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A W Tozer began his book entitled The Knowledge of the Holy with this statement: “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” As we’ve made our way through Romans, we began with God’s wrath revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In a very real and sobering way, when you think of God you may think of God as your wrathful Judge.
But for every believer, God is no longer a wrathful Judge ready to condemn you in your sin. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. He is your loving heavenly Father, and you are His child or son. In our passage this morning you will notice in every verse a reference to God’s fatherly relationship with His people. Believers are His sons, His children; He’s our Father, we cry “Abba, Father.” This is how Paul wants us to think of our God in Romans 8:14-17. The truths in these verses are rich with assuring comfort for every sinner who repents of his sins and turns to Christ. Paul gives us four high privileges every believer can count on.
- Vs 14 – All God’s children are led by God’s Spirit.
- Vs.15 – All God’s children are given the status of sonship, adopted into God’s family.
- Vs.16 – All God’s children have an inner assurance of being in God’s family.
- Vs.17 – All God’s children will inherit God’s wealth along with Christ, plus suffering.
THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF BEING LED BY GOD’S SPIRIT.
Romans 8:14, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Last week we saw that the Spirit leads us to mortify or put to death the sinful deeds of the body. We have no obligation to our old lover, the flesh, and we need to be violent, quick, and thorough about it. You may remember “Whack-A-Mole.” But the Spirit also leads us into godly living, producing the fruit of the Spirit, the likeness of Christ. This is the “put-on” of progressive sanctification. Those fruit of the Spirit found throughout the epistles, but especially in Galatians 5:22-23, describe the kind of Christlikeness the Spirit produces.
The Spirit’s leading involves all the changes, all the spiritual renovating that has come into your life since you came to Christ. Your view on life is changing. You have a heart desire to glorify God. You want to understand and know more about God, Christ, theology, God’s Word. You are convicted of your sin more and more. The Spirit is leading you. You have a growing discernment. Red flags go up when you hear false teaching. You love God because He first loved you. You also have a sincere desire to worship and fellowship with God’s people. You are being led by God’s Spirit.
But notice one very important fact from this verse: not everyone is a son of God. Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she declared, “We’re all God’s children” and “There’s a spark of divinity in every person on earth.” Sadly, many churches and people believe everyone’s going to heaven when they die. You hear it all the time: “They’re going to a better place.” No, Paul says God’s sons are only those who are being led by the Spirit!
Now, you as a believer can grieve the Spirit by your sinful attitudes and words. “Let no unwholesome, corrupting talk come out of your mouth, and don’t grieve the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:28-29). But count on it, if you are a child of God, you are being led by the Spirit to become more and more like Jesus Christ. This is why you must be careful of your friendships, what you listen to and watch, who you marry. Make sure you marry someone who is also led by the Spirit and going the same direction, right? Be in a church where Christ and His Word are honored, where the Spirit is leading people to grow in godliness.
THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF BEING ADOPTED INTO GOD’S FAMILY.
Romans 8:15, For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
There are two wonderful truths here. First, God has not given His children a cringing, fearful, terrorized spirit of a slave. You are not under the condemning law and no longer have to fear eternal wrath. That’s where we were in Romans 1.
The second and most wonderful truth here is this. When you came to Christ by faith, you were not only justified or declared righteous, but you were adopted as God’s sons and daughters. Let’s look at Galatians 4.
Galatians 4:4-7, But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
This is huge. By God’s sovereign mercy and grace, He adopts those who were His enemies into His family! J. I. Packer in Knowing God has a wonderful chapter “Sons of God.” There he points out that while justification is the primary and foundational blessing of the gospel, adoption based on justification is the highest blessing of the gospel. God the righteous Judge, who declared you righteous in Christ, takes off his judicial robe and embraces you and me and every believer with His loving, gracious, sovereign, eternal arms. He declares, “I receive you as my adopted son or daughter. Welcome into my family. I am now your Father, and we are going to enjoy eternity together. I gladly give you my kingdom. Enjoy my presence and fellowship at all times. I will never love you less than I love my Son, your Savior. I know all about your sins and wicked deeds, but I will never bring them up against you again, ever, and I will wipe away all your tears.” Wow! Aren’t you glad you are part of the family of God?
Remember the story of the pardoning father in Luke 15? The repentant son declared, “I am no more worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your slaves.” Then the father receives this repentant sinner back not as a slave, but into full status of sonship, with robe, ring, and sandals. “Not my slave, not my subject, but my son.”
The status of adoption is actually a legal status in the Greek and Roman world meaning “placing as a son.” A man without an heir could legally give a person who did not belong by nature to his family the full rights and privileges of sonship. In a similar way, God places the Spirit of His Son, Jesus Christ, into every believer. This action by God brings the forgiven and redeemed sinner into a father-son, loving relationship with Him forever.
Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “In love He predestined you to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself.” Is this how you think of God? First John 3:1, “See how great a love the Father has placed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”
God is your Father to whom you can now come crying “Abba Father.” Slaves among Jews were not allowed to use the familiar “Abba” which has the idea of Papa, Papaw, Poppy, Pop, Daddy, Dada, Dad! It doesn’t get more family than that. It doesn’t get closer than that.
“And by the Spirit we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” Cry is kradzo, a fervent, sincere, intense cry. When Peter was sinking in the sea he cried out (kradzo), “Save me!” When the blind fellows in Jericho heard that Jesus was coming near, they cried out (kradzo), “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus cried out (kradzo) from the cross (Matthew 27:50). Because of your relationship with God, you can now come crying out to Him as your heavenly Father. You cry out for wisdom knowing He is wise and will teach you. Knowing He cares, you can tell Him all about your concerns. You can trust Him. He is your Father. He will provide for you. He is forgiving, so you can confess to Him. He will protect you from all evil. He is your Father and knows what’s best for you, sometimes correcting and chastising you, sometimes encouraging you, sometimes comforting you. He loves you and delights in you. Like every good father, He wants the best for you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You can love Him, honor Him, obey Him, rejoice in Him, and seek His will first above all. Your entire Christian life must be thought of in terms of adoption and sonship; God is my holy and loving Father.
My dad wasn’t the warmest or most expressive father, but I never doubted his commitment to us. I never heard him argue with mom or threaten to leave. I can still remember him standing up for me when at our chicken and produce market stand in Philadelphia, a cranky customer badmouthed me. She didn’t want me to wait on her, so she said, “Oh, go to blankety blank.” Well, my dad heard her, and stepped right up and told her, “If anyone is going to blankety blank, it’s you. Now, what do you want?” That blew me away because no one said “blankety blank” at our house! Likewise, when Satan tells us we’re going to blankety blank, our Father in heaven steps in and says, “No, he’s mine. You are the one going to blankety blank.” Our heavenly Father is infinitely better than the best earthly father. Every believer has this Spirit of adoption with all the blessings of being in God’s family.
THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF THE ASSURANCE OF BEING GOD’S CHILDREN.
Romans 8:16, The Spirit Himself testifies (witnesses) with our spirit that we are children of God,
Verse 16 clearly teaches that we can and should have assurance of our salvation. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit.” Some churches do not believe you can know for sure you’ve been saved and that you can lose your salvation. But Paul says the Spirit of God helps us have that assurance.
Good men have disagreed about the meaning of the Spirit’s witness with our spirit. To “bear witness” means to testify in support of, to confirm or give supporting evidence. The Spirit’s inner witness is not a physical or internal sensation like an electric shock or heat or being slain in the spirit. It isn’t direct revelation or an inner voice. It’s not speaking in tongues. Frankly, this is a tricky verse and not easy to interpret. If the Spirit were doing some kind of direct communication that you could literally hear, the Spirit would immediately begin talking to us in our spirits when we came to Christ and no Christian would ever struggle with assurance. John Bunyan would never have told us about Giant Despair beating up Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle. So, we must be careful here. Even our beloved Martyn Lloyd-Jones went off the track in trying to explain this inner witness of the Spirit.
So how does the Spirit Himself (emphatic) bear witness that we are God’s children? From an article in Table Talk magazine the author wrote, “The Spirit does not give testimony apart from His Word. The Spirit takes this external Word and confirms it internally. He provides subjective assurance (inside us) that God’s objective Word applies to us when we believe.” I will add that as a believer you have a sense of joy and delight in God you never had before. Where did that come from?
How the Spirit does all this in our hearts is a mystery. A favorite hymn puts it like this, “I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed to Him against that day!”
You can know you are God’s child, but at times you may lose your joyful sense of assurance. You get discouraged and experience what some have called that “dark night of the soul.” If you neglect God’s Word, prayer, fellowship with God’s people and allow your heart to be filled with this world, stop mortifying sin, refuse to confess your sins, hold bitterness, and neglect growing spiritually, then the clouds of doubt may come over your heart. When trials and storms come into your life, you may feel deserted. However, to the contrary, your Father is sending those storms to draw you back to joyful obedience and the assurance of His love. The Spirit will witness with your spirit that you are God’s child as you feed and meditate on the wonderful promises of the gospel.
THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF BEING HEIRS OF GOD.
Romans 8:17, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
If you are part of the family, then you are included in God’s will. Many an earthly inheritance has ruined people – all that money corrupts them. But listen to what Peter says about this inheritance. First:1 Peter 1:4, “to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” And we’ve already received the pledge or down payment to this inheritance according to Ephesians 1:13-14.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
You heard the gospel, you believed the gospel, you were sealed in Christ, and given the pledge or down payment, the arrabon (Greek), the engagement ring guaranteeing your heavenly inheritance.
But what are we inheriting? Hebrews 1:2 says, “in these last days God has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” We’ve been joined to Christ and therefore whatever Christ inherits we’ll inherit. What is Christ inheriting? All things! You can look out on a beautiful lush sunny morning and praise God and say, “Thank you, Jesus, all this is mine!” Look out into the starry night, all the way to the end of the created order, and say, “With Christ, this too is mine!” We are God’s heirs! He created it all for His Son and for all those He chose to be in His Son. That beautiful moon 238,855 miles away is God’s. Christ inherits it, and you do too, along with all the rest of God’s property! You don’t deserve any of it. It’s all pure grace! But the fact is, every single believer is inheriting everything God made and we’ll worship and praise and enjoy His presence and glorious universe forever.
However, hold on a moment. There’s an accompanying reality – “if indeed we suffer with Him.” This isn’t the prosperity gospel. God’s not talking about living in the lap of luxury in this world. Tammy Baker said, “When I tell God what car I want, I even tell Him the color.” Remember the name it and claim it, blab it and grab it false religion? They say you can speak wealth into your life. No, you don’t get a 45-room palace here and a gold-plated Bugatti to tool around in. In this world you are promised suffering with Christ. Paul said through many tribulations we’ll enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). In 2 Timothy 3:12 Paul said those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. If you claim Christ as your Savior and Lord in this world, you can expect some measure of suffering and persecution. They may not burn you at the stake like Polycarp or send you to a concentration camp, but you may lose a job for refusing to lie about people’s pronouns or know the rejection or sneers of lost people in your family or school who think you’re crazy. Peter alerted us.
1 Peter 4:12-13, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
Your Lord suffered in this world and don’t expect anything less. It’s a thorny path to glory. We may see the day, already are, when Christians are arrested as hate criminals simply for teaching God’s truth. But what does God say? “If indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him!” God’s family has sailed through “bloody seas” in this world, but thank God, suffering isn’t the last word. There’s glory to follow.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
SO WHAT?
These are the high privileges of being in God’s family. Why should we ever grumble or feel discouraged. His eye is on us, and His ear is open to our cries! And all because we’re God’s children. God adopted us into His family as sons with all the privileges of sonship. What a wonder to be part of the family of God!
But think for a moment of those never born of the Spirit. They have never been forgiven through Christ’s blood and death on the cross and never adopted as a child of God. They are still blinded by Satan and their own sin.
What about you? Will you just be a faint memory to your family and friends reigning with Christ? Or will you be there too? Two destinies await every single person. One is the eternal lake of fire. The other is eternity enjoying the glory of God. Which do you want? Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailor: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).