All right, turn to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight. I want to read just one verse.
Romans chapter eight, verse 15. Romans eight, verse 15, Paul
continuing writes these words, for ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear. but ye have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now, thus far,
in Romans, the Apostle Paul, especially through verses one
through 14, and that's kind of where we, or I left off last
time I was here, was verse 14. In Romans eight, verses one through
14, Paul, makes distinction between the
unregenerate and the regenerate. In those verses, he makes the
distinction between unconverted and gospel converted. And I stress
the phrase, the term, the words, gospel converted. Thousands are
converted, but they are not converted by the gospel. You can convert
to being a Baptist, convert to being a Muslim, convert to being
a Buddhist. Just about anything under the
sun can be converted unto. Paul is distinguishing again
between the unconverted and the gospel converted. But let me
say this, because I was brought up from my earliest years that
I can remember, till I was 22, 23 years old, I was brought up
to believe and was taught that these verses, not just these
verses, but chapter eight, verses one through 14, was Paul making
a distinction between a worldly Christian and a spiritual Christian. Ever heard of that teaching?
Well, I heard of it because I was steeped in it when I was younger. But this is not so. There may be some Christians
who have way too much worldliness in them, but there is no such
thing as a worldly Christian. It is an absolute contradiction
in terms. There may be some Christians
who are conducting themselves as carnal men. but there is no
such thing as a carnal Christian, especially as opposed to a spiritual
Christian. So again, I emphasize, Paul has
made distinction between, and let me just put it this way,
lost and saved. Lost and saved, but in our text,
In the text I read this morning, Paul briefly, now he briefly
describes it, it's very brief, it's just one word, or one verse,
with just a few words. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Those words speak volumes. Volumes. So my title this morning
is of course this, it's found pretty much directly in that
we, Cry, Abba, Father. Think about it. In this text,
as I said, Paul briefly describes the first throes and convulsions,
and I mean that in an illustrative or metaphorical way. I'm not
talking about literal throes and convulsions. I'm not talking
about these people in these so-called churches that hit the floor and
wiggle around and stuff like that. I'm not talking about anything
like that. And I know I don't have to say that to you people
here, but there are others who will hear this in other venues.
They will think when I say throes and convulsions, they're talking
about some so-called Holy Spirit carrying on. That's not what
I'm talking about. In this text, again, I say Paul briefly describes
the first throes and convulsions and the first comforting spirit-wrought
experiences in gospel conversion. Excuse me. He puts these two
things together, and they are together, but they do not happen
at the same time. One is totally distinct from
the other. The first is totally different
from the second. The second supersedes and is
far above the first. These two things are mentioned.
These are the main thoughts in this verse. The spirit of bondage
to fear. Now he says again, but that is
used in the negative. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage. Now we did receive the spirit
of bondage, but we have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear. So once the second thing takes
place, the first one is finished. It's had its proper course. It's
done what God ordained for it to do, and it's over. It's over. So there is the spirit of bondage
to fear, and then there is, of course, the spirit of adoption. I realize this may be an oversimplification,
or oversimplification, but let me put it this way. The spirit
of adoption, it is those sweet, filial thoughts that the people
of God are blessed to have concerning the Father. And I'll deal with
that a little bit in more detail. The first one of these things
genders fear. Fear. Yes, this would include reverence.
There is no doubt about it. But this includes fear. Being afraid. sometimes even
being frightened out of your wits, or as the psalmist wrote,
being brought to your wits end. That's what he's talking about.
So the first genders fear. And it always comes from God. Now this comes from, both of
these come from God. Both of these come from God.
And the first genders fear, and it always comes from God first. First, not most of the time,
not 99.999% of the time. The first always comes first. The second genders adoption. And it never fails to follow
the first. There are some out there teaching
you may go through the spirit of bondage to fear, but never
make it to the spirit of adoption. Now this is because they, of
course, believe in man's free will. And they believe God kind
of starts this process, but then leaves it up to man to bring
it to fruition, and you must actually then initiate the spirit
of adoption. And that is a lie. It is not
so. So again, the first genders fear. It always genders fear. It does
and is intended to do nothing but gender fear. And it always
comes from God first. The second genders adoption and
it never fails to follow the first. In other words, if the
first one happens to you, the second one will happen to you
too. If God is the one who brought you into bondage, God will deliver
you out of that bondage into the sweet filial union and thoughts
toward him as your papa, your father. If I didn't believe that,
I'd have no hope for anyone. Jesus Christ said these words,
without me ye can do, do you remember the word? N-O-T-H-I-N-G. That includes breathing, That
includes seeing, that includes thinking, and that includes being
even brought into this bondage of fear. So, let me move on. This second one, remember, it
always follows the first. It genders to this intimate,
filial union with the father, with the father, that is his
title of authority. Is it not? Father, it is his
title of reverence, but it genders us to cry out unto the Father,
Papa, Father. This is a term or cry of endearment. You remember years ago, and I
don't remember exactly what it was, He preached it here, although
I'm sure he preached it to us at Mabscot, but Earl was standing
behind this very podium and mentioned to us that this word Abba is
one of the old words that little ones used to say, Abba, Abba,
like we say Papa, Papa. And he said it's even a word
that once a child begins to utter even basic words, Ellen, they
can say this word without having to use a whole lot of the tongue
and greatly enunciate. It's just Abba, Abba. And it is our equivalent in the
Western world would be the little child who crawls up in his or
her father's arms and says Papa, Papa. Beloved, do you realize
what God is saying? We're allowed to have the privilege
to say to him, And I know this has been preached
on many times here. Joe preached an excellent message
on this several months ago. But it, I guess, once again dawned
upon me. Of course, I've come to this
passage, not because I chose it, but I've gotta deal with
most of these things we go through it. This just touched my soul
inside. Think about it. When God crushes
the spirit under bondage, And I thought, of course, I thought
Joe would be here, so I shortened this down a lot from what I originally
had. But Joe's not here, so guess
what? I remember some of those things, so we'll give you this.
Let us not argue about this first word here, for you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear. Some of the commentaries,
I mean, they will argue this must be capital S, meaning the
spirit of God. That is not so. because even
the next verse, which we'll not deal with now, the spirit itself
beareth witness with, with what? Our spirit. And let me tell you
something. God is the one who initiates
this spirit of bondage, but he must initiate it in your spirit. He must initiate it in my spirit. It is not some general spiritual
thing that is initiated. but it is something that is initiated
in each individual person. So I think we'll just leave it
like the KJV puts it. For ye have not received the
Spirit, God Almighty will force within His people, His elect,
when He first gives them light and life by His Spirit, they
will begin to see the truth Though small it might be, they will
begin to see the truth of who and what they really are before
God and his holy law. And it will bring your spirit
into bondage. And I say this to this small
group and to anyone who hears me in any other venue, if God
has not brought you there, you do not yet know the spirit of
adoption. You just do not know the spirit. And I'm not being
mean. I'm speaking the truth. So again, when God crushes the
spirit under bondage in sin and a fear to his holy displeasure,
do you remember when God brought you to fear his holy displeasure? when you just knew I deserve
to be abandoned by God in the blackness of condemnation forever. And you say, well preacher, I've
never been there. I walked the aisle, I prayed
the prayer. You've never been saved. You hear what I'm saying? You've never been saved. Well,
I was brought up believing this and I believed the gospel all
my life. As Henry Mahan said, that's too long. I like that. That's too long. Because one of the first things
God does is give you life. But when God gives you life,
then you begin to realize the bondage in which you are in. But it's not just something out
there. It's not something you're taught
that just comes to a mind. It's something that's in your
what? S-P-I-R-I-T. That's what you are inside. That's what you are inside. So again, when God crushes the
spirit under bondage and sin, and a fear of his holy displeasure
comes upon you, rest assured, anyone that's maybe going through
this right now, rest assured, he will, in grace, sweetly liberate
you with the spirit of adoption soon. Soon, Ellen, I don't believe
he leaves us there for years and years. Why? Why would he
leave us there for years and years and years? But first he
must put us there. He puts us in the dust where
we belong, but that's not the end goal. Then gold is then to
liberate us by his blessed spirit, and this is rightfully capitalized
S-P-I-R-I-T. Oh, what a blessing from God. We begin to be able to cry out,
even though I think we don't really grasp the magnitude of
it. And we may not think of it in
this term, but we begin to cry out unto God, Papa. We begin
to find ourselves actually having a relationship with him that's
not all about fear. It's about hope. It's about forgiveness. It's about compassion. It's about
grace. Now granted, we often remember
the spirit of bondage and we think we're in bondage. Do you
get what I'm saying now? You could be saved for 50 years,
and then you have a bad day. This thing ain't going well,
Sandy, and you begin to remember the spirit of bondage you had
way back yonder, but it feels like a present reality to you
in that day. But you're not under the spirit
of bondage now. Mm-mm, mm-mm. Once God delivers
us through the spirit of adoption, the spirit of bondage is gone
from us. It's only the memory of that
that exists within us. And someone says, well, why didn't
God just wipe that out? So we'll always remember the
blessedness of the spirit of adoption. He always makes some
way to remind us of what we really are by nature so that we continue
to enjoy the sweetness of what we have in Christ Jesus today. Give you example, John chapter
16, and maybe you've never thought of that chapter in this light,
but remember, spirit of bondage to fear, spirit of adoption,
why we only cry Abba, Father, John 16. Pardon me. Now you get turned
to it. John 16, for sake of time, let
me just begin in verse seven. Everybody there? John 16, seven.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you
that I go away. Why didn't God just leave Christ
here forever? Because that wasn't God's design.
I mean, it's that simple. You remember, the child says,
well, why is it that way? And the parent says, and Penny
even mentioned this the other day about one of the grandkids,
because I said so. That's good enough. Look, it's
expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter,
now do you see that word? The comforter. will not come
unto you, but if I depart, I will send unto you. Do you see that?
So he is called here what? The Comforter. So I expect, my
mind expects to start hearing about what? Comfort, right? Comfort, because he is called
thee. He's just not one who will comfort,
but his whole title is called Comforter. So I expect to read
of comfort, right? but I don't read of comfort first.
Christ didn't speak of comfort first. Now did he? Look, and
when he is come, he will, now let's just note that. Let me
get that, let me say this again. It's not he's gonna try. He will
reprove the world. I wanna be a part of that world,
whatever it is and whoever they are. We can sit around and hear
all day long and talk about the Calvinistic view or the Arminian
view. Whoever this world is, I want
to be one of them. You see what I'm saying? You
get what I'm getting at? We get too argumentative with
things and try to academically explain the truth of God rather
than just preaching it and saying it for what it is. There's a
world that he's going to do what? And when he has come, he will
reprove the world of what? Sin. That subject ain't too comforting
to me. Is it to you? Of sin, of righteousness. When you begin to see what you
really are, that's not a really comforting subject, is it? Especially
when you see you ain't got none. May not be good English, but
it's good gospel. You ain't got none. And of what? Judgment. Judgment of sin. And notice it is stated as one
simple yet so profound and rebellious a sin. It's not drunkenness,
it's not adultery, it's not whoremongering, it's not drug abuse, though all
those things are sin. Do not misunderstand me. But
not everybody's a drunk, are they? Not everybody's a whoremonger
or a dopehead, are they? But we all got this sin. And when he has come, he will
prove the world's sin, righteousness, and judgment of sin, because
they believe not on me. That's the one sin that's common
to us all. And because of that sin, all
the other sin flows from us. and it's only the restraining
hand of God in individual people that won't make us all completely
like the wild beast of the forest. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Don't sound too comforting yet,
does it? But you know what this is? This
is God Almighty bringing this person into the spirit of bondage. Showing us what we really are
before God of righteousness. Think about this. Of righteousness
because you don't know the law. It's not what it says, though
that's certainly true. By nature, we don't know what
the law really says. We think the law's a good rule
book, and we just do our best, and God'll take our best efforts,
and then Jesus kind of wipes out the bad spots. Isn't that
the way most people believe? You keep the law, and then Jesus
will take care of the spots where you messed up a little. No, of
righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no
more. What's that mean? If I don't
see Jesus, I don't see real righteousness. Do you see that? I don't care
what righteousness, legal righteousness, you still ain't seen the righteousness
of God. Because God's law says thou,
to man, thou shalt not kill. Now listen to me. God says, I
kill, I make alive. Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Jesus Christ was Lord of the
Sabbath. And he said the Sabbath was made
for man. Man wasn't made for the Sabbath.
Righteous, why? Because Jesus Christ is the only
true manifestation of the righteousness of God Almighty. and of judgment
because the prince of this world is judged. What's that got to
do with me? Because I walked according to
that spirit that works in all the children of disobedience
who walked according to his way at one time. My place was under
the judgment of God by nature. And when God reproves you of
that, you will find yourself in what? Bondage. you will find
yourself beginning to fear God. You may hear things like this,
and God gave them up. And you might think, oh my, what
if he's given me up? You may hear things like God
turned them over to a reprobate mind. He didn't give them one,
but he turned them over to a reprobate mind. And you begin to wonder,
is that me? You begin to hear things like,
he that believeth not shall be condemned. And you say, that
is me. My beloved brothers and sisters,
that is the spirit of bondage to fear. And though it will never
feel like it, it's a good place to be brought by God. You hear
what I'm saying? It'll never feel like it. Anybody
hearing me, it's never happened to you. When it begins to happen
to you, it won't feel good. But once the spirit of adoption
comes and you begin to be able, privileged, privileged to say,
Papa, Father, you'll thank God for that spirit of bondage that
he brought upon you. So again, I say, If he brings
you this spirit of bondage to fear, he will in grace liberate
you with the sweet, the sweet spirit of adoption. But so first,
the weird thing, the first thing the comforter does is what? Kills. The first thing the comforter
does is slay. Didn't God say my thoughts are
not your thoughts and my way? If you want comfort, bless God
comfort, right? God said I will. After I give you reason to need
comfort, after I show you what you really are and you realize
you're an absolute, absolute desperate need of comfort, then
he'll comfort you. So let's move on. Thank God he
didn't stop with just those three things, did he? Now look. I have
yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
How be it he, the Spirit of truth is come, when he is, hold on.
How be it when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will what? Look at that next word. God. It doesn't say whip. You see
that? It doesn't say beat. He's already
whipped on you. He's already whipped on you.
He's already lashed you, like you need to be lashed, and you
realize what a corrupt servant you're being. Huh? Howbeit when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. Now I know most people think
this means stuff like in Revelation. Right, and what most of, I mean,
there's religious broadcasts on TV that probably their moniker
and all they talk about is prophecy. Well, the death of Christ hadn't
even come yet. This is what he's talking about.
Calvary, redemption by the blood. He will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me. Now we're getting to it. He shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you. Now bless God, that's comfort. Because you can't ever know God
the Father as Papa until he brings you to bow and worship at the
feet of Jesus Christ. Somebody says, well preacher,
I didn't see that in that text. Well then you're still blind.
You're just still blind. Let's note some absolute truth
about the adoption. Gotta move along. I know Joe
wasn't here, but that don't mean I get two hours. Ephesians chapter
one. Look at it. Ephesians chapter
one. And for the sake of time, verse
three. Blessed be the God and Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly
places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Do you see it? Do you
see it? According to the good pleasure
of his will. So think about it. The adoption,
this adoption, this spirit-wrought adoption. Spirit-wrought adoption
cannot be divorced from God's predestinating love and God's
electing purpose. You can't have the adoption if
you hate the God who predestinated and elected. Because it's the
God who predestinated and elected that predestinated the adoption. So how can you hate the predestination,
or how can you hate the predestinator and claim you love to be adopted
of him? Because he's the adopter. Do
you see that? He's the adopter. Somebody said
I never thought of it that way. There's a lot of things I'm sure
we never thought of that way in God's word. I've been trying
to preach for 37, 38 years, and the more I learn, the more I
realize, the more I don't know. And he still shows me these little
tidbits back that just rejoice my soul. Give me a little breathing
room. Give me a little space in light
of myself. If you hate predestination and
election, you hate the God who adopted, period. Not only that,
secondly, turn to Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four. Now, I'll say this before I read
this one. Adoption cannot be divorced from
Christ's redemptive work. Everybody, no, not everybody,
but most everybody that professes to be Christian Christian believes
in Christ's redemptive work, right? They believe in the book,
what is it called? The book, the blood and the blessed
hope. You know? You can't divorce,
you cannot divorce the adoption from Christ's redemptive work.
Let me read it. Now I say that the heir, the
heir, The heir, so the heir is a child from birth. He's a child because of what? Birth. Right? He's not born into one
family and then gets adopted into another family. He's already
a heir because he's born into the family. Now I say that the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from the servant,
though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father, even so we, when we were
children. Children, we were children, but
we were just children. Look, even so, we, when we were
children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. What's
the Spirit of God do? He comes along and shows that
to you. He comes along and shows, that's why you have the bondage,
that spirit of bondage to fear. But look, but, when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. Don't you like that,
huh? We might receive the adoption
of sons, and because you are sons, God has sent forth the
spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Now hear me now. As I've already
alluded to, but I'm gonna explain it as Art Newensponder used to
say a little bit more. Hear me now, religion considers
this adoption by total human reason, and often by Western
standards. Religion considers the adoption
of God by human reason. They think of it as going from
one family to another. You with me now? You're in the
family of the devil when you're born, and then when you believe
in Jesus, you walk the aisle, you pray the prayer, or whatever
it is, whatever the particular brand or denomination is, and
when you do that, then you become a part of the family of God. That ain't so. If you wasn't in the family of
God before the foundation of the world, you'll never be in
the family of God during the time of the world or after the
time of the world. God's adoption is one of his
elect children being placed, that's one of the actual words.
It could be adoption to be placed as. The adoption is one of his
elect children being placed and established in sonship with full
blessings and privileges. With all the bondage legally,
legally removed. You see what I'm saying? All
the bondage is legally removed. Enjoy it, my brothers and sisters.
You hear me? It's okay to enjoy that. I don't
deserve it. No, you're right, you don't deserve
it. But Christ wrought it for you. He bought it for you. He suffered what was due you.
He didn't just pay the wages of sin. He was paid the wages
of sin. He satisfied the debt. It's okay,
my brothers and sisters, to enjoy it. Don't enjoy yourself, but
enjoy Him. And in Christ Jesus, believing
Him, worshiping Him, loving Him, no matter how faultingly you
do it, and you will do it faultingly. Through Jesus Christ, we have
the right, the privilege of crying out, Abba, Father. Enjoy, it's always, think of
it, it's always, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. And we never forget that. If
you could ever forget that, you've never really experienced the
adoption. let alone the bondage of fear, the spirit of bondage,
again, to fear. It's always, first and foremost,
our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. But we are allowed by Jesus Christ
to approach him as Papa. I think that's one reason why
the book of Hebrews says we can come boldly to the throne of
grace. we can come boldly to the throne
of grace. Praise be unto Jesus Christ who
wrought this privilege for us. Heavenly Father, oh God, we're so prone to forget
these things, to let them slip to the side, especially when
we all so often look within ourselves for hope. But Lord, we thank
you by your spirit and your gospel that you keep hammering within
our spirits and our hearts and our minds the blessed truth of
the person of work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank
you in him, amen.