Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
to Romans chapter 8. We'll begin in verse 12. Romans
8 verse 12 says, ìTherefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh
to live after the flesh.î Now when we see that word ìthereforeî,
you remember what we do? We go back and see what itís
ìthereforeî. Alright? Why are we not debtors
to the flesh? Well, it was the Holy Spirit
of God and not our flesh that gave us spiritual life and freed
us from the law. Look back at verse 2. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the gospel made
effectual in our heart by the Holy Spirit, given us life in
Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.
So we owe nothing to our flesh. It was the Holy Spirit. It was
not of us. We did not condemn our condemnation
before the law. We did not put away our sin and
make ourselves righteous. It was Christ who did it. Verse
3 says, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. And then we don't owe anything
to our flesh because our flesh could never please God. When
we were in our flesh, we could never do anything to please God. And we still can't please God
in our flesh. He says there in verse 7, The
carnal mind is enmity against God, hates God. For it's not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. Anybody who's not been born again
of the Holy Spirit, not been brought to cast all their care
on Christ, trusting Him alone apart from their works, they're
not of Christ. But you that have been born of
Him, you're in the Spirit. But you see our flesh contributed
nothing, still does not contribute anything. And we don't owe our
flesh anything because our flesh still doesn't help us mortify
the flesh. It's not our flesh by which our
flesh is mortified, it's the Holy Spirit. He continues to
quicken us and He continues to mortify our flesh. Look at verse
10. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Yes, He will do that in
the resurrection. But even now, it's the Holy Spirit
of God when we cry out, Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? When our Sin nature has taken us captive, our new man
captive. It's still not our flesh that
helps. It's the spirit of Christ. It's the Holy Spirit that mortifies
the flesh. Verse 12 says, therefore, brethren,
we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For
if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if ye through
the spirit Through the Holy Spirit of God, do mortify the deeds
of the body you shall live. We saw what that is last time.
Same way that we were born the first time, when we were born
again, I mean when we were born again, it was through the Gospel,
through the preaching of the Word, by the Holy Spirit. So, we give our full attention,
set our spiritual minds on things above through the preaching of
the Word. and we stay in the Word and we think on these things
that we've heard and it's through the Spirit that our flesh will
be mortified. Now here's where our text begins
today, verse 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God. For you have not received the
Spirit of bondage again to fear. Ye have received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now our subject this
morning is not bondage, but adoption. Not bondage, but adoption. And I want you to, you that believe,
you that are sitting here that trust Christ and He's your only
hope. Every confidence you have is
in Christ Jesus and the finished work of redemption He's accomplished.
That He's your righteousness. He alone. He's your holiness.
He's your sanctification. He's the sanctifier, Scripture
says, and He's our sanctification. And you who trust Him alone.
I want you to hear this word. You have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now first of all, I want
us to get this great truth down in our heart. I went into Brother
Bruce Crabtree's office one day and there was all these books
on the wall and just a full library from the
floor to the ceiling and he's sitting at his desk with his
Bible in front of him and that's all. And I made some comment
about all those books there and he looked at me as serious as
he could be and he said, Clay, we have got to get this word
in our heart. And I didn't much know what he
was talking about then, young and dumb. But I think I'm beginning
to understand what he's talking about. We've got to get this
Word in our heart. This Word is life. This is the ever-living Word. This is the incorruptible seed.
We have got to get this Word in our heart. Think on this right
here, brethren. This is Wonderful, wonderful
truth. Verse 15, you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear. You have not been given,
you've been given a new spirit. See, it's a little s. You've
been given a new spirit that was not there before, but you've
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. Now, most preach
contrary to this. You and I know that have been
around other churches and heard other preaching, you know that
most religion preaches exactly opposite to what that says. Most
preach that the believer is now actually in greater bondage to
the law than he was before God gave him a new spirit. Have you
heard that? Men will say, oh, now the believers,
he's under greater obligation to keep the law. That's just
saying you're under greater bondage to the law. As soon as a sinner
confesses Christ, and he's brought to Mount Zion, Scripture says
the gospel is going to go forth from Christ from Mount Zion.
And he's going to rule in the hearts of his people. And as
soon as a believer confesses Christ, and professes to be brought
to Christ, and be trusted in Christ, They take him right back
down to Mount Sinai. That's the mount that God's people
have been delivered from. We've been delivered to Mount
Zion. They take him right back to Mount Sinai. They take him
from liberty, from freedom. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. And folks take the believer from
liberty back to bondage. from having life and peace, from
having our minds set on spiritual things, right back to death,
because they turn you to mind carnal things. That is bondage,
brethren. We're familiar with the scripture
that tells us why Christ came in human flesh. Hebrews 2.14
says, For as much then as the children were partakers of flesh
and blood, we were flesh and blood, and so he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
us, set us free, deliver us from who through fear of death were
all our lifetime subject to bondage. He came to deliver us who through
fear of death were all our lifetime subject to bondage. That's why
Christ took flesh and blood. The devil is the accuser of the
brethren. That's all he does is accuse.
And when men take sinners back to the law, what they're training
them up to do is to be accusers. That's what they're training
them up for. And the devil is an accuser of the brethren. And
what does he use to accuse? Sin. He uses sin. He would accuse us in the court
of our conscience with our sin and made us fear death. And so we were constantly kept
in bondage through a fear of death. But our Lord Jesus Christ
came and for all His people, He purged our sins. He put away
our sins. He made an end to sin by His
death on Calvary's cross. He took sin out of the way so
that God says, I remember it no more. And He made His people
perfectly righteous before the law of God. Perfectly righteous
so the devil has nothing with which to accuse us anymore. Look
back up there at verse 10. It says, If Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. Our body, our sin nature is still
what it was. It's sin and that's all it will
be. It's dead. But brethren, the reason the
Holy Spirit has entered in to His children and the reason that
He's given us life is because Christ has made us righteous. We wouldn't have life if that
wasn't the case. He's entered in and He's made
us righteous. Christ is our righteousness. Do you know life and righteousness
are one? They're synonymous. When did
sin, when did death enter in? When sin entered in. Sin and
death are synonymous. Life and righteousness are synonymous. You don't have life unless you're
made righteous. And if you're made righteous,
you can't be dead. And so the spirit of life has
entered in because Christ has made us righteous. That spirit
that's in us, that makes us to believe, is our life and our
righteousness. Go back up there and look. He
says in verse 9, you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. And he says, and he calls
the Spirit of God the Spirit of Christ. Christ is in us brethren. The Holy Spirit is in us. Christ, the Spirit of Christ
is in those who believe, those who have been born again. And
Christ is our righteousness. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
because He is the righteousness of His people. We wouldn't be
born of the Spirit if we owed anything to the law of God. That's
the point. If we still owed anything to
the law of God, we wouldn't be born of God. But we're born of
God. And we wouldn't have life if
we were not righteous before the law of God. But we have it. We have it before God Himself.
Go to Isaiah 54 verse 13. What are you getting at preacher?
Let me show you something. Isaiah 54 verse 13. This is the chapter right after
Isaiah 53 that tells us what all Christ accomplished for His
people. Now he made intercession for
his people. He redeemed his people. Now listen
to what the Lord says, Isaiah 54, 13. All thy children shall
be taught of the Lord. Isaiah 54, 13. All thy children
shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace
of thy children. Not fear, peace. In righteousness
shalt thou be established. established on Christ the solid
rock, on Christ the foundation, immovable in righteousness. That means the law has been upheld
and kept perfectly. That's what we've done in Christ. Look, thou shalt be far from
oppression, for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it
shall not come near thee. You'll be far from fear and from
terror. It shall not come near thee.
Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me. That's our enemies, our accusers. They'll gather together, but
not by me, the Lord said. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I've created the
smith that bloweth the coals and the fire, and that bringeth
forth an instrument for his work, and I've created the waster to
destroy. God said, I did all that. I created
them. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper. and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." This is the heritage. This is the inheritance of the
servants of the Lord. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. Their righteousness is of me.
Now, if we truly believe this word of the Lord, if we truly
believe that our righteousness is of Him, that He is all our
righteousness, then the law has nothing else to say against us. Nothing else. Look at Romans
8. Look at verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. The chapter begin, there's
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
None whatsoever. This is why Christ said to us,
whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. You have it. If we still owe
the law anything, there would be a possibility that we wouldn't
have eternal life. But Christ says, if you believe
on Me, you have eternal life. If you eat My flesh and drink
My blood, if you live on Me and of Me, you have eternal life. You have it. He said, I'm the
resurrection and the life He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Listen to Colossians 3, 3. You
are dead. Don't you love that? We have
been crucified with Christ. You are dead. And your life is
hid with Christ in God. Our life is at the right hand
of God in Christ Jesus. It's not here. It's not here. I'm just passing through here.
This is not my life. My life is at God's right hand. Listen to this. When Christ who
is our life, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Doesn't that mortify
your flesh? Doesn't that mortify your flesh?
You sit here and you hear the gospel and you hear God declare
that you are dead, that He says to you right now before the law,
you that are born of Him, He says you died over 2,000 years
ago. Your judgment was settled when
you were condemned to death and died on Calvary's cross. It happened. And now you're alive. unto God
at God's right hand. You started living 2,000 years
ago. When Christ came out of the tomb
and arose to the Father, you came out of the grave and arose
to the Father. And now the reason we have life
in us is because we are righteous. We are righteous. And when Christ
who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory. Oh, that's good news. Scripture
says that Christ died for His people and rose again so that
we might live unto God. Not live unto Moses, live unto
God. That's why He tells us this good
news. You've not been given a spirit
of bondage again to fear. Now, if that's what He did for
us, He sent Christ to suffer and did all this for us, then
why would God give us the spirit of bondage again to fear? We were already bound, we were
already full of fear, why would He give us the spirit after Christ
did all that to just bind us again and make us fearful again?
Why would He do that? Doesn't make any sense, does
it? Anybody with any common sense can say it doesn't make sense
that God would send his son to suffer the justice of God in
the place of his people and fully redeem his people and fulfill
all righteousness for his people and deliver us from bondage only
then to give us spiritual life and put us back in bondage and
make us fear again. Anybody with any A little bit
of common sense knows that don't make good sense. We're not under
the spirit of bondage, brethren. We haven't been given the spirit
of bondage again to fear. Now look at this next thing.
If we believe on Christ, if we trust Christ to be all our righteousness,
it's because we have been given the spirit of adoption not to
fear but to cry Father. Father. We've been given a spirit
so that we can come to God and call upon God our Father. Look at this, verse 14. For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For you've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. If we're led of
the Spirit of God, if we're led of the Spirit of God, why would
we need to be led by Moses? Huh? If we're led of the Spirit
of God, why would we need to be led by the law? You know,
there was a reason that God did not allow Moses to take the children
of Israel into the land of Canaan. There was a reason. Why did He raise up Joshua to
deliver them into the land of Canaan? Because Moses represents
the law. He's the one through whom the
law came. Grace and truth came through Joshua. Jesus, Savior,
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who must lead us
into the land of Canaan, not law. Go over to Galatians chapter
4 and let's consider what it took to give us the spirit of
adoption. God didn't just, He didn't just
give us the spirit of adoption. Something had to take place before
He gave us the spirit of adoption. Galatians 4.1. Now look at Paul's
illustration, because it's going to have something
to do with us calling God our Father. Look here, Galatians
4.1. Now I say, that the heir, a child who's
an heir, though he differs nothing from a servant, though he be
Lord of all. You take a child, he's going
to inherit the throne, he's going to be Lord of all, he's a joint
inheritance with the king, he's going to inherit everything,
but while he's still a child, he says he differs nothing from
a servant, but is under tutors, and governors until the time
appointed of the Father. Even so, we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. Now, strictly speaking,
Paul here is just talking to the Jews because Gentiles never
were even under the law given at Sinai, period. But we did
fall in Adam and we were under the law of works. So this does
apply to us because we were in bondage under the elements of
the world. Paul always calls the law elements
of the world and rudiments of the world. Look at this, but
when the fullness of time was come, when the time appointed
by the Father came, God sent forth His Son His Son, His only
Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem them
that were under the law. To pay the debt we owe, to pay
the ransom, to pay the purchase price, to purchase His people
and make us His purchased possession and free us from the curse and
condemnation of the law. That's why He came. This religious
world, I'm convinced, has no clue what redemption even means. If we've been redeemed from under
the law by Christ's blood, what an insult to Christ. to tell
sinners they get still under the law. Isn't that an insult? It's an insult to everything
Christ accomplished for us when He redeemed His people from the
curse of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. That means everything
the law demanded of us, Christ paid it for His people in full. He brought in an everlasting
righteousness by His righteousness and He put away our sin forever. You think of what He suffered
on that cross. You think of the agony, think
of the shame He endured for His people. You think of how well pleased
the Father is with Christ's righteousness. He hath honored the law, God
said. God said, I'm well pleased with
Him. He's magnified the law. He's
honored the law. Christ said, that's why I came.
And He did it. He didn't mean He came to to honor it, fulfill it, but
then still leave His people under the bondage of it. He came to
honor it and fulfill it so that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us through faith in Him. And He declared it's finished.
He declared He accomplished the redemption of His people. To
say that the believer is still under the law is to call Christ
a liar. It's to say, no, it's not finished.
You still have to go back under the law. No condemnation means
there's no bondage, there's no fear whatsoever. I don't care
however you say it is or whatever you say it's for. If you bring
a believer back under the law and tell him he's under the law,
you're going to gender bondage in him and you're going to make
him fearful. Because we know something about
the law. We know we can't fulfill it.
We know something about our flesh. Sin's still mixed with all we
do, brethren. We can't fulfill the law ourselves. I guarantee you there's not a
soul in this room, there's not a soul in this world, not anybody
born of Adam that's ever kept the law. And if you've been born
again, you still haven't kept it, not of yourself, by yourself,
because sin's mixed with everything we do. Well, he writes the law on our
heart. You already had the law of the Ten Commandments written
on your heart. Read Romans 2. Paul said a Gentile who don't
even have the law, he got the law written on his heart. He
knows it's wrong to steal. He doesn't have to be told that.
Well, what law does he write on our heart? The law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He writes the gospel. He writes
the covenant of grace on our heart. The law of faith and the
law of love he writes on our heart. No condemnation, no bondage,
no fear. It means all His people have
fulfilled the law in precept and in penalty in Christ. We fulfilled it in precept and
in penalty in Christ and we're free from the law forever. What
did He do it? Why did He fulfill it? Why did
He make... He made a curse. Look at verse
5. To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, you
see that? Those that He sends forth the
Holy Spirit and regenerates were already His sons, chosen by God
in divine election in Christ before the world was made. We
were already sons. Christ knew who He died for.
He died for a particular people and purged our sin. And because
you are sons, at the time appointed of the Father, He sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Let's read on here, verse 8.
Howbeit then, when you knew not God, you did service unto them
which by nature know God's. But now, after that you've known
God, or rather are known of God, How turn ye again to the weak
and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months,
and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I bestow
it upon you labor in vain. Does that sound like a preacher
who is telling believers that they're still under the law?
He's saying, you're scaring me to death by these Judaizers that
have come down here, and they're trying to convince you you're
still under the law, and you're listening to them. Listen to
this. Brethren, I beseech you. This
would have been a great time for Paul to bring the law in
and scare them to death and tell them, now you're going to have
to listen to me. But he didn't. He said, I beseech you. I'm begging
you brethren. Be as I am, for I am as you are. You've not injured me at all.
You know how through infirmity of the flesh, when I came here
before, the very first time, I preached the gospel to you
at the first with great infirmity. And my temptation, my infirmity
which was in my flesh, you despised not. You didn't reject me because
of that, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus. Where is then the blessedness
you speak of? Oh, Paul, thank you so much for
preaching the gospel to us. We thank you. Oh, how we thank
God for you, Paul, that you came and you preached Christ and Him
crucified to us. You preached the gospel to us.
Oh, how our hearts are blessed by the Spirit of God. We thank
you for preaching the gospel to us. Paul said, where did that
go? Where did that go? For I bear
you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked
out your own eyes and given them to me." That's why some people
think Paul's infirmity in the flesh was his eyesight. I think that's what it was. He
was saying here, I had this infirmity in my flesh. There was something
obvious about Paul that would have been a distraction and he
said, but it wouldn't distract you. You were so blessed by this
gospel that it didn't hinder you from hearing the word. The
Spirit came to you in power and you were so blessed and so thankful
you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
He said, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you
the truth? He's saying, my message hasn't
changed from then till now. Where'd that blessedness go that
you spoke of? You see how lies will affect
a believer? Here these people are that love
Paul so dearly, and they got to listen to these fellas telling
lies and trying to bring them back under the law. Paul said,
they zealously affect you, but it's not well. They would exclude
you that you might affect them. Paul said later, I would even
if they were cut off. When those men came down telling
those baptized Gentile believers that they must be circumcised
or they couldn't be saved, you know what Peter said? He said,
God put no difference between us Jews and those Gentiles. He
didn't put a difference between us. He purified their hearts
by faith, he said. Now therefore, why tempt ye God? All they were saying was, it's
okay to believe Christ but now you got to be circumcised and
keep the law or you can't be saved. Paul said, why are you
tempting God? You want to see if God will rain
down fire on you and send your little puny rear end to hell?
You want to see that? Why tempt God? to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear. We never could keep it. Why do
you want to try to put it on these poor Gentiles now? Well,
listen to this. But we believe that through the
grace, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we Jews shall
be saved even as these Gentiles. What does he mean? What shall
we say then? Look at Romans 9 verse 30. What
shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed
not after righteousness have attained to righteousness even
the righteousness which is of faith. They didn't even have
the law and they fulfilled the law in every Gentile. How? They believed on Christ. Look
at verse 31. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Why? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law, because they
stumbled at Christ. How do you stumble at Christ?
You say, well, I understand that we need to believe on Christ,
but now don't you think we're still under the law? You've stumped
your toe, your ankle, your kneecap, your hip, you've fallen, you've
stumbled. Believer, you've not received
the bondage again to fear, you've received the spirit of adoption
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Kelsey, John, when that baby
is born, that little fella comes out, you ain't going to have
to teach him to cry out for you. You're not going to. When he
needs you, he's going to cry. He's going to cry. And he's going
to cry. And he's going to cry. And cry
and cry and cry. But it won't bother you. He could
crawl up in the middle of the bed and poop on you and it wouldn't
bother you. You'll figure out a way to say
he's the best pooper that ever pooped. Believers don't have to be taught
to cry out to God. That's what the Spirit of God
is for. He makes us to cry out, Abba, Father, Father, please
save me from myself. Believers always want evidences.
Do you cry out, Father, please save me from myself? Didn't do that before. You don't
do that when you're looking to the law and looking to yourself
and looking at your works. You don't do that. What do you do then? Father,
I thank you that I'm not like these other fellows. Boy, I'm
doing a good job keeping this law. When you've been born of
the Spirit, you smote upon your breast and you won't even look
up to God and you're crying out, Father, please save me from myself. You want me to let you into my
secret chamber and tell you what my number one prayer is? Lord,
Father, please save me from myself. I'm my number one enemy. Please
save me from myself. This word Abba means Father.
It's in Aramic and it's in Greek. That's why it says, Abba Father,
because he's elected Jew and Gentile. Abba is the same spelled
forward and backward, because God's our Father in prosperity
or adversity. And you know how Paul said, you
were servants, though you were heir of all things, you were
servants to the time appointed. But now you're no more servants
but your sons. A servant couldn't call the master
of the house father, only sons and daughters. And he says, now
you can call him father. You're no longer a servant, you're
a son. Behold what manner of love the
father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knows us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is. Believer, we're not motivated
by law, we're not ruled by law, we don't learn love and mercy
and longsuffering from the law, because the law don't deal in
those things. We're going to look the next hour at the difference
between law and grace. That's what we're going to see.
So Paul said this, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
If you're circumcised and you add any, you could put any other
law in there that you think you have to, you're obligated to
keep it for salvation. Any other law. Paul says this,
Christ shall profit you nothing. I testify again to every man
that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has
become of no effect to you. Whosoever you are that is justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. Fallen from grace. He said, if you walk in the Spirit,
you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. We need to learn what
that means, don't we? What does he mean by that? He
said, The flesh lusts against the spirit,
the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary the one to
the other, so that your sinful flesh cannot do the things it
would. The spirit of God won't let him. And he says, but if you're led
of the spirit, you're not under the law. Not under the law. Alright, we'll come back next
time and see what that means. Let's stand together. Father, we thank You for Your
Word. We thank You for blessing it to our hearts and giving us
the Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, that You would
mortify our flesh now and keep us looking only to Christ. Help
us to see Him fully and learn of Him and hear Him and to be
led of Him and to follow Him and to look only to Him. Thank
You, Father, that we can call You our Father. Oh, thank you. Forgive us our sins, Lord. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen.