Romans 8. We just ended our Bible
study in Ephesians 1 by seeing that every child of
God, every sinner that the Father
chose, every sinner that He chose to
adopt into His family, every sinner that God predestinated
into Christ and made that sinner clean and holy and pure by Christ,
every one of God's children will receive His Spirit. That's where
we just ended. They will all receive His Spirit. And when the Spirit comes, He
comes with promises directly from God to the child. That's
the whole reason the Spirit comes. He comes bearing promises, bringing
promises, the promises of the Spirit. And those promises convince
the child that he or she has indeed been
made to be a part of the family of God. The Spirit never comes
when the Father sends the Spirit. He never comes with promises and does not convince of them.
Never does He leave a sinner and the sinner be unconvinced.
He convinces. When He comes, He convinces. And the child believes every
time. And the child trusts in what
has been revealed from the Spirit. He called it the earnest of our
inheritance, the down payment promise of our inheritance. That's what the Spirit brings.
All right, now look right here in Romans 8, and listen to how
this perfectly intertwines with verses 14 to 17. Romans 8, 14,
it says, 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, but you have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God. That's what
the Spirit does. It comes and bears witness with
our spirit. It says, you are the children
of God. Verse 17, and if children, then
heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified together. Now that's exactly
what he was saying in Ephesians 1. The Spirit of God comes to
God's children and notifies them of everything that they are and
everything that they have in Christ. He also notifies them
of everything they are in the flesh. He convinces of sin. He convinces of righteousness.
And He convinces of judgment. Where His sinful children were
judged, and they were judged in Christ. The Spirit reveals
all of this. Verse 17 says, with Christ. If children, then heirs, heirs
of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer
with Him. If we suffer, the Spirit comes
and said, if you suffered with Him, then you're children and
joint heirs. Now, what does that mean? If
so be that we suffer with Him. There is a persecution. There
is a worldly suffering that comes from being one with Christ. All
who are one with Christ will endure a suffering, a persecution. He plainly said, if they hated
me for what I had to say, for my word, they will hate you also. They will hate the word that
you preach. They will hate the word that
you believe. In John 16, our Lord said, In
the world you shall have tribulation. And we do, don't we? 1 Peter 5.10 says, In the world
you are going to suffer a while. But the tribulation and the suffering
that comes from man and comes from this world, that is not
what signed the paperwork of our adoption. This worldly suffering, that
is not what paid the price. Now you're gonna have to suffer
a while, that's not what paid the price. That's not what secured our place
in the family of God. What suffering is he talking
about? He said, the Spirit comes and bears witness that we are
the children of God if we suffered with Him. Only if we suffered
with Him. What suffering is He talking
about? Let's go back to Ephesians 1. Go with me back over to Ephesians
1. Verse 3 said, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath 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, according to the good pleasure of His will, to
the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved. This suffering that secured our
place as children in the family of God, had something to do with,
it actually had everything to do with, Christ making us accepted
in the Beloved. Acceptable to God, acceptable
to the Father, because by nature, naturally, biologically, we were
not acceptable. Our sin had caused us to be children
of outcast. That's where we started. That's
what we are in the flesh. When he came to us, that's where
he found us. Not children of God, children
of disobedience. Children of wrath. Look at chapter
two, verse two. It says, wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world. according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. That was us. All of us by nature. Verse three says, among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind
and were by nature Biologically, originally, the
children of wrath, just like everybody else. Verse four says,
but God. Those are two of the greatest
words in the scripture. That's the relief. That's the,
but God. who is rich in mercy. He is rich in atonement. He is rich in payment. He is rich in willingness to
bear our suffering and bear our punishment. He is rich in willingness
to bear the tribulation of the judgment of God on our sin. But
God, who is rich in mercy, For His great love, wherewith He
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace, you are saved. The sufferings that we suffered
with Christ are the sufferings that we suffered in Christ. God
poured out His wrath on us for all of our sin in Him. That's the key to it all. in
Him. While we were in Him, God purged
us and took the price from us that we were, that was owed,
that we owed to God. He took it all in Him, in Christ. With His sufferings, through
the sufferings of Christ, the well-beloved of the Father, God
made us to be purged, clean, spotless, acceptable. children
in His sight. Now back in Ephesians 1 verse
6 says, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He
hath made us accepted in the Beloved, through the sufferings
of the Beloved, Christ the Beloved. Verse 7, In whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Now God the Father chose that
for us. God the Son secured that for
us. And God the Spirit has come to
notify us. How could we have ever known
all this? How could we have ever known all this? God the Spirit
has come to notify us and convince us that this is indeed now our
standing before God. We look at ourselves and the
flesh says, this can't be, this can't be, this can't be. And
God's Spirit says, it is, it is. Convinces us, just convinces
us. And the flesh, the longer you
go, The more you see of yourself, it's a constant war. Thank God
the Spirit will win. Now you're standing before God.
You're redeemed. But look at what I just did.
You're forgiven. You are welcomed children of
the Father. And if we're welcomed children
of the Father, then Paul said in Romans 8, we are rightful
heirs of the Father. If we're children, then we're
heirs. Go with me back to Romans 8. Verse 14, it says, 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." Bondage to sin and
bondage to wrath. You think about that. By God's
Spirit, we are set free. Is that not amazing? We know what we are. We know
what we've done. But by the Spirit of God, we're
set free. Set free from the wrath. You
think about the wrath that every man has to face. Set free. Totally set free. Verse 15, you've
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. He said, if we're children, then
we're heirs. But we're not just heirs. We are joint heirs with Christ. You know, you can technically
be an heir and receive less than all the other heirs. You know
that? You can technically be an heir
and receive much less than all the other heirs. But
He said that's not the case for us. That's not the case for God's
heirs. All of God's heirs All of God's children get the same
thing Christ gets. They're all joint heirs with
Christ. And the reason they do, the reason
they get the same thing Christ gets is because they are in Christ. This goes back to what we talked
about in the Bible study. Everything has been given to
Him. Everything. Everything has been
given to Him. And in Him, if we are in Him,
everything He gets, we get. We get. That's what it means
to be a joint heir with Christ. I pray the Lord will make this
clear to us. It's not that we split everything with Him 50-50. We don't split everything with
Him 50-50. He gets it all. All of it goes to Him. And in
Him, we do too. Look with me at Galatians chapter
3. Galatians 3 verse 16, it says, Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. That means all of God's promises
are made to Christ. All of them go to Christ, but
he said in verse 27, as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. As many as God has immersed into
Christ, they have put on Christ. That means they are in Christ.
Verse 28, it says, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither
bond nor free, there's neither male nor female, for you are
all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then
are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. He
said the promise was made to Christ. And if you're in Christ,
the promise was made to you. in Christ, through Christ. Galatians
4 verse 1, it says, Now I say that the heir, as long as he
is a child, differeth nothing from a 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,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. 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. And because you are
sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. It's Christ in us, crying for
us. Verse seven says, Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Don't turn, but in Matthew 11,
our Lord said, all things are delivered unto me of my father. All things. John 335 says, the
father loved the son and hath given all things into his hand. Hebrews 1 verse 2 says, The Father
hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.
All things, all of it goes to Him. And if you'll look with
me back at Romans 8, it says in Romans 8 verse 32, Romans 8.32, it says, he that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? That's quite a verse. Everything that heaven has. That's
amazing, isn't it? Everything that heaven has. Everything
that Christ is. If he has given us to his Son,
he's given us with his Son, in his Son, all things. I think about this all the time.
It is such great mercy just that he would not kill us. Just that
He would spare us. I tell you what, I'm going to
let you go. That's such great mercy. But then that He would,
in grace, along with that, give us all things. I'm going to let
you go and I'm going to give you everything I have. And I'm going to do that by taking
the life of my own son in your place. We cannot receive His
Son without receiving all things, because He has all things. It's
all given to Him. Now, for those who have Him and
have all things with Him and in Him, there is a worldly suffering
that will take place, just like our Lord said it would. There
is going to be a suffering of persecution for the truth's sake. Sometimes we think, well, maybe
that will pass me by. It won't. Our Lord said it would
be this way, and this world will bring suffering. It'll bring
tribulation. A spiritual persecution against
all who take a stand for the glory of Christ. Every soul that
takes a stand for his honor by the grace of God and by the Spirit
of God takes a stand for his glory and his work alone in salvation. There is a suffering that will
come for being a follower of Christ. With that, there's also
a suffering that we will endure just because of the fact that
we're sinners. We have a tendency to mess everything up. We'll
just bring it on ourselves just because we're sinners. Even though
Christ has put away all our sin, He's already paid the price for
all our sin from the cradle to the grave, we still have to live
it out. Alright? We still have to carry
it out from the cradle all the way to the grave. And that's
going to bring suffering. My sin is going to bring suffering
to me. It's going to bring guilt to
me. Don't you hate the guilt that you feel over your sin?
It's going to bring shame to me. It's going to bring sorrow
to me. It's going to bring depression
to me. It's going to bring sickness
to me. It's going to bring disease to me. We're going to have sufferings
of health, sufferings of wealth, and sufferings of happiness.
But Paul said right here in Romans 8 verse 14, 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, but you have received
the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy, to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. He said if we're children,
then we're heirs. And we are heirs with a hope. We're going to live life in suffering
and trial and pain, but it's not going to be without a hope.
Hope of a glory And He said it's not just going to be revealed
to us. He said at the end of verse 18,
it's going to be revealed in us. Now, we're going to pause right
here. If the Lord is willing, we're
going to come back in a few hours. Let's all go get something to
eat. Lay down and take a nap. And then let's come back here
in a few hours. And we're going to see the hope of glory for
all of God's heirs. Ephesians 1 said it's an inheritance. Peter said it's an eternal inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that'll never fade away. He said it's
reserved in heaven for you. Paul said it here in Romans 8
verse 24, we are saved by this hope. He said we can't see it yet.
But he said in verse 25, if we're hoping for it, then we will patiently
wait for it. If God reveals it to us by His
Spirit and convinces us of it and gives us an expected anticipation
of it, We're fine to patiently wait. Lord, your time will endure
the suffering, will endure the trial. We'll patiently wait for
it. Christ has made us to be children
of the Father. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of a glorious hope. All right, we'll come back to
that tonight. Let's all stand together.