Alright, let's look back at Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, the portion
of scripture that our brother just read. Concerning this subject,
the spirit of adoption. The spirit of adoption. Paul
in verse 15. He writes, for you've not received.
The you there has to do with God's children. Sinner saved
by grace, born again by the Spirit of God. You have not received
the spirit of bondage. When you were born again by the
Spirit, you didn't receive the spirit of bondage, an attitude,
a mindset, a motivation of bondage. You know what bondage is? It's
being tied up. It's being in jail. And that's
what man's religion does to people. ties them up, puts them in jail,
forces them. It's like being a forced slave
that's being kidnapped and you've got to work your way into the
master's favor or you've got to work your way out of his disfavor,
things like that. That's man's religion. That's
work's religion. You didn't receive that spirit
when you were born again by the Holy Spirit under the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. He says, you didn't receive the
spirit of bondage again to fear, that legal fear, that mercenary
fear. You're not hirelings, you see.
You understand what he's saying here. Now, he says, but you received
the spirit of adoption as adopted children, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. We have a relationship with the
Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. that is such a close,
intimate relationship, a father to his children. Father to his
children. So we're not legal slaves, you
see. We're children. Children of God. And children in this sense, that
we're totally, totally dependent upon the Father for all our well-being. Totally dependent upon Him. Just
like a little child. Go back to even an infant. They
can't work to earn their own food and shelter and clothing.
Mom and dad has to do that for them. They're children. And that's
what he's talking about. Now, this is the spirit of adoption. He's a spirit of grace. He's
a spirit of love. He's a spirit of Christ. That's
what he called him in Galatians 4. We'll look at that in just
a moment. But here's the issue. And don't lose sight of what
Paul's doing here. He's teaching them these issues
of the grace of God as it applies to the salvation of both Jew
and Gentile. And so when he calls the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, and talks about how
we've received the Spirit of adoption, He's doing that by
contrast. For example, he's saying this,
that the way one becomes a child of God is not by physical birth. So it doesn't matter if you're
a physical descendant of Abraham. You know, that was one of the
boast of the Jews. We be Abraham's seed. That makes us children
of God. Oh no, Paul says. No, you didn't receive that kind
of a spirit. if you believe the gospel. If
you're a true child of God, it's a spirit of adoption. You're
adopted into the family. You're not physically born into
the family. It's not of blood, nor the will
of man, nor the will of the flesh, but of God. We're born into it
and adopted into it. Spiritual birth, not physical
birth. Spiritual adoption. And so what
he's teaching them there is that salvation is not just for the
Jews only. But it's for all who come to
Christ. They are the adopted children
of God, and they have a special relationship with God that not
even the Jews under the Old Covenant had. You see, under the Old Covenant,
they were a disobedient people. They were a slavish people. But
under the New Covenant, in Christ, they're children of God who can
cry, Abba, Father. Look back over there at Galatians
chapter 4 that I read. And here's how this took place
now, in verse four. And you know, he's contrasting
here with the Old Covenant. Look at verse 1 of Galatians
4. He 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. Talking about the
Jews under the Old Covenant. Even believers, true believers
who were under that time period. They were under those elements.
But he says in verse 4, but when the fullness of the time was
come, that's the time appointed by God, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, that's the humanity of Christ, made under the law,
that's the covenantal relationship of Christ, all salvation conditioned
on Him. For what purpose? Verse 5, to
redeem, to pay the redemption price. to atone for their sins,
to bring forth righteousness, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive what? A pat on the back because
we're Abraham's seed? No, that we might receive the
adoption of sons. You see that? Now, you know what
that teaches? All for whom Christ died are
adopted children. There'll be none in hell for
whom He died. And he says, and because you are sons. Now notice
here in verse 6, it doesn't say, and in order to become sons.
It doesn't say that, does it? It says, and because you are
sons. Well, how were you made sons?
By redemption and adoption. He says, and because you are
sons. Now, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son. That's
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. into your hearts, your
mind, your affections, your will, crying, Abba, Father. That's
what Paul's talking about over here. The spirit of adoption. And look at verse 16 back in
Romans 8. Now look here. What he's saying, there's no
bondage here. This is not salvation by law. This is salvation by
grace, by Christ. This is not working your way
into sonship. This is being adopted into the
family of God by God's grace in Christ. There's no bondage.
There's freedom here. There's liberation here. And
it's not freedom to sin. It's freedom to serve. It's freedom
to obey in newness of the spirit, not in oldness of the letter.
It's freedom from that legal bondage. We don't have a debt
to pay to God's law and justice. That debt's paid. Christ paid
it on the cross in full, eternally, unchangeably. Can't be taken
back. So there's no bondage. There's
no legal fear here. There's no timidity here. There's
no doubt here. Now, we doubt, but that's not
what the Spirit brings about. That's the flesh. I hear preachers
all the time talking about, if you don't doubt, I worry about
you. Well, now listen to me. That's like saying, if you don't
commit adultery, I worry about you. Because that's what it is. It's sin. I'm not saying we don't
doubt, and listen, anybody who comes and tells you he never
doubts, they're not being honest. We do doubt. We have these doubts
and these legal fears, but that's the flesh. That's not the spirit. That's where we're to be engaged
in that warfare. We're seeking to mortify that
doubt. I'd like for all doubt to be
removed from my mind. How about you? But see, this is the spirit of
adoption, the Holy Spirit. Verse 16 says, "...the Spirit
Himself, Himself beareth witness." And that's like a legal testimony
here now. This is based upon sure evidence.
This is not just feeling. This is not just a notion. It's
bearing witness with our spirit, our inner man. We're born again
by the spirit, we have spiritual life. And he testifies with our
hearts, our minds, our affections, our will, that we are the children
of God. He doesn't testify, now you work
hard to become a child of God. Or you work hard to keep your
place in the household of your father. No, you are the children
of God. Now, adoption in the New Testament
really doesn't mean what it typically means today, the taking of a
child into a family to be a legal member of the family. The literal
meaning of this word is son-placing, son-placing. In other words,
the taking of a minor, whether in the family or out of the family,
and making that child the rightful heir. And so the spirit bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, verse
17, and if children, then heirs. We're rightful heirs. We have
an inheritance. Heirs of God, not heirs of men.
Now, this has nothing to do with what you inherit from your mom
and dad, grandpa and grandma, nothing to do with that. Has
nothing to do for the Jews with what they inherited through Abraham
physically, of physical land, It doesn't have anything, it's
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now this adoption,
and here's what the spirit of adoption tells us, is directly
connected with and founded upon the glorious person and finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Galatians 4 said,
God sent forth his son. Made of a woman. God-man. The
glorious person of Christ. God in human flesh. That's who
He is. He is our firstborn brother. He is our elder brother. He is
our Savior. He is our Lord. He's our sin-bearer. He's our priest, our prophet,
our king. Our Savior. Our kinsman-redeemer. That's what that's all about.
He's our kinsman-redeemer. to redeem them that we might
receive the adoption of sons look over to Ephesians chapter
one look at this now here's the inheritance we have an inheritance
we're joint heirs with Christ and this inheritance Peter said
it's an incorruptible inheritance and it's undefiled you know your earthly mother
and father may bequeath to you in a will their assets, but before
they die or after they die, those assets may be gone just like
that. You don't know. Maybe in the
stock market or in mutual funds or whatever, they could be gone
tomorrow. But we have an inheritance from God in Christ that's incorruptible,
unchangeable. It will not diminish. And the
reason is because we didn't have anything to do with it. It's
all Christ. Look at verse 3 of Ephesians
1. 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. Chosen in Christ. The adopted children of God are
adopted by God's choice, not their own. Before the foundation
of the world, when did that take place? In eternity past. Before
the world ever began. in the covenant of grace, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love, set
apart and without blame, justified in Christ. How did all that happen?
Verse 5, 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 were accepted, adopted and accepted in the Beloved. Who's the Beloved there? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's kind of like this. God
adopted sinful children who deserved damnation. You might say it's
sin dirty children. Naked children. There's a great
illustration of that in the book of Ezekiel, the cast-out infant,
lying polluted in his own blood. I believe that's Ezekiel 16.
And he's lying there polluted in his own blood, no one to clean
him up, no one to pick him, destined for death. That's us by nature. And God adopted that kind of
thing. But when he did it, he bought
us. He paid the redemption price, the blood of his son. And he
picked us up and washed us clean from all our sins in the blood
of Christ. And he made that beautiful robe
of righteousness to be put on us, imputed to us. And that's
all by Jesus Christ. Now go back to Romans 8. Now
he says in verse 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, Joint
heirs with Christ. That assures us that we cannot
lose our inheritance. That's why we preach salvation
by grace. We didn't earn the inheritance.
We don't deserve the inheritance. It's by Jesus Christ. And listen
to me, we cannot lose the inheritance. And I said this on television.
I figured I'd get some mail on it. I said one of the most subtle
heresies that Satan has introduced into the visible churches who
call themselves Christianity is this idea that you can lose
the inheritance. You can be saved one day and
lost again. That's a heresy. That's not grace. I'm telling you now. I know people
have a tendency because they, you know, we say, well, we don't
want to be mean. That's not being mean, that's just telling them
the truth. Truth is not mean, folks. Truth is the only thing that's
going to help us. The truth will set you free, the Scripture says.
Who is the truth? Christ. He said if the Son sets
you free, you're free what? Indeed. And that's free forever. It's not just a Baptist doctrine
that's called once saved, always saved. And it certainly doesn't
teach that, well, if I believe that, I'll just go out and sin
as much as I want to. That's just an unbeliever talking
who has no motivation for obedience but legalism, legal fear and
bondage. You see, we have to tell the
truth. We have to be bold to speak the truth. We don't need
to hold back here now. This is it, he says, we're joiners
with Christ. And I'll tell you how, if it
were possible to lose salvation, you'd have to say this, it's
possible for Christ to be taken off his throne and defeated. Now that cannot happen. That
cannot happen. But now look at verse 17, he
says, now listen to this, he says, if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may be also glorified together." Now the
suffering that he's talking about here is not suffering that's
common to all without exception. Everybody suffers. All human
beings suffer. Believers suffer. Unbelievers
suffer. But you see, he's not talking
about all suffering. He's talking about a specific
suffering. He's talking about suffering with Christ. That's
what he's talking about. And so what kind of suffering
is this? This is suffering that comes over the gospel, over our
testimony of Christ, as we're filled with and motivated and
led by and energized by the Holy Spirit, to testify boldly of
the grace of God in a world that hates Christ. Look over at John
chapter 3. This is what it's talking about.
The Lord told His disciples about that. You see, we want to get
along with everybody. That's just, in some ways, human
nature, isn't it? We don't want to offend anybody. But the Bible tells us, look
at John chapter 3 and verse 19. It says, and this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. When I was a young boy, my brother
and I, we had the same bedroom and slept in twin beds and if
he would come home late and I was already in bed, he'd come in,
he'd turn the light on. I'd say, turn that light off!
Because I hated that light. I was sleepy. That's the way
man by nature is. He hates the light. Now why does
he hate light? Why would a person hate light?
Well, it exposes and reveals something that he doesn't want
exposed and revealed. That's why men by nature love
darkness. What kind of darkness they love? They love the darkness
of false religion. That covers up reality. That's
what man's religion does. That's what work's religion does.
It makes a person appear righteous on the outside, but it won't reach the heart
and change the heart. That's why Christ said, woe unto
the Pharisees and the scribes, doing their best to work their
way into God's favor. And the gospel exposes that for
what it is. It's dead works. It's wickedness. It's iniquity. And men hate that. And it says that because their
deeds were evil. The deeds they think by nature
is good, are good, and holy, and righteous. The gospel of
Christ, God's grace in Christ, exposes such deeds to be what?
Evil. Not because people aren't sincere
now. Not because those deeds aren't
moral according to man's stance, but because those deeds exalt
the flesh and do not glorify God. Those deeds are actually
expressions of unbelief. You see, if I'm trying to be
saved by my works, I'm denying the work of Christ. I'm in essence
saying his work was unnecessary. That's unbelief. So he says,
look at verse 20. He says, for everyone that doeth
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deed should be reproved, exposed, uncovered. That refuge of lies. But now look at verse 21. But
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may
be made manifest, that they are what? wrought in God, literally
the work of God. It's not me, it's Christ. Now
that's what brings on the suffering. Christ talked about that in John
15. Read that sometime. When He talked about Him being
the vine and His people being the branches and they're going
to bring forth fruit, And then immediately he said in verse
18, marvel not if the world hates you. It hated me before it hated
you. He said, if I had not come and spoken to them, they'd have
no cloak for their sin. In other words, their sin was
covered in the eyes of men. But I came and I spoke and I
exposed it for what it is and they hate me. And he said, they'll
get so angry and mad at you, they'll throw you out of their
synagogues, their churches. John 16. They won't put up with
you. Because you tell them that all that they trust in for salvation
and righteousness and eternal life is no good. In fact, it's
less than good. Paul called it dung. Think about
that. Think about here's a fellow who's
trusting in his physical connection with Abraham. I'm a child of
Abraham. That means something. That means I'm accepted with
God. I'm a child of God. I'm righteous. I've been circumcised.
I'm doing my best to keep the Ten Commandments. And here comes
the Apostle Paul, and he says, well, I used to think that way
too, but now I count that all but dumb that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the Lord. I count what you're trusting
in dumb. You think Paul's trying to influence people there and
win friends? And they said, well, this fellow's gone crazy. He's
preaching heresy. He told Felix, he said, after
the way they call heresy, that's the way I worship God. Christ
is the only way of salvation. If you think any other way is
a way of salvation, it's dumb. That's what Paul said. As he
was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Is that offensive? To the natural
man it is. He hates the light. Now, that's
what suffering... Look back over in Romans 8. That's
the suffering he's talking about. That's the reproach of Christ.
That's the offense of the cross. We can speak of many ways in
which the preaching of the cross offends people. But I'm going
to tell you something. That right there is the main
way. Remember why he said in Matthew 13 they'd close their
ears and shut their eyes? Because they don't want to repent.
They don't want to be converted. They don't want to think like
This book tells us to think. They don't want to say, Luke
16, 15, that which is highly esteemed among men is a what? An abomination to God. They don't
want to say that when I compare my righteousness to Christ's
righteousness, it's like what? Filthy rags. And you know what
that is. That's offensive. And that's
what brings on this suffering. But he says right here that that's
one of the main evidences that we're children of God. That's ironic, isn't it? Because
that's the main thing we want to avoid. But it's one of the
main evidences. And look at verse 18. Now here
he's going to put things in perspective now. He says in verse 18, For
I reckon, or I account, that the sufferings of this present
time What we're going through in suffering with Christ over
the gospel, as bad as it is and as sorrowful and as many times
as we want to quit, he says it's not even worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The glory that
shall be revealed in us. What glory is he talking about?
He's talking about our final glory in heaven with Christ. He's talking about the full fruition
and completion of all things in that glorification that's
coming. When He comes again and receives
His children unto Himself, right now we're free from sin's condemnation,
sin's power to condemn us. Then we'll be free from the presence,
the influence, the contamination of sin. will be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. And he says to anticipate that
and expect that, that's not even... Listen, you can't even compare
that. That glory that is to be revealed in us. That's not even
to be compared with the suffering. The sufferings of this present
time are nothing in comparison to that. That's so. What a thought. Look at verse
19. He says, "...for the earnest expectation of the creature."
Now, that word, creature, probably would be better translated as
creation. He's talking about the whole
creation. "...for the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth,"
that is, in anticipation, "...for the manifestation of the sons
of God." Now, normally when you probably studied those verses,
You've thought of the physical creation, the world, nature,
because it is the creation. And when Adam fell, he brought
this whole creation, even the physical world, under the curse
of sin. Remember over in Genesis chapter
3, when the Lord was pronouncing the curse upon Adam, he cursed
the earth. It'll bear thorns and thistles.
And the work that you do, it won't be the enjoyable work of
man given before the fall that was to glorify God and for his
own good. But it'll be by the sweat of
your brow. It'll be a task. It'll be a burden
to you. It's like people who say, we
hate to go to work. We know we have to. But it's a burden, you
know. Do you know that we do that? And do you know that's part of
the curse of this earth? And so he said, you're going
to earn your living by the sweat of your brow. You see, it's a
burden. And that's part of what Paul's
talking about here. But let me expand it a little further. Because
really what he's showing here is this, that this whole creation,
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
Not just the Jews, not just one little piece of real estate or
one little ethnic group or one little nationality. God used
the Jews greatly. He did in the Old Testament.
It's the history of the Jews in that sense. The nation as
a whole missed that message. They missed the message of the
gospel, the message of Christ, the message of God's grace. But
what he's showing here is this. And this is the one universal
thought of the scripture, that all men are sinners, all creation
are sinners, and all are in need of salvation by grace. I can
tell you that about everybody without exception. I don't care
who they are. The best of people, the worst of people. We're all
sinners, and we all need salvation by grace. Now, that includes
the Jews, that includes the Gentiles. He'd said that back over in Romans
chapter 3. when he said, the scripture has concluded all under
sin. Both Jew and Gentile. The Jews,
because God used them greatly, and because they were physical
children of Abraham, now listen, they are no closer to salvation
and righteousness and holiness and eternal life by their works
than the worst Gentile who ever lived on a mountaintop and never
even opened up a Bible. They're no closer. All our sinners,
all are in need of salvation by grace. So when he talks about
the whole creation, what he's doing, he's showing them in light
of how we are to think about this whole world. You know, we're
not just talking about one group. We're not just talking about
America. We're not just talking about Ashland, Kentucky, or Hiram,
Ohio, or Huntington, West, we're talking about the whole world
here now. The whole creation. And it's under the curse, and
he says, for the earnest expectation, the eager longing, that's what
that is, there's an eager desire of the whole creation, waiting
in expectation of one thing. And what is that one thing? The
revealing. That's what manifestation means,
the revelation, the revealing of the sons of God. The glory
of God in the salvation of His children. What's God saying here?
What's Paul writing here by inspiration? This is the whole purpose of
creation right here. The glory of God in the salvation
of His people. His elect people out of the world.
All over the creation. A people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. And how's God going to manifest,
reveal these sons of God? By the preaching of the gospel
and the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. Not just this group, that group,
not just this select group, but God, God's elect all over this
world. And it's the manifestation of
the sons of God. God's not out here trying to
save everybody. We preach the gospel to everybody
because they need salvation. But the natural man will not
listen. He won't hear. But at some point in time, in
the life of a chosen, elected, redeemed child of God, that person
is going to meet up with Christ under the preaching of the gospel
in the power of the Holy Spirit and it's going to be revealed
in them. They're going to come to faith
in Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
saved. Look at verse 20. He says, Now
what he's saying, here's the created world was subject to
vanity. That means futility. The whole world fell under the
curse and defilement of sin, not because of its own willful
rebellion, but because of Adam's sin. We fell in Adam by one man
sent into the world and death by sin. And he says this, now
this is something, I want you to look at this. He says, but
by reason of him who has subjected the same, and notice the last
two words there, in hope. Now I've heard people say that
refers to Satan. because Satan brought about the
fall of man in the garden. That's not talking about Satan,
because I want to tell you something. What Satan did in the garden,
he did it out of his own evil, and he did not do it for any
reason like hope. Who he's talking about here is
someone who subjected all this to this vanity for a hope. The end goal of it was hope. What is our hope? Back down here
in verse 24, he says, we're saved by hope. What is our hope? Our
hope is eternal life. Satan didn't do this to bring
about eternal life. He was an evil participant. His goal was the condemnation
of the whole human race. It wasn't for hope. Who is the hope? Christ is called
the hope of Israel. He's called the hope of the nations.
He's called the desire of all nations. We know that all men
and women without exception don't desire Him or hope in Him, but
who does? The sons of God. All over the
world. It was God's purpose all along.
God subjected this world to vanity. God didn't sin. He didn't create
evil. Evil's not created. He's not
a sinner. But He purposed all of this for
the hope, the salvation of His people in Christ, who is the
hope of His people. There's no salvation in or by
the world or by man, only by Christ. And there'll be a new
heavens and a new earth waiting for the... and the reason that
it's not come yet, is because it's waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God. God has some people and He's
going to save them. That's why He didn't come yesterday. That's right. Somebody said,
will He come today? I don't know. Maybe He will.
But I know what He's waiting on. And when I say waiting, I'm
not talking about God just up there in the banister of heaven
waiting if somebody will accept Him. That's not what that means.
It means it's His purpose in His time, He'll do it in His
time according to His wisdom and His way when He brings it
all to its completion. And when He brings that last
child of God in, then that's when it'll be. So look at verse
21, He says, "...because the creation itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the..." What? "...the glorious liberty of the
children of God." You know what he's saying here? God is going
to save the world. That's what he's saying. For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. Christ is the advocate and propitiation, not just for
our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. What's he talking
about? God's gonna save the world, not by saving every individual
in the world, but he's going to save the world
in this way, through the glorious liberty of the children of God.
God saved one person, he saved the world. If he saved two, if
he saved two million, This is not saying God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody by no stretch of the imagination.
It's simply saying that God's purpose in this whole thing now
was to bring about a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Where there's a people made like
his son. And who are they? They're the
children of God. and they're going to be delivered
from the bondage of corruption. What is that corruption? Well,
that corruption is sin. That corruption is everything
we're going through that wracks and deteriorates these bodies. The sicknesses, the pain, the
sorrows, the divisions, everything that's negative as far as our
corruption. That's what he's talking about.
This body is dead because of sin. You get older and what happens? You begin to feel bad. The eyes
go, the hearing goes. You get sick and all of these
things. We're going to be delivered from
that. That's a bondage, isn't it? We're
trapped in that sense. Paul said it, he spoke of it
in Romans chapter 7 when he said, I'm a slave to sin, I'm carnal,
sold under sin. What was he saying there? I'm
a child of God, I have liberty in Christ, I'm not condemned,
but I can't get away from sinning. I can't do that. And then he
explained it in Romans 7, 14 through 23, 24. Oh, wretched
man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank my God through Jesus
Christ. That's the glorious liberty of the children of God. Look
at verse 22, he says, For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. That's talking
about like a woman in childbirth. It's the pains of childbirth,
expecting something better. And what he's saying, we expect
something better. We've grown for something better.
And as you grow older and the Lord, you go through experiences
and disappointments and sicknesses and ailments, the Lord weans
you away from this life until you come to a point in your life
and you say, I'm just ready to die. And you're like David, he said,
I'll be satisfied when I what? When I awake with thy likeness.
Right now, I am righteous in Christ, as righteous as I'll
ever be. And when I'm glorified and delivered
from the body of this dead, this corruption, I won't be any more
righteous before God than I am right now in Christ. But one
thing I will be, I'll be free to think and act without sin. That's the glorious liberty of
the children of God that he's talking about. Look at verse
23. He says, "...and not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit."
That is, we who've already been born again by the Spirit, we
already have the firstfruits of the Spirit. That's what that
is. In Ephesians chapter 1, the work of the Spirit in the new
birth is called the earnest. We have the earnest of the Spirit.
It's kind of like the down payment. on the full payment, meaning
our glorious liberty. And he says, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption. Now the adoption
that he's talking about here, he identifies to wit or namely,
the redemption of our bodies, our final glory, in which we
will be made perfectly like Christ, and take our rightful positions
before the whole universe as adopted children of God in the
new heavens and the new earth. Right now, now think about it,
when he spoke of that suffering, you know, the world looks upon
the true children of God as being the off-scouring of society.
That's what the scripture says. Not in the sense that we're not
responsible citizens or we're not socially acceptable, but
in the sense that we stand in opposition with Christ against
all that the world holds dear and all that the world values,
in that sense. And that's what brings on that
suffering. And so right now, right now, in essence, if we,
listen, if we really identified with Christ, in our testimony
before the world, what do you think would happen? Well, I'll tell you what would
happen. Same thing that happened to our Savior when He told the
truth. Same thing that happened to old
Stephen when he told the truth. Same thing that happened to Paul
when he told the truth. That's why the Lord said, blessed
are you when men... We're not going out here trying to pick
a fight. We're not out here trying to be persecuted. I don't want
persecution. I'll do everything I can to avoid
persecution, hopefully by the grace of God, short of compromising. Hopefully by the grace of God,
because I know if it weren't for the grace of God, I would
do it. I'd be just like Peter. who denied the Lord three times.
But understand this, this whole creation is headed toward this
one purpose, you see. Not just for the Jews, but for
God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And that's what the spirit of adoption brings the child of
God to see in his relationship with the Father through Christ.
All right.