Good morning. If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in Romans chapter eight. But not where you think. Well, you know, it's one of them
things. I can't go to Romans eight without reading verse 828
and on, you know? Because I love that. I remember
reading that for the first time and it's like, Walter that's
one in places. It's just laid right out Run
one line one precept right after the other and it's all one salvation
But today I'm gonna begin reading in verse 14 For as many are led by the Spirit
of God they are the sons of God 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. The spirit itself bear
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 also be also glorified together. Together. My title today is Abba Father. But before I get into that, I
do want to tell you something else that kind of got stuck in
my head. Faith is important. Faith in Christ is essential. Essential. However, and this
goes along with what you preached this morning on TV, Walter. Faith
in Christ is not the cause of the believer's justification
or regeneration. Not a bit. Faith in Christ is
the result of the justification and regeneration of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself is our righteousness. He's our justification. And the
Holy Spirit himself regenerates the dead alien sinner and gives
him and her both life and faith. Because our faith in Christ is
the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. The
faith of God's elect is the result of his workmanship. Because we are created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. Believe it or not faith in Christ
Jesus That's a good work That's a great work. I Don't want to
preach the faith of a believer I Want to preach the author and
the finisher of faith? Jesus Christ, and that's what
we're here for to preach the just God and the Savior the Lord
and the Savior Jesus Christ and I just wanted to say it's been
in my head. And then when you said this morning, Walter, it's
just kind of fit right in there with it. Because see, all this
goes on, and the world doesn't know anything about it. Religion
knows anything about it. I really don't like the word
religion. Somebody asked, do I have religion? No, I have Christ. And more importantly, he's got
me. And I believe him. Now, if you
want to call that religion, I guess I got religion. But when most
people say, oh, he got religion, they just mean he started going
to church and trying to behave. And that's not what we're talking
about here at all. Although you ought to behave.
Romans 8, 14. I'm not going to spend a lot
of time here. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God. Okay? There's only one way now that
you can be led by the Spirit of God. That's from within. It's from within. From the inside. In verses 10 and 11 of Romans
chapter 8, it tells us, and if Christ be in you, The body is
dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Not your righteousness, his.
But, oh my, what a 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, what? that dwells in you. Oh my. If Christ be in you, the
Holy Spirit is in you. And if the Holy Spirit be in
you, Christ is in you. These three are one. A lot of
people seem to want to leave out the Holy Spirit most of the
time, and I can understand part of the reason why, because the
Pentecostals have just about ruined the Holy Spirit for anybody.
Actually their lives about the Holy Spirit have ruined it for
everybody But if Christ be in you the Holy
Spirit is in you because of Christ righteousness Because of his
work because of his death his burial his resurrection and his
ascension Because it is because of himself that his people are
led by the Spirit In you, in you. Now I'm gonna
be clear, mostly I'm gonna be talking to believers now today. But don't feel left out. Because
if this stuff, if this scripture can get a hold of you, the truth
of God in Christ is here. Next verse goes on for you have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear But you've received
the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Now let's be clear The spirit
of bondage to fear comes from the same one who sends the spirit
of adoption and Walter, I remember you talking about what people
call a law work. No, it's the work of God. It's
not a law work. That's what people call it, and
I know what they mean. And they explain it correctly. But it's
not a law work. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. But you understand, that law
was there the whole time when I didn't believe Christ. When
I wasn't coming even, or interested in coming. It's the work of God
through the Holy Spirit that brings this spirit of bondage
unto fear. And it also comes first. You understand? The spirit of bondage to fear
comes before, and I'm gonna tell you this, in every single child
of God. Every time. Comes first, then
the spirit of adoption comes. It's not the other way around. What's it say in the Old Testament
constantly, especially in the Psalms and the Proverbs? The
fear of the Lord is the what? Beginning of two things, two
different things. It's the beginning of knowledge
and it's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is. The
spirit of bondage to fear and the spirit of adoption, both
of them are real and both of them are necessary. I'm not going
to spend a lot of time in this either today, but I do want to
emphasize this. Because I think too many people
now think they are saved, but they've
never been shown they were lost. I heard Henry saying that on
tape 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Earl used to say. They come down
the aisle smiling and popping their bubble gum. They don't
know anything about the spirit of bondage unto fear. And therefore,
I can tell you this, if they don't know anything about the
spirit of bondage, if they don't know anything about the fear
of Lord, the fear of their own sinfulness standing before God,
they don't know the spirit of adoption. because these two are
sequential. It's a good word. One follows
the other, not the opposite way around. What's the declaration of the
Apostle Paul about those who don't know Christ? He said in
this book, Romans, there is no fear of God before their eyes. because the disease has got to
be known before there can be a cure. You're not gonna want
a cure if you don't know you're sick. You're not gonna want life unless
you find out that you're dead in trespasses and in sins. And that's enough about that,
because I gotta get to this. Abba Father, Abba. Now the word Abba is derived
from the word Ab, A-B. And believe it or not, the Hebrew
word is derived from the Chaldean word, from the Chaldees. And
I thought about that for a minute and I thought, what in the world
are they borrowing from that? Then I remember, oh yeah, Abram. Abram
come out of the Ur of the Chaldees. So guess what? Some words got
imported. Some words were kept. And I'm
glad they did, because this is a good word. The word ab, A-B,
that word means father. That's what it means. And more,
and more. In the Hebrew, it denotes the
lord of the household. In Hebrew, it denotes the head
of the family. of the family, of the family. Understand, in those days, you
know, Abram went around with what, Lot? His nephew. But Abram was the ab. There could
be two or three generations. You could have children and grandchildren
all in that same, maybe not even the same tent, but in that same
area, that same holding, that same ranch, as they'd call it
today. But there's only one Ab. There's
only one Ab. And that was his title. And Abba
is a familiarized derivation of the word Ab. That's where
it comes from. It's a familiar name for this
head of the family. Now, let me reemphasize that. Ab, Abba, is a family It's a family name. And if you really want it, Ab
is a family name and Abba may even be more of a family name.
Servants, even bond slaves, they didn't use this term. They're
not part of the family. Even if it's a bond slave. They're
not part of the family. They'd call him Master. They
might call him Lord. Doesn't matter. Ab and Abba are
family names used only by those related to the Abba. And it could be younger siblings,
his own brothers and sisters. It could be, it was used by sons
and daughters, Grandsons and granddaughters. It's a family
title for that particular family. It was also used by those who
were related to the Abba, and this is important, by marriage. By marriage. Sons-in-law, daughters-in-law,
they would call the leader, the head of the family Abba or Ab. Because this is a name that the
family calls the father, the one father. Now, when I started looking at
this the other day, I thought of this. And I kind of
put it all together in my head. When I was a teenager, a long
time ago, in a state far, far away, I decided for some reason,
and I'm not exactly sure, to start calling my earthly father
Pop. That's what I called him. And
I called him that until he died. Not Pops now, mind you, because
Pops was what juvenile delinquents called old people they didn't
know. I seen those movies, I seen those TVs. I had to actually
explain that to my mother when I started calling him Pop. I
said, no, it's not Pops, it's Pop. Because Pops was considered kind
of an insult. And I did not, I was not sneering,
and I was not trying to be disrespectful. I might have been trying to be
overly familiar, but he got used to it. That's what I called him,
that's what I talked to him. I used it constantly for decades. Now, part of this could be related
to the fact that my sisters would call him Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. And now, there's nothing wrong
with calling him Daddy. It's just an annoying tone of
voice that my sisters had when they wanted something, OK? I
think that might have had some reason to it, that I didn't want
to use that same word. Why? Because I was honoring at
the time. Not that I am now, of course. But this was just
my name for my father. And actually, I used it constantly,
seriously, until he died 10 years ago. When I talked with him,
I called him Pop. Hey, Pop, how you doing? How's
everything going, Pop? You rest anybody interesting
lately? My dad was a deputy sheriff. And trust me, if he had minded,
he would have told me. You know, my father wasn't shy
about stuff like that. Now, when I met Deborah, okay,
and we started talking about our families and we found out
interesting things and some things not so interesting, you know,
about family. that her aunt at one time actually
had dated one of my uncles. And it's like, whoa, you know. It wouldn't have made any difference,
but still, it was just a really small world thing. But I told
her of my parents. When I told her my parents, I
called them Mom and Pop. That's what I called Dad. I mean,
it's what I called my father. Now, when Deb first met my father,
she didn't call him that. I'm not sure, but I figure she
called him Mr. Galusic to start with, because
my wife has manners. She really does. But as she came
to know him, and as she came to like him, when we talked,
her and I together at the house, she called him Pop also. She
started to call him Pop, because we were talking about the same
person. Eventually, I can't say when
it started, but Debbie started calling him Pop when she talked
to him. And he never said a word, didn't
mind at all. I didn't realize at the time,
really, that she had started doing it, or when she started
doing it. It didn't register. Or if it did, I forgot about
it. Because it was normal for me. I think of him as Pop, and
that's who he was, and that's where he was when we went and
saw him. That's who she talked to, and that's what she called
him. I think she spoke to him as easily
and happily as she conversed with her own father. And one day, I heard something
that really pleased me and made me smile, one day. Now, Deb wasn't there at the
time. She was off just a little ways. But Dad was talking to
somebody else, one of his friends, and he said, oh, yeah, that's
Debbie. And he said this. He said, my daughter. He didn't
say my daughter-in-law. He said my daughter. And that
did. That made me smile. It did. And I knew he meant it. I already knew that he liked
her more than me, mostly, because my wife is a lot more likable
than I am. And Pop and I have a lot more
history than him and Debbie have. And Pop knew she had put up with
me for years and was still with me. He also knew she was smart,
she was strong, and she loved his son. And she still does. And I also knew this, my father,
Pop, would take her into the house, into his home, probably
before he would take me back. For whatever reason, or for no
reason. Because I got another smile one
day when Debbie was standing there, and my father introduced
her to somebody else. as his daughter, and it made
her smile. Debbie heard with her own ears,
Pop introduce her as his daughter. And on the way home, I told her,
I told you so, because I told her he'd been doing this. You
know, it's all right. Sometimes my wife doesn't believe
me, okay? I can live with that. I've been telling her for years
that she had been accepted in the family. And I think she did
sort of believe me. But I'm gonna tell you something,
it is so much better when you would hear Pop tell you or introduce
you as his family, as his daughter. It was so much better for her,
to hear it from Pop personally. Because here's the thing about
my family, okay? If Pop accepted you, you were
accepted. You are accepted if my father
accepted you. Now granted, while she was alive,
the same was true of my mom. If my mom accepted you, it didn't
matter what anybody said. The father, though, the ab of
my family, accepted her and told her so. And she could go to Pop
for help any time, and if he could, he'd help her. And that's
what Abba, father, means to me. And even better now, because
our heavenly father He helps me before I know I need help.
And he helps every one of his children before they know they
need help. But there's only one overriding
reason why. My father loved my wife because
she's a sweet, wonderful woman. I can say this about her because
she's not here right now. But this is the thing. Our Heavenly
Father will help us and loves us, not
because of ourselves, but because of His Son. And because His Son, Jesus Christ,
loves us. All of believers are His bride. We have been accepted in the
family of God. And that's what this means. Now
I'm not telling you to call God Pop. But Abba, that's a good
word. Father's a good word. Our Lord
Jesus Christ told us. When you pray, pray on this wise.
Now don't repeat after me. Don't make it a rote prayer,
because he talks about that right after or right before that. They
think they're going to be heard for much speaking, but he says
start this way. Our Father. Now understand, he
wasn't saying everybody say it together, our Father. He was
saying, our Father is Christ and yours, Christ and mine. That's our Father. We have the
same Father as our Lord Jesus Christ. I like that, I like that. And
when Walter has talked about it and I've talked about it,
Paul's talked about it, this is the family of God. What's
that mean? We all have the same Father.
We have the same Ab. He's the head of the household.
Jesus Christ is called what? The head of the church. and the
church is his body. Do you think his father's gonna
reject any part of the son's body? Not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. Christ's body is not gonna be
maimed in any way. It's not gonna be short a toe
or a finger or the tip of your nose. That's crap. Pardon my language. It's a lie, it's a lie. He will not lose anything that
his father gave to him because his father gave him us. His father
gave him his bride. His father loves us in his son
and we are God's family married to his son, to his son. Verse 16, the spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Not that we're gonna be, we are
now. We are now. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, so if
so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified,
what? Together. With him. with him The spirit of the ab
Bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God This is not the only time Paul
used this You want to look Galatians chapter 4 Excuse me Verse 4 chapter 4 of Galatians
But when the fullness of time was come God sent forth his son
made of a woman made under the law why While you said this morning
to redeem and he did he sent him forth to redeem and he did
redeem and You're not getting redeemed now if you weren't redeemed
2,000 years ago. That's when he redeemed. You're
just finding out about it. There we go. To redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because,
because, because you are sons. You are sons. God has sent forth,
what? The spirit of his son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Oh my, I like that. Wherefore
thou art no more a servant, but a son or a daughter. You are a member of the family. You always were, but you didn't
know it. Oh my. But a son, and if a son,
then an heir of God, how? Through Christ. Through Christ. We can cry Abba Father because
of our elder brother. He's not ashamed to call us what?
Brethren. What? Members of the family.
People think, oh, you're my brother, you're my, no, no, you are the
brethren of Christ. It's not just something nice
to say on Sunday mornings, hello, how are you, brother? No, no,
Jesus Christ meant everything he said, and he said everything
he meant. We are the brethren of Christ,
and we are the bride of Christ. I don't know any other way you
can be more a member of a family other than to be born into it.
Wait a minute. I was born twice. Born once by my natural parents,
mom and pop. Oh, but I was born a second time.
Born from above. John one's born of God. How? Into the family. Into the family. Because believers
are, they are sons and daughters of God. Why are they that way? Because the Father said so. Why
would he say something like that? Because Jesus Christ died for
us. He died for his people. He shall
save his people from their sins. And what do we get out of it? God sends the spirit of his son
into our hearts. What's that mean? That means
you get to know God. This world don't know God. Excuse
me, this world doesn't know God. Proper English, as far as it
goes. This world doesn't want to know
God. I didn't want to know God. But oh, Lord, sometime, sometime,
somewhere, from somewhere, Walter, that spirit of bondage under
fear come. He came. He came. And all of a sudden, I knew too
much. People think fear means reverential
awe. Well, that could be included.
But that generally comes later. Sometimes it's just stark raven
fear And if you don't know the fear
of the father you didn't know my father Because trust me he
could have put it in you At least for a while it wear off when
I go out and play and forget about it But no this don't wear
off This don't wear off hmm The father of the Christ is Our father,
our father. And the spirit of his son is
sent into our hearts, crying, Abba, father. We are told to,
nay, we are encouraged to pray to the father, our father. What? To seek his face, to call
upon the name of the Lord of the family. His family and our
family. We cry Abba Father, we praise
his name, his work, his perfect holy will, especially when we
don't understand it. Because yes, the Lord is judge
of all the earth. He will do right. And he is our
father, Abba. at the same time, at the same
time. We cry Abba, Father. We thank
Him, not enough. We praise Him, not high enough. And we love Him, not near enough. But all our thanks and our praise
We pray, what? In the name of his son, our Lord,
Jesus Christ. We ask in the name of our wonderful
elder brother, because our relationship with the ab, and actually our
relationship with the whole family of God, is due to and only in
our Lord, Jesus Christ. who gave himself for us. And that's it. Our Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for being our Father, for giving us to your Son, choosing
us in your Son before the world was, and more, more glorious to us,
bringing us in while we are living here on this earth to where we
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you
have sent. Thank you, Lord. Be with Paul
and Walter as they come to preach your gospel. more of your good
news. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.