Let's open our Bibles again to
Romans chapter 8. The title of the message this
morning is The Children of God. You remember that the theme of
the book of Romans is justification by faith. By faith in Christ
without any of our works added to it. And to the children of
God, that's good news. Because we know all we can do
is sin. So there's nothing we can do
in our sin, in this flesh, to make God pleased with us. But
the good news of the gospel is, even though all we are is sin,
not just what we do is sin, all we are is sin. Christ has justified
his people from all of their sin, made them not guilty. And
we got to chapter seven and the apostle talked about the civil
war that goes on inside every believer, how the new man and
the flesh just war, fight against each other. And they're going
to keep fighting against each other as long as the flesh lives.
And then Paul got to chapter 8, and he writes chapter 8 to
give some comfort, some encouragement to God's children as we fight
this awful, bloody civil war. And we're in the midst of a hard,
difficult battle, aren't we? We need these words of encouragement.
We need these words of comfort to help us continue the battle.
I'd venture to say I'm not the only one who's ever thought this. How can I be a child of God? How is that possible? This cold, dead heart. How can I be a child of God? How can a child of God think
this way or act this way? How can that be? And when we
begin to think that way, I'd say, like I said, I venture to
say we all do. This is what we need to remember. We didn't become
a child of God by something that we do, did we? No, we became
a child of God because something God did. And we don't remain
a child of God any more than your children remain children
because of how well they act. No, they're always going to be
your children. Now, that's not to excuse bad behavior. Our children
or God's children, either one, they're not excused for bad behavior.
But when we think that way, when we act that way, we just need
to remember this. That doesn't make us stop being
a child of God. And this morning I want to give
us four encouraging words concerning the children of God. The first
one is this. A child of God is not a child
because of something that they did. A child of God is a child
by nature. Romans 8 verse 14. For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, They are the sons of God. Now,
how does a sinner become a child of God in the first place? It's
by the new birth. And we're born again, born into
the family of God. Now, if I am led by the spirit
of God, what that means is that I look to Christ. for all my
salvation. My salvation, my hope of salvation
is in Christ alone. He is my justification. He is
my sanctification. I don't save myself and I don't
keep myself saved. I don't make myself holy. I don't
keep myself holy. Christ did that for me without
any of my works being added to it. If I'm led of the Spirit,
I know salvation is by faith in Christ and He is all of my
salvation. All of it is Christ. It's Christ
who chose me. It's Christ who cleansed me from
my sin in His blood. It's Christ who gave me life
in the new birth. It's Christ who keeps me by the power of
His grace. And one day it's Christ who's
going to glorify me, glorify me with Him. And the only way
I can be led of the Spirit is if I'm born again. I told you
this last week. The only way I can walk in the
Spirit is if Christ is formed in me. Look up at verse 9. But
you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. The only way we can be led of
the Spirit is if the Spirit of God dwells in us. And it's so
important, Paul says, now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he's none of his. The only way we can be born again
is to have Christ formed in us. The only way we can walk in the
Spirit is for the Spirit to dwell in us. So if I'm a child of God,
I've been born, haven't I? I've been born. By somebody's
will, by somebody's action, I've been born. If I'm born again,
I've been born by the will and the purpose of God. And that
will cannot change because God doesn't change. Look at John
chapter 1. Mike, this is kind of like that
song that you sung. You say, well, take a song that's familiar
and really look at it. Here's a verse that is very familiar,
but let's look at it closely. John 1 verse 11, he came into his own and his
own received him not, but as many as received him, to them
gave he power. He gave them the right, the privilege,
the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name, which were born, not of blood, nor the will of the
flesh, nor the will of man, but they were born of God. They were
born of God's will, of God's power. And God's will never changes. God never changes his mind. So
if I'm a child of God, I'll never not be a child of God. I'm a
child by nature. And there's so many blessings.
There are too many for us to even count in this lifetime. You think about the blessings
that are ours because we've been born a child of God. When a person
is born again, there's a new man born. He's got a new nature.
He didn't have the nature of his earthly father. He's still
got that, but he's not born again a second time with a second nature
of his earthly father. He's born with the nature of
his heavenly father. And that new man will always
be like his father. He'll always love his father.
He'll always follow his father because he's got his father's
nature. That new man will always love his father, always. And
his father will always love him. And since the father loves his
children, he will always give them good things. Our Lord said,
you're evil and you know how to give good things to your children,
don't you? Won't your heavenly father give you good things?
He's a perfect father. Well, what good things does the
father give his children? Well, he gives them eternal life.
The gift of eternal life, life that we receive in the new birth
can never be lost. It's eternal life. If you have
life, spiritual life, you have eternal life right now. God gives
everyone of his children faith, faith in Christ. Now that's a
good, that's a good thing. For you're all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3.26. God gives every
one of his children the gift of a heart of love that loves
Him, that loves His Word, that loves His people. We love Him
because He first loved us. God gives His people righteousness.
He gives them sanctification. He gives them salvation. He gives
them peace. He gives them the forgiveness
of their sin. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.
And He freely gives them to His children. And a child of God
enjoys all how we enjoy just revel in the love of our father. That's what we read to open the
service in first John three verse one. Behold, just stop and think
about this. Look and wonder what manner of
love the father hath bestowed upon us that the likes of you
and me could be called the sons of God, sons and daughters of
God. What love? Man who's been born
of God will always love his father, and his father will always love
him. He loves his children. Then here's another blessing.
Look at Luke chapter 10. God only reveals himself to his
children. He doesn't reveal himself to
anybody but his children. Luke chapter 10, verse 21. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the
prudent, and you've revealed them unto babes, unto babes,
just your children. Why did he do that? Even so,
father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. The father reveals
himself to his children. Look at Matthew chapter 18. Every small child at one point
or another, usually when they're little before they learn too
much of the world, they go out in the world without much fear
of the world because this is what that little child knows.
My daddy can whip anybody. My daddy can whip everything. I don't have to really worry
too much about this world. My daddy can whip them if they
cause me trouble. And we get a little older and
we find out that's not so. But that is so for the believer.
Our Father can whip anybody. He will take vengeance upon anyone
that harms his children. He's able to protect his children.
He will. Matthew 18, verse 6. But whoso
shall offend one of these little ones, one of my children which
believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth
of the sea. It were better off that he drowned then he keep
causing problems to my children and I deal with them. Our father
is going to protect his children. He loves them. He'll take vengeance
on those that harm his children. And you know, a child of God,
no child of God could ever be lost. Not one of them will ever
be lost. They'll never wander off and
get lost. Satan will never kidnap them
and take them away. They'll never be lost in glory. Lord Jesus Christ is going to
stand for his Father and say, behold, I am the children that
you gave me. They're all here. No man can
number them, but Father, you number them. You know them by
name, you check. Every one of them is here. They're
all going to be glorified. Every last one of them made just
like Christ, the Son, our big brother, made just like him because
we're family. We're children by nature. And
a child who's a child by nature will never not be a child, will
never not be under the love and care and protection of his father. He will bring every last one
of his children home. Janet and I have become empty
nesters. Much to her chagrin, we have
become empty nesters. You know when she and I are the
happiest? When the children come home. and the house is full of
the children, even though they're grown, they're not little, when
the house is full of the children, that's when we're the happiest,
aren't we? I can't make it so my children are home all the
time. God will. Our Father will. He's going to
have every one of His children home and rejoice that He's got
them all there. His Son brought them all. Children
by nature will always be children. I've never seen this before like
I've seen it this week. This is such a comforting, encouraging
word to God's children. Child of God is a child by adoption. Romans 8 verse 15. 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. Now remember Paul is writing
to comfort the believer who is Struggling in this civil war,
just constantly fighting against this flesh, the flesh constantly
whispering in our ear, oh, you better go back and keep some
of these laws now, do some good religious things in order to
earn God's favor, you know, do some of these things and God
will be happy with you and He'll bless you and then you can come
into His presence, you know, prayer and so forth. That's that
flesh constantly bringing us back into bondage. Bondage to
the law. Bondage to the deeds of the flesh
that can only produce death. As you're fighting that civil
war, your flesh, same as mine, your flesh is constantly whispering,
you're going to do some good things now before you go read
your Bible. Just remember this. A child does
not have to do anything to earn his keep. A child doesn't have
to do anything to earn the love of his parents. A child is just
loved Because he's a child. A child is free. A child is never
a slave. A slave can't be a son, and a
son can't be a slave. It's an utter impossibility.
A child of God doesn't do... Now, a child of God serves. Serves. But not because we're required
to do it. We'll be punished if we don't. A child of God serves
God. I try to get something from him.
I'm not trying to get a pay raise or, you know, get an extra ration.
No, a child of God serves our Father because we're a child
who loves our Father and we desire, we delight to serve Him. We delight to please Him. That's our desire. That's why
we serve. And a child doesn't call on a master. A child calls
on a father, a loving father. You know, a servant has a master.
The servant needs something, cries out to his master. Maybe
the master will hear him. Maybe he won't. Completely up
to the whim of the master. And if the master does hear us,
I can promise you this, it's not going to be in love. It's
going to be out of some mercenary, you know, attitude. He's just
trying to get something, get this servant to do the work he's
supposed to do. A master's not going to hear us in love. But
a father, when a father hears the cry of a child, It's always
in love. The father is always motivated
by love for his child because they have a father-child relationship. And Paul says the child, the
child of God, Christ, Abba, Father. That word Abba is a word the
Jews used, and it means my father. And the way we would translate
this term, my father, into the language we use today is my daddy. My daddy. My daddy. Now that is a term that's used
by a child who has a close, intimate, sweet relationship with their
daddy. The Jews would never allow a
slave to use this term, Abba. It's reserved for a child. My
daddy. It's a term of endearment. It's
a powerful word. Dan says the most powerful word
in the English language is daddy. Oh, it's a powerful word, powerful,
sweet word. I guess it's so powerful because
of its sweetness. This is a term, my daddy, that
a child uses who trusts his father completely. My daddy, this is
a term a child uses to express complete dependence on my daddy. And I'm just fine to be completely
dependent on him. He's my daddy. Look at Mark chapter
14. This term, my daddy, Abba, is
a term our Lord Himself used in prayer. Mark chapter 14, verse
36. Look at verse 35. And he went
forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if
it were possible, the hour might pass from him. What a horrible,
horrible hour the Savior is facing. And he said, Abba, Father, Abba,
Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup
from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou will. See, this is a sweet term of
endearment Abba, father. And it's a sweet term expressing
dependence upon the father. Not as I will, but what thou
will. Oh, what a sweet term. Look at
Galatians chapter four. Like I said, the Jews never would
let a slave use this term, Abba. Only a child can cry Abba, father. because it's the Spirit who's
in us. Remember, all this is predicated,
all this being a child of God is predicated upon the Spirit
being in us. He's got to dwell in us. What's
the Spirit who dwells in us who cries, Abba, Father? That's the
only reason a child of God can cry, Abba, Father, because this
is what the Spirit cries. Galatians 4, verse 4. But when
the fullness of 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're sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, because of that, because
the Spirit of God is His Son has come into your hearts, thou
art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son than an heir of
God through Christ. You're a son, you're an heir
who cries, Abba, father, my daddy. And then this word father, Paul
uses back in our text, is a Greek word. There's a Jewish word and
there's a Greek word. The Greek word means father.
God is the father of his people from all over the earth, both
Jew and Gentile, Jew and Greek. God is our father in Christ. in Christ, where there is neither
Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free, but Christ is
all and in all. God is our Father in Christ.
And the point of all that is this, God is the Father of His people. He's our Father. And we have
such a relationship with Him that Almighty God is our Daddy,
with all the sweetness and all the power and all the endearment
that that word entails. He's our daddy. Now we know that,
every believer, we know that. But here's the problem that we
have as we fight this civil war. This is something, now I'm talking
about, this is just right where the rubber meets the road in
our daily lives, this is the problem we have. Yes, we know
God's our father, but we know Adam was our first father. We
were born with Adam's nature, and I still got it. He's just
as wicked, just as vile as he ever was. It's a nature of flesh
that can only be a nature of flesh. And the believer also
knows this. I've been born again. I have
been. I've been born again. I've got two natures. I see that.
I got a nature. The nature, I've been made a
partaker of the divine nature, the nature of Christ, the spirit
of Christ, born from the incorruptible seed of God. But I've also got
that nature of Adam, that nature of flesh in me that cannot change. And because of that, the believer
is afraid. My old nature is going to show
itself. God's going to cast me out. My
old nature is going to get the best of me, and I'm going to
run away from home. The Apostle Paul tells us, children
of God, now you listen to me. Are you listening? That can't
happen. Your father will never cast you
out. You won't run away from him either.
You're the child of God. You've been adopted into his
family. That adoption is legal. That
adoption is binding. And that adoption happened by
the choice of Almighty God, who will not change his mind. Let
me give you an illustration. There's a young couple. They
fall in love, they get married, and oh, they want to start a
family. They want children, but for whatever
reason, they find out they can have no children. And they decide
that they want to adopt a child. They've got a home prepared for
a child, but the Lord never gave them one, so they decide we're
going to adopt a child. And they go to the orphanage.
And there are lots of children in that orphanage. They're pitiful. Oh, as you said, so sad. They
need a good home. They need good parents. And they
look at all the children. Back there in the corner, there's
this little fella. He's scrawny, little, kind of sickly little
boy. That little boy, all the other children, you know, kind
of come up to him. They want to be adopted. That little fella in
the back, he won't even look, those young parents, he won't
even look them in the eye because he knows they'll never choose me. Nobody
can ever want me. But their heart goes out to that
little fella. They go up and they scoop him up in their arms
and they say, you're going to be our son. We're going to take
you home. We've got a home prepared for
you. It's a good home. We're going
to give you a good home. We've got you a nice bedroom prepared.
There's a nice big yard in the back for you to play in. Tree
swing in the back. You can just play back there.
We live in a good school district. We're going to make sure you've
got the best education. You're going to have plenty of
food to eat. We're going to give you a good,
healthy diet. And we promise you this, you're going to live
in a home that's filled with love. And they take that little
boy home and they pour everything they've got into that little
fella. And he just thrives under their
loving care. This little boy is not a child
that they got by what we call, you know, chance. This is not
a child that just came out of its mother's womb and we don't
know what we're getting, you know. No, they knew what they
were getting. They chose this little fella
to be their son, and he's their son. He's their only son. He's the only heir. That little
boy bears their name. His children, one day, are going
to bear their name. He's their son. And these parents
always love this son, and they'll never cast him out. He's their
boy, their family. That is exactly how God the Father
chose His children. He looked at the fallen mass
of Adam's humanity and He chose the worst of the lot. They weren't
just sickly. They weren't just little. They
weren't just runs. They were dead in sin. They weren't
just homeless. They were rebels against Him.
They weren't just in need of some help. You know, we give
them some education and some good food and, you know, we'll
prop them up and, you know, they'll be strong on their own. No, they
were in need of everything. They were dead in sin. And God
chose those nothings to be His children, the children of God. They're children by God's choice.
God chose them. He chose them on purpose and
he's never going to cast them out. He's never going to go back
on his word. He's never going to change his
mind. He chose them for his purpose, that his son would be glorified
in redeeming him. Look in Ephesians chapter one.
God chose them for his purpose, the purpose of his glory. Ephesians 1 verse 4, according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us into 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, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace. Just like those
parents, God chose a people. He adopted them into His family.
He gave them His name. He gave them, He legally adopted
them and made them His. Just like that young couple,
went and adopted that scrawny little fellow, made them His
son. But now when we look at examples and illustrations of
God's mercy and God's grace and salvation in Christ, we need
to remember this. is always infinitely better than
the example. God's adoption is much better,
much greater than human adoption. Paul says we've received the
spirit of adoption. The spirit of adoption. Salvation
is a whole lot more than a legal document that some little child
gets when He's adopted by a new family and he gets a legal document
to change his name and so forth. Salvation is a whole lot more
than a legal paper. You who believe, you didn't receive
a legal document of adoption from God, did you? You didn't
receive a legal piece of paper. Salvation is a whole lot more
than some bureaucrat in heaven shuffling paper around. Salvation
is union with Christ. Salvation is receiving life from
Christ, the life of Christ. You've received the spirit of
adoption. Yes, God adopted a people, a
people that were born the child of Adam, born the child of somebody
else, and he adopted them. But when God adopts a child,
he gives them the spirit of adoption. He gives them a new spirit, a
new nature. He gives them his nature. Now,
human beings can't do that. But God can. And God does that
for his people. And we think about adoption.
This is the thing that unnecessarily frightens a child of God. I've
known three or four children who've been adopted. They were
adopted into very good families. They had wonderful parents. I
watched them grow up. That child, while they're a little
fella, a little girl, man, they're a well-taught, well-behaved child.
well-educated, just in every way you look at me, that's a
model child. Both the child and the parents
are so thankful for this adoption, that the parents are thankful
this child's mine. This is my son. This is my daughter.
That child's thankful. Oh, I'm glad I didn't get left
out there on my own devices. These people adopted me. This
is my mom and dad. They adopted me. I'm so thankful.
And then something happens. The kid gets to be their late
teens and early 20s, and I mean, they become an Absolutely different
person. They just go off the deep end.
You think, what happened? They were taught better than
this. They've never done this kind of thing before. They just
go off the deep end. And you don't understand what's
happened until you meet their birth mother. And their birth
mother says, you know, when I was their age, I did the exact same
thing. I still do the exact same thing. And you think, oh, now
I understand. That kid is acting on our nature,
on our nature. That's what the child of God
is afraid of. Yes, I've been adopted into God's family. Oh,
I love him. I love him. Not like I should,
not like I wish I did, not like he ought to be loved, but I love
him. Oh, I'm so thankful he's my father. He's given me some
indication of his love and mercy and grace for me, but this is
what I'm worried about. I'm going to go off the deep
end. I'm just going to go off the reservation because after
all, I still have the nature of Adam, my first father. But
a child of God won't ever do that because when God adopts
a child in his family, he gives them the spirit of adoption. God doesn't just give a document,
a legal document of adoption. He gives his children a new nature. Our father will not let them
leave him. And he's given them a nature
that won't leave him. We've received the spirit of
adoption. All right. I see that. That's glorious. I see God's
glory in saving his people, making sinners his children. I see that. I like it. I think it's glorious.
I like it. But this is what I want to know.
How can I know am I a child of God? Is there a way I can know
this applies to me? Yes, there is. Because here's
the third thing. The child of God has communion
with God. Communion in his heart, verse
16, Romans 8. The spirit himself, like Brother
Henry told us so often, that word itself, that's a very poor
translation. The spirit's not an it, it's
a him. Just scratch that out and write himself. over that
the spirit himself, bear witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. How do I know I'm a child of
God? The Holy Spirit tells me I'm a child of God. Well, how
does he do that? How does the spirit tell me I'm
a child of God? How does the spirit bear witness
with me that I'm a child of God? Well, it's simply this. When
you hear the gospel of Christ. You rejoice in it. That's when
you rejoice in the gospel. When you hear, God elected a
people to save. They didn't have to meet any
conditions. God just chose them. And He sent His Son to die for
them. His Son, through His sacrifice, washed them clean of all their
sin. The Father imputed to them the perfect obedience of His
Son. The obedience His Son worked
out as a man. And He's going to call those people to Him.
He's going to send the gospel to them, and they're going to
hear. They're going to believe. They won't be able to tell you
exactly why, but they've got to come to Christ. They've got
to hear this again. And they're still in the flesh,
but God's going to keep every one of them to the end. They're
all going to be glorified. They're going to go through many
difficulties. All the difficulties and the
sorrows and the heartaches and the trials they're going to go
through. They're going to think they're going to crush them,
but God won't let them. He's going to bring them all through, and they're
going to be glorified together with Christ. When you hear that,
your spirit rejoices. Oh, I love that. That's good
news. That's the Holy Spirit Himself
bearing witness with your spirit. That's the gospel. That's my
salvation. That's the Savior. When you hear
of Christ and you rejoice, that's the Spirit Himself bearing witness
with your spirit. You're a child of God. A few
weeks ago, I was talking with Brother Marvin Stoniker on the
phone. You know, this is what we do. What are you preaching
on Sunday? What are you preaching on Sunday? He asked me, he said,
Marvin, I'm working on this verse. I said, I've been reading it.
The writers I normally read and I'm not liking what they say.
If I found something here, I think this is what this verse means.
And I told him. And he said, Frank, that's got to be what
that verse means. Because when you tell me that,
my spirit rejoices. The spirit bears witness. That's
the Savior. That's His glory. That's got
to be what that verse means. That's how the Spirit bears witness.
I'm a child of God. When I hear of Christ, when I
hear Him preached, I rejoice. Our Heavenly Father talks to
His children. He speaks to His children the
same way you fathers speak to your children. Does there a day
go by you don't talk to your child? God talks to His children,
not audibly, but He speaks to our heart. by the Gospel, by
His Word, telling us more of Christ, more of how salvation
is sure and certain. Salvation is in Him, and when
we rejoice in that, in that truth, in that glory, that's the Spirit
bearing witness. I'm a child of God. So it's our
Father that speaks to our hearts, saying, ignore the flesh. Now,
just ignore the flesh. Quit looking to the law. Don't
try to earn your Father's love by keeping some requirements
of the law. You're my child. You're my child
because I chose you. You're my child because I sent
my Son to redeem you. You're my child because I gave
you the Spirit to give you life. Now you come to me in love. You come to me boldly in my Son
to find grace to help in time of need. You come to me boldly. because Christ your Savior, the
Savior I sent to redeem you, He's already met every requirement.
Don't come to me in the works of the law. Come to me in love,
in my love for you and your love for me. And a child of God will
always rejoice in that because we have communion with our Father
that way. And then fourthly, a child of
God has a glorious inheritance. Verse 17, and if children, then
heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ, if so be that we suffer with them, that we may
be also glorified together. Children of God are heirs of
God. But what's an heir? Well, an
heir is an heir usually because who they're related to. They
inherit what their parents had or they inherit what a rich uncle
had, you know, because who they're related to. And they have an
inheritance because someone else earned it. Someone else stored
it up. And they decided to give it to
their heir freely. They didn't have to work to get
it. They didn't have to save up for it. They received it freely.
That's an inheritance. That's what salvation is. Children
of God have an inheritance. It's salvation because somebody
else purchased it. Somebody else worked to earn
it and stored it up for his people, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
decided he would give it to his people freely because they're
heirs. Now Christ is the heir. He's the heir because He's the
Son. Hebrews 1 verse 2, God hath in these last days spoken unto
us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, of everything. Christ gets it all. The Father's
given everything into the hand of His Son. I remember watching
a movie one time. I don't remember anything else
about the movie, but this line. These two old brothers found
this little boy. I don't know if they adopted
him or they raised this little fella. They taught him everything
that they knew. He ended up becoming a very young,
successful business person. And those two old men, those
two brothers died. And this boy came back, now he's
a young man, he came back to the reading of the will. And
this is the will. The kid gets it all. That was
the whole will. The kid gets it all. That's the father's will. The
son gets it all. He gets everything the father
has. He earned it. It ought to belong
to him. He's the only begotten son. It
ought to go to him. He's the heir of God. And we
who believe are children of God. So we're heirs. Heirs of God
because we're joint heirs with Christ. Believer gets everything
Christ gets because we have union with him. Not because of how
well we earned it or how religious we were, what we did, what we
didn't do. No, we received that inheritance freely as a free
gift of God. Look back a few pages at Romans
chapter four. Verse 13. For the promise that he should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are
of the law be heirs, if it's something that you can do to
earn it by keeping the law, faith is made void, and the promise
made of none effect, because the law worketh wrath. But where
no law is, there's no transgression. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who's
the father of us all. That's the gift, the inheritance
is by faith. That it might be by grace. It's
a free gift of God's grace. But again, when we talk about
being heirs and having an inheritance, what is reality in Christ? It's far better than any illustration
we can come up with. In these times, when Paul was
writing all throughout the Old Testament and even now when Paul
was writing, the firstborn was the heir, the firstborn God of
all. He's the heir. Well, in Christ,
every child of God is the firstborn. In Christ, every child of God
has the birthright. And we have that inheritance
through union with Christ. Paul talks about here, if we
suffer with Christ, we'll be glorified together with him.
Next, or not next week, two weeks from now, Lord willing, we'll
deal with more of these sufferings, but here we're talking about
union with Christ. The believer has union with Christ. We're one with Him. So when He
suffered, we suffered. When He paid our debt, our debt
was paid. When He suffered to put away
the sin of His people, we're justified. We're made righteous
in Him. When He obeyed the law, we did
too. And one day, we're going to be glorified together with
Him. because we have union with Him. That's the inheritance we expect
to receive. And one more scripture, 1 Peter
chapter 1. You know, there are times children expect an inheritance
from their parents, but for whatever reason, their parents go out
and spend it all. Maybe they lose it when the stock
market crashes, or somebody comes in, you know, and swindles them
and steals their life savings, or the government comes in and
taxes it to death, you know. Don't get me started. But for
whatever reason, there's nothing left. They lost their inheritance. Do you know that will never,
ever happen to a child of God? Your inheritance is sure. 1 Peter
1, verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten
us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance. An inheritance is incorruptible.
It can't be corrupted. It's undefiled. It can't be defiled.
And it fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. That's the nature of every child
of God. And that's the end of every child
of God. An inheritance is kept safe for us, preserved in heaven,
kept by the power of God, by the purpose of God, all of His
children. I hope that will be a blessing
and encouragement to every child of God. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how delighted, how
thankful we are to be able to bow before your throne of grace
and call God Almighty, the eternal God, our Father. Oh, we know
it's only by your mercy, by your grace, by your love for your
people that you would enable us, that you would cause us to
be the children of God. Father, we're thankful. Cause
us to rejoice in Christ our Savior. Cause us to rejoice in the infinite
mercy and grace of God. And Father, cause us to rest.
Cause us to rest in our Father. Cause us to find such confidence,
joy, peace, rest in crying, Abba, Father. Father, bless your word. Bless it to the hearts of your
people. Bless it, Father, for your glory that you might use
this message to today. Call one of your children out
of their darkness and rebellion and call them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, we thank you for this
food that we're about to partake of. We thank you for this time
of fellowship and pray that you bless it. Father, we thank you
for the occasion that we celebrate, how we thank you for Terry, how
we thank you for sending him our way, making him one of your
children, making us part of the same family. Father, we pray
that your richest blessing would be upon him and upon his family.
Continue to bless and strengthen and lead and guide Terry and
his family for your glory, for the glory of your people, and
for the glory of your son. We pray and give thanks. Amen.