If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to the book of 2 Chronicles. We'll need to look at some things
there as we lay a foundation for our message today. 2 Chronicles
chapter 19. Again, we are so glad for you
who are visiting with us. We look forward to fellowshipping
after worship with our meal, and we hope that you can stay
and join us. Unfortunately, if you're new and you haven't been
around, the story you will hear today is a story that begun several
months ago when we opened up in the book of Romans. And therefore,
it may be somewhat of a disadvantage to you. May the Lord allow you
to glean something out of what we will be discussing. The title
of our message is Adoption, Suffering, and the Witness of the Spirit
of God. adoption, suffering, and the witness of the Spirit
of God. And last week as we were working
through the work of the Spirit of God, I shared with you one
of the things that the Spirit of God does, not exclusively,
but one of the things that He does when He calls you by His
grace, is to give you discernment as to how to make a distinction,
a difference, between those who are for God and those who are
not. The Spirit of God, when he calls
you by his grace, begins to confirm and affirm your sonship by giving
you discernment as to the company you keep. Have we ever had times
in our life where we discovered that the company that we are
keeping is not good for us? And when once you began to discover
that, you began to struggle in your soul with what kind of choices
you need to make. You may have even had certain
struggles before that question. How on earth did I choose this
person to be my friend or colleague or even more intimately than
that? And now you are pressed upon
to really make some decisions in your life. Well, Jehoshaphat
is the king of Judah. He is a son of David. He is in
the line of Messiah and what we learn about Jehoshaphat when
you follow his bio is that he is an example of a naive, undiscerning
believer. A naive, undiscerning believer. Now that's quite interesting
because the name Jehoshaphat means Jehovah is judge. That's quite interesting because
his mama and daddy gave him a name that basically asserted that
he would have the discernment that God would give him as to
how to make right choices. Now, you know, whenever you and
I have to make a decision for or against something, we're dividing,
aren't we? We're discerning and we're separating.
We're making categories and we're going yes and no. We're determining
whether or not this is good or bad, whether this is good or
evil or right or wrong. Is that true? And so what we
see in the life of Jehoshaphat in chapters 18 and 19 particularly,
is that Jehoshaphat had fallen prey to a value system that basically
said, because Ahab is part of the physical lineage of Israel,
then we are brethren. That's the literal terminology
they used. that we are brethren, not knowing
that an individual can be in your bloodline and be as much
an enemy to you as a person who doesn't share your own blood.
History is filled with that legacy, is it not? From the beginning
of time, who killed Abel? His brother. And so one of the
things you're going to learn today about the work of the Spirit
of God is his necessary gifting you with the ability to know
who it is that you need to be around, what it is you need to
be engaged in so as to help you in your walk with Christ. A whole
bunch of us know that we have wasted time in our life doing
things and going places and being with people for whom God had
not approved. You can waste your life doing
that. Now Jehoshaphat is just an interesting case scenario
to me because while we have clearly affirmed that he is naive, undiscerning,
he is still a believer. Without a doubt, he's a child
of God. So one of the things you want to be careful about
if you're a little bit more mature than another Christian is not
to write them off as not being Christian because they don't
have as much discernment as you do. There was a day when you
didn't have discernment, too. There was a day when you were
hoodwinked by a false prophet, too. There was a day when you
were riding along with donkeys and asses, too. There was a day
when that happened with you. And truth be told, there are
little micro events in your life where you get trapped by lies
and snares and mishaps as well. And so we have to be very careful
to understand it can happen. And one of the things that the
Spirit of God mandates in the life of the believer is to grow
and to mature, to learn how to choose between good and evil.
And so what we learned about Brother Jehoshaphat is that he
had hung out with Ahab and it almost got him killed. Do you
understand that? Some people will get you killed.
I know that literally. I sure do. In my younger days
when I was blind as a bat, thinking that I knew everything and didn't
know a thing, I hung out with cats. That's old school talk. It's coming back, though, that
didn't care for my soul. That in the time of danger, they
left me hanging. And I had the fence for myself.
And when I barely made it over the fence, because I was a cat,
too, and I was on my own, I realized they did not love me. And they
were not my friends, because a friend love it at all times. Now, this is crazy. Because Jehoshaphat
in his naivety and his ignorance and his carnality, this was a
choice of carnality. This is what you and I are dealing
with in Romans chapter 8, is it not? That if we walk after
the flesh, if we give ourselves over to carnality, we will what?
Die. And see, Jehoshaphat somehow
is walking after the flesh because he has chosen to align himself
with Ahab. Now Ahab was the most wicked
king in Israel. Between him and his wife, Israel
was a complete apostate system. And they represent the liberal
church that has abandoned the gospel and has given itself over
to secularism. We talked about this years ago,
did we not? Judah and Benjamin representing a conservative gospel
church. the ten northern tribes representing
the larger body of Christendom that has a form of godliness
but denies the power thereof that abandons the Word of God
and gives itself over to Baal worship and the worship of idols
and is led by kings like Ahab and Jezebel. And what on earth
is Jehoshaphat doing with them? A lack of discernment, having
his priorities wrong, At this moment, not being led by the
Spirit of God. And for it, it almost got him
killed. Did you guys listen to the story
that our elder read? I just kind of wish he was...
I wish my elder was more like... Some of those old guys that knew
how to read the scriptures and give the inflections when I was
growing up in my early days I cut my teeth on Plain Bible reading
on cassettes. You guys know what I'm talking
about Alexander Scorby was one of my great readers and he could
read and give the emphasis and intent and it's critical when
reading scripture to know how to give the intent in the end
the emphasis where it needs to be given or you miss a whole
lot of things and Ahab told Jehoshaphat, now we're getting ready to go
to war. Ahab was the one who picked this battle against Gilad,
Ramoth Gilead. He said, now we're getting ready
to go to war, but here's what's going to happen. I'm going to take
my king's outfit off. I'm going to disguise myself
and look like all the other soldiers, but I want you to wear your royal
robes so you can be seen as the king. Now, everybody knows in
war, that if you take the king out, the battle's over with.
And I'm saying now, how stupid can you be, brother Jehoshaphat,
to engage in another man's battle that is not your own? As the
proverb says, he that intermeddleth into another man's business is
like pulling the dog by his ear. You need to get bit. You know
how folks get in other people's business and then try to make
it their own? That's not Christian and the
Holy Ghost is not leading you there. That's gossip and you're
stupid. But because God wanted to teach
you and me something about the danger of walking carnally, he
allows his servant Jehoshaphat to be an example to you and me
about how critical it is for us to walk in the spirit and
not in the flesh. And so Jehoshaphat and Ahab go
to war, as you saw it, and it became very dangerous for Jehoshaphat. He didn't know that the other
army had given instructions to everybody on the field to not
even pay attention to the pawns and the rooks and the bishops,
but go straight after the king. You guys remember reading that?
Don't you guys worry about fighting the rooks. are the bishops, are
the pawns. You go straight after the king.
Do you understand what this means? This war was designated for one
person, and that's Ahab. Ahab was under God's judgment.
I'm going to show you that here in a moment. And stupid Jehoshaphat
is going to line himself up with a man who was under the wrath
of God. Jehoshaphat, if it wasn't for
him being chosen by God, would have been the victim of a ruse
on the part of Ahab. Ahab did not love Jehoshaphat,
did he? For it to set him up to be the
target. And you guys saw what the text
said over, I think it's in verse 31 of 2 Chronicles. Look at it
with me again. I'm going to start at verse 30
in 2 Chronicles 18. Now the king of Syria had commanded
the captains of the chariots that were with him saying, fight
ye not with small or great, save only with the king of who? Which
means that the royal apparel that the king wore, Israel and
Judah, this is another gospel lesson, had no significant distinction
by which the enemies of God could determine whether or not it was
the king of Israel or the king of Judah. For all intents and
purposes, Jehoshaphat looked like the king of Israel. And
that's what happens when you align yourself up with false
religion and false teaching and false doctrine. You lose your
distinctive as a child of God. You get trapped by their system
and you've got to wear their emblem. You've got to wear their
icons. You've got to buy into their whole system because people
will not distinguish you as God's elect so long as you are among
the apostates. Are you guys hearing me? This
is very important in terms of the work of the Spirit of God
separating the godly from the ungodly. Now the Lord knows how
to separate the righteous from the unrighteous, does he not?
And this here is a discerning lesson about this. So as they
go after Ahab, now you guys know why they decided not to fight
against the Lupians and to go after Ahab? Because the Lord
had determined to kill Ahab. You remember? Micaiah had said
to the king of Israel if you come back in peace the Lord hasn't
spoken by me Now that's a serious prophecy, isn't it? Because he
had already declared in a vision that the sovereign Lord had called
lying spirits to be in the mouth of all of those false prophets
to prophesy peace peace when there was no peace to prophesy
victory and triumph when there was no victory and triumph coming
and The lying spirits in the mouth of the 400 prophets represent
the lying spirits in the mouth of false prophets and false teachers
today Who tell us peace peace when there is no peace while
as yet you have not bowed the knee to Jesus Christ as sovereign
Lord God will not grant anyone peace outside of Christ. Are
you guys hearing me? God doesn't grant peace arbitrarily peace
comes through the blood of And until a man or a woman bows the
knee to Jesus Christ as sovereign Savior, there is no peace, saith
my God, for the what? For the wicked. And so yet the
prophecy was set forth, and yet Ahab denied that prophecy and
went to war anyway, didn't he? Clearly telling us that Ahab
had no regard for the Word of God. Remember the guy that smote
Micah on the face and mockingly said, now which way did the Spirit
of God go? Which tells you that you can
be in the midst of sound teaching, where the Spirit of God is anointing
it, and still be darkened in your heart, so blackened in your
heart, as to mock God, even to the face of the voice that is
speaking." Makai did turn around and say, you'll see which way
the Holy Ghost went when you find yourself running and hiding
under a rock, when you hear the news that your king is dead.
The account that's before us, however, is largely not only
designed to teach us the character and ways of God in what we are
describing at this point as a warfare. Because we're in the middle of
a war, are we not? And we're dealing with a fight. And the
child of God is in the middle of a war and you're dealing with
a fight. You might as well get used to it. Whose side are you
on? Are you on the Lord's side? Or
are you on the enemy's side? You and I have to ask that question
every day of our lives when we get up. Jehoshaphat didn't ask
that question when he woke up that morning. He knew intuitively
he needed to hear from the prophet of God because he had been under
sound teaching for many years, but he had drifted away. So he
asked advice of the preacher of the gospel. And it seems like
if I was Jehoshaphat and I heard the prophecy of Micaiah, I would
have withdrawn from that campaign and told Ahab, look, dude, you
done. Didn't you hear from God? I'm
not going. But you can see how when your
heart is divided in its allegiance, how you can know one thing in
your head and do something else in your life. Am I speaking to
you today? Are you guys hearing me? Can I teach today? It's very
important for you to hear what I'm saying. Very important. You
and I can be divided in our heart and we can think that love is
all right to land anywhere. But according to God, love must
always land in the right place in order for it to be love. You
can say you love this that and the other him her are them But
if your love towards that thing is contrary to the will of god,
technically, it's not love I'm going to show you another truth
here in a second with regards to that This is very critical
for you to get the love that god calls you and me to is a
love that must be discerning a love that must be discriminating
a love that must be distinguishing and therefore a love that divides
for the glory of god Now, if it wasn't for the mercy of God,
Jehoshaphat would have been dead, wouldn't he? But the Bible tells
us in verse 31 of 2 Chronicles 18, and you better mark this
one, put this one in your back pocket, because one day you're
going to need this. Now it came to pass, when the
captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said,
it is the king of Ahab. Therefore they can pass him about
in other words. They circled him around. It was
inescapable. Wasn't it? Did God allow that
to happen? Was he there to teach his servant a lesson? And he
so encompassed Jehoshaphat about so as to know that Jehoshaphat
you are about to die if you live after the flesh You will die
listen to the language and as they circled about him the text
says but Jehoshaphat cried out I love it. But Jehoshaphat cried
out, snatched that out and put it in your pocket. Because you
need to learn something here. That one of the evidences, one
of the critical evidences, one of the essential critical evidences
of your sonship and mine is that we know how to cry to God in
time of trouble. Snatch it out of there because
the wicked don't do it. God said in the book of Job,
the hypocrite does not come to God in time of trouble. God will
not hear the hypocrites cry when he's in trouble. What will a
hypocrite do? He'll try to find every other means of escape but
calling on God. We learned that on Friday, didn't we? Saul didn't
call on God. He ended up in hell, didn't he?
But I'll tell you what, David said it in the Psalms, this poor
man cried unto the Lord. And the Lord heard his cry and
delivered him out of all his troubles. Over 50 times, we're
gonna learn this as we're in our Psalms class, David cried
unto the Lord, cried unto the Lord, and every time he cried,
God heard him. Why? Because it's one of the
marked evidences of being a child of God. Now I need to talk about
that a little bit as we get ready to work into our points. Child
of God, do you cry to God in time of trouble? Now the word
here is a radical term. It's not a whimper. You know
how we go, That's not the word here. And
in fact, the term cry here literally is a term of strength. It's a
term of strength. It's not strength in the person
who's crying. It's strength in the relationship
between the person who's crying and the person to whom they are
crying. Crying indicates strength when you know that the person
to whom you are calling can deliver you out of your troubles. It's
strength in the relationship. Strength in the relationship.
The word is used of little eaglets. You guys know those little baby
birds that are eagles, they're sitting in their nests and mama
and daddy have to go out and get food and feed them? And sometimes
when mom and daddy leaves, the enemy comes to devour them, and
they start screaming for mom and daddy. The word is not cry,
it means to shriek. Shriek! to cry out for your life. It's a shriek. It goes past sharps. It goes past double sharps. It
goes into distortion mode. It's the kind of cry that says,
I need help right now. Are you hearing me? That's how
Jehoshaphat cried out. I know he cried out that way.
I know Jehoshaphat cried out to God because he knew he was
in mortal danger. I know he shrieked before God. I know he cried without any shame,
without any regard to anyone else. He cried out to God. Do you hear me? And if I'm making
no sense to you, you haven't ever cried out to God. If I'm
making no sense to you, you have no idea what it means for the
soul to depend upon God in that moment as the only source of
deliverance. Jehoshaphat cried unto the Lord,
and the text says, and the Lord heard his cry. Isn't that what
it says? Look at it. And the Lord what? Helped him. We're
back in Romans chapter eight again. Isn't that the job of
the Holy Ghost? Help. Help. Help. You're laughing because
you don't get it. Help. Help me, Lord. See, when you really understand
it, you understand how the soul at its native birth is connected
to God. And because of the spirit of
adoption, it naturally cries out to father, Abba, father. This word is used in the New
Testament radically to cry in the gospel where Jesus is doing
ministry and he runs across a host of demons. Remember Legion? Those
demons cried out. just like this. They shrieked. Can you imagine a legion of demons
shrieking? They cried out, Son of God, are
you come to torment us before our time? They knew they had
met their judge and their God and they were Condemned in the
presence of his holiness and they cried out because they didn't
want to go before their time Another time that word is used
is when brother Peter is walking on the water. Remember that remember?
I told you about the show me the show me kind of faith the
kind of faith where everybody gets to look at you Look at me
walking on water. He was in the boat just fine
with the rest of the disciples and The Lord Jesus walking on
the water coming to them, but Peter wants to be one of the
exceptional Christians like a lot of folk like to do. And so Peter
want to get out of the boat so he can demonstrate that he better
than the rest. And the Lord let him take a few
walks on the water. Remember that? This is what we
call show me faith. And after a while he saw the
winds and the storms and the rains and he began to sink, didn't
he? And the text said he shrieked
and abject terror of his life. Lord, save me. And the Lord reached his hand
out and saved him. And I'm here to tell you right now, that's
how a sinner is saved. If you should see yourself sinking
deep in sin right now, in the depths of your soul, call upon
God with a shriek. Mean it in the depths of your
soul. God is able to save. He is mighty to save. And He
saves to the uttermost everyone that comes to Him by faith. But
you better call on God! You better call on God! Because
He's only saving real needy sinners! And the privilege of those who
are born of God and have the spirit of adoption in them is
we get to cry to God anytime we want to. We get to cry to
God. And see, God gets glory out of
it. Psalm 50 told us, in the day of trouble, call on me and
I will deliver you and you will glorify me. God loves to get
glory out of delivering a service. And isn't this amazing? The Lord
helped him and God moved them to depart from him. Now ladies
and gentlemen, I'm getting ready to get into the text to work.
You know Jehoshaphat saw God, didn't he? You know Jehoshaphat
saw God when he's encompassed about by his enemies because
he has made wrong decisions. And all throughout the process,
he knew he had made wrong decisions. From the time he started talking
to wicked Ahab, who hated God, I'm going to show you that in
chapter 19, verse 1, 2, and 3. From the time he started talking
to the haters of God, he knew in his soul what he was doing
was not right. But because he didn't have that
principle of grace, that avoidance factor, that no factor. See, you got to have a no factor
in you. You got to know when to say what? No. You got to know
when to say, I'm not going. You got to know how to say no
out loud, and then you got to know how to say no in your soul.
Now, if you're one of those weak Christians, and we got a lot
of them, I understand, at least say no in your soul. Stay with
me now, because we got all kind of Christians. Jehoshaphat should
have said no in his soul and then went privately called on
God and said Lord I see where we're going Dismantle this thing
before I get there. Am I making some sense things
because I know I'm going in a bad direction But no for some reason
he didn't have that principle operating even though his conscience
was telling him Hey, this is not right. And so God had to
teach him a lesson it'd be better for you to recoil and shrink
away from people and situations that will harm you than for you
to die out of your pride not calling on God. It'd be better
for you to shrink away and accept the shame that comes with people
saying to you, I see you backed out, you a wimp, you a punk.
So what? I'm a living punk. I'm a saved
punk. I'm a living wimp. Better, listen
now, better is a living dog than a dead lion any day. Y'all get
that one day when you read your Bible. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Better is a living dog than a dead lion any day, because our choices
can get us into trouble. And we hear this cry one more
time before we run through our text, when our Lord Jesus is
hanging on Calvary. See, again, if you and I don't
take the time and ask God to help us to go deep into the text,
You don't see that Christ cried with a shriek. He shrieked, my
God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It wasn't your Hollywood
cry. It wasn't your movie cry. He
shrieked at the notion of God separating from him. Are you
hearing? Why? Because he had the spirit
of adoption in him. He was the quintessential son,
and sons always call on their daddies in time of trouble. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? All right, let's go to work.
Point number one in our outline. Let's quickly run through these. Point
number one, led by the Spirit of God into the reality of our
sonship. This is the first proposition that I want to set forth. You
and I are led by the Spirit of God into the reality of our sonship
if you and I are His. Let me see if I can make that
good. What I mean by led is that the goal of the Spirit of God
dispatched to the church and dispatched to the believer, both
simultaneously, is He gets a hold of your hand. He sovereignly
governs your life. The Spirit of God does. It doesn't
mean that He will stop you in every decision that you make,
but because He's the sovereign and omnipotent and infinitely
wise God Himself, He's able to work with your choices. And use
your choices to shape your character and affirm your sonship even
in your mistakes. Am I making some sense? Well,
I just argued that with whom? Jehoshaphat. So God knows how
to allow you to go through trouble to get you to understand you're
actually a child of God. Because sometimes it takes trouble
for you to remember that you're a child of God. No, I'm telling
you the truth. Sometimes it takes trouble for
you to realize you're a stranger and pilgrim in this world. Sometimes
it takes trouble for you to realize that you're an alien. You've
been bought with a price. You got a new nature It takes trouble
for you to discover that your home is not here It takes trouble
and and so the goal of the Holy Spirit is to lead you into the
reality of your what? Sonship I'm gonna talk about
that a little more here in a moment. So I want to cover that under
three Concepts here three sub points the amazing fact of it. Isn't it an amazing fact that
that you are a child of God. You need to be waking up pinching
yourself every day that God would have smiled on you and made you
his son. 1 John chapter 3 verses 1, 2,
and 3. I'm just going to touch on them lightly. This ought to
float your boat. This ought to keep you going
no matter what your difficulties are. For you to wake up and know
that you're a child of God. It doesn't matter what the world
is doing, what troubles are in your life. For you to wake up
every day and still know that you're a child of God ought to
make you absolutely excited every time you think about it. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? A child of God. Watch this now. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. See, the
way John opens that up, he's expecting you to be excited.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the what? Sons of God. God has called
us sons, not the world, God. And God has called us sons and
he has helped us to know that we are sons by the work of the
gospel and by the Spirit of God in our life. Like, the world
does not know that we are sons of God. Do you understand that?
The world does not know that we are sons of God. Watch this.
that we should be called sons of God by God therefore the world
does not what know us because it didn't know him now watch
this if you are always trying to get the world to acknowledge
that you are a child of God you are ignorant if you're trying
to get the world to affirm you as a child of the Living God
you've missed the point altogether What difference does it make,
and I'm going to explain why it's futile for you to do it
in a moment, but what difference does it make whether or not the
world accepts you as a child of God, so long as God does?
Now watch this now, watch this now, watch this. The only thing
that matters is the relationship that exists between you and God.
What Jehoshaphat had done, what Jehoshaphat had done was to set
himself up to be alienated from the people of God. The rest of
Judah didn't follow Jehoshaphat. That was his ignorant butt that
went over there and hung out with the apostate church, found
himself all alone. Because true believers in the
norm know that you cannot have a bill mixed up with the Lord
at the same time. You cannot commingle evil and
good at the same time. You're going to always obscure
the good by the bad when you do so. And so Jehoshaphat was
on his own. But Jehoshaphat was a child of
God, was he not? But he wouldn't have been able to convince any
of those apostates of that and you won't either Because when
god saves you first and foremost, it's for you When god adopts
you into his family, it's for you to know it's for you to know
it's for you to know The world will never know you because it
did not know him Now if you ever get the world to call you sons
and daughters of god, you're not a child of the true and the
living god The text is telling us that. How can the world not
know God and affirm you as a child of God? Am I making some sense?
Verse 2. Look at verse 2. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God. Do you see that? Now this is
God telling us what we are. Here's the problem. And yet it
doth not appear what we shall be. You're children of God if
you're truly born of God. But you don't look like it. And
a lot of times you don't act like it. So most people can't
see your sonship. And that's part of the struggle.
Because you would love for people to know the God that you know. But they can't see God and they
can't see God in you. And the real struggle then is
how do we live and sustain and set forth our witness to men
and women about Jesus Christ while it's virtually impossible
for them to see the sonship in us. Well, this is a critical
key. It's not about you. It's about Him. It's not about
you proving to the world that you're a child of God. It's about
us declaring the gospel to the world that Jesus is the Son of
God. Now watch this. Now watch this
now. And the Spirit of God uses that testimony to call out every
one of His other elect out of the world. And so we have a whole
bunch of people in the world who are sons and daughters of
God by faith in Christ whom the world does not know. Are you
guys hearing me? This is very important for you
to know. See, sometimes we're seeking favor in the wrong places.
We're seeking acknowledgment in the wrong places. We're seeking
affirmation in the wrong place. Your affirmation can only come
vertically. It can never come in this empirical
realm of the flesh. For you to want people down here
to affirm that you're a child of God, it's for you to have
missed the precious objective of God in the redemption of your
soul. Beloved now are we the sons of God, but it does not
appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear
we shall be like him for we shall what? There's another day for
that revelation going back to our PowerPoint Isn't it amazing
that we are children of God. Don't you thank God for? proposition
B If you and I are led by the Spirit of God He's going to bring
us into the reality of our sonship and it's between us and God.
It's not between us in the world. I But the other thing he's going
to bring you into the reality of is that he purchased you and
he paid for you and you are his possession You got to understand
to be a son of God cost a great price You got to understand that
the one who declared you to be a child of God paid with the
blood of his son He purchased you he purchased you with his
own blood and therefore watch this. He possesses you he owns
you and He owns you now. We don't act like he owns us
and sometimes we act like we don't own him But that's to our
hurt, isn't it? Galatians chapter 3 verse 13
Galatians 3 13 not 16 3 13 for a moment. Here it is Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law Being made a curse for
us for it is written cursed is everyone that what hangs on the
tree? How did he redeem us by his death
on the cross verse 14 watch this? In order that the blessing of
abraham might come on the gentiles through jesus christ that we
might receive The promise of the what holy spirit and this
is how we know our sonship by the death of christ We receive
the spirit of god Who is the resident lord? who occupies all
three names. He occupies all. He's the Spirit
of God. He's the Spirit of Christ. He is the Spirit of the Father
in us. Remember I told you this a couple
weeks ago? All three persons are occupying the throne of our
heart. Is that true? That's an oxymoron.
It's a mystery. Infinite God in a heart like
yours and mine. This is the union that you and
I cannot actually understand or fully comprehend, but it's
so. Now watch this. The Spirit of God makes the Father
and the Son a reality to us. It's called Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Men and women who die for the
gospel die for this reality, that the Spirit of God has brought
home to our soul the reality that God is Father. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Son. And the Spirit of God, who is
the third person, makes them a reality to our soul. And that
witness is what he bears in our soul every day. I'm going to
talk about that in our third point here. But you and I would
be talking to the air if you weren't truly a child of God.
If you're a child of God in the house today, what I am saying
resonates with you. If you're not a child of God,
I'm talking way above your head, way above your pay grade, because
we're talking mysteries when we're talking about an infinite
being who is everywhere present. and is gloriously, gloriously
holy in his attributes and characteristics. And yet the scripture says he
abides with us, he abides with us and dwells in us, dwells in
us in order to reveal to our hearts and our minds the reality
of who he is. Remember the day when you didn't
know him? You didn't know him at all. But upon conversion and
the entrance of the Spirit of God into our life, God opens
up the Word of God, and He reveals to us who He is by the Word,
and our soul says yes to it, does it not? And there's no doubt
about it, that when one is truly born again, they know the Father,
and they know the Son, and they know the Holy Ghost. This is
a deep, intimate knowledge that the Scripture calls a covenant
knowledge, and in theology we call it a saving knowledge of
God. This is the work of the Spirit of God, to take the things
of Christ and reveal them to us. And we are convicted in our
souls that these things are true. These are not speculations with
us. These are not idle, lofty sort of theological concepts
over which people argue. This is reality for us. God is
a reality. And my life as a child of God
is a reality. And the Spirit of God continues
to confirm that in my life as he brings to reality my sonship. that He has purchased me. Now
go to Galatians chapter 4, verse 4, verses 1 through 4. I want
you to see it again. So the emphasis that I am laying
down on the work of the third person, the amazing fact that
we are, is really designed for you to just stay tickled pink
that you're a child of God. I think one of the sins that
the children of God commit is the sin of making God sort of
a normal thing. There's nothing normal about
God. There's nothing normal about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
nothing normal about the Holy Ghost. There's nothing normal
about the Word of God. There's nothing normal about
salvation. There's nothing normal about our redemption. There's
nothing normal about the glory of God. It's all abnormal. It's
all trans-normal. Everything about God is glorious.
And you should be glorying in the fact that you're a child
of God. Are you guys hearing with me? Hear me? I think sometimes
we take God for granted. I think we take his grace for
granted. I think sometimes we act as if we're doing God a favor
because we're in his kingdom. I think somehow we think that
we help God when we talk about God to others. You and I, first
and foremost, ought to be constantly fixated on this reality. Now
are we the sons of God. Right now, are we the sons of
God? Because that becomes the key that enters into all of the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge by which we get to enjoy God.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? See, watch this now, watch this.
Every believer has a treasure chest. It's a secret treasure
chest. Now, I know you're poor and broke
like I am, so this is hard for you to believe. But stay with
me for a moment. What if you knew that you had
a place where you could go, where you had inexhaustible riches. I mean wealth untold. I mean
money so deep that you would never be broke again in your
life. What if you knew you had a secret place like that? Wouldn't
you be happy? I know you'd be running around
telling everybody. That's not the point. But I'm just saying,
wouldn't you be happy if you knew you had a place you could
go to tap into the inexhaustible riches eternal treasures. Now watch this. This is the joy
of every true believer. Am I telling the truth? The joy
of every true believer is we have a place we can go. It's
called the secret of the Lord. It's with them that fear Him.
It's a tabernacle. It's a hiding place. It's a place
where we can go, where we can enjoy the riches of God. the
presence of God, the power of God, the glory of God. He cuts
the lights on and shows us all of the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge which are in Christ Jesus. Promises, promises, promises
of enormous magnitude. Are you hearing me? Every child
of God has that wealth and that wealth is bold in terms of being
with God but also being that with which you and I can partake
because we partake of it now. If you have a right relationship
with God, you do. Galatians 4, 1. Now I say that the heir, as
long as he's a child, doesn't differ anything from a slave,
though he be Lord of all. Do you see the contradiction
in that text? Here, you can be Lord of everything. But if you
are still operating in a slavish bondage, your riches do not benefit
you. Do you see that? Verse 2. but you are under tutors and
governors until the time appointed of the father do you see that
so what paul teaches is that there was a time when you and
i were slaves of sin even though god had already owned us he had
already bought us he had already purchased us but we were acting
like slaves and we were under a slavish system until the time
appointed of the father Now this can be understood in terms of
covenant principles, Old Testament and New. It can be understood
in terms of your salvation. There was a day when grace came
to you and revealed to you that Christ had died for you. And
when the Spirit of God affirmed that in your soul on that day,
you were legally and formally revealed as a son of God. Now
you have entered into the knowledge of your inheritance. Am I making
some sense? And that day freedom began. But freedom is a process,
isn't it? And it's also a fight. Look at
verse 3. Look at verse 3. Here it is. Watch this. Galatians
4, 3. We're going all the way to 4. Even so, when we were children,
we were in bondage under the elements of the world. You see
what I'm getting at? We were controlled by the world. We thought
like the world. We acted like the world. And
the world was emptying the bank account of our soul every day.
We were depleted and we became poor. Sinners are poor. Do you
know that? Lost sinners are double poor.
Did you know that? Just desperately poor. You and
I have nothing to bring to the table of grace when we're a lost
sinner. We are debtors to grace when
we're lost sinners. A lost sinner cannot earn salvation. God has to give it to them freely. Watch verse 4. Watch it now.
Here it is. Here it is. Here's what happened. But when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law. Do you see that? Now we're talking
2,000 years ago, right? AD 33, verse 5. Here it is. Watch
this. To redeem them that were under
the law, in order that we might receive the adoption of sons.
How were you and I and every believer brought into a state
of adoption? By the death of Christ on Calvary
Street. By the purchase of his blood on Calvary Street are you
and I served. He paid for our sonship. See, in the Roman Empire,
and Paul knew this, a wealthy man could adopt a child. All
he had to do is look out and point out the child that he wanted,
and he could pay for that child. Now watch this. And many of the
dignitaries, even up to the Caesars, did it. The rulers would look
at a boy or girl, and mostly boys because we're dealing with
a patriarchal model here, but girls were adopted too. He would
look out and see a person that he thought would be fit to occupy
his airship. And he would adopt that boy.
Watch this now. Sometimes it could be a relative
or it could be a complete stranger. Adoption means that there is
not necessarily a genetic or ontological Relationship with
the one adopting you and the one who has adopted so you and
I are adopted sons and daughters of God We're not sons and daughters
of God like Jesus is he is ontologically one with the father you and I
are Adopted and we have received the spirit of adoption. So we
are partakers of the divine nature, but watch this we are adopted
kids Y'all got that but the beauty of adoption and that generation
is this When you were adopted, all of the rights and privileges
of authentic sonship were given to you. So that from the standpoint
of the legal factors, there was no way that you could be called
a stepchild or even second to the authentic sons of that person
who redeemed you. That's amazing! because that's
exactly what Christ has done for us. This is what makes our
sonship, when we think it through and learn about it, so astounding. When God looks at me, he sees
me as equal to his son, Jesus Christ. Are you guys hearing
me? When he looks at me, he sees
me as equal to his Son, Jesus Christ. I do not hold legally
or formally a lower position. I am an heir and joint heir with
Christ. I sit on the throne equally with
his Son. I am at the right hand of the
Father with his Son, possessing all things as his Son. And so is every child of God.
That ought to be good news to your soul. That ought to be good
news to your soul. I know why I don't excite you
much, because you don't spend time in the treasure chest. My
last point, and my last point is basically what I affirmed.
We are therefore legal heirs with Christ. Go back to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 puts it this way in verse 17. Here
it is. And if we are children, then
we are heirs of God. Are we not? That's astonishing. Isn't it astonishing? See, this
is an unbelievable gospel. It's unbelievable. You're going
to tell somebody, I'm an heir. Heir of who? Donald Trump? No. Heir of who? I'm an heir of God. That's an absolutely astonishing
proposition. But it's true if the Spirit of
God is in you because he's affirming that reality in your life every
day, is he not? He's affirming that reality of
sonship in our life. Now why? If we are children, then we are
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. If so be that
we suffer with him in order that we might be what? Right. So now
what he does is he puts some qualifications on this proposition
or this statement that we make. We all make the statement that
we are sons and daughters of God. But what the text said is
we are so if we're willing to suffer with him. Do you see that? So the work of the Spirit of
God to affirm the fact that we've been purchased, to affirm the
fact that we are legal heirs is to give you and me every reason
to make right choices every day. The work of the Holy Ghost to
affirm the fact that we are legal heirs with Christ is to give
us every reason to make right choices every day and to not
settle for less than our calling determines. to believe God for
better things and to know what the true resources are at the
present time in terms of if I'm a child of God, do I need to
act like I'm not a child of God? Do I need to be desperate in
situations where I need to simply call upon my Father for help?
If I'm a child of God and I am an heir with Christ and all things
are mine, I mean all things are mine, there's a text that's coming
to my mind, Revelation chapter 21, 7, pull it up. If I'm a child
of God, if I'm an heir of God in Christ, I want you to hear
this now, because this is the work of the Spirit of God. Do
I need to act like I'm not? Do I need to act like I'm not?
Do I need to make choices and decisions that act as if are
determined as if are as appears as if I'm a pauper or a beggar? If I'm a child of God and I'm
an heir of all things and I need something, I don't care what
it is. Do I need to act like I can't
go to the one who has made me an heir for that thing? Do you
see the problem then, ladies and gentlemen, when we don't
do what Romans 6 verse 11 said? The first imperative in the book
of Romans is, Reckon ye yourselves to be indeed dead to sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Do you hear
what I'm saying? If you don't reckon yourself, assess every
day that you are one with Christ, then you're going to make decisions
as if you have no relationship with God at all. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? It's very important to understand
that the goal of the Spirit of God is to establish and affirm
in us our sonship. He that overcometh shall what?
Inherit all things. And I will be his God and he
shall be my son. Let me ask you a question. Are
you a child of God? If you're a child of God, are
you not an overcomer? Didn't you overcome already in the person
of Jesus Christ? Didn't Christ die for your sins?
Rise again from the dead? Ascend into glory? Seated at
the right hand of God? Don't you have a name on one
of those seats up there in glory? Don't you have a name up there?
Watch this then. Aren't you then an heir of all
things? Does God call you his son? Then he's your God. And this is how the people of
God must think because this will help you not make the stupid
Decisions that you make in life Because there are decisions that
we make that fail to take into account watch this now glory
is already mine I'm already rich. I don't have to get caught up
in half-cocked schemes. I I don't have to manipulate
situations, coerce situations. I don't have to trick people.
I don't have to lie. I don't have to manipulate the
circumstances as if I'm some kind of crook. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? I don't have to settle for less
than what God has determined is mine. I don't have to bring
in a cat, drag in a cat, and blow dry him to make him look
like a Christian. Male or female. I think he's
a Christian. He got a Bible. See, that's not
Christian. Are you hearing me? But see,
we do all that when we don't understand the depths of the
reality of our sonship in Christ. I'm talking to you from experience,
child of God. I'm not just trying to bolster
you up. It is wrong. It is wrong for you and I not
to drink deeply of the promises of God in the realities of who
we are in Christ. Because to the extent that we
don't, we will not walk in the Spirit. We will not walk in the
spirit, and therefore we will not fight to make right decisions. And we'll find ourselves in the
same precarious situation that Jehoshaphat was in. Now you and
I can't live like that. Can we live like that? Always
hanging around with the wrong crowd, just because we're trying
to make a dollar out of 15 cents. And you know all of the money
you're going to make is going to end up dissipating anyway. He
that get riches not the right way, It's like a bird that hatches
eggs and ain't nothing in it when it hatches See it's very
important for you and I to understand our sonship and so going back
to our second point Let's wrap up this work this through now
our second point Not only does the Spirit of God hold our hand
and lead us into the realities of our sonship, which is an amazing
thing He purchased and paid and he possesses us. We need to possess
him. Not only are we legal heirs with
Christ but over everything but our sonship is affirmed by the
spirit through suffering. Do you see that? So here's what
I really need you to get because the world you live in will tell
you that every form of suffering that you go through is a sign
that God is against you. The world you live in will tell
you that every form of suffering that you go through is a sign
that God is not for you. When the Word of God tells us
everywhere everyone that lives godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution. When the Bible tells us plainly
in the world you shall have what? Trouble. See now I want you to
get this now because what Christ is laying down by his Spirit
through his servant Paul is this. If you really believe God for
glory You will embrace suffering as a component in the affirmation
of your sonship. You will let the troubles and
sufferings and trials that come to you do what they are designed
to do. Humble you, but anchor you. Humble you, but anchor you in
the hope of glory. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Right. Because suffering is not joyous. We know that. We don't
like trouble. But that's all we've known since
we've been born. No, am I telling the truth? I
wish I had some rich folks in the house, but we don't have
rich folks. Rich people will tell you they still go through
trouble. And in some ways they go through more trouble than
us poor folks. Because when riches increase,
they increase that eat them. Y'all don't know nothing about
that because you, Lord, I wish I could just have a little bit
of that trouble. But the reality is when you have wealth, you
got a whole lot of responsibilities. And here's the problem with wealth.
When you are who you are, well, don't make you better. So, you
know, when you jacked up as a poor person and then you get wealthy,
you jacked up as a wealthy person. Now watch this. And all it does
is increases the possibilities of more trouble. See, God knew
what he meant when he said, with bread, with food and raiment,
be there with content. Because you're not taking anything
out of this world, just like you didn't bring anything when
you came. And most of us really only can survive life with just
enough. Now, the mature in Christ, have
we not, children of God? We've learned to be happy with
just enough. Have we not? And watch this now. And it's not because We don't,
we wouldn't want more. I want you all to hear this,
young people. It's not because we wouldn't want more, but most
of us know we would get ourselves in a world of trouble if God
heaped upon, if God just dropped a million dollars on a brother
right now. I'd have to have somebody strap me down and medicate me. No, really, really, because what,
you know, if you're not used to all that money, how are you
going to think right? Am I making some sense? So God and His mercy will keep
you and me from acquiring too much so that we don't destroy
ourselves. But the more important thing
that I'm getting across, if you don't get it, is that the whole
plethora of suffering that God brings into our life, the micro
sufferings we go through, the relatively serious sufferings,
and then the enormous sufferings that we go through, It's all
designed for one thing, to affirm our sonship. To shape our character. To conform us to the image of
Christ. And to get us to think like Christ. Now, we're getting
close to the end of our message. But follow this now. Please follow
this. If you're a child of God, you
don't have the right to think any differently about how you
should be living than how the Son of God Himself lived. Will
you hear me? You don't have any right to think,
well, when he went through that, I don't have to go through that.
You're wrong. If God chose you in Christ before the foundation
of the world, if Christ died for you on Calvary Street 2,000
years ago, and the Holy Ghost has hunted you down, tapped you
on your shoulder, given you life, raised you from the dead, guess
what he's calling you to do? Live the same life that Christ
lived. Now, think with me for a moment.
Now, he's the only authentic son who actually knew he had
everything. He actually, he was there. He
dwelt in the ineffable bliss for all eternity and left it
to come down here for us. What amazing love. And then when
he lived in this world, watch how he lived. He lived poor,
just like your pastor. He lived in the hood, just like
your pastor. He was a Galilean with toe up
Aramaic language, just like your pastor. The Galileans were ghetto
folks. Y'all don't know that. They were
country folks. It was so bad, their dialect, that when Peter
tried to hide when Christ was crucified, the little girl said,
no, no, no, no, I'm not. You're a Galilean because your
speech has betrayed you. Are you hearing me? So you don't
have that polished Hebrew or that polished Greek. You got
to get old Greek. You got to get old Hebrew. It's
unique to the Galileans. Y'all know what I'm talking about.
You folks from New Jersey and New York, y'all know what I'm
talking about. Y'all know what I'm talking about. You country
folk, you know what I'm talking about. Now watch this. That's
how our Lord grew up. He did not grow up an aristocrat.
He didn't grow up in the echelons of wealth and prominence. He
grew up in the hood, though he was the wealthiest man in the
world. And everyone misunderstood him. His mom and daddy misunderstood
him. They misunderstood him. Must
I not be about my father's business? They didn't get it. He called
his disciples to him and they were tripping. Who is this dude?
All the time. The rulers didn't get him. Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? I'm back at 1 John chapter 3
verse 1. They didn't know him because they didn't know God.
And didn't Jesus tell them that? You don't know me because you
don't know my Father. Please hear me now. That's a suffering. Isn't
that a suffering? Because he came to reveal the
Father to them, didn't he? And they refused to hear it and
he suffered all of his life. He suffered their hatred and
animosity towards Him. He suffered their attempts to
kill His life. And ultimately, He suffered them
killing Him. Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? But He did it
for you and me. In order for us to know that,
when He calls us by His grace, and makes us His sons and daughters,
and the Spirit of God is working in our hearts and our minds to
affirm that, I'll build this point next time, that you and
I have to embrace the economy of life to which he called us
because it was the same economy that Christ went through. You
and I are in temptations every day. Temptations to have more
and be more than we have right now. And to the degree that we
fail to understand that this is part of the makeup of God
in our life, to that degree we will miss our blessing. Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? All right, then so our sonship
is affirmed by the spirit through suffering He bears witness to
us in our cry. We already learned that didn't
he didn't we he sustains our liberty through what? So I'll end it here so we can
go to the table And I can go back to the Jehoshaphat text
to affirm this Jehoshaphat was out of the will of God was he
not? The man was just out of the will of God. So kings and
servants can be out of the will of God. Your pastor can be out
of the will of God. You can be out of the will of
God. Some of you are out of the will of God right now. Can I
tell you what you can be sure daddy gonna do to you while you're
out of the will of God? Whip your tail. Are you hearing me? You can be
sure of it. He's gonna whip your tail. And
you can harden your heart all you want to, but the love of
the Father has a way of whipping you long enough, gently long
enough, until you start crying. You know, because we're just
like our kids. Can I keep talking for a minute?
This is amazing. Now, some of y'all didn't whip
your kids because you grew up in that Dr. Seuss age. But I
didn't. And my kids turned out all right.
degrees, and education, and money now. They need to pay a brother
back, but that's okay. Stay with me for a second now.
Stay with me for a second now. Just stay with me for a second
now. Stay with me for a second. But see, I would go to jail if
I whip my kids today. And Lord, have mercy if I touch
my grandkids, because my son-in-laws probably want to kill me then.
Now watch this, because the world is turned upside down. Are you
hearing me? With the way the world is going,
your children rule over you from the moment they come out of the
womb. Because the system has taken the authority away from
you. And you're scared to death to
even holler at your child. Because they'll get you for abuse
today. They'll take everything you have and then take your child
from you and let your child be raised up by a pagan. Am I making
some sense? Unless you are a true child of
God. and you fear God, and you love
his word. Now watch this, and you love
his word, and you don't care what the hell they think, because
you're going to raise your children in the fear and the nurture of
the Lord anyway. You're going to admonish your children. You're
going to instruct your children. Watch this. And when your children
get out of line, you're going to pull that belt off anyway.
Stay with me for a second now. You're going to pull that belt
off anyway. Nancy Grace was having fits the
other day all over the screen because her brother was whipping
a 12-year-old boy for stealing something. He had a belt like
my daddy had. He was whipping the boy. Now,
I don't know why they put it on YouTube, but you know folks
putting everything on YouTube, right? but he was whipping his
boy. Now the boy had his pants on. That was better than I had
it. Stay with me for a second now.
Stay with me now. So I know, I know some of y'all
about the leader church. I'm cool with that. You can leave.
I'll meet you at the judgment throne. So stay with me for a
second. So, so my daddy would whip me for five, 10 minutes
until he was sure I got the lesson. I used to say to myself, why
don't he quit now? I done told him 10 times, I'm
sorry. Stay with me for a second. Stay
with me for a second. But something about my daddy,
he knew that I wasn't telling the truth. Not a 10. Not a 10. Not a 10. And sometimes the punishment
fit the crime so significantly that I needed to be whipped 100
times. Because I dared in the hardness of my heart. not only
to go out and take somebody else's property and create mental mayhem
for them, but I did it against my daddy's will. My daddy told
me, don't do that. Son, if you do that, you're going
to be in trouble with me. But somehow in my stupidity, in my
foolishness, in my ignorance, I did it anyway, didn't I? And
I thought I wasn't going to get caught. But we have a heavenly
father who caught you before you did it. He caught you before
you did it. And he got a leather belt, too.
It's called the Holy Ghost. Right? He got a leather belt,
too. And on the buckle of the belt, it's called redemption.
Saved by grace, through faith, and not of yourselves. It's a
gift of God. You're going to glory, but he's going to conform
you to his image till you get there. All whom the Lord loves,
he chases. He chases. And he whips. And the word there in the Greek
is a very severe term. He scourges. Nancy Grace falling
all out. The boy probably got whips on
his butt and everything from how hard his daddy's whipping
him. I could have told her he's shown up due. You don't even
have to guess whether or not he got whips on his butt. He's
shown up due. But after that man whipped that
boy, you know what he did? He hugged him and walked away
with him. And his son walked with him while
they were talking. Are you hearing me? So I'm going to go to jail for
this. I'm going to jail for this. And some of you are too. If you decide to do it God's
way, so you don't raise up gorillas, because some of y'all got gorillas,
that if you don't whip their tail, they're going to tear up
your house. And they're going to scratch
your face off. And then they're going to go tear up the world.
because you decided to have him in pleasure. But now you got
to raise him up in principle. If they go ever meet the person
of Jesus Christ and be saved by grace, am I making some sense?
And you and I, God leaves us in this mess because the world
we are in is a mess. And sometimes we wonder what's
going on here. He's leaving us here so we can
learn to trust him, learn to discern right from wrong, do
those things that he has called us to do. And he's left us his
spirit. to work with us. Now, in everything that I've
been saying, please hear me, in everything that I've been
saying, the good, the bad, and the ugly, when you're God's child,
the Holy Ghost is walking with you and He's still saying, you're
still His son. You're still His son. You're
still His son. I'm here to bear record with
you that you're still His son. You know how we say, I'm a child
of God? The Holy Ghost says, yes, you are. I'm a child of
the living God. Holy Ghost says, yes, you are.
I'm a child of the most high God. Holy Ghost says, yes, you
are. That's why I'm whooping your butt. Because you're a child
of the most high God. And when the world says to you,
you're not a child of God, Holy Ghost says, don't pay no attention
to that. Now, I know you don't look like a child of God. And
you didn't act like one today. But you're going to act like
one tomorrow. Because I am omnipotent. I never get tired. I'll whip
your butt as long as I need to whip your butt and I'll hug you
around the shoulders and I'll walk with you and I'll kiss you
on your forehead. I'll rub your back because I
got your back. I ain't going to let nobody hurt
you or harm you. I'm going to keep you and deliver
you as a safe package into the hands of our heavenly father
and your husband the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this now. Now you can enjoy this ride or
you can cry all the way. Either way, the Holy Ghost don't
mind, because when He's done, you're going to look like Christ.
Amen. Amen.