Good New. You Have Been Adopted!

Did not say anything about your love for God in those early verses. In fact, throughout that context, it is talking about God's love for you. He loves Democrats and Republicans. Not all of them have experienced that, but in either way. But he loves you if you have rested your faith in Christ. That's the evidence. The Spirit has come. But the other side of that is, this is the other aspect of his work. The Spirit leads you in putting to death the deeds of the body by awakening a child like affection for God. And look at this. Listen to these words again. He says, you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba Father, the Spirit Himself testifying with our Spirit that we are children of God.

Now this is really, really, really, really important. This is going to be on the final exam. This isn't going to be a multiple choice test. This is going to be one of those essay tests where you have to actually, it has to actually be in your brain. You can't take a guess on this. This is going to be on the final. It's some of you wondering what in the world is he talking about? I'm kidding. But it's really important. This is something you ought to mark in your Bible, engrave in your brain. It is the witness of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God that is not, it is not a testimony to a cold heart with no affection for God's fatherly love. It's not a request to draw some logical conclusion.

It is the spirit comes and he presents to you two premises in a conclusion. Premise number one, God shows you before the foundation of the world. Premise number two, Jesus came in time and died for you. The conclusion you are loved by God, that isn't what it is. It's like the guy that came to ask for the hand of a young maiden who had no affection for him whatsoever. And he never even talked to her. But he wanted her as his wife. He goes to father's side. Two premises in a conclusion. The premises, first premises, I need a wife, I'm 23 years old. Premise number two, your daughter meets all of my qualifications. And the daughter steps out from behind the shed and said, get off the premises. That's not love.

You see a slave driver, somebody who treats their child, for example, as a slave instead of a son, can get certain kind of obedience, but not heart obedience. The spirit of God comes and works in us in a very deep way, and that's the picture here that the spirit is at work in the heart of the believer as he leads us. This is how he leads us. The spirit witnesses that you are a child of God, and then he creates in you an affection for God. And you have to fan the flame. Some of you, all of us, can be this way. We're too cold in our response to the spirit. Frayed you're going to get too emotional, maybe. The spirit's testimony to your heart is the cry. See those two words, he uses the word cry and aaba, what does he do that?

What does he just say? The spirit testifies to our heart and presents the arguments, and in our heart we believe the truth. Instead he says, the testimony of the spirit is the cry of the heart, aaba, father. It's because both of these terms cry and aaba point to deep affectionate, personal, authentic experience of the Father's love. That's what God wants to produce in your heart. That's what the spirit is in your heart to produce. Stop quenching him. Do what Paul Tottimethy fan the flame. Come to the word and listen to his, the heart of the Father towards you and believe his word. Let the spirit stir up in you, the aaba, father, cry. The testimony of the spirit here in this context is not a call to affirm the doctrine of adoption.

The devil knows the doctrine of adoption and he believes it, he knows it's true. What the spirit is doing is he is coming and he is producing in you an affection for the Father. Now, doctrinal statements are important. We require every great school of theology and ministry graduate to put together and to present a doctrinal statement and to defend it. Tell us what you really believe in these major areas of doctrines and be willing to defend it. It's important, really important that you have a grasp of the teachings of Scripture. But let me tell you, that's not what's going on here. What's going on here is something even deeper than that is the heart's cry, aaba, father. The testimony of the spirit is not a statement, it is the cry of the heart.

The spirit is at work in us and you know why it becomes such a drudgery and such a difficulty to put the death of the deeds of the body because you're quenching the spirit. The spirit wants to produce within you such a deep affection for the Father that he is worth more to you than the pleasures of sin for a moment. He wants to produce in you such an affection for God that it's more important to you to glorify God than to fulfill your wandering lusts because you love God that much. He is that valuable to you. John Piper says, we don't infer logically the Fatherhood of God from the testimony of the spirit. We enjoy emotionally the Fatherhood of God by the testimony of the spirit. The testimony of the spirit is not a premise from which we deduce that we are children of God.

It is a power by which we delight in being children of God. Do you delight in being a child of God? I mean, do you exercise that? Do you wake up in the morning and think, oh, thank, oh God, thank you for life. Thank you for the blessings of life that I can sit down to a meal and I can actually eat a meal and enjoy it, and that comes from your hand, that I can take a glass of water and enjoy this incredible delightful experience because of you, my Father. Instead of saying, man, I can't stand this weather, you know, life is so hard, isn't it? Out here, and life is so hard. Things are always going wrong. It's complaining the other day, yeah, you know, everything in my house has fallen apart. Really, what is it?

A wash machine went out and life is so hard. Go to Uganda and see if you can find an affection for God when you don't have anything. God, your Father, has given you the spirit to produce within your heart such a powerful affection for Him and such a value of Him that the things of this world fade into insignificance. Fade into insignificance. What happens is this world system is constantly sucking you into this, you are the center of the universe mentality, you deserve better. People get this way in the church, they don't treat me like I deserve to be treated, they don't treat my kids like my kids deserve to be treated. What does that stuff come from? It comes from Satan, it comes from the world system, it comes from a world that doesn't know that they are loved by God.

It comes from people who don't understand deep inside by the ministry of the Spirit, the testimony of the Spirit that God loves us and He is producing this affection in us that I love God. Take it all away. Take it all away, it doesn't matter, it's just stuff, isn't it? It's just stuff. It's not God, you have God. On your deathbed, you will have God. If the market goes down and this property you have becomes worth 25% of what it does now, you will have God. I got so tickled at my son-in-law when the stock market was just taking off a few years ago, his retirement program was doubled in value. He was becoming rich and man, it was producing these emotions in him and then it all crashed. And all this risky investments just took a big nose dive and all of a sudden he wasn't rich anymore.

Never touched the dollar of it, had no effect in his life. It's all a mindset, isn't it? Believer, let the Spirit of God this week. In fact, fan the flame, encourage the Spirit to assure your heart of God's love for you and asking to produce within your heart a deep affection for your Heavenly Father. So what should you do about this? Should you sit around listening for the voice of the Spirit, you know, you want to have some deep, people think of spirituality today, there's so much superstition and built into spirituality in the church, mysticism, and it's like we want to have an altered consciousness if we're going to really feel close to God. That isn't how you're going to experience this.

The way you're going to experience this is quite simple, it is Romans 5-8, it's believing the testimony of God. God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. You know what a sinner is, don't you? A sinner is a rebel, a sinner in that context is a God hater, a sinner is somebody who says you're not going to tell me what to do. When you were in that condition, Jesus died for you. God demonstrates His own love toward you when you were at your worst and He loved you the most. Go back and rehearse those truths. And as the Spirit of God to take His Word, the testimony of the Spirit would come through the cross. The way that we experience the testimony of the Spirit is by looking to the cross.

First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 3 says, you cannot say Jesus you are Lord unless you do it in the power of the Spirit. It's only the Spirit that can produce that in your heart. You're living in the midst of a group of people, a population of in our community around the world that does not believe they cannot say from their heart, Jesus you are Lord. You can, you are, you are blessed beyond measure, believe it. You have the Spirit of God in you and you can say, Jesus you are Lord, not me. The most important thing in life, Jesus is you and not my stuff and not my goals and not my success. You, you, you are what's most important. I love to come to church because Jesus is at the center and not me and not you.

Jesus, Jesus is Lord and I can only say that from my heart in the power of the Spirit and I can say because of that, God, you are my Father. We can say as a congregation, isn't it some when Jesus said to the disciples, he didn't say, pray this way, my Father who art in heaven, he said, pray this way, our Father who art in heaven, isn't it something that God made you a Son of God so that Jesus would be the first born among many brethren, among many brethren, heaven is going to be populated with the sons of God and then we're going to come back to this earth and this kingdom is going to, Jesus is going to reign on this, the new earth and we're going to experience in its fullness what it's like to be.

One of those who are sons of God and Jesus, the, the Son of God is our elder brother. What an amazing thing, you are so rich, you are so blessed. I don't care if everything in your life is falling apart. If you have the Spirit of God living in you, the fact is you are so blessed. You know what, if you simply learn to listen to the testimony of the Spirit, you could get rid of a lot of the props in your life. You may even get off some of the medication you're taking. If you could just learn to listen to the testimony of the Spirit, that is, Ava, Father. I'm so glad my grandson Cole, when I, they were over the other night, all the kids are over, grandkids, it's just such a blessing to me for him to say, daddy, he's got a daddy who loves him, you've got a daddy who loves you.

I'm so glad that my 10 grandkids have daddies who love them. I'm glad my son loves his children. I'm so glad he loves his children. I know God loves you, let's stand and pray. Our Father, our Father, oh God, how we thank you for the testimony of your word that we are the children of God. So glad we have a book that says it, it's recorded in here, but Father, I got to tell you, I'm so grateful for this internal witness, the Holy Spirit who resides inside of us, and continually testifies to our Spirit, Ava, Father. I thank you, when life is so difficult, when there's so much bad news, when we don't know which way to turn, when it seems like everything is closing in, there's so much disappointment, things haven't gone the way we thought, we can't see with our fleshly eyes in the evidence of your love for us, and then the Spirit comes.

In the depths of our heart, He produces within us this cry, Ava, Father, and I pray, Lord, that we would fan the flame, that we would come to our senses every day, that we would look at our life through the limbs of the testimony of the Spirit of God, that we are sons of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, help us, Lord, to take this good news and embrace it by faith, I pray, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Good news, that's what we want to talk about this morning is good news, this is all positive today. New theme in the book of Romans, where we are in Romans chapter 8, verses 14 through 17. In fact, as I read this, notice this new emphasis beginning in verse 14 for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God, for you have not received a Spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a Spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, Ava, Father, the Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

You see, the emphasis there of sons and adoption and children and heirs, that's all good news. Don't you love good news? This week I was working on a little project I had to get done really fast and I was really frustrated because I had originally done this document in some software that I don't have functional anymore and I couldn't print it, so I had to cut and paste and format and all this stuff and I had to get it done quick because it was going to go out and I couldn't get it done and I was frustrated and I got a phone call from Sherry Sinelli from the Grace School of Theology and she had ran into a problem with a bank they needed to transfer funds and they had supposed to have changed the whole setup so that wouldn't be a problem any longer and somehow the bank messed up and that make you mad and the bank messes up and I was already at this in this fleshly condition as it was and it's impossible to get frustrated with Sherry Sinelli and it wasn't her fault it was the bank and yet I was just having the hardest time being nice on the phone and I was just so frustrated and I went down to the bank and I knew because I knew that I'd get down the bank and I knew they wouldn't be able to do this and I knew they were going to give me a hard time because I didn't have anything but my personal idea and I had the checking account number didn't have the same as the account number and I was frustrated I'm driving down there thinking this is just another rotten thing going on in my life big trials huh it's the kind of trials we have as Christians here like the remote control doesn't work the garage door opener doesn't work and those kinds of things I got down there and walked in the bank stepped up the and I got I could I've got this irritation site so I'm sure it came through with my voice and I'm just giving her the facts she said no problem but a da da da made the transfer thank you sir it was just like this good news and it was and it was I wanted to stay in this spludge fit that I was in and I just couldn't because of this good news you know she just did everything so simply don't you love good news if you ever you ever seen that you seen this commercial on TV where the person gets himself in a real jam and they say thank you and the person for what why does that make you feel good when somebody says that well basically they're saying you're okay you know you're okay and when you're when you get good news even when things are going bad it's amazing how I can lift your spirits can't it good news good news this is good news at 406 on Thursday morning 406 AM I couldn't sleep okay but 230 I don't know what I did I don't know if I drank coffee after too late in the day I don't remember what it was but I woke up at 230 couldn't sleep got up sir reading the Bible and and I read from first Kings and I was reading about Asa this King of Judah who had done so well God had used him in such great ways it was a real man of God and then in his later years he blew it big time he blew it because he began to become large in his own eyes he became he began to think of himself as a success you know that's dangerous isn't it when you begin to think that this is a movie about you I heard a great illustration of this this week God was talking about you know you're not that big and he was and he uses illustration of from a rocky movie and he showed this whole segment rocky movie and you read the scene where Rocky's running through the streets and in the first rocky one running through the streets and you got that theme song going and he runs up the stairs and as he's running through the streets all these people begin running with him they're just falling in that happens all the time to you doesn't it you're running through the streets and people falling with you he gets up on the goes up on the steps and it's this triumphant scene and he's showing this whole thing and then he stops it and backs it up and he said you see that girl in the green jacket you'd never paid attention to this girl in the green jacket she was one the ones that fell in and started running with them suppose she thought she was the star of the movie all she did was fall in and yelled Rocky five times that was it but can you imagine how she's sharing this with her friends you've got to see this major Hollywood movie I've starred in and you go to the movie then you sit through the whole thing and finally her scene's about to come up and so she disturbs everybody watch watch watch this this is the best part of the movie where she falls in and she runs for these five you know 30 seconds of the movie you know sometimes that's how we are in the purpose of plan of God isn't it I have come to the conclusion that the reason some people just don't enjoy church especially young people in all of us I've struggled with this in different ways but you know when you have a young person in your home and all of a sudden they don't like church and so automatically parents in our culture today think there's something wrong with the church there is something wrong with this church because my kids don't enjoy church let me give you a clue it ain't the church it's your kid it is simply because they think this movie is about them right and we get it at church and we discover it's not about you it's not about me it's about Jesus isn't it it's about Jesus that's what it's about and my little tiny role my little extra role you know of saying rocky rocky rocky Jesus Jesus Jesus that's it that's what he's called me for is simply to point to Jesus that's what he's called you to we gather like this around the person of Christ it's about Jesus it's not about you it's not about you and we make a huge mistake when we don't make that clear to our childrens are growing up my mother made it clear to me it isn't about you churches about Jesus it isn't about you it isn't about how you feel about it how much you enjoy it it is about Jesus and you know what I knew by her life that Jesus was a most important person in her life in fact I knew he was the most important person in the universe because of her life and so when I went to church I didn't have any expectations that I was going to be the center of attention it's about Jesus that's what this is about but this is the most amazing news here that this Jesus who is the chief one in all the universe he is the star of this movie instead of me having to live my life as the star of a B movie I get to be an extra in the greatest story in all the universe the story of Jesus the story of God God is at the center and he's revealed himself and his son and so we come to this text we discover that we are sons of God we are sons of God and it's all about God it's the most amazing thing it's good news this is who you are believer you are sons of God if you have rested your faith in Jesus Christ back in 1981 or something like that I'm not sure who was 80 or 81 my daughter's not here I asked her it was her birthday but I remember I'd gone away to seminary to finish seminary moved to Southern California spending a year down there finished up seminary came back our kids were at that point 15 and 16 and I get this call and Judy said I have good news said you do what is it I'm pregnant good news hallelujah I'm 38 or 9 years old and we're gonna have a baby most amazing thing now my kids my older kids they didn't think it was good news is the weirdest thing in the world have a pregnant mom at 16 you know but man it was good news oh it was glorious news don't you love good news I got good news to tell you this morning good news to tell you it's the news is found here in Romans chapter 8 in this passage that I just read this is who you are and who God is in relationship to you here's how he makes this exhilarating truth known to you in your daily life God is continually working at bringing this news to bear upon your heart this good and glorious news and you know if this good news ever gets a hold of you you won't be bored in any church you ever go to again if they talk about Jesus if Jesus at the center it doesn't matter if it's in Uganda or in California or in South Carolina or wherever it is if the center of attention is the Lord Jesus Christ you may not be used to the music and the ways but if it's about Jesus you will feel comfortable and you will enjoy it because he is the center of attention and this is what the glorious God says to us in these verses the Holy Spirit is the spirit of adoption and he makes us children of God and my goal today is simply that I want you to see and understand and feel the reality of being a child of God so let's try to unpack these verses a little bit first of all notice that being led by the spirit is by the spirit putting to death the deeds of the body I need to explain you what I mean if you look at the relationship between verses 13 and 14 you'll see something back in verse 13 is where we saw that the Christian life is a life of life in the spirit is a life of radical obedience to Jesus putting to death the deeds of the body by means of the spirit well then verse 14 begins for that is here is the basis here is the foundation of that truth upon what are you basing this Paul that we should put to death the deeds of the body by means of the spirit it is because of this because all who are being led by the spirit of God these are sons of God so that expression you are led by the spirit is an explanation of the expression in verse 13 by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body and I'm sure I hope you've been wondering well how do you do this how do you put to death the deeds of the body what does that mean what is it all about it is about being led by the spirit of God that's what it's about and that is his explanation here that's what he's talking about now this radical obedience that we looked at is explained in this in other words as John Piper puts it kill sin or it will kill you that's what Paul is saying isn't it kill sin or it will kill you put the death of deeds of the body because if you're living according to the flesh you are about to die but now he explains what this radical obedience to God really is and what we need to remember is this putting the death of these the body is something that you can only do by the spirit you see what he says there it is by the spirit that you are putting to death the deeds of the body now the spirit is a person he's not a tool he's not a tool in your hands it is not this weapon that you come to possess that you learn how to use the holy spirit in your life the holy spirit is a person he's the third person of the Godhead and we are tools in his hands he is not a tool in hours there's no little gimmick here you know there's not a catch to this it's not like oh I got to learn how this technique of using the holy spirit in my life so that I can have victory in the Christian life no the holy spirit is a person and he will work in your life and he'll use you as a weapon and a tool in his hands and he does it by producing a mindset and we saw that earlier in the text the mindset of the spirit the way of looking at life that the spirit of God produces in us you know what this mindset is this mindset is the spirit is the mindset is a mindset of sonship it's coming to view all the world as a son a child of God now ladies the idea of a son of God isn't male it's talking about all the children of God the word sonship and the word adoption as sons is a reference to coming to have a status a relationship in the family before God so the reason you keep hearing this adopted as sons is because it means that we have been placed in a position in the family of God and before God is our father so now the person of the spirit has come we are in his hands we are tools in his hands we are weapons in this warfare and it is through this mindset mindset of a son and not a slave the problem with a lot of Christians today and it's always been true is a lot of Christians live according to the mindset of a slave or an orphan instead of the mindset of a son how does a son live before God now if you think about these two pairs that you see there on the screen you can see that being led by the spirit is by the spirit putting to death the deeds of the body this is a profound truth profound truth at the center of this passage and that is that doing something by the spirit means being led to do it by the spirit being led to do it by the spirit we are instruments in his hands and when he empowers us and leads us in the Christian life to do what he's talking about here when he he is not the responder I want you to understand that the spirit is not the responder you are the responder he is the initiator he is the one who moves us and leads us it's looking to him and responding to the lusts of the spirit instead of the lusts of the flesh is this help you a bit to understand what it means to be led by the spirit being led by the spirit is to be moved by the spirit to kill sin in your body because you trust in the superior glory and worth of this father whose child you are the spirit comes and he assures your heart of God's love for you and your and he produces in you a heart of love for God and as he produces that he gives you this insight that faithfulness to God is more valuable than the pleasures of sin at that given moment the very thing that's tempting you so strongly when you fight sin by trusting Christ as superior to what sin offers you the pleasure that it offers you that's being led by the spirit a lot of times we think of being spirit led as you know I think the Lord's leading us to buy this particular car or go to this particular place on on vacation or he's leading us to sell our home and buy this new home hey that's all great but that's not what the leading of the spirit is about you can go ahead and make your decisions weigh it out say I want to glorify God I want to make sure that what we're doing reflects the values that we actually have do all that but don't wait in the closet for the spirit to say buy the house on Elm Street that's not what spirit leading is spirit leading is the spirit of God producing something deep deep in your heart and affection for the living God you can love God here you can have deep affection for God here in California you can have deep affection for God in Idaho you can have deep affection for God in in West Virginia in wherever because I know you're all planning to leave I mean I it's it's like we're in this we're in this pattern where our properties work so much we're also land rich we got to sell out and move somewhere else well okay but please go as an ambassador of Jesus Christ please go there equipped and trained and ready to live out the gospel to love Jesus Christ more than all of life that's my only concern just go there as those who love Christ more than they love the things of this world I'm gonna stay here I'm gonna love Jesus here that's where I want to be but I don't in any way think that it's wrong for you to go I just think you should go in bunches I think there should be 10 15 families go at one time and go start at church go do the work of the gospel I mean don't just go you know to kick back and relax and live out of your abundance go to do the work of Jesus Christ some of you think you're going where there's no sinners I got news for you I got news for you there's people there where you're going wherever it is wherever it is doesn't matter you go to Australia Africa the west coast the east coast Midwest wherever it is there are people there that need Christ and guess what the next couple of years there's going to be 35 there's gonna be 40 thousand of them moving right here they're coming remember that old commercial year you know you wouldn't remember this there's only a few remember this but way back in the 60s there was this campaign Suzuki are coming and nobody knew what Suzuki was they had these big billboards Suzuki are coming ever what what is that it was these little tiny motorcycles these little bitty motorcycles you could buy a little 90 CC motorcycle and they made a big deal out of it Suzuki are coming well let me tell you sinners are coming people who need Christ are coming and we need to be ready for them we need to be equipped and prepared to live the gospel and share the gospel because we are sons of God don't miss the focus of this context spirit leading is not figuring out where you should go next week next month next year that's not what spirit leading is just make good decisions pray about it think about it way out the things and make good decisions and don't blame it on God when you get there and say God how could you have led me here that's not what spirit leading is spirit leading is the spirit of God working in all those whose hearts have been united with God and he comes and he lives within you and he leads you by producing deep powerful affections for your father for your father man what a powerful force and motivation that is I have such vivid memories of talking to my father the last day of his life and sitting down with him as he's in his turn down to be his deathbed as we sit there and I had this incredible privilege to tell my father for 30 minutes how much I loved him and what a wonderful dad he had been to me man it was a powerful motivation my my father's love for me and my love for my father was such a powerful motivation in my life but it pales in insignificance with the father the heavenly fathers love for me and my love for the heavenly fathers the spirit produces it in me some of you have not had a good relationship with your father but you got a good father now you just need to learn what a real father's like this father who is in heaven and that's why Jesus told us we should pray our father who art in heaven you see he's a father he's your father and he loves you and the spirit comes to bring that home to bear in your heart and then to produce within you deep affections for him so the spirit confirms his presence by leading us into war against sin and rebellion against our father that's what spirit leading is you're being led by the spirit there are people there all across the world being led by the spirit there are even people in California being led by the spirit that's what he does the children of God hate sin because they're being led by the spirit now amazing that's the only reason you hate sin you used to love sin it's not that you don't sin anymore but have you noticed that you hate it now believe her you hate it even when you do it you hate it it's nothing you don't enjoy it you just hate sin because you're like your father he ever did expression he's like his old man I see my dad all the time in the mirror it's amazing to me I catch glimpses of him all the time you're like your father that's why you hate sin that's why you'll never be able to enjoy sin again because you're like your father that's why a believer is like his father he has God's spirit in him who leads him in this way it's the evidence that you're saved is he of the holy spirit living within in you and he gives you new taste a new preferences a new values new pleasures even new sadness is you're sad about things you didn't used to be sad about so here's evidence of our sonship do we fight sin in our lives or do we feel unconcerned about sin in our lives if you feel unconcerned about sin then you're lacking some really strong evidence that you're a child of God if you're struggling a lot of Christians struggle and they don't want let anybody know they're struggling so bad they want to pretend in front of all their fellow believers are really doing great and overcoming sin everything's fine but in fact they're struggling like crazy they keep falling into sin all the time does it make it miserable do you hate it that's pretty good evidence do you love it and want more of it and did all you have your whole life's drive is to fulfill every wandering desire that you probably don't have the holy spirit living in you and that's what you need and he comes at this point of our coming into relationship with Christ the second thing in this text is that being sons of God is the fulfillment of the phrase in verse 14 you shall live in verse 14 he said if you put the death of these of the body you shall live in verse verse 13 verse 14 he says because those who are the sons of God are led by the spirit well being sons of God is the fulfillment of this you shall live that's what life is it's life as sons of God it's not just escaping punishment it's being a son of God it's having God's life within you notice this parallel again you are you are sons of God explains you will live another this pattern we have in this text you you know that you'll eternal life because you put the death of these of the body by the spirit that you find that's the pattern of your life you have to keep saying no to the flesh because you can't stand a wallow in it when you do on occasion it makes you sick and maybe a season some people fall into sin for a season and they're trying their best to live in that old muck and every once in a while they just have to come up for air they can't stand it you know that you have eternal life because you put the death of these of the body you put the death of these of the body by the spirit because you are led by the spirit that's what spirit leading is as it's putting to death of these of the body and being led by the spirit shows your sons of God that you have God's life in you you have the life of God in you your status as a child of God guarantees your eternal life that's what verse 17 says look at the verse 17 and if children heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ your heirs of God your sons of God your children of God what are you heirs of eternal life and all the glory that that entails see that's what that is the proof that you have eternal life as you are led by the spirit by putting the death of these of the body so now Paul's purpose here is to fill your heart with joy that's his purpose is to fill your heart with joy to encourage you that killing sin by the spirit is being led by the spirit of adoption the spirit of adoption the life it brings is a life of the son of God not a slave not an orphan the proof that you're son of God is the fact that you are being led by the spirit you see the evidence of spirit leading when people start to put the death of the body not that they're making such wise decision they're making big bucks on all their investments because of spirits leading them to invest in this instead of this that's not spear leading some of the worst investors in all the world are Christians so don't take any advice from your brothers and sisters in Christ go find a good pagan who knows about those things I'm just kidding but it most time it's probably true now Paul wants that to bring joy to your heart that you have the spirit of adoption living within you that's his goal these these truths are meant to produce joy and victory over adversaries and over our fears in life how do I know that well that's what verse 15 tells us notice where you haven't received a spirit of slavery God hasn't put a spirit of slavery within you he's not put a spirit of notice he hasn't put a split spirit of slavery in you leading to fear again like a slave but you have received a spirit of adoption a spirit that produces a deep deep sense that God is your father and notice this in verse 15 the spirit has come to assure your heart that you are a child of God the spirit of God this is how this relates the spirit of God comes to assure your heart believer you're not a believer you don't have this the spirit isn't there giving you this assurance you may assume it's true but it's not true when the spirit comes you'll know it's the work of the spirit that is doing this when you turn to Christ and faith and receive him as your savior embrace him by faith what you will discover is the spirit of adoption is living in you if you notice this in verse 15 again this is explaining two things this verse begins with forts explaining two things why does the leading of the spirit prove that you are son of God and secondly how does the spirit do this how does he lead us in this way why does the leading of the spirit prove that we are sons or children of God well he tells you because he's the spirit of adoption he is a spirit of adoption he's a spirit given to confirm in a very deep and personal way that you are a child of the father you've been adopted notice this ff Bruce who's a new testament scholar and he's especially a scholar in the sphere of of a history the context in which the new testament was written he says in one of his works in the Roman world the first century AD an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate you know why people adopted sons during the time of the New Testament it was an order to get a child that was worthy of the inheritance and who would carry on the family name and the family treasure and the family business and all those things you might have a fool for a son and you knew if you leave him everything he's going to squander everything so you adopt a son you adopt a son in whose character you could see that he would be able to carry out the family work the family name family pursuit but notice what he says he was no wit inferior in status to a son born in the ordinary course of nature and might well enjoy the father's affection more fully and reproduce the father's character more worthy than a natural born son now there are children in this church who have been adopted legally adopted they are deeply loved by their parents the parents of a deep and true and unshakable love for them I was in a courtroom a few months ago my little grandson it was one of the most moving experience in my life and I I don't know how I did it but I controlled myself I shed no tears I was and I could just sit there watch this and listen to it but it was one of the most moving things in all my life was like being in church when the judge asked my son and law Eric will you take the responsibility to raise this boy as your own son will you take responsibility for his health and his welfare will you provide for him are you willing to commit yourself to do this and Eric said yes I will and it was like my heart almost burst he adopted my grandson as his own the father has adopted you as his own he's given you a status in his family the judge had all of us come up there and took a picture Cole had no clue what was going on and I and I heard him telling one of his cousins about it about going to this judge he said he changed my name that's right he changed his name I told him he walked out of the court I said his little brother's name is E.J he stands for Eric Johnson and I and I said now your name is C.J you're Cole Johnston what a glorious truth that is God has adopted you he's made you his own he has embraced you as his own because of Jesus Christ and through your faith in him to me this is like the sweet spot of this whole truth right here that the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of adoption because he confirms and makes real to you this great legal truth so you God's taken the step to adopt you but he's done something even more than that in fact notice this next thing the spirit of adoption leads by stirring up family affection stirs up family affection get this this is the most amazing passage from E.G.S. chapter 4 he says that he sent Jesus to redeem us he sent the Redeemer so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons the adoption of sons you know you could bring a child into your home making them a foster child and have a legal custody of them but not commit to adopt them as sons not to change their names not to give them your name and your promise that for all of life they are yours God redeemed us but he didn't more than that it says that he adopted us as sons and then get this this is the this is a mindblower because you are sons God because you are sons of God God sent forth the spirit of his son the same spirit that was in the one and only son of God that Holy Spirit he says he sent into our hearts crying Abba Father you know or this is just incredible that the spirit is poured out into our hearts to confirm and make real our adoption is not amazing that God wants you to feel like a son of God that he isn't satisfied with this rotten stupid way of approaching the Christian life where you live like slaves and like orphans where you're always questioning whether God has really accepted you if he's really going to save you to the end if you're really acceptable and loved by him does he really love you never feel like that you ever question whether God really loves you you're getting difficult circumstances and begin to wonder were you know am I no longer in the favor of God here is son of God and he has sent his spirit into you that you might feel like a son and notice this how does he make real our adoption how does he do this verse 15 tells us that he replaces the fear of a slave toward a master with the love of a son toward a father I wonder if there's anybody here any Christian here who really thinks more like a slave does toward a master than a son does towards a loving father in the early church one of the problems they had was a God began to save Gentiles uncircumcised Gentiles and the Jewish Christians were having a tough time with that I think you know what I think the closest analogy of this is in evangelical church in America I think some of you would have a hard time believing that God could save a Democrat and he remained one so think about that that's what the Jews that's what the Jewish Christians face how could God save a Democrat like Jeff Gleason how could he save a union man he's telling his wife already registered as a Republican it's sick isn't it it's sick because we have such a hard time believing that God actually has made you sons of God you have a father the father loves his democratic sons God loves you not because you're right on everything you're wrong in a whole bunch of stuff you're wrong about a whole lot of things you think how do you know I don't I'm just sure of it it's just one of those things I'm just really sure about like you're sure about all those things you're sure about that you have no evidence for I got some evidence because I'm one of you and I'm wrong I've been wrong about a lot of things haven't you isn't amazing how you you've corrected so many of your opinions but you still every day you live as though you're right about everything if you're right about everything you felt just as right in fact I felt more right when I was 30 than I do now you're a son and the spirit of God replaces the fear of a slave toward a master with the love of a son towards a father you ever wonder why you haven't such struggle as sin or you keep bailing in the certain areas of your life where you're so vulnerable why is that happening this text says it's because you're not responding to the family affection that the spirit of God is there to place within your heart God's very realistic about you he doesn't believe the stuff everybody else believes about you he knows the truth about you and you're his son you're his son so how does he lead first he leads by bringing the fathers love to us that's what we saw in Romans chapter 5 verse 5 the love of God has been gushed forth and that is a powerful word the love of God has been gushed forth in our hearts it's like a it's like old faithful it's a geyser seen that commercial methamutical commercial where the park ranger goes out and puts a methamutial in old faithful that's why she's so regular what a wretched illustration the love of God has been gushed forth in your heart by the holy spirit and Paul is so careful to say that in such a way that it implies this it occurred at an event when you rested your faith in Christ when the spirit of God came in power and you responded in faith and the spirit began to dwell in you he gushed forth the love of God in your heart and that gushing effect continues day by day by day the only reason that you have those times when you don't feel loved it has nothing to do with the failure of the spirit it has to do with your quenching the spirit and grieving the spirit in your life the spirit is in you believer and his primary work is to produce within your heart an understanding and an appreciation of the great love of God in Christ Jesus for you he leads us by this real and present experience of making real to us the love of the Father for us I don't know why God loves me I mean it's amazing to me that God loves me I am just flabbergasted by it the reason I do love to come to church either here or somebody and somewhere else I love to hear the preaching of the word I love to be with Christian people and sing his praises those songs we sing this morning been singing since I can remember I don't have a memory in the time of my life when I wasn't singing victory in Jesus I love to be in the presence of the Father singing praises with his people because he loves me and I know what that means I know what I'm like I know what I'm really like you don't and he loves me amazing revelation that the spirit brings to every heart in which he inhabits and then secondly and this is so powerful to me to me this is so powerful this shook my shook me up on Thursday morning 406 I looked at my watch that I've read this passage a hundred thousand times and I've taught it probably twenty times over the years seriously and it never struck me like it did the other morning that the spirit leads by awakening our child like affection for the Father the spirit brings about a response in our hearts to what he has done in our hearts in Romans 5.5 he's opened my eyes to the love of the Father for me but here and that's what Romans 5.5 is it's not about your love for God it's about God's love for you go look at the context