The Spirit of Adoption

I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God. I mean, at the core of every human being is a desire to belong. So when we sing something like that, it resonates with us in the family of God, but we just have this core desire to belong. And in particular, we wanna belong to a family. That's really what we want at the core of who we are, and that is a powerful desire to want to belong to a family. Sometimes that desire to want to belong to a family can actually lead us into bad spaces occasionally. But the truth is that we all want that sense of belonging. And by the way, it's such a powerful desire that people who have given us narratives of our childhood have had that very powerful desire working in the backdrop, even if the story wasn't about it. It just kind of works in the backdrop behind everything, because it's something that's so powerful for us that we want to see belonging. Think about it this way. Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Annie, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Snow White, Aladdin, Mowgli, Tarzan. You know what they all have in common? Orphans, all of 'em. In some way, shape or form, they're all orphans. So even if their stories aren't exactly about their being orphans or finding their family, it's working in the background in this powerful desire that we have that we want to belong, we want to belong to a family. I think that's in part why two out of every 10 Americans have actually done DNA tests to find out about their ancestry, because they want a sense of being connected to something that's bigger than them and to figure that out. By the way, there's another 45% who said they would do it if they were able to do it, which just means, if it were free, right? So that tells me that there's 65% of Americans between those who have done this and those who would want to do this, who said, we would love to do that. And it's not surprising, over the last decade, ancestry.com has blown up, 23andMe has blown up. All of these things are really opportunities to try and connect with or feel a sense of belonging to a family, because it is a powerful, powerful desire. Now listen, God knows that, and God has a family, and God desires for us to be connected to that family, to be able to belong to that family. In fact, last week, in verses one through 11 of Romans chapter eight, coming out of Easter, we talked about what it means to live a resurrected life, and how the beauty of this resurrected life, through what Jesus has done for us and then given us the indwelling Spirit, means that we're no longer under the penalty of sin, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and that we've broken the power of sin, because the Spirit of God is more powerful even than the drag or the gravity of sin that is weighing on our very lives. And now with the indwelling Spirit, we also learned something even broader than what we just learned last week. Paul begins to build on the ideas of verses one through 11 in Romans chapter eight. And then in particularly verses 14 through 17, we learn something else about the Spirit of God, and it's simply stated this. The Spirit assures us that we are children of God. This is what we see now in Paul's writing in Romans chapter eight. The Spirit assures us that we are children of God. Listen, friends, God wants us to know Him and He wants us to belong in His family. And what we learned in verses one through 11, and we sang about it just a moment ago, that we've been justified because of the Righteous One. And I talked a little bit last week about this idea of justification. Justification simply means that we've been declared righteous in the sight of God because of what Jesus has done. And because we are now in Christ, the Righteous One, we've been declared in right standing with God. That's a legal term. The picture is that God has a gavel and he has pounded it, and he has said of us, because we are in Christ, we are not guilty. What a beautiful thing that is, right? Isn't it a glorious truth to be found not guilty before the God of the universe who judges all things, as he should? But because we're now in Christ, we have been deemed not guilty in his sight. We are justified. Listen, it is just as if I'd never sinned. That's where we stand now in who we are in Christ Jesus. And this is not of ourselves, this is actually the gift of God to us because we are in Christ. But Paul is actually helping us to see that it is even. Listen, as glorious as that is, and it is, there is something even more glorious to think about, and it's this. That not only has the judge rapped his gavel and said, not guilty, but He's then stood up, took His robe off, and come and wrapped us up and said, you're mine. So we're not only declared not guilty, we're declared sons and daughters, as children of God, and the Spirit of God gives us this assurance. And so, how does the Spirit give us the assurance that we are children of God? I'm gonna answer that question, and I'm gonna answer it in a threefold way. How does the Spirit give us assurance that we're children of God? Here's the first reason. Because the children of God are led by the Spirit of God. The children of God are led by the Spirit of God. Where did I get that idea? Verse number 14. Here's what it says. "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." Remember, my job is plagiarism of the Bible. That's what I do for a living. I literally tell you what the scripture says in ways that we can get our arms around it. Paul writes, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." Now, one of the things you may know and understand about the Apostle Paul, if you've read the New Testament very often, or if you haven't, I'm gonna tell you about, and it's this. The Apostle Paul often quotes from the Hebrew scriptures, or what we call the Old Testament. He often quotes from it or alludes to it, or sometimes what Paul has, is he's got a narrative from scripture that's working in the back of his head, and he's now writing from a perspective where this narrative gets clarity to what he's writing, and that's what he's doing here. You see, the narrative that Paul has running around in his head is the narrative of the exodus. You remember that Israel was in or captivity to Egypt, right? As a people, they were enslaved in Egypt. And then God raised up Moses, and Moses went to Pharaoh and "Let my people go," right? And then God delivers them through the Red Sea. And then they're in the wilderness for a period of time, being led in the wilderness, and they're on their way to their inheritance, which was land, right? Paul takes that narrative and he begins to write with those kinds of themes as he's writing in these verses, and you may not have seen that before. But when he begins by saying, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God," what's operating in his head is the reminder that Israel as a people were actually a people that were being led by God, and they were identified as the people of God because they were being led by God. Do you remember when they got into the wilderness how they were led? It was by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. God actually put His presence into those places. And when the cloud moved or the fire moved, the people moved. And when the cloud stayed or the fire stayed, the people stayed. It's really kind of a simple idea that Paul is writing about here, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." In the same way that Israel was led by a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire, we are led by the indwelling Spirit among us. And so, the Spirit of God in us, listen to this. When the Spirit of God in us says, go, we go. When the Spirit of God in us says, stay, we stay. When the Spirit of God in us says, forgive, we forgive. When the Spirit of God in us says, pray, we pray. Why? Because the children of God are led by the Spirit of God. This is what identifies us. If you were looking around at nations in the time of Israel, you could identify who Israel was because they were the only people that were being led by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. And the children of God are the only people that are being led by the Spirit of God. And so, when the Spirit of God speaks to us, then we do what the Spirit of God says to us. And the Spirit of God is going to speak to us in concert with the book that he has inspired as His sword to conform us into the image of the Son. So what that means is this. Is what's characteristic of the children of God, is their obedience to the word of God by the Spirit of God. That's characteristic of the children of God. Children of God are led by the Spirit of God. And do you know what that obedience to the word of God sometimes looks like? Listen to this. Death to the flesh. Now some of you're going, wait a minute, what's this flesh idea that we're talking about? Well, it's the same idea we were talking about last week. I'm not talking about our bodies per se. What I'm talking about is I'm talking about that selfish, sinful, broken nature that still hangs around. I'm not talking about our bodies, because there's a distinction between flesh and our bodies in the way that the scripture uses that terminology. And so, what is this actually talking about? Part of our obedience is putting to death the flesh, or using older terms, mortifying the flesh. Some of you're like, mortifying? When I use that term mortify, I just mean I'm scared. I am mortified. Well, what it means is dead. The mortification of the flesh means the killing of the flesh. In fact, there's a reason that Paul uses the term in verse 14, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God," is because verse 12 and 13 is right before it. Notice what it says in verse 12. "Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Isn't this a beautiful picture that Paul is giving to us, that our obedience? By the way, he starts that terminology, he starts writing right there, and then he stops. Some of you see a dash right there, right? 'Cause he literally writes, "Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation," and then there's a dash. Paul does this from time to time. it's like you do too, right? You start into something and then you just start going, you go somewhere else. But you eventually make your way back, some of you. My wife and I talk about that sometimes. I'm like, Hmm, I've been waiting for five minutes. You started me here. I don't know where we are now. Could you bring me back? I'm lost. I need a GPS for this conversation. I have no idea where we are, right? That just happens sometimes, happens to all of us. Paul is starting to write, and he says this, he says, "Brothers and sisters, we have an obligation." Well, what do you think he's gonna say? Well, coming out of verses one through 11, with the glorious nature of this resurrected life, he's probably gonna say something like this. We've got an obligation to the Spirit of God to live in accordance and to walk with the desires of the Spirit of God, right? Because He's rescued us, He's saved us, He's indwelling us. But Paul goes and has to come back to the idea of the flesh, and he says... We don't have an obligation to the flesh, by the way. That's what Paul's saying. That word, obligation, also can be translated debt. Paul's saying this. You don't have a debt to the flesh. The flesh has done nothing for you. You owe it nothing. Your sinful, selfish nature has done nothing for you, it brings destruction, you owe it nothing. Your obligation is to the Spirit of God and to walk in concert with the Spirit of God. Because if you don't and you live according to the flesh, it's death. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. What's Paul talking about, putting to death the misdeeds of the body? Is he talking about injuring our bodies? No, he's not talking about that at all. He's talking about what we put on and what we put off. Like he said to the Colossians in chapter three, he said, "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. And you used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Don't lie to each other, since you've taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." So he talks about the language of put off and put on. Or as he said to Titus, when Paul wrote to Titus, he said this, you have the power to say no to ungodliness. You see, what we have living within us, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God lives in us and it gives us the power, listen to this, to say yes to the to God's desires and to say no to ungodliness. And do you know what that looks like? Being led by the Spirit, that's what that looks like. Because the children of God are led by the Spirit of God. So that's one assurance that the Spirit does work in our hearts. The children of God are led by the Spirit of God. What you have to ask yourself is this. Is the direction of your life characteristic of one big yes to God? I know we're all imperfect, I got it. I'm not talking about perfection here. I'm not talking about sinless perfection. Nobody's ever done that except one, and He's the rescuer of us all. But in Him, and because of His life in us, you know what we have? We've got now power to say no to ungodliness and to put it off, and to say yes to what the Spirit desires in our lives. Is your life characteristic of a big yes to the Spirit of God? Because you know what that is? It's assurance that you're a child of God. This outworking of this obedience is assurance. But there's a second assurance that the Spirit of God gives us that we're children of God, and that's this. Children of God are adopted through the Spirit of God. Children of God are adopted through the Spirit of God. Look with me, if you're in Romans chapter eight, look with me in verse number 15. "The Spirit," Paul writes, "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again." I'm no longer a slave to fear. "Rather, the Spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship." I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God. "And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" See, this is a beautiful picture, and it's also a picture going back to Israel with Paul working that kind of narrative in his mind. Because I don't know if you remember this, but in Exodus chapter four, before all of this stuff happened with Pharaoh and the deliverance of them, in Exodus chapter four, here's what God said to Moses. He said, "Tell Pharaoh that Israel is my son. Israel is my firstborn son. You tell that to Pharaoh, Moses." Isn't that interesting? Israel is my son. Was Israel God's natural born son? No, adopted, and chosen, right? Why was Israel chosen? Well, because they were special. No, they weren't. God made it really clear. You're not chosen because you're special. You're not chosen because you're powerful. You know why you're chosen? Because I chose you, period. Well, why did God choose them? Because God's God and God gets to choose. God didn't choose based on how good they were, how cool they were, where they, you know? None of those things were. It was just God's own choice, which means that they were chosen and adopted, not natural born, and it was an act of God's grace. So Israel is the adopted, so to speak, son of God, the adopted child of God as a nation. But do you know what that adopted child of God wanted to do sometimes, when they were in the wilderness? They wanted to go back, they wanted to go back into slavery, they wanted to go back into Egypt. They're out there and they're like, am I eating manna again? What day is this? There's manna every day! I'm going back to Egypt, and I know I'll be enslaved, but at least I'll get a particular meal that I liked or whatever, and I won't have to eat this every single day of my life. And by the way, it's hot out here. Like it's not hot in Egypt or something, right? But they're continuing kind of pushing their minds back. And here's the truth, friends, listen, we do that sometimes ourselves. Sometimes we are doing the very same thing. Because here's why. We think somehow that it's easier if we just went back into the old way of living, ff we just went back and put on the old clothes and did all those things. You know why? Because when I was living that way, I didn't have any battles that I had to fight like I do now, I didn't have all the same hard choices that I have to keep making. Man, living for Jesus and following the Spirit, this is challenging in the world that we live in, and I didn't have to do all that. I didn't have all the internal tensions back in the day. You're right, maybe. And you're like, well, I just got to do whatever I wanted to do. But here's what you keep forgetting. You were a slave. You were a slave. And do you know what was going on underneath that slavery? Fear of condemnation, fear of abandonment. "But you are not slaves," Paul writes, "We are no longer slaves to fear, but instead, the Spirit has adopted us and given us something more." We're no longer slaves. We're no longer orphans. We've been adopted. You see, everybody enters into this life as spiritual orphans, but we've been adopted by God. What a beautiful picture it is. I was reading a testimony from a man named Gerald Penix, and maybe it was 'cause I liked his first name. Some of you are going, I don't get it. You're like, I thought your name was Jerry. It's really a big jump, isn't it? Gerald, which is my real name. Jerry is what I go by. And you're like, oh... It's not like a Archibald, Jerry. You know, it's Gerald to Jerry, right? That's kinda how we made the jump. Here's what he wrote. He said, "My wife and I waited 15 years for a child that never came by natural means. However, we were approached one day with a lead of a newborn that wasn't yet born. And I remember standing in front of the judge on our day of adoption. He pointed his finger and he asked of me, is anyone coercing you to adopt this little boy? And after we assured him that we were doing so out of a love for our son, he made this statement. 'Okay, then from today on, he is your son. He may disappoint you. He may even grieve you, but he's your son. Everything you own, one day will be his, and he will bear your name.' And then the man said, he looked to the clerk, the judge looked to the clerk, and he gave this command. 'I hereby decree an order that there is a change in this child's birth certificate, and may it reflect that these are the parents of this child.'" He said, "It was then that I realized that my heavenly Father loved me so much that without coercion, he loved me and gave his all to me, and on that day, he changed my name and I gladly bear his name and image." Aren't you glad to be adopted into the family of God? You see, we live in a place in our own hearts, listen to this, that we are adopted, not because we are special, not because we were just so lovable and God couldn't help it. Oh, look at him. I mean, look around. It's not that that was the case. In fact, it is only because of God's grace that we've been adopted into His family. Everyone everywhere enters into this life, not naturally born, so to speak, but Spiritual orphans, everyone, everywhere. But because of what Jesus has done on the cross on our behalf, taking our sin upon Him, and because of His resurrection from the dead and sending the Spirit of God to dwell in us, the Spirit of God now facilitates our adoption into the family of God. And Paul writes, "And because of this, we can cry, abba, Father." Now, the word Abba, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time here. The word Abba, there is just another term for the word Father. It's a term of intimacy. It's not a baby term, even though children use it. I've been on many planes back and forth to Israel where I've seen a child that has gone to the restroom and then they're coming back, but they can't remember which row their parent was sitting in. And I've heard them walking down the aisle just going, "Abba, abba, abba." And the father knows the voice of that child and kinda raises their hand and says, I'm over here. But listen, it's not a baby term. It's not dadda, it's not that. It's a term of intimacy. It's another word for the word father. In fact, in the Old Testament or the Hebrew scriptures, about 15 times, God is characterized in regard to his fatherhood, but no one ever in the Old Testament addresses Him that way. He's regarded as Father, but no one addresses Him that way. Only Jesus did. Jesus shows up and starts referring to Him as Father. And everybody's like, oh. And then he says, let me teach you how to pray, "Our Father." "Whoa, whoa," right? And listen, you read the New Testament, read every time that Jesus was in conversation with the Father, and you'll hear Him addressing Him as Father until he gets to the cross, where he cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You see, Jesus knew in that moment that he wasn't just speaking to His father, but he was speaking to His judge, because he was taking upon Himself the wrath of God for the sins of humanity, so that through His death on our behalf, and His resurrection from the dead, and our justification because of our faith in Him and what he has done on our behalf, we can now be reconciled to God, we can be declared not guilty. But the God who declares us not guilty now says, you can call me with an intimate word, Father. This is what it means to be adopted into the family of God. We have this level of intimacy. When my sons were younger, they're both grown men now. When they were younger and they would bring friends home, those friends would refer to me one of three ways, at least to my face, one of three ways. It would be Mr. Gillis, it would be Pastor Gillis, or it would be Coach Gillis. That was how they all referenced me. But my boys, every time they reference me, you know what they called me, right? Reverend Doctor. No, kidding. Dad, right? Dad, everywhere and every single time since then. Do you know why? They're mine. God has by His Spirit adopted us into the family of God by His grace, and we are now His. And because of that, we can speak to Him with an intimacy. We can come to Him, and it's proper to come before Him and say, God, I come before you. But we can actually speak more intimately than that and say, Father, I come before you. This is the beauty of what it means to be adopted into the family of God.  Listen, you read the New Testament, read every time that Jesus was in conversation with the Father, and you'll hear Him addressing Him as Father, until he gets to the cross, where he cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You see, Jesus knew in that moment that he wasn't just speaking to his Father, but he was speaking to his judge, because he was taking upon himself the wrath of God for the sins of humanity, so that through His death on our behalf, and His resurrection from the dead, and our justification because of our faith in Him and what He has done on our behalf, we can now be reconciled to God, we can be declared not guilty. But the God who declares us not guilty now says, you can call me with an intimate word, Father. This is what it means to be adopted into the family of God, we have this level of intimacy. When my sons were younger, they're both grown men now. When they were younger and they would bring friends home, those friends would refer to me one of three ways, at least to my face, one of three ways. It would be Mr. Gillis, it would be Pastor Gillis, or it would be Coach Gillis. That was how they all referenced me. But my boys, every time they referenced me, you know what they called me, right? Reverend Doctor. No, kidding. Dad, right? Dad, everywhere and every single time since then. Do you know why? They're mine. God has by his Spirit adopted us into the family of God by his grace, and we are now His, and because of that, we can speak to him with an intimacy, we can come to Him, and it's proper to come before Him and say, God, I come before you. But we can actually speak more intimately than that and say, Father, I come before you. This is the beauty of what it means to be adopted into the family of God. So how does the Spirit assure us that we're children of God? 'Cause the children of God are led by the Spirit of God, and because the children of God are adopted through the Spirit of God. But let me show you a third reason. 'Cause the children of God have the Spirit of God's testimony. Those of us that are children of God, we have the testimony of the Spirit. And in fact, that actually works in two different ways, that I'll show you from the text right here. Here's the first way. First way is that the Spirit of God testifies with our human spirit. This is what Paul teaches us in this passage, that the Spirit of God will actually testify with our human spirit that we are children of God. Listen to his words in verse number 16. "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, what's going on here? Well, I think what Paul's doing is he's giving us one of what is a three legged stool of where we understand our assurance related to salvation. Here's what I understand. Listen carefully. There are people, there are people that walk around every single day that think they are children of God and they are not. They think they're children of God and they're not. Here's why. Because they'll just say something like this. We're all children of God. No, we're not. No, we're not. The Bible does not give us that kind of testimony, that we're all children of God. We're all creations of God, we've all been made in the image of God, but we are not all children of God. John tells us that it's only those who receive Jesus that get the right to become children of God. So there are people that walk around every day thinking that there are children of God but aren't children of God. And then there are those who are children of God that sometimes struggle with whether or not they're a child of God. And for those people, the second group of people, Paul is giving us one of the assurances that the Spirit testifies with our spirit. And really, there's three. One is, an assurance of being a child of God is belief in the testimony of the word of God, and here's why that's important. Because what we see that the Spirit reminds us of, is that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved, that there is one name under heaven by which people can be saved and that is the name of Jesus Christ. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. For it's by grace we've been saved, through faith. It's not of ourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. We could go over and over and over. And belief in the actual scripture itself and what it says is one of the evidences of the childship that we have of being God's own. But there's also a second idea, and it's this that we've already talked about, and that is that our lives demonstrate the fruit of obedience. Do you know why? Listen, because saying yes to God is a supernatural work. Because we who are the regular old broken, unregenerate people of God living in our sin, we don't even want to say yes to God. So obedience to God is actually a fruit of a reminder that we're children of God. And then the third is this, what Paul writes right here, "The Spirit testifies with our human spirit, the Holy Spirit testifies with our human spirit that we are children of God." What does he mean right there? Sometimes we read that and we're like, ah, I'm not sure exactly what he's saying. What I think that he's saying is that he's referencing back to something that he said in chapter five. Here's here's what he wrote, Romans 5:5. "Hope doesn't put us to shame, because," watch this, "God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who's been given to us." Do you know how the Spirit of God testifies with our human Spirit? By pouring out his love into our spirit, by pouring out his love into our hearts, such that we experience the love of God and we are vessels for the love of God. This is a part of how the Spirit of God testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. I love how Professor Doug Moo said it. He said this, he said, "The Holy Spirit doesn't just make us children of God. The Holy Spirit makes us aware that we are children of God." Yes. That means, listen, I experience the fact that I'm a child of God, because of the love that God has shed abroad in my heart, that did not come from me. I know myself before knowing Him. And now I know myself after Him. And because of what he's done in my heart, it testifies to my own spirit. The Holy Spirit testifies to my own spirit. But you know what else the Spirit does in terms of giving testimony? Spirit of God testifies that we're heirs. Oh, this is so beautiful. Watch what Paul has to say here in verse number 17. He says, "Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory." Paul's still got, by the way, Paul's still got this backstory working, the story of the Exodus. Here's why. What were the people of Israel doing in the wilderness? They were headed toward what? The Land of Promise. Or we could call it this, their inheritance. That's where they were headed. They were headed toward their inheritance, right? They'd been freed from the slavery that they were in, they were being led in the desert, and now they were on their way to their inheritance. Are you seeing now what Paul is giving us in this narrative background, right? And their inheritance was land, right? It was the Land of Promise, the land of Canaan. That was their inheritance. But let me ask you a question. The inheritance that they had was bigger than just land, because it was inheritance that was given to Abraham, it was a promise that was made to Abraham. And in fact, Paul references it just a few chapters earlier. Notice what he says in Romans chapter four. He says, "It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise," watch this, "the promise that he would be heir of the world." It wasn't through the law, "but through the righteousness that comes by faith." Heir of what? The world. Not just some land, even though this was a part of the promise God made to his people, heir of the world. How could Abraham be an heir of the whole world? Because God had said that the seed of Abraham would be the fulfillment of this promise. And the seed of Abraham, Paul tells us in Galatians, is none other than Jesus the Messiah. And so, for all those who are in the Messiah, we now get to be, watch this, joint heirs with Jesus. We get as our inheritance, we are an heir of God, we inherit God. Why does Paul write that we inherit God? Well, since you're asking, when they got into the Land of Promise, when Israel finally got into the Land of Promise, you remember what they did? They started giving an a allotment for each of the tribes. Well, there's one tribe named Levi, and that was the tribe of priests, the Levitical priests. Do you remember what land they got? Everybody remember that? Oh, you don't. You know why? They didn't get any. Here's what they got, Joshua 13. "But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance. The Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them." The Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance. So Paul not only says that we get God as our inheritance, but he also reminds us that we, like the Levites, are also called. He's now giving us some things to think about, even though he's not saying it, it's just working around in the back. Do you know what the Bible also calls us that are children of God? Priests, that we are a kingdom of priests. And do you know that because we are in Jesus, the Great High Priest, that we're a kingdom of priests, and do you know what that means that we're going to do? Revelation five tells us, here's what it says. "And they sang a new song, saying, 'You're worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood, you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You've made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will,'" what? "Reign on the earth." Ooh. We are adopted into the family, but the Spirit of God also testifies that we are joint heirs with Jesus and will rule and reign with Him. Listen to this. What has Jesus inherited? Here's the answer. Everything, everything. You remember how Hebrews phrases it this way? "But in these last days, He's spoken to us by His son, whom he appointed heir of all things." The heir of all things, and we are joint heirs with the one who is the heir of all things. Do you know what that is? Glorious, glorious. But do you know what Paul says? He knows how glorious this is. And he says, if we're children, then we're heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I mentioned earlier, Annie. You guys know the story of Annie, right? Annie was an orphan. She had a hard knock life. You know the story, right? But she was adopted by a super wealthy man who brought her in, and then everything he had became hers. Now, listen, friends, listen, the God of the universe has adopted us, He has adopted us into His family. And even though we're not in the mansion yet, glory is coming, glory is coming. But I wanna remind you of something. You know that Israel, on the way from getting out of slavery to make their way into their inheritance, do you know how that went? Long and rocky, that's how that went. And do you know what that means for us? Same. Do you know why I know that? Because Jesus did the same thing on the way to his inheritance. His road, hard. And those of us who are adopted into the family of God, we are now identified with the heir of all things, and the way it went for him is often the way it goes for us. "In this world we will have trouble," Jesus says, "but take hart, I have overcome the world." Glory is coming, but it's going to be hard through the process. That's why we need, listen. That's why we need the Spirit of God to assure us of our status as children of God. Because the world that we live in right now and the journey that we're on right now is not always easy. That's why the status that we have as children of God is foundational to everything about us. Here, lemme break it down for you here for a second. When hardship, or disappointment, or tragedy comes, we need to let the world see that the children of God are led by the Spirit of God. That means when you feel taken advantage of, when things don't go your way, we listen to the word of God, and we're obedient as children of God, and we don't repay evil for evil. We love our neighbor and we love our enemy, because that's what Jesus taught us. It means that we don't bend ourselves to the lies that the world continually tries to tell us, but we let our minds be shaped by the truth of the word of God. It means that when we're facing very heart wrenching circumstances, or maybe even tragedy, that we grieve, yes, like everyone else in mankind, but we don't grieve as people of no hope, we grieve as people of hope. Why? Because the children of God are led by the Spirit of God, that's why. It means that we look different as well, because we put to death the deeds of the flesh. And we are increasingly growing in holiness and righteousness, and growing away from our sin. We know that sometimes we stumble, we know that sometimes we make mistakes, and we turn to the Lord and we seek his forgiveness that he's already secured and paid for at the cross, but that we are by nature, this is the trajectory of our sanctification. Why? Because the children of God are led by the Spirit of God, and we need to know these things in the world that we live in. Or maybe you need to have this foundation of this truth that we've taught today when life just feels lonely. And it does, by the way. Sometimes we feel like we're the only ones walking this road. 'Cause the people at work don't walk it, sometimes the people in our families aren't walking it, and it just feels lonely for us. Here's what you need to remember. Listen to the lengths, look at the lengths to which God went to adopt you. The love that He has demonstrated, that while we were yet sinners, we had a spotted past, and we had a destruction for our future, and God came and reached down while we were yet sinners. Jesus died for us so you're no longer alone. You've got a family and you've got a father. Not just a God, but you have a father, and you can bring every burden, and you can bring every heartache, and you can bring every hurt to Him. That's why you need the foundation of the truth we're talking about today. Or maybe it's because in this life, when you're scared or fearful, because this life can be scary and fearful, you need to remember that you are a child of the King. He has every resource, and he's not just, listen to this, He's not just all powerful, he's also all good, and that is your father. So whatever happens, whatever befalls you, whatever's trying to intimidate you or scare you, just understand this, God is not intimidated or scared of any of it. Or maybe when it feels like life's too much, it's too sad, it's too tough, it's too hard, it's too unjust, it's too full of trouble, it's too whatever, remember this, friends, glory is coming. Glory is coming. We will, even as we endure in the sufferings of Christ, we will one day, because we are joint heirs with Jesus, rule and reign with him, because our father has adopted us and brought us into the family and written us into his will, that we can share in what His perfect Son has, the glory of co-reigning with Him. So let the Spirit assure you that he is yours and you are his, that you are a child of God, because it's foundational for who we are in our growth and grace. Now, I'll say this to you as we're getting ready to leave. You may be here and not have that assurance That's a possibility. Where you're like, you know what, I don't know that I have that assurance. Listen to me. The arms of God could not be extended more openly to you. God so loved the world, He gave his only Son. The only way you can be reconciled to the Father is through Jesus. You can't do it yourself, you can't work your way. Listen, you can't impress God to where God goes, well, I guess I better do what he wants. You can't do it. It is only in Jesus. God's impressed with Jesus. And when we find ourselves in Him, we can be reconciled to the Father, our sins can be forgiven, our life can now have a resurrected style of life, because now the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in us, and we have the power now to be free from sin. We can maybe stumble here and there, but we've got a power over it. We are not under its condemnation. And now we're children of God, adopted into the family of God by the Spirit of God. Now we have the ability to walk in freedom, because we can say yes. Listen, we can say yes to obedience and say no to ungodliness. This is what God offers you. This is the life that he offers you. And you may say from time to time, well, it's easier to live in the land of slavery. Maybe it seems easier, but it's costly, it's costly. And the joy and the beauty, as Paul will write in the next verses, I consider that our present sufferings aren't worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. I don't wanna steal the thunder of next week's message. So maybe you need to receive Jesus. And if you do, there'll be some men and women that'll be standing down front that would love to talk to you about what it means to surrender your life to Him. Father, I do pray for each of us in these moments that the truth of Your word would land on fertile soil, that it would take root, that it would grow and blossom and bear fruit, fruit that remains. Because, Lord, we need the foundation of our life to be secure in the assurance that we are your children, and that assurance is tied up in who you are, Lord Jesus. It is not so much tied up in us, it is tied up in you. But our faith and our trust and our belief in you, and you graciously giving to us the Spirit of God as a down payment in our hearts, guaranteeing our inheritance, we just thank you for that. Father, for those that need to entrust their lives to you, I pray that they wouldn't leave this place without settling the most important issue of life, and that is how you desire for your creations to become your children, and that can only happen in and through faith in Jesus Christ. So we trust you to do your good work by your Spirit in all of our lives, in Jesus' name, amen.