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[0:00] Take your Bibles again and turn to Romans, the 8th chapter. Romans 8, we'll begin reading at verse 12.

[0:12] Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die.

[0:25] But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

[0:40] For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father.

[0:53] The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

[1:09] If indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory. If you are in Jesus Christ this morning, you are rich beyond telling.

[1:25] Rich because of what the Lord has done for us. And Romans 8, what some have called the greatest chapter in the Bible, is simply unpacking your riches.

[1:38] And there are many for those who are joined to Christ by faith. To be in Christ is to have justification. To have God say of you, There is therefore now no condemnation for you.

[1:54] Not now, not ever. Because God condemned sin in His own Son. There is no condemnation for you. Your sins are all forgiven.

[2:05] Never to be brought up against you in judgment. Declared righteous. But not only justification is yours. Sanctification is yours also.

[2:16] For He has given you the Holy Spirit. That by the Spirit, you might put to death the misdeeds of the body. And by the Spirit, you might be pleasing to your Heavenly Father.

[2:27] And keeping His laws. He has freed you from the old master of sin. And has become your new master. Dwelling in you. To direct you and lead you in His ways.

[2:39] You're rich. In justification. In sanctification. And now today, to be in Christ is to have adoption. Adoption whereby God the Judge, having forgiven all of your sins and declared you to be righteous, then takes you home with Him and adopts you and brings you into His own family so that you are now His Son and He is now your Father.

[3:09] In our text this morning, we have three things that adoption brings to us. It brings us a new identity. It brings us the spirit of adoption.

[3:20] And it brings us an inheritance as heirs. So, three things. First of all, new identity. We are sons of God.

[3:32] J.I. Packer has a chapter in his classic book called Knowing God, entitled just that. The sons of God. And in it he says, If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's Son and of having God as his Father.

[3:55] If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship, his prayers, and his whole outlook on life, well, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

[4:13] Sonship to the living God. Jesus Christ agrees as to read that great sermon on the Mount of His clearly says the same thing, that at the heart of the Christian life is this reality of having God as our Father.

[4:30] We'll look at that on Wednesday night. The Apostle John wholeheartedly agrees, as he wrote in 1 John 3, 1, Behold, what kind of love is this that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.

[4:47] And that is what we are. That's our new identity. It's what we are. Sons of God. And what makes this so amazing is what we were.

[5:01] Children. Children of the devil. In John chapter 8, the Jews said to Jesus, The only Father we have is God himself. And Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from him.

[5:17] No, God is not your Father. You are of your Father, the devil. And you desire to do the things that he desires.

[5:27] In Ephesians 2, 1 and 2, Paul says to all believers in Christ Jesus, that you used to be dead in transgressions and sins.

[5:40] You used to follow the ways of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. That's the devil. That's the devil. The spirit who is now at work in the children of disobedience.

[5:53] That's the mark of the devil's family. Disobedience. And his family shows their likeness to their father by following him in his disobedience to God.

[6:05] Sin is the devil's work. And we all did it most willingly, proving he was our father. But now, here we are, former children of the devil, now children of God.

[6:19] And that's the amazing thing that John says, stop, look, and wonder at this, that we of all people, children of hell, children of wrath, should be called the children of God.

[6:33] And that is what we are. Well, if that doesn't cause us joy, and awe, and amazement, I wonder if we've understood it. We come to our text.

[6:45] Notice Paul's first mention. In the whole book of Romans, it's the first time he even speaks about us being the children of God. This new identity. Verse 14 of Romans 8.

[6:58] He says, because those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. Notice, the sons of God are those, and only those who are led.

[7:11] That is directed by the Spirit of God. Now this, being led by the Spirit of God, has a specific context. He's not talking about the leading of the Spirit as to whether I should marry this guy, or this woman, or whether I should go to this church, or that college, or what I should measure in, what job I should take.

[7:32] It's not speaking of that leading of the Spirit here. Rather, there's a specific context to verse 14. Don't miss the connecting word.

[7:42] because, is how it begins. Some translations, for. And in that connecting word, God is connecting verse 14 to what goes before it at the end of verse 13.

[7:54] So we read, if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because, those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

[8:09] So in other words, killing sin is a mark, an evidence of those who are God's sons.

[8:20] They show themselves to be sons of God by being led by the Spirit of God to put to death the misdeeds of the body, and therefore live. So being led by the Spirit of God has the idea of being under His direction, under His leadership, under His control, so that our minds are set on what the Spirit desires, and we are being led by Him to put sin to death.

[8:51] He leads the children of God in paths of righteousness for His own namesake. That's their lifestyle, their new lifestyle, whereas before they were children of disobedience when the devil was their father, now they are children of obedience.

[9:10] They are being led by the Holy Spirit in paths of righteousness. The Apostle John says the same in 1 John 3, 9-10, no one who is born of God, their sonship, will continue on in sin because God's seed remains in him.

[9:30] He cannot go on sinning as He has done because He's been born of God. He's a child of God. And this is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are.

[9:44] Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brothers. So this is the new identity of all who are in Christ.

[9:57] We are sons, children of God. Now there's two senses in which the Bible speaks of us becoming the sons or the children of God.

[10:08] One is that it is by the new birth we are born again into the family of God, John 1-12 and John 3. But the Bible also speaks of us being adopted by the Heavenly Father into His family.

[10:24] And each of those, children by birth, children by adoption, each of them shows different aspects of our sonship. By the new birth, we receive a new nature, the nature of our Heavenly Father.

[10:41] Hence, we live different than when we were children of the devil. We have a new nature that wants to please Him. That we get by the new birth. By adoption, we get a new status.

[10:53] We have all the rights of sonship given to us, the legal rights that belong to the children of God, the privileges. This then is our new identity by adoption.

[11:07] We are the sons of God. Well, secondly, we've not only got a new identity, in adoption, we have received the spirit of adoption.

[11:21] The spirit of adoption. The spirit of sonship. Because you are sons, God sent the spirit of adoption into your hearts.

[11:34] So that's the name given here to the Holy Spirit. He's called many things in the Bible, but here He's called the spirit of adoption. Paul's already told us that the spirit has come to live within us when we were converted.

[11:49] He makes our heart His home, helping us to obey Him and to put sin to death. But now we learn that the Holy Spirit has come as the spirit of adoption and as such, His assignment is to make real to us our sonship.

[12:06] The fact that we are adopted sons into the Father's family. The Spirit's job is to make us aware of this, that the Almighty Creator is our loving Father to assure us that we are His beloved sons and daughters.

[12:24] One of the problems that adopted children often have, the troubles that they have as they come into a new adoptive home is believing that they are safe and secure in the love of their parents.

[12:45] their suspicions because of their past that make it difficult for them to trust the new adoptive parents and to believe they really do love them.

[13:05] It's somewhat the same with us who were once children of the devil but are now children of God and we too can have hang-ups about and suspicions of whether the Father really loves us.

[13:26] And so He puts the spirit of adoption into our hearts to tell us yes, it is true. It is true. He does love you. You are safe.

[13:36] You are secure in His love. He loves you like no father has ever loved a son and you need to be assured of that.

[13:47] You know, assurance is one of the major themes of Romans chapter 8. It starts no condemnation. God wants you assured of that child of God and it ends no separation from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[14:01] Assurance. God not only makes us His children, He wants us to be assured of that, to know it, to enjoy it and hence He puts the spirit of adoption into our hearts.

[14:18] Verse 15. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption by which you cry Abba, Father.

[14:31] That's just Aramaic and then the Greek. Abba, Father. It's in two different languages and that's the way Jesus often addressed His Father, Abba, as He spoke Aramaic.

[14:43] But the thing I want you to notice here is the effect that's created in your heart when the spirit of adoption comes to live there. What is the effect it has upon you that He's been given to you as the spirit of adoption?

[15:00] Well, it's described negatively then positively. Negatively, He says, we did not receive a spirit that led us into a slavish fear and dread of God as it was before conversion when you were children of the devil and you realized by the law of God that you were a lawbreaker and that you were under God's condemnation and wrath.

[15:28] Your conscience perhaps bothered you and you had this slave-like fear and dread of God because you knew He was coming for you as the judge who is righteous and just and so the effect of that was that you ran from God.

[15:47] You didn't run to Him. You ran away like Adam and Eve went and tried to hide from God and Paul is saying that this spirit of adoption that was given to you was not a spirit to lead you into that slavish fear of God anymore.

[16:03] No, but just the opposite. Rather, He says, you receive the spirit of adoption and by Him we cry, Abba, Father. Notice the positive effect.

[16:17] The Holy Spirit is in your heart to make you realize that you belong in God's family. He's your loving Father. There's no condemnation left in His family.

[16:30] God the judge has been satisfied by the work of Christ. So get all thoughts of condemnation out of your head. Rather, you must know that God the Father loves you.

[16:43] And that's what the spirit is there to convince you of. That He loves and pities you as a child far more than the best of earthly fathers ever have.

[16:54] And as this spirit of adoption, He lives to inwardly persuade us of our new identity. That it is true. He is my loving Father.

[17:06] And He so convinces me of that that I cry out to Him. Abba, Father. Father. It's your cry, but notice it's enabled by the spirit of adoption who makes real to you that God is this tender, loving Father who cares deeply for you.

[17:27] So rather than shying away from Him as you once did under a spirit of slavish fear and dread, now you realize that this judge is your Father and you're reconciled to Him through the blood of Jesus and He loves you and cares for you.

[17:44] You now confidently draw near to Him for help and you cry, Daddy, Daddy, help me. Just like a little boy or girl that gets lost in some big department store and starts shouting out desperately, Daddy, Daddy, where are you?

[18:02] Now this word here for cry by which we cry, Abba, Father, it's a strong word. It's a loud cry of anguish. It's a desperate cry for help.

[18:14] Revelation 2, 12, 2 uses it of a woman's cry in childbirth. Some of you men have heard that cry. Mark 15, 37, it's used of the Lord's loud cry from the cross.

[18:28] It's not a tame word, this word cry. And what it means is that in your times of trouble, when your back is against the wall, you are weighed down with anguish and grief and fear and doubts and perhaps even guilt.

[18:46] God is your first and best go-to and you run to Him. You look to Him. You turn to Him. You cry out to Him for help.

[18:59] Why? Because you are inwardly convinced by the spirit of adoption that He cares for you. You're His son. He's your loving Father.

[19:11] That's the work of the spirit of adoption. Billy Bray was a blaspheming coal miner in Cornwall, England.

[19:28] And the Lord gloriously converted him and he began to preach the gospel to his fellow miners. There were times when he was going down into the mine and gathered with the group waiting to get on the device to take them down.

[19:45] He'd fall on his knees and pray for his fellow miners and say, God, if someone must die today, let it be me. I'm ready to meet you. They're not. Billy Bray became a preacher of the gospel, mightily used of the Lord.

[19:58] and whenever he ran into some trouble or problem, Billy's response was, I must go and talk to Father about this. That's what the spirit of adoption creates in a man, a woman, a boy, or a girl.

[20:15] A sense that we always have one to go to and we know he cares for us. That's the spirit of adoption at work.

[20:26] That warm persuasion. So where do you go to? Where do you run in your times of distress and anguish and grief and desperation and need?

[20:38] To your heavenly Father? Do you have a heavenly Father? Do you know that he is your heavenly Father and that you are warmly accepted there?

[20:49] What a privilege. Well, we owe it to the indwelling spirit of adoption who's come just for that purpose to assure us that indeed Christ has purchased us for God by his blood on the cross.

[21:05] He is our Father. And then verse 16 speaks further of this work of the spirit of adoption and giving us assurance because even real children of God can be tormented with nagging doubts about whether or not we truly belong to the heavenly Father as sons.

[21:22] And the devil knows that his cause is advanced whenever he can shake the confidence of the believer. And so the devil's often found planting doubts about whether or not we truly belong to the heavenly Father as sons.

[21:39] Planting suspicions about the Father's heart toward us. Maybe when you're in great affliction, maybe caught in some sin, the devil has no scruples about kicking us when we're down.

[21:52] He then piles it on. How could you be a real Christian and do that again? How could you believe God is your heavenly Father when he lets this happen to you? And these things can shake our confidence, our assurance that he is my Father and he cares for me.

[22:12] And our heavenly Father knows we struggle with these things and that's why he said Spirit, go and convince them that I love them. and he's come on a mission to read the word of God with you and to say to you, do you see what he did for you?

[22:27] He gave his one and only son to be damned in your place. The Father loved you that much. What kind of love is that? Where do you find that kind of love? Christian, believe it.

[22:39] Believe it. And so he convinces us. That's the Spirit's work within us. And then verse 16 tells us that the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

[22:57] So that indwelling spirit of adoption is said to bear witness along with our own spirit. He's a co-witness and if he's a co-witness that means there's two witnesses and one of the witnesses is our own spirit as we read Romans 8 and we read 1 John and we read these passages that tell us if we're true children of God this is the response.

[23:23] We will love God. We will love his people. If we're true children we will obey his word. We will no longer be hostile towards him but love him and love his son and sons and daughters and the tests of sonship.

[23:38] We read them and we bear witness in our spirits. Yes. I am a child of God. I didn't used to love God. I didn't love his law.

[23:49] I fought him. At each point I was hostile toward him. I remember that and now my heart's been melted and I love him and I want to please him and I want to do what he wants.

[24:03] That's not me. That's something God has done. I've been born again. I've been adopted into his family. That's the witness that we have as we look at his word defining for us the evidences of a child of God.

[24:19] But then there's another witness besides ours. The spirit himself it says adds his witness to our witness and comes alongside comes within and he inwardly convinces us.

[24:34] Yes you are a child of the living God. It's true. What's needed for a credible witness in a court of law? Well someone to tell the truth right?

[24:48] One of the names of the spirit is he's the spirit of truth. It's who he is. It's what he is. He cannot lie. And he can do no other than tell the truth and he bears witness alongside of our spirit to the reality of God's grace in our lives.

[25:09] You are a new child of God John. He pours out the love of God into our hearts that we might know it, feel it, realize it, taste it.

[25:21] That's his job. Romans 5.5. He assures us it's true. You know it's a stupendous fact. It's not a small thing to believe as you sit there that the God who spoke and the world came into being is your father.

[25:36] father. That's not a small thing. It's huge and we need help to believe it. The spirit of adoption co-witness together with our spirit that we are in fact the children of God.

[25:52] God. And it's that double witness and that work of the spirit within us that inspires us to cry out to God in all of our troubles and all of our needs. Father.

[26:04] Father. by faith we see this great God as our father. Indeed Jesus teaches us to pray as we did earlier. Our father who art in heaven.

[26:16] That's how we address him. And it's the spirit that makes that real to us. What a powerful encouragement it adds to our praying to know that we're coming to him who is omnipotent and yet who is our father.

[26:35] How feeble our prayers when we don't know that for sure. Whether or not he is our father. We're like. But but as he assures us of it we're like that little boy with immediate access to the throne at any time of day because the king is his father.

[26:54] When he has a need he barges right in and he says daddy I need help. I need help. And so through Christ we have access to the father.

[27:06] And we come with confidence knowing he cares for us. Always ready and willing to help. So we what do we receive in adoption? We receive a new identity.

[27:17] We're sons of God. we receive the spirit of adoption to assure us of this glorious reality. We are the children of the living God such that we cry out to him for help.

[27:29] And now thirdly we are heirs to a glorious inheritance. You see it there in verse 17. Now if we are children it really is the idea of since we are children then we are heirs.

[27:43] Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. So adopted sons receive the full rights of the rest of the children including a full share in the inheritance that was left to the family.

[27:56] They were not treated any less. They had the legal status of a full child. Even so the child of God is an heir of God.

[28:09] And his inheritance is staggering. You know the father has a whole lot to give to his kids. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.

[28:20] How's that for starters? Our inheritance. Our inheritance is sometimes called eternal life.

[28:33] Our inheritance is everlasting salvation. It includes all that will be ours in the eternal state. A new heavens and a new earth.

[28:44] The home of righteousness. That's our inheritance. Where there will be no more curse. No more evil. No more death. As we heard in the Sunday school hour.

[28:56] A new world to which all things and in which all things will be made new. Perfected. A new body. Without the curse and suffering and pain and death.

[29:08] All that you read of in Revelation 21 and 22 in highly symbolic language because no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.

[29:20] The inheritance that he's awaiting to give to you. You remember the queen of Sheba, a great queen herself. Sheba, a great queen of Sheba, a great queen of Sheba, a great queen of Sheba, a great queen of Sheba, a great queen of Solomon's kingdom.

[29:35] She came from afar to see for herself if it matched what she heard. And when she came and saw, it took her breath away.

[29:50] And she said, the half has never been told. What I heard wasn't even half of reality. And the glory and splendor of Solomon's kingdom is nothing compared to the glory and splendor to be revealed in Christ's eternal kingdom when he comes again.

[30:09] A glory not only to be seen, but shared in. With his children.

[30:23] Who inherit the kingdom. Remember, Matthew 25 tells us what Jesus, the king, is going to say to those on his right in that last day.

[30:34] He's going to say, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the creation of the world. Inherited. It's yours.

[30:44] This is your inheritance. You're my children. Peter rejoices and praises God for this inheritance. Speaking of God the father, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.

[31:06] Reserved in heaven for you. You who have come to Jesus Christ and put your trust in him. This inheritance is not like the quickly spent inheritances of earthly fathers enjoyed here.

[31:22] We heard it in the Sunday school. Death is the end of all of that inheritance. But for the believer, it's the beginning of the best part of our inheritance.

[31:32] It brings us into the full ownership of all that God has planned for us to inherit. And it's a kingdom and an inheritance of which there is no diminishing, no perishing, no spoiling, no fading of our joy forever, but just one happy surprise after another for all eternity.

[32:00] The inheritance of the children of God. Now we need to be careful not to completely materialize our inheritance.

[32:12] It does include material blessings, hence the new body that we are to have, a material body raised from the dead. But our inheritance is so much more than material blessing.

[32:26] We have souls as well as bodies. Souls that were created for the full enjoyment of God himself. So in reading this text, that we children of God are heirs of God.

[32:46] Heirs of God. It not only means we are heirs of what God has to give us, but we are heirs of God. God himself is our inheritance, our portion forever.

[33:01] I am your shield and your very great reward, he tells Abraham. And so there are spiritual riches that are ours forever.

[33:12] Eternal life, which is to know the one and true God in Jesus Christ, to enjoy fellowship with him on a level none of us have ever experienced. We have the foretaste now.

[33:25] The down payment now, but the full blessing of communion with the Trinity. That is to come to to to love him with unsinning heart, to love him with with unweary mind that so quickly gets distracted by the earth.

[33:42] But to love him in that day with unsinning heart to be caught up in this this wonderful thing of loving and being loved forever and ever. That's the glory of Christ.

[33:53] And we're not only to see it, but we're to share in it. Now we see through a glass dimly, but then face to face. Face to face with Christ, my Savior face to face.

[34:08] Have you thought what that might be for you? What will it be to look into the eyes of the one who died for you, who came from heaven to redeem you and bought the gift of salvation for you and the spirit of adoption was his gift to you.

[34:30] And now the full inheritance and you stand before him face to face. Glory, glory. Oh, that will be glory for me.

[34:41] When by his grace, I shall look on his face. And when you bump into me in heaven, you won't be saying, Pastor John, have you seen the gates of pearl?

[34:54] Have you seen my mansion? But with bated breath, you'll be saying, John, have you seen him? You didn't tell us half the glory that is to be found in him.

[35:12] The lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. And that is the inheritance of the saints.

[35:22] He gives himself to us. It's a strange thing that he would claim us as his inheritance. And he himself would be our inheritance.

[35:36] He is happy with us as we are with him. That's glory, to be so loved. Why should I gain from his reward?

[35:49] I can't give an answer. Can you? Just to fall down in worship and to wonder at the grace of God in this glorious plan of salvation that would save us from being children of the devil and make us children of God in which he delights and counts us as his treasure, his inheritance forever.

[36:11] And we him lost in love and wonder and praise. But now notice again in verse 17, we're heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

[36:28] That's interesting. Not just heirs of God, but co-heirs, joint heirs with Christ. You know, it is only with Christ that we inherit anything.

[36:40] He himself is the firstborn son, the chief inheritor of all things from the father. And it is only ours because we are in Christ Jesus, joined to him.

[36:57] And in him, we are sons of God. And we therefore have an inheritance. Inheritance, just like marriage brings to you all the wealth of that guy you married, ladies.

[37:09] When you were joined in marriage, you got all of his wealth and all of his debts. But everything that was his became yours now. So it is when we were joined to Jesus Christ, the riches of his inheritance, the kingdom that the father gave to him, he now gives to us.

[37:30] And so we're heirs according to the promise only because we belong to Christ. Galatians 3.29. It's only because Christ died as a ransom to set us free from sin that we may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

[37:44] Hebrews 9.15. He merits, we inherit. He merits the reward. The father rewards him. And we inherit in Christ.

[37:58] Every spiritual blessing, ours in Christ, is ours in Christ. And it will take the endless ages in a new world to fully realize how rich he made us when he came from heaven and became poor, that he might make us rich.

[38:15] We will share in his glory. But there's something else that Christ's co-heirs share with him. Not only his glory. You notice it there. It's his sufferings.

[38:27] Verse 17b. If indeed. Yes, we are 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.

[38:40] Here's another characteristic mark of the children of God, of the co-heirs with Jesus Christ. They're like their elder brother, Jesus Christ. And so they are willing to suffer.

[38:53] To share in his sufferings. Hebrews 5.8 says, although he, Christ, was a son, he learned obedience by the things that he suffered.

[39:04] Some Puritans said that God had one son without sin, but no sons without suffering.

[39:16] It's all part of the school of affliction and sufferings by which he's preparing us for glory. It was the same school he had for the son of God.

[39:29] And that will be the same pattern and agenda for the, all the rest of the sons of God. It's sufferings now and glory to follow.

[39:42] Glory to come. That's the father's agenda for his children. And you've tasted that suffering in various ways.

[39:56] And then there's also the present evil world in which the devil runs wild and holds sway. If this world brought sufferings upon Christ, the perfect son of God, don't be surprised when it brings suffering for you.

[40:14] Remember, Jesus says that in John 15. If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first. And if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So, sons of God, you are now the lightning rods of the world's hostility and hatred for Jesus Christ, for your father, your elder brother, and for his laws.

[40:37] And they can't reach God the Father. They can't reach his son, Jesus Christ, anymore. They did, and when their hands could reach him, they nailed him to a cross.

[40:49] And now they can reach you. And they'll take out their angst against God the Father and God the Son and his laws against you.

[41:02] You know, our nation is more and more identifying us as the enemy of this nation. Because of our father and our elder brother and their laws, their righteous laws.

[41:16] And we who believe them and love them and love him for them are now the target for their hatred. Oh, it will happen, Paul says, for any who want to live godly in Christ Jesus in this world.

[41:31] There will be suffering. There will be persecution. Sons of God, we're not home yet. We're still not. We're still in enemy territory. And the reason this world does not know us and treat us like royal sons that we are is because they did not know him.

[41:48] And they nailed him to a cross. Are you going to be willing to suffer with Christ? That's the mark of the true sons.

[42:02] That's the mark of those who will inherit glory. Those who suffer with Christ will receive glory with Christ. But there's no sharing in Christ's glory where there's no sharing in his sufferings.

[42:17] But notice God's children suffer with Christ. We're heirs together with Christ. Yes, of his glory, but also of his sufferings.

[42:30] We never suffer alone. Remember, we're in Christ Jesus. We're joined to him. And so, in all our afflictions, he too is afflicted.

[42:44] And he pities us as we suffer for his namesake. And we're to rejoice because great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

[42:56] Oh, but Jesus suffered alone, didn't he? When all of his disciples left him. And left him all alone to suffer. Oh, we suffer, but never alone.

[43:10] We suffer, but there's no wrath in our suffering. There's only the Father's love. Oh, it is not in grief to harm me if his love is left for me.

[43:21] But he suffered alone. And he did have the Father's wrath that he suffered. And that's the one that's now suffering with you.

[43:34] In all your sufferings for him. This is the joy of those who are in Christ. Who are co-inheritors with him. Both of his sufferings and his glory.

[43:46] But child of God, suffering is not the end. But just as with Christ, this is the way to true glory. Our Savior suffered here. But he's not here anymore.

[43:57] Where is he? He's gone into glory. And because he, our head, is there. We, his body, will one day be there with him as well. Remember, we're in him. We cannot be separated from him.

[44:12] And so let's learn from our Savior to face suffering now by looking ahead to the glory that is coming. Even as for the joy set before him, he endured the suffering of the cross, the shame of the cross.

[44:24] And is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God in glory. What have we seen this morning?

[44:36] Well, we've seen the privilege of adoption. Someone has said that the greatest source of all our problems in the Christian life is just failing to live up to our privileges as sons of God.

[44:47] I've thought about that this week. How many of my problems are just my failure to live up to my privilege? God's my Father.

[45:01] He loves me. God's son. God's son. I'm his son. So we have this privilege of being adopted as God's son. This status.

[45:13] Hard to think of a higher honor than to be a son. I feel in Bremen, I'm honored to be a son of Bob Heaney. I feel in Bremen. That anyone has such an infinitely higher honor to be called a son of the living God.

[45:33] And that is what we are in Christ. But there's now a responsibility with that privilege. And that is to reflect the family likeness.

[45:45] To show the like father, like son. And to let his holy nature be seen in us. And so he forgave us.

[45:57] We're to forgive each other just as he forgave us. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love.

[46:07] So wonderful privilege to be the children of God. Now we're to do as father does. And as a young child looks at dad and does what he does, we're to imitate our father as his adopted sons.

[46:21] What have we seen this morning? We've seen the privilege of having the spirit of adoption living in us to assure us that God is our father. Well, what's my responsibility then if if he's living in me?

[46:33] Well, it's to be sure not to grieve him. Because to grieve the spirit whose work is to assure us is to damage your assurance.

[46:43] It's not to lose your salvation, but it's to lose the joy and peace and confidence of it. Joel Beakey says if the Christian cannot enjoy high levels of assurance if he persists in low levels of obedience.

[46:57] Because obedience grieves the spirit. And a grieved spirit will not be pouring out the love of God into your heart. So, glorious reality, the spirit of God has come to assure me.

[47:11] Oh, I want to be careful not to grieve him into silence that I might be hearing his witness. John, look how he loves you.

[47:22] Look how he's poor. And if I have lost that, then I need to do what we sang and repent and come and confess and find forgiveness again in that fountain open for sin and uncleanness.

[47:36] Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. What have we seen this morning? We've seen the privilege of being set free from a slavish fear of God as a judge who's coming to damn us.

[47:52] Inwardly persuaded that God damned his son in my place. That I might not be condemned so great his love.

[48:03] What's my responsibility? Oh, make use. Make use of this spirit of adoption. And go to this father. Go to him as the first one you turn to in your troubles.

[48:18] And cry out to him. Father, help. Help. He understands that word. We've seen the privilege of an eternal inheritance. Heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ.

[48:31] Though identifying with Christ now may bring suffering for Christ, it's leading us to the glorious future of the children of God. Let me close with an illustration that John Newton gave.

[48:48] What's the responsibility that we have being inheritors of all that is coming to Christ, co-inheritors with him?

[49:00] Well, at least one is contentment in our sufferings along the way. And Newton tells the story of a poor man who was on his way to Leeds to receive an inheritance that would make him so rich he could never spend it all in the rest of his life.

[49:17] And so he made the journey up to Leeds and just two miles out of town his horse-drawn carriage broke down. And this poor guy got out of his carriage and went whining and complaining the last two miles of the way.

[49:32] My carriage is broken. My carriage is broken. And Newton says children of God on their way to inherit the kingdom of God should be willing to go through a little suffering on the way without them blaming.

[49:55] Let what's just up around the bend just two miles ahead cheer us on our way even through our darkest nights our deepest griefs content why?

[50:11] Because glory is coming. It's just around the bend. Behold what kind of love is this that the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God and that is what we are.

[50:28] Is that what you are? Is that what you are? Do you know God as your Father? You can only know Him as your Father as you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

[50:43] Because He said no one gets to the Father except through me. I'm the way to the Father. Have you come to Christ? Have you made the full surrender of repentance and faith throwing your soul your guilty soul and Christ and trusting in His life His death to make you right with the Father then you're reconciled to God.

[51:04] He is your Father but if you have not yet come to Christ God is not your heavenly Father and you don't have a go-to in your times of trouble.

[51:15] You must go to yourself you must go to others but you don't have a heavenly Father who cares for you as His own dear children. I invite you to He invites you to come to Him.

[51:29] Jesus Himself says come to me and I'll make you children of the living God. You say but I'm disobedient to God's laws.

[51:41] I'm more like a child of the so were we all every single one of us children of the devil and we came and we threw our souls on Jesus and John 1 12 says as many as received Him and believed on His name to them He gave the right to be called children of God.

[52:04] He turns none away. He accepts all the children of the devil who will come to Him in repentance and faith and He'll make you a child of God forever. Let's pray. Oh Lord we pray that those that do not know the Lord Jesus and so have no heavenly Father that cares for them might even now make that surrender to Him in repentance and faith trusting upon a life they did not live and upon a death they did not die another's life another's death they might entrust their whole eternity.

[52:43]  Thank you that you turn none away Lord Jesus and we who are your children thank you for introducing us to the Father thank you for the glorious reality of the spirit of adoption within help us then to live as children of God perfecting holiness in reverence for our heavenly Father we ask in His name Amen without Mooji unto them a answer