Living Like Sons and Daughters

Just grab our bibles. Thank you, brom Grab our bibles and turn to

Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. If you don't have a Bible with

you, just raise your hand. We're passing those out right now. And

also if you don't have a bulletin, that's gonna be helpful because there's sermon

notes on the back of that. So just raise your hand and keep it

up if you need a Bible or a bulletin, and then turn to Romans

chapter eight. We're gonna be in verses twelve through seventeen. And as you

turn there, read along as our brother comes and recites our scripture passage for

us, be encouraged by that, be encouraged, be blessed by God's worried

this morning, Romans eight, twelve through seventeen. So, then, brothers,

we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the

flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,

you will live. For all who are led by the spirit of God are

sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall

back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by

whom we cry Abbah Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that

we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of

God and fellow errs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that

we may also be glorified with Him. This is God's word. Amen.

Amen. My wife and I have a handful of people in our life who

have no qualms about just coming into our house and eating whatever is in the

refrigerator. If they have to get somewhere, they just tell us, and

they expect that we're going to work our schedules around getting them there. If

they've got a problem, it automatically becomes our problem. And when we die,

they get all our money. There are sons and daughters, daughter,

and I think they're pretty special people, but those privileges have nothing to do

with them as people. They're just our sons and daughters. It's a kind

of remarkable relationship when you think about it. And here in Romans chapter eight

proceeded of course by Roman chapter seven, in which Paul was describing a very

different kind of relationship. There in seven, he's talking about a relationship of

slavery to sin of being under the law attempted by the flesh. He called

it miserable. But here in eight he says, what needs to be understood

is that because of the Gospel, by the Holy Spirit, those united to

Christ, the Son of God, have become sons and daughters of God themselves.

It's a pretty remarkable relationship. The question is do you live like it?

Maybe another question is do you know what it would be to live like

a son or a daughter of God? Well, our passage here actually gives

us specifics which may or may not correspond with your ideas. So let's look

at it. Because if we're gonna boil this down into one sentence, I

think it would be this Christians have been given a relationship with God as sons

and daughters and been giving given a calling to live like it. That's gonna

mean a certain fight, it's gonna mean a certain fellowship, and it's gonna

mean a certain future. A fight, a fellowship, and a future.

Let's look at it. Let's look at the fight. Why do I say

fight? I say fight because part of what it means to be a son

or daughter of God is that you will be led by the spirit of God

to be killing sin. The passage says, might have been the first thing

that came to your mind when you say I'm going to live like a child

of God. This is the first thing that comes up in this passage.

Look at verses thirteen and fourteen. For if you live according to the flesh,

you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the

deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by

the Spirit of God are sons of God. Now, last week we talked

more generally about what it means to be led by the spirit. So you

listen to the podcast. But here here, what you should notice is that

the apostle has in mind regarding being led by the spirit. He has in

mind this killing sin. Right, if by this spirit you put to death

the deeds of the body, by deeds of the body, Paul is just

talking about sins, sins which proceeds from sinfulness, right, And he says

this about living as a son or a daughter of God. By the spirit

you put sins to death. This verse Romans eight thirteen is the seed verse.

It's the seed verse of John Owen's most famous book, The Mortification of

Sin of the eighty books or so that John Owen wrote, that's the most

famous one. There's a copy of it in the lobby. You know,

you can just go look at display and order one yourself. Super helpful.

I'll reference it several times this morning, you know. John Owen is my

guy. But mortification of sin, the killing, the killing of sin.

And before he gets to thirteen, the Apostle leads up to it with verse

twelve by saying, so, then, brothers, we are debtors. Not

we are obligated. Not. We are bound not to the flesh anymore,

to live according to the flesh, This fleshly realm, these fleshly desires and

priorities. They don't hold us captive anymore. We have eternal aspirations. For

if you live according to the flesh, you will die. If you live

constantly and consistently tethered just to fleshly desired, that desires, tethered just to

fleshly priorities, the result will be every kind of death. And it will

confirm a lack of real relationship with God. Because verse fourteen, all who

are led by the spirit of God are sons of God, meaning that by

the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body. If you do

that, you will live. It's a prescription. It's a prescription for experiencing

this life that we have with God and experiencing it with all of the comfort,

comfort and vigor that should attend life with the Father. The prescription is

be killing sin, and it's a description. It's a description of what it

looks like. We started this morning with what does it look like to live

like a son or daughter of God? Here's a part of what it looks

like killing sin. As John Owen said, be killing sin or it will

be killing you. You have to realize you are in a lifelong fight with

a poisonous snake in your life and all her hatchlings, and she won't be

fully and finally dead until this life is over. But you can be crushing

her pretty good, pretty consistently, and we need to be We're killing sin

or it will be killing you. And don't for a second think that if

if that snake is like sort of like out of you for you, that

she has lost in interest in killing you, She's found a hiding spot from

which to strike. So if at any point you're like, yeah, I

really don't know what's going on with sin in my life these days? Be

careful where you put your foot next, and and don't take one of her

hatchlings as a pet into your bedroom. Right, it's just like this,

Sin is so harmless, it's so cute. I love it so much.

I know many who have experienced all kinds of death because they had a pet

Sin they refused to kill. Don't ever take your foot off of her,

don't ever stop exterminating her brood. Be killing sin, or it will be

killing you. Now. I think that there are some really practical implications courtesy

of John Owen, some very practical implications we should explore regarding this phrase.

Here, by the spirit you, by the spirit you did you notice that

if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body. So

by the spirit you, does that mean that the spirit is killing sin?

Or does that mean that you are killing sin? Yes? She was in

class earlier today. Yes. Yes. In other words, that means that

you don't leave killing sin to the Holy Spirit in some passive, uninvolved sense.

Right by the spirit you you do it, You kill kill sin,

And yet it's still by the spirit and must be by the spirit. This

is not a matter of mere human effort. It cannot be, as John

Owen would say something like by this means no sin would ever herewith be ever

mortified, or something like that. If you read If you read Owen,

you know what I mean. It's not mere human effort to say, well,

that does that mean I'm supposed to feel like some weird spiritual electricity in

my muscles when I'm doing the right thing. No, this doesn't mean something

weird, but it does mean something real. Because it's by the Spirit that

we kill sin, that means there's gonna involve, it's gonna be there's going

to be involved some real asking, some real asking. We are asking the

Holy Spirit to work through us to kill sin. And if we find that

we're going about living in such a way as to hope to kill sin,

but never asking the Holy Spirit to attend our efforts, then the question is

really are we trusting him to do it? Or are we really really trusting

ourselves as if we could, There better be some real asking. And because

it's by the Spirit, that means there's gonna be some real obeying, real

obeying. Real obeying means that we're not playing hypocritical time and space games with

the Holy Spirit. Right, so, Holy Spirit, please help me kill

this sin. But not yet. Let's let's go easy, Holy Spirit,

all right, let's strangle this sin slowly, or Holy Spirit, please help

me kill this sin right here, because it's very troublesome in my life.

It is causing all kinds of relationship problems. But this sin over here,

let's just let's just wait a minute. And chances are the conviction that you're

gonna get from the Holy Spirit is gonna be and the spirits like, are

you gonna play games with me? Or do you really want my power at

work? Real asking, real obeying, and real trusting, real trusting,

Because it's by this spirit we trust his presence, and we trust his power,

and we trust his promises, not our own actions in some mechanistic,

humanistic way, thinking that if we do X and y, we will accomplish

what we desire to do by our own human efforts, or to ask,

in another way, where's your faith at? In whom have you placed your

faith? And so often the answer for every one of us is in me,

in myself. But if by the spirit you put to death of deeds

as the body, it means by the Spirit. There's going to be real

asking, there's going to be real obeying, and there's going to be real

trusting, because that's what it looks like to live as a son of God

or as a daughter of God. You put to death that which dishonors God,

and you do it by the power of God. There's a fight,

there's also a fellowship, and that's where Paul goes next fellowship. What am

I getting at, Well, I'm getting at this idea of enjoying your relationship

with the Father. Look at seven sorry, fifteen and sixteen for you did

not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, that you've received

the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry abba Father. The Spirit

himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This is

the kind of relationship that we have with the Father. This is the fellowship

that we have and can enjoy with the Father. Some things to notice,

there are four things to notice. It's not slavish. It's not slavish.

It's not inherent, it's not inherent, it's not incomplete, and it's not

unknowable. It's not slavish or inherent incomplete or unknowable. What I mean by

slavish Well, it says right here in the text, you didn't receive a

spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Now, I don't think.

I don't think that Paul is saying that there's a spirit of slavery. I

don't think he's referring to a spirit, but rather, this is This is

a rhetorical phrase saying you have received the spirit, and the spirit's not like

that. This is God saying specifically, our relationship with Him is not marked

by slavish fear. Yeah, I mean there's a sense in which we are

slaves of God. There's a sense in which that's true. Right, we

are redeemed, we are purchased by the blood of Christ. There's a sense

in which we should fear God. Right, he is awesome and he is

holy. So those things are true. Yet, our awesome and holy God

has established a certain relationship with you, and that relationship is father and son,

father and daughter. It's not a place of slavish fear, or it

shouldn't be, I would say, Christian, if your relationship to God is

marked by a slavish fear, then you might need to ask yourself, if

you really believe that Christ has taken every drop of punishment, you could receive

every drop he has drained the cup dry. You can enjoy your Father without

fear of punishment. And if you're here and you're not a Christian yet,

I would say it may be possible that one thing holding you back from stepping

into the Christian faith may be the observation that there are those who are professing

Christians that seem to live a life of slavish fear. That was something that

held me back when I wasn't a Christian. I observed that, and I

would say there's two things to really know about that. You should know that.

Number One, that kind of living living fearfully is not caused by Christianity.

It's contra to Christianity. You can see the Apostle is working in this

passage to unseat that kind of relating to God. The Apostles is saying,

it's not like that. He's saying, if Christians really understood the mercy and

grace that is at the center of their relationship with God because of Jesus,

then this attitude of slavish fear would be gone. And I would also tell

you that this slavish fear is the natural result of a relationship with any God

that doesn't have mercy and grace at its center, right, which is why

we see people living in that kind of fear. Who worship business success right

because so failure equals despair, or who worship beauty and fitness, or who

worship family. And I am a slave in fear of how my kids are

going to turn out, or I am a slave in fear of what my

parents are going to think of me. But the life of the Christian understanding

the Gospel should be free of slavish fear to any of those things, and

even to God, because the Gospel is that in Christ, our relationship with

God is marked, is centered on mercy and grace. We're free to enjoy

the Father, and we're free to enjoy His blessings of business and beauty and

family with an open hand. It's not slavish, and it's not inherent.

It's not inherent this relationship. You notice that it's the spirit of adoption.

It's the spirit of adoption. None of us are born as God's son and

daughters, not in this sense. I mean, we're all born as you

know, we're all God's creation for children of God in that sense, for

children of God in that we were made in His image. But here God

is conveying a meaning of family of his representatives, his heirrs a remarkable relationship,

and he's saying this, whether you're Jew or gentile, the only way

you become my sons and daughters is if you are adopted through Jesus. It's

not about you. It's about me adopting you. Whether you grew up a

goodie two shoes or you grew up a filthy no shoes, it's not about

you. Your relationship with Me is in inherance to you. You can you

can forget your background and enjoy the Father. It's not inherent. It's not

incomplete. It's not incomplete. You notice we've received a spirit of adoption,

by which the spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cried, abba

Father, here's our father. It's a done deal in Jesus Christ. It

is complete. We're not waiting for something. We're not waiting for you to

accomplish something to be his daughter. I talked to an adoptive father this week

about this passage. He said, when I adopted my son's I had no

idea what was going to happen, but something did happen when we completed that

adoption process. Something happened inside me when I looked at those boys and I

realized recognized these are my sons. They are completely my sons, and I

am completely their dad. It's done, and I love them, and something

is meant to happen in us. Something is meant to happen in us,

recognizing the completion that has taken place in Jesus Christ such that we cry,

Abba, Father, he's ours, You're his. So if there is still

something that you feel needs to be completed in order to rest in your relationship

with God, you may need to ask yourself if you truly believe you received

the spirit of adoption through Jesus Christ, or whether or not you characterize that

spirit as one of attainment or achievement or accomplishment. Because it's done, Enjoy

your Father. It's not incomplete, it's not unknowable. Verse sixteen. It's

not unknowable. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children

of God. This verse says that there's a way, or there are ways

that the Spirit of God bears witness testifies to the internal spirit of the believer

that he is a son of God, that he is a son of God,

or she is a daughter of God. And a lot of people are

curious about it because they may lack the internal assurance that they want. And

usually the question goes like this, is there some sort of special warm feeling

of acceptance from God that I'm supposed to be feeling all the time? I

would say that there certainly can be occasions of that. I have experienced something

like that in more than one time in my life, and others have two.

But whether you do or don't, I don't think although that maybe included

what Paul's thinking here, I don't think that's at the center of his focus,

that kind of feeling. And here's why, because the work of the

Spirit that is discussed throughout this whole passage is mainly twofold. One he is

leading believers to be killing sin, and two he is leading believers to trust

that they live without condemnation. He's doing those two things in the life,

heart and soul of a believer. And I think that those are the main

ways that the spirit bears witness to our spirit that we're his right if we

follow his leading on our consciences to kill sin, and we take steps of

faith to do it. The Spirit bears witness, saying, yes, that's

the kind of power of God that is provided to the sons of God and

the daughters of God to walk in the righteousness of God. And then as

we confess what sin we still see in our hearts, and we trust in

the cross of Jesus Christ his work as payment for it all, the Spirit

bears witness and says, yes, that's the kind of grace that God has

for his sons and daughters in the Gospel. You can know your relationship with

God as defined by His Spirit in his word, in power over sin and

forgiveness for sin. You can know it and enjoy it. I enjoy this

fellowship. Do you need a reminder to enjoy the Father? I do?

This past week was Valentine's My wife and I went out for a long dinner.

We didn't care how many people were waiting for a table. We were

taking our sweet time, just enjoying, just enjoying each other, just enjoying.

Now we have a deeply functional relationship. I mean, there's the raising

of kids in the getting of groceries and the paying of bills and the cooking

of food, and there's all kinds of things that we're doing. And yet

there's also an aspect of just enjoying our relationship. She is my wife,

I am her husband, and I can just enjoy that like that. You

have a relationship with God to enjoy. You know, yes, it's deeply

functional. You are killing sin, and you're making disciples, and you're planting

churches. And he is your father and you are his son, you are

his daughter, and you can just enjoy that. I often need this reminder,

Pastor Josh, you are busy and bothered about a great many things,

but only one is needed, and if you will choose that portion, it

will not be taken away from you. Enjoy the fellowship you have with the

Father. So how do be under ten? Being God's sons and daughters?

Theirs the fight and by the spirit we put to death those things that dishonor

the Father. Right, there's the fellowship and we enjoy this relationship of settled

togetherness because of Jesus. Lastly, there's a future, a future. Look

at verse seventeen. Verse seventeen says, and if children then heirs, heirs

of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order

that we may also be glorified with him. So in one verse, Scripture

fixes our eyes on the two most prominent aspects of our future as sons and

daughters of God, glory and guesses Yeah, thanks suffering, right, one

of the most prominent aspects of our future is glory south. The apostle finishes

the verse, glorified with him. That's what he has in mind, is

he's calling us heirs heirs of God, co errs with Christ. That in

Christ we are coming recipients of glory and blessing and eternity forever with Him.

That future should always be in our frame of view if we're going to have

anything like a proper perspective on what's happening in our lives. These days.

We are pilgrims, we are passing through this world is not our own,

and in a season we're going to be with God, our father, and

our co heir Jesus. But there's also this aspect of our future, Suffering

says provided provided we suffer with him in order that provided that we suffer with

him in order that it's quite a caveat raises a couple of questions like what

kind of suffering? Like what has provided? That mean? I'm going to

answer those two questions, then we're going to take the Lord's supper. So

what kind of suffering is in view here? Well, in this passage there's

a variety of suffering, all right. The passage has just been talking about

the suffering of temptation, overcoming temptation, and killing sin. That's certainly a

part of the suffering that we experience as sons and daughters of God, just

as Christ did. He was tempted in the wilderness. That's a suffering,

though he overcame every temptation, And the end of the chapter there's a whole

Schmorgess port of suffering. Look at verse thirty five. Who shall separate us

from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or

nakedness or danger or sword. It's suffering like that or some at some level,

that we are told to expect in this life as God's sons and daughters.

It certainly was for Christ. He was rejected, he was ridiculed,

he was crucified. But I don't think that God's focus here is so much

on the type of suffering as the one with whom you are suffering. You're

suffering with Christ. You are fighting sin with love for Christ. You are

enduring persecution or ridicule with a communion with Christ. There's a broad way in

which we suffer with him. Well, what does it mean provided that provided

we suffer with him in order that does does that mean that we have to

earn our inheritance of glory through some sufficient course of suffering? Right? If

we suffer enough, and then you've attained to deserving glory. Now, but

it's this, if you're in Christ, that is going to be shown through

suffering, because our life with Christ looks like the life of Christ, first

suffering, then glory. It's exactly what Christ communicated to his disciples that they

have such a hard time receiving. All Right, Peter says, you are

the Christ, you are the Son of God. And Jesus says, that's

right, Peter, And that means I'm gonna suffer and I'm gonna be crucified.

And He's like, no way, that can't be how this goes.

That's exactly how this goes. It has to happen. It was necessary that

the Christ was to suffer and then enter his glory, not just because the

Old Testament said it would happen, but because the Old Testament said, that's

how these promises will all be fulfilled. Because of the atoning sacrifice of that

son, the spirit be poured out on you as sons, that those who

were once called not my people would be called the sons of the Living God.

That's how, by faith you trust that the suffering of the Son is

how you were made a son. So by faith you share in the suffering

with the Son, and in the glory with the Son. That's what it

means to be sons and daughters of God. The fight and by God's spirit

we kill what dishonors the Father the fellowship. Because of the Gospel, we

enjoy a relationship with a father. In the future. We have a cross

shaped life, suffering, then glory