Christians: We Are Part Of The Family Of God! Series

Christians: We Are Part of the Family of God!

The Book of Romans

Romans 8:6-17 (Reading vs. 1-17)

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - July 17, 2016

(Revised January 6, 2021)

MESSAGE:

*I love my family! And they love me, even though I'm not always so lovable. I can't think of anything more important than our families, except for one thing, and that is being part of God's family.

*Tonight, we will focus on one of the most wonderful truths in the whole Bible: The truth that when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, His Father becomes our Father, and we become part of the family of God!

*But think about how you become part of a family. Basically, there are only three ways: Marriage, birth, and adoption. God uses a spiritual version of all three to make us a part of His family.

*First: Marriage: Most of us know that the Bible calls Jesus the Bridegroom, and God's Church is the Bride of Christ. There are at least 7 or 8 key passages that talk about this truth.

*For example, in Ephesians 5:22-33, God gives us His wonderful plan for marriage, and it is based on God's plan for Jesus and His Church. Listen to part of what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:

25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,

26. that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27. that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

29. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

30. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.

31. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.''

32. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

*When we respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are miraculously saved, and we become part of the spiritual Bride of Christ.

*We also become part of God's family by birth! When we believe in Jesus, we are born again into God's family by the Holy Spirit of God. John 1:11-13 talks about this truth and says this about Jesus:

11. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name:

13. who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

*Jesus also talked about this new spiritual birth in John 3:5-7. There the Lord told Nicodemus:

5. "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'"

*When we trust in Jesus, we are literally, spiritually born again, and we have two birthdays! This miraculous gift of new life is absolutely essential for salvation, and it is always the work of God's Holy Spirit.

*We also become part of God's family by adoption, and we will cover this in our Scripture tonight. But Christians: Praise the Lord, we are part of God's family! What does this mean for our lives?

1. FIRST TONIGHT, IT MEANS WE BECOME A HOME FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT.

*Everyone who receives Jesus as Lord and Savior becomes a home for God's Holy Spirit. And receiving the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. Here's why:

-In vs. 6, having God's Spirit takes us from death to life: "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

*In vs. 7-9, having God's Holy Spirit also makes it possible for us to please God:

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. . .

*In the last part of vs. 9, having God's Spirit is also proof of us belonging to Jesus, because "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."