Are You Truely A Child Of God?

Title: Are you truly a child of God?

Before we came to Belize we owned a screen printing business. In case you don’t know what that is, it is a company that applies images to t-shirts and other textile products. One day a man came to the counter wanting us to print several designs for him. When he pulled the designs out of his briefcase I was surprised to see they were vulgar, even pornographic. I said "I’m sorry we can’t print these" and explained to the man that we were Christians. The man became quite angry and stormed out of the office. Later that day I received a threatening phone call from the man. He told me he was going to make an example of me... During the conversation he stated. "Aren’t we all the children of God?" This is not only a great question; it is an important question!

Today I find that almost everyone thinks they are a child of God. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are Hindu, Buddhist, animist, new age or Christian or none of the above, almost everyone seems to hold the belief that they are a child of God. But is that true? Have you ever wondered who the real children of God are? Does God possibly have anything to say about this?

Some people trust in the fact that they grew up in a Christian household. I once had a customer who was heavily involved in the occult and hypnotism and who also insisted that he was a Christian. I asked him, "Why do you think you are a Christian?" "Well", he said, "because I have just always been one."

Others trust in the fact that they are religious.

Once a man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy street. Suddenly, the light turned yellow in front of him. He stopped at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she had missed her chance to get through the intersection.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ’What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ’Choose Life’ License plate holder, the ’Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car!"

Does being a "Christian" mean that you are a child of God? Would you like to know for sure if you are God’s child? Today, I want to challenge you to examine yourself by God’s Word to see if you are truly His child.

In Romans 8 verses 9-17 the apostle Paul addressed this issue of being a child of God If you have not found the passage yet, would you please turn to it as we answer the question: How do you know if you are a child of God?

The apostle Paul wrote this letter we now know as "Romans" to a group of gentile Christians living in Rome. Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire, but it was also a center for Pagan worship. In the midst of all the religious activity going on around them, Paul wanted the Christians to have concrete ways to be certain they were the Children of God. He presented a great Biblical truth in Romans, which he also declared in I Corinthians 4:20. He said "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." This statement contradicts the popular belief that simply claiming to be a child of God is enough. How can you tell if you are truly a child of God? In our text this morning Paul tells us plainly that a real child of God is lead by the Spirit of God and that a real child of God is confirmed by the Spirit of God. Won’t you please join me today as we consider who are the real children of God

Lets look first at how a real child of God is led by the Spirit of God. Paul makes the point in verses 9 thru 11 that if you are a child of God then the Spirit of Christ must be in you. He said "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" This is the BIG dividing line right here. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ within them are on one side of the line. God says that these people are not His. They don’t belong to Him. He is not their Father. On the other side of this great dividing line, we have those people that have the Spirit of Christ...and they are Gods Children.