You’ve Been Adopted
Text: Romans 8:12-17
Introduction
1. Illustration: This is my niece Beth, her husband Seth, and their adopted son Charlie. Isn’t he cute? Beth and Seth were unable to have a child of their own and so they decided to adopt. They went through several attempts to adopt and they all fell through at the last moment. Then they had the opportunity to fly to California to meet Charlie and decided to adopt his as their son. You may or may not be able to tell from his picture, but Charlie has down syndrome, along with other physical challenges. But to Beth and Seth he couldn’t be anymore perfect because he is their son!
2. Isn’t this the story of our salvation? We are all imperfect and sinful people. We chose to turn our backs on God and live a life of sin. But God, because he is so rich in mercy and loved us so much, chose to adopt us as his children by sending Jesus to die for us.
3. As a result, we have become not only the adopted children of God, but also joint heirs with Christ!
4. In our text today, Paul tells us three benefits of being adopted by God.
a. Power Over Sin
b. Children of God
c. Heirs of God
5. Let’s stand together as we read Rom. 8:12-17
Proposition: As the adopted children of God we have all the rights and privileges as Jesus!
Transition: First, Paul says as God’s adopted children we have the…
I. Power Over Sin (12-13).
A. No Obligation
1. Paul begins this section with a statement that ought to make all of us shout hallelujah!
2. After his discussion in the last chapter about doing what he didn’t want to do and being a wretched man, Paul says, “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.”
a. Life in the Spirit brings us into a new family relationship with God.
b. As believers we have been adopted as God's children and so we can cry out to their new Father and know that they are joint heirs with Christ.
c. Since we are in the Spirit, we have a new obligation, and that obligation is not to the sinful nature.
d. The word obligation denotes a “debtor,” someone who owes a debt. It also is used for “one who is under (any kind of) obligation.” Included in this is the idea of a moral binding to live in a particular manner.
(Thoralf Gilbrant, ed., “3645. ?fe???t??,” in Lambda-Omicron, (Springfield, MO: Complete Biblical Library, 1991), Under: "3645).
e. We have no have no debt or duty to the sinful nature. While we live lives in the flesh and are subject to worldly temptations, we owe nothing to our sinful nature, and we don't have to do what it tells us.
f. In other words, when temptation comes knocking at our door, we have no obligation to answer it, and every right to say, “No! Go away!”
3. This is a good thing, because in v. 13 Paul says, “For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.”
a. Paul doesn't finish his thought in verse 12, but instead digresses to give a warning concerning the sinful nature, because of the seriousness of the problem of fleshly temptation.
b. He makes his warning more direct by changing the pronoun (in the Greek) from "we" to "you."
c. He says, "For if you live by its dictates, you will die," and the structure of the Greek indicates the certainty of death.
d. The death here is not physical death but the more important spiritual and eternal death that is the reward of those who reject God and Christ.
e. Galatians 6:8 (NLT2)
8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.
f. Paul wants his readers to understand the seriousness of giving into the sinful nature. It is absolutely critical to refuse to surrender to the flesh; our eternal destiny is at stake.
g. Keep in mind that Paul is talking to Christians, people who have accepted Christ in their hearts. Now, our Calvinist friends believe that once you're saved you can't lose your salvation, no matter what you do.
h. In a sense so do we, but, unlike our Calvinist friends, we believe that we can give our salvation back and turn away from God.
i. One Calvinist scholar actually has a point when he says, "Paul insists that what God has done for us in Christ is the sole and final grounds for our eternal life at the same time as he insists on the indispensability of holy living as the precondition for attaining that life (Moo 1996: 494-495).
j. The answer of course is the Holy Spirit, through who you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature. The verb put to death is used in 7:4, where the believer has died to the law through the body of Christ. Here the believer dies to the sinful nature.
k. Back in 7:14-25 believers who try to live the Christian life in their own strength fail, but in the power of the Holy Spirit are able to put to death the flesh and find victory.
l. The Christian grows in holiness and defeats sin only when we follow the Spirit's leading and depend on his empowering.
4. Acts 1:8(NLT2)
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
a. As Pentecostals we often time lose the true meaning of this text.
b. We act like it says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will go out witnessing..."
c. Now, going out witnessing is something we most certainly should do, but that's not what it says! It says, "you will be my witnesses!"
d. Last time in checked you are a witness to Jesus just as much by what you do as what you say!
e. You can't tell people about what Jesus has done for you if nothing in your life has changed! But when we live by the Spirit and die to our fleshly desires we will live.
B. Already Victorious
1. Illustration: Outside of Christ, I am only a sinner, but in Christ, I am saved. Outside of Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. Outside of Christ, I am weak; in Christ, I am strong. Outside of Christ, I cannot; in Christ, I am more than able. Outside of Christ, I have been defeated; in Christ, I am already victorious. How meaningful are the words, "in Christ."
2. When we are led by the Holy Spirit, He gives us the power to say no to sin.
a. Galatians 5:16-18 (NIV)
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
b. Before we gave our lives to Christ, we were obligated to do whatever sin told us to do.
c. If it said do this, we did it; we had no choice.
d. But since we gave our lives to Christ and the Holy Spirit began living inside of us everything has changed.
e. We now have the power to say no to sin, temptation and the devil.
f. We now have the power, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to say, ‘get out of here devil! I don’t have to do what you tell me anymore!”
g. We now have the power to do what the Spirit says and to live lives of holiness.
h. We now have the power to say by the power of the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit I am free!!!
Transition: The next privilege of our adoption is we are now…
II. Children of God (14-16).
A. Children of God
1. Now, this is the really exciting part! You’re probably thinking, “Pastor, how can anything be more exciting than being able to say no to sin?”
2. We listen to this, in v. 14 Paul says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
a. The basis for the life we now have in the Spirit is the new relationship we have with God that the Spirit brings.
b. For all who are led by the Spirit defines how Christians put to death the desires of the flesh through the guiding power of the Spirit.
c. But it goes far beyond mere guidance. The Spirit must take control of every aspect of our lives and direct it towards God rather than the world.
d. This is a definition of the victorious Christian life to the extent to which the Spirit is directing our actions to which we are progressing in our process of holiness.
e. The idea is that those led by the Spirit compose the Children of God. This term, Children of God, refers to the new family relationship we have with God which was made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the work of the Spirit.
f. Israel's privilege of being the chosen people is duplicated in God's newly chosen people, the Gentiles, who along with all Jews who have faith in Jesus become the new children of God, the true Israel.
g. It is clear that in this chapter that we receive the Spirit when we are saved, so the leading of the Spirit is a sign of salvation rather than the basis of salvation.
h. But it can also be said that the lack of evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life should make us doubt the salvation of that person.
3. But wait, beloved, it gets better! Look what Paul says in v. 15, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
a. Paul clarifies this new relationship as children of the Father by contrasting two kinds of spirit, the spirit of slavery that produces fear and the Spirit of adoption that cries out Abba Father.
b. The word received points back to their conversion when they received the Spirit.
c. Paul is saying that their enslavement ended and their relationship as children began.
d. Instead, we have received the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit 'that goes with,' or 'pledges' adoption.
e. This adoption metaphor is unique to Paul and comes from the Greek practice. It shows the transformation not only from slave to freed person, but also freed person to adopted child.
f. This is a tremendous metaphor for salvation, because under Roman law the adopted child had all the legal rights and privileges that would normally be given to a natural child.
g. Furthermore, the emphasis is on the present status of the believer rather than future expectations. The Spirit doesn't produce fear in us but a sense of membership in God's family and the joy that goes with this wonderful new security.
h. This new security causes us to cry out Abba Father. This phrase combines two different words for Father. Abba is a transliteration of an Aramaic term of endearment used by children to address their father ("Daddy"). Father is the standard Greek word to refer to a father. This phrase is used only in the NT for God, with a focus on God's role as our caregiver and authority.
i. Whenever I read this word it makes me think of our dear Carol Hadberg. I loved to hear Carol pray because she always started every prayer I ever heard he utter with "My Father."
j. Whenever we cry out this prayer, we are acknowledging our new relationship to God as our loving Father and also celebrating our adoption into the sonship of Jesus.
4. If that wasn’t enough, look what Paul says in v. 16, “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”
a. When we receive the Spirit at salvation, we are not only aware of our adoption into God's family but we are also assured of our very salvation.
b. Here Paul moves from the tense that indicates our conversion to a present tense which indicates our continuing life in the Spirit, which emphasizes the ongoing witness of the Spirit within us.
c. The Spirit makes us aware that we have indeed been adopted as God's children and that this incredible new intimacy is a reality in our own lives.
d. Notice that Paul uses pneuma (the Greek word for Spirit) in two ways here for emphasis: The Holy Spirit testifies to our human spirit.
e. In addition, the actual word for testify means "to testify together with" so there is not just a single witness but a double witness: both the Holy Spirit and our own spirit testify to us that we belong to God's family.
f. There's no reason to doubt our salvation. Those who have come to faith in Christ need to listen to this double witness!
B. How Great A Love
1. Illustration: "Although I be oppressed with anguish and terror on every side, and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from thy presence, yet I am thy child, and thou art my father for Christ's sake: I am the beloved because of the Beloved" (Martin Luther).
2. God has given us the greatest honor; that of being called “His children!”
a. 1 John 3:1 (NLT2)
1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.
b. Anybody but me old enough to remember the song?
c. We turned away from God.
d. We rebelled against God.
e. We’ve said, “God we know more than you!”
f. And what we deserved was death.
g. But even after all of that, God has given us the greatest gift of all…He not only saved us, but he also called us His children.
h. He adopted us, even though we were fallen, sinful and imperfect.
i. After He sees us, after we have been covered in the blood of Jesus, He doesn’t see a sinner, He sees His child.
j. And He doesn’t see us as the redheaded stepchild, He sees us as His favorite child!
Transition: In addition to being His child, we are also…
III. Heirs of God (17).
A. We Are His Heirs
1. Paul now turn to another point: we are not only the children of God but also the heirs of God.
2. In v. 17, Paul says, “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
a. The inheritance theme is certainly a major biblical emphasis. In the OT it was first the land of Canaan that was Israel's inheritance.
b. In later writings Israel itself becomes God's inheritance or possession and Yahweh become Israel's inheritance.
c. In the NT and especially in Paul, the emphasis is on the close connection between sonship and inheritance.
d. Paul here combines the two, sonship leads to the inheritance of all the kingdom blessings, especially life in the fullest and final sense.
e. John 10:10(ESV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
3. Heir of God means that we receive our inheritance from God.
a. Because we are his adopted children, we are also his heirs.
b. But we are not just heirs with God, but we are also co-heirs with Christ.
c. In the Roman world the adopted child’s inheritance depended to some extent on the willingness of the natural child's willingness of the natural heir to include the adopted child.
d. This means that Christ as well as the Father gives us our inheritance.
e. Mark 10:29-30 (NLT2)
29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News,
30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.
4. Now Paul adds something that we would rather not think about: that if we want to share in his glory we have to be willing to share in his suffering.
a. If we are truly united with Christ as children and heirs, we are also united with him in his path to glory, which is suffering.
b. Philippians 3:10-11 (NLT2)
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
c. The idea is simple and profound: suffering is the path to glory!
d. Paul is clear here: Christians should expect to suffer. As believers we experience the glory of Christ as we share in his sufferings.
B. An Inheritance
1. Illustration: "The Son of God says to his fellow heirs: 'You will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' Thus, Christ leads his fellow heirs not only into part of the inheritance but into a sharing of his power" (Origen, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture NT, Vol. 6: Romans, 211).
2. God has not only made us His children, but He has also made us FULL heirs of His glory!
a. 1 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT2)
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,
4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
b. Beloved if this doesn’t get you excited you got the Rona and you’re on life support!
c. Not only are you free from the power of sin.
d. Not only are you the children of God.
e. Not only are you the heirs of God.
f. Not only are you co-heirs with Christ.
g. But your inheritance is priceless, pure, undefiled, and beyond the reach of change or decay!
h. I just saw that Dan Gilbert, who owns not only the Cleveland Cavaliers, but also Quicken Loans is worth 41.5 billion dollars. But his children’s inheritance is not guaranteed! Anything could happen, and he could end up penniless.
i. But not us! Our inheritance is being held in heaven for us, and no one can take it from us!
j. WE ARE THE HEIRS OF THE LINVING GOD!
Conclusion
1. In our text today, Paul tells us three benefits of being adopted by God.
a. Power Over Sin
b. Children of God
c. Heirs of God
2. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER…
a. YOU ARE NO LONGER OBLIGATED TO DO WHAT YOUR SINFUL NATURE TELLS YOU TO DO, ONLY WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT TELLS YOU.
b. YOU ARE THE ADOPTED CHILD OF GOD, AND HE LOVES YOU AS IF YOU WERE HIS OWN FLESH AND BLOOD!
c. YOU ARE THE HEIR OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD WHO OWNS THE CATTLE ON A THOUSAND HILLS!
