Dale Partridge - Born Again as Heirs of God - Romans 8_16-17

00:00:01.000 Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about this beautiful chapter of Romans 8.

00:00:08.180 We've been learning about the contrast between the two identities, sorry this is moving here,

00:00:14.440 the two identities that are existing in the world. You are either one of these two realities,

00:00:21.560 someone that's walking in the flesh or someone that is walking in the spirit. We've also seen

00:00:27.500 the corresponding actions that go with these identities we've seen that the

00:00:35.180 people of the Spirit of God will be ruled by the Spirit of Christ and that

00:00:40.280 they will have hearts and lives and decisions that are animated by

00:00:43.620 righteousness we've also seen that the people of the flesh are going to be

00:00:48.360 ruled by sin and by self and that their decisions and that their hearts and their

00:00:55.040 lives will be animated, not by righteousness, but by lawlessness. Galatians 5, 19-21 talks

00:01:05.900 about the works of the flesh. It says, now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual

00:01:12.040 immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of

00:01:21.300 anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

00:01:30.660 Now what does this actually look like? What does this actually look like in someone's

00:01:35.140 life? Because I don't know about you, but I feel like I see this everywhere.

00:01:41.820 What it looks like, practically speaking, is that somebody is going to be living

00:01:46.420 with a love for pornography.

00:01:50.080 They're going to have indulgent moments 0.99

00:01:53.020 where they're lusting after sexual deviancy.

00:01:56.900 You're going to see it in immodesty.

00:02:00.000 These people are going to make an idol

00:02:02.220 out of comfort and pleasure and money.

00:02:06.060 And they're going to serve those things as gods.

00:02:09.260 While they might not bow down physically,

00:02:11.420 their heart is bowed down before them.

00:02:13.260 because they're spiritual beings.

00:02:16.620 They're going to worship, but they're not going to worship Christ.

00:02:20.260 They're going to worship self.

00:02:22.460 They're going to worship naturalism.

00:02:24.620 They're going to worship Buddhism.

00:02:26.460 They're going to worship yoga.

00:02:28.040 They're going to worship the stars, whatever it might be.

00:02:30.700 It's going to be essentially an illegitimate form of worship,

00:02:35.900 but spiritual beings must worship and they will worship.

00:02:39.120 but they'll do it in a way that is not for Christ.

00:02:45.540 More than that, these people are going to be outwardly civil.

00:02:48.560 They might function in a job.

00:02:51.460 They might have children.

00:02:54.000 They might be able to maintain relationships,

00:02:56.580 but in their heart is going to be filled with evil and hate

00:03:01.180 because true love is absent from the person who does not know Christ.

00:03:06.540 1 John 4, 7-8 says,

00:03:09.120 For love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

00:03:17.480 Think about that statement for a second.

00:03:19.880 Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

00:03:24.300 The implication of the opposite is that if you do not know God, you do not know love.

00:03:28.560 And it says in verse 8, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

00:03:34.760 You might see that marriage without Christ, and they might call it love.

00:03:39.120 But it's not love according to God.

00:03:44.180 Because they lack true love, what will they do?

00:03:46.180 They will gossip and they will envy either in their mouth or in their heart.

00:03:52.880 They're going to speak evil and divide people.

00:03:57.160 And because of the piling guilt upon their conscience that God gave them,

00:04:01.780 they will continue to figure out ways to deal with that through substances,

00:04:06.000 whether it's food or alcohol or pills or some form of addiction.

00:04:10.760 They're going to deal with that way so they could suppress the conviction of repentance.

00:04:16.380 That's what it actually looks like.

00:04:20.200 Those are the people that are around us that know Christ.

00:04:23.940 That was you before you knew Christ.

00:04:29.820 A pastor once said to me, everyone knows they have something to be forgiven for.

00:04:36.000 But without the gospel, they have no idea who to be forgiven by.

00:04:42.920 I say all this because the solution from moving from the flesh to the spirit,

00:04:49.680 which is essentially the discussion of today, is not go be better.

00:04:55.680 It's go be new.

00:04:58.060 It's a massive distinction.

00:05:00.840 It's not go to church.

00:05:02.680 It's not read your Bible.

00:05:04.780 It's not obey the Ten Commandments, while those are great things.

00:05:08.340 The solution is to be made new.

00:05:12.160 The question is, have you been made new?

00:05:15.360 Lots of people in the American church have come to church but never came to Christ.

00:05:20.340 There are people who are moralists, religiosity, churchianity,

00:05:25.180 believing that they're saved and truly they are not.

00:05:27.800 The only thing worse, as Steve Lawson says,

00:05:29.920 the only thing worse of not having the assurance of salvation is having the false assurance of

00:05:36.360 salvation. That's terrifying. Jesus says there is a way to be made new. John chapter 3, verse 3

00:05:51.360 through 7, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the

00:05:58.260 Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is

00:06:04.360 flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I

00:06:09.420 said to you, you must be born again. In other words, the only way to bridge this

00:06:15.960 chasm between the rule and identity of the flesh and the rule and identity of

00:06:22.680 the spirit is to be born again. That must happen. I have a question for you. How much

00:06:34.600 involvement did you have in your natural birth? How much involvement? None. Did you

00:06:44.440 decide to be born? Of course not. It's a foolish question. This is exactly why Jesus chose to use

00:06:51.980 this metaphor to describe the spiritual reality of being spiritually resurrected, or what we call

00:06:57.740 being born again. It is universally understood that you have no involvement in the process of

00:07:04.040 your own birth. This is a fact. Christians today believe that salvation, moving from the flesh

00:07:12.820 to the spirit, they have the understanding in the American church that it works like this.

00:07:20.680 Repentance plus faith equals born again. That's what they believe. You essentially born yourself

00:07:28.000 again. Billy Graham actually wrote a book called How to Be Born Again, as if it's something you

00:07:34.960 can do. The Bible teaches the exact opposite. The Bible says being born again will result in some

00:07:46.300 sort of spiritual awareness because you've been spiritually resurrected and it will lead to

00:07:51.380 repentance and faith. Now, as you guys know, if you guys were here the last couple of weeks,

00:07:58.000 a few verses earlier in Romans 8, Paul said, if you look back in your Bible, it says,

00:08:01.580 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

00:08:13.280 Indeed, it cannot.

00:08:16.040 End quote.

00:08:17.800 1 Corinthians 2.14 says,

00:08:19.640 The natural person, the person in the flesh, pay attention here, folks.

00:08:24.460 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.

00:08:31.580 for they are folly to him.

00:08:34.860 And he is not able to understand them

00:08:38.560 because they are spiritually discerned.

00:08:41.520 You can't spiritually discern something

00:08:43.260 if you're spiritually dead.

00:08:45.100 You're in the flesh.

00:08:47.240 So if we are hostile towards God,

00:08:51.020 not accepting the things of God

00:08:53.960 and cannot submit to God's law,

00:08:56.940 how are you as a Christian here today now loving God submitting to God's law

00:09:06.900 loving spiritual things how did that happen were you the catalyst of your

00:09:14.880 conversion from the flesh to the spirit were you the one who did this did you

00:09:20.700 of your own will make a decision that scripture says that you cannot make

00:09:26.940 Think about that for a second.

00:09:29.760 Have you attributed the catalyst of your salvation to you?

00:09:36.980 Jesus says no, because in John chapter 6, 44, he says,

00:09:43.040 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

00:09:52.040 No one can come to Christ.

00:09:53.800 it's contingent unless the father does something first in you. The first cause of your salvation

00:10:03.480 was God, not you. So what happened? What happened? How did you go from being an orphan of Satan

00:10:15.960 to being a child of God? This should be of the most importance to your heart and mind to understand.

00:10:23.800 How did you go from hating God

00:10:26.380 to crying out, Abba, Father?

00:10:33.900 You had a second birth.

00:10:36.860 That's what happened.

00:10:38.780 You had a second birth.

00:10:41.260 God resurrected you from your deadness

00:10:43.520 and sin in the flesh

00:10:44.720 and transferred you from the darkness

00:10:47.860 to his glorious kingdom of light.

00:10:51.280 He did that when you were unwilling.

00:10:55.000 He did that without your permission.

00:10:59.020 He did that in the same way that he raised Lazarus from the dead.

00:11:03.100 Did he ask Lazarus, hey, can I resurrect you?

00:11:06.520 Of course not.

00:11:08.020 It was a sovereign work of God.

00:11:12.240 1 Peter 1.3 says,

00:11:13.700 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

00:11:16.680 Yes, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.

00:11:22.780 He did it.

00:11:25.040 It should frustrate you when we attribute our spiritual resurrection to our own action.

00:11:34.480 It's a form of spiritual plagiarism.

00:11:37.120 It's a form of not giving credit where credit is due.

00:11:40.220 and I say this because we live in a time where many people have you have attributed the adoption

00:11:51.460 of God to our own quote free will decision I've said this many times we have a will it's just

00:12:00.160 never free it's either enslaved to sin or it's enslaved to Christ the only one with a truly

00:12:08.780 free will is God we are dependent upon so many second causes this is not the

00:12:21.680 biblical the theological the historical teaching around salvation John 1 12

00:12:29.540 through 13 you should just circle it underline it put it down somewhere where

00:12:35.560 you can remember it, John 1, 12-13 says,

00:12:40.560 Christ gave the right to become children of God,

00:12:45.820 who were born, pay attention, not of blood,

00:12:49.640 nor of the will of the flesh,

00:12:53.940 nor of the will of man, but of God.

00:13:01.060 That should change the way you think about

00:13:04.360 how you were saved.

00:13:09.980 If you believe that you were the catalyst

00:13:12.120 for your own salvation,

00:13:14.920 you will not appreciate your salvation the way you ought.

00:13:18.860 But if you believe that God saved you

00:13:20.760 when you were unwilling and you would not,

00:13:22.840 and you could not, but as a sign of mercy and grace to you,

00:13:26.500 God saved you, that changes your worship.

00:13:31.420 It'll change the way that you love God.

00:13:34.360 In order for us to truly appreciate the doctrine of adoption, which is the focus of our text

00:13:41.560 today, we have to first understand the doctrine of grace.

00:13:48.900 We must see that God chose you even when you could not and would not.

00:13:57.940 That's the beautiful thing about salvation is that you would not.

00:14:00.700 If you gave someone in the flesh opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to choose Christ, they would not submit their own will to Christ without God first coming and changing their heart.

00:14:20.920 So when you heard the gospel, what happened?

00:14:24.340 The spirit of God moves like the wind, as it says in John 3, and comes in and changes your heart.

00:14:29.900 And all of a sudden, the things that you were deaf to and blind to, now you have ears to hear and can hear.

00:14:36.300 And you had eyes that you could not see.

00:14:38.300 Now you can see.

00:14:39.260 And all of a sudden, you're born again.

00:14:41.120 You repent.

00:14:41.940 You have faith.

00:14:42.720 You cast your life on Christ.

00:14:47.460 That's amazing.

00:14:50.140 That's amazing.

00:14:50.920 when that truth is comprehended your salvation is seen as a sovereign act of God

00:15:01.160 and adoption takes on its meaning

00:15:04.860 in the first chapter sorry in the 12th chapter of the Westminster Confession

00:15:11.280 which is our confession of faith it talks about the doctrine of adoption

00:15:15.980 It says,

00:15:45.980 They are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by him, as by a father, yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation, end quote.

00:16:03.060 so last week we read in romans 8 14 through 15

00:16:08.600 that those who are being led by the spirit of god these are the sons of god we're having some

00:16:16.280 context around adoption um you've not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but

00:16:22.480 now we cry out abba father today we're going to be looking at romans 8 16 through 17

00:16:29.620 it says the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and of children

00:16:41.320 heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we

00:16:48.700 may also be glorified with him so I want you guys to be doing this quite a bit today heads down

00:16:55.140 looking at your Bible, looking up to me, because we want to measure what I'm saying against the

00:17:00.900 word of God. So look at verse 16. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are

00:17:09.220 children of God. The assurance of our adoption into the family of God is confirmed by the spirit's

00:17:17.400 testimony with our spirit. What does that mean? What does it look like? Well, first, I want you

00:17:24.360 guys to notice that the statement is in the present tense. It's something that is ongoing.

00:17:28.080 It's happening on a regular, continuous basis. Now, how this looks, how it manifests is

00:17:37.140 our spirit is at peace. The Christian spirit is at peace. And if it's not, you should take note.

00:17:48.060 There is no more fear of wrath because the wrath of God has been poured out on Christ

00:17:53.480 and so we have now peace with the Father

00:17:56.160 and now can walk into the presence of God.

00:18:00.000 Therefore, we are not at enmity with God, but with peace.

00:18:03.860 Our spirit is peaceful.

00:18:07.500 There is no more anxiety over judgment

00:18:09.860 or wrath or death.

00:18:14.840 Second, we have assurance of our justification.

00:18:19.360 We know that the righteousness of Christ

00:18:22.020 was given to us by faith.

00:18:26.460 We know, pay attention here,

00:18:30.060 that it's not my obedience

00:18:31.880 that makes me righteous on judgment day,

00:18:35.600 but it's the righteousness of Christ

00:18:37.880 that is given to me by faith.

00:18:40.620 That I stand upon his righteousness,

00:18:43.180 an alien righteousness that's imputed to me.

00:18:45.620 we have no more guilt and shame

00:18:52.380 this is testified in our spirit

00:18:55.540 Brene Brown and Oprah and Tony Robbins

00:19:00.740 and everybody else in the self-help space

00:19:02.580 is trying to figure out ways to deal with shame

00:19:05.260 how do we deal with this shame

00:19:08.600 and they figure out all these illegitimate psychological babble

00:19:12.420 in order to deal with the conscience that God gave them. 0.58

00:19:16.440 The Christian does not deal with that. 0.95

00:19:20.080 Third, we have conviction of sin.

00:19:25.000 You want to know how you're saved?

00:19:27.040 It's because you struggle.

00:19:30.180 Lost people don't struggle.

00:19:32.720 They don't feel the conviction of righteousness against their sin.

00:19:36.580 They actually have an ebb and flow and a fight within them.

00:19:42.420 Fourth, we have the fruit of the Spirit.

00:19:51.060 We have the fruit of the Spirit.

00:19:52.200 You remember the list that I've shared with you around the works of the flesh, but our

00:19:57.980 lives are marked with the fruit of the Spirit of love and joy, peace, patience, kindness,

00:20:04.140 goodness, gentleness, self-control.

00:20:09.400 But I want you to look at verse 16 again.

00:20:13.180 I want to point out that this passage presupposes that people are not naturally a part of God's

00:20:19.300 family.

00:20:22.340 This is important because I can't tell you how many stickers I've seen on the back of

00:20:26.820 a Tahoe that says, we're all children of God.

00:20:31.460 You are a child of God.

00:20:35.760 The truth is that every person is made in the image of God, but not every person is

00:20:39.020 a child of God.

00:20:40.020 Do you understand this?

00:20:41.720 This is truth.

00:20:42.720 I'll explain why.

00:20:45.220 Exodus 4, 22 to 23 says, God says to Pharaoh, Israel, which we know turns into the church,

00:20:55.100 which is in Christ, but he says, Israel is my firstborn son.

00:20:58.700 And I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me. 0.99

00:21:02.760 If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son, end quote. 0.94

00:21:08.400 Romans 9, 8, in the next chapter, it says, Paul explains that we are children of God. 0.99

00:21:14.340 He says, it is not the natural children who are God's children, not those people in the flesh.

00:21:21.400 He continues, he says, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring of Abraham.

00:21:28.660 John 1 12 which we read earlier but to all who did receive him who believed in

00:21:33.400 his name he gave the right to become children of God then he qualifies it who

00:21:37.120 were born not of the blood or the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of

00:21:43.520 God not everybody is a child of God we are all made in God's image but only

00:21:50.140 those who have been born of God are the children of God scripture teaches that

00:21:58.960 those outside of Christ are actually the sons of the devil there is no neutral

00:22:05.260 ground here people you are either serving sin and Satan or you are either

00:22:11.680 serving Christ in righteousness first John 3 10 says by this it is evident

00:22:18.580 who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

00:22:26.660 Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees in John 8, 44, says, 0.56

00:22:29.900 you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desire. 0.51

00:22:36.180 Ultimately, a person is either born in the flesh from the line of Adam

00:22:40.440 and is under the rule and fathership of Satan,

00:22:43.860 or that person is born of the spirit

00:22:47.200 and is in the line of Christ

00:22:49.840 and is ruled by the fathership of God.

00:22:53.980 That's it. 1.00

00:22:58.680 It's hard to see that in the polite young lady 1.00

00:23:03.560 who is a moral person 1.00

00:23:08.300 and goes to school and gets good grades

00:23:12.160 and is respectable. 0.99

00:23:13.860 In her heart, she's just as wicked as the drunkard. 0.99

00:23:20.460 She's just as wicked as the sorcerer. 1.00

00:23:23.940 She hates God. 1.00

00:23:25.400 And she has no righteousness of her own.

00:23:28.720 She must turn to Christ.

00:23:32.580 And without this distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil,

00:23:38.660 the doctrine of adoption is inoperative.

00:23:43.560 It doesn't even work.

00:23:45.760 J.I. Packer says, quote,

00:23:47.620 if every person is naturally a part of God's family,

00:23:50.140 then the concept of adoption in our salvation

00:23:52.200 is a meaningless term, end quote.

00:23:56.800 You're adopted into what?

00:23:57.960 I thought you were already part of the family of God.

00:24:01.760 Now, adoption is actually a legal term.

00:24:06.420 It comes with legal benefits.

00:24:09.420 In the next verse, Paul speaks to those things

00:24:12.060 that our legal adoption grants us.

00:24:14.640 Look to verse 17.

00:24:17.280 It says,

00:24:18.020 And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,

00:24:27.460 if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

00:24:33.340 A correct deduction regarding the status of being a child of God

00:24:40.400 is that you would be an heir.

00:24:42.060 that's just a normative deduction of that statement.

00:24:47.620 The word heir in the Greek is kleronomos.

00:24:52.520 And it's actually made up of two words.

00:24:55.540 Klero, which is talking about inheriting a lot of goods,

00:25:01.340 and namos, which is the Greek word for law.

00:25:05.700 And so you have an inheritance,

00:25:08.020 a legal inheritance is what that word actually means.

00:25:11.860 I always remind people in the Greek,

00:25:13.880 it's like reading the scriptures in 4K.

00:25:16.940 It's so clear what's being said.

00:25:19.700 In English, it's like reading it in black and white.

00:25:21.920 So it's helpful, one, to have a pastor who understands Greek,

00:25:24.980 but two, to understand the reality and distinctions.

00:25:29.340 And we have lots of tools as Christians

00:25:31.580 that if we wanna do a word study,

00:25:32.700 we can leverage those tools.

00:25:35.300 So the word speaking here is a legal right

00:25:38.140 of our station as children of God.

00:25:41.200 And he lists two distinct forms of inheritance.

00:25:47.000 Two birthrights.

00:25:48.460 These are not earned by merit.

00:25:49.920 They are given to us by identity.

00:25:53.100 It's who you are being born of God.

00:25:56.820 First, through Christ, we inherit God.

00:26:01.040 We inherit God.

00:26:02.860 Now, this reminds me, do you remember when the land was being divvied out to the 12 tribes of Israel?

00:26:08.260 in the old testament deuteronomy and there was only one tribe that was not permitted

00:26:16.360 to receive land and that was the levites who became they became priests to god

00:26:24.080 and it said of these individuals and it recounts this in uh joshua 13 33 it says

00:26:31.880 quote, but the tribe of the Levites, Moses gave no inheritance. The Lord God of Israel is their

00:26:40.460 inheritance, just as he said to them. As a pastor, I've often reflected upon that because

00:26:48.120 I spent a lot of time in study. And there is sometimes a loss financially, schedule wise,

00:26:57.520 relationally because I spend so much time studying in prayer, serving, laboring, sacrificing,

00:27:05.400 and I'm often reminded that my portion is God.

00:27:13.160 The pastor's portion is God, but the reality is that we are all now priests to God

00:27:18.020 and that we have our inheritance, which is God himself.

00:27:25.260 but it's more than that we inherit his source of life we inherit his glory we inherit his possessions

00:27:34.100 eternal life it speaks of it says titus 3 7 it says so that being justified by his grace we might

00:27:42.600 become heirs according to the hope of eternal life glory psalm 73 24 to 25 it says you guide

00:27:55.040 me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me to glory whom have I in heaven but you

00:28:01.720 and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you end quote and what about the earth

00:28:08.800 what does Jesus say about the earth that the meek will inherit the earth do you know whose earth this

00:28:14.640 is it's ours it's going to be made new it's not going to be given to the lost it's not going to

00:28:21.720 given to the unconverted this earth will be restored and we will dwell upon it with the lord

00:28:27.800 forever this is our possession given to us in christ by faith when i look out of the world i go

00:28:35.720 this is not yours satan you've lost the battle on the cross the head of the serpent was crushed by

00:28:43.960 Christ. He is maybe the ruler of this world system, but he is not the ruler of the world.

00:28:54.260 James 2.5 talks about the kingdom. It says, listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who

00:28:59.940 are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to

00:29:06.380 those who love him. We receive God and his glory and his possessions and his kingdom.

00:29:19.220 All of these possessions are given to us in Christ. Now it's natural to look forward to

00:29:25.080 an inheritance. It's a good thing. Maybe you have parents that have a large estate and

00:29:31.820 you're excited to take over that estate that you might steward it well to the

00:29:36.380 glory of God and hand it down to your children but in this world inheritances

00:29:43.340 can be lost they can be squandered they can be stolen but scripture tells us

00:29:50.120 that's not the case with our inheritance in Christ first Peter 1 3 through 5 says

00:29:55.280 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great

00:29:58.520 mercy which he has caused us to be born again he goes on in verse 4 he says to

00:30:03.860 an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled unfading kept for you in

00:30:11.420 heaven who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation

00:30:18.440 ready to be revealed in last time you can't lose your eternal life you can't

00:30:26.320 lose your salvation. It's being kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded

00:30:34.120 through faith. Jesus is the captain or the founder and finisher of your faith.

00:30:47.200 Paul closes with a statement of evidence that could be confusing in 17b. It's the second part

00:30:52.240 of verse 17. It says, if we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

00:31:01.140 This can sound like a qualifying statement. If you look down in your Bible, you might see the

00:31:04.220 word if. You might think that it's contingency. Paul's not saying you will be children of God

00:31:12.500 and heirs with Christ if you partake in the suffering of Christ. No, you are going to partake

00:31:19.040 in the sufferings of Christ, and you are going to do that because you are going to have a physical

00:31:22.900 death, and you are going to have a physical resurrection. The if is in the present tense,

00:31:29.720 and it's telling us, but if we are to share his glory, we must also share with his sufferings.

00:31:34.700 It's a statement of explanation. If you look at the previous context, Paul is telling us that

00:31:39.660 we are going to suffer. It's actually one of the central evidences that we are children of God

00:31:44.040 because we suffer.

00:31:47.640 Have you read through the Proverbs or the Psalms

00:31:49.820 talking about how the evil thrive?

00:31:55.480 Why do the wicked continue to flourish and thrive?

00:32:03.080 They do not suffer in the same way that the saints do.

00:32:07.920 Suffering is actually a mark and an evidence

00:32:10.980 that you are a bona fide daughter or son of God.

00:32:15.920 2 Timothy 3.12 says,

00:32:17.240 All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

00:32:21.160 Now you can live a life without godliness

00:32:26.740 and you will not be persecuted.

00:32:31.680 And persecution comes in many forms.

00:32:34.160 It could be a sibling that's frustrated with you

00:32:36.360 because of your conviction of not going to their homosexual wedding.

00:32:39.980 It could be your job because you will not put he, him pronouns in your bio. 0.75

00:32:46.000 Whatever it may be, you will be persecuted if you stand for the righteousness of Christ in a godless world.

00:32:54.680 In fact, if you don't, it's because you are either sinning,

00:32:58.760 because you're not standing for the righteousness of Christ,

00:33:01.180 or it's because you're not saved.

00:33:03.540 suffering with christ then becomes one of the confirmations of your inheritance

00:33:10.800 we are called to suffer we should be speaking the righteousness of god

00:33:14.860 out into the world and it will cause conflict i guarantee it

00:33:18.140 my wife and i have had death threats over the years we have had thousands upon thousands of

00:33:25.800 people insulting me on the internet. We should not be going out there as masochists trying to

00:33:35.720 start fights. Know that the reality is that the natural response of the world to the things of

00:33:41.280 God is that they hate the light. And if you speak anything of the light, you will experience

00:33:49.500 resistance. 2 Timothy 2, 11 through 12 in the KJV says, if we be dead with him, we shall also

00:33:57.600 live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. Now, I know that we know

00:34:07.780 that the intent of the apostle is talking about suffering, and here's why.

00:34:13.060 Look down in your Bible to the very next verse.

00:34:14.880 it states for i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared

00:34:21.600 with the glory which shall be revealed in us that should again tie in what i'm saying to you here

00:34:27.140 is that the intent of the apostle is not saying that suffering is a contingent reality to become

00:34:32.220 a child of god it's that you are going to suffer as a child of god but the sufferings are not to

00:34:38.520 be compared to the glory of God revealed in them I'm almost done here I'm gonna

00:34:46.020 read you guys a great quote from the Puritan writer Samuel Rutherford it's

00:34:50.400 one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard and I have read it to you several

00:34:56.580 times he says quote do not be afraid at suffering for Christ he has a sweet

00:35:07.460 peace for the sufferer. God has called you to Christ's side and if the wind is now in his face

00:35:15.240 you cannot expect to rest on the sheltered side of a hill. You cannot be above your master

00:35:21.120 who received many an innocent stroke. The greatest temptation out of hell is to live without trials.

00:35:29.320 crosses form us into his image they cut away the pieces of our corruption lord cut carve wound

00:35:40.600 lord do anything to perfect your image in us and make us fit for glory we need winnowing

00:35:49.480 before we enter the kingdom of god oh what i owe to the file hammer and furnace as we look back to

00:35:58.560 our pains and suffering, we shall see that the suffering is not worthy to be compared

00:36:03.360 to our first night's welcome home in heaven, end quote. Amen.

00:36:11.060 You cannot expect adoption and inheritance through Christ without sharing in the family

00:36:21.140 conflict. Christ's enemies are your enemies. Christ's cause is your cause. His name is your 0.60

00:36:34.280 name. When he suffers, you suffer with him. The desire to suffer less than Christ when you're

00:36:45.980 worse than Christ is a wicked desire there is a cost to royalty there is a

00:36:55.640 cost to being a child of God so you cannot be like Peter who wants to know

00:37:03.600 Christ when times are easy but when Christ walks to that cross he denies him

00:37:09.080 three times. We must be willing to align ourselves with Christ. We must be willing to suffer for

00:37:19.340 Christ because that is what it takes to be a part of this family. And as we will see next week,

00:37:26.840 the cost is not worthy to be compared of the things that God will accomplish in us. Amen?

00:37:35.640 Let's pray.

00:37:37.180 Father, we thank you, Lord,

00:37:39.000 for the work that you are accomplishing in us and through us.

00:37:44.680 Lord, we thank you for bringing us into your family.

00:37:49.220 Lord, that we were a part of an unbenevolent family,

00:37:52.100 but Lord, now we are a family

00:37:53.620 that is united to your son, Jesus,

00:37:57.100 with eternal inheritances.

00:37:59.860 Lord, we ask that you would continue to show us that in our hearts.

00:38:02.840 reveal those truths to us

00:38:04.780 in our minds, Lord, that we would continue

00:38:06.960 to be more and more magnified

00:38:08.980 in our understanding and our

00:38:10.680 comprehension of grace.

00:38:15.020 Lord, not only for our benefit,

00:38:17.280 that we might also

00:38:18.560 communicate that truth to others.

00:38:21.640 Lord, that we would be

00:38:22.660 a mature church that would

00:38:24.600 understand the gospel.

00:38:27.140 Father, we thank you for the work

00:38:28.640 that you're doing in us, here

00:38:30.740 today, in Jesus' name.

00:38:32.840 Amen.

00:38:34.700 Amen.

Dale Partridge - January 25, 2024

Born Again as Heirs of God - Romans 8_16-17

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