Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
We had Romans 7 before us last night, so we'll turn to Romans 8:00 tonight to this afternoon, Romans 8. Notice how that hymn began once we stood in condemnation.
And notice how Romans 8 begins. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walked out after the flesh, but after the Spirit. You'll notice that expression occurs at the end of verse 4.
Who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. I believe it's proper there, but I think verse one better ends with Christ Jesus.
That is, it's our standing in Christ.
That is spoken of. There no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? In 2nd Corinthians 5 it says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. God sees us now in an altogether new standing, not in Adam.
Not in the flesh, but in Christ and in the Spirit. And this has developed beautifully.
In this 8th chapter of Romans, the 7th chapter is more the state of the Old Testament Saints. Before the Spirit of God was given, before Christ was crucified and risen again and ascended to the right hand of God, before the work of redemption was finished, was accomplished. Indeed before the one that did, it was here that came.
To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
So they're not viewed as being in Christ. The Old Testament Saints, they were born of God, they had a new life, those that believe the Word. But they were not in the position that you and I are in now, in Christ, to which no condemnation can be attached. It's not merely that our sins are forgiven, that's true, blessedly true, but the very state in which we stand before God is 1.
Which is absolutely perfect. It is in Christ defined as in Christ. John puts it this way. He says as he is Even so are we in this world wonderful, wonderful to be able to to point to the man in the glory and say before God he is my righteousness, before God, he is my righteousness. He is everything.
To us and our righteousness.
In 2nd Corinthians 3.
I just read a couple verses there that brings this out and 2nd Corinthians 3.
Now we start at verse 7. He asked the question in verse 8.
How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? This is what characterizes the.
Day of grace in which we live, it's not a ministry of death, a ministry of God's righteous requirements in the law. That's what he was just talking about here, but it's the ministry of the Spirit. He's given us the Spirit of God. We were pointing out last night that the man in Romans 7, there's no mention of the Spirit of God. He has a new life, but he doesn't have the power to work upon that life to give deliverance from.
The the sin nature, the flesh.
That we have within us. We need more than a new life to combat the flesh. We need a new power as well. And we have that in Christ. And notice the next expression in verse 9. For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, that is it began with glory giving of the law, but he calls it administration of condemnation held out the promise of life to the obedient, and to the obedient it would have been.
Our righteousness, but instead it becomes administration of death.
And administration of condemnation.
Condemnation. Well, that's where Romans 8 begins. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. God sees us as He sees Christ, the risen, glorified man, His righteousness. God's righteousness answered the work of Christ by raising him from the dead and exalting him to his own right hand in heaven.
And he sees you and me.
Just that way in Christ, he says you and me in a condition which is absolutely faultless and perfect. Christ himself having become our righteousness. Isn't that wonderful? It's not a righteousness that you have wrought or I have wrought. It's not anything that we have done, but it's what God Himself provides in His infinite grace. There's no condemnation.
00:05:22
To them which are in Christ Jesus.
The end of Romans 7 is he comes to cry out, O wretched man that I am, I know there are many. When they speak on Romans 7, they speak of it as though that's normal Christianity. It's not at all normal, normal Christianity you get in the epistle to the Ephesians where you have joy and rejoicing all the way through that epistle. That's normal Christianity.
But normal Christianity is not.
Wretched man that I am, now, that's the effect of being under law, trying to keep it and failing repeatedly. And so the man comes to the point where he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? He needs deliverance from that sin nature. The first thing that when we receive the gospel, the first thing that floods our soul with joy is the knowledge that our sins are forgiven.
Now that's the first part of Romans up to chapter 512 Through 511. It's a question of our sins and how we're justified before God, forgiven and justified before God with respect to our sins, cleared from all charge of guilt. Tremendous.
And wondrous truth. But it isn't very long after one is saved. And he will discover that he has a heart which is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and that that's the old nature, and it hasn't changed. And he gets thoughts and has temptations that that are anything but pleasing to God.
And this disturbs him and troubles him.
He knows the question of his sins has been settled. Christ died for our sins and He put them away and bore them on the cross. But what about that sin nature that we have within us that has not changed? That is just as incorrigibly bad after you're saved as it is before you're saved. That does not change. What has changed is you've received a new nature.
And a new power to work upon, that new nature to give.
Deliverance from the old nature, but that takes that's deliverance. The one is justification. And we need more than that to really be in solid peace with God. We need to see not only did he put our sins away, but he put us away as well. And we have probably experienced the the the grief of expecting something from.
Ourselves after we're saved, as though we can produce righteousness before God in our own strength and in our own efforts. And we've experienced something like the failure of the man in Romans 7. It's not exactly the same because the man in Romans 7, he's, he speaks of the absolute case of it, the extreme case of it, always wanting to do the right and always doing the wrong.
Always hating the evil but not finding the power to.
Say no to it.
Everyone of us has experienced that to some extent. Deliverance from self, deliverance from our sins is one thing. Deliverance from sin, the sin nature is another. And this is what we are into now. In the second part of Romans, in the end of chapter 5, he presents to us two heads, two federal heads, Adam and Christ, and all those who arranged under Adam.
Is written, condemned those who are under Adam's headship condemned those who are under Christ's headship, justified, declared righteous, accounted righteous by God. And he's given us a life which is a righteous life. We have justification of life, not merely justification from the sins that we've committed, but justification of life. And because of that he can say there's now therefore no condemnation to them which are.
Christ Jesus, we stand before God in a life, the very life of Christ.
Christ not in the condition that he was when he was here in the flesh. He was under the law. He was, He was made of a woman, made under the law. But now he has died to that and he is risen, no longer under law, no longer in that condition. It's the same life, Yes, but.
00:10:15
Freed from it, freed from the law and from the power of it. And he's given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to to live as to walk as he walked. Sometimes, it said, while the Christian cannot walk as Christ, walk. Well, that's a denial of Christianity. Yes, he can.
Whether he does or not is another matter, and but He's given us all that is necessary to enable us to live above sin, not by law. Strength of sin is the law, but the strength of holiness is grace. Grace. Man thinks just the other way around. Man thinks that in order to get obedience, he has to put someone under law. You give him, you give him the liberty of grace, and then he can do whatever he wants.
Well, in a sense, that's right.
But it's whatever the Newman wants.
It's whatever the new life wants, the Spirit of God works on that life and gives us.
The desire to live in that life and to deny that old sin nature, that old sinful life, the old man there is therefore now.
No condemnation.
To them which are in Christ Jesus for the law. Now the word law in in verse 2 is used like we talk about the law of gravity. Law of gravity is that everything falls down towards the earth. Apples never fall up. They always fall down as the law of gravity. It's a fixed principle. It's a constant tendency. So that's the thought in verse 2 for the law, the fixed principle of the spirit or the constant tendency of the.
Of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free.
From the law of a fixed principle of.
Sin and death.
Now that principle of sin and death, he talked about that in the 7th chapter, verse 23. Let's back up a moment. He says. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind. The law of my mind is the law of the new nature and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.
Which is in my members, and this is what 1 discovers. If he puts himself under law, even if he has the Spirit of God, if he puts himself under law, the Spirit will not be there as power for deliverance from sin, but rather to show the one that does that the serious mistake that he's made, that the law principle cannot produce holiness.
It's grace that does it. It's realizing that we are in Christ before God.
That all that we have done and all that we were in the flesh has been put away, put away.
Well, then, why do I still get troubled by that sinful nature? Because it's still there.
That's going to be one of the wonders of heaven. The sin nature will be forever gone.
We will leave it behind at the rapture when the Lord comes for us, and the only the man that will rise to meet him in the air will be the new man.
And there be no sin any longer. Never to sin again, never to have an errant thought, never to have a desire which is displeasing to God.
Wonderful to look forward to that time when we will be there as He is, where the conformed to the image of God's Son in all perfection in every aspect of our being.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Spirit of God, working upon and in that new life that we have in Christ gives deliverance from the flesh. It's the power for it.
Power of deliverance.
If you turn back to John 20.
John's Gospel, chapter 20.
We have, I believe, a significant event which the Lord did that.
Brings brings out or what? Romans 82 brings out. What the significance of this is?
00:15:06
I'll start with verse 19 to get the context. Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week. This is after the Lord's resurrection.
When the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. First He proclaims peace to them, sets them at peace before God. Their sins now were put away, and he proclaims the fruit of his work, Peace be unto you.
And when He had so said, He showed unto them his hands and His side. His hands would speak of the work accomplished. His side would speak of the the heart which from which it was accomplished. And out of His side, you remember, came the blood in the water.
The blood to expiate our guilt, and the water to cleanse and give power for holiness by the Spirit of God.
And they were disciples, glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, Even so send I you. So the first time he proclaims peace, it was for their souls enjoyment. And now he proclaims it again, and sends them forth with the message of peace to a lost world.
As the father my father had sent me so send I you now notice verse 22 now in in what power, what the what power of life are we to go forth with the message of peace?
When he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. The article isn't there, it's receive ye Holy Spirit.
That is, he communicates to them as the risen man, his own resurrection life, in the power of which they were to go forth and live for him in this scene by the Spirit of God.
That's the first part of Romans 8. Going back to Romans 8, the law verse 2, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death.
Spirit of God communicated as the power of life in Christ, risen. A little bit later in Romans 8, he talks about the Spirit as a person indwelling us, living in us. That's Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost. But you have John 2022, and then you have Acts chapter 2. The Spirit of God is the power of risen life in Christ, and then the Spirit of God as a person indwelling us, uniting us to the man.
In the glory, when we believe the gospel today, we receive the Spirit in both aspects, but it's separated as it is to show that there are two different aspects of the Spirit of God. Spirit as life, the Spirit of life in Christ, and then the Spirit of as a person indwelling us. Verse 3. Now Romans 8. For what the law could not do, it could not produce the obedience which it required.
It gave the command, it said what we were to do and not to do, but it didn't give the power to carry out its injunctions, what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. There was no weakness in the law. There's no fault in the law. He establishes that in Romans 7. The law is just and holy and good. The fault is that it's addressing itself to a man that has a sin nature that is so powerful that it simply.
Will not carry out what the law says.
What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
And for sin condemned sin in the flesh, now that's not.
His dealing with our sins, that was the early part of Romans, but here we have when he died on the cross and he bore the judgment of God, it was not simply to put our sins away, but he he was before God, answering to God for all that we were as sinners in the flesh before God, and God has condemned that, so that which is such a trouble to us and such a bother to us.
And which sometimes leads us to do the wrong thing, to have the wrong thoughts, and that has been condemned.
00:20:02
Has been condemned, God has condemned it. He's looking for no fruit. Remember when the Lord came to the fig tree and he, he looked for fruit, but there was none. And of all the miracles that he did when he was here below, he only did 1 miracle one time where he cursed something and he said to the fig tree, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever.
And they went on their way, and as they came back, they saw the fig tree, that it was all withered, and the disciples made note of that.
What's the significance of that? God has cursed and condemned the sin nature with which we were born.
No fruit can ever be produced for God from that nature.
And that's a very solemn thing to consider. Consider being.
While we're in a world that is composed of people that are just like that, you can give them every possible advantage in training them, educating them and and so on. And yet if they've if they only have a sin nature, all they can do is sin all they cannot please God.
They cannot please God. We will come to that in a few verses here in Romans 8.
For what the law could not do, it could not produce obedience, in that it was weak through the flesh.
I think the flesh here is a moral term that refers to our old nature. The Bible doesn't use the word old nature, uses the word old man and Newman and it doesn't use the word new nature, but it does use the word divine nature in Peter.
But I believe the flesh is what we say the the old nature.
The law could not produce the obedience it required in that it was weak through the flesh.
And God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Notice the accuracy of Scripture. It doesn't say in sinful flesh. No, it doesn't say that. It cannot say that the Lord, when the Lord became a man, when the Word became flesh, that was not sinful flesh, That was holy flesh. He was the holy One of God.
And it says in the likeness of sinful flesh. That is, He looked just like you and I look, you could not tell any difference if you looked at him. You and I partake of sinful flesh. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
He became flesh, but it was not sinful flesh, it was holy. That holy thing that shall be born of thee, the Angel said to Mary, shall be called the Son of God.
So he came, his Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, doesn't say in the likeness of flesh. No, it was true flesh. He was just as truly a man as any of you are, with a spirit, a soul and a body. Sin apart.
That's the only qualification. His humanity was holy.
Ours before the Fall in Adam and Eve was innocent, and since the Fall sinful.
Sinful.
In the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, that is, as a sacrifice for sin.
More than just sins here, but sin the very tree itself. The very tree. When the Lord saw the fig tree and it didn't have fruit on it, he cursed it and it withered. And the the tree speaks of the nature and the fruit of the tree speaks of the sins of that nature that that tree produces.
We usually in our apprehension of truth, we think of our sins and the forgiveness of our sins, and that we're justified from our sins through the work of Christ. But this second part of Romans of the Gospel deals with sin.
That principle that operates causing us to do bad things.
When we give way to it.
But that nature has been condemned.
He's condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law, the righteousness that the law required, that it could never get produced by us as being sinners, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That's where that clause properly belongs, because he's talking about here the practical result now in our walk, the righteousness that the law required of man.
00:25:11
Is now produced in the Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Working upon and in the new life that we have in Christ.
That the righteousness of the law, the righteous requirement of the law, might be fulfilled in US.
Who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? What are we saying? What is he saying?
That God has equipped us with every means necessary.
To walk as Christ walked down here.
What is the rule of life for the Christian? Someone will say, if it's not the law, many people think, well, I couldn't keep it as a Sinner, but now that I'm saved, now I have to keep the law, and the law is is the rule of life for the Christian wrong?
No, it's not. What is the rule of life for the Christian Christ? As he walked down here, He walked above the law. He kept it perfectly, but he did more than that. He walked in perfect obedience to His Father. That is our example. He is our example and not the law.
If we walk as He walked, we will fulfill the law, walk in the power of the Spirit of God. So what the law required. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in US who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
If you fail, I fail. We often do. It's because we've gotten our eyes off of Christ and.
We've gotten back under under law in some way or another and it's so easy to do. It's the tendency of our hearts. Some one brother said to me once, why do we always revert back to the law principle? I said, well, that's natural to us. We still have that nature. It's been condemned of God.
But we still have it, and it's there to raise its ugly head whenever we give it a place. And we do that too often, sad to say.
Now verse 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, That is one who is without a new life, and He is after the flesh, as it says here. He minds the things of the flesh. Of course He does. That's all He has. He has a nature which enjoys those things of the flesh. So He minds the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the Spirit.
Mind the things of the Spirit.
There's two different kinds of things that that are that the mind of the flesh enjoys, and those are sinful things, things of the world. There's a there's a thousand of them, thousands of them arrayed before us. And then there's the things of the Spirit. What are some of the things of the Spirit? Well, to feed on the Word of God, to share.
To witness to the lost of.
Christ and His saving power to walk in loneliness and meekness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith or faithfulness, meekness.
Temperance or self-control, all of those things. The fruit of the spirit. Someone says I can't control myself.
Fruit of the spirit is self-control. You can't control yourself maybe, but he can control you and when we are subject to him if we live in the Spirit, Paul says let us also walk in the Spirit. We have the Spirit of God. So to to bring forward your natural propensities and tendencies. You say I was born that way.
That's just the way I am.
Uh, yes, you were born that way the first time, but when you were born again?
And receive the Holy Spirit. A change has taken place if any man be in Christ.
He is a new creature, old things are passed away, all that we were and connected with.
And that the flesh delighted in gone now, and we are made a new creation in Christ.
So to use what we were in our natural tendencies as an excuse for sinning today, after you're a Christian, that will not fly.
No, that's no excuse because we're under the control of the Holy Spirit and Christ is our object. Christ is our object.
00:30:10
The problem is, you know it as well as I do. We feed on the things of the flesh. The mind of the flesh is death, and when you feed on the things of the flesh, you're feeding on death.
They that are after the flesh, verse 5 do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Of course the unsaved person is going to mind the things of the flesh. That's all he can mind. He has a nature that delights in those things now, But they that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. Can you think of anything worse than being married for life to a partner?
That has nothing but a sin nature.
Does not have a new nature. Does not have the Spirit of God.
Cannot mind the things of the Spirit.
Sad how solemn. I can't think of a passage more powerful than Romans 8 to set before us the the seriousness of being yoked for life to one who does not have a new nature and the Spirit of God to operate on that nature.
To deliver them, they that are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh. And you can't, you cannot raise the natural man to a spiritual level. You cannot do it. But what can be done is you can take a spiritual man that still has the flesh and bring him down to the level of the flesh. And that's generally what happens when you have an unequal yoke.
The saved partner doesn't raise the unsafe unless they're converted. Unless they become saved and receive Christ and have the Spirit of God in a new life, you cannot.
Make flesh spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit.
He must be born again, a new life, and then He's given us the Spirit of God as well. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Wonderful life that we have now in Christ. Young people will say, come with us, we're going to have a party tonight and we're going to see life.
They're not looking at life, they're looking at death.
That's what they're looking at. The next verse says so.
It says verse 6 for to be carnally minded. I'm going to read that as it is in the new translation. The mind of the flesh is death.
But the mind of the Spirit spiritually minded, or the mind of the Spirit, is life and peace.
You really want real life and peace and joy and happiness.
You will be under the control of the Holy Spirit and Christ will be your object. You're living in a different world now. You are a new creature in Christ, and to be linked with one that only has that carnal mind of the flesh is death.
Solemn, But the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. Now notice verse 7. Very powerful verse, because the carnal mind, or the mind of the flesh is enmity against God.
Young person, I don't know if there's anyone of you here entertaining the just entertaining, yoking for life with an unsafe person.
All they've got is the mind of the flesh, that carnal mind, and it is enmity against God.
More, it is not subject to the law of God.
Neither indeed can be.
More so than they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Let that sink in.
If you marry someone that is unsaved, you are marrying a person that cannot please God.
That is that enmity with God that has only the mind of the flesh, which is death.
I can't put it anymore strong than that, any stronger than that. The solemnity, the solemnness of thinking with one who has not.
Christ and the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that has delivered us from the law of sin and death. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
00:35:10
But we we, we Christians are not in the flesh.
But in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now there you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not merely the Spirit communicated as the power of the resurrection life of Christ. That's John 2022, but Acts 2. Now the Spirit of God dwelling in US.
You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit of so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man, any man, have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He is not his.
Why does it change from Spirit of God to Spirit of Christ? I think the Spirit of Christ is the expression. He's the formative power of Christ in the soul.
Spirit of God is more of a general term that applies to the Holy Spirit.
And if Christ be in you, verse 10, the spirit, the body is dead.
Because of sin.
But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. That's a very difficult verse to interpret. I believe this is what it means.
If Christ be in you, the body is held as dead because of sin. There's a sin nature in our body, so we hold it as dead because of that sin nature. So these members do not yield to express the evil of the nature, which is called the flesh.
But the Spirit is life, practical living because of righteousness. The Spirit of God produces A practical righteousness, operating in the new life that we have in Christ.
But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, notice Jesus from the dead. That was the man that was raised up from the dead. If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, Spirit of God.
Dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead. That changes from Jesus to Christ because the word Christ now associates us with him. We are in Christ before God.
He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken.
Give life to your mortal bodies by his spirit or by.
Because of his spirit that dwelleth in you, so that looks on to the resurrection.
When we will receive a new life, a new body, I should say a resurrection body, just like that of Christ.
And the Spirit of God has taken up his residency in this body. I'll never forget once at a funeral, the brother that was speaking, he pointed to the corpse in the coffin and he pointed and he said this body shall rise again. I think that's the truth of resurrection. That body shall rise again. The Spirit of God dwelt in that body and has claimed it for his own. And that's what this verse says.
He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.
By his spirit, or because of his spirit that dwelleth in you?
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors. Now He doesn't tell us what we're debtors to. He just stops right there. And but he says not to the flesh. We're not debtors to the flesh. We don't know the flesh anything.
We don't know Satan anything. He has no claims upon us. The evil nature that we have, we owe it nothing.
We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if you live after the flesh, ye shall die.
But if he through the spirit, do mortify, do put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. There's the power that the man in Romans 7 didn't have.
He had the law, which is wholly just and good, but he didn't have the power. He had a new life with divine desires, but he didn't have the power to carry out the injunctions of the law. Now we do when we're fully delivered. A man in Romans 8 is a delivered Christian. Romans 8 is true Christianity. Romans 7 is not.
Don't let anyone ever tell you that Romans 7 is true Christianity. Is true Christianity. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? No.
Not at all. It's *******. It's failure. And that's not true Christianity. True Christianity is liberty and victory and joy and peace.
00:40:02
And all the.
Fruit of the Spirit.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Peter says it this way. The time passed suffices us to have lived as the Gentiles lived after the flesh. It suffices us now we are to lay that all aside and to live for him. And Paul puts it a little differently. We're debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, ye shall die.
But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body.
Ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I love that verse because it gives what is characteristic of a son of God. The Son of God was always led by the Spirit of God. He was justified in the Spirit. He was led of the Spirit. It says the Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Everything that he did was in the energy and power of the Holy Spirit. If we are sons of God.
We are characterized by being led by the Spirit of God. A Son of God is led by the Spirit of God. That's how you know he's the Son of God. Practically, he is under the control and leading of the Holy Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For ye have not received the spirit of ******* that's being under law again to fear.
Those who are under law, they're constantly in fear that they're going to fail and then lose it all.
Lose it all.
Have you ever noticed that those that don't believe in eternal security, they've lost their salvation and now they're trying again, but they're always afraid they're going to fail and then lose it again and again and again?
There's no peace, there's no real joy in the soul like that can't be real worship. How can you worship God for what he has done and and the place that he has given us before himself, which is unchangeable and unalterable, perfect standing. How can you really pour out your heart and Thanksgiving and praise if you're constantly fearing that you might do something that will lose it all?
That would mean it's all dependent on us, after all, and that's absolutely wrong.
It's dependent entirely upon Him who has saved us, and He will keep us.
You have not received the spirit of ******* again to fear, but she received the spirit of adoption.
Were now sons whereby we cry ABBA, father, ABBA father. The called it word for father is ABBA I believe and then the Greek word Potter his father. If you translated both words it would say father, father.
I like the thought that ABBA can be pronounced by a child without teeth, but you can't pronounce father without teeth. So I think the ABBA would be the the young ones and the father would be the older ones in the family.
Something like what we say, Daddy, you know, need teeth for that ABBA.
Father.
We've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry ABBA Father. We know we're His, we know we're children, we know we're sons. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. We are the children of God.
We know it.
And we can enjoy it. And let's notice this real carefully. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. So we have the witness of the Spirit that He has made us his children. And we know that we cry ABBA Father when the enjoyment of that. Notice how he develops this.
And if children.
Then were heirs were heirs.
What are we heirs of?
Who is our benefactor? God, heirs of God.
Heirs of God.
What has he?
Made his heirs up.
Joint heirs with Christ.
Everything that he has won.
He shares with us. That's the extent of it. That's the measure of it. The one that has made us heirs is God. We're heirs of God. We're children if children were heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That's the extent of what is ours now that we belong to Him.
00:45:11
That's the highest height you can get to. And then notice what it says right away, right in the middle of the verse. Joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with Him.
That we may be also glorified together, the faith healers.
Reason. Well, your children, your heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. You should be rich in this world. You should be driving around in Rolls Royces and with ships and castles to live in your kings. They don't read the rest of the verse. If so, be that we suffer with him.
That we may be also glorified together.
Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, children of God, and yet.
We're called upon as we pass through this hostile environment of this world to suffer with him.
The reigning time has not come. The glory still shines before us. But.
Now is still suffering time.
Today righteousness suffers. In the Millennium righteousness reigns, and in the eternal state righteousness dwells. But we have to wait. The Millennium hasn't come yet, and the eternal state is to follow. Righteousness suffers. He suffered, and we're following a Savior that suffered, that was hated. If the world hates you, he said, ye know that it hated me before it hated.
If you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you.
This is suffering time, though It's all ours. All things are yours, he says. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours. And you are Christ, and Christ is God.
I love that track that says you probably remember it says the richest man in the valley.
And.
He had a dream and he talked to his master who was the richest man down here and he said, I had a dream last night, master, that the richest man in the valley is going to die tonight. And that filled his, his master with dread and fear until just before midnight the message came that.
The gardener went home to be with the Lord that night. He was the richest man in the valley. You are the richest. We are the richest of all the people of earth.
Because all things are ours.
But it's still suffering time, isn't it? So he puts us through things. We live very easily, very nicely, very.
Which as far as this world goes, he had to say to the Corinthians, now you're rich, now you're full. I would to God that you did reign. You've reigned as kings without us, he said. And we don't know much about real hardship, but God puts us through things so we learn it. That's part of our training. That's part of the necessity through which we have to go. Everything can't run smoothly. We get too far away from him.
When everything runs smoothly, that's the way.
The tendency of our hearts is, isn't it?
So he goes on to say that we may be glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time. Now here was a man that suffered. I mean, he suffered in his witness for Christ. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in US, not worthy to be compared with the glory.
That shall be revealed in US.
I think that's a good place to pause here. I want to read the end of the chapter, The end of the chapter, he says in verse 35. Who shall separate us?
From the love of Christ.
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Now Paul knew what all that was. He personally went through it.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I am persuaded.
00:50:06
Now notice he changes to the singular here, because he personally experienced these things. I am persuaded, he says, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So this wonderful chapter starts out with. There is therefore now no condemnation.
To them which are in Christ Jesus. And it ends with no separation, no separation. Wonderful chapter.
We're not in Romans 7, beloved, we're in Romans 8. And if any of you are still in Romans 7.
Get out of seven into 8 and you'll have the fullness of joy and the power of the Holy Spirit.