Romans 8:1-17 "Led by the Spirit" Jack D. Terry, Jr.

The speaker is discussing the book of Romans and how it teaches about living a normal Christian life. They mention a book called "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee, which emphasizes the need to live by faith. The speaker also talks about the struggle between the law of sin and death and the desire to do good. They explain that through faith in Jesus, we are no longer condemned and can live a victorious Christian life. Now, let me tell you all something where we are. I appreciate Dr. Jimmy taking Chapter 6 and 7. I'm going to do 8 and 9. I'm going to do half of 8 today. If I get to a third of it, it'll be a miracle, but I'll give it a shot. And then we'll do the rest of 8 next week, and then the next week we'll do Chapter 9. Let me tell you where we are in the book of Romans. As Dr. Jimmy and I have tried to tell you all, Romans is probably one of the best spiritual treaties of how to live the normal Christian life. Now, I said that with emphasis because I wanted to say it with emphasis. I am of the opinion that you and me and 80% of us live a subnormal Christian life. I'm not sure any of us live a normal Christian life. And yet the book of Romans and its scriptures is to help us come to the place where we can live a normal Christian life. I have a wonderful book in my library that I got back in 1961 when I was exploring and friends of mine, Dr. Hal Brooks and I here at North Fish and Hills were looking for what ministry was really like. And I had a book by a Chinese Christian who was a pastor in China. His name is Watchman Ni. And Watchman Ni has written many, many books, but his greatest book is under the title, The Normal Christian Life. And if you haven't read it, you need to read it. I've been reading it again as I've been studying the book of Romans along with the book by Major Ian Thomas, The Saving Life of Christ. And these books kind of go together with the book of Romans. In Watchman Ni's book, in the book of Romans, he says very assuredly that he is persuaded that over 90 percent of Christian faith is living in a subnormal Christian life. That doesn't mean you're not saved. OK, that's not it at all. That doesn't mean that you're not going to heaven, sins forgiven, and all of us will be there one day. That's not at all. What he's saying is that the way we live our daily life is subnormal to the Christian responsibility. That's what he's saying. He's saying there is a higher responsibility on us to live a different kind of Christian life than what we're living every day. And I'm going to shock you. It is all done by faith. How did you get into the kingdom of God? Answer me. Do you know that you're in the kingdom of God? How do you know it? By what? By faith. So you are saying I know that I'm on my way to heaven, sins forgiven, going to have a home there, be with the Lord Jesus Christ for all of eternity. I know all that because I have done it by faith. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We walk by faith, not by sight, the scripture says. This lesson and the book of Romans in chapters 7, 6, 7, 8, and 9 all point to this same response. Everything in the kingdom of God is done not by sight. We don't do anything by sight. If we do anything by sight, we fail miserably as a human being because there is a principle in this world that's still here. Even though that principle and that law can be superseded, that principle and that law is still here. And if we allow that principle and that law to take over, and it is the law of sin and death, which was given to us by our father Adam, and now we don't have a changed life, we have an exchanged life. Our life has been exchanged. It is no longer in Adam. If you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are no longer in the nature of Adam. You are now in the nature of Christ. By what? See, that's hard to think, gang. You are a child of God, not because you wanted to be, not because you desired to be. But in next week's lesson, I'm going to tell you why you are, because in the book of Romans chapter 8, verse 28, the following, for we know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, who are the call according to his purpose, for whom he did predetermine. We'll talk about that next week, that next week's lesson. That's a beautiful lesson, because you see, the predetermination, ladies and gentlemen, was born before the foundation of the earth in the eternity of eternity's past. Now, I want you to think about something between now and next week. In the eternity, in the eternity of eternity's past, that way, not this way, we're going this way, that way, before any of this was ever in place, no universe, no nothing, God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, called your name. He called my name. He called my name. The Holy Spirit said, Glenn Kenney's name, and every one of your names was put down in the eternity of eternity's past. That's where you began, and it all came to where it is now. And that's why we can live the normal Christian life by faith. You don't live it by sight. If you try to live the normal Christian life by sight, you will fail horribly. If you try to live the normal Christian life in any other way except through the Spirit of God, you will fail miserably. The Scripture says it. And since the Scripture says we are saved by grace through faith, the same Scripture says that we are sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe the one and not the other? Then the question comes roaring back to us. Then why don't you practice the other? See? Now, I told some of our friends over here, Johnny and others, these chapters, six, seven, eight, are probably the most difficult chapters to communicate in the entire Bible. They're difficult because they are so intertwined with the moving and the power and the efficiency and the wonderfulness of the Holy Spirit. And we don't understand how very wonderful the Holy Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, the three in one yet separate. We just don't understand how that really works. I'm trying to help you understand. Now, I need to go back to chapter seven. Just a minute. Would you let me go back to chapter seven? I want you to hear the Apostle Paul. Now, if you think your daily life is in trouble, and I'm sure Brother Jim did this last week, but I just need to go back because this is the prelude introduction to chapter eight. Listen to what Paul says. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I find myself doing. Hello, good morning. Are you there? Oh, listen on. In my flesh, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform it and how to practice what is good, I don't know how to do that. Hey, gang, if Paul felt that way, why don't you think we feel that way? Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin, the, that is the law of sin and death that still dwells in me. Now, hang on to this one. We have all kinds of laws in this world. None of these laws ever go away. The law of gravity will never go away. If you drop something, if I take my hanky out of my pocket, which I will do, and if I take my hanky out of my pocket, and if I drop it in Euless, Texas, the law of gravity took over and it fell to the ground. If I take that same hanky and go to Israel, or go to Athens, or stand on the Acropolis, and drop that same hanky, guess what's going to happen? You get the same process. You see, we have all kinds of laws here. None of them go away, but in order to get away from some of them, some of them are superseded by other laws. I'll show you that in a few minutes. Okay, so that's what Paul's talking about. Now, if what I do I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is that principle of the law of sin and death that's still in the world. Now, when is the law of sin and death ever going to get out of the world? When Jesus comes back to claim his world for himself, then sin and death is going to go away. Until then, sorry, we got to put up with it. We don't have to enjoy it. We don't have to participate in it. We just have to put up with it because there's a superseding law. Okay, so he goes on to say, I find then a law. I found the law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. I really, Paul said, want to be righteous. I really do. But I find there's a law here. It's the law of sin and death, and that law works in me. It's present in me. I can't get rid of it unless something supersedes it. And so he says, the one who wills to do good, evil is present. Now, that's the prelude to verse 1, chapter 8. Now you have the prelude. Prelude is, there is therefore now. Okay, now we're in chapter 8. In this chapter, the first verse is an exclamation verse. It is an excited, victorious verse. And the word now is the expressed exclamation. All of what Paul said in 6. All of what Paul said in 7. All of these things of the law and sin and death. All of this trash which we cannot get out of. All of this stuff that bugs us every day. All of the times we want to do good and we find only evil working in us. All of that is right here in this word now. It's an emphatic Greek word. Now. It is an aorist tense. It happened once, it isn't going to happen again. Now. What is the now referring to? The now is referring to your and my condemnation. Now watch. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Okay. Let's look at this. There are two kinds of condemnation, dear friends. The first kind of condemnation, Jesus dealt with it at the cross. Your redemption. You see, you were condemned before God. You were determined to be separated from God forever. We were never supposed to be any part of God's children. The beautiful part about this chapter is as we come to chapter verse 17, we're going to find out that we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Wow. You see, you were never supposed to be that. None of us were ever supposed to be that. We were all supposed to be condemned forever. And there are two kinds of condemnation. And the first kind of condemnation is an eternal condemnation, which means that if you remain in that kind of sinfulness until you die, you will die and go to hell. It condemns you to death in hell. And the only way you can escape that particular eternal condemnation is to trust Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, allow him to come into your life to exchange your Adam life for his Christ life. It's not a change of life, ladies and gentlemen. It is an exchange. We are exchanging Adam for Christ. How bad is that? Are you with me? And so there's that first condemnation. It's eternal. That's the one that the Christian should never, ever, any day of the eternal existence of his or her life worry about. It's in the hands of God. It's not your problem. God took care of your eternal condemnation. Amen. Please say amen. If you don't understand that, I need to go back to chapter seven. I said this is a toughie. I had been wrestling with this thing for about six weeks. And it's beat me up four times. And it comes back and hits me right in the face again. But let me tell you about the other condemnation. There is a temporal condemnation. Now, I said there's an eternal condemnation. That was taken care of. By the way, the temporal is taken care of also, but we haven't figured it out yet. Hang on. There are temporal condemnations that are still being pushed on us by the law of sin and death. Watch. Do you read the Bible today? Don't you know you're supposed to read the Bible every day? That's condemnation, folks. You're condemning yourself because you did not read the Bible. Why? Why did you say that to him this morning so ugly? Why did you think that was evil thought? Farce. When that guy cut in front of you, why did you cuss him? See? Our day is full, ladies and gentlemen, of condemnation. But I've got good news for you. That second condemnation is taken care of in verse one also. That's why the Lord God himself desired you to get out of Adam and get in to Christ. Because he knew as long as we remained in Adam, we would remain in the law of sin and death. And if we allow Satan to trick us in our Christian life, and if we allow him to put on us all kinds of condemnations of what we are not doing for the kingdom of God, or doing in the kingdom of God, or doing with the kingdom of God, if he can condemn us all day about what we're not doing, he can beat us. And he loves to beat you. But you don't have to be there. Because the same condemnation that was given to you at the cross, done away with, is the same condemnation that you meet every day that should be in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, done away with every day. Now, there are laws in this earth. I'm going to show you a law. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death, verse two. Now look, ladies and gentlemen, verse two says the law of life in Jesus Christ has made you free. You are free for how long? Somebody tell me. You're forever. The law of life in Jesus Christ has made you free. Oh, by the way, I was telling Forrest, Forrest was asking me about an Aorist tense. He's going to be doing a devotional in the morning, and he wants to use an Aorist tense. And he was asking, there's one in this verse. In verse two, the word free is an Aorist tense. Now, you remember what I told you about the Aorist tense? Once it happens, what happens never again? Here's an Aorist tense. I can clap my head a thousand million times and never repeat that clap. It only happens one time. An Aorist tense means something happens only one time, never happen again. Watch. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free. When's it going to happen again? Hey, when's it going to happen again? Talk to me. Please talk to me. I got to know you understand. It's never going to happen again. You are free. Can I make that emphatic? You and I are free from the law of sin and death. Because the law of life in Jesus Christ supersedes the law of sin and death. It is greater than, okay? So if the law of life in Jesus Christ is greater than sin and death, then evidently you and I must be free in Jesus Christ. Go with me out here to the airport. Go with me to the airport. Charlie flew a bunch of these things. I love Charlie because he's an airline captain. That airplane sitting on the ground is under the control of the law of gravity. And as long as that plane sits there, Charlie, it's going to be under the control of the law of gravity. So the law of gravity is superseding anything that that airplane can do. As long as that airplane sits on the ground, that airplane's not going anywhere. And the law of gravity has that airplane down. Take that same airplane, put people in it, turn on the engines, run it out to the runway, and start it down the runway and let a new law take over. And the new law is the design of aerodynamics. That's the law. And the law of aerodynamics can supersede the law of gravity. That's what we're talking about. That's an illustration to show you how a superseding law can overcome another law. And that law of gravity will be totally superseded, Charlie, as long as that airplane's doing what? As long as it's taking off and flying. As long as that thing's up in the air, the law of aerodynamics is in power. But if you turn that big engine off, and that big thing doesn't have the power to keep it up there, and the law of aerodynamics, what's it going to do? Gravity takes over. So in order to stay in the law of aerodynamics, you've got to stay in the thing, and I'm going to say the person, and you've got to stay in the thing that has the power, the person that has the power. You've got to stay in the life of Jesus Christ, the only person who has the power to keep you free, and to keep you out of the law of sin and death. Does that mean the law of sin and death is gone? Nope. Those laws will never go away, folks. But they cannot condemn you. They can't make you feel sorry for yourself when you don't do some things you know you ought to be doing for the kingdom of God. They can't condemn you. You are without condemnation, both eternally and temporally, if you stay in the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. That's difficult to do. Now he goes on to say, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned all sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, please mark that, because the next statement is eternally important, but according to the spirit. Okay. What has Paul just got through saying here? He's saying, there was a requirement that was made by God, and that righteous requirement was made in order that the law might be fulfilled. Now, ladies and gentlemen, there was a great old gospel hymn that we used to sing years ago, probably still sing it in some of our early morning services. It's under the title, Once for All. And the verses say, free from the law. If you just listen to these songs, it gives you all kinds of scripture. Listen to the first verse, free from the law, oh, happy condition. Jesus has bled, and there is remission. Watch the next one. Cursed by the law. The law never could save anybody. All the law could do was curse you, because it told you what sin was. It made you understand sin. And when it made you understand sin, it cursed you into sin. Cursed by the law. Bruised by Adam. Bruised by the fall. Watch. Grace hath redeemed us, once for all. Got it? The law of sin and death was taken over by the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ on the cross, in the grave, at the resurrection, in his eternal return. We do not live in the law of sin and death. It's here. Just like gravity, it will attack you. If you're up on the ladder cleaning out your gutters and you accidentally slip, you're not going to fall up. A law is going to take over. And that law is going to take over really well and put you on the ground. So that law never changes. The law of sin and death never changes, folks. Since the law of sin and death never changes, and we are free forever from the condemnation of the law of sin and death, then how do we live in the spirit? That's the question. And that's the question that the apostle is trying to answer here for us. It is a very difficult question. There was a book written back in about 1896. Many of you may have read the book. It was entitled In His Steps. Any of you read that book? It's written by Sheldon, In His Steps. Later on, they gave it a subtitle, WWJD. What Would Jesus Do? Do you remember that book? And Sheldon wrote the book after having read chapter 8 of the book of Romans. And what Sheldon was trying to do, he was trying to help people come to understand that since Satan is attacking you every day by the law of sin and death, and at the same time, you have working in your body the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ, wouldn't it be better if we put our mind on the things of God rather than on the things of the world? So if we see something, wouldn't it be kind of nice if we simply said to ourselves, what would Jesus do? And then do it. I read the book many times when I was in college and BSU work. There was a story in there about a man who had a newspaper and his newspaper was 80% covered by alcohol ads. He became a believer in Jesus Christ free from the law, met with his team one day, and he said, we're taking all the alcohol ads out of the paper next week. We're going to be a righteous paper. We'll only put ads in that glorify and honor my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. They said to him, your paper will be dead in two months. Fourteen and a half years later was the largest newspaper in Pennsylvania. Ladies and gentlemen, if you do what Jesus would do, if you follow the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ, he will honor you. I mean, after all, isn't he in control of everything? Does he not own the cattle on a thousand hills, all the gold and silver in the world is his? Is he not the eternal ruler of the universe? Does he not change and jewel your life every day? Is he not in you by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ working in and out of you so that you might be blessed by him in the spirit daily? What would Jesus do? And then do it. Okay, verse five. Now, Paul is going to go back and rehearse something for you because he's going to tell you what you used to be like. Paul is so good at telling us what we used to be like and then coming to tell us what we ought to be like. He's so used to and ought to. I love Paul for that. He says, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Well, of course. If you're living according to the flesh, you're not thinking about the spirit, right? But Paul comes right back and says, but those who live by the spirit, they put their minds on the thing of the spirit. So, question. When you are physically awake, should your mind be on the things of God or on the things of the world? Oh, I know what you're going to say. They ought to be on the things of God. Then why do you worry? Why do you worry? Do you know how much you can add to your stature by worrying? Do you know how much you can do for yourself by worrying? Do you know how much God can do for you if you say, Lord Jesus, I sinned and I worried. Please forgive me, Lord. I'll ask you all a question. The majority of you have been living in the life of Jesus and liberty in life. Have you ever noticed how God has put all kinds of wonderful things around you? Have you ever stopped to take and just take a look at what all God has put around you? Have you seen on occasion when you were in the pits and God just wrapped His arms around you and how He fed you and how He took care of you and how He cared for you and how you didn't have to worry about a thing? Then why do we do it? Law of sin and death. It's here. It's not going away. You've got to be aware of it. In order to be aware of it, you have to let something that supersedes it take over. That's why in chapter 6, 7, and 8, it said we had to exchange our natural life in Adam for the spiritual life in Jesus Christ. For if anyone be in Christ, notice 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any person be in Christ, that person is a new creation. You are out of Adam. You're in Christ. Now let me ask you a question. Do you really believe that by faith? I'm serious in a heartbeat. When you came into Christ, do you really believe that you are in Christ and out of Adam? Do you really believe that you're going to heaven since forgiven? Do you really believe that all your condemnation has been forgiven? Do you really believe that all of this that God said is true? Absolutely. Okay, folks. If you believe it, then quit playing with sin and death. You have no condemnation, eternal nor temporal. No one can condemn you. Christ Jesus freed you. No one can accuse you. Christ Jesus saved you. No one can put you down. Christ Jesus redeemed you. There is no source. There is no person. And there is no cause that can cause you to come out of the life in Jesus Christ and back in to sin and death unless you just want to. Now, if you want to, He can't help you. He can help you get out of sin. Right? He can help you stay out of sin. But He can't force you from not wiggling your way back in it again. Okay? This is tough stuff, folks. You've got to look at this head on. Okay? For to be carnally minded, to be fleshly minded, to be deathly minded is death. If you are carnally minded, you're going to die. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now, Paul's giving opposites. To be fleshly minded, you're going to die. To be spiritually minded, life and peace. Life and death. Death and life. Hatred and joy. Life and peace. Hatred and joy. So, if you're going to be carnally minded, if you're going to think the things of the flesh, then you're going to be sin and death. If you think the things of life, then you will be life. Because, he says in verse 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Okay. What does it mean? I'm going to turn my page. I don't know why I'm not reading it. What does it mean to be subject to the law of God? What happens when you are a subject of someone? Okay. Let's look at the kingdom of God. We say that we are subjects of the king of all eternity. Correct? What does that mean? That we are subjects of the king of all eternity? What does it mean? You talk to me now. I'm sorry. You're under his authority. Anybody who is subject to someone is under their authority. And so it says here, because we are under the authority, for it is not subject to the law of God. The carnal mind is not under the authority of God. The carnal mind is under the authority of Satan. The carnal mind is under the authority of sin and death. Only the spiritual mind is under the subjectivity of life in Jesus Christ. And so what he's saying here in verse 8, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. If you're carnally minded, you can't please God. What does Hebrews say about that? For without faith, it is what to please God? Impossible. Hebrews chapter 6, not chapter 12, 11, 12, chapter 11, back up, 11, 10, 11. For without faith, it is impossible to please God. If you are carnally minded, you cannot please God because a carnally minded person does not have faith. Right? And since a carnally minded person does not have faith, you can't please God. Therefore, in order to please God, you have to have faith in who? Do you have faith in Jesus Christ or your eternal life? Do you have faith in Jesus Christ for your physical life? Is he just as much a part of the condemnation on your spiritual life as he is on your physical life? Yes. The answer to all the above is yes. And since he is, he then can protect you not in your senses, but he can protect you in your faith. Wow. That puts faith in a superior position. We must practice faith and not sight. You remember what the scripture says? That at our presentation to Jesus Christ in heaven, and how many times have I used it at funerals when I've said, the person here whom we love dearly has been walking by sight. He's been walking by faith. He has not been walking by sight. And today in eternal heavens, that faith has become sight. We walk by faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen right now. How much faith do we have in what's not seen right now? But you, okay, what does that conjunction always mean? I'll try to help you understand now to read. You know, my philosophy helps you read this book better. It gets to verse eight. He says, but, all of this stuff that went on before, he's getting ready to change it. If you come to a conjunction, everything that preceded on this side of the conjunction will be different on this side. Okay, so let's see what's different. But you are not in the flesh. You are under the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. Got it? Please get it. You're no longer in the flesh. You are in the spirit. He said, if indeed, the spirit of God dwells in you now, there's that emphatic now again, not then, but now, now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. If you're not in Christ, you're not his. You're still in the law of sin and death. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead. Your body is dead because of sin. But the spirit is life because of righteousness. Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend, Major Ian Thomas, who wrote many, many books about the Christian life, has often said, it is an exchanged life. We exchange death and hell for heaven and righteousness. It's an exchange. And would you rather live in that exchange? Or would you rather live in the other? But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, okay, hang on to this. Watch this one. It's going to catch you from the other side. If the spirit, but if the spirit of him, Jesus, the spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you. Pause. May I ask you a question? And either shake your head or wiggle your eyes or do something. Does the spirit of God dwell in you? Because you have been born again. Does the spirit dwell within, bearing witness that you've been cleansed from every dot and stain? Are you ready if the Lord should come? And today your soul should claim? Can you face eternal years free from doubt, free from fears? Do you know that you've been born again? Are you full of the spirit? Yes, watch. But if the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you by faith, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body through the his spirit who dwells in you. Who's going to give it to you, gang? God. Did you understand the word give? If you want the spirit of God, God will give it to you. He is the world's greatest gift giver. He loved the world so much he gave you his son. The only one of a kind. Moneganeh Adokin, the only child of a kind. John 3 is a beautiful little verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The Greek word Moneganeh Adokin. Monah means one. Adokin means son. He gave his only son. If God loves you enough to give his only son, how much more does he thank you you think he loves you? Goodness! I mean, I fight with this every day, folks. Because I don't want the life of the law of sin and death to dwell in me. I want the life of the liberty of Jesus Christ to dwell in me. And so he says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die according to the flesh. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now let's get to the end. I'm going to finish this part today. I brought you to this point to make an emphasis. I brought you to this point to make an emphasis. Watch. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. Verse 13. But if by the Spirit you will put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Okay, so if you're living in the Spirit, you've already put to death the deeds of the body. Don't hang around with sin and death. It's here. It's not going anywhere. Forget it. You know what? Charlie Boozer forgets the law of gravity every time he puts that plane in gear and starts down that runway. And he only gets that law of gravity back in his head again when he starts to put that big bird back down again. Because he knows that when he gets the control of that thing down to where it can be, that law of gravity is going to take over and pull that bird down into the ground. See, the laws never change, though. So listen. For as many are as led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God. You and I are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. This is where I want to finish. Now, ladies and gentlemen, you and I, when we said, Lord Jesus, we're a sinner. Please come into our life and save us from our sins. Please give us eternal life with you and your children in heaven. On that day, God adopted you. Adoption was very prevalent in Israel during the time of Christ. No children were adopted. None. Adoption was not for children. Adoption was only for adults. Because if you go back and read the Torah, read the law, it says that if a child's father and mother should die, the next of kin takes him in as child. So there should never have ever been in Israel an orphan or a widow. May I say that again? Please hear me. During the time of Christ, there should never have been an orphan or a widow because the law, the Torah, the law says that if somebody dies and a family, go look at Ruth and Naomi, that that's supposed to be taken care of by the family. So all the orphans should have been taken into the family as children of that brother, sister or whatever. And all of the widows should have been taken into that family as a mother to the people. Should never have been a widow. And there were all kinds of widows and orphans during the time of Christ. Do you want to know how degenerate the Jews had become? Look at how they were disobeying the law of God. Look at how many orphans and widows there were. Look how many times the widows had to be taken care of. Look how many times Jesus talked about the orphans. They had become degenerate to the word of God. They could not keep the law. The law is a curse because it makes you know what sin is. But Christ is redemption because he supersedes the law of sin and death and becomes the law of life and liberty in Christ. So you have become adopted so that you can call him Abba Father. The most tender word a child can say to a daddy. It's two words. It is Greek and Aramaic. Abba is Aramaic. Pater is Greek. Abba Pater. Abba Father. Two words. It is relational to the fact that God wanted us to understand that as God's father Abba Pater that he was over all the nations of the world. He's the father of everyone. So he put two words in it. Abba Pater. Oh my father. And you call him father because you've been adopted. Jesus called God Abba Father. He called him in Mark 16 when he was in the garden. In Mark 14 when he was in the garden and he was praying and he said Oh Abba Father. Abba Father. Abba Pater. Oh Abba Father. If this cup can pass from me please let it be. But not my will but your will be done. He knew his daddy. Now he, ladies and gentlemen, has adopted you and me. He is now spiritual Abba Pater. He is still Father God. Watch. Verse 16. For the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. If your spirit is commensurate to the Spirit of the Holy Spirit and your spirit is relational to the Spirit of the Holy Spirit you are babies of God. You are children of God. And how did you become that? You were born again. You were made a baby. You became a baby Christian. You were born into the Kingdom of God into Jesus Christ in exchange your Adamic life for his righteous life. You are made righteous in Jesus. You are not a sinner. You are a sinner by nature but you are righteous by faith. Get out of nature. Get back in faith. Got it? That's the whole thing. We don't play much with this thing called faith because it's like a piece of jello. When you think you got it, it's gone. And when you think you got it, it comes back. You know what Jesus said it was like? Jesus said, Nicodemus, it's like the wind. In fact, the word for spirit is wind. You see, we talk about the Spirit of God, the wind of God, the breath of God. And Jesus said, Nicodemus, you feel the wind? It touches your face. It kind of wiggles the leaves. You feel it a little bit? Nicodemus, you don't know where that wind's coming from and you don't know where it's going. Nicodemus, that is how God operates with all of us. Nicodemus, one day you weren't expecting Him. And the wind, the breath, the Spirit of God invaded your life and God saved you. And you became an adopted heir of Jesus Christ. Last verse, I'm through. Wow. And if children, if you are a child of God, you're adopted. You can't be a child without being adopted. OK? You've got to be adopted to be a child. Everybody say, I'm glad I'm adopted. I'm glad you are too. We're all in the family of God. Praise God for all of us adopted kids. And if adopted, if children, heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Now watch, we are heirs with God. We are not joint heirs through Christ. We didn't get an heirship through Christ. We got our redemption through Christ. Hang on to that. Let me say that one more time. That's vitally important. We did not become an heir through Christ. We got our heirship from God. We got our redemption from Christ. We got our righteousness from Christ. We got our holiness from Christ. We got our Spirit of God from the Holy Spirit in Christ. We were not adopted by Christ. We are adopted with Him. And when you are with Him, then you are joint heirs. Now at the very last of my paper, I'll put a little word for you. You read it sometime. In the time of adoption, no joint, no heir, and everyone who was a joint heir was an heir. No heir could be discarded or removed unless all of the joint heir titles were removed. In other words, if we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ in order for God to remove us from His kingdom, He would first have to remove His only begotten Son. Wow. I didn't tell you you were a joint heir. Do you believe this word? The Word told you you were a joint heir. You cannot be removed unless He removes Jesus Christ. Now, let me tell you something. Do you know nobody's name has ever been erased from the Book of Life? There are no erasures in the Book of Life. When your name was put down in the Book of Life, it's there to stay. Next week, you're going to find out He predetermined you. I don't know how you feel about what I just said. Barbara and I talk about this a lot. I struggle with it. I cannot believe, and I'm sorry, I cannot believe God doesn't need to go back there. That's pretty bad, folks. I was a pretty bad kid. I was a pretty bad teenager. In fact, I never made an A in school until I was in the 10th grade. In fact, if I brought a C home, Daddy always threw a party. I was a pretty bad kid. I really was. I was a bad kid. Barbara knows very little about my background. I haven't even told her a lot of my background. I was a bad kid. And the way I was before I became, I cannot believe that God loved me back there in the eternity of eternity's past. And He said back there, Jack Terry, I'm going to get you, and you're going to be mine. We're going to have a wonderful time together, and we're going to minister together in the kingdom. And in the future, we will live forever in my Father's and your Father's. You see, that word Father's house as an adopted heir takes on a whole lot more meaning right now. Amen? So we do not walk, we walk by faith and not by sight. We do not allow the law of sin and death to overtake us, but we supersede the law of sin and death with the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. And as long, Jesus said, as long as you walk in the light, you shall be in the light, and the love of Jesus Christ, God's Son, will fill you with all unrighteousness. If we walk in the light, we are saved by grace. We are filled with the Spirit. We walk in the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. Don't let Satan give you a bad deal. Don't listen to him. He's a liar. He's a cheat. He has been since the beginning. He will not change. Don't live in the law of sin and death. You are not condemned at all. Now, Father God, I do become emotional at this because I've come to the realization that I condemn myself a lot. I condemn myself for things I don't do, which I had done, didn't do, wouldn't want to do, and yet all the time I know that I am in the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. Forgive me, fill me, use me, so that all of us can come to read Your Word in such a way that we really understand what it means. And so bless us now as we get ready to look at eternities of eternity past next week, and bless us in it in Jesus Christ, we pray. Bless all of those who are sick. Bless my sweet Barbara. Bless all of our friends. Bless those who've had illness. Bless those who are in illness. Thank you for many who've come back from illness, and for that we give you great joy. And Father, we thank you for allowing us to walk in Your Word in the light of Your love and to understand how much You really do love us. And we pray and thank You for it in Jesus' name. And everybody stand. Amen. See you next week. Same song, same station, same ugly face.