Romans 8:15-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

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I still want to spend a little time on this idea of being led of God, particularly led by the Spirit of God. I want to mention again that this ties us all the way back to verse 1 where Paul says that there is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. To walk after the Spirit is to be led of the Spirit. To be led of the Spirit is to yield yourself, your members, to Him. Yet the Holy Spirit does not lead you to condemnation, but rather to freedom, liberty, righteousness, the things of the Spirit, the new life in Christ Jesus, into truth. There’s nothing negative or undesirable or dreadful about yeilding to the Spirit. He’s not trying to lead us into something bad, but something good.

Contrast of the Spirits

Which brings me to my first point: The Contrast of the Spirits. Paul says that we have not received the spirit of bondage, but rather we have received the Spirit of adoption. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, they are led away from condemnation, away from bondage, away from sin, away from the law of sin and death, away from the wrath, the anger, and emnity of God. Think of the Holy Spirit as the administrator of your adoption.

Ephesians 1:12-14 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Sealed. That means marked. That means stamped. That means the transaction is complete. Sealed means closed. The deal is done. The paper work is complete.

 2 Corinthians 1:21,22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

The earnest of the Spirit. The earnest is the down payment. The down payment, or the earnest money, is what the buyer puts down as a promise to return and complete the deal and take possession. He said “ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the the redemption of the purchased possession.”

Right now, I’m in the process of purchasing the adjacent 5 acres to my property. You see, what I did is I put down some earnest money. And I the buyer signed a contract. And in that contract it explains that earnest was given for this sale. And the seller also signs the contract. Then this contract goes to the title company along with the earnest money. And title company puts their little stamp on there, their little seal; which means this is done deal. Both parties have agreed to the price, terms, and things like that.

Now what’s happening? The seller is relinquishing ownership of that land. And the buyer which is me is gaining the ownership of that property. And I want to say this. These things take some time. You have to wait before you can take full possession. That title company is going to do some research and see that everything is in order and is as they seller says it is. Can I say this? The title company is going to prove the contract. The title company is going to research and find out if any other person or entity have a claim on that property. They want to see if the title is clear. Sometimes, there’s things that must be worked out before ownership can be transferred.

And this is what happens in an adoption. There is a transfer of sonship; of ownership. Before you were saved, your father was the devil. You master was Satan. You were a slave and a son to sin. But when God saved you, when he found you, and picked you up out of the miry clay and set your feet upon the solid rock, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You were given the earnest of the Spirit. God has put the transfer of ownership in motion and has promised to finish what he’s started. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

Understand that if the buyer fails to complete the transaction, he loses the earnest money. That’s how a contract works. God is not going to lose his Holy Spirit. And there is no 10 day bail out option in the contract. God is not going to bail out of this deal. No, The deal has been made, signed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember the Israelites in the wilderness. They said, “We want out! We want to go back to Egypt!” God said “No, Israel is going to the promised land.”

And now we wait until the title company does it’s work. Or can I say this? We wait for the administrator of this adoption to work. Remember, the title company is now going to prove the contract. They’re going to investigate and see if there are any liens on this property. Let me ask you this? Are there any liens on your soul? What else out there has a claim on you? I remember years ago, there was another property down the road, 8 acres, that was for sale, and I really wanted that one. It had been out there on the market for sale for over a year, but it couldn’t get sold.

It turns out that those people that owned it couldn’t sell it. They had too many liens on the property. They owed money to certain creditors and these creditors staked a claim on that property because either they weren’t getting paid, or they wanted some insurance or collateral for the money that those people owed them. And I remember I got kinda peaved and was thinking, “Come on! How much do these people owe?” And I wondered was there someway to work that into the contract. The money of the sale would be contracted to go to their creditors. So I was very curious as to how much money was holding up this sale. I mean, could I just go pay it? Was it $1000 bucks? what?

Can I say this? Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left it’s crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Sometimes I wonder if the things we go through in this life are just the searching of the Holy Ghost trying to find those claims on our soul, whatever they may be. He’ll find them and bring them to our attention and then wash them away in the blood of Jesus Christ. Do you see how these things might take some time?

Yes, the deal is done. Yes the earnest is given. Yes the contract is sealed. But the closing date has not yet arrived. But every minute we are drawing closer and closer to that day. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) The Holy Spirit of adoption will lead us through this performance. The bible says, “Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23)

So when we got saved, we were given the Spirit of adoption, yet we are waiting for the the adoption. Can you see how that adoption is not just once instantaneous event. You think about even adoption in our midst. You think about these children who get adopted. How long does it take for that child to fully realize their new standing? How long does it take before that child trusts his new parents? How long does it take before that child obeys and fully loves his new parents? It may take some time.

Every minute the Holy Spirit leads you, every step the the Holy Spirit guides you, brings you closer and closer to the Father, closer and closer to the adoption, closer and closer to glory, closer and closer to the heaven of heavens, to the mansions, the crystal sea, the tree of life, and the throne of God. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who are led by the Spirit of God; not the spirit of bondage. The spirit of bondage will not lead you in that direction. The contrast of the Spirits. This is the essence of the leading of the Spirit. God is preparing us for the glorious things to come.

The Encouragement of the Spirit

We see this also in the next verse, verse 16. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” This is equivalent to when Jesus told his disciples, “He will guide you into all truth…” And this is the great truth we must realize by the power of His Spirit, that we are the children of Almighty God. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the son of God!” What does it mean to be a child of God? Aside from what it took for us to be a child of God, what does it mean?

In other words, aside from the great love wherewith God has loved us, aside from the fact that God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, what does it mean to be a child of God. The bible says that to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. To become a child of God means so much. This power was given to us at a great price; His only begotten son. This power was given to us by a great move of the Holy Spirit in our life, to bring us to a place of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. To become a child of God, to be born into the family of God, is the greatest thing to happen to this poor lost sinner.

To become a child of God is one thing, but to BE a child of God is another. And after we’re saved, this is what the Holy Spirit helps us to be. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God!” God wants to tell us and show us and demonstrate to us our standing, our sonship, our position in Christ Jesus. To be a child of God is to be highly favored of God. What parent does not favor his child? The reality is that a child is the apple of his parents eye. A father loves his children above all things. And he’ll do everything he can to provide for them, to protect them, to teach them, and to care for them.

I think the liberals would disagree with me on this, but I’m not working everyday, getting up early, driving 40 minutes back and forth to Corpus, racking my brain, and running a business for some other person’s child. I’m doing for MY children, not somebody else’s. I’m sorry, but I was made in the image of God the Father. And God the Father has children. And his children are the object of God’s affections and care. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place FOR YOU!” Those mansions are for his children, not the devil’s children. The riches of heaven are for his children. The affections of the Father are for his children. The provisions and protection that God affords are for his children.

I came across this verse the other day, Deuteronomy 3:22 “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.”

I find it amazing that in this day in age where people can’t believe there’s a place of everlasting torment, a place of judgment, a place called hell, that in this verse at least, there may be more than one hell. It goes also with the territory though, that in people’s ignorance and contempt for God’s judgment, there also lies an obliviousness and disdain for God’s love. Consider these scriptures:

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: (1 John 4:16,17)

Notice the phrase God is love and the phrase the day of judgment are in the same thought here? God’s wrath is as thorough as His love. Both will reach down into the furthest depths. The Bible says that “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)

God’s anger shall burn unto the lowest hell. But God’s love will shine through the highest heaven. “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee…” (1 Kings 8:27) Paul said that he knew a man that was “caught up to the third heaven.” (2 Corinthians 12:2) Even the third heaven cannot contain the love of God. And if there’s a fourth or a fifth heaven, God’s love will deliver us there and beyond.

“This life is but the threshold of our existence, — a breath; we gasp once here and live forever.” Edward D. Griffin.

The wrath of God and the love of God will both extend into and baptize our immortal existence with such an intense reality it will make our time here on earth but a brief figment of our imagination. How low is the lowest hell? John said, “I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and great chain in his hand.” (Revelation 20:1) The lowest hell? Where he who falls in will sink deeper and deeper into misery yet never find the bottom. He’ll look back at the first million years of torment and say “My agony has just begun.”

Yet how high is the highest heaven? “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Romans 5:20) The Psalmist said, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell… Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:10,11) O that we might realize now, today, here on this earth, what Paul spoke of, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19)

I know that there is somewhat of a mystery concerning our future. For John has said “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” (1 John 3:2) Paul said, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) Yes, it truly says in the scriptures as Paul quotes, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

But Paul has also said, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10) Just as God can open the eyes of a lost man so that he can see the wretched state of one’s soul, he can also reveal to the saints of God the blessed state their eternal soul. “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” (Ephesians 2:6)

If a fire is kindled in God’s anger unto the lowest hell, then what is born in God’s love unto the highest heaven? Elisha prayed, ” LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw…” (2 Kings 6:17) Would God show us those great and mighty things?

The Bible says of Stephen, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55,56)

“Did I not say to you that if you should believe, you will see the glory of God?” Jesus, (John 11:40)

John said, “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God…” (Revelation 21:10,11)

Would we pray today as the Psalmist said, “Open thou mine eyes…” (Psalm 119:18) Would the Holy Spirit bear witness with our spirit, (reveal unto us by his Spirit) that we are the beloved children of God; the benefactors, recipients, of his love, his glory, his power. Bless his holy name. We are the sons of God. And by his Spirit, we are led into this love. Spirit of God will lead us into the manifestation of this glorious reality, this truth of God’s amazing grace, this realization of your highly-favored standing in Christ Jesus. To be led of the Spirit is to learn these things.

Things of the Spirit

You remember, many months ago, we spend several weeks on the Things of the Spirit. The further I go along in this study I see in the word of God more and more the working of the Holy Spirit. I see more things of the Spirit. And I realize what a poor job I did on the Things of the Spirit. I see another one here is this passage. Verse 17, the first part: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God; and joint-heirs with Christ…” This is list is just an extension to verse 16. The Holy Spirit bears witness, that we are the children of God. Not just children of God, but to that heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

Do you know what it means to be an heir? It means that we are legally entitled to the property of another. We are an inheritor or a benefactor. This means, there is coming a day, when God the Father will bestow upon us that which is his. We talk about minding the things of the Spirit. Well, this is just one more thing we should mind. And in minding this, is great reward, great peace. We are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, but sometimes we need to hear this again. Come Monday, we’re going to have a celebration of life. We’re going to honor Angela there at the Funeral Home. All the preparations are being made. I see the texts going back and forth as people volunteer to help, make arrangements and plans for tomorrow. Who’s gonna sing. The food. The pall bearers. All this has to be figured out. But in all this, I didn’t see or hear of one person arrange for the U-Haul truck so Angela can take all her stuff here on earth with her. Did anybody catch that? Whose driving the U-Haul? Angela has gone on to glory with nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ. For that’s what makes you a child of God, the blood of the Father’s only begotten child of God. His blood makes you his heir, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

With the blood of Jesus Christ, you’ll obtain the inheritance of Jesus Christ. We need nothing from this earth because we’ll gain everything in heaven. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!” I think about Angela and this disease of cancer that she had been struggling with for so long. You know you hear a lot of times when someone dies of cancer that “After a ten year battle with cancer, so-and-so has finally succumbed to the disease” as if they the disease has won and the person has lost. I can agree with that if we’re talking about someone who is lost and doesn’t know Jesus. But for the saints of God, I cannot go along with that. Angela has succumbed to nothing. Angela was not defeated. Angela was not the loser. She might have left the body for a little while, but she was gonna do that anyway, and God’s gonna change that in a twinkling of an eye.

Death for the saint is not the loss of life, but rather the promised inheritance of God; to be a permanent member of the household of God;to enjoy together with your joint-heir Jesus Christ the blessings of the Father; to have what Jesus has, to live where Jesus lives, and most of all to see Jesus face to face. Jesus, when he prayed in that garden he prayed the Father that we’d be given the glory which was given him. When he spoke of those mansions that he was going to prepare, he said, “That where I am, ye may be also.” Just as death had no hold on Jesus, death has no hold on his saints. Jesus said, “I am the ressurection and the life… whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die! Believest thou this?”

We say we believe this. But do we believe it in deed? Do we live this truth? What are talking about preacher? Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21) Have you ever heard that expression, “His heart is just not in it?” Can the world say that about us?

Can it look at us and look at our life, the things we do, the things we buy, the things we say, the places we go, the things we say, the thinks we think; and can they say, “This guy’s heart is just not here, it’s a in a far and distant land, beyond the sea, beyond the stars.” Where is your heart? I like my little ranchito. It’s gonna be increased from 10 to 15 acres soon and I’m looking forward to cleaning it up and doing things. But I’ll literally trade that land in a heart beat when my time is come for the blessed promised land of God, Zion, and a new heaven and a new earth, bless the Lord. I won’t have a stinking ditch running through my property, but instead the blessed, holy crystal river will run through it.

Oh, how we need to get heaven on our minds. That’s what being led of the Spirit will do. He’ll bear witness that we are heirs, heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ. He’ll make it more real to us our inheritance. We’ll be drawn away from this world and the things of this world, and our heart will be where our treasure is in heaven. And like the song says, “I’ve got more to go to heaven for than I did yesterday…” Now I’m not saying to neglect your earthly duties. But I am saying that being led by the Spirit into these truths will affect how you do your earthly duties.