Jeff Schreve - When God Becomes Father
You know, it’s one thing to be able to say God is Father, but it’s quite another thing to be able to say God is my father. He is my savior. The Lord is my savior, my Lord, my king, my redeemer, it is personal. And when we talk about becoming a child of God, lots of people have a wrong understanding of that. They believe that everyone is a child of God. That’s not true. Everyone is a creation of God. God is creator of all things. Nothing came into being that the Lord didn’t create. But the Bible makes it clear, when we’re born into this world, Ephesians chapter 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which we formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, according to the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
And among them, we all too formally walked and were by nature, children of wrath, even as the rest, separated from God, not a child of God, a child of wrath. Jesus said to the Jews as he was arguing with them in John chapter 8, the religious leaders, he said, «You are of your father, the devil». They’re not children of God. They were children of the devil. And everyone is born into this world, a child of wrath, a child of the devil. You have to be born again in order to be a child of God. And that happens in a moment in time. Maybe you’re here and you have a hope so, maybe so, guess so, salvation. What is that? Where somebody asked you, hey, do you know for certain if you were to die you’d go to heaven? I hope so. Maybe so. Guess so. I think so. Yeah, but do you have a know so salvation?
I was in a laundromat when I was in college one time and I was talking to this guy Bart, and I was talking to him about the Lord. I said Bart, do you know for certain if you were to die tonight that you’d go to heaven? And he said, no, I don’t and you don’t either. No one can know that. That’s not something you can know until you die and you find out. I said, well, this is what the Bible says. 1 John chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, «He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I’ve written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know,» K-N-O-W, «know that you have eternal life».
God wants you to know it. As you’re sitting there today, God wants you to know that you are his. And if you’re not his, God wants you to know that you’re not so that you can receive Christ and become his wonderful child. Well, Romans chapter 8, as Fanny Crosby wrote in her hymn Blessed Assurance, no doubt she had Romans 8, 14 through 17 in her mind. Let’s hear what the Lord has to say in the that passage, «For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again. But you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father! ' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him».
Question. How can you know if God the Father, is God your Father? If God the father is God, your father, if he is really your father and you’re really his child. Well, there are three blessed assurances in the passage that we just read. Blessed assurance, number one, a true child of God has the internal witness of the Spirit, the internal witness of the Spirit. Look at verse 16 again, «The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God». The Spirit Himself, now, Romans 8 emphasis, heavy, heavy emphasis on the Spirit. He’s the one who works it out. Jesus ascended to heaven. The Holy Spirit came 10 days later on the day of Pentecost and he convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He came to live inside the hearts of believers, and he’s the one that enables us to live the Christian life. He brought the justification where the Lord raps his gavel, says not guilty, just as if you’ve never sinned.
You’re justified before God. He brings about sanctification. He works in us so that we can become more and more like Christ, and one day he’s gonna bring about glorification where we say goodbye to this body of sin. We get a brand new body from the Lord, a body that is not tainted anymore by sin. It’s all the work of the Holy Spirit. So a true child of God has the internal witness of the spirit. Now you mark it down, the telltale mark of a believer is the indwelling Spirit. See what makes the difference between a Christian and a non-christian? The presence of the Holy Spirit of God. That’s what makes the difference. So Romans chapter 8, verse 9 says this, talks about being according to the flesh versus according to the Spirit.
We talked about that last time and the scripture makes it clear, «You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him». He is none of his. That’s what makes the difference is the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the indwelling Holy Spirit testifies with evidence that we are in Christ. The Spirit, verse 16, «bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God». He testifies, that’s what that bears witness means, testifies. Testifies jointly with us that we belong to Christ. That word also means to corroborate by evidence that we belong to Jesus Christ. You say, well, what’s the evidence? How does he corroborate with evidence? What is the testimony that the spirit gives us that we belong to Christ?
Well, here’s how this works. The moment that you receive Christ, you go from, I was in Adam, now I’m in Christ. I was delivered from the domain of darkness, delivered into the kingdom of his beloved son. Go from darkness to light, from death to life. All those are phrases that are used in the New Testament. And so I am in life now in the Lord. And you have been bought with a price. That’s what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and verses 19 and 20, «Or do you not know that your body is a temple,» literally the Holy of Holies, «of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body». Hey, do you have the witness of the Spirit that tells you you belong to Him? That tells you that you are his, that you belong to God, that you’re a child of God?
You know, if you can sin and it doesn’t bother you to sin, that’s a huge indicator that you’ve never been saved. You know, when the Lord saves you, he doesn’t fix it so you can’t sin anymore. He fixes it so you can’t sin and enjoy it anymore. And if you are living a life of sin and all of a sudden, you say man, this is so wonderful and there’s no conviction from the Holy Spirit. It’s just proof positive that you’ve never been saved. There’s no witness inside your heart that you belong to Him. But if as a Christian, you say, I’ve given my heart and life to Christ, but I’m struggling with sin. I’m stumbling, I’m failing, I’m falling. And there’s conviction from the Lord that what you’re doing is wrong. That’s a good sign.
You see a pig never feels dirty, right? If you could talk to a pig, he’s rolling around there in the mud. And you say, hey, pig, what do you think about the mud? You feeling dirty? Said, feeling dirty? What are you talking about? Man this is my nature. I love to roll around in the mud. Christian has a new nature. He’s become a partaker of the divine nature. And if he falls in the mud, she falls in the mud, you feel the dirt. That is the witness of the Holy Spirit. So that’s the first blessed assurance, a true child of God has the internal witness of the Spirit. Secondly, a true child of God has the ongoing leadership of the Spirit. Verse 14, «For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God».
Now, some people read that and they say, hm, well, I don’t know because I don’t know if I’m really being led by the Spirit of God. I mean, there’s a lot of inconsistencies in my life and I wanna be led by the Spirit, but a lot of times I take my own way and I do what I wanna do and I put self on the throne and I say no to God’s way for my life. And so maybe I’m not a son of God because maybe I’m not led by the spirit. Well, remember this, two teams, two teams, the in Adam team’s led by the flesh and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The flesh is the broad road that leads to destruction. That if you’re in the flesh, you’re in Adam. In Adam, all die, you’re on the highway to hell. And that’s where everyone starts. But you received Christ. You understand that Jesus died for you, you received Christ and now you are placed in Christ, and the leader of the in Christ team is the Holy Spirit. He’s your leader.
All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. So are you on the team? Because the team leader is the Holy Spirit that does not mean that you do everything the Holy Spirit wants you to do, otherwise you’re off the team. He doesn’t kick you off the team. He is leading the team. And so we have that assurance that wait a minute, I’m on the team and the Lord is the leader. The Lord’s Spirit is the leader. Now the Lord, you mark it down, he is faithful to lead us. Faithful to lead his children. Sometimes we get the idea that, you know, when it comes to the leadership of the Lord, he’s playing the shell game with us. Have you ever seen magicians play the shell game? They have three walnut shells and they’ll have some little spongy ball or a hardened little pea, and they put it under and they say, ok, now try and guess where the pea is.
And they do it all, you know, move it all around and then you try and, well, it’s in the middle and nope, you got it wrong. It’s in this other one. Sometimes people have the idea, that’s what God’s doing with his will. You know, God, I wanna know where you want me to go. Where he leads me, I will follow, but he’s not really showing me. And so I don’t know what to do. And God’s playing the shell game with me. God doesn’t play the shell game. The Lord wants you to do his will. He’s not trying to hide his will from you. He’s not trying to trick you trap you, and trip you up. He wants you to know it. And so those who are sons of God, they will be led by the Spirit and the Lord will be faithful to do that. You think about it in the Old Testament, how did the Lord do it in the Old Testament? He was leading his people in the Old Testament when they came out of Egypt going into the promised land. And it was very, very clear that God was leading them.
You know, Moses was the human instrument that the Lord used to lead him. But how did Moses figure out where we’re supposed to go? He was following the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. The scripture says this in Exodus chapter 13, «And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people». They could easily see, hey, we’re supposed to move out because the Lord is on the move and he was leading his people. Isaiah 40, verse 11 says, «He shall lead his flock or feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those who are with young».
The Lord is our shepherd and he leads us to green pastures and he will be faithful to lead because he’s the leader of team in Christ. Are you on that team? Now the Lord is faithful to lead us, but a Christian is to be faithful, to listen and obey. A Christian is to be faithful to say yes, Lord, and to follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. Hey, he’s faithful to lead. We have to be faithful to listen and obey and follow. We have to be faithful to say, with Jesus, not my will but yours be done. And I wanna follow you. Here’s where the flesh wants to go. But I say no to the flesh, I say yes to the Spirit, and I’m going to follow you. You know, we all have trouble with electronics. Almost everybody has a cell phone, or an ipad, or a computer, and those things can be great, but they can be very distracting.
Do you notice how your phone will tell you how much screen time you’ve had this week? Man, that’s like a message from the Lord saying, get off your phone, you’ve been on there. Look how much screen time you had. And then listen, I’m not unlike you. I struggle with that too. And when it comes to spending time with God, that can really crowd out our quiet time, because we need to put all that stuff away and we need to seek the Lord, and we need to hear his voice. God speaks to us through his Word, we speak to God through prayer, and we need to have that time with the Lord. Are you having that time with the Lord? What I found is when people start to really struggle with wondering, am I really a Christian? It’s typically because there’s sin in their lives, and they start to say, well, if I’m on team in Christ and the Holy Spirit is my leader, I’m not following very well.
So I guess the Lord is done with me. I guess, maybe I’m not a Christian because I’m not following very well. Well, the leader of team in Christ is the Holy Spirit whether you follow well or not. The question is, have you put your faith and trust in Christ? Because if you put your faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation, you’re on the team. And then the goal of the team is for you to listen and obey, to do what he said. And then assurance number three, not only the internal witness of the Spirit, not only the ongoing leadership of the Spirit, because it says in verse 14. You are being led, it’s ongoing, it’s not past tense, it’s present tense. And then thirdly a true child of God has the loving adoption of the Spirit.
So the spirit leads us, the spirit gives us a witness, you belong to Christ, and the Spirit adopts us into the family. Verse 15, «For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father! '» Adoption as sons, what the Holy Spirit does. Now it says that we haven’t received a spirit of slavery that leads to fear again. What’s he talking about? What he’s talking about, the Christian is no longer a fearing slave of sin. You don’t have to fear. You’re not under law, you’re under grace. So Romans 8:1, «There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death».
You haven’t received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again. Oh no, I’m under the law again, and I’m failing and the law condemns me. He says, you don’t have that anymore. You’ve received a spirit of adoption, you’ve been adopted into God’s family. And you are now a beloved child of God. We don’t have to be living under the fear of being separated from God. «What shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or peril, or famine, or sword? No, nothing! For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor Principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord».
Nothing can separate you from that. And so a Christian, once you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you are a beloved child of God. Remember when David wanted to show kindness to Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth? And Mephibosheth was hiding out thinking David, the new king was gonna kill all the line from the old kingdom, from the house of Saul. And so they go get Mephibosheth. He’s living in Lo Debar which means «place of no pasture». And they get him, he’s crippled in his legs, they get him, they bring him before the king. He thinks for sure, David’s gonna kill him. And David says, I wanna bring you to my house. I want you to eat at my table. I want you to have all the blessings of my kingdom. And Mephibosheth says, why would you do that for a dead dog like me? And he said, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for your dad, Jonathan, for Jonathan’s sake.
Ephesians 4:32, «Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God for Christ’s sake, also has forgiven you». Has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with Jesus and we’re accepted in the blood the moment that we accept Christ as Savior and Lord. That is good news. And not only is the Christian, a beloved child of God, but the Christian is a joint heir with Jesus Christ. «The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God». And if children, or a better translation, since children, he’s not saying maybe or maybe not. He’s saying if we’re children, since we’re children, «heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed, we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him».
So here is the progression. We were in Adam, slaves to sin, to sin and death under the condemnation of death. But then we receive Christ. We become a child of God. We’re adopted into the family. We’re given sonship. We’re given standing. And we’re made to be heirs of the kingdom of God. We receive everything as a son would receive of the kingdom of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Says, in Matthew chapter 25, the parable of the sheep and goats judgment. «Then the king will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'»
That’s true. For every Christian, we’ll get to inherit the kingdom. The thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. We’ll get to be, we’ll participate in that. And since it’s this side, and for those of us who has given their hearts and lives to Christ, we’re gonna be raptured, we’re gonna be glorified. When we come back with Jesus at the «Battle of Armageddon,» we’re going to rule and reign with him in glorified bodies. Those that meet the Lord who put their faith and trust in him during the seven year tribulation period, they’re gonna get to come into the kingdom, but they don’t come in with glorified bodies.
They’re still human beings. They haven’t yet been glorified, but we’re gonna be glorified with him for a thousand years, and then at the end of the thousand years where the Lord deals with Satan forever, and he deals with sinners forever at the great white throne judgment, then you have Revelation 21 and Revelation chapter 22. That’s the eternal state. And that’s when things are beautiful, there is no more sin ever, ever, ever. And we receive the inheritance. And what is the ultimate inheritance for a Christian? It is God Himself.
Revelation 22, «And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants,» the doulas, that’s another reference to us, «shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever». We get to see his face. God will dwell among us and I don’t care what other thing there could be.
There’s nothing that can compare with living with God for all eternity. And we see his face. That’s what’s in store for every Christian. If we suffer with him, and he’s speaking of the Christian life discipleship, we suffer with Christ. Why? Because Jesus said, «If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you». Paul said to Timothy, «Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Ye all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution». If we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him, and that is coming in the future. Hey, we have so much in Jesus. «Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine».