A Brand New Family

Introduction

If you have been with us on Sunday mornings then you know that we are studying the book of Romans.

And last week we began chapter 8 where we learned that in Jesus we have a brand new life.

When a person meets Jesus and is saved by Jesus it changes everything for that person.

As we continue in chapter 8 we are in verses 14-17 and we are going to see that we also have a brand new family.

Our main point today is this. Our New Life Springs Forth from Our New Family.

Let’s read together Romans 8:14-17

Romans 8:14–17 ESV

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

This morning we’ll see that in Jesus we have I. A New Identity (14-15a), II. A New Intimacy (15b-16), and III. A New Inheritance (17)

I. A New Identity (14-15a)

Tony Merida in his commentary on Romans says there is a relationship between knowing your identity and knowing your purpose. He says, “If you do not get your identity right, you will not get your community right, and you will not get your purpose right.”

And that’s really helpful—and I think he’s right. If we are to understand our purpose then we must know who we are in Jesus—we must have a clear picture of what it means to be a saved person—as citizen-ambassadors of Jesus’ Kingdom.

A couple of weeks ago I was taking apart Rebekah’s bed to move it into another room of the house. It’s too wide to fit through the doorways. And as I was preparing to take the frame apart—I realized that I had forgotten the “Allen wrench” that I needed.

So I said to Rebekah— “Go and get me the Allen wrench from upstairs. It’s a small, black tool. It’s on the dresser.”

So she went upstairs and on the dresser are lots of tools—of different sizes—and many of them have black on them somewhere. So she came down and brought me a regular screwdriver.

That wasn’t a particularly helpful direction on my part. But when I gave her a better description and showed her the top of the screw where the Allen wrench went. And when I pretended to use one she went right upstairs and grabbed me the right tool.

What happened there? When Rebekah knew what the tool looked like, and what it was for she was able to find it. Identity and purpose are wrapped up in one another.

Our passage this morning tells us what our identity is. Read verse with me.

And because the top of our passage starts with “For”—that’s letting us know that verse 14 is linked to verse 13 that came before it. So we’ll read both.

Romans 8:13-14 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

Last week we said we have a new obligation to live according to the Spirit. Our new life, with its new obligation, springs forth from our new family.

Friends, if you are saved in Jesus what is your identity? What does verse 14 say?

You are sons of God! And this is a big statement, a huge revelation, on par with being told that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Last week God’s word told us that when a person turns away from their sin and turns to Jesus as their salvation—that their identity completely changes.

They go from being a condemned sinner standing before a Holy and Righteous Judge—to a justified and innocent person in the eyes of that same God.

Because of what Jesus has done on behalf of all those that God purposes to save—people go from dead in sin and an enemy of God—to being alive in the Spirit and at peace with God. There is no condemnation.

And that is great news!

But now this morning we see that the news gets even better.

Not only do we have peace with God—not only are we no longer his enemies—but we ARE his sons and daughters.

Ladies, by the way, you aren’t excluded—when the Bible says we are sons—it means children who receive an inheritance. In the Bible’s day that was only sons. In Jesus—all who are saved by Him—are sons of God.

Let’s continue in our text. Romans 8:15a “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons...”

Friends, do you know what this means? It means that we are part of the royal family of God. God is a king and we are a part of his royal family. We were’nt just saved, but we’ve been adopted!

And being adopted is a big deal. Have you ever seen the videos online when a kid from Foster Care is adopted into their foster family? You might be a robot if you watch one of those videos and you don’t get a little misty!

Every time the child being adopted is overcome with joy. Even though they have been living with this family—often times for years—even though they are cared for like one of the “natural children”—when the family reveals that they have adopted the child there is an expression of overwhelming emotion—gratitude and joy. Why?

Because adoption means “you belong to us and we belong to you. For better or for worse—you are ours and your place in this family is secure.”

Friends, when God adopts you He is saying the same thing! You are not just innocent, citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom.

No, in Jesus you have been adopted as “natural children”. God says to us, “You belong to me and I belong to you. When you are at your worse and when you are at your best—you belong to me. Your place in this family of mine is secure—no one can take you out of it.”

When we view our salvation in Jesus merely as a ticket out of Hell—we are severely misunderstanding our identity in Jesus.

And if we get our identity wrong then we will get our purpose wrong.

Why does the church oftentimes look like the world? Because many Christians are wandering through this world with a mistaken identity.

They know what Jesus has done for them but they don’t know who they are because of it.

They know they are saved—they know that they can’t be saved without Jesus, but that’s as far as they have walked in their new life. We’ve been adopted and welcomed into the home, but so many of us are standing in the foyer—and we sleep on the floor—and we think that this is all that it means to be the adopted children of God—and we leave the rest of the house—our house—completely unexplored.

Friends, don’t sleep in the foyer. God has prepared a place for you and it’s with him.

If you have been saved by Jesus you are an adopted son of God. You are part of the royal family of the King. That is your identity!!

And when you accept your identity and you view yourself through the same lens that God does—your purpose in this life will become clear to you.

What does God say about you?

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Your purpose is defined by your identity. And here’s what happens—when you know your identity and all that it means for you to be adopted as a son of God IT AFFECTS YOUR LIFE.

Truth is always transformational. And then 1 Peter 2:9 becomes true. You “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. You tell people with your actions and your speech how good your God is.

And as you do this—your good Father draws other sons and daughters to himself through Jesus—as they see the how excellent it is to be a child of God.

Not everyone—but some will see the light and instead of recoiling away from it—they’ll be drawn to it.

Do you want to live a life of useful purpose? Do you want to see God move through you? Do you want to know and do and see the fruit of the works that God has prepared for YOU beforehand?

Friends, then believe what God has said about you. He has never lied and he didn’t start just to puff up your pride—what God says about you is true. Start believing it.

Transition: As we continue to explore this new family that we’ve been adopted into we see that we have been given a marvelous new identity. We also have receive a marvelous

II. A New Intimacy (15b-16)

As we live in our new identity the passage continues and shows us that this now comes with a new intimacy with God as well. Read with me.

Romans 8:15-16 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”

In this new family relationship that we have—we are no longer separated from our God by our sins. Jesus has done away with them so that now we are adopted sons in the family with access to our Father—unimpeded access.

This is exactly what was being communicated to all of Israel—and the world—when Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross.

Matthew 27:50-51 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”

God doesn’t do anything on accident. For hundreds of years the veil in teh temple stood as a symbol of separation between God and people. Holy God could not be in the presence of sinful man—without man being judged for their sins and dying. It was only through great ceremonial cleansing and sacrifice that the High Priest would enter past the veil and into the Holy of Holies—the symbolic throne room of God.

And when Jesus died for all the sins of all His people—past, present, and future—the veil of separation was torn down the middle. And the message was clear—for all of God’s people there now existed no separation between him and his people. Because there didn’t any longer exist any sin between him and his people.

The temple was created for God’s people to worship Him—but even there it was a constant reminder that the people of God were separated from God’s presence by their sin.

But when God became one of us and paid for our sin in his own flesh—all of the sin that would cause separation was paid for—and so the separation no longer exists.

Paul says that we now cry out, “Abba, Father!”

This is an intimate name for God—it’s like calling him “Daddy”. That is a really intimate name that only children can rightly call their Father. If anyone other than my children call me “daddy” it’s super weird—we don’t have that kind of intimacy—that is a title that only children can rightly call their father—or the one who serves as their father.

There are a lot of names for God in the Bible. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is the Lord of Hosts. He is the Ancient of Days, the Most High. He is Elohim, El-Shaddai, Yahweh, Jehovah, and Adonai. But to his children—he can be called, “Abba—daddy.”

And let me just acknowledge here that maybe viewing God as your loving Father, your daddy is a hard concept.

Maybe you didn’t have a Father and so this is difficult for you to grasp. God being your Father just kind of rings empty to you. It’s a word you really don’t understand.

Or maybe you did have a Father, but you wish that you hadn’t. Your father was a source of great pain for you and your family.

I want you to know this morning that God is unlike any Father that you did or didn’t have. He is the perfect Father. He’ll never abuse you—or leave you—or confuse you about your value.

I don’t want you to miss out on God being your Father—it’s the premier treasure of belonging to Him.

He knows your brokenness and your baggage and he knows how to love you in it and through it. My prayer for you this morning—if you neglect this most important aspect of your identity—is that you will ask God to heal you from this and teach you what it means for Him to be your Father and for you to be his child. He wants you to know Him and trust Him as your good Father, your Daddy.

(I’m just going to pause for a minute here and give you space to simply say to God—within your heart— “I want to know you as daddy, as Abba. Will you show me please.”)

As we continue in our passage, let’s look again at Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”

When you are adopted into the family of God you are privileged to an intimacy with God that is unparalleled. Not only does God not separate himself from you, but he abides within you.

Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my Spirit within you...”

John 14:16-18 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

When we are adopted and become children of God we enter into the love relationship that has existed between the Holy Trinity for all of eternity. The Father cast his love on us, the Son removed our barrier of sin and intercedes for us always, and the Holy Spirit lives in us and helps us walk in this new life.

Friends, in Jesus, we are welcome in our Father’s presence. Are you spending time with your Father? Are you seeking Him in His Word? Are you being silent before Him? Are you praying to Him—not simply because you want something but because you want Him?

James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you...” That’s a promise from God to you.

And this is a little bit of a ways away, but November 4-5 we are having a conference called Delighting in the Company of God with Larry Trotter. We’re putting it on at Staples Mill and pastor Larry is going to help us put into practice being in the company of God. He’ll help us learn how to pursue the intimacy with God that is rightly ours as children of God.

It’s a Friday night and a Saturday—and you’ll want to get childcare and plan on attending. I highly reccommend moms and Dads that you both go. You have 4 months to arrange child care for a couple of hours on Friday evening and most of Saturday. And that gives you a date night built in. You can do it.

I’m really excited about this opportunity—not just for our church, but for all the people who will attend because our new intimacy with God is the premier treasure of our salvation.

We have a new identity, a new intimacy, and the last verse of our passage tells us that we have...

III. A New Inheritance (17)

Read verse 17 with me..

Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

My Dad, always used to say—that he just wanted to be able to mow the grass outside of the gate of Heaven. If he could at least do that—he would be satisfied. A life of extreme hardship and abuse had made him a man who didn’t see his own value—I loved Him greatly. He was a giant in my eyes—a great man, a warrior, someone who overcame so much to give his sons a better life.

But in his eyes, he was only worthy to cut the grass In heaven. And in one sense—he was right. None of us are worthy of the grace that we have been shown.

But God doesn't bless us with His grace based on our worthiness—he blesses us with His grace based on the worthiness of Jesus his Son.

And Jesus is worthy of blessing and honor and praise—Jesus is worthy of all glory. Jesus is worthy of so much more than cutting the grass on the outskirts of heaven—looking in.

And all of those who are in Jesus receive what Jesus is worthy of. One of my greatest prayers is that my Father is in Heaven experiencing all of the goodness that is His in Jesus—that he is resting in the good love of God his father.

The reality that verse 17 shows us friends, is that we are not only adopted children of God—but we are adopted children of God who will receive an inheritance. And not just any inheritance.

“and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ...”

We are not just heirs but we are fellow heirs with the crown prince of Heaven. The inheritance that Jesus receive we receive with Him—along side of Him. Why?!

Because his salvation is total and complete—in regards to us we are just as righteous and just as our King Jesus. And so we are just as worthy of the same inheritance that He receives. And if this is mind blowing to you it should be! It’s shocking!! How can this be?!

And friends, let me admit to you that I don’t know all that we will receive in our inheritance as sons and daughters of God but I do know the best thing. We get a glimpse of it in Revelation.

Revelation 21:3-5 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.””

Our inheritance means comfort—every tear will be wiped away—all reason for fear and anxiety will be gone—every unmet need will be met—death will no longer exist, not spiritual death, not physical death—there will only be life—there will be no mourning—no loss—there will be no crying—and we will never be in pain ever again—He will make all things new and this word is trustworthy and true!

That is an amazing list but did you catch the best part of our inheritance as children of God? What is it?

“the dwelling place of God is with men. God will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and GOD HIMSELF WILL BE WITH THEM AS THEIR GOD.”

The best part of our inheritance as children of God is God himself!! We get God!!!

All of our longing will be fulfilled.

Why is their no pain, no crying, no mourning—who wipes away the tears, who banishes death, who heals the pain? It’s our daddy!! Our God—currently, although He is always with us— we are not where he is.

But there is coming a day when you and I will be able to wrap our arms around our Father, we will be able to experience, tangibly, his embrace, He will live with us—for eternity. And we will never have to leave his presence.

Every praise of heaven will be due to this FACT. And just imagining this brings me great joy. And I know that my imagination has limits and this reality—this inheritance will be far better than I can imagine.

And, Church, I want you to know that this is your greatest treasure too. This is your great inheritance.

As our passage ends God says through the apostle Paul that we are fellow heirs, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

If you are a follower of Jesus you are going to suffer. Last week we read John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Followers of Jesus suffer like our King Jesus did.

Keeping eternity in mind will help you suffer well. Your eternity is sure in Christ and it is glorious and no amount of suffering can take that away. And no amount of suffering is an indicator of God’s love for you.

When we suffer we are tempted to look at our suffering and question God’s love for us. But when we do that we are looking in the wrong place.

When we are suffering we should look to the cross where Jesus suffered and know that God loves us.

The Bible says, “For yet while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” How do we know that God loves us? Because Jesus died for us.

So this morning if you are suffering, know that your suffering is not eternal, but your inheritance in Jessus is—and where He is there is no more suffering. That is your sure promise. Amen?

Bottom Line

At the beginning of the sermon we agreed with Tony Merida—that we must get our identity right if we are going to get our purpose right.

This morning as we take the Lord’s Supper together—as we sing another song—and as you leave to go home I want you to make today a landmark day in your story.

I’m confident that we do not grasp as fully as we could our identity in Christ.

If we will embrace and grow in our identity as sons and daughters of God I believe that we will see God do incredible things for His glory. I believe that marriages will be strengthened. I believe that sins will be repented of. I believe that hurts will be healed. I believe that as we proclaim the excellencies of Him who transferred us from darkness to light—God will save others just like he did us.

I believe that all the “problems” of the church are a lack of understanding who they are in Jesus and living out that identity.

Will you leave this place this morning with a resolution to see your identity in Jesus more clearly, to believe it daily, and to walk in it for the rest of your days?

If so, will you say now, “I will”.

Let’s pray.