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The River ChurchSermons

The Spirit

Abba! Father!

Chris Montville · Sunday, 17 August 2025 · Romans 8:12-17 · 30:04 · 6,141 words

Romans S17 · 8:12-17 Walled Lake

Listen to this message

Romans 8:12‑17 is the focus, showing that because the Spirit lives in us we owe a debt to live according to Him, not the flesh, and that we are adopted as God’s children and heirs of Christ. The sermon encourages listeners to rely on the Holy Spirit to put to death sinful deeds, emphasizing that the Christian life is a process of being transformed into Christ’s image. It calls believers to embrace suffering as part of sharing Christ’s glory and to trust that their status as God’s children is secure. Listeners are invited to choose the Spirit in difficult moments, grow in faith, and hold onto God’s promises.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

heir 13 indwelling 9 threatens 5 spirit 43 deed 10 incompatible 5 spirit's 7 however 9 son 22 accord 15 children 14 flesh 21

Topics

The Holy Spirit 15 Adoption & Sonship 7 The Flesh 7 Sin 4 Prayer 3 Grace 1 Baptism 1 Suffering 1 Election & Predestination 1 The Wrath of God 1

Scripture referenced 42

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 8 0:14 Romans 8 0:18 Romans 8 0:25 Romans 8 0:31 Romans 8 0:31 Romans 8:12-17 0:40 Romans 8:12-17 1:19 Matthew 16:24-25 4:49 Romans 7:18-19 5:48 Galatians 5:16-17 6:12 Romans 8:7-8 6:40 Romans 8:29 7:25 Romans 8 7:57 2 Corinthians 3:18 7:59 Galatians 2:20 8:34 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 9:56 Romans 8:13 10:17 Romans 8:14-15 11:33 Galatians 3:26-29 12:05 Ephesians 5:1 12:37 John 1:12 12:49 1 John 3:1-2 12:56 Zephaniah 3:17 18:08 Psalms 46:1 18:59 Romans 8:15 19:48 Romans 8 22:16 Romans 8:16 22:16 Romans 8:26 23:13 Romans 6 23:35 Deuteronomy 8:5 23:59 Revelation 3:19 24:06 Romans 8:17 24:26 Titus 3:7 24:49 Galatians 3:29 24:54 Acts 20:32 25:01 Matthew 25:31-34 25:12 Revelation 3:21 25:41 Romans 8:15 26:37 Romans 8:17 26:48 Luke 6:22-23 27:13 Romans 8:18 28:05 Romans 8:15 28:17

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

My name, if you didn't hear me five minutes ago, is Chris Motville.

I'm a student and young adults director here at the River Walled Lake.

I'm grateful to have the opportunity to speak this morning as Pat takes a much-deserved day off with his wife.

If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and open to Romans chapter 8.

We've been camped out in chapter 8 the past few weeks, and we're going to continue to be camped out there this week and then the next two weeks after this.

So there's so much in Romans 8 to look at and to be encouraged by, so we really want to take our time there.

And, you know, when Shannon found out I was preaching on Romans 8 a few months back, she got really excited because she loves Romans 8.

So that's her favorite chapter in the Bible.

So this week we're going to be reading verses 12 through 17 together, so you can focus there.

Before we read, I'm going to go ahead and pray, and then we'll read from the Word.

Lord, thank you so much for this morning.

Thank you for Julian and bringing his talents here.

I thank you for the opportunity to read your Word and to study it and to grow closer to you through it.

I just pray that I would get out of the way this morning, Lord.

You would do a work through your Holy Spirit in this room, and that you would help us grow closer to you, Lord.

That is the goal.

That's why we're here, is to serve you and grow closer to you.

So I just pray that we would get out of the way and that your Spirit would move, Lord.

We love you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So I'm going to go ahead and read verses 12 through 17.

It says,

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

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.

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 in him.

So, as always in Romans, there's a lot to unpack here, just in those five short verses.

And I'm going to take it kind of piece by piece.

As we move through this passage.

We're going to start in verses 12 through 13.

So I'm just going to read those again.

It says,

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

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.

So something right away to notice, and this is very important anytime you're reading your Bible by yourself,

is right off the bat, you see a so then at the start.

So anytime you see a so then or a therefore, you need to read the context of what you're talking about.

So usually start.

You know, by backing up a few verses and see if you can get the full context.

Sometimes that can be difficult in Romans because he's kind of stringing together long arguments.

But luckily in this case, it's not that bad.

Verse 11 is the context for us.

So in ESV, it kind of trips you up here because there is a header above verse 12.

And while the headers are helpful for finding information and summarizing passages,

we have to remember they weren't in the original text.

So it's important to read the original writing of the Bible that was inspired.

And the headers are just there to kind of help.

They're going to help you along the way.

So like I said, verse 12 links to verse 11, which says this.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

And then verse 12.

So then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.

So several other translations, including NIV and NLT and I think NASB,

which is the Black Bibles in the seats in front of you,

translate this we are debtors part to we have an obligation.

Or we are under obligation, not to the flesh.

And one of the commentaries I read, written by John R.

W.

Stott, talked about these two verses and the idea of consequences, but not in a bad way,

more like the results of having the Holy Spirit indwelling you.

So he says the first consequence was life.

The second is a debt or obligation.

So verse 11 talks about how the consequence or result of the Holy Spirit's indwelling is that he will raise your mortal body back to life,

just as Christ was raised from the dead.

And amen to that.

Right.

Verse 12 talks about how.

So another consequence or result of the Holy Spirit's indwelling is that we have an obligation to live according to him and not to the flesh.

So John R. W.

Stott in that commentary says this.

He says,

We have no obligation to the sinful nature to live according to it.

It has no claim on us.

We owe it nothing.

Our obligation is rather to the spirit to live according to his desires and dictates.

We are in debt to the indwelling spirit of life to live out our God given life and to put to death everything which threatens it or is incompatible.

We are in debt to the indwelling spirit of life to live out our God given life and to put to death everything which threatens it or is incompatible.

We are in debt to the indwelling spirit of life to live out our God given life and to put to death everything which threatens it or is incompatible.

We are in debt to the indwelling spirit of life to live out our God given life and to put to death everything which threatens it or is incompatible.

We are in debt to the indwelling spirit of life to live out our God given life and to put to death everything which threatens it or is incompatible.

And if anyone has ever tried to quote put to death the deeds of the body, right?

It's very, very difficult.

But Jesus himself makes this exact point that Paul is making here in Matthew 16 verses 24 and 25 say,

Then Jesus told his disciples,

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

You see, a key component in the Christian life, and notice I said key, not optional,

is that we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.

We have an obligation to it.

We're required to do it.

But like I said, we know experientially that doing that is very difficult.

So how does the Bible expect us to do that?

So that's where verse 13 comes into play in Romans.

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.

And there's three words that are critical to this concept in that verse, and it's by the Spirit.

So we have no ability to put to death the deeds of the body on our own.

Earlier in Romans, it made this point, Romans 7, 18 and 19.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.

For I have the desire to do what is good, but not the ability to carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want.

That is what I keep on doing.

So why don't we have the ability to remove the deeds of the body on our own?

Because our nature is contrary to God's nature.

Galatians 5, 16 and 17 say,

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

So living according to God's ways is a foreign concept to us naturally.

And as we learned in the passage two weeks ago, we cannot please God in our flesh.

Romans 8, 7 and 8 say,

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So I know I threw a lot of verses at you, so let's kind of recap.

So we can't please God with our actions.

And the only way to remove sin from our lives more and more is through the Holy Spirit's help.

But why do we do this?

Why do we care about removing the sin from our lives?

Or why does God care about that we remove and kill the sin in our life?

And I know the youth group answer to this is that we want to please God, right?

We want to make Him happy.

And that is true.

However, there is more to this.

And this statement is true of every believer in Christ.

And that is that you are being conformed into the image of Jesus.

Romans 8, 29 says,

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,

in order that we might be the firstborn among many brothers.

In 2 Corinthians,

3:18 says,

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

And this verse tells us that as we look at Christ,

we are being transformed into His image by the Holy Spirit.

And earlier I said Shannon's favorite chapter is Romans 8.

My favorite verse of the Bible is 2 Corinthians 3:18.

It's such a powerful picture to me, such a huge statement about our faith.

In this process,

of becoming more like Christ is just called sanctification.

And if you've been around the church, you've heard that word before.

It simply refers to the process in which after you come to Christ,

God begins to mold you to be more like Christ.

And I feel like this process is not taken seriously enough.

When we come to Christ, we're dying to ourselves, right?

We're choosing to deny ourself and what we want,

and choosing to follow Him and live for Him.

As Galatians 2:20 says,

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ.

Who lives in me.

And that's what the picture of baptism is all about, right?

You're being buried with Him to raise,

and raised to walk in the newness of life.

And now, returning to what I said earlier,

putting to death the deeds of the body is very difficult.

And my point is just that you cannot do it alone,

and that you need the Holy Spirit's help and power.

However, please hear me in this,

because I think this point gets lost far too often,

and the enemy starts whispering to us.

So this is true, is with the Holy Spirit's help,

putting to death the deeds of the body

will still be difficult.

And I know that's not fun to hear,

it's not what we wanna hear,

but the Holy Spirit's indwelling does not mean

that the process is easy, but that it is possible.

The enemy likes to take that fact and ask the question,

why can't it be easy if the Holy Spirit's

living inside of us, right?

And I counter that by just asking a simple question.

Have you grown more in your life

from the difficult moments or the easy moments, right?

It's undeniable that the difficult moments

are what shape us the most.

So the Christian life is the only worldview

that looks at those moments and says,

God is doing something here.

Every other worldview will try to give you excuses

or ways to cope.

The Christian worldview says God is working here.

Second Corinthians 4:16 and 17 says,

"So we do not lose heart,

"though our outer self is wasting away,

"our inner self is being renewed day by day.

"For this light momentary affliction

"is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory

"beyond all comparison."

See, God is transforming us.

Going back to Romans 18,

Romans 8:13, "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."

And we know this deep down, right?

Of course, we know that God's way is better than our way

as like a Christian concept, right?

However, in those difficult times,

we have the ability to make the choice

to put to death the deeds of the body.

And I pray that the next time you're confronted

with a difficult moment and have to make that choice,

you choose the Spirit.

That is faith.

Everything in our flesh wants to sin.

Intentionally choosing to deny that desire

and cling to Christ, even if you can't see Him

or feel Him in that moment,

that is where you will experience the most growth.

And when I first started believing that, it shook me.

What I mean is when I truly decided to allow myself

to see what would happen long-term,

when I denied my flesh in a certain area,

I saw God change me in a radical way.

And that moment is hard, but hold on to Him

and hold on to your brothers and sisters in Christ

through that time, and I promise,

you'll be able to look back and see an awesome story

that God was working the entire time.

Now, let's keep going, or else we'll be here forever,

and there's a lot more things to talk about in this passage.

So let's move on to verses 14 and 15.

It says, "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."

Now, something important to remember in the Bible

is that at the time, sons are the ones

who received the inheritance, but in Christ,

men and women both have the benefits of sons in His kingdom.

So Paul regularly just says sons

to refer to all of us who are in Christ.

So a good example or explanation of this

is in Galatians 3:26 through 29.

It says, "For in Christ, you are all sons of God

"through faith.

"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ

"have put on Christ.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek.

"There is neither slave nor free.

"There is no male and female,

"for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

"And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,

"heirs according to God.

"And you are children of God, according to His promise."

We'll touch more on that last part later.

But these verses do also connect to the truth

that's found throughout scripture

that we're children of God, right?

And this won't be shocking to anyone,

but let's read a few.

Ephesians 5:1, "Therefore be imitators of God

"as beloved children."

And the Apostle Paul, if you read his writings,

he's the author of five of the New Testament books,

he consistently hammers this point,

which I appreciate about his writings.

John 1:12, "But to all who did receive Him,

"who believed in His name,

"He gave the right to become children of God."

1 John 3:1-2,

"Know what kind of love the Father has given us,

"that we should be called children of God, and so we are.

"The reason why the world does not know us

"is that it did not know Him.

"Beloved, we are God's children now,

"and what we will be has not yet appeared.

"But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him,

"because we shall see Him as He is."

And like I said, if you're a Christian,

being a child of God is not necessarily news to you.

But do we really, I think, allow ourselves to grasp

just how crazy that is, right?

That the God of the universe looks at you

as you are His child.

And I would venture to say that as believers,

we conceptually understand this fact,

but we do not meditate on it nearly enough.

Did anyone else grow up with strict parents?

I didn't get whoopings or anything like that,

but my parents, I think, were on the stricter side.

I love them both dearly.

While I got in trouble, just like any other kid,

I found out at an early age

it was easier to be a people pleaser.

Does that have consequences now as an adult

and issues I have to fight?

Yeah.

I would not recommend it.

But my point is just that I was usually too scared

of being in trouble.

So I would choose to not do the thing

that would get me in trouble.

Like I was the kid,

when the other kids wanted to do something wrong,

I was the one hesitating.

And I hope you don't hear that like I'm bragging.

What I really mean is that I was more of a coward.

I wasn't the strong kid that would stand up and be like,

"Guys, we're better than this.

"We don't have to do this."

You know, what it more so looked like

was like an awkward interaction.

And I kind of just went home

and the kids probably judged me for it.

But my point, my point is really,

I was more scared of my parents' wrath

than my friend's opinion of me, right?

Did I care about my friend's opinion of me?

Yeah, too much.

I still care about it too much.

But I cared more about not getting yelled at by my parents.

Now, there's two kind of larger points I wanna make here

that are both true.

The first is that what I just said

can relate to our relationship with God.

We should absolutely fear His wrath much more

than the wrath or opinion of any person on this earth.

God's wrath is not to be tested.

He is a just God and He is mightier

and scarier than any person's parents on this earth

if you're standing in condemnation before Him, right?

So yes, we should not go against Him

because He's the rule maker.

What He says goes regardless

of how fun the worldly temptation sounds.

However, I wanna challenge you to not stay there.

And what I mean is this,

we often view God as an angry parent.

And if you lean too far into the fear,

you become kind of hard and callous.

However, if you lean too far into just the love

and the grace, you become prone

to false teachings and abusing His grace.

And so what I think we need is a really healthy understanding

that both are true, right, at the exact same time,

and to not get caught up on either side.

But I would try and make the case

or feel like the case is probably true

that in our kind of conservative Baptist views,

we lean too far one way.

So this idea of sonship doesn't usually impact us

'cause we're not warm enough in our hearts towards God.

The doc used to tell us when he was doing ministry

in like the inner city of Detroit that telling kids

that God is a loving father did not really hit home

with them very well.

And that's understandable, and I can relate to that.

I think many of us can.

And to be honest with you,

as someone who didn't grasp this concept

and still kind of struggles to,

it can be discouraging sometimes talking to people

who do grasp it because it can sometimes come off

like you should be getting it and you're not.

And so I want you to allow yourself grace there

and just recognize the areas of struggle

and where you need it, but also learn from those people.

Because when God moves from an idea

or a concept to your actual friend, father,

and the one that you love,

you begin to start to feel his embrace.

And we should be following God and obeying his commands

because of our love for him,

not just of our fear of punishment.

We should be able to look at a situation and say,

why would I wanna do that when God loves me?

As opposed to I can't do that because God will be angry.

And to be honest, this sanctification stuff

is easier for me to talk about having seen fruit of that

and evidence of that in my life really resonates

with me and I'm passionate about it.

However, the son stuff is harder for me

to wrap my head around.

You know, my family operates in a way

where we kind of only call each other

where we need something or maybe, you know,

on your birthday or something like that.

However, there's really been men who have come into my life

in my adulthood and really put their arm around me

and treated me as their own son.

And that changed my life.

You know, these men at different points in my life

met with me consistently, weekly or more at times.

They were available whenever I needed them, you know,

Anger, it didn't matter.

I could call them.

They would listen and give me just profound wisdom

and insight into my life and what they could see

from the outside looking in with a clear perspective.

And I've celebrated with them, wept with them.

You know, when I give them a hug, it's passionate, right?

Because I love them dearly.

And what I learned is that this is the love of the Father.

God used those relationships with those men

to help me understand his fatherly love.

See Zephaniah 3:17 says,

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will

He will rejoice over you with gladness.

He will quiet you by his love.

He will exult over you with loud singing."

And let that verse really sink in.

You know, our God really loves us that much

that he rejoices over us with gladness.

And there will come a day where he will quiet you by his love

and he will exult over you with loud singing.

See your heavenly father is with you in your joys.

He's with you in your sorrow.

He's with you in your pain and he's with you in your illness.

And he's with you.

He's got a peak on top of the world and he's with you

when the world feels like it's turned its back on you.

And he is there and available, not just conceptually,

but in reality.

Psalm 46:1 tells us that he is very present, really.

It says, "God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble."

So I'm gonna repeat what I said just a few moments ago.

When God moves from an idea or a concept

to your actual friend, father, and the one that you love,

you begin to feel his embrace.

So your father is always there.

The question is, are you looking for him?

I pray fervently and earnestly in this area.

God reminds me all those times of those moments

with those men and reminds me that he was right there too.

And he loves me not only in the same way,

but in a greater way than that.

Why would I disobey when the God of the universe

calls me his own son?

See, I fail getting in that mindset often,

but getting there and staying there is the goal.

So that as verse 15 says, we can cry, Abba, father.

This love is available to everyone.

God has made a way to access this love

through his son, Jesus.

See, the truth is that we're all separated

from God in our sin.

We've chosen to live life in our own way

and a just God must punish wrongdoing,

of which we're all guilty.

And outside of Christ, we stand condemned before God.

We stand under his just wrath.

But God's love for us is so rich

that he chose to send his son, Jesus,

to come down, live a perfect life,

and be the perfect sacrifice for our sins

that we could never be.

Because we have all sinned, there must be a way.

There must be a payment.

There must be a punishment.

And Jesus comes down from heaven,

lives on this earth, and never sins, not even once.

And because of that, he has the ability to pay for our sin.

And this cross is a beautiful picture

where justice and love meet and are both accomplished.

But the story doesn't end there, right?

Because three days later, he rises from the dead,

showing that he is God,

that he holds the power over sin and death.

And while we're trapped in our sin,

he broke the chains because of his resurrection.

And God loves you enough to go through that

in order that you can come back

to him, and you can come back to him.

However, please hear me.

If you have not put your faith and trust in Jesus,

you're currently standing guilty before God.

And he's given you the answer on how to break free

from his judgment, which is to follow Jesus.

But if you did not make that choice,

God has not adopted you into his family.

John R. W. Stott puts it this way.

He says, "It's evident, then, that the popular notion

"of the universal fatherhood of God is not true.

"To be sure, all human beings are God's offspring

"by creation, but we become his reconciled children

"only by adoption or new birth.

"Just as it is only given, sorry, just as it is only

"those who are indwelt by the Spirit who belong to Christ,

"so it is only that those who are led by the Spirit

"are the sons and daughters of God.

"As such, we are granted a specially close, personal,

"loving relationship with our heavenly Father,

"immediate and bold access to him in prayer,

"membership of his worldwide family,

"and nomination as his heirs."

So this invitation to be God's child

and an heir with Christ is open to everyone

who puts their faith in Jesus.

And if you have not done that,

I beg you to do it today.

And if you have, what do I mean

by becoming an heir with Christ?

Let's dig into that.

So let's go back to Romans 8 and read verse 16.

It says, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit

"that we are children of God."

And before I dig into that anything,

I kind of just, this is a side note,

and this is not a shot at anyone directly,

so if you've done this in front of me, I don't remember it,

but just something I've experienced too much

as being a Christian for over a decade now is the word calls,

"the Holy Spirit himself."

And I think we get too casual talking about him

and call him it, and I just want to put out

to make a conscious effort to not do that.

But anyway, this verse can be kind of confusing

at first glance.

So this verse is pointing out to us

that once the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we have conviction.

Right, we know that we are children of God,

but even in those moments we doubt,

the Holy Spirit is still there bearing witness

that we are a child of God.

Even when we doubt and don't know what to pray,

the Holy Spirit intercedes for us

that we are children of God, as verse 26 puts it.

"Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness,

"for we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

"but the Spirit himself intercedes for us

"with groanings too deep for words."

You see, your status as a child of God

is not dependent on your performance.

You do not lose that status

when you feel like you fell short.

Now, as we saw back in Romans 6,

we don't just go on sinning so that grace may abound, right,

as Paul dealt with that line of thinking.

But we know that God does not treat us like an angry,

There's one other thing that's true here,

and that's that God disciplines us.

Yes, he disciplines us as a parent disciplines a child,

but not in an angry way,

but in a loving way for our benefit.

Couple of verses for that.

Deuteronomy 8:5, "Know then in your heart

"that as a man disciplines his son,

"the Lord your God disciplines you."

Revelation 3:19, "Those whom I love,

"I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent."

So our standing as a child of God is not wishy-washy.

It's not dependent on us being perfect.

It's not dependent on us being perfect.

It's dependent on us being secure in God's hands,

and he loves you as you would love your own children.

Okay, so let's read verse 17.

"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."

So our call to sonship is not just that we are God's son

and that's it.

Now, that would be enough, yes, absolutely.

But your call as a Christian is much bigger

than I think we often give God credit for.

Titus 3:7, "So that, being justified by his grace,

"heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Galatians 3:29, "And if you are Christ,

"then you are Abraham's offspring,

"heirs according to promise."

And Acts 20:32, "And now I commend you to God

"and to the word of his grace,

"which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance

"among all those who are sanctified."

Now listen closely to these two ones.

Matthew 25:31-34, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory

"and all the angels with him,

"then he will sit on his glorious throne.

"Before him will be gathered all the nations

"and he will separate people one from another

"as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

"And he will come place the sheep on his right,

"but the goats on the left.

"Then the king will say to those on the right,

"'Come, you who are blessed by my Father,

"'inherit the kingdom prepared for you

"'from the foundations of the world.'"

In Revelation 3:21, "The one who conquers,

"I will," this is Jesus speaking,

"I will grant him to sit with me on my throne,

"as I also conquered and sat down

"with my Father on his throne."

So that verse blows my mind.

Every time I read it.

Jesus himself will give us the ability

to sit with him on his throne, which is crazy, right?

Not only are you loved by God as his child,

but you are treated as his own son in every respect.

How can we look at sin and then look at this kingdom

that we're a part of and still think sin is better, right?

What God is offering us and what he explains to us

about his kingdom and our inheritance through Christ

throughout all of scripture is really mind boggling.

I can't recommend enough to find these verses,

spend some time really meditating on them,

thinking deeply on them and on the implications of them.

You see, thinking about these at a deep level,

slowly and intentionally is what helps cultivate the heart

that cries, "Abba, Father," as verse 15 said.

So being a part of Jesus's kingdom is much more

than fire insurance, as we say sometimes.

It's a complete life change.

Now, this life change is not cheap, as verse 17 points out,

"Provided we suffer with him in order

"that we may also be glorified with him."

So don't expect to be glorified

with him if you don't suffer with him.

That is harsh, but it is ultimately true.

The NLT version of that verse says,

"But if we are to share his glory,

"we must also share his suffering."

Luke 6:22 and 23 say, "Blessed are you when people hate you

"and when they exclude you and revile you

"and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

"for behold, your reward is great in heaven,

"for so their fathers did to the prophets."

Our Christian walk is not just so we get everything

we want in life, right?

Our Christian walk is dying to self.

And as I said earlier, that is very hard.

However, one of the biggest factors in our ability

to die to self is our ability to see the fuller picture

of what Christ has offered us through his life,

death, and resurrection.

And I say fuller picture like it's the full picture,

but I'm sure there's much more that we cannot even comprehend

that we'll see on the other side of eternity.

Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the suffering

"of this present time are not worth comparing

"with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

"See, you are a child of God, you are an heir with Christ."

Romans 8:15, "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."

I'm gonna go ahead and pray,

and we'll get back into the worship.

Lord, thank you so much for calling us sons,

for what you've done through the cross,

for saving us, for adopting us,

for bringing us into your kingdom,

and for changing our lives, Lord.

For freeing us from sin,

giving us the ability to say no to it.

I pray that you would help us in those moments

when sin is loud, when sin is crouching at the door.

I pray that you would remind us that the Holy Spirit

indwells us, that we have the ability to say no,

and that you would help us and encourage us to see the fruit

of those decisions, the decisions to follow you,

to put our faith into action.

Lord, I pray that you would just guide us in our walk.

You would help us to feel your presence,

and when we don't feel it, to just trust that you are there,

because we know that your word has told us that that is true.

I thank you for everything you've done in my life

and for the lives of everyone in here.

I pray that you would help us glorify you in our walk.

In Jesus' name, amen.

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

♪ His mercy ♪

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