Sonship

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption whereby you 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 joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

To be led by the Spirit is the mark of God's children—and that path runs through both temptation and suffering on its way to glory.

No Condemnation in Christ

Romans 8 is a glorious passage of Scripture, and it has been a joy to spend these weeks in meditation and study here. We come before the throne of grace as those redeemed by precious blood, ransomed from sin and death, and rescued from eternal damnation. As verse 1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." By the principle of the Spirit and the power of God, we have been removed from the grip of sin and death, no longer under that oppressive sentence.

What we could not do through our own righteousness in the law, God has done by sending Jesus in the flesh as the propitiation—the substitutionary sacrifice. He is the One who stands in our place, taking the wrath of God upon sin upon Himself. On the cross Jesus bore in His body our sin and upon His soul the punishment due every one of us—not merely the physical agony, but the wrath of God, unseen to human eyes. That punishment we should have received, and yet in Christ we are set free.

By that action on the cross, He destroyed sin's power and death's hold, making it possible for the righteous requirement of God's law to be worked out in us by His Holy Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit and no longer in the flesh, we fulfill that righteous requirement. Our old man has been crucified with Christ, and our spirit has been made alive by His power—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The Bible says in Ephesians that we are now seated with Him in heavenly places, standing as righteous before the holy God because of what He did on our behalf.

How Is This Lived Out? Led by the Spirit

We see the theological proof in Scripture, but how is this practically worked out in our lives? Consider verse 14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." How do we live out righteousness according to the Spirit? As the sons of God—just as Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, did. And He did so by being led by the Spirit.

But what does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God? First, we must recognize that Jesus is the prime example. If you want to know what it looks like to be led by the Spirit, you need to get to know Jesus, and the place we get to know Him is in the Gospels. When was the last time we spent regular time there? I wonder what would happen in our lives if we took thirty days to spend time every single day in the Gospels with Jesus—reading it, or even listening to it on a Bible app during the commute to work or school. How might we come to see what it means to be led by the Spirit, simply by hearing how He lived?

Temptation and the Spirit-Led Life

From the time of His baptism—the essential beginning of His ministry—Jesus was led by the Spirit. When He came up out of the water near the Jordan, the Spirit of God descended upon Him. John 1:32 says "the Spirit of God abode upon Him," and from that point on Jesus was led by the Spirit.

Strikingly, the very first thing He is led to—the only time in the Gospels it explicitly says "Jesus, led by the Spirit"—is Matthew 4:1: "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." What do we learn? Temptation is a reality in the life of a Spirit-led follower of God. There is a thought among Christians that to be led by the Spirit means to be untouched by temptation, but that is not what the Bible reveals. Jesus was led by the Spirit into temptation.

Notice how He responded. Three times, as Jesus was tempted, He answered, "It is written." Led by the Spirit, He defeated the tempting act of the enemy with the word of God. The word of God has power in the life of the believer against temptation aimed at our flesh. We have all fallen to temptation at some point—walk past the foot-long chocolate pie at Claim Jumper and you'll understand. How do we overcome? The enemy is always seeking to get us to walk in our flesh and not be led by the Spirit, and the word of God is how we maintain that walk.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but powerful in God for the tearing down of strongholds. The word of God, by the power of the Spirit, is the Christian's primary weapon against temptation. It is appalling that, according to Barna and other research, less than 5% of American evangelical Christians read their Bibles regularly. No wonder the level of fleshliness in the church is high when the level of being in God's word is low. "We hide His word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him."

This is key. What would it be like if we took God seriously about the power of His word—if we truly believed it "is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," rather than giving it casual lip service? I say this as one who also struggles to keep a devotional time, as many pastors do, often because we spend so much time in Bible preparation that we set devotion aside. When you don't do that, you will fail constantly. Being led by the Spirit simply means walking as Jesus walked, and as we do, God works in us to desire and do what is pleasing to Him (Philippians 2:13).

Jesus Was Never Left Alone—and Neither Are We

Jesus said in John 8:29, "He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do the things which please Him." How did Jesus always do what pleases the Father? Because His Father, by the Holy Spirit, was with Him; He was walking as led by the Spirit.

And Jesus has not left us alone. In John 14:16 He said, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever." Verse 18: "I will not leave you helpless… I will come to you"—He comes by His Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36:27 says, "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes." Earlier in Romans 8, verse 8 tells us that those who walk in the flesh cannot please God. The only way we can please Him is to walk as led by the Spirit, and He has enabled this by giving us His indwelling Holy Spirit.

Sonship: The Evidence of Being God's Child

So the next thing we learn from verse 14 is that sonship—the visible evidence that a person is a child of God—is shown by being led by the Spirit. This is not a condition, as if being led by the Spirit makes you a son. Rather, you are a son, and it is proved by the fact that you are led by the Spirit. The inverse is also true: those who are sons of God are led by His Spirit.

How does one become a child of God? John 1:12 says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name." Galatians 3:26: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ." And 1 John 3:1: "Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!" It is by His love that He brought us into this relationship.

Galatians 4:4-5 says, "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son… to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." God loved us, sent His Son to buy us back, that we would be adopted into His family. Ephesians 1:5 says He "predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." It pleases God to make wretched, poor, blind sinners His children. He is looking for orphans to make His own. We once were lost and orphaned, but now we are found by amazing grace—behold what manner of love that is.

The Spirit of Adoption

Verse 15: "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" Abba literally means "Daddy." In Israel today you can hear little children calling out to their fathers, "Abba, Abba." We have not received a spirit of slavery and fear, but the Spirit of adoption. We are destined to receive that adoption fully.

Verse 23 tells us we are still waiting for it to be finalized: "We also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit… groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies." Someday we will be in God's presence, glorified, and the adoption will be complete. That is the destination, and in Christ we are predestined to get there.

We'll discuss predestination more next week, but consider this picture. If you go to LAX bound for Singapore—checked through security, boarding pass in hand—and you board the plane at the gate marked "Singapore," are you in Singapore yet? No. But you are predestined to arrive, because you're in the plane and that's where it's going. You made many choices before boarding, but now you are destined to reach the destination. We are predestined to reach this adoption because we are in Christ. It will happen.

He did not redeem us to be His slaves; He bought us to be His children, giving us the Spirit of adoption. As Christians, the Spirit of God dwells in us (Romans 8:9), Christ is in us (8:10), the Holy Spirit is in us (8:11), so we can live according to the Spirit (8:13) and be led by the Spirit (8:14). He has "not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).

That word "adoption" literally means to place as a son or ordain as a child. By His choosing, He set His heart to make us His children. We are no longer fearful slaves but sons and daughters, born again to a new nature—"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation." And we now have a legal standing because of this adoption. In the Roman world of the first century, an adopted son was a deliberately chosen individual, selected to perpetuate the father's name and inherit his estate, in no way inferior to a son born in the ordinary course of nature. For a great portrayal, watch Ben Hur—sold into slavery as a rower, he saves the commander's life, is adopted as his son, and gains all rights of inheritance. By this Spirit of adoption, we cry the cry of victory: "Abba, Father."

The Spirit Bears Witness

Verse 16: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Not some other messenger, not even an angel, but God's Spirit Himself. The very presence of God dwelling in us says, "You are Mine. You're My child, because I redeemed you. I've made you My son, My daughter." His Spirit bears witness with our spirit by first enabling us to cry, "Abba, Father."

I'll never forget a story a friend of mine, a hospital chaplain on the coast, told me. He was serving a Jewish family as they prepared to remove their father from life support, just there to comfort them as an ambassador of the Lord. He asked if he could call a Rabbi, but they asked him to pray with them. He prayed—careful not to offend, though he prayed in the name of Jesus—and when he said "Amen" and opened his eyes, tears were streaming down their faces. He apologized: "Have I offended you?" They said, "No. It's just that you talk to God like you have a relationship with Him." They longed for what they did not have. This is what we'll see in Romans 9, 10, and 11—that our relationship with God should make the world look on and say, "I want that." We live in a world with a desperately bad "father condition." Many of us know something of a daddy problem. But He enables us to cry, "Abba, Father."

The Holy Spirit also kindles in us new desires to please our Father (Philippians 2:13) and grants us spiritual insight, showing us what the word means because our Father wrote it. One thing He does as a reminder that we are His children is found in Hebrews 12:5-6: "You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord… For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son He receives.'" He disciplines us—He spanks us. The author goes on to say that if you don't have that, you're not a real child.

Why do we need this witness? Because in our carnality we sometimes question whether we truly are God's children, because we fail. We say, "I can't possibly be a child of God." And His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are. Just as Jesus said in John 5:31 that He received the witness of His Father, we receive the witness of the Father that we are His children. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses let a matter be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15)—it is an established fact. By 1 John 4:13, "we know that we abide in Him, and He is in us, because He has given us His Holy Spirit." Ephesians 1:13-14 and 1 Corinthians 1:22 tell us He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise, guaranteeing we will be with Him for eternity.

Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ

Verse 17: "And if children, then heirs—heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." If we are His children through adoption, we are heirs afforded all right to all inheritance. But what is the estate we inherit? We are heirs of God. God is our inheritance.

This is the very same inheritance the Levites received in Deuteronomy. They had no earthly possession; their inheritance was God Himself. We inherit all that He is and all that He has—He who is more glorious than everything, who is all-in-all. We inherit Him. You might say, "I'd really like a million dollars." No, you wouldn't—He is infinitely bigger and better.

This is a matter of being, not doing. The rich young ruler asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"—a logical fallacy, for there is nothing you can do to earn an inheritance. You are born into it. We are born again into this inheritance, having done nothing to receive it.

To what extent is this inheritance ours? Do we get only a small portion while Jesus, the only begotten, gets a much larger share? No—we are joint heirs with Christ, partaking of the same glory as the risen Lord. 1 John 3:2: "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Philippians 3:21 says Jesus "will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body." Colossians 3:4: "When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

Joint Heirs Also of His Suffering

But the "fly in the ointment" is at the end of verse 17: "if indeed you suffer with Him, that you may also be glorified together with Him." In Christ we have an eternal inheritance of glory, but as joint heirs of Christ's glory, we are also joint heirs of His suffering.

This may seem strange, so hear what the "prince of preachers," Charles Haddon Spurgeon, says: "Christ's cross is entailed to all heirs of God. Will you take the cross?… Then, remember, thy head must deny also the pleasure of wearing the crown. No cross, no crown. If you are joint heir and would claim one part of the estate, you must take the rest." He continues, "Would you take Job's jewels, and not his dung-hill? Would you have David's crown, but not the caves of Adullam? Would you have the Master's throne, but not His temptation in the wilderness? Then, remember, it cannot be… The co-heir is heir of the entire estate… If so be we suffer with Him, we shall be also glorified together."

This suffering is not a condition, as if God says, "If you don't suffer, you're not really a son." Rather, because you are a son and inherit the glory, you inherit the full estate—which includes the difficulty of suffering. So we are confronted with the importance of counting the cost: "Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:27). This suffering could be terribly great—trial, temptation, persecution, even martyrdom, as many of Jesus' own disciples experienced and as believers still do today.

Yet Paul seems to welcome these things. Philippians 3:10: "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." In Romans 5 he said, "We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope." How can we glory in such things? We want all the glories of inheriting God for eternity, but between now and then there may be suffering. How can we inherit the suffering and difficulty too?

The Glory That Shall Be Revealed

Verse 18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Suffering was central to Paul's understanding of following Jesus. Three days after his conversion on the Damascus road, God sent Ananias and told him, "I'm going to show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9). Before writing Romans, Paul had suffered in ways we cannot comprehend—shipwrecked, beaten, lashed 195 times by Jews, three times beaten with rods—and all of that before his Roman imprisonment and eventual beheading.

God tells us the whole story. He does not say, like some modern evangelists, "It's all going to be a bed of roses." He says, "There is suffering you will face. But know this for certain: the salvation is far greater than anything you could ever suffer." The sufferings of this present world cannot even be listed in the same category with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Notice the certainty in Paul's words—it is the glory we shall receive, not might. Philippians 1:6: "being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." You may suffer shame for the name of Christ in this life, but there is an eternity of salvation on the other side.

Paul continues in verses 19-25: all creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, groaning and laboring with birth pains, longing to be delivered "from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the children of God." We ourselves groan within, "eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies." We were saved in hope, and we wait with perseverance, for He has assured it and given us His Holy Spirit as a down payment. "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weakness… the Spirit Himself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered." Next week we come to that glorious place: "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose."

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in You. Because we are in You, we know our destination is certain—that we will receive the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Lord, we eagerly wait for this and look forward to it. Help us today, this week, to walk in Your Spirit, to fall in love with You as You are revealed in Your word, to get to know You and see how You lived and walked, that when we are tempted to walk in the flesh, we will say, "It is written," and, using the sword of the Spirit, experience Your victory and not ours. Work this in us, we pray. Amen.